GIFT or
MICHAEL REESE
^^^^%
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in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
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COSSACKS OF THE UKRAINE:. "^
COHFBISINQ
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTlOl^rf ;
OF
Cl^c nujgt «lebrateU CoiS^acfe €^ti^ or ^{ttamans,
INCLUDING
CHMIELNICKI, STENKO RAZIN,
MAZEPPA, SAVA, ZELEZNIAK, GONTA, PUGATCHEF,
AND
A DESCRIPTION OF THE UKRAINE.
WITH
A MEMOIR OP PRINCESS TARAKANOF,
AND SOME PARTICULARS RESPECTING CATHERINE II., OF RUSSIA,
AND HER FAVOURITES.
BY
COUNT HENRY KRASINSKL ^^-^"^
CAPTAIN IN THE LATE POLISH AKHT ;
KNIGHT OF THE POLISH MILITARY ORDER ; AND MEMBER OP THE POLISH
HISTORICAL SOCIETT IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND ;
Author of "Vitold;" "The Poles in the Seventeenth Century;"
" Gonta, an Historical Drama,-" <fec.
LONDON :
PARTRIDGE AND OAKEY, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCXLVIII.
J)K3
r
Reese
<^Oib(^
T. C. JOHNS,
WINE OFFICE CODBT, FLEET STBEBT.
^' UNIVERSITY
TO HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY,
ABDUL MEDJID,
Sire,
The history of the Cossacks of the Ukraine
has such a strong connexion with the history of Poland,
and the history of the Ottoman empire, that it shows
most clearly that both these countries had for ages, and
have even now, but one common enemy ; — an enemy
which, under the plea of friendship, has never ceased to
weaken indirectly the resources of Turkey, to under-
mine her vital strength, and to lay such artful snares
for the taking of Constantinople, that had not all the
movements of Russia been closely watched by your
Imperial Majesty's illustrious father of glorious
memory, Sultan Mahmoud, had she not been foiled in
all her schemes on Turkey in 1840, by the great energy
and extraordinary sagacity of the Right Honourable
Viscount Palmerston, one of the greatest statesmen of
his age, she might have inflicted the deepest injury on
your Imperial Majesty's dominions.
A 2
iv DEDICATION.
For the above reasons, and considering that
your Imperial Majesty is animated with the best
possible feelings towards her most gracious Majesty,
Victoria I., Queen of Great Britain, whom I can now
in my heart call my own sovereign ; considering, more-
over, that one of my ancestors, who belonged to the
Confederation of Bar, was most hospitably received
on the Turkish soil, and, that he- recommended, on his
death bed, his Mends always to be grateful to the
Turks ; I therefore hope that it may please your Impe-
rial Majesty to accept the dedication of my work
on the Cossacks, which I venture to lay at the
foot of your Imperial Majesty's august throne, as
a small token of my regard for your Imperial Ma-
jesty's qualities and virtues, and my ardent wishes for
your Imperial Majesty's health, and the prosperity
of the Turkish empire.
I have the honour to remain.
Your Imperial Majesty's
Most humble and devoted Servant,
HENRY KRASINSKI.
London, I5ih October, 1848.
PREFACE.
There are two kind of authors, one who foster some
predominating view with their pen, the other, who
use it chiefly as an instrument for securing their per-
sonal advantages. I claim a place, however humble, in
the former category.
Ever intent on the contemplation of the ancient
glory of Poland, whose history and politics are familiar
to me, because they have seldom ceased to be the
special object of my researches and persevering study,
I am always anxious to attract the reflecting readers
attention to that which engrosses my own thoughts ;
namely, how it is possible to humble Russia, to restore
Poland as a nation, and to increase the salutary influence
abroad, and the prosperity at home, of Great Britain.
Hence, all that I have ever written in Polish, French,
or English, has been historical in character, anti-
Russian in sentiment, and consequently exclusively
favourable to Poland and England. Having spent
some of my boyish years in the secluded regions of the
Polish Ukraine ; and having, at a later period, often
VI PREFACE.
inhabited and visited, north and south, the most dreary
parts of ancient Poland ; having always been passion-
ately fond of shooting, and lived occasionally for days,
even in winter, in the open air, I naturally acquired
(though I have never been in America), something
of the habits of a North American hunter, and may
be almost considered as a child of the desert. Indeed,
though I lived for years at Warsaw and Paris, stayed
often even in London, yet, however partial at times I
might have been to polite society, I could never shake
off completely my early recollections, nor forget the
effect produced on my youthful and naturally enthu-
siastic mind, by the soaring of eagles, the neighing of the
herds of wild horses, the howling of ravenous wolves,
and the harmonious winds of the Steppes. To this may
be attributed the facility with which I occasionally d ^-
scribe some of the fiercer passions of the human heart,
and my partiality in fostering in my publications
subjects, more connected with the history of my own
country, than with other countries, and consequently
more congenial with the branch of politics to which I
devoted my attention. To the abovenamed early
recollection may be also ascribed, that the outpourings
of my pen bear rather an impress of romantic wild-
ness than that of too refined civilization. But if I
sacrifice elegance to energy in my writings, it will, I
think, be admitted, that I have a noble object in view.
Without being for an instant deceived by the artfully
concealed aim of panslavism, which with all its fine
PREFACE. Vii
words, crafty sophisms, and childish arguments, intends
nothing more than to dismember Turkey and Austria,
to erase Poland from the map of nations, to disturb
the balance of power, to check British commerce and
British influence in the south-east of Europe, as well as
in Egypt and Persia, and to endanger the British com-
munications with India for ever in favour of Bussia.
Thoroughly convinced that nothing short of the com-
plete independence of Poland, on a liberal scale, and
the rigid preservation of the Ottoman empire, can save
Europe from north-eastern invasion, and permanently
guarantee the blessings of peace and progressive
improvement all over the world. I have boldly
pointed attention to what I deem the weakest, and
therefore the most vulnerable, part of Russia.
>• To those who, having never exposed their heads to
the Russian bullets, advised the Poles to submit
blindly to Russia, as well as to those who, without
the slightest knowledge of Polish history, past or
present, became suddenly authors of political pamphlets,
and from various motives (no doubt favourable to their
private interests), now preach the same doctrine among
the Poles, I beg to answer, that in proportion to the
increasing danger with which Russia was occasionally
threatened by numerous wars and political commotions
in Europe, she always flattered Poland, and tried, with
crafty and seasonable insinuations, to gain the confidence
of the Poles. So did Catherine 11. before the partition
of Poland ; so did the Emperor Paul I. ; so did Alex-
VIU PREFACE.
ander in 1807, 1812, and 1815 ; so did the Emperor
Nicholas in 1829, and does now — and while I admit
that the hatred that exists between Russia and Poland
for ages, is entirely of a political nature, and can cease
under proper circumstances — I by no means admit
blind submission to E-ussia as beneficial to the Poles,
especially in the present unsettled state of Europe. If,
however, Russia will give up part, at least, of her
Polish provinces ; if she will restore all the confiscated
property of the Poles, recal from abroad and Siberia all
the Polish political exiles, if she will withdraw her
armies from Poland, re-establish the constitutional king-
dom of Poland, proclaim either his Imperial Highness
the Grand Due Michel, or his Imperial Highness the
Duke of Leichtenberg, or any other personage whom
she may think proper, as the future king of Poland, and
allow the formation of a purely national Polish army,
under the command of Chlopicki, Skrzynecki, Uminski,
Dwernicki, Bern, or Rozycki, as the safest guarantee of
keeping her promise, then a permanent peace between
Russia and Poland is possible, and Poland, though
oppressed for ages, and who had, and still has such a
strong claim to the gratitude of civilized Europe, may
consider Russia as her sister, improve her morality,
keep pace with the march of constitutional freedom, and
drown in oblivion her Tartaro-Calmuck pranfe?? but
without the fulfilment of a great part of the above-
named guarantee, the friendly dispositions of Russia
towards Poland is too great a mockery, and cannot
PREFACE. IX
possibly deceive any man who has one single grain
of common sense.
The denationalizing of Poland for many reasons is
impossible, and if Russia will not give up Poland volun-
tarily, that kingdom will be wrested from her sooner or
later. Poland was conquered, temporarily, because
she was a republic ; had she been a regular kingdom,
she would never have become the prey of her neigh-
bours. Should all Europe become a republic (which is
very doubtful), Poland might accept the form of re-
publican government; but even then, Poland would
be the last of all the European nations where the
republican government can work well. Whoever has
a practical knowledge of all the parts of Poland,
must be well aware, that a king is as necessary to the
future well-being of Poland, as the mother's milk to
the existence of a child.
Having, after a mature consideration, formed my own
opinion on the Polish question (though at variance with
the generaUty of the Poles of two opposite parties), I
am convinced, that neither any advocate of the wild
democracy, nor any man notoriously connected with the
last Polish insurrection in 1831, can ever rule Poland;
but any talented and energetic man (unconnected with
either party), whom circumstances or European
diplomacy may favour, can rule that kingdom, and
soothe all its internal animosities. Considering that
true liberty, which is spoken of everywhere, does
not exist but in England ; considering that all dispas-
X rUEFACE.
sionate men, who have resided some years in England,
agree that British institutions are superior to all
others without exception; that the British govern-
ment is the best in the world; considering that
dethroned kings, expelled dukes, illustrious princes,
fallen ministers of various shades ; considering that
even such contrasts as Metternich and Louis Blanc,
with swarms of persecuted chiefs, sectarians, exiles,
from all parts of the world, find shelter in England,
where their persons are safe, their creed respected,
their property protected ; considering that parties
are so well balanced in England that none of them
can oppress each other; considering that England
expended twenty-five millions for liberating the slaves ;
considering that British sailors and soldiers, without
much noise, under Nelson, Wellington, Harding,
Napier, Edwardes, never showed their backs to the
enemy, and conquered all nations; considering that
there is no better climate for longevity than in
England; nowhere are to be found fairer, or more
virtuous women than in England ; it must be acknow-
ledged, without speaking of British superiority in
every branch of science and literature, that as long
as she shall reasonably protect the Established church,
and produce such political giants as Lansdown, Pal-
merston, Russell, Peel, and Graham, who, under the
most trying circumstances governed her realms with ex-
traordinary firmness, prudence, and foresight, and give
at the same time fairly an example of all domestic
PREFACE. XI
virtues, England, firm like a rock amidst the raging
political storms, will always be the real queen of the
world; and, therefore, I cannot but imagine that
nothing could be more advantageous to Poland (in
the event of the restoration of that country), than
that a British nobleman should become the future
king of Poland. But should no British noble be
induced to ascend the throne of Poland— and my
earnest hope thus remain ungratified — his place might
then be supplied by one of the princes Esterhazy, or
by a Swedish, Servian, German, Italian, or any other
foreign prince.
By propagating such an opinion, I offended some in-
fluential individuals, who never forgave me, and find-
ing it impossible to alter my feelings in their favour,
knowing some of my weaknesses, as also various difii-
culties in which I have necessarily been involved as an
exile, they have indirectly inflicted great injury upon
my prospects in England. I was exposed, not only to
annoyances, but to artfully propagated slander, un-
worthy even of an answer. Let them remember that
noble blood flows in my veins, and that no offers, how-
ever tempting, can bribe me, and though, in conse-
quence of crafty intrigues, some publications have
been directed against me in various languages, it will
ultimately rather tend to serve than to injure me.
Confident in the purity of my intentions, and in the
soundness of my political intellect, I shall fight my own
battle, like the worthy British Missionaries who spread
Xll PREFACE.
in all parts of the world, amid raging storms, the
blessings of the Gospel.
Three years ago, during my stay at Richmond, in
Yorkshire, I compiled a regular history of the Polish
Cossacks, which I properly corrected in the British
Museum ; but having neither literary acquaintances,
nor available means of publishing it, and being more
thwarted than encouraged in my literary exertions, I
was twice obliged to curtail it, and so leave unpublished,
perhaps, the most interesting part of it. "Whoever is an
author, must admit that there is nothing more un-
pleasant than to condense and completely re-model
historical subjects, after they have been once prepared
and matured for the press.
In my present work on the Cossacks, I describe
their piratical expeditions into Turkey, and sketch their
dangerous rebellion (fostered by Russia) in Poland,
under Chmielnicki, Zelezniak, and Gonta ; and not less
formidable rebellions in Russia, under Stenko Razin,
Mazeppa, and Pugatchef, which rebellions cost Russia
nearly a million of human beings, and shook that
empire to its very foundation, and even to this time
has not only impaired its whole strength, but ren-
dered its continued existence a mysterious problem.
Having further described all the branches of the
Polish Cossacks, with their most noted chiefs, from
almost the beginning of their political existence till
our time, I then unveil many interesing facts re-
specting Catherine II., as connected with Poland,
PREFACE. Xm
and give a short account of her lovers and the
victims of her hatred, as also the various diabolical
intrigues for which she was so infamously celebrated.
I conclude the work with a statistical, historical,
and geographical description of the Ukraine, from
time immemorial the land of unbridled passions,
poetry, and romance, and the source from which
the genius of Byron d-rew the material of his poem of
Mazeppa.
Some of the notes are written in the form of
memoirs, and will be found full of interest. The
anecdotes on Prince Pashkievich and Countess Cordule
Fredro, are peculiar and characteristic. Many curious
customs of the dreariest parts of Poland are mentioned.
The dark shade of the Ukrainian poetry, and the
singular adventures of the principal Ukranian poets
are faithfully described. The music to be found at the
end of the book may be attractive to the fairer portion
of my readers.
In the life of Pugatchef, following blindly a written
document, I committed, unintentionally, an historical
error, which I am anxious to correct. It was not the
Russian general Tchernishef, but the Russian general
Carr, who was first vanquished by Pugatchef.
The whole work, though very imperfectly written in
English, may yet prove interesting alike to the histo-
rical student and the general reader, if they wiU but
consider the importance of the subject rather than its
style of composition.
XIV PREFACE.
A small part of this work I have already written in
French, those who wish to translate it into Italian,
Spanish, and German, will not, probably, take ad-
vantage of a Polish exile, and may readily make
terms for publication. In any written communication
with me, it is necessary to put distinctly my christian
name, Henry, on the address, to prevent mistakes,
which has on more than one occasion exposed me to
great annoyances.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chapter L — The Polish Cossacks 1
n.— Kebellion of Stenko Razin 57
nL— The Zaporogues 74
rV.— Mazeppa 92
v.— Zelezniak 105
VL— Gonta 117
Vn.— Sava 134
VIIL— Rozycki 141
IX.— Prmcess Tarakanof 163
X.— Catherine II., and her Favourites . . .178
XL— RebeUion of Pugatchef 186
Xn.— Description of the Ukraine . . . .224
Notes 275
OF THE
NIVERSITY
HISTORY
OF
THE COSSACKS OF THE UKRAINE.
CHAPTER i;
THE POLISH COSSACKS.
C Origin of the Cossacksz-Perivation of the Nam^ Invasion of
BatuEhan — 'ihe Tatars— Pifferen^TietweiBn Eiissian and Polish
Cossacks— The Cossacks of the Don— Their Arms and Mode of
Warfare— The first Chief of the Cossacks of the Dnieper— Union
of the Cossacks with Poland — Batory — His Policy respecting the
Cossacks— Their Incursions— Boats— Cruises on the Black Sea —
Dissensions between the Cossacks and the Poles — Revolt of the
Cossacks— Their Defeat — Sahaydatchny — Dechne of the Cossacks
—History of Khmielnitski — Andrew Firley — His Defence of
Zbaraz— Horrors of the Siege —The friendly Arrow— Battle of
Zhorof— Convention of Khmielnitski with the Poles — His treacher-
ous conduct — Deliverance of Khmielnitski — His Invasion of Mol-
davia—Battle of Beresteczko — Defection of Khmielnitski — The
Convention with Russia— The two wild Bulls— The dying words
of Khmielnitski.
The immense solitudes which spread between the
Volga, the Don, and the Dnieper, between the Caspian
Sea and the Black Sea, appear to have been, from time
immemorial, the fatherland of those wandering nations
and barbarian hordes who, subsisting by rapine and
25 THE COSSACKS
pillage, thundered down upon civilized Europe like an
avalanche ; leaving in the rear of their destructive and
fearful track nought save carnage, conflagration, ruin,
and despair.
Confounded and intermixed, as regards their origin,
the one with the other, these predatory tribes have
passed, ever since the ancient Scythians, under different
names; but all bear one peculiar, distinctive, and
forcibly -impressed character, both individually and in
common, too indelil?le to be either obliterated or mis-
taken: whii&t the general resemblance observable
amongst them is so decided and striking, as to preclude
their being confounded with any other races ; notwith-
standing that a few varying shades in individual
character, attributable to slight diiferences or modifi-
cations of general climate — the moral results of suc-
cessful or of unsuccessful wars — and other accidental
circumstances influencing the destiny of so numerous
and widely- extended a race of barbarian adventurers,
may have caused some disparity in the general features
of resemblance otherwise recognizable among them.
The origin of the Cossack tribes is lost in the
obscurity of ages ; and many celebrated historians are
still divided in opinion as to whence the term Cossack,
or rather Kosaque, is properly to be derived. This
word, indeed, is susceptible of so many etymological
explanations, as scarcely to offer for any one of them
decided grounds of preference. Everything, however,
would seem to favour the beKef that the word Cossack,
OF THE UKRAINE. 6
or Kosaque, was in much earlier use in the vicinity ^^
of the Caucasus than in the Ukraine.*
It is possible that the Kotzagery and the Kosarts may
claim some sort of affinity with the primitive ancestors
of the ancient Kosaques, with whom they are occasion-
ally confounded ; nevertheless, it is not until long after-
wards, that the Pelooses or the Komans can be reason-
ably considered as the true stock of the Kosaque race,
from whom the Mamelukes also derive their origin.
Sherer, in his " Annals of Russia Minor/' (La Petite
Russicj) traces back the origin of the Cossacks to the
ninth century ; but he does not support his assertion
by any facts clothed with the dignity of historical truth.
It appears certain, however, that the vast pasture lands
between the Don and the Dnieper, the country lying on
the south of Kiow, and traversed by the Dnieper up
to the Black Sea, was the principal birthplace of the
Cossacks.
When, in 1242, Batukhan'' came with five hundred
thousand men to take possession of the empire which
feU to his share of the vast inheritance left by Tchingis V
Khan, he extirpated many nations and displaced many
others. One portion of the Komans flying from the
horrors of this '^terrific storm, and arriving on the bor-
ders of the Caspian Sea, on the banks of the la'ik, (now
Ouralsek,) turned to the left, and took refuge between
the embouchures of that river, where they dwelt in
small numbers, apart from their brethren, in a less fer-
tile climate. These were, incontestably, the progeni-
THE COSSACKS
tors of the Cossacks of the laik, who are, historically^
scarcely important enough for notice ; and who;, obscure
and ignoble, were supported chiefly from the produce
of their fisheries, and the plunder acquired during
their predatory excursions. In religion they were
rather idolaters than Christians.
At the approach of this formidable invasion towards
the Don, that portion of the Komans located on the
left bank took refuge in the marshes, and in the
numerous islands formed by that river near its em-
bouchure. Here they found a secure retreat ; and
from thence, having, from their new position, acquired
maritime habits and seafaring experience, they not
only, themselves, resorted to piracy as a means of
existence, but likewise enlisted in a formidable con-
federacy, for purposes of rapine and pillage, all the
roving and discontented tribes in their surrounding
neighbourhood. These latter were very numerous.
The Tatars, ever but indiflferent seamen, had not
the courage to join them in these piratical expeditions.
This division of the Komans is indubitably the parent-
stock of the modern Cossacks of the Don, by far the
most numerous of the Cossack tribes: by amalgamation,
however, with whole hosts of Tatar and Calmuck
hordes, lawless, desperate, and nomadic as themselves,
they lost, in some degree, the primitive and deeply-
marked distinctive character of their race.
The Komans of the Dnieper offered no more ener-
getic resistance to the invading hordes of Batukhan
OF THE UKRAINE. O
than had been shown by their brethren of the Don :
they dispersed in various directions; and from this
people, flying at the advance of the ferocious Tatars,
descended a variety of hordes, who occasionally figure
in history as distinct and independent nations. Some
of them hastened to implore the hospitality of Bella
IV., king of Hungaria: they made their appearance
as supplicants for his protection ; lands were distributed
to them, a chief assigned as their ruler, and efiTorts
were made to polish and soften down their rude and
ferocious manners. As long as the danger lasted,
they remained quiet ; but, after a while, incapable of
subjection to the yoke of a calm and peaceful existence,
they broke out into open revolt, massacred the chief
who had been set over them; and resumed their
former life of rapine and pillage. Being consequently
attacked with considerable forces, they were defeated
and pursued with great virulence; and ultimately
found a permanent resting-place in the wild islets of
the Dnieper, below the cataracts, where dwelt already
a small number of their ancient compatriots, who had
escaped the general destruction of their nation. This
spot became the cradle of the Cossacks of the Ukraine,
or of the tribes known in after times as the Polish
Cossacks.
When Guedjmum, Grand Duke of Lithuania, after
having defeated twelve Russian princes on the banks
of the Pierna, conquered Kiow with its dependencies,
in 1320, the wandering tribes scattered over the
b THE COSSACKS
steppes of the Ukraine owned his allegiance. After
the victories of Olgierd, of Vitold, and of Ladislas
lagellon, over the Tatars and the Russians, large
bodies of Scythian militia, known subsequently by the
comprehensive denomination of Cossacks, or Kosaques,
served under these conquerors: and after the union
of -the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland, in 1386,
they'continued under the dominion of the grand dukes
of Lithuania, forming, apparently, an intermediate
tribe or caste, superior to the peasantry and inferior
to the nobles. At a later period, when the Ukraine
was annexed to the Polish crown, they passed under
the protection of the kings of Poland. Kazimir lagellon
had in his service a body of these troops, forming a
kind of militia, dressed in English woollen cloth.'' We
cannot, therefore, assign to the Cossacks a Russian
origin, without rejecting the authority of a series of
historical documents, the veracity and genuine character
of which are indisputable. The similarity of their lan-
guage to that of the Slavonic races ; and, as regards
religion, their profession of the Greek faith, may be
easily explained and accounted for. Located in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Slavonic nations, they
have adopted the idiom of the latter : in nearly equal
proximity to the Greeks, they embraced that religion,
probably at a much earlier period than did the Rus-
sians.
To give, in the present work, a detailed account of
all the Cossack tribes, and to describe the various
OF THE UKRAINE. 7
points of difference formerly existing, and which still
continue to exist, between the Russian and Polish
Cossacks, would be too wide a digression from the
main subject of this historical essay : however, as the
two races in question are still frequently confounded
together, it may be proper here succinctly to inform
the reader in what these points of difference appear
chiefly to consist.
Although there may, doubtless, exist several species
or castes of Cossacks, and to whom Russia, in order
to impose on Europe, is pleased to give as many
different names, yet there never have been, nor
will there ever be, properly speaking, more than two
principal tribes of the Cossack nation, namely, the
Cossacks of the Don, or Don-Cossacks, and the Cos-
sacks of the Black Sea, known in ancient times as the ^-/^
Polish Cossacks, or Zaporowscy Kozacy. And notwith-
standing that the Cossacks may have had one common
origin from the very commencement of their existence as
a people, it needs to be repeated again that a variety of
causes, as, for instance, the lapse of time, the mutation of
events, the disparity of their individual modes of life,
the changing influence of unforeseen circumstances, the
modifications of slightly varying climate, or of the soil
they inhabit, and more especially their fusion or inter-
mixture with other nations, (the sure and powerful
source of change, both social and physical), would seem
to have established a perceptible difference between the
two principal branches of this singular race of men.
>^:
THE COSSACKS
¥
The Cossacks of the Don long inhabited both shores
of that river. They are the most numerous : as
military adjuncts, they are excellent for foraging
parties, for surprising an enemy, cutting off his
communications, and pursuing him when defeated.
They make excellent pioneers ; nor are their services
less useful in pillaging a country, or in guarding its
frontiers. They utter most singular cries when in
pursuit of a retreating foe: their horses, small in make
but extremely vigorous, and proof to all kinds of
fatigue, clear all difficulties of the ground, carry their
riders everywhere with facility, and are, like their
masters, content with the most meagre fare : indeed,
there can no be doubt, but that the Cossacks in
question have rendered signal service to Russia, which,
ever since the year 1549, has taken them under her
protection, without, however, the existence of any
official act, treaty, or stipulation, confirming their sub-
mission to that power. But sooth to say, these pre-
tended heroes are, in point of fact, altogether wortliless
as regular soldiers : the mere aspect of a musket or a
pistol suffices to disperse them: they never dare charge
in line, nor can they sustain a charge made upon
them; so that with a single regiment of regular
cavalry, one may always successfully attack ten regi-
ments of Cossacks. In addition to a crooked sabre, a
very long lance without pennant, and pistols, some few
amongst them are armed with a long carabine, which
carries to an almost incredible distance, and the ball of
OF THE UKRAINE.
which is exceedingly small : this is perhaps their most
dangerous weapon, and in the use of which they are
very expert, turning it, mostly, to very good account.
Occasionally, they feign a sudden retreat ; and when
they perceive that their pursuers are comparatively
small in number, they rapidly face about, and become
the assailants ; this, however, can only happen with an
inexperiencedbody of troops, totally detached, and who
are unacquainted with their adversaries' wily mode of
warfare. The Don-Cossacks especially have always
stood in extreme dread of the Polish Lancers ; a few
squadrons of whom put to flight, during the wars of
Napoleon, many of their entire regiments. The
Cossack troops but rarely form into squadrons ; they
even appear to entertain a strong aversion to every
species of order and discipline ; they never decide an
action ; but divide in their attack, falling indifferently
on the van, the flanks, and the rear of an army on its
march ; hovering around them like a vapoury cloud,
which from one instant to another alternately aug-
ments, fades away, or dissipates entirely, again to form
into shape and to revive with increased density. They
but seldom make a direct charge in line with their
cavalry ; but keep constantly pirouetting and prancing
about, wheeling round, and skirmishing about in every
possible direction, with astonishing swiftness and
activity. From the moment of their having taken
the field for a campaign, they observe no regular
int^vals of repose, nor stated times for repast; they
4
10 THE COSSACKS
set at nought the inclemency of the weather; and
rarely does anything escape the vigilance of their
piercing sight, or the well-trained alertness of their
acute sense of hearing : pillage is their peculiar /br^ey
and they are dangerous only to a flying enemy. Once
dismounted, they lose all their previous activity and
courage, become altogether useless, and may be easily
vanquished.
The Don-Cossacks enjoy a certain kind of liberty
and independence ; they have a hetman^ atiaman^ or
chief, nominated by the Emperor of Russia ; and to
this chief they yield an obedience more or less willing
and implicit ; in general, they are commanded only by
Cossack officers, who take equal rank in the Russian
army. They have a separate war administration of
their own ; although they are compelled to furnish a
stated number of recruits who serve in a manner for
life, inasmuch as they are rarely discharged before
attaining sixty years of age : on the whole, their con-
dition is happier than that of the rest of the Russian
population. They belong to the Greek-Russian church.
The existence of this small republic of the Don,
in the very heart of the most despotic and most ex-
tensive empire in the world, appears to constitute a
problem, the solution of which is not as yet definitively
known, and the ultimate solution of which yet remains
to be ascertained.
\ As for the second branch of the Cossack race, the
V / remnants, so to speak, of which, namely, Czarnon^cy,
OF THE UKRAINE. 11
still exist, and who have not hitherto lost in any-
material degree the distinctive mark of their origin,
a wide and striking difference is observable as to
habits, mode of Ufe, customs, and social peculiarities
between them and the former class, without however
impairing the general mutual resemblance which must
ever continue to characterize the two nations.
The south-eastern districts of Poland, the Ukraine,
and Podolia, exposed in former times to the incursions
of barbarian hordes, were the scenes of eternal strife
and bloodshed ; but as the soil of this part of Poland is
the richest and most productive in all Europe, these
provinces, although constantly ravaged, and frequently
depopulated, became speedily repeopled, and regained
their previous state of prosperity ; and this the more
easily, as these countries principally consist of extensive
fields, capable of yielding support to a population
of almost unlimited numbers. In order to impose an
efficient check to the incursions of the Tatars, the
WaUachians, and the Kussians, the kings of Poland
made grants of vast tracts of land on the banks of the
Dnieper to the Polish nobles, on condition of the
latter providing for their defence at their own expense
and charges ; an arrangement which compelled these
seignorial lords constantly to maintain a certain num-
ber of armed retainers in their pay, and to construct
a line of strongholds, or fortified habitations, proof
against the danger of a sudden attack. The soldiers .
in their pay were, usually, either the descendants of
12 THE COSSACKS
ancient warriors, or of the primitive inhabitants of the
Ukraine."^
It is towards the year 1506, after the I'atar wars,
and in the time of Sigismund I., king of Poland, that
historians mention, for the first time, a peculiar race of
men as inhabiting both banks of the Dnieper (then
nominally appertaining to Poland) , as likewise the large
and numerous islands formed by the course of that
river below the cataracts. They are described as half-
savages, living from the produce of the chase, of their
fisheries, and of their excursions both by sea and land
into Turkey ; their numbers were daily increasing by
the arrival amongst them of deserters, fugitives, and
adventurers of all kinds and from all countries, seeking
a refuge from the vengeance of their respectiye laws,
and anxious to make war on their own account ; and as
the word Kozah, according to the Tatar translation of
it, signifies a man slightly armed, a man who belongs
or owes allegiance to no one, a man who has no fixed
residence, who despises the conventional forms of
society, and is ever ready to adventure on break-neck
enterprises, the class of men in question then received
for the first time in Poland the denomination of
Kosaques ; and as za signifies beyond, and porog
cataract, in the Polish language, they were also called
" Kosaques beyond the Cataracts," Zaporogscy Kozacy,
although strictly speaking this term is applicable only
to the Cossacks actually inhabiting the islands of the
Dnieper, known under the designation of Zaporogues.
OF THE UKRAINE. 13
These latter formed afterwards a kind of aristocracy
amongst the Cossacks, and must not be confounded
with the agricultural Cossacks : they were, however,
the nucleus of the race of Cossacks of the Ukraine,
and ultimately separated themselves from the main
body, in order to form a confraternity apart ; retaining,
up to the last moment of their existence, the primitive
distinctive mark of their origin. We shall, subse-
quently, have again to recur to this subject, when
explaining the word Zaporogue.
The first chief or attaman of the Cossacks of the
Ukraine, Polish Cossacks, or Cossacks of the Dnieper,
(for they are aU three comprised under this denomi-
nation,) appears to have been Przeclaw Lanckoronski
(pronounced Pchetslave Lantskoronsqui), staroste de
Khmielnitza, a Polish noble of very ancient and dis-
tinguished family. At first the union of the Cossacks
with Poland (in 1515) was the source of great embar-
rassment to the latter, seeing that over the vast pasture
grounds of Podolia, then but nominally belonging to
Poland, and forming scarcely more than a desert waste,
the Turks left their herds of cattle to rove at will
beyond the river Dneister. In so doing, they had never
yet experienced any hindrance whatever. The Cossacks,
however, urged by their thirst for rapine, and without
permission from the Polish government, fell on their
defenceless neighbours, whom they surrounded on all
sides, massacred the herdsmen, and seized upon their
cattle. At the news of this outrage, the Turks passed
14 THE COSSACKS
the Dniester, which they then regarded as the limit
or barrier between the two states, and in their turn
fell upon the aggressors. The Turks were defeated,
but returned to the charge, seven times invaded
Podolia, and set the Tatars upon Poland.^ This was
afterwards the firuitful source of frequent and cala-
mitous wars between Turkey and Poland, and between
the Cossacks and the Tatars ; whereas their true line
of policy would have been for all to have united for
mutual self-defence against their common enemy the
Russians.
As the Cossacks aided Sigismund I. on his return
from his Russian expedition to take possession of
Bialogrod, they thereby insinuated themselves into
his good graces; and shortly afterwards the Diet of
Piotrkow (in French, Petrykof) accorded them (in
1518), by the influence of that prince, a kind of pay
or subsidy, on condition of their defending the frontiers;
and it is only from this period that they are officially
known throughout Poland under the name of Cossacks.
By a second resolution of the Diet of 1529, both their
numbers and their pay was somewhat increased. But
it must be here remarked that the crown of Poland
never recognized any territorial rights as belonging
to the Cossacks; a precaution equally just as prudent.
Sigismund, however, with his habitual sagacity, resolved
to turn this irregular militia to some useful account,
and to render it, by degrees, advantageous to the
state ; for this reason, he permitted Ostaii Daszkiewicz
OF THE UKRAINE. 15
(pronounced Daschkievitch), a man of low extraction,
but of great intelligence and bravery, to organize them
if possible into regular form and discipline, and to
instruct them in the art of war ; a task which he ac-
compKshed to a certain point. He fashioned them into
something like a regular body of militia, by means of
which he was enabled to repel the incursions of the
Tatars, and to gain some advantages over the Ottomans,
the Wallachians, and the Russians. The king, Sigismund,
not only ennobled the successful chieftain, but conferred
upon him the starosties of Czerkassy with Krzyczef
and Cieciersk (pronounced Tcherkassy, Kchitcheve,
Tsetshiersque,) on the banks of the Dnieper, and
appointed him attaman or chief of all the Polish
Cossacks, as the recompense of his fidelity, valour,
and good conduct. Although Daszkiewicz was not
the first attaman of the Cossacks in question, yet it
is to him nevertheless that is incontestably due the
merit of having laid the first stone of their military
organization : his successors but followed in the track
he had originally marked out for them, and only
perfected the work his genius had commenced.
At a later period, the celebrated Stephen Batory,
as great a captain as he was a shrewd politician, saw
clearly the advantages derivable from a nation (for
with that title they were already invested,) who h^
been kindly treated in consideration of the good ser-
vices they had rendered to the state, but who, in
reality, were nothing more than a barbarian horde, a
16 THE COSSACKS
rabble of notorious adventurers, a troop of ferocious
banditti. He flattered himself with the hope of
taming their impetuous ardour, by overwhelming them
with kindness and marks of favour ; of attaching them
permanently and indissolubly to Poland, and of being
able to make a beneficial use of their enterprising
bravery, without having to fear from their turbulence,
their excesses, and unbridled license. He nominated
Bohdon Rozynski attaman of the Polish Cossacks,
and gave him the fortress of Trehtymirow, together
with considerable revenues ; assigning superior marks
of distinction to the dignity with which he had in-
vested him. As part of the insignia of office the new
attaman likewise received the huldva, or baton of com-
mander-in-chief, a horse''s tail, bunizuk (bougnetchou-
que), for his standard ; and for armorial bearings or
device, a figure representing a Cossack armed for
battle, bearing a naked sword above his head, covered
with the peculiarly shaped czapka (tchapka) or Cos-
sack-bonnet, surmounted by a sort of triangular tassel,
by way of aigrette, in all of which latter insignia the
allusion to the Scythian origin of the Cossacks is
sufficiently evident.
In order still further to facilitate the subjection of
these new troops to the restraints imposed by a system
of vigorous discipline, King Batory distributed the
Cossack forces into six regiments of one thousand men
each, again subdivided, respectively, into hundreds,
or sotnia ; and in some one of which subdivisions
OF THE UKRAINE. 17
every Cossack soldier was required to have himself
inscribed. He likewise created a general of artillery,
styled ohozny, a secretary (pisar), aides-de-camp
{assawaly, pronounced assavouU), colonels commanding
regiments (pulkowniki or poulkoveniqui)^ centurions
commanding a sub-division or sotnia {sotniki), and
sudi (soudi), a species of military judges, whose office
it was to assist the chief in the regular discharge of
his duties, and by their presence to add a more im-
posing and solemn character to his station and dignity.
The hetman, attaman, or chief of the Cossacks, was
required to fix his residence at Czehrin (Tcheguerine)
or Trekthymirow, and it was in the environs of these
two military stations that he was to exercise his militia,
to renew the garrisons in the islands of the Dnieper,
to prevent the incursions of the Tatars, keep watch
over the safety of the frontiers, and direct all the
ofiensive expeditions. Each Cossack received, as a
largess or bounty from the King of Poland, as part of
his pay, a ducat of gold and a pelisse. Those who
were in receipt of this allowance were inscribed on the
registers, and were called rejestrowi (registered men).
Their chief had at his disposal, not only infantry,
cavalry, and artillery forces, but also an excellent,
marine. Stephen Batory sanctioned the establishment
of a stiU greater number of Cossacks in Lower Podolia
and the Ukraine, as a reserve body, wherewith to
replace, in case of need, their brethren engaged in
active service ; allowing them in the meantime to clear
18 THE COSSACKS
and cultivate the waste lands. All this organizing of
the Cossacks of the Dnieper seemed to be somewhat
foreign to the settled institutions of the Polish mo-
narchy, and resembled rather one of those military-
colonies of ancient Scythians, organized after the model
of a Roman legion.
i This was, undoubtedly, an institution highly favour-
^*\J able to the project of this great king : by this means
he secured the defence of the southern frontiers of
Poland, and increased his military strength at a cheap
rate ; at the same time fertilizing a desert country, and
by insensible but sure degrees civilizing a race of
men who were no less dangerous to those whom they
were to defend than those with whom it was their
business to be in a state of constant warfare and
hostility. As the Cossacks in question were under
the obligation of serving the king of Poland in all his
warlike expeditions, Batory, from their ranks, aug-
mented the Polish army by an additional force of six
thousand light cavalry ; and this addition, it was
intended, should be permanent. In 1578, during the
memorable war with Russia, this newly raised Cossack'
cavalry performed prodigies of valour, and powerfully
contributed to the victories obtained by the Polish
army over the Russians. At a. latter period. King
Batory, whilst according his favour and protection to
the brave and meritorious portion of the Cossack troops,
yet neglected at the same time no measures for re-
pressing their lawless depredations. Having heard
OF THE UKRAINE. 19
that their new chief, Podkova (a Wallachian, so named
on account of his extraordinary strength, he having
repeatedly broken in two, with his fingers, a horse-shoe,
podkova^ in Polish), had, without his orders, invaded
Wallachia, and by a sudden and totally unexpected
irruption into that country, had seized possession of it,
before its hospodar, Peter, an ally and relative of
Batory, could have time to arm in its defence, he sent
a prompt reinforcement to the assistance of the latter ;
and Podkova, pursued and vanquished by superior
numbers, was captured, and, by the king's orders,
beheaded. This was the first collision that had occurred
between the Poles and the Zaporogue Cossacks ; and,
although affording a seasonable opportunity for the
assertion of sovereign authority, and for the exercise
of a just severity, requisite for the maintenance of
public- order, this incident served to open Batory's
eyes, and to warn him that the Cossacks and their
chief already possessed by far too ample means and
incitements to create disturbance for them to remain
submissive and tranquil. He resolved, therefore, to
place some restrictions on their growing power ; and,
by a skilful admixture in his measures of well-timed
rigour with politic conciliation, he succeeded in calming
the restless agitation of the Cossacks ; sending Polish
colonists into the Ukraine to counterbalance for the
future the innate turbulence of this singular race. As
a state of almost eternal warfare existed beyond the
cataracts of the Dnieper, the successor of Podkova,
20 THE COSSACKS
the Attaman Schah, found a pretext for invading
Turkey both by sea and land. After ravaging several
of the Turkish provinces on the coast, he burned the
suburbs of Constantinople, subdued the Turkish forces
on every side, and carried off from the gates of the
Seraglio, and under the very eyes as it were of
the Sultan, one of his most beautiful favourites, re-
turning back with his prize into the Ukraine. Incur-
sions of a similar nature constantly succeeded each
other, like the waves of a tempest-troubled ocean.
All the corsair incursions of the Cossacks in ques-
tion were performed in light boats, called czayhi (pro-
nounced tchaiqui),^ the nature and construction of which
merit particular notice. The largest of these pirate-ves-
sels of the Zaporoguian Cossacks, the czayka^ would con^
tain from thirty to sixty men ; was sixty feet long by
twelve in breadth ; furnished with a sail and from fifteen
to twenty-five oars, and was armed with a couple of swivel
guns, or leather cannons, and a competent number of
smaller fire-arms. These vessels were, sometimes, con-
structed of the single trunk of the linden-tree, which
was hollowed out by the Cossacks, and so fashioned that,
by fastening to it a few planks of wood coated with pitch,
they converted it into a kind of light bark or elongated
barge, lined on the inside with skins or with leather,
and surrounded, outside, with small floats or osier-
boxes, which, breaking the force of the waves, served
both to lighten the weight of the vessel, and, at the
same time, to secure its steadiness, even during the
OF THE UKRAINE. 21
most violent tempests. This singular species of bark,
having from eight to ten feet interior depth, possessed
also the advantage of being managed with a facility-
aim ost incredible ; inasmuch as a bark so constructed
drew infinitely less water than any other vessel of equal
capacity and dimensions. To complete such a vessel
required generally the labour of sixty Cossacks for
fifteen days.
With these barks, well-furnished with arms, ammu-
nition, and ships'-stores, the Cossacks,^ having chosen
a naval chief and a favourable season, made sail for the
Turkish coast. To form some idea of the boldness and
reckless daring of these marauders, it may be remarked,
that the Turks possessed at the mouth of the Dnieper
and along the two opposite banks, Kissikerman and
Tavangorod; and that the passage was defended by
strong iron chains, stretched across under the cannon of
both fortresses. The Cossacks, previously to their
arrival at this spot, usually felled an enormous tree,
which they drove before them on the surface of the
stream with prodigious force : the chains were burst
asunder, and, at the alarm thus given, the cannon were
discharged. But the Cossacks, after clearing the ob-
stacle in question, and in utter contempt of the Turkish
fire now opened upon them, pushed forward into the
Black Sea. Like the ancient Danes, wherever they x
made good a landing, they spread slaughter, conflagra- \
tion, and ruin ; they burned the fleets, pillaged the /
towns, gathered together their booty, carried oflf they
22 THE COSSACKS
young women and children, massacred without pity
all the males, and disappeared before news could be
spread of their sudden appearance, or the necessary
measures taken for repelUng their terrible incursions.
The time chosen for these murderous attacks was
generally at day-break, or, occasionally, under cover of
the darkest midnight. Their very name created terror
along the coasts of the Black Sea. Not unfrequently
they would even penetrate into the centre of Natolia.
At sea, they directed their course without the aid of
any nautical instruments, but by the sole guidance of
the stars ; and this with a regularity and precision dif-
ficult to be conceived — presaging winds, calms, and
tempests, with mathematical exactness. By dint of
these continual cruises on the Black Sea, and of their
expeditions, almost invariably successful, they had ac-
quired so intimate an acquaintance with its navigation,
that, even through the darkest and most tempestuous
night, they could sail on its waters with far greater cer-
tainty and security from danger than could the Turks
in mid-day. The vessels that gave chase to them on
their retreat, not only could never come up with them,
but were frequently exposed to considerable loss. The
Cossacks, to whom all the harbours were well known,
took refuge, with their light barks, in shallows and
sheltered creeks; from whence, having thus enticed
their pursuers into dangerous and sometimes fatal posi-
tions, they slipped away beyond reach of their ven-
geance, and arrived safely with their booty on the desert
— OF THE UKRAINE. 23
islands of the Dnieper, in triumphant defiance of the
Turkish vessels sent out to chase them. The number
of the Cossacks engaged in these piratical expeditions,
varied from six to ten thousand picked men. The
retreatj however, of the Cossacks into the shelter
afforded by their islands was occasionally attended
with considerable difficulty, and with greater hazard
than even their attack, seeing that, closely watched, as
was often the case by the Turkish navy at the mouth
of the Dnieper, and not having the advantage of sail-
ing with the tide in their favour, they were compelled
to secrete themselves in the tall osier-beds, and to gain
at high tide a bay separated only by a narrow slip of
land from a lake. This lake communicated with a river
which discharged itself into the Dnieper, a few miles
above the mouth of the latter stream. The Cossacks,
having once reached the vicinity of the lake, trans-
ported overland, and on their shoulders, their portable
barks, gained the lake, on which they then re-em-
barked, and by this route returned home, thereby
avoiding the Turkish batteries : at other times, they
would retreat by way of the Don, ascending the course
of a small stream which flows into that river close by
the Samara. Such a mode of retreat was, however, but
of rare occurrence, as in general they boldly ventured to
make good their passage homewards under the very
beards of the Turks. It may also be remarked that,
as it was only during the clear bright nights that the
Cossacks were liable to interruption by the Turks in
24 THE COSSAOKS
their movements, they generally chose for their piratical
excursions the period of new moon, when the nights
are dark and gloomy.
There never yet have been, as there probably
never will be, a finer race of seamen navigating the
Black Sea, than were formerly the Cossacks in ques-
tion : they were never equalled, but in order to have
again a Kke class of men, it would be necessary that a
state of circumstances similar to those then existing
should likewise be revived, an event which is all but
impossible.
After the death of Batory, dissensions of a dangerous
character began to arise between the Cossack colonists
and the Polish nobles. Sigismund III., either from
weakness or from ignorance, allowed the seignorial lords
to oppress the Cossack settlers, who, it is true, were
considered merely in the light of a militia in the pay of
the PoHsh crown, but who were never serfs. They
enjoyed, defacto^ a certain kind of independence ; had
the privilege of reclaiming the waste lands in particular
districts ; as also of distilling brandy and brewing beer ;
privileges highly displeasing to the Polish nobles, and
tending to diminish the revenues of the latter, who
were in the habit of establishing Jews in their wine-
houses or taverns for precisely the same purposes.
Hence the extraordinary antipathy manifested by the
Polish Cossacks towards the Jews, an antipathy which
has never subsided. To this cause of ill-feeling was
added another subject of discord still more serious,
OF THE UKRAINE. 25
the Poles were Catholics and the Cossacks schismatics.
Sigismund III., a zealous Catholic, and governed en-
tirely by- the Jesuits, insisted on converting the Cos-
sacks at whatever price ; an attempt which exasperated
the latter more than ever. As some of the attamans ^
appeared favourable tohisprojects, the Cossacks refused
to accept an attaman at the hands of the king, but
elected their own chiefs, some of whom they even killed
occasionally, when they happened to be unsuccessful in
their piratical expeditions. They perceived, moreover,
that there was no longer a Batory, whom they at the
same time loved and dreaded, at the head of state affairs.
It may also be remarked that the emperors of Ger-
many, frequently at war with the Turks, powerfully en-
couraged, underhand, the incursions of the Cossacks
against the latter power.
Under this complication of disturbing causes, symp-
toms of open rebellion began soon to manifest them-
selves in the Ukraine. After a few abortive attempts,
energetically repressed by the skill and promptitude of
the Polish generals, the Cossacks, in 1596, revolted en
masse. The Grand- Hetman Zolkiewski marched
against them ; defeated them several times, not without
considerable difficulty, and drove them at last into a
spot where, surrounded on every side, and exposed to
the destructive fire of the Polish artillery, they were
forced to surrender at discretion. Their chiefs, Nale-
ygyke and Laboda, were taken, condemned to death,
and executed. An amnesty was granted to the rest.
»b THE COSSACKS
In 1621, in the war declared by Turkey against
Poland, and which threatened the very existence of the
state, Peter Konassewitch Sahaydatchny was elected
by the Cossacks themselves attaman, and his election
confirmed by the king. This chief, renowned for his
victorious expeditions against the Russians, the Tatars,
and the Turks, after having defeated and slain his
rival, led 35,000 Cossacks to the Polish camp of the
Grand-Hetman Chodkiewicz, near Khotzim ; and,
having signalized himself by prodigies of valour, greatly
contributed to the glorious result of that memorable
war. He died shortly afterwards, with the reputation,
undoubtedly well deserved, of having been one of the
greatest chiefs of the Polish Cossacks, of whom he had
several times been elected attaman. He was also pre-
fect of the convent of K'iof (Krivobratzkay), and pre-
sident of the academy of that celebrated town.
From the year 1621 the maritime excursions of the
Polish Cossacks appear to have declined in frequency,
either on account of Turkey having adopted more effi-
cient measures for repelling them, or from the Cossacks
themselves (who had, in consequence of the wars with
Russia and Germany, frequent opportunities of display-
ing elsewhere their restless activity in the field, and their
passion for plunder), esteemed these marauding adven-
tures as no longer so profitable as before. Previously to
the Turkish war, in 1621, one of their chiefs was admitted
into the presence of the Sultan, who seems to have been
anxious to behold with his own eyes an individual of
OF THE UKRAINE. 27
that strange race of beings who had formerly been so
severe a scourge to the Ottoman empire. After putting
several questions to him, which the Cossack answered
with equal boldness and sincerity, he asked him, what
were the numbers of his people. ** Sire," replied
the chief, '^ they are as numerous as the grains of sand
on the sea shore : each grain covers a multitude of
others." He was dismissed with presents. It appears
that they carefully concealed the true amount of their
population. As, after the war with Turkey, they again
continued to seduce the peasantry of the great nobles
from their allegiance to their feudal lords, the latter,
exasperated at the incessant defection of their vassals,
commenced a still harsher system of oppression than
before, towards the authors of these vexations. Seve-
ral partial revolts ensued in consequence. The Cos-
sacks were defeated by Konietzpolski, and by others
of the Polish generals, who, however, failed to turn
their victories to profitable account. The centre of the
Cossack power was at that time established at Czerkask
(Tcherkaske), defended by precipices and inaccessible
rocks: they had 50,000 excellent troops under arms,
and a large flotilla on the celebrated islands of the
Dnieper; and this force they, on emergency, easily
augmented by fresh levies of trained recruits. After the
victory gained by the Polish general Konietzpolski
over the Cossacks at Kumeyki, and the execution of
their chiefs, the Diet of 1635 deprived them of the
city of Trchtymirow, abolished their privileges, sup-
250 THE COSSACKS
pressed their militia, and declared their territory re-
united for ever to Poland. But to publish decrees of
this kind, with any prospect of having them obeyed,
requires an accompanying power of being able to carry
them into effect. Poland had at this period several
other wars in hand ; the Cossacks were rather scattered
and dispersed than definitively vanquished ; added to
which, an event altogether unexpected exercised the
most fatal influence on this unfortunate war. The cir-
cumstances of this new subject of political disaster are
of sufficient interest to merit particular mention.
Sinevoy Boghdan Khmielnitski was the son of a Po-
lish gentleman of Mazovia, who had, in order to repair
his shattered fortune, formed an establishment in the
Ukraine, near Tcheghrine. Successful at first, he was
subsequently taken prisoner, and died a captive in
Turkey. His son shared the fate of his parent. Pre-
viously to his being taken prisoner, the elder Khmiel-
nitski had maltreated and caused to be flogged in the
Ukraine a young and high-spirited Pole, Czaplinski,
who, in consequence, had vowed deadly and implacable
hatred against him, but had not had sufficient time to
avenge the insult. Boghdan Khmielnitski, after the
death of his father, had been ransomed by the liberality
of the Polish king, Ladislas IV., of whose favour he
subsequently proved himself worthy, by the extent of
his knowledge and his great capacity, both military and
political. He was appointed secretary-general of the
Zaporogues, a post of considerable importance, and he
OF THE UKRAINE.
resided on the patrimonial estate of his father at Sob-
otof, a domain the value and productiveness of which
he greatly improved by the cultivation of fresh districts
of land, hitherto lying waste, and by his industry.
Whilst thus engaged, Czaplinski, then pidotsrostu of
Czegryn, excited by the still nourished thirst for re-
venge, persecuted him with unremitting animosity.
Not content with thwarting his plans of territorial im-
provement, and contesting with him the advantages
justly derivable from a superior system of management*
he proceeded so far as to attack him in his own house,
burn it, throw him into prison, and offer outrage to his
wife. Khmielnitski, on his release from prison,** found
that in the meantime his wife had died of grief. Un-
able to obtain justice from the local tribunals, he re-
paired to the Zaporogues, and raised the standard of
revolt at the head of 50,000 men. With these, making
his appearance in the Ukraine, he was forthwith pro-
claimed chief of all the Cossacks of the Dnieper. He
attacked and took by assault several towns in succession,
and at the outset obtained many signal advantages over
the Polish generals, who were forced to yield to supe-
rior numbers. Either as a ruse, or from some other
motive not explained, he addressed to King Ladislas a
letter, couched in the most humble and submissive
terms, ascribing his hostile proceedings to the sole desire
of avenging the affront to which he had been subjected,
and promising to lay down his arms, and to return to
his allegiance, provided the condition of the Cossacks
30 THE COSSACKS
were ameliorated, and himself pardoned. As Ladislas
IV. had just then (1648) died, this letter remained un-
answered; meanwhile the forces of Khmielnitski in-
creased daily, so that in a very short time he found
himself at the head of a vast body of adherents. John
Kasimir, who had now ascended the Polish throne, had
at this period a variety of other wars in hand, and was
moreover sufficiently occupied and distracted by the
internal dissensions of his own kingdom. Khmielnitski,
after having proclaimed the emancipation of the pea-
sants, called the Cossacks of the Don to arms, increased
his army by a strong reinforcement of Tatar troops,
and, having taken several places by assault, crowned
his exploits by the indiscriminate massacre of all the
Polish nobles and of the Jews. He ransomed Leopold,
and, after having married the widow of his former
persecutor CzapKnski, he advanced with 400,000 men
to annihilate the remnant of the Polish armies. This
war was conducted on either side with relentless cru-
elty, and in the savage spirit of a struggle for mutual
extermination, the more especially as it was to some
extent a species of religious warfare ; the schismatics
of the Russian provinces favouring the cause of Khmiel-
nitski. Never indeed had Poland found herself placed
in a position of such imminent danger. Her assailant
was already master of a third part of the kingdom ;
giving public audience to foreign ambassadors from
the principal courts of Europe, and deigning scarcely
to listen to the various propositions for an amicable
OF THE UKRAINE. 31
arrangement which were submitted to him. Already-
had he meditated the project of falling suddenly, Hke
a second Attilla, upon Europe, and of conquering for
himseK a new empire by relinquishing Poland ; when
his victorious career was at once arrested by the heroic
courage and surprising energy of a Polish noble,
Andrew Firley, castellan of Betz, near Zbaraz. This
nobleman had but 9,000 men under his command.
Zbaraz is a siiiall town of Lower Podolia, situated at
the conjunction of two roads ; its population num-
bered at that period but a few thousand souls. Firley,
foreseeing that he would very shortly be attacked,
repaired the old fortifications, laid in a competent
supply of stores and ammunition, strengthened his
camp by an entrenchment, and took the requisite mea-
sures for securing from sudden attack a small pond or
natural tank in the neighbourhood, the waters of which
sufficed for the requirements of his little army. To his
prudence and valour it was that, on the near approach
of the coming storm, the Polish king had confided the
important charge of arresting the progress of Khmiel-
nitski, and of awaiting with some other Polish troops
the first arrival of the enemy : nor was ever task more
faithfully accomplished or royal confidence more judi-
ciously placed than on this occasion.
Scarcely had Firley taken up his position and com-
pleted his entrenchments, when the Cossack and
Tatar armies surrounded him on all sides : instead,
however, of tamely surrendering, he resolved to defend
\
32 THE COSSACKS
himself to the last extremity. Khmielnitski and the
Tatar Khan glanced in anticipated triumph from the
aspect of the immense forces at their command to the
comparatively insignificant strength of the small Polish
army before them ; and with a smile of disdain made
certain of destroying the latter in the course of an
hour's engagement. Too confident of victory, Khmiel-
nitski, willing to prevent the effusion of blood, sum-
moned Firley to surrender, assuring him of kind treat-
ment, and of the highest regard for his courage, which
he held to be unimpeachable. Firley returned for
answer, that he had only to come and take them ; upon
which several columns of infantry were instantly set
in motion, fifty pieces of cannon opened their fire upon
the Polish camp, and 60,000 Cossacks, commanded
by Khmielnitski in person, and led by skilful and
experienced officers, mounted to the assault. They
were, however, repulsed with considerable loss. The
Tatars and Don-Cossacks now followed in their turn
but with no better success, and their dead bodies
choked up the ditches. Khmielnitski, anxious to avoid
the protracted delays of a siege in form, and to animate
his troops by the excitement of a victory, gave orders
to resume the assault. Column after column pressed
forward to attack the entrenchment, but the incessant
and well-directed fire of the besieged rendered unavail-
ing every effort of the assailants, whose dense masses
were every moment thinned by the terrific discharges
of grape-shot and musketry brought to bear upon them
OF THE UKRAINE. 33
by Firley, upon whom these repeated onslaughts failed
to make the slightest impression. Irritated and ex-
asperated rather than discouraged, Khmielnitski now
issued orders to concentrate the principal attack in the
direction of the pond, a point of the Polish camp
which appeared less strongly defended than other por-
tions of the entrenched position, and where, conse-
quently, a breach seemed more practicable. Eighty-five
pieces of cannon were sent forward to cover this
attack ; by the combined fire from these, the artillery
of Firley was dismounted. Scaling-ladders were now
everywhere applied, but a fearful discharge of mus-
ketry from the besieged, joined to the havoc caused
by the explosion of a shower of shells and ignited
hand-grenades hurled by them amongst their assailants,
occasioned such great loss and confusion in the ranks
of the latter, that the assault was once more repelled ;
Khmielnitski himself, from motives of commiseration,
giving the order to retreat, after having suffered in
seventeen successive assaults enormous loss. The
night passed off quietly. On the following day, a
number of general assaults were attempted ; and the
attack was pushed with so much vigour and pertinacity,
that already the Cossacks were on the very point
of carrying both the camp and town, when, at this
critical juncture, Prince Visniovietski cried aloud
to spare the Tatars, since they had brought, by mes-
sengers from their khan, words of peace and good-
will, and were about to turn their arms against the
34 THE COSSACKS
Cossacks. This stratagem had the desired effect ; it
revived the drooping courage of the besieged, and
damped the ardour of the assailants ; the Poles made
a last desperate effort, and the enemy were repulsed.
Khmielnitski, perceiving that his army began to mur-
mur, and that it would be dangerous, for the moment
at least, to renew the assault openly, had recourse to
treachery, and despatched three secret emissaries, dis-
guised in the Polish uniform, into Zbaraz, to sow
discord in the camp, and to assassinate Firley : the
attempt however failed, the plot was discovered,
and the three spies quartered. He was compelled,
therefore, to undergo all the delays and procrastinations
of a regular siege. In a short time, immense works,
directed by foreign officers and engineers, had brought
the Cossacks into close proximity to the town. For-
midable batteries were erected ; in addition to which
Khmielnitski gave orders to divert the course of a small
river that fed the pond, in order to cut off the supply
of water to the Polish army, and thereby deprive the
besieged of a resource indispensable to their very
existence. This project was not altogether impracti-
cable, considering the then prevailing heat of the
summer season ; but it required time for its accom-
plishment, which, on the other hand, was not unattended
with serious difficulties. Firley, who began already to
feel the absolute necessity of economising his means
of subsistence, was obliged to expel from the town all
the women, children, and old men. The rest of the
OF THE UKRAINE. 35
inhabitants, even to the boys of the age of thirteen
years, were armed and organized for the defence of
Zbaraz. Scarcely had this wretched crowd of helpless
beings quitted the entrenchments, when a brutal and
ungovernable soldiery fell upon the women, whom
they first maltreated; and afterwards, together with
all that left Zbaraz, pitilessly and indiscriminately
massacred, without regard to age or sex. At the sight
of this atrocity, cries of rage and execration arose from
within the ramparts; but it was already too late to
afford succour to the miserable sufferers, and they all
perished.
During the enemy's operations to divert the course
of the river, Firley, now more than ever resolved to
sell his life dearly, was not inactive ; and as he united
in his disposition an iron stubbornness of will with
consummate skiQ in all branches of the art of war,
he ordered some houses to be demolished, and on their
site a second entrenchment to be constructed, imme-
diately behind and parallel with the first : within this
again a third, on the descent ; and finally, an inner
stockade of baggage-waggons and caissons, linked
together by iron chains: he even made all requisite
dispositions to defend himself and his men to the very
last extremity, in the vaults and under-ground works
of the fortifications. As soon as the small river had
been intercepted, and a number of breaches made in
the outworks, a heavy cannonade announced a fresh
attack on the part of the Cossacks. Strong columns
3b THE COSSACKS
of the enemy advanced to the storm ; but when, after
a vigorous resistance, the Cossack troops had carried
the first intrenchment, they were not a little surprised
at finding a second and a third, wherein they met
with so warm a reception, that, bravely repulsed, and
in their turn fiercely attacked and pursued, they left
the streets of Zbaraz encumbered with the corpses of
their slain, and with the bodies of their wounded
comrades cut off in their retreat. In the intervals
thus gained from attack, Firley ordered all the mus-
kets and ammunition to be collected from the dead,
and distributed but few rounds of cartridge to each of
his men, in order that they might be thereby induced
to take surer aim. He had recourse, moreover, to a
singular stratagem, the success of which even surpassed
his hopes. He had perforations made in the intrench-
ments; and in these apertures were planted several
rows of muskets, well charged, and so arranged as not
to be perceptible to the enemy. These muskets were
all carefully levelled so as to tell with precision on the
ranks of an assailant; and to each trigger was attached
a string which led from other stronger ropes, disposed
in such a manner as that on violently shaking the
latter the muskets were discharged in vollies of fifteen
at a time. To guard against an attack by surprise,
the main cords of this species of " infernal machine "
passed through holes under ground; that is to say,
into the subterranean barracks or excavations beneath
the intrenchments, wherein were lodged some of the
OF THE UKRAINE.
wounded and disabled from active service, who re-
ceived the requisite instructions for the management
of this novel means of defence.
For some days the besieged remained unmolested,
but the waters of the pond continued to decrease visi-
bly ; the provision stores began to fail, threatening an
absolute scarcity of food. The stifling heat of the
weather, the great numbers of men cooped up together
in a confined space, and more especially the want of
proper nourishment, carried off the sick and wounded by
hundreds. Many of the soldiers perished in defending
the breach : all the messengers whom Firley despatched
to the king to apprize him of the fearful position of the
small garrison of Zbaraz, anxiously expecting every
instant but in vain the arrival of reinforcements, were
either taken or killed by the troops of Khmielnitski.
To crown all these disasters, a putrid fever broke out
amongst the besieged, and did more havoc in the Polish
camp than did the balls of the enemy. Meanwhile,
Firley continued to sustain the drooping courage of his
countrymen, scarcely allowing himself time for sleep ;
present everywhere, providing with promptness and
decision for every emergency, and constantly impress-
ing on the minds of his companions in distress how
preferable it was to die nobly in the breach, than to
expire in lingering torment. After consuming all the
horses, dogs, cats, rats, frogs, snakes, reptiles, and the
miserable remnant of such food as desperation suggests
or chance supplies, Firley, seeing that his garrison was
38 THE COSSACKS
reduced to the very last extremity, ordered all the
bodies of the young Cossacks recently killed to be col-
lected, had them cut up and salted with gunpowder,
and then distributed amongst his famishing troops.
Some of these, indeed, testified an insurmountable re-
pugnance to taste of this fare so novel and revolting ;
but the rest, impelled by the imperious rage of hunger,
were fain to follow the example set them by their chief
himself. Monks, artizans, and priests, crowded to die
in the breach. Occasionally, the Cossacks speculated
on the chances of an assault : every day, towards even-
ing, and at sunrise, whilst the Polish flag waved at the
summit of the castle, was chaunted, to the sound of
martial music, the solemn hymn to the Blessed Virgin,
queen and patroness of Poland, to the intent that she
might deliver the remnant of her brave people from
their hapless fate : and many a time did the strains of
this pious and warlike hymn revive the courage of the
dying, and pour into the despairing soul the balm of
cheering hope and the quietude of resignation.
The Cossacks, having heard of the misery that pre-
vailed in the Polish camp, made, in the middle of the
night, a last and desperate effort to surprise it. They
forced the first, second, and third intrenchments ; they
were already on the point of butchering the womided ;
already had they raised their cry of triumph ; when, at
a given signal, the report of fire-arms was heard in their
rear : they fell by hundreds, and these incessant and
murderous discharges fully impressed them with the
OF THE UKRAINE. 89
belief that they were being attacked by some new
enemy, whereupon they turned about and fled, the
garrison making a sortie and pursuing them. The day
broke, and an arrow, shot by some unknown hand, fell
in the centre of the Polish camp : it bore an inscrip-
tion announcing the arrival of the king with reinforce-
ments. The arrow and its tidings were, at first, looked
upon as a stratagem of the enemy, but soon the con-
tinued movements perceptible amongst the hostile
troops, and the evident symptoms of disorder in the
Cossack and Tatar armies, left no further doubt as to
something of the kind having happened. The arrow
had been sent by a Polish noble, who, in resentment of
an affront, had joined the standard of Khmielnitski : but
the important intelligence he had forwarded to Firley,
and the good service he had rendered the king by trans-
mitting to him news of the fearful state to which the
garrison of Zbaraz was reduced,, procured him a free
pardon for his desertion to the enemy. Firley had
completely exhausted his stock of gunpowder and ball,
so that his garrison could not possibly have held out
longer. The king of Poland, John Kasimir, was now
actually advancing to its relief, and had already reached
Zborof, a small town not far from Leopold.
Khmielnitski and the Tatar khan having learned
that the army of the Polish king consisted of but
barely 20,000 men, imagined that this was a new
prey for them to devour ; the more easily too as the
royal army did not occupy any fortified position. Leav-
40 THE COSSACKS
ing, therefore, 45,000 Tatars and 200,000 Cossacks
before the intrenchments of Zbaraz, they marched upon
Zborof with 60,000 Tatars, and 100,000 Cossacks, the
elite of both armies, and a strong force of artillery.
They soon arrived, under cover of a thick fog, close upon
the royal army, before the latter had warning of their
approach. Scarcely had they sufficient time to form
into battalion, when they found themselves assailed on
every side. A canal, confined by a high bank, pro-
tected their rear; but this embankment having been
broken through, the rear-guard, violently attacked, lost
their baggage trains. The moment was critical for the
fate of Poland. Neither the Tatars nor the Cossacks
were able to force the centre and the right wing, where
they were repulsed with immense loss; but the left
wing, raked by the artillery and attacked by over-
whelming numbers, after losing all its officers, was ex-
posed to the greatest danger. Thither the king
hastened, and his presence revived the spirit of the
soldiers, who performed prodigies of valour.
Nightfall brought no cessation to the fury of the
assailants : during the construction of a rampart with
the heaped-up bodies of the slain, the Polish generals
convoked a council of war, wherein a resolution was
come to, confirmed by an oath, either to conquer or
die. Further, it was decided, that measures should
be taken to detach the khan from the Cossack alliance.
When daylight dawned on this terrible night, the
battle was renewed with increased determination on
OF THE UKRAINE. 41
either side. AVhilst a hand-to-hand conflict, sustained
by all the rancour of mutual hate and animosity, was
raging with deadly force amongst the combatants,
whole ranks were swept away at once by the fearful
discharges of artillery. Ultimately, however, the im-
mense superiority in numbers was forced to yield to
the steady power of military tactics, and the resistless
courage of despair. The Poles were victorious on all
points. Khmielnitski having received unfavourable
news from Lithuania, where Prince Radziwill was
everywhere defeating the Cossacks with terrific energy,
and having reason, from hour to hour, to expect the
arrival of that victorious general with 15,000 troops
to reinforce the royal army; finding, moreover, that
the khan of the Tatars had withdrawn his support
from the Cossack cause, and had actually concluded
an armistice with the Polish king ; Khmielnitski, thus
hampered and thwarted in his plans, found himself
under the necessity of likewise agreeing to a suspension
of hostilities, and of soliciting, in person, his pardon
from the king ; an event which afforded some tempo-
rary respite to unhappy Poland. The convention of
Zborof (17th August, 1649,) was by no means favour-
able to Khmielnitski himself. He was therein treated
as a rebellious subject, compelled to disband his army,
and forbidden for the future to receive deserters or
refugees ; he was to be permitted to retain no greater
number than 40,000 registered Cossacks — and these
merely for the defence of the frontiers, conformably
42 THE COSSACKS
to the ancient stipulations settled by King Batory.
But on the other hand, an amnesty was granted to
all the Cossacks, who were to be permitted in future
to elect their own attamans and to distil brandy :
they were also to have the right of hunting and fishing
throughout the south of the Ukraine; they were to
enjoy the free exercise of their religion ; and a pro-
mise was even made them to admit to the Senate
and to the Diet a Cossack, with the title of Palatine
of Kiow, as likewise a metropolitan of the Greek
religion. Further, there was accorded to each re-
gistered Cossack, a ducat in money, together with
sufficient cloth for his dress.
Scarcely had the Tatars and Khmielnitski retreated,
when the king's troops made their appearance before
Firley's camp. At the aspect of the national banners
waving in the air, near Zbaraz, all attempts to preserve
order and discipline in the garrison became useless. A
crowd of living spectres rushed into the embraces of
their brethren in arms. Some, exhausted by long
suffering and privation, e:8:pi«:ed with excess of joy.
Shortly afterwards, masses were performed, to render
thanksgiving to Heaven for the miraculous deliverance
of this band of heroes ; but many of the inhabitants of
Zbaraz never more were blessed with the sight of
wife, mother, sisters, or children. This celebrated
defence, one of the most obstinate and determined of
its kind in the seventeenth century, earned for its
leader, Firlev, immortal fame ; afforded time to the
OF THE UKRAINE.
king of Poland to detach, by means of skilfully
directed intrigues, the Tatar troops from the Cossack
alliance ; reawakened the energies of the Polish
nation ; and thereby, most probably saved all Europe
from a terrible invasion on the part of the barbarian
tribes, not less dangerous than had been formerly that
of Attila or of Ghengiz-Khan. Khmielnitski and the
Tatars lost in twenty-nine attacks on Zbaraz, and in
the battle of Zborof, upwards of 50,000 of their best
troops, and the best part of their artillery. There was
in Firley's camp a priest, Mucheveski, stationed at the
gate of the castle, who, with his single carabine, shot
down upwards of two hundred Cossacks, according to
Pastorius ; himself receiving several wounds. Firley
was presented with a starosty, as a reward for his
signal exploit; but, beyond this, history is silent as
regards his subsequent career. It is only by such
another man that Poland can once i^ore be freed.
The Firley family is of British origin; ranking,
however, amongst the most illustrious of the Polish
nobility. It has produced several warriors, a few
statesmen, and a host of beautiful women. There were
yet remaining, in Austrian Gallicia, a few surviving
descendants of this distinguished family; and there
may still be found, if indeed they have not been
massacred by the peasantry in the late insurrection of
the latter against the nobles. Many historians con-
sider the defence of Zbaraz by Firley one of the
most surprising military achievements upon record.
44 THE COSSACKS
The convention of Zbaraz was highly displeasing to
the Polish nobility, as being too favourable to the
Cossacks. Complaints on the subject were in conse-
quence made to the Diet ; but the king, unshaken in
his purpose, appeared more obstinately bent than ever
on having it observed. In a short time, however,
Khmielnitski, still protesting his good intentions, fanned
anew the embers of discord : setting on foot a variety
of intrigues, now with Turkey, now with the Court of
Russia, on his own account ; and after promising the
Sultan to yield him up the Ukraine, on certain
conditions — amongst others, that he might expel the
hospodar of Moldavia, as being too favourably dis-
posed towards Poland — he openly and without any
previous declaration of war invaded the latter province,
of which he made himself master. Scarcely had the
hospodar sufficient time to take refuge, with a few
troops, in those vast forests which had so often been
the tomb of an invading foe. From this retreat,
however, he shortly afterwards emerged, after paying a
heavy ransom to Khmielnitski, to whose son, moreover,
he promised to give his daughter in marriage. This
invasion spread alarm once more throughout Poland ;
more especially as Khmielnitski, under the pretext of
aiding the khan of the Tatars in an invasion against
the Circassians, was levying fresh troops ; and as one
of his subaltern chiefs, Nitchai, about this time made
an irruption into Podolia ; where however, beaten,
pursued, and his forces cut to pieces, he perished,
OP THE UKRAINE.
together with his adherents. Although these irrup-
tions were disavowed by Khmiebiitski, two Polish
divisions, one of them under the orders of Kalinowski,
and the other under Potocki, advanced upon the
Ukraine and Podolia. There existed, moreover,
another ground of quarrel. The disbanded Cossacks
would not allow t the peasants to cultivate the soil, nor
the seigneurs to reside on the estates of these districts.
A deputation of Cossacks sent to negociate with the
king, made such extravagant demands and proposals
so insolent, that John Kasimir himself changed his
mind regarding them ; and having learned that the
Cossacks were about voluntarily to submit themselves
to Turkey, he immediately raised 50,000 fresh troops,
convoked the Pospolite ruszenie, or general muster of
the nobles, and marched against Khmielnitski ; whilst
Radziwill, almost invariably successful against the
Cossacks, guarded Lithuania.
The royal troops thought to take Khmielnitski by
surprise ; when, to their astonishment, that chief,
having collected immense forces, suddenly made his
appearance within a thousand paces of the Polish army.
On making this discovery, the king fell back and took
up his position near Beresteczko, on the bank of the
river Styr, in Volhynia ; having on the one hand that
river as his point-d'appui, and on the other, a hilly
ground, which he bristled with infantry. He had all
the bridges destroyed, in order to leave no possibility
of retreat.
46 THE COSSACKS
As this battle would decide the fate of the Cossacks,
and as Khmielnitski, during the two days' skirmishing
which preceded it, had become convinced that the
Polish army was more numerous than usual, he seemed
inclined to avoid the chances of a general engagement.
The king, who penetrated his design, thereupon
ordered his army to form in line of battle — a manoeuvre
which was effected under cover of a dense fog. The
right wing was commanded by the Grand-Hetman Po-
totski, who had under him the illustrious Sobieski, just
arrived from his recent journey into France, and
who was shortly to adorn the Polish crown with the
added glories of his immortal fame. The left wing
was confided to the command of General Kalinowski,
supported by the Princes Ostrogoki and V'isniovietski,
two noblemen of approved bravery serving under
him, the king taking charge of the centre, and
having in front of his line the Polish and German
infantry, as likewise the artillery under the direc-
tion of Przyiemski, a veteran Swedish general. The
second line was composed of a superb body of
cavalry, amongst whom was the king in person.
The third portion of the line formed a reserve,
under the orders of Prince Charles, brother to the
king, and of a French colonel, Duplessis, whose skill
and daring had become proverbial. In the rear
of these main bodies were posted a few regiments
of light infantry, whilst the whole was hedged in
with a forest of lances, the floating pennants from
OF THE UKRAINE. 47
which spread farther than the eye could reach, and
fonned a spectacle at once imposing and fantastic. The
Polish army numbered 100,000 men.
The enemy's force consisted of 350,000 men: its
numbers were lost in the distance, and presented the
appearance of living waves, tossing to and fro on the
agitated surface of a tempest-torn ocean. The Cos-
sacks drawn up facing the left wing of the Polish army
were intermixed with Turkish troops. Several rows
of chariots, linked firmly together by iron chains, called
tabor, and defended by picked men, formed their
centre; on both wings and on all the neighbouring
heights were the innumerable Tatar squadrons, ranged
in the form of a half-moon or single crescent. The fog
had just dispersed, and the rays of a bright sun dis-
closed to mutual view the two armies, surprised and
motionless, in front of each other. Since the days of
Timur-lenkh never had the like for importance and
extent been seen. After a few seconds of deep and
solemn silence had elapsed, forty-eight pieces of field-
artillery, under Przyiemski, opened a deadly fire ; the
ranks of the enemy were visibly thinned by the dis-
charge, and the entire Polish army rushed upon the
Cossacks, who were the principal object of attack;
these, after a vigorous defence, broken at last by the
fury of the Polish charge, took refuge behind their
iron-bound chariots, leaving their Tatar allies openly
exposed to the murderous fire of the artiUery, beneath
which they fell by whole squadrons at a time. Com-
■
48
THE COSSACKS
pelled to regain the heights from which they had des-
cended, the Tatars rallied again at first, but when all
around the khan had been either killed or wounded,
that chief gave way : his best squadrons dispersed, and
towards nightfall took to flight, pursued by the Polish
cavalry; leaving behind them their camp, their bag-
gage, and their prisoners, as also an immense booty,
the whole of which fell into the hands of the victorious
Poles. Khmielnitski strove in vain to arrest their
retreat, and with this view rode after the Tatars ; but
the khan, after reproaching him with his deception in
having given him a false report of the strength of the
Polish army, had him arrested, and even threatened
to deliver him up to the Polish king, unless he con-
sented to indemnify him, the khan, for the losses he
had sustained in consequence, by delivering to him one
half of all the booty which the Cossack chief had
realized in the immediately preceding campaign against
Poland. The absence of Khmielnitski threw the Cos-
sack army, still 200,000 strong, into a state of para-
lysing uncertainty. Batteries were erected all around
them and they fell by hundreds. After making some
unsuccessful sorties, the Cossacks, weakened by two
days' fighting, were as a body completely dispersed:
the small remnant of their but lately innumerable
forces, entrenched themselves on a neighbouring island,
where, obstinately refusing to surrender, they were ex-
terminated to the very last man.
In this brilliant action, which lasted three successive
OF THE XTKRAINE. 49
days, and which destroyed the Cossack power in Po-
land, the Poles sustained but very trifling loss. Forty
thousand Cossacks and Tatars were left dead on the
field of battle ; sixty pieces of cannon, all their baggage
trains and banners, together with an immense collection
of booty, fell into the hands of the conquerors, as
trophies of their victory. The king committed a
great oversight in not following up to the very last in
pursuit of the flying enemy. The Cossacks were
allowed to eflfect their retreat comparatively unmo-
lested, and the victor was content with a mere restric-
tion of their privileges. Khmielnitski, however, soon
made his re-appearance in arms, raised once more the
standard of revolt, and even with some partial success
at first : but was again defeated, after having in vain
soHcited the protection of Turkey and Sweden, who,
at the same time that they refused him their support,
advised him to place no reliance whatever on Kussia.
He tdtimately changed his line of policy as regarded
the establishment of the Cossacks as an independent
state : and having received information that Prince
Radziwill had just at this period annihilated his best
troops in Lithuania, and that the Tatar khan had
entered into a treaty with the king of Poland, whereby
he undertook to pursue the Cossacks in every direction
and to break up their settlements, on condition of his
Polish majesty's aiding him to reconquer the Khanat
in the kingdom of Astrakhan, subjugated a century
before by the Czar Ivan IV., — conscious, moreover,
£
50 THE COSSACKS
that he was in no condition to struggle single-handed
against Poland, Khmielnitski, on the 6th January,
1654, concluded at Pereaslav a convention with the
Czar Alexy Michalovitch, by the terms of which a
portion of the Ukrania, together with its Cossack
population, submitted under certain conditions to the
dominion of Russia. The conformity of creed in
matters of religion existing between the t^^ nations,
the desire to furnish, elsewhere, employment for the
turbulent activity and restless enterprise of the Cossack
hordes, joined to an inclination to enjoy at his ease
the sweets of power — by no means an object of easy
attainment in Poland — would seem to have been the
principal motives for his taking this rash and impru-
dent step, in direct opposition to the advice of Charles
Gustavus, king of Sweden, and against the wish and
opinion of many of the Cossacks themselves.
It may be as well here to remark, that when Khmiel-
nitski advised the czar to attack Poland, the latter,
willing at the same time both to play upon the super-
stitious feelings of the common people, and to have
his still wavering decision confirmed by some favour-
able omen, had a couple of wild bulls brought before
him ; one of these bore the name of Poland the other
Muscovy: the larger and more powerful of the two
was the champion of Eussia. The bulls were then
let loose upon each other : in the event of the Polish
bull being crushed by his adversary, then Alexy was
to be considered as fulfilling orders from on high. At
OF THE UKRAINE. 51
first the superior activity of the Polish bull gave him
some advantage over his more ponderous assailant,
and he parried the attack of the Russian bull ; but the
latter, infuriated by resistance, redoubled his efforts,
and by dint of his overwhelming strength overthrew
the former, and was on the point of being proclaimed
the conqueror, when suddenly the Polish bull, whom
every one supposed to be nearly dead, started up again
on his legs, rushed with resistless fury on his anta-
gonist, buried his horns in his flank, and stretched him
lifeless on the arena. This circumstance, related by
several writers, made such an impression on the mind
of Alexy, that it became necessary to set in motion
the intrigues of the courtiers, and even of the metro-
politan himself, in order to force him to invade Poland.
As for the Cossacks, naturally a superstitious race, it
was for them an infallible prognostic of the ultimate
victory that must one day be achieved by Poland over
Russia. As Khmielnitski had not the right of dispo-
sing of the Ukraine, a war with Russia ensued, and,
after much bloodshed, and the loss by the Cossacks of
several battles, a portion of Ukrania was restored to
Poland.
Although, in accordance with the convention of Pe-
reaslav, between the czar and Khmielnitski, the latter
took possession of the Russian Ukraine, as a fief of
Muscovy, yet on behalf of the Cossacks, whom, as his
proteges, he erected into a species of separate nation,
they were in reality much less independent than
ft
52 THE COSSACKS
they had formerly been whilst under the dominion of
Poland. The Russians personified despotism itself;
the Cossacks, on the contrary, the essence of freedom :
their customs, their character, their Magdeburg code
of laws, under which their government was carried on,
all gave umbrage to the Russians.
When we reflect on the conduct of Khmielnitski, we
cannot but admit that he possessed in an eminent de-
gree the talent of adapting his measures to the peculiar
disposition and manners of the Cossacks ; that he pos-
sessed over them a great ascendancy and controlling
influence ; but it is nevertheless equally evident that he
never intended definitely to separate himself from Po-
land, either because he still secretly cherished in his
bosom a remnant of affection towards his native land,
or that he foresaw that a race of men, who exist but
for rapine and plunder, and who seem to have a decided
repugnance to establishing themselves anywhere as a
settled community, do not possess within themselves
the requisite elements for constituting a separate nation.
Khmielnitski, it is true, took signal vengeance for his
wrongs, but he dealt an almost mortal blow to Poland,
and would appear subscquenj:ly to have bitterly repented
his conduct in so doing ; since, on his death-bed, after
having summoned together the principal Cossack
leaders, and returned them thanks for their devotion to
his cause, he uttered these memorable words : " / have
committed towards God a grievous sin, in having betrayed
the Cossack people to the Czar Alexy : it were better that
OF THE UKRAINE. OO
they should confide in the Turks, or even in the Tatars
themselves, than in the good faith of Russia, Return
back then, Cossacks, to Poland, and continue for ever
united to her.'' After pronouncing this address he ex-
pired, on the I5th of August, 1656.
After his death the Cossacks alternately, as occasion
offered, returned to their allegiance to Poland, or sub-
mitted to the Turks; now allying themselves once more
with Russia, now breaking out into fresh revolts, which
deluged the country with torrents of blood. All the
efforts of an historian would be unequal to the task of
describing the endless intrigues and convulsions by
which they were incessantly agitated. Although Russia
held out to them the hope of something like indepen-
dence, she never in reality entertained the slightest idea
of fulfilling her promises to the Cossacks in this respect.
8he on the contrary abrogated their privileges, and
suppressed the Cossack settlements in Lesser Russia.
Outrages similar to those perpetrated by Czaplinski
could not be tolerated anywhere. Had he been
punished with death in Khmielnitski's presence the
terrible rebellion of the Cossacks under his sway would
never have happened. On the other side, had Khmiel-
nitski's father not shamefully illtreated Czaplinski, the
latter would probably never have committed such enor-
mities at Khmielnitski's house, and never avenged on
the son the insults to which he had been subjected by
the father. Those also who are acquainted with the
recesses of the human heart, are well aware, that a
54 THE COSSACKS
proud man may forgive many things, but scorn never ;
and that there are offences which are never forgiven.
More than once we have seen that private quarrels
often exercised a fatal influence on the destiny of large
empires. Such things produce generally a terrible
commotion when the offender is too powerful to be
dealt with openly; and the more powerful he is, the
more his injuries are resented. Even time, instead of
diminishing, only increases the thirst for revenge.
Khmielnitski, after his defection from Poland, usurped
the Polish title of hetman, which nowhere now exists
but among the Cossacks. The dignity of grand
hetman, which corresponds to that of field-marshal, or
general-in-chief, existed till the last partition of
Poland. The supreme military title among the Cos-
sacks, granted to the latter by the Polish kings, and
known among the Cossacks themselves, was Attaman
Koshovy, or only Koshovy; Attaman Kourenny, or
Kourenny only, corresponding with the title of colonel,
with some higher distinctions.
After the defection of Khmielnitski from Poland and
his death, a Cossack chief, Samoilovitch, taking advan-
tage of a disastrous treaty between Poland and Russia
in 1686, by which not only the Polish territory at the
east of the Dnieper, but even the important town of
K'iof was given up to the latter power, prevailed, by
Russian intrigues, on great numbers of Polish
Cossacks settled on the western bank of that river to
emigrate with him to Russia in 1675, under the plea of
OF THE UKRAINE. 55
finding great advantages for them in the Russian
Ukraine, where lands were actually distributed to them
in the Steppes, and high-sounding promises made them
by order of the czar. This emigration, which may be
considered as one of the most important after the death
of Khmielnitskij was undertaken more from religious
than from political motives, as the Cossacks on all im-
portant occasions have invariably shown a greater
predilection to Poland than to Russia, on account of
their attachment to liberty and democracy.
AVars between Poland and Russia on account of the
Cossacks have been incessant. The continual emigra-
tion of the Cossacks to both countries became an
apple of discord between Poland and Russia till the
complete suppression of the Zaporogues before the par-
tition of Poland : though some of the Polish Cossacks
were still to be found in the Ukraine. If, on one side,
during the beginning of their political existence the
Cossacks were useful to Poland; on the other, their
piratical expeditions and rapine in Turkey were chiefly
the cause of many wars with the Ottomans ; while their
numerous rebellions cost rivers of blood. The perse-
cution of their religious creed, chiefly attributed to the
bigotry of the Jesuits who governed the weak Sigis-
mund III., and the oppression to which they were sub-
jected by the Polish grandees, sapped the political
existence of Poland. As there was a time when all the
Cossacks were inclined to be incorporated completely
with Poland, it was as necessary to invest them cau-
56 THE COSSACKS OF THE UKRAINE.
tiously with the privileges of the Polish nobles as to
exterminate them completely.
The general characteristics of the Cossacks appear to
be their predilection for a wandering life, love of
rapine, a wild passion for democracy, and a liberty they
know not how to use. A Cossack will endure any
climate, and is remarkable for the instinct by which he
finds his way in the wildest tracts. With noisy demon-
strations of joy in successes, they combine sudden
depression of spirits in reverses, and their passions ai'e
easily excited, being governed rather by impulse than
by reason. The generality of the Cossacks are of
middle size but of robust constitution, enduring hun-
ger, thirst, fatigue, and want of sleep, with astonishing
hardihood. They have mostly auburn or red hair, blue
sunken eyes, and Asiatic features : cunning and patient
in stratagem, they are at the same time proud and
hospitable. They are rather a peculiar race than a
distinct nation, whose ultimate destiny, assigned them
by Providence, is, probably, not yet fulfilled.
See Lessur's Histoire des Cosaques; Chevalier's
Guerre des Cosaques ; Pastorius ; Niemcevitch ; Beau-
plan; Sherer Annales de le Petite Russie; Pologne
Pittoresque ; Brown on the Cossacks ; Pamietniki ;
Hetmana Zulkiewskiego, &c., &c.
See on Pazin, L'Eveque ; Lessur ; Kelation of the
rebellion of Eazin, British Museum, &c., &c.
See on Mazeppa, Life of Peter the Great, Charles
XII., Nurymberg, &c. &c.
CHAPTEE II.
REBELLION OF STENKO RAZIN.
Stenko Eazin— Obscurity of his early History— His Oath of Ven-
geance against Russia — His Eetreat at the Mouth of the laik—
Amnesty with Russia — Again RevoUs — His Popularity— Attack
on Astrakhan— Its Capture— Stenko Razin's ambitious Design —
His Stratagem and Successes — Head-quarters of Prince Dolgorouki
— Horrible Execution of the Rebels — Stenko betrayed by Yakolof —
— His Execution, and extraordinary Firmness — Restoration of
Tranquillity.
The very first act of the Russian supremacy over the
Cossacks of the Ukraine was by no means of good
augury for the future, as we shaU prove by a descrip-
tion of the rebellion.
The origin of Stenko Razin, and the manner in
which he spent his youthful days, are by no means
well known, and seem to be enveloped in mystery. In
almost aU the books written concerning him he is de-
scribed as a Don Cossack, but the termination of his
surname is purely foreign : stiU, as neither the place
of his birth, nor the name of Cossack Stanitza (com-
mune) to which he belonged, is mentioned, it is pos-
sible that either he emigrated with Khmielnitski from
Poland to Russia, in his childhood, or joined his
Cossacks from more distant regions.
58 REBELLION OF
Prince Dolgorouki, who commanded in the Russian
Ukraine, was desirous of retaining a Cossack regiment
for some time longer that he was warranted in doing
by the stipulations agreed upon with the Cossacks, who
had just previously thrown themselves into the arms of
E/Ussia, and which stipulations had been formally rati-
fied by the Czar Alexy. The soldiers refused to re-
main, and with their colonel, Razin, at their head,
marched ofi" home. The Russian general had the
colonel seized, brought privately back to the Russian
camp, and there hanged under his own eyes. This
colonel had a brother, named Stenko Razin, a simple
Cossack soldier in the ranks, but whose lofty and enter-
prising character, uncommon courage, strength of body,
and skill in military affairs, greatly distinguished him
above all the rest of his companions. Indignant at the
infamous treatment experienced by his brother, he
swore an oath of vengeance for the injury, and to ex-
tend that vengeance to all that bore the name of Rus-
sian. For the moment, however, he managed to re-
strain his feelings, and, under the appearance of sub-
mission, to gain the favour of his superiors, whilst at
the very time he was secretly nourishing the flames of
discord, and spreading the seeds of revolt. Under the
pretext of avenging their outraged religion, he assem-
bled a body of his companions, and proceeded privately
with them towards the Don, in order, as he gave out,
to free all the Cossacks from the Muscovite yoke.
Pursued by superior forces, he pushed forward to the
STENKO RAZIN. 59
Volga, and, after having taken the command of all the
robbers and banditti there congregated, and of as many
Cossacks as he could gather together, he attacked and
took possession of a rich caravanne, which the czar was
sending to Persia, escorted by one of his favourites ;
enrolled such of the soldiers as were willing to enter
his service, and had all the rest massacred without pity,
together with their officers. He then descended the
Volga, gained the shores of the Caspian Sea, and sur-
prised the town of Goui-ief, at the mouth of the laik
(now Ouralsek). The fame of his robberies and his vic-
tories brought him a numerous accession of partisans
and of vagabonds attracted by the hope of plunder.
Prince Khilkuf, the governor of Astrakhan, alarmed at
his success, sent him a deputation of officers to offer
him a free pardon, on condition of his returning to
his allegiance to the czar. Razin received these officers
at first with great politeness, and then had them all put
to death in his presence. The governor, having some
misgiving as to their fate, despatched a regular divi-
sion of the army, under Siverof, against Stenko
Razin ; but the latter, still retreating, enticed his pur-
suer into a disadvantageous position, and cut his army
to pieces. He then attacked and took by surprise the
town of latskoy (Ouralsk), where he had all the officers
hanged, and all the soldiers who refused to submit to
his orders massacred. In this fortified position, at the
-extremity of Russia, surrounded by fearful deserts,
and by savage hordes impatient of the Muscovite yoke.
60 REBELLION OF
he used every possible means to attach the half-savage
Cossacks of the laik to his cause. He organised and
disciplined his troops, increased his flotilla, and, antici-
pating that he must very shortly be attacked, des-
patched emissaries in all directions to rouse the spirit
of insurrection. He descended the Volga, seized upon
all the merchant-vessels, and annihilated the Russian
fleet, that had just been sent out against him. He
attacked Persia, after having augmented his forces by
the incorporation with them of another famous band of
Cossack corsairs, led by Krivoy, who came voluntarily
to place himself and followers under his orders. In the
course of a very short time they, together, sacked seve-
ral towns, and beat the Persian army, giving out that
they so did by order of the czar. As, however, the
united force of Persia threatened to crush them at once,
they retreated towards the mouth of the laik, amongst
the islands, or rather forests, of reeds and osier-beds,
which there formed an asylum inaccessible to any other
vessels save their own light barks, and where they
made provision of food, ammunition, and military
stores, previously to recommencing their piracies and
excursions for propagating rebellion.
But the Russian court having by this time received
information of their robber-like exploits, deposed
Khilkuf, and ordered the governor of Astrakhan,
Prince Prozorowskoi to set out immediately in pursuit
of the two chiefs ; and to hunt them down without
mercy or intermission. Aware of their place of
STENKO RAZIN*. 61
Tetreat, he had the river closed up in the narrow parts
with strong iron chains, and landed a body of troops
in the rear of the Cossacks ; he likewise sent forward a
squadron of well-armed ships of war, manned by his
best sailors, to exterminate the Cossack pirates.
Stenko Razin, thus suddenly enclosed as in a trap — •
destitute, moreover, of sufficient stores and ammuni-
tion to enable him to hold out for any continuance —
despatched confidential envoys to Prince Prozorowskoi,
with proposals of surrender, and of consecrating, like
a second Yermak, his talents and the remainder of
his life to the service of the czar, provided he was
assured of pardon for his past acts of rebelHon. But
at the same time that he was making these proposals,
which he had every reason to anticipate would be
rejected, he took every possible measure within liis
power, to either conquer or perish in the struggle.
Whether it was that Prozorowskoi hoped to turn
his submission to some account, or that the chances
of a sea-fight with such experienced corsairs as
Razin and his followers, so often victorious, and now
reduced to despair, appeared to him somewhat too
doubtful ; the result was, that he accepted the latter's
ofier of submission. Stenko Razin was amnestied ;
and after he had renewed his oath of allegiance
to the czar, was confirmed in the command of his
troop of Cossacks, which were distributed along the
banks of the Don. But what appears still more
extraordinary, is the fact of the Czar Alexy never
o:(5 REBELLION OF
having in the sequel violated this amnesty. The
thirst for vengeance, however, still raged in the
bosom of Stenko Razin; the dead body of his
brother was incessantly before his eyes ; he renewed
his intrigues ; he was now observed to make a great
display of his riches, — to be prodigal of his money
to his friends and partizans, whom he confidentially
gave to understand, by mysterious hints, that he would
shortly be in a condition to renew with them the
former course of profitable expeditions. By all these
manoeuvres, joined to their natural impatience of an
inactive life, and craving for booty, the eyes of
all the Cossacks of the Don were gradually directed
towards Stenko, who completely eclipsed the influence
of Kernel Yakolof, their attaman.
Seeing that the time had now arrived for throwing
aside the mask of submission, and for taking an
attitude of independence, Razin gave the signal for
action. From the banks of the Don to those of the
laik, nothing was now heard but one unanimous
cry of " Long live Stenko ! down with the Russians !"
All the officers who had been set to watch the
Cossacks disappeared. Stenko started up once
more on the Volga. In possession of a new
flotilla, he destroyed the merchant vessels, ravaged
both banks of the river, and massacred all those
who hesitated or refused to attach themselves to
his fortunes. A regular body of Strelitzes, sent against
him, instead of opposing his troops, introduced them
STENKO RAZIN. 63
into the town of Tzaritch.ine, where all the Russians
were put to the sword ; whereupon adherents flocked
from every direction to join his cause, and his forces
thenceforward rapidly increased in numbers. A
division of the Russian army, under Livof, despatched
against him, revolted ; massacred their oiEcers, and
enlisted under his orders. Another division, sent
from Moscow, proved more faithful, but less fortunate ;
overpowered and cut to pieces, scarcely three men
escaped. Tchernoiar opened its gates to the rebels.
Prozorowskoi, shut up in Astrakhan, and anticipating
a speedy attack, laid in a store of provisions, repaired
the fortifications, took all possible measures to repel
the assailants, and despatched courier after courier
to Moscow, to solicit reinforcements. But symptoms
of sedition already began to manifest themselves in
the place ; the soldiers mutinied, and demanded their
pay, and the metropolitan opened his treasures in
order to appease them.
In this state of things it was that Stenko Razin,
dragging after him the scum and refuse of various
robber nations, made his appearance before Astrakhan,
and, assuming the mask of humanity, summoned the
governor to throw open to him the gates of the city, in
order to avoid pillage and massacre. The governor,
by way of reply, had his messenger hanged from the
battlements on the rampart. The bravest of the troops
were now posted at the weakest points, and volleys of
musketry were returned in answer to the insolent pro-
64 REBELLION OF
position. In a short time, however, thousands of
scaling-ladders were applied to the walls : the Cossacks
mounted them with surprising audacity : instead of
resisting them, the Russian soldiers received them as
brethren. The result may be easily foreseen. Some
of the officers, who wished to recall the troops to
their duty, were instantly set upon, and, together with
all those who were most interested in the defence of
the town, overpowered and put to the sword, their
houses pillaged, their wives maltreated, and their chil-
dren thrown out of the windows. Stenko himself,
drunk with brandy and carnage, and covered all over
with blood, ran through all the streets, poniard in
hand, in search of Prozorowskoi, whom he at last dis-
covered lying wounded in a church. He ordered him
to be thrown, in his presence, from the top of a high
tower. By a singular accident, his body, crushed and
mutilated, fell close by that of his brother, who also
was mortally wounded and expiring. He then had
Prozorowskoi's two boys hanged by the heels, under the
pretext that, after repeated questions put to them on
the subject, they refused to discover where the govern-
ment chest was deposited. The metropolitan, who
endeavoured to protect them, was put to death. The
mother of the two boys was spared. A general pillage
wound up this eventful day, ever memorable for Astra-
khan, wherein all the Tatars were spared, as being
victims of Muscovite tyranny.
Now it was that, master of a city renowned for its
STENKO RAZIN. 66
commerce, and of several fortresses, with a fleet and an
army at the extremity of Russia, Stenko Razin medi-
tated the overthrow of the Romanow dynasty, their
expulsion from the Muscovite throne, the abolition of
serfdom, the extermination of the noblesse of the em-
pire, and the erection into independent principalities of
all those provinces which Russia had recently and per-
fidiously seized from the Tatars and theii* allies, as
likewise from other nations.
A YSLiiety of singular circumstances existing at the
period seemed to favour this project; amongst others the
quarrel between the Czar Alexy and the patriarch
Nickon, whom he had just deposed, and the recent
death of his eldest son and heir to the throne, against
whom it was generally supposed his father had con-
ceived a deeply-rooted hatred. Stenko Razin resolved
to turn these incidents to account, and to excite the
Cossacks and other superstitious subjects of the czar
to rebellion by an appeal to their feelings of religious
fanaticism. To this end he caused a rumour to be
circulated that both the patriarch and the czarewicz,
(the heir apparent) having escaped, by miracle, from
their oppressor, had fled to him for protection and ven-
geance for their wrongs. In order to give confirmation
to this rumour, he had two barks constructed, the one
covered with red, and the other with black velvet. In
the former was understood to be concealed the fugitive
czarewicz,* and in the latter the injured patriarch.
The ruse succeeded to admiration. From this moment
F
66 REBELLION OF
Stenko was regarded by the multitude in no other light
than as the guardian angel of religion and the champion
of outraged liberty. All the fanatics, adventurers,
and brigands, far and near, flocked to his standard, and
his army already amounted to 100,000 men. In a short
time he quitted Astrakhan, where he left 25,000 of his
troops, and advanced up the Volga, to establish his
head-quarters at Kazan, the ancient metropolis of the
Tatars. On his way thither he took Saratof and Sa-
marra, seizing on all the money he could find there,
and putting all the E-ussian inhabitants to the sword.
The whole of the Cossack and Tatar populations on
his route, including the various scattered and bar-
barian hordes, inflamed by his proclamations, and
headed by their respective chiefs, declared for him.
All the country, from Astrakhan to Nizny Novograd,
was sacked and pillaged; the nobles were massacred,
their wives dishonoured, and their dwellings set on fire,
till at last Sineberik succeeded in arresting their san-
guinary and devastating march.
A division of the Russian army, under the orders of
Miloflaskoy, who was instructed to retake Astrakhan,
met with the rebels, whom they defeated; the latter
retreated into the town, resolved to defend themselves
to the last extremity, under the orders of Krivoy.
Stenko Razin, after having gained several victories
over the Russians, began at last to meet with nothing
but reverses: defeated by Prince Boratynskoy, and
pursued by the very same Dolgorouki who had caused
STENKO RAZIX. 67
his brother to be hanged in the Ukraine, he was over-
taken by him just as he was, with his Cossacks, at the
gates of Moscow, which would have been thrown open
to him, had he not lost too much time in pillaging the
provinces — a fatal delay, as the result proved, for
Stenko, who, not having sufficient time to concentrate
his army against Dolgorouki, was by that general
surprised, and 15,000 men, the elite of his Cossack
soldiers, suddenly fallen upon by superior numbers,
were cut to pieces. Three times broken, three times
they recovered the battle, but, panic-stricken at this
unlooked-for disaster, the rebels fell from the height
of confidence to the extremity of discouragement. The
peasants returned to their several homes, the barbarian
hordes fell off one after the other, and disappeared in
the deserts, whilst the Cossacks, incessantly pursued by
their victorious and implacable foes, who gave them no
quarter, opposed but an inefiectual resistance. All the
roads, towns, villages, passes, rivers, lakes, ponds, barns,
and houses, were full of their mutilated bodies.
In the ancient town of Arsamas, in the country of
the Morduates, the terrible Prince Sergue Dolgorouki
established his head-quarters. In the suburbs of that
town, on a level ground, was a large square field, where
was established the merciless tribunal which pro-
nounced judgment and immediate execution on the
rebels. There was a tent, and some clergy of the
Greco-Russian church, where mass was daily celebrated.
Before the chapel was the likeness of the czar, before
68 REBELLION OF
whom every one was compelled to kneel. Behind the
chapel was a rack, and on both sides of the rack were
several rows of gallows, some miles in length, and in-
struments of torture ready for the unfortunate victims.
The punishments were in accordance with the degree
of culpability and station in society of the rebels.
In the first row of gallows the most guilty were exe-
cuted; after being subjected to the rack they were
quartered alive. The leaders had their right hand and
left leg cut off, and were afterwards impaled on long
spikes, and left to their horrible fate. Their groans
were heard for miles, and their bodies feasted the
eyes of the panic-stricken population. In the second
row of gallows they were only quartered, and their
sufferings were at least shorter. In the third row,
the parties were simply beheaded. In the fourth row,
they were merely hanged. In the fifth, they ran the
gauntlet and the knout. All the ecclesiastics were
burned. There were separate gallows for women,
married and maiden. Even children, from thirteen
years, were subjected to great cruelty. Married couples
were occasionally hanged on the same gallows, as well
as whole families. During the space of three months
13,000 human beings were executed in the presence
of Dolgorouki. Stenko Razin''s nephew and his parti-
cular friend were quartered.
Among the female prisoners there was a handsome
nun, who over her female garments had a male attire.
She commanded a corps of 7000 men, gave more than
STENKO RAZIN. 69
once proofs of extraordinary courage and great ability
in the field, and inflicted terrible losses on the Russians.
When summoned before Dolgorouki, she displayed a
presence of mind and a firmness diflicult to describe,
and said, if every one under her command had done his
duty in such a manner as she had done, Dolgorouki,
instead of erecting the gallows, would have taken to his
heels. As for a nun in Russia to run away from
a monastery is a capital oflTence, she lay down quietly
on a funeral pile, and was burned to ashes. The
dangling dead bodies of so many thousand veterans
brought many crows and ravens, which devoured the
corpses. From that time that suburb is called the
suburb of hell.'*
The likeness of the czar, the artificial church, the
Greco-Russian priests in their black dresses with their
long beards, the inquisitive auricular confession, the
rack, the gallows, the instruments of torture, and the
executioners, bring involuntarily to mind the dark
ages of Muscovite tyranny, which, partly subdued by
the spirit of our more fortunate age and the rising star
of western liberty, is not yet completely vanquished.
Stenko Razin, persecuted, chased and hunted without a
moment's repose upon the Volga, through the Steppes,
through the wildest tracks, trying in vain to recall and
rally the fugitives, who were not less frightened at the
ignominious death of their comrades, than at the danger
of that merciless struggle ; seeing them partly disposed
to deliver him up ; daring not to enter Astrakhan ;
70 REBELLION OF
arrived at the Don, requesting the hospitality of the
Hetman Yakolof, and hinting at the possibility of plan-
ning new expeditions. But the latter, secretly offended
against him, indignant at his cruelties, and wishing
to take all possible advantage of that opportunity for
ingratiating himself in the czar''s favour, betrayed him,
put him in irons, and delivered him to the Russians,
with his brother Frolko. The latter, being well aware
of the terrible torments reserved for them both, re-
proached him with all his misfortunes, shed abundant
tears, and gave up his mind to despair. Stenko, whose
spirit was not yet subdued, comforted him as well as he
could, and said that the whole population of Moscow
might yet liberate him, and hail him as their benefactor.
The czar, having been apprised of their conversation,
and wishing to make a public example of him, ordered
that he should enter the city in a mock triumph. A
spacious cart, drawn by three mules, was accordingly
sent to meet Stenko E-azin a mile from the city. Here
he was stripped of his fine silk clothes, put in rags, and
chained by his neck and his two hands and feet to the
hinder part of the cart, in which was a gallow, without
being able to move, and attended by two executioners
with their long axes. Thus, with his brother, who,
chained by the neck, followed on foot, the cart entered
at noon the metropolitan city. He was publicly exe-
cuted in the citadel of Moscow, the 6th of June, 1671,
having been quartered. To the last moment he never
lost his firmness, but comforting his brother, mocked the
STENKO RAZIN. 71
executioners ; invoking the ghost of his brother, whose
death he avenged, as he said, and to whom he seems
to have been most tenderly attached. When one of
his legs and one of his hands were cut off, he was
whistling, and died without manifesting the slightest
sign of pain. When his brother Frolko was going to
be executed, he showed great contrition, and requested
to see the czar, to reveal to him only a secret of
great importance. His execution was postponed, and
he apprized the czar of hidden treasures, buried by his
late brother in a particular spot. As the information
was found to be correct he was reprieved.
After Stenko Razin's death, Astrakhan opened its
gates to the Russians, and Krivoy, alias Devil's-feast,
who wished longer to disturb the public peace, was
poisoned by his own soldiers for his tyranny. The
other attamans of the Cossacks were betrayed and de-
livered up by a Circassian prince to the Russians, and
some adventurers who intended to follow Stenko's ex-
ample in the neighbourhood were quartered. Prince
Dolgorouki, who destroyed above 115,000 rebels in-
cluding his executions, was recalled, and Prince Tcher-
niskif ultimately quelled to a great extent the serious
rebellion, respecting which there are some contradic-
tions. Some authors assert it was quelled in 1671,
some in 1673, and others that peace and tranquillity
were not restored till 1679.
There is not the slightest doubt that had Stenko
Razin, instead of spending a month in pillaging the
72 KEBELLION OF STENKO RAZIN.
provinces, marched directly to Moscow, he would have
dethroned the czar. According to L'Eveque and some
Russian authors, that rebellion cost the lives of 800,000
human beings ; according to others of more, as anarchy,
murder, and pillage reigned for several years after
Razin's execution in distant provinces of the Russian
empire, especially amongst the barbarous and predatory
hordes and the serfs, in consequence of his proclama-
tions.
73
CHAPTER III.
THE ZAPOROGUES.
Origin of the Zaporogues — Description of the Country formerly In-
habited by them— Their Numbers, Customs, Laws, and Conditions
of admission — Their Robberies by Sea and Land — Their Mode of
Life, and Manner of Electing Chiefs — Wars with Turkey, Russia,
and the Tatars— Their Independence— Cruelty of Peter the Great
towards them — Their Treaty with Mazeppa — Surrender to
Turkey — Submission to Russia, and afterwards to Poland —
Massacre organised by Catherine — Their Incursion into the Polish
Ukraine — Complete Suppression.
It is extremely difficult to assign any fixed epoch as
being that of the true origin and first establishment of
the Zaporogues, whom many authors appear altogether
to confound with the Polish Cossacks, of which race
they were in some degree the parent stock. As, how-
ever, they must not be entirely confounded together, it
may be as well to give some of the reasons for our
assertion, which, based as they are upon facts, in
themselves indisputable, may give some approximate
idea of the diflference which existed between the two,
without attempting, however, to enumerate all these
points of dissimilarity, a task which would involve too
wide a digression from the main object of the present
work.
74 THE ZAPOROGUES.
The Polish Cossacks did not, from the outset, con-
stitute a body separate from the rest. The Zaporogues
appear to date only from the 17th century: they were,
originally, nothing but a militia corps, chosen from
amongst the very bravest, the most expert, and the
most active of the Cossack race — they were called prcB-
sidiarii, and may be regarded as the first Zaporogues —
especially appointed to guard the islands of the Dnieper
(on which were situated the dockyard, the arsenal, and
the treasury of the Cossacks,) during the absence of the
latter on their piratical excursions. At a later period,
this militia was reorganised by king Stephen Batory,
in 1578, being registered and paid expressly for the
defence of the southern frontier of Poland against the
incursions of the Tatars, the Russians, and the Turks :
they were always under arms, and upon active service,
either on the islands or along the banks of the Dnieper ;
and were to be changed or relieved in rotation. Sub-
sequently, as we shall prove, this same militia separated
from the main Cossack body, and formed a distinct
community, retaining to the last moment of its existence
the impress of its primitive descent.
The Zaporogues were so named from the Polish
words, za, beyond, and porog, cataracts ; that is to say,
''the inhabitants or dwellers beyond the cataracts."
One of their earliest stations was the island of Khor-
chitza (forty miles to the south of Kiof), in lat. 50 deg.
and long. 40 deg.^
In order to obtain admission as a member of the
THE ZAPOROGUES. 75
Zaporogue community at their first establishment, the
candidate was required to pass, in his boat, the thirteen
cataracts of the Dnieper; and this too against the
current ; a feat which might well seem impracticable,
even to a Hercules himself, were not the fact averred
and attested by a host of eye-witnesses, and by several
of the earlier historians, amongst others by Boauplan,
Starovolski, Sherer, and many others. Further, he
must have killed ten of the enemy; have made a success-
ful excursion on the Black Sea ; profess the Greek faith,
and be unmarried : to all which qualities he was to
unite the minor recommendations of being able to hit a
mark at a considerable distance with the ball from his
carabine ; to transfix with an arrow a bird on the wing ;
and to swim, several times in succession, across the
Dnieper. At a later period, however, any robust and
desperate brigand was eligible as a Zaporogue. Essen-
tially free, in the enjoyment of the highest consideration,
and of great privileges amongst the general mass of
Cossacks, over whom they considered themselves to
have, as they indeed possessed, a marked superiority,
the Zaporogues appear to have entertained a sovereign
contempt for all those who cultivated the soil, or addicted
themselves to commerce.
The country formerly occupied by the Zaporogues as
their peculiar place of abode, extended on either bank
of the Dnieper (including the islands formed by that
river), over wide-spreading marshes and frightful
deserts, rendered almost inaccessible by rocks and
76 THE ZAPOROGUES.
precipices, and eternally beaten by the raging waters of
the cataracts, whose ceaseless roar might be heard for
many miles round : a dwelling-place, rugged, dismal,
wild, romantic, and solitary ; well fitted to its savage
tenants, and capable of hardening men of even the
mildest habits. Their head-quarters were shifted occa-
sionally, but always so as to be safe from the attack of
the Ottoman galleys, or of foreign cavalry. According
to Sherer, they had three principal establishments on
the islets ; namely, those of Khortchitza, Sednef, and
Kaniof : these strongholds were surrounded by a pali-
sade, a ring of chariots bound together with iron chains,
and by a deep trench or ditch : occasionally they were
defended by artillery, and by a species of embrasures
for musketry or cannon. These war-establishments,
plentifully supplied with arms, provisions, stores, and
ammunition, were termed sicz^ from the Polish or
Russian word, siec od siec — divide, cut up.
It would be difficult to estimate the numbers of the
Zaporogues with any approach to certainty, as they
varied according to circumstances : in the time of their
prosperity they may, according to Starovolski, have
numbered forty thousand men, capable at all times of
bearing arms : an assemblage of banditti more than
sufficient fearfully to disturb the tranquillity of their
neighbours.
At first, the Zaporogues made their incursions con-
jointly with other Cossack hordes, or obeyed the orders
of the kings of Poland : subsequently, however, when
THE ZAPOROGUES. 77
they had formed themselves into a separate community,
they acted on their own account. Their organisation
resembled that which they had formerly received from
King Batory, a few slight changes or modifications
excepted.
The Zaporogues formed a species of military order
or association ; or, rather, they may be compared, as
regards the general features of their combination, to
their contemporaries, the famous Flibustiers of the 17th
century. They were governed by a supreme chief
{attaman koshovy), whom they elected and deposed
according to their own caprice. He had under him a
secretary-general, pisar ; an auditor-general, a stafi*-
major, assavula ; a lieutenant-general of artillery and
engineers, and some other subaltern assistants. Besides
the officers in question, nominated by themselves, as the
country of the Zaporogues was subdivided into nume-
rous districts or kourenes, each kourene had its own
particular chief, invested likewise with the title of atta-
man, whose rank corresponded as nearly as possible
to that of colonel of a regiment ; and who exercised
moreover a kind of civil magistracy in the administra-
tion of the lands pertaining to his individual kourene.
On the 1st of January, in each year, the Zaporogues
assembled, with great pomp and bustle, in order to
distribute their lands into as many portions as there
were kourenes. Each individual of a district had,
throughout the year, the right of hunting and fishing on
his own kourene exclusively ; or, in other words, no
78 THE ZAPOROGUES.
Zaporogue belonging to any other kourene was per-
mitted to interfere with his local privileges or to tres-
pass on the grounds of his neighbour's kourene.
After this partition, they deliberated on the fate of
the chiefs of the preceding year, whom they either
confirmed in office or deposed at pleasure. The latter
awaited their sentence, standing. If the Zaporogues
happened to be satisfied with the conduct of their chiefs,
the latter bowed to the assembly and retired : if, on the
contrary, the attamans had displeased the midtitude,
they laid down the insignia of their dignity, and re-
turned back as simple Cossacks to their respective
kourenes.
The mob, by this time completely drunk, then pro-
ceeded to the choice of the particular kourene from
which should be selected the new koshovy; whom,
having nominated and duly elected, the most sturdy of
the drinkers and vociferators waited upon at his own
dwelling, if he had been absent from the assembly, in
order to announce to him his elevation. If he thrice
positively refused to accept the proflfered dignity, they
in the olden time killed him there and then. At a later
period, they merely abused and maimed him. When,
after the two formal refusals required by etiquette, he
accepted the appointment, they announced, by sound
of kettle-drum, his accession to the dignity of attaman ;
and the most aged of the Zaporogues, taking up a
quantity of earth, moistened with water or melted snow,
plastered over therewith the face of the newly-elected
THE ZAPOROGUES.
chief, amidst the shouts and joyful acclamations of his
companions. This rude and barbarous ceremony had
allusion to his perilous and often short-lived dignity,
seeing that if he might not happen to be killed in an
expedition against the enemy, the Zaporogues usually
massacred him themselves should he chance to be un-
successful in war. It may be here remarked that, during
a period of seventeen years passed by Boauplan in the
Ukraine, there was not one single chief or attaman of
the Zaporogues but who came to an untimely end.
In addition to the ceremony of besmearing the face of
the new attaman with mud, they stuck a crane's feather
in his bonnet, and placed in his hands the baton of
command : further, they forced him to swallow a mouth-
ful of tar, giving him, however, a glass of water to wash
his mouth withal ; and then they comforted him with a
a glass of excellent hydromel (mead), which he was to
gulp down at a single draught.
There was also, occasionally, a second meeting held
on Easter-day, for the purpose of renewing the koshovy,
and the other principal officers under him. But for
this convocation the assent of thirteen kourenes at the
very least was required. Now and then, too, it hap-
pened that party differences and squabbles arose, either
respecting the kourenes or the relative characters and
capacities of the various chiefs. Then it was that
quarrels ran high, and disputes waxed hot; assuming
the character of a domestic war, wherein the victor
made the law, laid waste the kourenes of the vanquished^
80 THE ZAPOROGUES.
and spread havoc and bloodshed. But this kind of
intestine outbreak was not a normal condition of the
Zaporogue confederation : such quarrels were by no
means of very frequent occurrence, and were usually
of short duration.''
The koshovy, all-powerful during war, had no great
authority in time of peace within the sitche, where
nothing could be done without the Starszyzna, or
Council of Ancients. It must likwise be remarked,
that neither the koshovy nor the principal officers under
him received any salary whatever ; but, on the other
hand, enjoyed certain emoluments, which varied accord-
ing to circumstances and the success of the war in-
cursions.
A more frequent subject of tumult and disorder arose
during the distribution of the booty, or of the pay
granted to the Zaporogues by the kings of Poland.
The meetings held for these purposes were called
szodka, schodka, or mala kromada, i. e. minor assem-
blies ; and they ended frequently with a fight.
They were all lodged in vast barns, or wooden
barracks. The members of each kourene ate with
their attamans at one common table, supplied at the
general expense. Their usual food consisted of every-
thing calculated to render men strong and vigorous.
But, out of the sitche, they ate whatever they pleased,
and did whatever they listed. They were also at full
liberty to quit their community whenever they chose ;
but, whilst in the sitche, they were bound to conform
THE ZAPOROGUES. 81
to its regulations and usages. The most ancient of all
their laws, and one which was ever enforced with the
most extreme rigour, was that enacted for the utter
exclusion of women from the sitche. Every woman
who might happen to be caught therein was stoned to
death, or, occasionally, after receiving one hundred
blows from the kanczuk, or short whip, to the thong
of which is appended a leaden buUet, she was hung
up by the feet; a fire was then lighted under her,
so that she was suffocated by the smoke. If, how-
ever, as it sometimes chanced, a foreign young girl,
altogether innocent, arrived in the sitche, they buried
her in the ground up to her neck, a fire was lighted at
a few paces before her, and she was shot at from a
considerable distance. As the smoke from the fire did
not allow of a steady aim being taken at her, the marks-
man generally managed to miss her ; not unfrequently,
too, by design. After three shots from the carabine
she was released, without being subjected to any further
outrage, and escorted outside the limits of the sitche.
If she was wounded, she was not fired upon again ; but
the whole kourene was called together, and the heroine,
whose wounds had in the meantime received every
possible care and attention, was set at liberty, with the
now acquired privilege moreover of selecting from
amongst the gallant Zaporogues whomsoever she pleased
as her husband. All the Cossacks of the sitche
made her a present ; by which means her support for
life was secured, and she retired with her husband
025 THE ZAPOROGUES.
to establish herself in the Ukraine. Even the women
carried oiF in their piratical expeditions and retained
were not suffered to live in the sitche. The barbarous
treatment experienced by several women at their hands
sufficed not, however, to deter others from secretly
visiting these Flibustiers, and from incurring all the
threatened dangers of the attempt, in order to satisfy
their inclinations or their curiosity.
As to the pretended secret, or love-charm, of which
some of the Zaporogues are by several authors related
to have been in possession for attracting the fair sex,
it may be considered in the light of a mere fable
invented for the lovers of the marvellous, inasmuch
as it is notorious that cases of the kind in ques-
tion form an exception only amongst the generality
of mankind, having no sort of relation either with the
islets of the Dnieper, or with the banks of the Boh ;
in point of fact, with no particular spot on the face of
the globe.*"
There existed, however, several strange peculiarities
amongst the Zaporogues ; such, for instance, as a
species of duel or single combat with the kanczuh, or
loaded whip, before alluded to. The two combatants
stripped off their upper garments down to the waist,
after the fashion of the English boxers, and grasped
each other by the left hand, whilst with the right they
mutually dealt most terrific blows with their whips to
the sound of military music, or of a kettle-drum, which
beat time to their movements. These duels took place
THE ZAPAROGUES. 66
in the presence of tlieir companions. He wlio first fell
exhausted, or who relinquished the further continuance
of the conflict, was declared the vanquished party.
Something of the kind existed amongst the ancient
Tartaro-Kalmouques. The Zaporogues governed them-
selves according to the laws of Magdeburg, which
passed from Poland into their community.
Although they professed generally the Greek reli-
gion, and attended whilst in the sitche the celebration
of divine service according to that ritual as there per-
formed by priests sent thither from Kiof, yet they
would not listen to sermons or religious exhortations of
any kind ; and the diversity of faith amongst them was
not productive of any serious dispute.
Every Zaporogue Cossack was bound to be provided
with a gun, a lance, a pennant, a crooked sabre, and a
brace of pistols. His dress consisted of very loose
trowsers, a sheep-skin vest confined by a girdle, and a
felt bonnet trimmed with fur. Their heads were close
shaven, with the exception of a long tuft of hair which
hung down over the forehead. Their chief strength
as a military force consisted at first in their infantry,
armed with long, carabines, so indispensable in their
corsair-like expeditions on the Czayki, and of which
notice has already been taken : subsequently, however,
they were by no means deficient in excellent cavalry.
The Zaporogues presented a. strange mixture of
virtues and vices difficult to be described. Merciless
and cruel destroyers in their predatory incursions
84 THE ZAPOROGUES.
abroad, they were nevertheless just, hospitable, and
humane at home. They possessed everything in com-
mon ; the doors of their huts were never kept locked,
and any stranger, without distinction, excepting a Jew,
was in the day-time at full liberty to enter them
unnoticed, and to help himself freely to whatever he
might require, money excepted. Lost money and other
articles of value were by the finder openly exposed in
places of public resort, in order to be reclaimed by the
proper owners. A thief, when apprehended, and his
guilt clearly established, was fastened to a post erected
in the centre of the sitche ; near him were placed a
bottle of brandy and a stick, and every passer-by had a
right to taste of the brandy and to beat the culprit.
Amongst these ferocious banditti, who spared no one
in war, the murderer of one of his companions in arms
was buried alive, stretched out upon the body of his
victim. A punishment no less terrible was reserved
for that nameless crime, for the commission of which,
as may well be supposed, the law already noticed enact-
ing the rigid exclusion of women from the sitche
would naturally furnish a fatal inducement.
A Zaporogue was never permitted to remain for three
consecutive days inactive : if no warlike afiairs were for
the moment on hand, he must busy himself in the
chase of the bear or the wolf, or in the fisheries, which
were carried on in all seasons throughout the year.
This isolated community of brigands and roving
corsairs might have passed unheeded down the great
THE ZAPOROGUES. 85
stream of human events into oblivion, had it not been for
the fact of their being entrusted with the duty of keeping
watch and guard over the great frontier of Poland ; and
were it not that their maritime expeditions had been
fraught to surrounding states with very considerable
danger/
When the Cossacks under Khmielnitski separated
from Poland, the Zaporogues did not follow their
example, but formed themselves into a distinct commu-
nity, nominally indeed apart from and independent of
the others ; but, in reality, never properly entitled to
the rank of an independent state : for living as they
did under the nominal protection of Poland, Russia, or
of Turkey, and constantly changing masters, they in
point of fact subsisted only upon the produce of their
inroads upon their neighbours, by whom, consequently,
and justly too, they were looked upon in no other light
than that of pirates, lawless adventurers, and common
robbers.
The Zaporogues were in constant correspondence
with all the other Cossack races, even with those at the
remotest distance ; forming the nucleus or central point
of every plundering expedition, and exercising over all
the other tribes a marked influence and ascendancy.
In the wars of Charles XII. against Russia, alter-
nately cajoled and horribly maltreated by Peter the
Great, they appeared to incline in favour of the czar's
adversaries : they even, by the good offices of Mazeppa,
concluded a treaty with the Swedish king at Dykanka.
86 THE ZAPOROGUES.
The details of this treaty are curious. The attaman of
the Zaporogues, Horodynski, noted for the hatred he
bore the Russians, placed himself voluntarily under the
orders of Mazeppa. In order to celebrate this happy
alliance with becoming splendour, a magnificent repast
was provided for the entertainment of the Zaporogue
deputies; Mazeppa, for the occasion, was obliged to
borrow a quantity of plate from a nobleman of the
Ukraine with whom he was lodging : and, as a further
mark of his high consideration for his guests, he pro-
mised that they should be introduced to the Swedish
king, and have the honour of kissing his majesty's hand.
Their koshovy, Horodynski, as likewise Mazeppa,
having duly expatiated on the merits and extolled
the glory of the royal warrior of the north, exhorted
their subaltern chiefs to observe some kind of decorum :
the latter swore on the Evangelists not to get drunk
until after dinner, and received instructions as to the
manner in which they were to comport themselves in
the presence of his majesty and his suite. At the con-
clusion of the dinner, however, and of the ceremony of
kissing hands, they gave loose to the wildest demon-
strations of gaiety after their own peculiar fashion, and
began to make off with all the plate within reach, and
on which their dinner had been served up. The maitre
d'hotel hastened to reclaim it. According to their code
of politeness, the Zaporogues regarded this interference
in the light of an insult, and demanded reparation at
the hands of their koshovy, more especially as they
THE ZAPOROGUES. 87
had fulfilled the conditions exacted from them as
regarded their conduct during dinner : they threatened
to break off the alliance, and to pass over on the instant
to the side of the Russians, if the maitre d'hotel was not
given up to them to be punished according to their
summary mode of procedure.
As it was to be apprehended that some of the
Russian agents might take advantage of this untoward
incident, the unhappy maitre d'hotel was delivered up
to them. After they had jostled and pitched him about
for some time from one to the other, he was ultimately
despatched by a stab with a knife through the heart.
Charles arrived too late to save him. According to
the Zaporogue custom, a guest, provided he be not a
Jew, invited to a dinner-party, is entitled to carry off
with him whatever he may take a fancy to, with the
exception of money or arms. The reader must pardon
this slight digression illustrative of Zaporogue manners.
After the battle of Pultawa, in which a great num-
ber of them fell, the rest of the Zaporogues followed
Mazeppa into Turkey, which they quitted however
after his death.
At a subsequent period, the Empress Catherine II.
of Russia, flattered the Zaporogues by having 'her
name inscribed in letters of gold in their public regis-
ters, and employed them during the rebellion of 1768,
under Zelezniak, against the Polish nobles. After the
suppression of this revolt, partly by the aid of the
Russian troops (Catherine's policy having in the mean-
88 THE ZAPOROGUES.
time changed as regarded this insurrection), a portion
of the Zaporogues perished on the scaffold : another
portion, faithful to Poland, took refuge in Turkey
under !N ekrassa, whilst the remainder fled to their fast-
nesses. But Catherine, uneasy at their existence, sud-
denly despatched General Tekeli with considerable
forces to crush them in their retreats. Surprised, sur-
rounded, and attacked at all points, the Zaporogues,
after a determined but ineffectual resistance, were com-
pelled to surrender : the sitche was declared from
thenceforth broken up ; the ancient Zaporogue territory
incorporated with Russia (where it now forms the
modern governments of Ekaterinoslav, Kharkof, and
Tauride) ; and the very existence of the Zaporogues
themselves, as a separate community, annihilated. A
considerable body of them dispersed themselves in
various directions. Amongst the remarkable incidents
to which this obstinate, although ultimately fruitless
resistance of the Zaporogues gave rise, and which
characterised their last struggles for existence as a
nation, may be particularized the heroic exploits of
the last of the Zaporogue chieftains, Sava.
Amongst other grave accusations laid to the charge
of the Zaporogues, the chaste Czarina Catherine
reproached them with leading a debauched and licen-
tious life ! At a later period, those amongst them who
made their submission to Russia, and declared them-
selves willing to marry, received, by virtue of the Ukase
of the 30th June, 179^, the right of territory over the
THE ZAPOROGUES. 89
island of Taman and all the country situated to the east
of the Black Sea, between Kuban and the sea of Azof,
as far as Labinskay Krepost, occupying in all a space
of 1700 geographical miles.
They are now no longer known under the name of
the Zaporogues, or Cossacks of the Lesser Russia, but
under the designation of the Cossacks of the Black Sea
(Tsharnomortscy). They form twenty- six regiments
constantly attached to the army of the Caucasus, and
scarcely ever make their appearance on the left banks
of the Dnieper.
A single river separates them from the Cossacks of
the Don, but there is a proverb extant among the Rus-
sians, that a Cossack of the Black Sea is equal to three
Cossacks of the Don; nor is there the least doubt that
in point of ferociousness, of indomitable courage, and
bodily strength, they are, as they themselves believe,
infinitely superior to the latter. Proud, independent
by nature, and waging eternal warfare in the neigh-
bourhood of the Caucasus, they look with contempt on
the Cossacks of the Don. In their songs they make
frequent allusions to Poland and to the town of Kiof.
Their favourite colour is that of Poland, namely, crim-
son ; they detest the Russians ; they bear for the most
part Polish names ; and there are still some vestiges of
the Polish character amongst them. They are distin-
guished from the rest of the Cossacks by the peculiar
symbol of their tribe, and to which they formerly
appeared to attach a sort of religious veneration, viz..
90 THE ZAPOROGUES.
by a lock of hair, which rising from the top of the head
falls down behind the right ear. Their lances too are
much shorter than those of the Cossacks of the Don.
The other branch of this famous race, which took
refuge in Turkey under Nekrassa, and received a grant
of lands on the Danube, was known under the name of
the Cossacks of Nekrassa. During the last war of the
Russians against Turkey, in 18^8, they remained faith-
ful to Turkey, and testified by the horrible carnage
they made of the Russian troops, several cavalry regi-
ments of which they exterminated to the last man,
their hatred towards Russia. Occasionally they took
the Russian Cossacks by surprise by imitating their
language and assuming their dress. They spread great
terror amongst the Don Cossacks, upon whom they
would likewise also fall by surprise, and whom they
succeeded sometimes in deceiving by a similar strata-
gem. They never gave them quarter. The Emperor
Nicholas oiFered them very advantageous conditions to
induce them to return to Russia, but they have hitherto
rejected every proposition to this eifect. By the treaty
of Adrianople the designation of '^Cossacks of Ne-
krassa" is suppressed : they constitute at present a
species of Ottoman militia, and may one day prove a
powerful element of aggression against Russia.
Such was this singular community of Zaporogues;
unique, perhaps, in its kind, and concerning which we
have gathered all the information possible, and con-
sulted every accessible authority. Amongst others.
THE ZAPOROGUES.
91
Sherer, Annales de la Petite Russie, Memoires Secretes
de la Russie, Miller, Bushing, Boauplan, Chevalier,
Lessur, Neemeevicz, the Memoirs of Colonel Lagawski,
Norberg, &c. The time perhaps is not far distant
which may once more bring this remarkable race of
warlike adventurers upon the scene of northern Asiatic,
if not of European, affairs. As regards Russia more
especially, their existence is fraught with considerations
of the most serious importance.
92
CHAPTER IV.
MAZEPPA.
Mazeppa — His Extraction— Intrigue with the wife of Kontsky disco-
vered— His Punishment — Preservation— Appointed Aide-de-camp to
Doroszenko and Samoilovitch — Ingratitude towards his Benefactor
— His Election— Shameful Conduct to his Sons— His successful
Intrigues against Sofia, hated sister of Peter the Great, never
clearly explamed— His Inroads against the Tatars of Otchokaf—
His Successes cheering to Peter the Great in his Check at Azof—
The taking of that Place chiefly attributed to Mazeppa — Favours
lavished on his Cossacks — The leading Idea of Mazeppa against
Peter the Great and the Kussians — His Intention to return to
Poland with his Cossacks — Stratagem to escape — Correspondence
with Charles XIL and Turkey— His skill in deceiving the Czar—
His Stratagem for getting rid of his Enemies— His Danger— Blind
Confidence of the Czar in his Fidelity— His Precautions before
joining the Swedish King— His Deputation to the Czar, and his
Intention discovered— His Speech to the Cossacks— Its Efiect—
Sack of Baturin by Menzikof — Mazeppa's Effigy — Torture of
Thirty Prussian Officers — The Czar's offers to Mazeppa rejected
— Treaty with the Zaporogues — His advice to besiege Pultawa —
Accidental Success of the Kussians— Unfortimate Position of the
Cossacks— Danger of Mazeppa and the King of Sweden— Arrival
in Turkey — Mazeppa's Remorse, and Death at Bender.
Mazeppa was the son of a Polish gentleman esta-
blished in Podolia/ and by one of those fortunate
circumstances which often exercise a great influence
on human destiny, and also by his family connexions.
MAZEPPA. 93
attracted the attention of John Kazimer, king of
Poland, who spared no expense in giving him an
excellent education, and made him page at his
court.
The beauty, accomplishments, and enterprising spirit
of the young page did not fail of making a deep im-
pression on many a fair lady in fashionable circles.
He was introduced to the wife of Martin Kontsky,
grand general of artillery ; and felt inspired at the
first sight with a passion which, by frequent opportu-
nities of seeing the beloved object, and the difficulty
of gratifying its fancy, became every day stronger,
more dangerous, and daring. For a while the passion
of the two lovers by their mutual prudence and care-
fulness was not known; and its secret gratification
added new charms to its existence. Such a thing, how-
ever, could not possibly be long concealed at a court,
where jealous and watchful eyes were constantly
directed on both parties. A lady, whose advances
Mazeppa received with coldness, soon discovered the
true object of the latter 's afiection, and indirectly
apprised the husband of the conduct of his beautiful
and guilty spouse.
Mazeppa, watched secretly, was caught by the out-
raged husband, who, indignant at the extent of his
domestic misfortune, and excited by the thirst of
revenge, ordered his men to scourge him unmercifully
till he lost his consciousness, to pour a sort of salt
liquid on his body, and cover it with tar. The young
94 MAZEPPA.
page was then tied by cutting strings to the back of a
wild and indomitable Ukrainian horse, sought and pre-
pared beforehand for that purpose, and was thus left
to his destiny.
The horse suddenly liberated after being tormented,
and unable to shake the weight oiF its back, dashed
at a furious speed into the deserts of his native
steppes. Hunted by wolves, as well as by some Cos-
sacks, who thought it an apparition of an evil spirit,
the horse traversed torrents, ravines, rivers, crossed
the Dnieper, and gallopped with incredible speed into
a small town in the Eastern Ukraine on the market
day ; and there, excited by hunger, fear, and fatigue,
fell dead. Mazeppa, restored to life, and hospitably
taken care of by the Cossacks, adopted their manners
and religion, and became the favourite aide-de-camp of
Doroszenko ; on the retirement of the latter, he became
the aide-de-camp of Samoilovitch, an able Cossack
chief, by whom he was treated in the most friendly
manner ; an ungrateful return for which, however, was
subsequently manifested by Mazeppa ; who, taking
advantage of the unfortunate expedition of Samoilo-
vitch into the Crimea, became his principal accuser,
deposed him, and was unanimously chosen their leader
in his stead.
Not satisfied with his new position, which he owef'
to his craft and ingratitude, and dreading the influence
and revenge of the two sons of Samoilovitch, his bene-
factor, he unjustly ordered one of them to be slain^
MAZEPPA. 95
and sent the other through his intrigues to Siberia.
These acts displeasing even his own partisans did him
much harm and thwarted some of his mighty projects.
Mazeppa, being well aware that only warlike suc-
cesses could secure his authority among the Cossacks,
in 1689 attacked the Tatars of Oczakaf, and vanquished
them in several engagements. The following year he
accompanied the expedition of Galiczyn into the Crimea
with his Cossacks, which ended in the discomfiture
of the Tatars. Mazeppa was rewarded by rich pre-
sents and decorations. Soon after, by some means men-
tioned by several historians but never well explained,
he attracted the eye of Peter the Great, by hinting
to him a dark intrigue, secretly put in motion, by
which his sister Sofia and her favourite Galiczyn were
humbled for ever.
After the defection of Khmielnitski with his Cos-
sacks from Poland to Russia, there were for a long time
a certain part of the Polish Cossacks whose chiefs
(attamans) were nominated by the kings of Poland.
One of them, Paley, after defeating his rival Samuel,
and exciting the jealousy of the Polish lords by his
intrigues and wealth, passed over with numerous
partisans to the Russians and acknowledged the supre-
macy of Mazeppa, who at that time was the sole chief
or attaman of all the Cossacks, but that act of sub-
mission did not satisfy the daring adventurer. Paley
was soon sent by his intrigues to Siberia, where he
mained till the battle of Pultawa, and Mazeppa
I
96 MAZEPPA.
obtained some advantages in several minor military-
expeditions, which gratified the vanity of Peter the
Great, who, in spite of the loss of 30,000 men, could
not master the town of Azof at first. When, however,
that crafty prince, obstinate in his views for the con-
quest of the Crimea, pressed that town with great
vigour, Mazeppa, who got by accident secret intelligence
in that town, requested his master to allow his Cossacks
to storm it, which was accepted. The Cossacks, ani-
mated by the thirst of plunder and encouraged by the
presence of their chief, had already climbed its walls,
when its commander surrendered the fortress at dis-
cretion. Peter the Great, well aware of the importance
of that town, which he attributed to Mazeppa's strata-
gem, did not fail to consider him as his best friend, and
never failed to show him marks of his consideration ;
but as that prince had a sagacious eye, and was more
than once frustrated in his views by the Cossacks, he
ordered his generals to watch them closely, and did
all he could to humble them, and, dividing them,
quelled their insurrections by great atrocities.
Though Mazeppa left Poland with revengeful feelings,
and greatly contributed to the victories of Peter the
Great, it seems he never lost completely the memory of
Poland. In his heart he desired to be an independent
sovereign, but he never wished to be under the Russian
I yoke, and was besides this infinitely superior, by his
education, to the generality of the Russian generals, who
cast on him a jealous eye, and he was more than once
MAZEPPA. 97
obliged to submit tamely to great insults from his haughty
master. Once, when the latter openly avowed the
project either of exterminating the Cossacks, or of bend-
ing them to the same obedience as his Russian subjects,
Mazeppa ventured to remonstrate; when Peter the Great,
excited by wine, threatened to punish his remark by a
cruel death. From that time the hetman was more pru-
dent, and adapted his language, his conduct, and even
his dress, to his master's taste ; the better to deceive him,
and so escape the watchful eyes of his numerous ene-
mies, he feigned sudden illness, went to bed, displayed
signs of sinking life, spake often of God, frequently con-
fessed, and in his confessions more than once hinted
into the ear of the priest that his services were not
sufficiently great for repaying his master's favours, for
whom he was always ready to sacrifice his life. He
bequeathed part of his wealth to the priests, purchased
indulgences, kissed their hands, showing them humi-
liating submission, and though of vigorous health, he
manifested all the signs of a speedy departure to the
other world. During his dreams he often pronounced
some words favourable to the czar, to whom everything
was reported. In the meantime the hetman was
secretly preparing the insurrection among the Cossacks ;
his friends were hinting to them that the czar intended
to make them slaves, to govern them as peasants,
and transport them to Siberia, and that unmistakable
documents were found on that subject; that those who
were faithful to the Russians were traitors ; and some of
H
98 MAZEPPA.
them who were suspected to be so, were skilfully ex-
posed to great dangers in their conflicts with the Turks
and Tatars, where they perished. He found means to
establish a correspondence with the sultan of Turkey in
the most secret manner, as well as with Charles XII.
For the latter he professed the greatest admiration, and
promised to join him with all his men, to exterminate
the Russian corps scattered in the Ukraine, provided he
might have the duchy of Severy ceded to him as a
principality, and also the title of hetman of all the
Cossacks, whom he wished to bring back to the Polish
domination.
Charles XII., however, seems to have been very
careless about Mazeppa's promises, and had not much
reliance on the Cossacks. Thanking Mazeppa for his
offers, he advised him to postpone his defection. This
unlucky delay placed the Cossack chief in a very
dangerous position. Already alarming rumours re-
specting his projects were propagated, and even the
czar was apprised of them ; but Mazeppa played his
cards so well, that the czar, considering as traitors all
who suspected Mazeppa's fidelity, sent him, under a
strong escort, his two principal accusers, Iskra and
Kotczubey. Mazeppa was obliged to sacrifice them for
his safety, and they were both kiUed by three strokes of
sharp hammers on their heads in his presence (a punish-
ment reserved to traitors among the Cossacks). The
czar also, wishing to give him a more decided mark of
his imperial favour, invited him to proceed to Kiof,
MAZEPPA. 99
to lay with him the first stone of the fortress of that
town. Mazeppa, who had left his bed, convoked all
the subordinate chiefs, and sent his own nephew Woy-
naroski to the czar, requesting him to govern the
Cossacks with more liberality. Before, however, that
deputation reached Moscow, one of his letters was in-
tercepted: the czar ordered Woynaroski to be imme-
diately put in irons, and gave peremptory orders to all his
generals to forcibly prevent the junction of the Cossacks
with the king of Sweden. He liberated from Siberia
all persons sent there by Mazeppa's influence. He
also put in circulation the rumour that all the defeats
of the Cossacks by the Swedes were attributable to the
treason of their own hetman, who wished to reduce the
Greek church to the caprices of the Pope and Luther-
anian court. In fact, nothing was spared to blacken his
character, and to lower him in their estimation.
Mazeppa saw that the time was come for action. He
therefore marched towards the Dnieper, collected pro-
visions, put in a good state of defence the towns
of Gotchi, Tchernigof, and especially Baturin, and
joined the king of Sweden with 15,000 Cossacks in the
vicinity of the river Desna. He soon after made a
favourable treaty with the Zaporogues, renewed the
correspondence with the Turks favourable to his cause,
and neglected nothing that could improve the situation
of the Swedish army, and contribute to the success of
his projects.
Peter the Great being well aware of the importance
100 MAZEPPA.
of the defection of the Cossacks in favour of Charles,
did all he could to stop it ; and having been apprised that
the Swedish king had forgotten to secure the post of
Starodub, which could thwart all the efforts of the
Russians to master the fortress of Baturin, where large
stores of ammunition and provisions were amassed for
the Swedes, he detached his favourite, Menzikof, with a
large body of troops, to storm it. The latter marched
with great haste through difficult tracts, took the town
by surprise, burned and sacked it, and after putting the
inhabitants to the sword, sent thirty Prussian officers as
prisoners, with their general Koenigseck, grand master
of the artillery in Mazeppa's service, to the czar ; who,
after ordering his clergy to excommunicate Mazeppa,
and to attach his likeness to the gibbet, sent them to
the scaffold, where they perished by the most horrible
tortures.
The taking of this fortress by Menzikof was, per-
haps, the most important step towards the ultimate
victory of the Russians. Peter the Great, however,
having heard that Mazeppa was indefatigable in victual-
ling the Swedish army, offered him a complete oblivion
of the past should he return to him again; but the
hetman, well aware of his true disposition, and indig-
nant at the atrocities which the czar had inflicted on
his partisans, refused the offer, and wisely continued to
be faithful to his new friend.
Charles XII., after passing the most terrible winter
of 1709 almost without shelter, advanced into the wilds
MAZEPPA. 101
of the eastern Ukraine ; and after several successful
skirmishes besieged the town of Pultawa, situated on the
right bank of the river Worskla, whei:e Peter the Grea^t
soon arrived with 80,000 men and a^ouiac-rous'train of
artillery. Without entering into the p^Jiicnl^ais. of; the-
battle of Pultawa, it may be sufficient to ^tate, that
it saved the Russian empire from a revolution, lowered
the political importance of Sweden for centuries, and
was gained over Charles XII., chiefly by a mistake of the
Swedish general Kreutz, and the king''s illness. One
portion of the Cossacks under Peter the Great fought
with the others under Mazeppa. After the loss of that
battle, Charles XII., attended by some Cossacks and
the wreck of his army, retreated towards the Dnieper,
constantly harassed by General Menzikof, who pressed
them closely and gave no quarter to any Cossack;
though several thousands of the Swedish veterans, so
often victorious, whose very name struck terror in the
heart of the Russians, surrendered.
Charles XII., beaten, attended by Poniatowski, Ma-
zeppa, and some of his most faithful friends, sick, and
carried on a litter, reached at last with great difficulty
the Dnieper, where some boats were prepared for
transporting him to the other shore, and facilitating his
progress to Turkey. Scarcely had Mazeppa and the
king leaped into a boat when a terrible storm arose, and
the angry waves dashed with such fury from the west
that the greater part of the boats were broken, the
boatmen drowned, and the hetman was obliged for his
102 MAZEPPA.
own safety to throw immense treasures into the river,
which proved a watery grave to all those who attempted
to swim through it.
AfteralQUg, painful, and harassing journey, during
.five days> with scanty provisions, without water, without
shelter, without any visible track, through the romantic
deserts of the mighty Ukraine, Charles XII., with his
suite, and Mazeppa watching constantly the guides
that they might not betray them, directing their steps by
the stars, by the gusts of moaning winds, and the flocks
of screaming birds, reached at last in safety the
Turkish town of Otchakof, where they were most hospi-
tably received by the Turkish pasha.
Mazeppa was attended by the remainder of those
celebrated Zaporogues, under the command of Horo-
dynski their chief, who acknowledged his superiority
before the battle of Pultawa. They received some lands
by order of the grand seignor near the river Ka-
mionka, and at first were allowed to govern themselves
according to their own laws, and found, in their misfor-
tunes, benefactors in those very Turks, whose land they
formerly plundered and sacked so many times in their
expeditions. In consequence of the great annoyance
of the Russians, the scattered remains of the Zaporogues
were obliged to retreat further towards the Crimea, which
they did always governed by Mazeppa, who remained
by the express wish of the king of Sweden near his
royal person at Bender. There the aged, vigorous, and
unfortunate hetman, who had passed through so many
MAZEPPA. 103
extraordinary scenes, whose long life resembled more
an Ukranian tale than reality ; whose counsels, not well
appreciated by the northern hero, were perhaps the
principal cause of his downfall, charmed more than
once the Swedish king by his flowing eloquence and
brilliant conversation, always pertinent, and adapted to
the meanest understanding.
It is to be remarked, that in all the negotiations which
Peter the Great attempted to make, either with the
king of Sweden or with the Turkish government, he
always requested the delivery of Mazeppa, for whose
person he ofiered large sums of money. But the Turks,
who never broke the sacred laws of hospitality, whose
noble feelings and generosity are universally acknow-
ledged, constantly rejected such proposals. And Charles,
barbarous once only in his life towards Patkul, too
proud to complain, and having a generous heart, attached
to Mazeppa by the bonds of common misfortune, and
judging men according to their real value, never
dreamed of committing such a wrong. Soon, however,
grief, imeasiness, inactive life, mingled probably with
cutting reproaches of conscience and disappointed hopes,
undermined Mazeppa's constitution and spirit, and he
took poison, and died in the eighty-first year of his age.
In carefully investigating the adventures of Mazeppa,
we must acknowledge there is something mysterious,
wild, and romantic in them, -^hich cannot fail to in-
terest the fair sex, and which have been turned to such
good account by the fervid genius of Byron.
104 MAZEPPA.
Without refusing the homage due to the great
ability, accomplishments, and manly qualities of Ma-
zeppa, we cannot, as an historian, refrain from pointing
out also his ambition, ingratitude, and crimes, which
can only be exceeded by the misfortunes of his early
days. Under the cloak of sincerity and indifference, the
crafty Mazeppa, whose features and words never be-
trayed the secret thoughts of his heart, and whose dis-
position was rather adapted to form an eastern tyrant
than a ruler of the civilised world, was a perfect
master in the art of dissimulation, and never failed to
sacrifice, without any visible emotion, even the lives of
his best friends for the gratification of his ambition.
Liberal and impenetrable by nature, of abstemious
habits, he easily wrested the secrets of another by a jest,
a smile, or a word. His conduct towards Samoilovicz,
his benefactor, whose innocent son he murdered ; his
conduct towards Paley, and many other murders and
crimes, are stains on his memory which cannot be
washed away. He passed through the world like a
gust of moaning wind in the desert, and to this hour the
Ukranian people preserve his memory in their national
songs. See Life of Peter the Great, Hist, de
Charles XIL par Voltaire, see Voyage de la Motraye,
Poiogne Pittoresque, Ncemcevicz, Lettres de Charles
XII., rapportees par Norberg; Roulliere, Anarchic de
Poiogne; Leclerc, Pufendorf, John Perry, Present
State of Russia ; and Lesur, on the Cossacks.
105
CHAPTER V.
ZELEZNIAK.
Zelezniaque — His Parentage unknown — Retires to a Monastery —
Stanislaus Poniatowski — A Confederation of Nobles to expel the
Russians from Poland — They attack Souvaroff— The King takes no
part in the Insurrection — Wretched Means used by the Russian
Ambassador to corrupt the Youth of Warsaw — Induces the King
to withdraw his Troops from the Ukraine — Russian Priests excite
a Rebellion against the Nobles in that province — The Empress
Catherine encourages the Zaporoguian Cossacks to rise in arms —
Zelezniaque leaves his Retreat, and is made their Attaman — He
commits the most horrible Excesses through the Ukraine — Most of
the Nobles destroyed, but a remnant take Refuge in Houmagne —
Zelezniaque enters the town by Treachery, and butchers the
Inhabitants — Polish Troops sent against him— Catherine disavows
the Insurrection, and sends an Army to queU it — The Russian
Colonel Goloriva pretends Friendship to the Rebel Chiefs — Zelez-
niaque, after being Defeated by the Poles, seeks Protection
in the Russian camp — Is made Prisoner, and the Outbreak is
suppressed— Supposed end of Zelezniaque — His Person, Talents,
and Character.
Maximus Zelezniaque, whose very name inspires
still a feeling of horror in the Ukraine, was a Zapo-
roguian Cossack by birth. Traditional records fur-
nish but few particulars of his origin and early
life. After the commission of crimes, or, to say the
least, of glaring irregularities, which his conscience
106 ZELEZNIAK.
disapproved, he retired as a penitent to the secluded
schismatic^ monastery of Medvedovka.
Catherine II., empress of Russia, had just placed
upon the throne of Poland, one of her discarded lovers,
Stanislaus Poniatowski, a Polish nobleman, whose
weakness of mind, coupled with his debauchery and
lascivious manners, drew down upon him the indignation
of the Polish nobles. The mere puppet of Russia, he
quietly crouched under the domination of Prince Rep-
nin, the Russian ambassador at the court of "Warsaw ;
Repnin, whose prodigality, licentiousness, and un-
qualified effrontery, added to his craftiness, arrogance,
and malevolence, proved a dreadful scourge to Poland.
The majority of the Polish nobles, exasperated at
the pusillanimity of their king, at a period when the
greatest firmness and the most energetic measures would
scarcely have been able to rescue Poland from ruin,
at length began to entertain serious thoughts of either
rousing him from his debasement, or hurling him from
the throne. Universal indignation prevailed. Poland
at that time was already governed as a Russian province,
and a confederation was forthwith formed at Bar^ (a little
town in Podolia, a southern Polish province), by Adam
Count Krasinski, bishop of Kamienietz, his brother
Michael, Pulawski, with his sons and nephew, and a
few other leading Polish patriots, in 1768, in the month
of February. The object of this confederation was the
expulsion of the Moscovite party from the kingdom,
and the elevation of Poland from the humiliation to
ZELEZNIAK. 107
which she had been reduced. Ere long, without arms,
ammunition, regular troops, or pecuniary resources,
they commenced a series of attacks against the Russian
armies commanded by Souvarof, one of the ablest of
the Russian generals.
This daring and desperate enterprise gradually re-
kindled the energy of the Polish nation, and menaced
Russia with no inconsiderable danger. The initiatory
acts of hostility were confined to a desultory warfare,
which, unimportant as it first appeared, harassed the
Russians greatly, allowing them no rest either by night
or by day, and altogether demoralizing their soldiery.
The regular troops of Poland, with their king, at first
took no part in this war, appearing to favour it the
more, in proportion as the alarm which it gave to the
Russians, increased. Battles were fought in rapid suc-
cession, and scarcely a day passed without some bloody
conflict ; the combatants on both sides contending with
the most savage fury. The Polish insurgents, dis-
ciplined by daily experience, became, with every new
conflict, more formidable to Russia ; and Poland might
have been delivered from the Moscovite yoke, if more
decisive measures had been taken in regard to the
king, who formed one of the greatest obstacles to the
success of this glorious struggle for independence.
Repnin was commanded to employ every possible means
for suppressing the insurrection ; and was enjoined to
neglect no measures, open or underhand, for crushing it.
The plans he adopted for accomplishing this object were
108
ZELEZNIAK.
indeed very extraordinary ; and they were successful to
a certain extent, through one of those contingencies
which bid defiance to all preconcerted schemes and
previous calculations. It was known that many females
of the higher orders of society were favourable to the
insurgents; and, accordingly, he sent for twenty-eight
young and handsome citizens of Moscow and St. Peters-
burgh, and many other foreigners, all men in the bloom
of life, whose elegance of person, pleasing manners,
and splendid attire, could not fail to captivate the softer
sex and thus to gain possession of family secrets. A
bevy also of syren Pompadours came into Poland with
similar intentions. Such attractive personages, sur-
rounded with Asiatic magnificence, easily gained ad-
mission into the highest circles ; while their numerous
retinue, acting as inferior agents, endeavoured, accord-
ing to the instructions they had received, to gain the
good graces of the domestic menials by every art of
captivation.
Kewards and distinctions were not wanting to crown
the fortunate. Those, indeed, of the male sex, who
were commissioned thus to use their influence, were
ordered likewise in secret, to tarnish the reputation of
virtuous females, to turn them into ridicule, to dissemi-
nate discord, to foment disunion, and to excite the
Polish aristocracy to a violation of all sumptuary re-
strictions. It was not long before Repnin was apprised
that the insurgents were supplied with money and pro-
visions by certain of the nobles. The Russian generals,
ZELEZNIAK. 109
however, acted with unceasing vigilance, and their con-
sequent proceedings inflicted a greater amount of in-
jury upon the confederates, than the often doubtful
results of actual conflict.
The second plan adopted for crushing the insurgents
was dictated by the following circumstance. The
Turks, having apparently afibrded secret assistance to
the insurrection, which derived its principal resources
from the Ukraine, and from whence, on the part of the
nobles, the principal opposition to the king emanated,
Repnin artfully contrived to persuade King Poniatowski
to cause the Polish troops under Branetzki to be with-
drawn from that province. After this had been done,
two hundred priests of the Greco-Russian creed, with
Basil, bishop of Tchegrine, at their head, an ecclesiastic
of ability, but of unparalleled cruelty, craftiness, and
hypocrisy, were sent into the Ukraine, for the purpose
of exciting a rehgious rebeUion against the nobles. In
every commune these vile emissaries secretly distributed
in the night large casks filled with daggers for mas-
sacreing, without distinction, all who did not profess the
Russian faith. These murderous priests, not content
with pronouncing blessings upon these daggers, thus
consecrating them to the cruel purpose for which they
were intended, gave complete and unlimited absolution
from all their sins, to those who with lavish hand should
spread abroad, carnage, conflagration, mourning and
despair. The Zaporoguian Cossacks were persuaded to
become the agents of similar horrors. All the monaste-
110 ZELEZNIAK.
ries of the schismatics that were in the Ukraine became
so many strongholds for the rebellion, and this the more
easily, as the country was at that time destitute of troops,
and as the common people were for the most part under
an impression (so effectually had the priests worked upon
them) that the outbreak had been made in obedience to
the mandates of the king of Poland. Proclamations
were likewise disseminated throughout the Ukraine and
amongst the Zaporogues, that the confederates of Bar,
principally composed of nobles, were desirous to enforce
the conversion of the population to the Church of
Rome, or exterminate them without mercy: but that
the Empress of Russia, holding the same religious
tenets as themselves, would despatch 50,000 men
to guard their liberties against the encroachments of
their Polish masters. Then she raised Zelezniaque to
the rank of Brigadier of Lesser Zaporoguia. The Zapo-
roguians were at that time living, nominally, under the
protection of Russia, Turkey, and Poland, but in reality
they formed a distinct caste, maintaining relations with
other Cossacks, and committing excesses wherever they
were able. Catherine caused her own name to be in-
scribed on their public register, in letters of gold, and
took every opportunity of flattering them. In thus acting,
she had a twofold object in view — to weaken Poland,
and to lessen the numbers of a body she wished to ex-
terminate. The Zaporoguians, as if blindfolded, fell
into the snare she laid for them, lost all remembrance of
their benefactor Stephen Bator y, forgot their mother
ZELEZNIAK. Ill
country, were blind to their own interests, and seemed
to have banished from their memory the cruelties of
Peter the Great, and the terrible lessons they had re-
ceived from that barbarous potentate.
Intelligence of the prevailing consternation did not
fail to reach the ears of Zelezniaque in his monastic
retreat; a glorious spoil seemed to glisten before his
eyes ; fr-om an ascetic he became a chief, and was pro-
claimed attaman koshovy of the Zaporoguians. He
began by secretly organising, in the dense and gloomy
forests on both banks of the Tasmina, bands of incen-
diaries and brigands, seconded by schismatic clergy and
Russian officers. PoKsh Ukraine was soon overrun by
these human demons.*^ The dark, fanatical Zelezniaque,
surnamed the Hyena of the Ukraine, whose great
strength of body, whose iron will, and tiger-like ferocity
fitted him for the most daring enterprises, dashed at
once into the career of crime ; uplifting the crucifix, and
invoking the holy name of Christ, while he inflicted
the most cruel punishment for the least disobedience of
his commands.
AU who were not of the Greek religion, aged men,
women, children, nobles, serfs, monks, tillers of the
soil, Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, aU were slaughtered
indiscriminately. The entire province presented the
spectacle of a town taken by storm. Cossack and
rebel-serf vied with each other in acts of merciless
cruelty : deep weUs were filled up with the dead bodies
of infants ; nobles, females, and priests, were buried in
112 ZELEZNIAK.
the ground up to the chin, while the assassin torturers
danced around them to the sound of music, amusing
themselves at intervals with mowing off the heads of
their victims, like the grass of the field. On the same
gibbet were seen mothers and their children. Other
details of the barbarous cruelty practised on females,
and related by historians, are of too horrid and revolt-
ing a character, to bear more minute description. They
hanged likewise upon the same tree on the public high-
way, a Polish nobleman, a priest, a protestant, and a dog,
with the inscription " one and the same,^^ Children of
tender years were fastened alive to other sufferers, thus to
perish by a slow and dreadful death ; or, being incapable
of resistance, while they were firmly held, they were
poinarded or deprived of their eyes by Cossack boys
not more than ten years of age. But here we must pause,
the pen shrinks from tracing such inhuman deeds. The
Jews, abominated more than others on account of their
religion, were almost all burned alive ; nor did even the
abjuration of their religion secure them from the stake.
In the villages lay murdered women, and the mutilated
trunks of adults and children crushed by the iron-
bound hoofs of the horses.^ All to whom flight was
possible, sought a doubtful safety in remote places ;
while the whole of the nobles scattered throughout the
Ukraine, fell. Examples were not wanting of serfs
defending their masters with the utmost devotedness
and bravery; most of the villages were taken by
assault and burned to ashes; the inhabitants being
ZELEZNIAK. 113
slaughtered. A remnant of the Polish nobility took
refuge at Houmagne, the principal fortified town of the
southern part of the Ukraine, in which were stationed
some Polish Cossacks under Gonta, and a few other
soldiers. A dark plot was formed for taking it by sur-
prise, and the undertaking unhappily succeeded through
the treachery of Gonta. Under pretext of revictual-
ling the town, Zelezniaque, with his ferocious bands,
was introduced into it, at nightfall, by his agents; and,
after a short resistance, eighteen thousand inhabitants
were put to the sword. The slaughter lasted three
days : atrocities which no power of language can
describe were committed ; and while the massacre was
being accomplished, the Russian priests pronounced
blessings and chaunted h}Tnns of triumph.
As the rebellion, daily increasing in intensity and
extent, began to assume a very alarming aspect, some
Polish troops, under Brigadier Stempkowski, in con-
junction with a corps of faithful Cossacks under Ne-
krassa, came up and gave successful battle to the rebels
in several encounters. The general terror arising from
this appalling outbreak at length arose to so high a
pitch, that the court of St. Petersburgh was obHged
to discountenance by an overt disavowal, the rebellion
excited by its own instrumentality ; and to punish
those who had taken a part in it. (See Lesur.) The
main body of the Haidamaques still maintained their
encampment at Houmagne under Gonta ; while Zelez-
niaque was constantly sending out detachments to
I
114 ZELEZNIAK.
overrun the country, when a body of infantry and
Russian Cossacks of the Don, under the command of
Nolkin and Goloriva, suddenly showed themselves
before the town. As the Poles under Nekrassa, who
had cut up to the last man some troops of rebels, were
advancing to engage in battle, the Russian general
Kretchetnikoff despatched Colonel Goloriva to apprise
the rebel chiefs of the impending danger. This step
was crowned with complete success. Goloriva spoke
in friendly terms, approved everything that had been
done in the name of the czarina, drew up an ulterior
plan of military operations, assisted in regulating the
discipline, visited the chief officers, assured them that
they would be defended in case of any sudden attack
by the Poles, and completely won their confidence.
The rebel confederates shortly after, while reconnoitring
for information, fell in with the Polish vanguard.
Beaten by this force and pursued by Nekrassa, they
took refuge in the Russian camp, but Goloriva then
adopted an opposite line of conduct, and after having
hemmed them in on all sides, he ordered them to be
thrown into irons, together with Zelezniaque and other
chiefs. He then attacked and routed the rest of the
Haidamaques conjointly with the Poles ; and having
surrounded them, caused them to be sent back, to the
number of eighteen hundred, together with Gonta, to
General Branetzki, while he reserved to himself Zelez-
niaque with a smaller number of Russian prisoners.
The accounts relative to the death of Zelezniaque are
ZELEZNIAK. 115
contradictory. The end of his earthly career has
never been altogether cleared of mystery, although
no doubts remain touching the concluding scene of the
life of Gonta. Some say that Zelezniaque, after the
dispersion of the Ha'idamaques, was punished with
the knout, and transported for life with all his family
into Siberia : others assert that he succeeded in effect-
ing his escape, and that he fell in a skirmish at the
head of one of his detachments. Again, it is main-
tained by others that he died at a very advanced age,
a -voluntary recluse in a monastery at Moscow. This
last statement appears to me to rest on an apparently
good foundation, as I very distinctly remember having
heard it on several occasions during my stay in the
Ukraine. It is also confirmed by some of my fellow-
exiles and countrymen, natives of that district. Zelez-
niaque may have survived the punishment of the knout,
though instances of this are very rare; he may also
have been left for dead upon the field of battle, and
there have returned to consciousness.
The historical notices that have been published
respecting him, agree in describing him as a man of
middle stature and of extraordinary physical strength ;
that he was fierce in aspect and sombre in disposition ;
that his energies were inexhaustible, and that his very
name excited an involuntary shudder ; that he was a
religious fanatic, guided by the sincere impulses of a
misdirected enthusiasm, and that he was neither crafty
nor ambitious. He was at that time (in 1768) in the
116 ZELEZNIAK.
fortieth year of his age. He appeared to cherish an in-
surmountable antipathy to the Jews, an antipathy which
suffered no diminution to the end of his career ; and
which was ascribable perhaps to the false notion mali-
ciously propagated by the Russian peasants against them.
During his meals, he often feasted his eyes with
their dying agonies; he invented for these, his most
hated victims, tortures which surpass all belief, and of
which the bare idea makes the blood run cold. He
was superstitious, and had a peculiar aversion for
females of dark complexion ; and if they bore the least
symbol of manhood upon their chins he burnt them
as witches. In his features were combined the bold-
ness of the lion and the fierceness of the tiger. His
eyes glared with a fiery but sullen redness, which was
quite in keeping with the solitary life he had passed,
within hearing of the roar of the cataracts of the
Dnieper. He had an enthusiastic veneration for the
priesthood of his own creed ; and seemed to have a
remarkable predilection for prophets so called, and
astrologers. His voice was like the bellowing of a
bull. His portrait, which I saw several times in my
early boyhood, did not belie the execrable historical
character of the prototype. See Lesur, Histoire des
Cosaques; Tuczapski, Madame Crebs, fille de Mado-
novicz. Description de la Rebellion des Haidamaques,
Lelevel, Colonel Logoski, Swientski, Ferrand les trois
Demembremens, Niemcevictz, and Czaykoski.
117
CHAPTER VI.
GONTA.
Born a Serf of Cpunt Pototski — Raised from his station, and made
Chief of the Cossacks— Houmagne— The Empress Catherine
foments discord in the Ukraine — Mladanovicz sends him to relieve
Houmagne — A Polish Deputation make him large offers to secure
his co-operation — Is persuaded to desert the cause of his Country —
Joins Zelezniaque, and opens Houmagne to his ferocious bands —
Assists at the dreadful Carnage perpetrated there — Assumes the
command of the Rebel Army — Is defeated by Nekrassa and the
Polish troops — Takes refuge in the Russian Camp, and is made
prisoner with Zelezniaque, by Goloriva, who was sent by the
Empress to queU the Rebellion — Gonta is condemned to a cruel
death, and his family exiled to Siberia— Branetzki the Polish
General — Many Polish Families driven from their homes— Induced
to return, they are massacred — Dreadful state of the Ukraine — Its
desolations, and awful sacrifice of human life — Gonta's Character
— The present Count Pototski and his sister the Countess Kieseleff
emigrants from the country.
If the guiltiest deeds that darken the annals of the past,
if the savage ferocity of the tiger^ and the subtlest
wiliness of the fox, if great versatility of mind and
unexampled perfidy, united to the loftiest ambition,
have at any time rendered a brigand chief notorious,
no one has better deserved so detestable a renown,
than the man who is the subject of this biographical
memoir.
118 GOKTA.
Gonta was originally a serf, professing the Greco-
Kussian religion, and was born at Rosuszl^i, a small
village belonging to Szczesny Pototski, palatine of
Kiow, the capital of the Ukraine. This nobleman was
possessed of immense riches, and was the owner of the
town of Houmagne with all its dependencies. Since the
year 1760 he had confided this property to the care of
a skilful steward named Raphael Mladanovicz. This
man, seeing that the greatest portion of the land about
Houmagne was lying uncultivated, and that with proper
agricultural attention its value might be increased,
erected farm-houses in convenient localities, and assigned
them to industrious tenants at a very moderate rent, on
condition of their making good roads, and using every
means to augment the revenue of his master. At the
same time he endeavoured to secure the well-being of
the palatine's subjects and dependents. He then
improved and ornamented the town of Houmagne,
repaired the houses and streets, and established schools,
which he placed under the direction of men esteemed
for the excellence of their character. For the security
of the town and its vicinity, in addition to a certain
number of regular troops, there were some regiments of
militia formed from the relics of the ancient Polish
Cossacks.
Houmagne soon became a flourishing place, and its
liches and prosperity rapidly increased. As its inhabi-
tants were composed of a mixture of Roman Catholics,
members of the Greek catholic church, and of the Greek
GONTA. 119
non-united schismatic church, several priests of the
Koman and Greek churches came hither for the pur-
poses of education and proselytism. This caused some
alarm among the clergy of the Greek church.* An ill-
feeling was engendered, and mutual calumnies and
recriminations, with the various bickerings of religious
animosity, followed in their train.
Gonta, living under the protection of Mladanovicz, a
courtier by nature, and gifted with much acuteness of
intellect, contrived to insinuate himself into the good
graces of his master, the Palatine Pototski; who,
highly appreciating the valour and abilities of his
vassal, gave him the command of his Cossack troops.
He also ameliorated his condition, enabled him to con-
tract an advantageous marriage, and placed him in the
proprietary tenure of two villages for a rent almost
nominal.
Gonta did not at first show himself unworthy of his
master's bounty, and appeared to be actuated by a
devoted attachment to his benefactor. As he at all
times lived in perfect harmony with Mladanovicz, to
whom he confided his two sons ; and as the palatine's
high opinion of him was daily increasing, Gonta was
entrusted with the command of all the baronial or
seignoral troops in the neighbourhood ; and was cajoled,
humoured, and flattered, as always happens in similar
circumstances. Availing himself of all the advantages
he enjoyed, he gained extensive influence and great
consideration in the Ukraine ; and became the favourite
120 GONTA.
of all the Cossacks, over whose minds he had obtained
a powerful ascendancy.
In the meanwhile the empress of Russia, alarmed at
the progress of the confederates of Bar, and having
been apprised that there was a misunderstanding
between Felicyan Volodkovicz, the metropolitan bishop
of the united Greek church, and Melchisedeck
Javorski, the superior of a schismatic monastery of the
Greco-Russian faith, resolved to take advantage of this
circumstance in order to bring about a definitive and
permanent disunion, and thus facilitate the rebellion
of the common people against the nobles. She accord-
ingly despatched her emissaries into all the Greco-
Russian monasteries, situated for the most part in
isolated places in the depths of the forests of Tasmina,
as well as on the confines of the steppes of the Ukraine.
These delegates, by their insidious counsels, as we have
already mentioned, were the original authors and
abettors of the rebellion of Zelezniaque. But it
appeared to her of the utmost importance to gain pos-
session of the town of Houmagne, in which great num-
bers of the nobles had taken refuge, in order that she
might have a point of support for giving an eflfectual
impulse to the revolt ; and this it seemed impossible to
do without the concurrence and co-operation of Gonta.
Zelezniaque, at the head of the Haidamaques, made
himself master of Medvedovka, Zabatine, Smila,
Zvinigrod, and captured the castle of Lysianka by
stratagem, as well as several other places. He then
GONTA. 121
pursued his march at the head of his bands, distributing
arms to the peasants as he passed along, and, preceded
by numerous schismatic priests, arrived near to Hou-
magne. Gonta, the chief of the Cossacks, ha%dng
incurred suspicion, Mladanovicz apprised him of the
fact, and accused him of tampering with the fidelity of the
troops under his command. Gonta exculpated himself
by protestations of gratitude, and renewed his oath
of fidelity at the front of his Cossacks, drawn up
in array. The confidence formerly reposed in
him by Mladanovicz was, by this public declaration,
renewed ; and he sent him with one of his friends to
convey provisions into the town, at that time crowded
with fugitives, and to give battle to the bands of
Zelezniaque. During this time General Nisse, then
holding the chief command in this country, withdrew
his forces from the town, in conformity with secret
orders he had received. He also clandestinely induced a
Prussian major, who happened to be in the neighbour-
hood for the purpose of making a purchase of horses,
to follow his example ; so that there remained in the
town but a very small number of soldiers, for the most
part invalided, who could not be openly withdrawn at
so short a notice, without causing alarm to the inhabi-
tants. These soldiers were sacrificed. A political
problem had to be solved, and the blood of a few infirm
men was not to be spared under the working of the
Machiavellian councils of the cabinet of St. Petersburgh.
After the retreat of the confederates, and the with-
122 GONTA.
dravv^al of the regular troops, and the departure of
Gonta, a sudden horror, a dark presentiment of coming
ruin, seized every heart.
In this phase of events, the arrival of Nekrassa was
expected. Nekrassa was a young chief of Polish Cos-
sacks, whose known valour, high military talents, and
implacable hatred to all that was Russian, gained him
the utmost confidence and esteem. He was to effect a
junction with the troops of Gonta, after having gained
some recent advantages over the Haidamaques as well
as the Russians. No breath of suspicion had tarnished
the high principles of patriotism and honour by which
he was actuated, and it was asserted he was in possession
of such knowledge as would unmask the dark perfidy
of the Moscovite cabinet. Gonta was near Sakolovka,
when Nekrassa joined him, at the head of a small depu-
tation of Polish nobles, in order to concert measures
for saving the town of Houniagne, which could only be
done by immediately attacking the Haidamaques under
Zelezniaque. To secure the co-operation of Gonta, a
large sum was offered him by this deputation, in the
name of the Polish nobles, an equal sum from the Pa-
latinate Pototski, together with the property of two
villages as an heir-loom to his family, to be selected at
Gonta's own choice, from his vast domains. To these
gifts were also to be added a high commission in his
troops, a,nd Mladanovicz was to arrive with the legal
documents of the cession of the two villages, the names
of which were to be inserted in the title deeds, accord-
GONTA
123
iiig to the direction of. Gonta. Having listened to and
discussed the proposals of Nekrassa, Gonta accepted
them, and a final arrangement seemed thus to have
been efiected.
By a strange fatality, however, Mladanovicz did not
make his appearance with the expected papers. Gonta,
perhaps not without reason, attributed his absence to an
evasion on the part of the palatine, relative to the dona-
tion of the villages. Mladanovicz, who was no stranger
to the intended enrichment of Gonta, might have been
jealous of losing even a small part of his master's pos-
sessions, and his bhnd devotedness might have made
him forget that it is sometimes the soundest policy to
be generous from interested motives. Nekrassa and the
ortier members of the deputation had no sooner taken
leave of Gonta with a favourable reply, than Basil,
bishop of Tchegrine, of the Greco-Russian faith, sud-
denly came into the presence of the wavering chief-
This ecclesiastic was the principal organiser of the re-
bellion, and he was aided in his godless design by two
hundred priests, who were then sanctioning bloodshed
and murder by their blasphemous preachings thi'ough-
out the Ukraine. Basil was the bearer of titles and
presents for Gonta, and by high-sounding promises on
the part of the Empress of Russia, he endeavoured to
prevail upon him to declare himself against the Poles,
to join Zelezniaque, and to deliver -up the town of
Houmagne. He represented to him that the king of
Poland was secretly favourable to the rebellion, and
124 GONTA.
that he was borne out in this assertion by the conduct
of Branetzki. Still all the insidious persuasions of this
infamous prelate seemed incapable of alienating Gonta,
who, in expressing his refusal, dwelt upon the bounty of
the palatine his benefactor. At these words the Rus-
sian prelate, with Satanic joy beaming in his looks, in-
formed Gonta that the palatine, whom he till now had
deemed his benefactor, had been guilty of criminal
conversation with his wife ; and he placed before Gonta's
eyes written evidences of the truth of his allegation.
It is not known, and perhaps it never will be known,
whether the letters which he exhibited to him, and
which Gonta believed to be in the handwriting of his
wife, were authentic or fabricated. That fac-similes of
writing are sometimes undistinguishable from the genuine
copy is well known. Authors vary in their statements
relative to the production of the letters: we have
heard the fact averred by many persons, and have read
it in the Memoirs of Colonel Lagowski, who spent a
part of his life in the Ukraine. After reading the
letters, Gonta's countenance betrayed the anger that
was raging in his heart: the inward struggle escaped
not the scrutinising eye of the wily delegate, who scarce
had time to renew his subtle persuasions, when Gonta
declared against his country. The Cossacks under his
command fraternised with the Haidamaques under Ze-
lezniaque, in a small wood called Grekhova-lasek, ren-
dered famous by this event. When the junction had
been effected, the army of the rebels confessed them-
GONTA. 125
selves, with their chiefs, on this spot, and received abso-
lution firom the Greco-E-ussian priests, arrayed in their
sacerdotal robes, to carry on a war of extermination
against their unoflfending fellow-creatures.
Gonta, by the abominable stratagem of pretending to
re-victual the town, succeeded in taking possession of
Houmagne at the close of day, and so artfuUy did he
concert his plans, that Zelezniaque's forces gradually
advanced, and seized the most important posts, while
the inhabitants still believed themselves in safety.
Mladanovicz had an interview with Gonta, whose
treachery now became apparent, and to endeavour to
soften his heart, he conducted to him, his (Gonta's)
two sons, who had been confided to his care. The
people flocked to the churches, in which mass was
celebrated, that they might be prepared to meet the
fearful doom which now appeared to be inevitable.
We have before observed that the garrison was com-
posed of a few feeble and infirm soldiers. All resis-
tance was therefore vain. The inhabitants were or-
dered to bring out all their efiects into the public
squares and open places, to ransom their lives with
all the property they possessed. These orders had not
been fully executed, when Gonta murdered his two
sons with his own hand. He then commanded that
Mladanovicz should, in his presence, be transfixed
with pikes through his body, and borne along by a
party of the soldiers. Thus perished Mladanovicz
in the most horrible agonies. The inhabitants, to
126 GONTA.
the number of eighteen thousand, were put to the
sword ; and although the greater number of the nobles
defended themselves with the courage of lions, all
were massacred. The bloody orgies lasted three days.
A few young females, on their conversion to the
Greco-Russian faith, were saved, being purified with
holy-water, and assigned by lot to the Hai'damaques.''
After this terrible event, Gonta, who took the command
of all the rebels, pursued the work of carnage. Detach-
ments of troops pillaged Granof, Toplik, Daszof, Tul-
czyn, Monasterzyska, Haysyn, Bossovka, and Ladiszyn,
while the inferior chiefs carried desolation as far as
Balta, on the banks of the Dniester, in the Pobereze,
and even to Turkey, as well as to the environs of
K'low. Soon after, however, some bands of the Haida-
maques were completely exterminated by Nekrassa
with his Polish troops. The communes of Ositna,
Kuzminogrobla, Subska, Siennitsa, and Podwysokie,
signalized themselves by an heroic resistance and an
unalterable attachment to their masters, who nobly
recompensed them.
The main body of the Haidamaques still remained
at Houmagne under Gonta and Zelezniaque, when a
detachment of Don Cossacks under Goloriva, and a
body of Russian infantry under KretchetnikofiT, appear-
ed in the vicinity of the town. Both these officers
had received secret instructions to observe the Haida-
maques, and to gain the confidence of their chiefs.
Goloriva visited these officers, gave them counsel.
GONTA. 127
and performed his mission with considerable ability.
When the troops headed by Nekrassa began to defeat
and pursue the Haidamaques in every direction,
Gonta with his chiefs went to visit Goloriva, who
received them with courtesy and marked politeness.
Then, having secured their horses so as to prevent
their escape, he suddenly changed his tone, and threw
them into irons. He then attacked and routed the
Haidamaques conjointly with the Poles, who sur-
rounded them on all sides, and delivered up Gonta
with eighteen hundred of the rebels to General Branet-
zki by the orders of Kretchetnikoff. Branetzki found
means to convey a secret message to Gonta, to assure
him that if he would observe strict silence and make
no oral declaration, he would save him from impending
death ; but the same messenger was charged with an
especial order to Goloriva that he should command hia
Cossacks to cut out the tongue and chop off the right
hand of Gonta, under some frivolous pretext, in order
to prevent him divulging state secrets. It is to be
remarked, that after the murder of his two boys,
Gonta's mind was partly deranged. He could never
sleep nor take any rest ; he constantly fancied he saw
the ghosts of his children and of his mother cursing
him. He spoke often to them in the dead of the night;
and before his execution, which took place in Novem-
ber, he bore already all the weight of the punishment
of his horrible crimes. When one of the Haidamaques
K covered the son of Mladanovicz, a boy of ten years
to
GONTA.
of age^ who escaped death by accident, and conducted
him to Gonta, the latter, moved by pity, not only saved
his life but took care of him, paid him the greatest
possible attention, and seems to have been particularly
fond of that child, who, well acquainted with him, con-
stantly asked what became of his father with tears and
lamentations. He twice escaped almost certain death,
and was only wrested from Gonta's arms half-an-hour
before his execution. It is also to be remarked that,
after the rout of the Haidamaques, when Gonta entered
a small cottage near Serby, he discovered in it a female
whom he had seduced in his youth, and who had pre-
dicted to him, captivity and a terrible death. She was
a natural daughter of a Turkish prisoner, and a Bohe-
mian woman. She had received a good education and
possessed great accomplishments, and was for a long
time the acknowledged mistress of General Branetzki>
who, even after his marriage with the niece of Potem-
kin, secretly visited her. This woman (Marylka) had
a tame fox which followed her everywhere and of
which she was very fond. General Branetzki passing
accidentally through the village saw the well-known
fox entering the barn; he soon concluded that his
mistress must be there, and followed it; but found
Gonta kneeling at the feet of his former affection.
From that time he felt for him an intense hatred, which
was never abated. Marylka had a child, which was
carried off by the Tatars, and not being able to recover
it, she fell into deep melancholy, disappeared, and in-
GONTA. 129
habited for many years tinder another name, an isolated
dwelling on the banks of the Dniester. She had the
reputation in the neighbourhood of having connexion
with evil spirits. (See Memoirs of Colonel Lagawski) .
Goloriva acted in strict conformity with the instructions
he had received. Gonta was condemned at Serby, with
every necessary formality, to undergo publicly the
terrible punishment of the hooks, of mutilation, and
death ; and he was executed in the presence of a great
many eye-witnesses at the head-quarters of Branetski.
The severity of the punishment he underwent was
augmented by incredible barbarities, and the survivors of
his family were sent into perpetual banishment in Siberia.
The booty carried off by the Haidamaques (November,
1768), which amounted to a considerable sum, was divided
for the most part between Branetski and Kretchetnikoff
and some of the inferior officers. Although Branetski
appeared to be devoted to Russia, and although he had
married the niece of Potemkin, a marriage which
brought him great riches, all accounts agree more or
less in ascribing his apparent zeal to his desire to usurp
the throne of Poniatowski, while he detested the
Russians in his heart. For whenever intoxication un-
locked the secrets of his breast, he rarely concealed the
antipathy he had against them. Doubtless he was not
free from dissimulation, but he was certainly endowed
with considerable talent, and if he had ascended the
throne of Poland he would likely have saved that un-
happy country. But Russia well knew with what sort
K
130 GONTA.
of a man she would have had to deal, and Branetski
remained without further promotion. After the death
of Gonta, the Haidamaques being routed everywhere,
were executed by thousands in all the southern parts of
Poland. They were hanged, they were quartered, they
were beheaded, during the space of several months.
The greatest number of them suffered at Leopold,
Lysianka, Berdyczew, Zytomirz, Kodnia.
During the massacre of the rebellion, a great many
Polish families, driven from their houses by fear,
wandered shelterless in the plains of Moldavia. The
hospodar, however, was ordered to cause them to with-
draw from his province. They had then no asylum nor
place of refuge whither they could betake themselves ;
but as the Turks were favourable to Poland, it was
suggested to them, that they shoiild proceed further into
the heart of the country, to be more removed from the
observation of the Russian agents. They accordingly
retired into the interior of the province, when the
Russians proclaimed the restoration of tranquillity in
the Ukraine, and invited them to return, that they
might repossess their estates, to prevent them falling into
the hands of unauthorised occupants. This was a dark
and infamous snare laid to entrap them ; and all those
who returned during the year 1769 were put to the
sword, by a new band of assassins organised by Ty-
mienko. The dissolution of all social order was universal
throughout the Ukraine. No one who was known to
have signed the confederation of Bar escaped destruc-
GONTA. 131
tion. Persecution, anarchy, and vengeance, exercised
their direful sway during the space of several years, and
the judicial executions did not cease till 1773. It is
not possible to determine the exact number of those
who were the victims of this terrible outbreak, more
terrible, perhaps, than any which history records.
In the space of a few months the Ukraine was changed
from its flourishing and beautiful aspect into a vast
desert, where " death and fire had altogether gorged
the spoils of victory." Five towns, sixty boroughs, and
a thousand villages were destroyed; more than two
hundred thousand of the inhabitants, without reckoning
those that were assassinated by Tymienko, lost their
lives. The number of judicial executions amounted to
six thousand ; a number more than sufficient to entail
upon the authors of this sanguinary carnage the exe-
crations of posterity to the remotest ages. The Russian
agents doomed beforehand to the scaffold those whom
they excited to revolt in the sacred name of religion,
while Russian policy reaped in this expedition two
advantages — the subjection of the Ukraine, and the
weakening of the Zaporoguians.
The most numerous body of Haidamaques, under
Zelezniaque never amounted to more than fifty thousand
men; but there were several other bands under dif-
ferent leaders. At this time there lived in the Ukraine
an aged Cossack, named Vernyhora, who by his in-
fluence and humane feeling, often prevented the shed-
ding of blood. He even predicted the fall of Poland,
132 GONTA.
but also foretold its future regeneration. The con-
federation of Bar was fraught with more danger to
Russia, than any other insurrection hitherto directed
against her.
Gonta was a man of middle stature, and was thin,
beardless, and feminine in his features. He had
neither the ferocious look nor the vigorous frame of
Zelezniaque, but he surpassed him in quickness of in-
vention, and in the arts of dissimulation. There was an
evident perfidiousness lurking in his cat-like eyes ; but
he seldom looked his interlocutor in the face, while the
honied words of persuasion flowed from his lips. He
paid the penalty of his fiendish career in the very
prime of his life. The town of Houmagne still exists ;
its ancient fortifications were razed by the orders of the
Russian government in 1812, and a wooden palisade
now only surrounds it. Its owner. Count Alexander
Pototski, is amongst the emigrants from his country.
He was a colonel in the Russian army, and only a few
weeks before the conclusion of the last fruitless irrup-
tion against the Russians he put on the Polish uniform,
which cost him a little kingdom. This nobleman is
passionately fond of music ; he is a genuine lover of the
fine arts, and is remarkable for the suavity and amenity
of his manners, as well as for his many excellent
qualities. His features and look are Ukrainian. He
often resides in Paris, and appears to attract the
admiration of the ladies of high rank by his elegant
conversation and dignified manners. It is said that he
GONTA. 133
refused to avail himself of the amnesty in which the
emperor of Russia intended to include him. He is the
brother of the amiable Countess Kisielef, whose charm-
ing disposition, united to a romantic turn of mind and
distinguished elegance, were,'a few years ago, the theme
of admiration in the high circles of Parisian society.
This it is said excited the jealousy of the czar.
In sketching the political events of the Ukraine, and
the fate of the two principal Moloch-destroyers of its in-
habitants, during the sanguinary rebellion which has been
the subject of our narrative, we may for a moment em-
ploy our imaginations, while thinking of that soil which
has imbibed the gore of so many of the unhappy sons of
men. "We may contemplate the cupolas of the churches,
reflecting the red rays like waves of blood from the
broad crimson disk of the setting sun, and we
may console ourselves with the reflection that blood
barbarously shed cries to Heaven for vengeance;
thousands of accusing voices will be raised to the foot-
stool of mercy, and Heaven is just.
See Anarchic dePologne; Pamietniki XiedzaMlada-
nowicza; the works of Lesur, sur les Cosaques; Life of
Catherine II.; L'Histoire de Pologne, by Lelevel; La
Pologne Pittoresque; W. Took; Les trois De-
membremens de Pologne, par Ferrand ; Cox's Travels ;
Swientski, &c.
134
CHAPTER VII.
SAVA (kALINSKi).
Origin not well known — The last among the Cossack chiefs faithful to
Poland before her ultimate partition — Celebrated among the Cos-
sacks — Comes late to the Confederation of Bar — His deadly hatred
to the Russians — Raised by the sole ascendency of his character and
his military talents to a command of small Corps composed of the
Polish Nobles and the Polish chosen Cossacks — Performs extraor-
dinary feats of valour — Beats successively several Russian Gene-
rals— Seldom gives Quarter — Takes in five months fifteen pieces
of cannon, one hundred waggons, and two chests — Is the terror of
the Russians — Advises to make an Insurrection among the Cos-
sacks— Combines the Polish valour with the patience and cunning
of the ancient Cossacks — Pressed by Sauvarof, fights a hard
battle at Szrensk — Already victorious, receives a gun- shot in the
leg — Deposed in the forest of Pszasnysz — Betrayed by a Jewish
surgeon — Delivered to the Russians —Dies from ill-treatment— The
ablest among the Confederate Chiefs.
The exploits of this, the last of the Cossack chiefs
who remained faithful to Poland, are of sufficient
importance to merit particular notice. Weakened and
disorganized as were the Cossack body by the defection
to Turkey of Nekrassa and his adherents, the remnant
still constituted a formidable power, at the head of
whom Sava immortalized his name by prodigies of
valour, and by his consummate skill in the art of
partisan warfare.
SAVA. 135
Sava was, originally, a Cossack of the Ukraine, but
was animated by feelings of the most implacable
hatred against all that bore the very name of Russian,
and by a burning thirst for revenge against the
barbarians who had murdered his relative and com-
mitted unheard-of atrocities in Poland. He enlisted
into the confederation of Bar, and, in a short time,
without name, without influence or protection, and
by the sole aid of his natural genius and the
ascendancy of his firm and energetic character, he
acquired the friendship and esteem of the confede-
rated chiefs, and created for himself a position of
superior command.
Fighting after the manner of the ancient Cossacks,
from whose traditions he had drawn the resources of his
genius as a military tactician ; subtle, persevering, and
impenetrable in his plan of operations ; at once cunning,
daring, cautious, and intrepid; wary, active, and yet
intangible to the enemy ; suffering near him neither
rival nor confidant, he spread carnage and destruction
amongst the Russians, to whom he scarcely ever gave
quarter or respite. He defeated in succession a num-
ber of Sauvarofs best lieutenants ; gaining over them
a series of briUiant advantages ; seizing upon their
baggage-trains, cutting off their communications ; exter-
minating their detachments, and falling constantly
either on the flanks or on the rear of their columns.
He shifted about from place to place with almost fabu-
lous rapidity, and allowed no rest, whether by day or
136 SAVA.
night, to the Russian armies. All the expeditions
attempted against him utterly failed one after the other,
and Sauvarof himself, who by order of the Empress
Catherine had put a price upon his head, could not
refrain from testifying repeatedly his admiration of the
outlawed Cossack chief.
Amongst other unfortunate results of the failure of
the confederates' plan of operations, badly concerted by
the foreign general Dumouriez, who was defeated
by Sauvarof, and which proved so disastrous in its
consequences to the confederation of Bar, Sava, who
from the first had disapproved of the arrangements
in question, being suddenly pursued by the Mite of
Sauvarof 's army, consisting of far superior forces and
a numerous train of artillery, was driven on the night
of the 25th April, (1771), between the defiles of
Szrensk. Thus hemmed in within the narrow limits
of two dykes, the intrepid partizan warrior faced
about, and resolved either to die on the spot or to
cut a free passage for himself and his troops over the
bodies of his pursuers. The conflict was fierce and
desperate on either side, and lasted the whole of the
following day. Sava repeatedly rallied his cavalry
under the murderous Russian fire of grape-shot and
musketry ; he took, lost, and retook five times in suc-
cession the fatal dyke : and having at last found a
lateral passage towards Przasnysz, he succeeded in
striking down all that opposed his exit at this point,
and had mounted to the roof of a house, to give from
y
SAVA.
187
thence the last orders to his already victorious troops,
when a gun-shot shattered his leg. Fearing that this
accident might damp the ardour of his soldiers,
he had himself carried amongst them on a litter,
encouraging them by his presence, and directing their
final attack. He had, indeed, the satisfaction of be-
holding the Russians beaten and pursued, but unable
longer to support the increasing agony of his wound,
aggravated by the motion of the litter, he gave orders
to his troops to continue their march, and had himself
secretly conveyed into the interior of a neighbouring
forest. But a Jewish surgeon who attended him gave
information of his retreat ; he was delivered up to the
Russian Colonel Salomon, whom Sava had often
defeated ; and who, astonished at the capture he had
thus made, treated, it is said, with aU possible kindness
the unhappy chief, to whom he ordered that every
attention should be paid. But Sava, exasperated by
pain, and disdaining to owe any kind of obligation to a
Russian, whom he never by any chance spared, tore
the bandages from his wounds, opened them afresh,
and enlarged them with his nails, pertinaciously refus-
ing to accept of the projBfered aid. Subsequently he
was claimed by Sauvarof, who, in revenge for the
repeated discomfitures which his lieutenants had met
with at the hands of the now helpless Sava, over-
whelmed him with insult, treated him with cruelty,
and finally, exasperated by his haughty answers, had
him put to death.
138 SAVA.
Such was the end of this terrible partizan chief, who,
with his own hand, killed thirty-two Russians, defeated
them several times in the field, and who contemplated
raising the whole of the Cossacks in open insurrection
against Russia. In order to form some idea of Sava's
military capacity, it may be remarked that, in the short
space of five months, having scarcely 1,800 men, he
had destroyed three Russian divisions, had taken fif-
teen pieces of cannon, two military chests, one
hundred military waggons, eighty officers, and some
standards : and all this at a period when the Russian
army was in its highest state of efficiency and dis-
cipline.
His advice to the confederates had always been that
king Poniatowski should be dethroned or killed
without much ado, and that Repnin and Drevitch
should, if possible, be caught alive, in order that they
might be torn to pieces limb from limb. The latter
had ordered the right hand to be severed from each
of three hundred confederate prisoners, and it is said
that he himself cut off the hands of nine of these
unfortunate victims, whom he afterwards paraded
through the streets of Warsaw. Sava, by way of
retaliation, had the soldiers of this Russian man-butcher
put to the sword without mercy.
Kazimir Pulawski, Sava, and Zaremba were beyond
all doubt the three most able chieftains of the Con-
federation of Bar. Pulawsld defeated Sauvarof once,
and was in his turn twice defeated, but rose again more
SAVA. 139
formidable than ever. We have just mentioned the
fate of Sava.
Zaremba, formerly a major in the army, was never
once beaten nor taken by surprise. Impatient of any
superior command, he could never be brought to make
his operations subservient to any combined or para-
mount plan of attack ; consequently, he always acted
individually, or in a manner on his own account. At
a later period, nevertheless, losing all hope of ultimate
success, he deserted the cause of the Confederation,
abandoned his troops, and went over to the Prussians,
by whom as well as by the Russians he allowed himself
to be corrupted.
In the course of the struggle against this famous
Confederation, the Russians lost upwards of 65,000
of their best troops.
The fate of the principal Confederates was singular.
Krasinski, the Bishop of Kamienietz, succeeded by his
extraordinary activity to make hostile treaties to Russia,
with Turkey and Saxony, and died, with his brother
and F. Pototski, a natural death. The old Pulawski, who
was a lawyer of Prince Czartoryski, unjustly accused
of treason, died in irons at Constantinople, and before
his death gave his blessing to his sons provided they
did not avenge his death. One of his sons was taken
prisoner and sent to Siberia, where he fought under
Pugatchef, the other and his nephew were killed at
Lomazy, and Kazimir, the last, went to America, and
was killed at Savannah.
140 SAVA.
There arc still extant in the Ukraine a host of popu-
lar songs or ballads commemorating with tolerable
fidelity not only the tragical end of Sava, but likewise
his victories over the Russians, his attachment to
Poland, and the leading exploits of his adventurous
life. They all bear, as did also the character of Sava
himself, the easily perceptible impress of that bias for
the sombre, the romantic, and darkly mysterious in
poetry, which has ever been the peculiar mark of the
inhabitants of the Ukraine.
See Anarchic de Pologne, by E-oulhiere ; Les trois
Demembremens de Pologne, by Ferrand; Life of
Catherine II. ; the works of Lelevcl ; and Pologne
Pittoresque.
141
CHAPTER VIII.
ROZYCKI.
An ancient Lieutenant of the Polish army — Resides near the borders
of the Ukraine — Drills a detachment of the Polish insurgents in
the middle of the Russian armies — Surrounded by the Russian
Regulars, vanquishes them — Breaks several squares of the Russian
infantry with yoimg men who had never been under fire — Pro-
ceeds to Miendzyrzec, in Volhynia — Marches through the Russian
armies in the night as Russian Cossacks— Orders to speak Russian
— Destroys a Russian detachment — Marches towards Poland— Gal-
lant afiair before the village of Novosilki — Cuts to pieces the Rus-
sian infantry regiment of the Duke of Wellington — Makes his
junction with . the Polish army near the fortress of Zamosc— Is
made a Colonel— Gallant affair at Hza, where he kills the Colonel
of the dragoon regiment of Kargopol, and routes superior forces —
Rises in fame — Excites jealousy — Beats superior Russian forces —
Intends to raise the whole of the Russian provinces against Russia
— Dreaded and beloved by his soldiers, inspires great confidence —
Is never vanquished, and maintains rigid discipline to the end of
the war — Great military and administrative capacities — The only
Partizan of note in the last War — Believes in the success of the
Insurrection in the Ukraine on a large scale — Adventure of the
Marquis of Douro and the Emperor of Russia— Their misimder-
standing — Douro leaves Kalisz — Returns to England.
In the late war by Poland against Russia in 1831, a
war so badly conducted, and the disastrous results of
which are to be attributed more to the incapacity of its
directors than to any other cause, there shone forth.
142 ROZYCKI.
nevertheless, some military characters well worthy of
admiration and renown ; and amongst which must
certainly be included Charles Rozycki, of whose vic-
tories I shall now endeavour to trace a rapid but faithful
sketch.
Rozycki was at the time a retired officer, residing on
the borders of the Ukraine. No sooner did he per-
ceive that circumstances afforded him an opportunity of
serving the cause of his native country, than he con-
trived to form, to organize, and to animate with his own
ardent spirit, in the midst of hostile Russian forces, and
as we may say, indeed, in their very teeth, a detachment
of light cavalry, mounted and armed according to the
ancient Polish-Cossack fashion ; at the head of which,
surrounded as he was by infinitely superior numbers of
the enemy, he made good his escape, and, subsequently,
performed a series of brilliant achievements.
After surmounting the greatest difficulties, and the
fatigues and hazards of a twenty- five days"* march, he
succeeded in joining the Polish army near the fortress
Zamosc.
Promoted to the rank of colonel, he soon became
conspicuous for his enterprising bravery; constantly
breaking through their squares of infantry, and routing
every squadron of cavalry he attacked, he became a
terror to the Russians : and even towards the end of this
war, and in the midst of the general anarchy and dis-
order of the Polish army, he managed to maintain, in
his own regiment, the strictest discipline; so that his
ROZTCKI. 143
name spread consternation and dismay to such an
extent, that the Russians, who well knew his detach-
ments, more than once evidently avoided measuring
their forces with them.
The intrigues of petty rivalship, the mean and sordid
machinations of jealousy, and more especially the miser-
able incapacity of certain pretenders to miKtary talent,
whose measures served but to engender mistrust and
discouragement throughout the army, prevented the
really splendid talents of Rozycki from being adequately
and efficiently employed ; nay, on more than one occa-
sion it was but too apparent that these very soi-disant
patriots, who were incessantly blaming every thing,
inventing nothing ; and who, in point of fact, at the
most critical and important juncture, purposely checked
or withheld the forces organized for the defence of the
country ; were absolutely desirous of getting rid of him
altogether.
As Rozycki was the victor in several engagements^
and as I am unable, for the moment, to procure
access to the details of all his military successes^
I shall here confine myself to a relation, and that too but
cursory and incomplete, of such only of his principal
military achievements as appear to me to contain the
most striking points of interest.
When Rozycki left his native district, he had with
him but two hundred horsemen and fifty carabineers.
Out of the two hundred troopers there were but
seventy-three who might be properly said to have been
144 ROZYCKI.
tolerably well armed ; that is to say, with regular lances,
the rest had nothing save long wooden poles, tipped
with large iron nails sharpened to a point. Amongst
this little troop of insurgents, was here and there to
be seen a sabre or a pistol; the carabineers, famous
marksmen it is true, had neither much ammunition
nor good carabines ; the whole troop, in fact, was
wretchedly armed.
Scarcely had Rozycki quitted his village, when seve-
ral detachments of the Russian troops intercepted his
road : other bodies of the enemy followed close upon
his little band.
In front of a wood on the road by which he must of
necessity pass, three battalions of Russian infantry
marched forward to meet him, and immediately formed
into squares ; the enemy's cavalry was fast closing upon
his rear.
Rozycki saw plainly that there was no time to be
lost. He gave instant orders to his troops to attack the
first square of infantry; the attack succeeded; the
young insurgents, who had never yet stood fiire, dashed
upon the square, which they cut to pieces ; the second
and third were in like manner broken and destroyed :
a small number of the fugitives rallied in the wood. In
the interval, the Russian cavalry had come up; had
deployed, and were preparing to charge ; on perceiving
which, Rozycki caused his own to retire slowly:
the Russian horse kept following close upon their heels.
Suddenly, Rozycki, finding that there was now a wall
ROZYCKI. 145
covering one of his flanks, halted, faced about, and at a
given signal, the insurgents being excellently mounted,
fell like lightning upon the enemy's cavalry, to the cry
of " Death to the Muscovites ! no quarter !" The
Russians gave way, and were in an instant broken,
defeated, and pursued with great slaughter ; but they
were in great numbers ; they endeavoured to rally near
a garden wall ; E-ozycki, however, had anticipated this
manoeuvre, and had secretly posted aU his carabineers
behind the waU, under favour of a dry ditch running
behind it, and along which, at the commencement of
the action, they had passed unnoticed, by creeping with
their heads held down. For the moment, he delayed to
harass the routed, but now rallying enemy, with his
reserve ; waiting the favourable instant for augmenting
their confusion and taking advantage of their disorder.
On a sudden, at the word " paV (signifying «^ fire !'' in
Polish), the carabineers, who had taken steady aim at
nearly every Russian cavalier of note, making a simul-
taneous discharge, brought down several of the Russian
officers, as likewise a great number of men and horses.
The most terrific disorder ensued ; Rozycki's reserve
now made a desperate charge, and so scared the Russian
cavalry, that they broke through and trampled down
their own infantry. The latter, indeed, closing again,
attempted to advance to renew the engagement ; but
were cut to pieces and nearly exterminated. Rozycki,
after having collected together all the muskets, sabres,
cartridges, and sound horses, pushed forwards on his
146 ROZYCKI.
march ; taking the precaution of breaking down all the
bridges he left behind him on his road.
In this brilliant action he lost but very few of his
own troops, and did considerable damage to the
Russians. Its result was, to raise the courage and
greatly increase the confidence of his adherents, whose
conduct on the occasion was indeed admirable.
A few forced marches brought him to Miendzyrzec
(Miandzirjetz), a town in Volhynia, now belonging to
the Princess M. Radzivill, (by birth Countess Alex-
andrina Stecka, ' Stetska,' ) a lady, whose intelli-
gence, superior mind, and noble sentiments, joined to
her many accomplishments, elegant manners, and
various other advantages, both natural and acquired,
might well render their possessor worthy to adorn a
throne. Her husband had, from the commencement
of the war of 1831, the nominal command of the entire
Polish army ; a post in which he conducted himself in
all respects as became a man of honour. After the fall
of Warsaw, he was taken prisoner by the Russians, and
sent in exile to Siberia; whence, after the lapse of a
few years, he was, by the exertions of his wife, and the
intercession in his behalf of the court of Prussia, per-
mitted to return to Warsaw. The Miendzyrzec in
question must not be confounded with another town of
the same name, situated about fifty-eight miles (EngHsh)
to the east of Warsaw, belonging to Prince C. Czar-
toryski; and, in the neighbourhood of which there was
a battle fought on the 29th of August, 1831, wherein
ROZYCKI. 147
the Russians, although far superior in number to the
Polish forces, were completely beaten; and at which
battle the author was present. It was in this engage-
ment that a single Polish regiment, the 5th of the line,
led by Colonel E-ychlowski, exterminated, with the
bayonet, three entire Russian regiments, in a cemetry.
To return, however, to Rozycki. As the news of the
remarkable victory he had just gained had already pre-
ceded him, his arrival was welcomed by the ringing of
all the church bells ; the whole population poured out
of the town to receive him. Money, provisions, and
horses, were furnished him in abundance; whilst a
swarm of young schoolboys rushed into the street, kiss-
ing the feet of the officers and soldiers, and conjuring
them to lead them on to fight against the Russians. It
was in vain that they were remonstrated with, and
told to recollect that they were, as yet, but children ;
that a time would come when they might prove them-
selves of real service to their country ; whilst, by in-
sisting upon following the insurgent troops, they would
only incur the risk of being crueUy persecuted by the
Russians for thus openly declaring their sentiments ;
that they had far better, therefore, return back to their
respective schools. The boys turned a deaf ear to all the
reasoning that could be urged against them ; they wept,
vociferated, and were absolutely bent on following Ro-
zycki's detachment; and, better, indeed, had it been for
them, as the sequel proved, if they had been allowed to
have their own way, and to follow the regiment. In
148 ROZYCKI.
order to appease them in some sort, they were permitted
to tend upon the wounded ; and Rozycki, having re-
inforced his small troop by the addition of a few good
horsemen, and gathered all the information possible as
to the whereabouts and movements of the enemy, left
Miendzyrzec, and marched forward a few miles. Shortly
afterwards, however, he received authentic warning
from his faithful scouts, that several Russian columns,
supported by artillery, were already waiting on his road
to intercept his advance. He likewise received in-
telligence that some detachments of Russian cavalry
were following on his rear ; and that some of them had
entered Miendzyrzec immediately on his quitting that
town. After listening attentively to all these reports,
and having well considered, scrutinized, and weighed
them, he altered his plan of advance, and returned back
by a side-road to the town. Here, upon re-entering,
he heard cries of lamentation and hopeless distress : the
Russians had just massacred all the schoolboys they
could meet with in the streets ; and the bodies of the
youthful victims were lying scattered in every direction
bathed in blood. Fired with indignation at sight
of this heartless butchery, he fell by surprise upon the
Russian troops who were in the town , cut them to
pieces, and exterminated nearly every Russian he could
find in Miendzyrzec : then, profiting by the darkness of
the night, and conducted by faithful guideS; he passed
in safety the numerous columns of the enemy ; for as he
ordered the Russian language to be spoken by his men.
ROZYCKI. 149
and as his detachment was in the Cossack dress, and
was armed after the Cossack fashion, it was easily-
mistaken for a regular body of the Russo-Cossack troops.
By forced marches, he arrived facing the village of
Novosilki, in the full belief that he had now surmounted
the chief of his difficulties, but here it was, precisely,
that the very greatest difficulties of all, and the most
imminent danger awaited him : for the enemy, having,
by accident, now ascertained the true object and direc-
tion of his line of march, all the Russian columns had
concentrated their movements on this spot, in order to
come up with him, and effectually prevent his further
advance.
In order that the reader may be enabled to form
some idea of the extraordinary nature of the conflict I
am about to describe, I consider it absolutely essential
that he should previously be made acquainted with the
peculiar local circumstances of the ground whereon it
took place.
Fronting the village of Novosilki, there is a marshy
river, over which was a bridge in very good repair, and,
as my readers will probably have already anticipated, in
Rozycki's front. This bridge was guarded by a Russian
infantry-battalion of the Duke of Wellington's regiment,
and by some companies of sappers and miners posted at
the entrance to the village, with several pieces of cannon :
at some thousand paces from the village in question,
there was a fordable passage over the river ; this spot was
guarded by six hundred Russian Cossacks of the Don ;
160 ROZYCKI.
facing the village there was a raised dyke or elongated
mound, about a thousand feet (English) in length, and of
considerable height, abutting on the bridge. Two roads,
from opposite directions met on the embankment. The
right side of this embankment was unapproachable, on
account of the marshes ; the left side was somewhat more
accessible.
Rozycki, marching on the top of the embankment,
at once perceived that his fate, one way or the other,
must speedily be decided : he ordered one half of his
horsemen slowly to descend the dyke, with a few cara-
bineers ; and made a show of seriously intending an
attack on the Cossacks ; but, in realit}'-, he wished to
sound their dispositions, or at all events, to keep them
oflf as far as possible, to avoid being placed between two
fires. The Cossacks, who have an antipathy to serious
attacks of every kind, began to fall back in visible alarm.
Rozycki himself, now began to descend the dyke,
whereupon the Cossacks moved off in full retreat.
Immediately on perceiving this manoeuvre, the com-
mander of the Russian infantry quitted the excellent
position he occupied behind the bridge at the entrance
of the village, and advanced rapidly on the dyke
towards Rozycki; treating with contempt the advice
of a veteran soldier, who conjured him not to stir a
step forward, to have a little patience, and that, in less
than an hour's time, the whole of the rebel detachment,
as he termed it, would be annihilated. The commander
replied to him with a sharp reprimand ; telling him to
ROZTCKI. 151
remember " that soldiers who had the honour to bear
the illustrious name of the Duke of Wellington, must
not be content to lie in wait for the enemy, like mice in
their holes, but must have courage enough to attack
him, openly, wheresoever he may appear, as did the
duke at Waterloo !"
Rozycki seeing all this, and apprehensive that the
least delay might prove fatal, suddenly reascended the
dyke with his cavalry ; formed them into platoons for a
charge, and posted his smaU infantry force, by way of
guard, on the accessible side of the embankment, in
order to protect himself from a surprise on the part of
the Cossacks. The Russians, who were advancing in
serried columns, now formed into squares ; here again
a chance of the ground seemed to be greatly in favour
of the Russian commander, as there was a small
wooden bridge between him and Rozycki, by taking
possession of which, or by destroying a few of its planks,
he might greatly have embarrassed and impeded
Rozycki's attack, and have thus materially aided his
own defence : these precautions however he neglected.
The insurgent Poles lowered their lances, and charged
with impetuosity on the close ranks of the enemy : the
Russian infantry reserved their fire, which commenced
only when the Polish horsemen had arrived within
ninety paces of their position. The foremost attacking
platoons, however, were mounted on those choice
and far-famed horses from the steppes of the Ukraine,
the superior energy and spirit of which it would be
152
ROZYCKI.
difficult to describe. Three of the insurgents rode
down a few of the foot soldiers, and leaped into the
square. This was the signal for the general disorder
that ensued. A Russian infantryman cried out for
quarter ; the commander, with a blow from his sword,
killed him on the spot, at the same time shouting —
*' niet pardon dery sia ! (no quarter, fight away I)" But
in another instant three Polish lances lifted him aloft
into the air, and he fell dead to the earth. The carnage
now commenced ; the square once broken was speedily
cut to pieces and all but exterminated : every officer
perished, scarcely a soldier escaped. A second Rus-
sian detachment, who essayed to close the road to the
Polish troops, was instantly overthrown; and Rozycki
entered Novosilki, passing over the bridge, which he
immediately began to demolish. Whilst his orders to
this effect were still being executed, and the last
remnants of the bridge were being destroyed, several
columns of Russian infantry and cavalry, a number of
field-pieces, and a whole army of Cossacks, were already
mounting the embankment ; but it was too late ; Rozycki
escaped with all his men ; had the chains and fetters
which had been prepared for him by the Russians, in
anticipation of his capture, broken to pieces and thrown
into the river, and ultimately made good his junction
with the Polish army at Zamosc.
In the conduct of this famous skirmish, which saved
this little Polish band of patriots from apparentl}^
almost certain destruction, and in which he lost but verv
y
ROZYCKI. 153
few of his men, we cannot deny to Rozycki, the merit
of great courage and ability. The Russian commander,
although on his part perhaps equally brave, and worthy
both of a better cause and of a better fate, was as
clearly deficient in military tact and keenness of obser-
vation ; he was, indeed, the cause of his own perdition :
a daring and chivalrous courage, untempered by pru-
dence, would appear to be far more serviceable to
cavalry than to infantry, whose courage, especially in
attacks from cavalry, should be of the tranquil and
passive order. He forgot that the Duke of Wellington,
whose name he invoked, and who fought seventy battles
and gained seventy victories, never once omitted to turn
to the best account all the advantages he might find to
be available ; that he never left anything to chance ;
never abused his power ; and, above all, never allowed
his passions to interfere with nor to interrupt the cool
exercise of his reason.
At a later period, another of Rozycki's military
exploits was the destruction of KargopoFs Russian
dragoon regiment, near Ilza ; and the dispersion of an
enemy's force five times more numerous than his own,
and provided moreover with artillery. The leading
facts of this brilliant, indeed, almost romantic afi^air,
may be thus briefly stated. The colonel in question,
seeing Rozycki's small troop advancing to attack him,
made with his hand a gesture of contempt, and accepted
the profiered engagement before the whole of his artil-
lery and the rest of his forces had come up. The con-
164 ROZYCKI.
ilict took place partly in a deep ravine. Rozycki, after
he had beaten the dragoons, and with his own hand
slain the Russian colonel, would not suffer the rest of
the forces to deploy, keeping them blocked up in the
ravine, and making repeated and incessant charges on
the head of the enemy^s column. After a most obsti-
nate, deadly fight, of several hours' duration, he turned
the column by his carabineers, and forced the enemy to
take to flight.
Subsequently, and when Rozycki's military fame had
begun to spread in all directions, a Russian colonel,
who had distinguished himself in the preceding wars,
experienced a vehement desire to measure his strength
against him. As his forces were superior in number,
and in the hope that he would prove victorious, his
wish was complied with from head-quarters. At first
they met together in a skirmish, but without any
decided result. In the sequel, Rozycki affected to be
afraid of him, and withdrew at his approach. Having
by a few skilful manoeuvres succeeded in drawing his
antagonist gradually into a disadvantageous position,
Rozycki now in his turn became the assailant, and the
Russian colonel was beaten, and forced to retreat with
, the loss of nearly all his men.
Colonel Rozycki, who is at present living in exile in
France, maintains that without the aid of artillery,
there is no infantry in the world capable of resisting a
properly directed charge of cavalry, well mounted,
composed of courageous men, and led by skilful and
ROZYCKI. 155
experienced officers. In this opinion, I venture to
differ from him most completely. The very contrary I
maintain to be the case. The English squares have
never yet been broken. A good infantry force, in fine
weather, ought to bid defiance to any species of cavalry
whatever that can be brought against it.
Beyond all doubt, nevertheless, Rozycki, who was
by no means destitute of administrative talent, who
united in his own person all the requisite qualities of
a partisan chief, who was not wanting in that admix-
ture of persuasive eloquence and tact, so essential to
the gaining over of zealous adherents to a cause ; who
could contrive to render himself at the same time
beloved and feared ; and who possessed, moreover, a
profound and practical knowledge of the means and
resources alike of Russian-Poland and of E-ussia itself :
Rozycki was the only man of the period capable of
organising those insurrections which have ever proved
the most dangerous and effective weapon in a contest
with Russia ; and which, although entirely neglected
in the war of 1831, will, to a certainty, be found in-
dispensably requisite, and a most powerful adjunct,
in any future effort which may be made by Poland for
the recovery of her independence.
Unfortunately, and as a link, it would appear, in
that chain of fatalities which has ever bound the Polish
struggle for emancipation, Rozycki made his appear-
ance only towards the close of the war. He was wont
repeatedly to say, "give me but 3000 men, and I
156 ROZYCKI.
will undertake to exterminate the corps of General
Rudiger ! " and most assuredly he would have re-
deemed his pledge. A great Polish noble, who is in
the habit of listening only to the cool dictates of his
reason, and not to the fervid suggestions of exalted
sentimentality, and who had a thorough knowledge
of Rozycki's capacity, used frequently to say, that
provided only the chief military command in the
Ukraine were given to the latter, and the civil govern-
ment of that province to himself, the whole of the
Russic provinces could be thrown into a state of
revolt ; 50,000 excellent cavalry troops be raised with
ease in six weeks ; and insurrectionary movements be
everywhere so multiplied against Russia, that, in a
couple of months, the Russians might be driven entirely
from Poland ; notwithstanding all the errors, blunders,
and oversights that had been committed at the com-
mencement of the war of 1831. At the same time,
he maintained that nowhere else than in Russian
Poland did the same facilities exist for a general, and
from thence wide-spreading insurrection in favour
of the Polish cause.
Rozycki has devoted himself, during his stay in
Paris, to the assiduous study of military affairs. In
person, he is above the usual height ; his complexion
is dark ; and his face deeply pitted with the small-
pox: although now passed the meridian of life, he
being about sixty years of age, and his hair slightly
turning grey, he is still strong and active, and in the
I
ROZYCKI. 157
enjoyment of excellent health. Those now living,
who served under him during the war of 1831, say
that he scarcely ever slept ; and that when on horse-
back and giving his orders, there was so much of
dignity in his manner and deportment, that he in-
spired, apart from the circumstances of his position, a
certain feeling of deferential regard in all that
approached him.
Rozycki says that the best officer can be sometimes
beaten, but that it is an unpardonable blunder when
he allows himself to be taken by surprise.
It is to be remarked that most of the Polish nobles,
and the Polish Ukranian Cossacks, seem to possess
almost by natui'e a considerable talent for the cavalry
partisan war. This talent, however, is not always ex-
tended to the infantry.
^BOn the subject of individual exploits, I have here
perhaps been somewhat too diffuse; if so, my only
exculpation is the satisfaction I experience in making
known to the world the glorious achievements of my
fellow-countrymen, when their authenticity, as in the
, present case, is founded not upon the hollow preten-
sions of would-be heroes, vaunted and bruited forth
by subservient tools and artful intriguers, but upon
actually accomplished facts and talents, proved and
undisputed.
As I have just mentioned, indirectly, the Duke
of Wellington's glorious name, a name which not
only in the present age, but also in future ages, will
1
158 ROZYCKI.
always be dear to every British heart, and will not
cease to excite the admiration of the world, it may
not be amiss to give a sketch of a misunderstanding
which took place between his son, the Marquis of
Douro, and the present Russian emperor Nicholas.
Some years ago, the Marquis of Douro visited Rus-
sia, for the purpose of enjoying the pleasure of wild
bear hunting. Just as he was returning from the
Russian dominions, where he had been most hospitably
received, having heard that there was to be a review
of 100,000 Russian and Prussian combined troops
at Kalisz, in Western Poland, he stopped in that town.
The emperor of Russia and the king of Prussia
were present at this review ; and the former, wishing
to oblige all the foreign officers there present, in-
vited them, collectively, to dine at the imperial table.
Douro, in consideration of his title, his connec-
tions, and in his quaHty of a British nobleman, re-
commendations fully appreciated abroad, had the place
d'honneur assigned him, and was seated at the right
of the emperor. It was remarked, the first and second
day, that the emperor conversed freely with all the
foreign officers present at his table, but never addressed
one single word to his British guest. The Marquis
of Douro, who is un homme eoeille^ and who has the
reputation of possessing strong perceptive powers,
was somewhat piqued at this apparent slight on the
part of his imperial entertainer ; and gave hints,
indirectly, to General Count Bekendorf, the chief
I
ROZYCKI. 159
aide-de-camp of the emperor Nicholas, that it seemed
to him as though he must, in some way or other, have
incurred the displeasure of his imperial majesty ; but
that he was wholly at a loss to know in what manner
he could have deserved the emperor's anger. General
Bekendorf immediately answered, that the emperor
of Russia, his master, who rules over fifty millions of
men, and who was always anxious to discharge faith-
fully the duty imposed on him by Providence, was
at times absent and pre-occupied in his mind, and
might consequently appear careless about his guests ;
though nothing in reality might be farther from his
intention ; that his obliging disposition towards all
foreigners, without exception, who did not meddle
with politics in Russia, was so well known and fully
acknowledged that it needed no comment; that he
was sure that the next day his imperial majesty would
redeem his unintentional neglect, and would not fail to
open to the noble marquis the large stock of his know-
ledge and the hidden treasures of his ever entertain-
ing conversation: a mark of attention to which the
marquis was fully entitled, not only by his birth, but
by his amiabihty, numerous qualities, and unblemished
character.
The next day Douro was again present at the
imperial table. The emperor never once looked
at him ; entered into a long conversation with a person
seated at the right of the marquis, but never ad-
dressed one single word to the latter; it was even
160 ROZYCKI.
remarked, that whenever the emperor accidentally
turned his head towards Douro, the imperial features
momentarily assumed that icy coldness and stern for-
biddingness of expression, peculiar to the morose cha-
racter which is often attributed to him.
After the dinner, Douro again mentioned to General
Bekendorf that he was now quite sure that the emperor
was seriously angry with him ; but that of the existence
of any probable cause of offence on his part, or of the
reason for his having thus incurred the displeasure
of his imperial majesty, he, the marquis, was as com-
pletely ignorant, as of the hour and manner of his own
death.
Bekendorf, visibly embarrassed, answered, that, some
time ago, it was reported to the emperor that the noble
marquis had been present at a baU given for the relief
of the Polish refugees in London. That the emperor
was so much surprised at such a report, that he would
not at first believe that the son of the Duke of Wel-
lington could have attended at such a ball, and that it
must have been a mistake ; but that the news of his
being actually present was subsequently officially con-
firmed to his imperial majesty : he thought, therefore,
that this circumstance might probably have displeased
the emperor, and that this might perhaps be the real
cause of the latter not having manifested to him those
marks of kindness uniformly extended by the emperor
to aU foreigners of distinction. After this explanation,
the Marquis of Douro, to the great regret of the
ROZYCKI. 161
inhabitants of Kalisz, left Poland, and returned to
England,
Setting aside tlie paramount respect of right due to
his illustrious birth, let it be also remembered that the
marquis was not a Russian but a British subject ; and,
consequently, that he was not obliged to adopt the
political views of the Russian autocrat, or to partake of
his imperial antipathies.
Let it be remembered that the noble marquis was
not at that time married to his splendid and virtuous
spouse; and as he is a nobleman who undoubtedly
possesses a certain amiability of character, with pleasing
manners, and had not the reputation to be insensible to
the fair sex, he might have appeared at the Polish ball,
not for any political motive hostile to Russia, but for
seeing either a lady of his acquaintance, or some of
his brother officers ; or he might have had a whim of
contributing to the support of those Polish exiles who,
having fought for their country, oppressed beyond all
power of description, claimed British hospitality, and
were without the slightest means of existence.
The emperor has never spoken to him since. It
seems, however, that, on the last visit of the Emperor
Nicholas to England, some sort of reconciliation must,
indirectly, have taken place, as it is a well-known fact
that, by the exertions of the Marquis of Douro, Count
Mostowski, a Pole, received permission to return to his
country, and was well received by the emperor, who
at a levee shook hands with him, and bade him welcome
M
162 ROZYCKI.
back to Poland, where he remains to this time iinmo-
lested.
As soon as it was known at Kalisz that the Marquis
of Douro was there, some persons attempted to bribe
the waiter to give them the opportunity of catch-
ing a sight of the son of the conqueror of Napoleon. I
guarantee the veracity of all the particulars of the above
anecdote, which was communicated to me by Lord
Dudley Stuart, and by some persons well acquainted
with the neighbourhood of Kalisz. I venture to men-
tion it without thespecial authorisation of the marquis
alluded to.
I shall probably resume the history I have already
commenced, of the life of the Duke of Wellington, in
the PoUsh and English languages. Being neither an
Enghshman nor a Frenchman, and consequently, in the
position of an impartial observer, I shall treat the subject
without bias towards either side ; and although I may
perhaps diflfer in some particulars from the historians of
the latter nations, who have given biographies of the
noble duke, I shall conscientiously endeavour to dis-
charge the task without favour or prejudice.
I intend to dedicate the above work to the Right
Hon. Lord Viscount Hardinge, who contributed so
much to the glory of the British name in India.
163
CHAPTER IX.
PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
Her Birth — Rank and Claim to the Russian Throne as the lawful
Daughter of the Empress Elizabeth and Grand-daughter of Peter
the Great— Excites the jealousy of Catherine II.— Is advised to
leave Russia without delay — Claims the Protection of Prince
Charles Radzivill, the richest grandee in Poland — Is carried clan-
destinely by him to Poland, and treated with the regard due to her
illustrious rank— Her Danger— Sets out for Italy with Prince
Radzivill— Stops at Rome — Lives in apparent Seclusion, attended
by Masters — Intrigues— Infamous Propositions to Radzivill for be-
traying the Princess rejected — Tricks of the Russian Agents on
the latter in Italy — Devastation of Radzivill's Possessions in Po-
land by the Russian Generals— His pecuniary difficulties— Sets out
for Poland — Leaves the Princess under the care of a Governess —
Arrives in Poland— Is duped — Count Alexy Orloflf's Stratagem in
Italy — His artful Snare to entrap the Princess— Carlo Ribas —
His acquaintance with the Princess — Introduces Orloff to her —
Mock Marriage of OrlofF with her— Orloff leaves Rome, goes to
Pisa, and ultimately to Leghorn — Treachery of the Russian Fleet
— The Princess falls a Victim— Her real Lover — Indignation of the
Inhabitants— The Princess arrives in Irons at Petersburg— Is put
into a Dungeon, and treated with harshness and dies — Remarks.
Before we proceed to a description of one of the
darkest and most abominable intrigues that stained
the reign of Catherine II., it may be proper to give
some information to the reader about the early days of
164 PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
its unfortunate victim ; and we must revert to the time
of the Empress Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Petrowna, empress of Russia, second
daughter of Peter the Great, inherited from her fa-
ther, neither his natural cruelty, his firmness, nor
mental ability : she was more known by her personal
attractions, by her love of good living, and fondness
of pleasure, than by any briUiant quality suitable to her
exalted position.
Left a widow in the meridian of life, on the throne
of one of the largest empires in the world, Elizabeth
was often the dupe of the first court intriguer whom
chance brought to her palace ; and who flattering her
passions, and possessing a firmer mind, availed himself
of any favourable opportunities for promoting his
private aggrandisement ; a result not always favoui'able
to the welfare of the country.
Having a large field for the gratification of her
caprices, and dreading no control, Elizabeth had many
lovers, whom she changed according to her fancy, and
to whom she refused nothing. She seems not to have
been much inclined to share with any of them the
yoke of matrimony. As she was, however, not exactly
free from the clergy's influence, Count Alexy Grego-
rovitch Razumoskoy, master of the buck-hounds, and
one of her most favoured lovers, whom she had raised
to the first dignities of the empire, taking skilful
advantage of an expression which fell accidentally from
her majesty's lips, prevailed on her (through the advice
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 165
of her confessor, who was in his pay,) to marry him
privately. She left three children by this marriage ;
namely, two sons and a daughter, the Princess Tara-
kanof.
No sooner had Catherine ascended the Russian
throne, after the murder of her husband, Peter III.,
than being apprised of her existence, she became evi-
dently jealous of her ; whereupon the friends of the
youthful princess, dreading some sinister design against
her, advised her to leave Russia without delay. Con-
forming to their advice, the princess sought the pro-
tection of Prince Charles Radzivill, who, having gained
over one of her female attendants, brought the princess
to his estate in Lithuania, where she was treated with
regard and kindness.
As, however, Poland at that time was full of Russian
troops, and was already governed as a Russian pro-
vince, Radzivill having accidentally discovered an in-
trigue dangerous to the safety of his illustrious prote-
gee^ took her suddenly with him to Rome, where, in
comparative seclusion, she received instruction suitable
to her birth and rank.
Perhaps the prospect of being able to put a stop
to the domestic, foreign, and rehgious war excited
by Catherine II. in Poland, induced Radzivill to pro-
tect a young lady who, under proper circumstances,
and as the grand- daughter of Peter the Great, might
become a formidable rival to Catherine's power. Her
very name rendered her dear to the Russians ; perhaps
166 PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
the loftier aim of mounting with her the Russian
throne, secretly governed the conduct of the Polish
grandee towards the fair object of his attention.
However it may have been, the czarina, having been
well apprised, by her spies, of what was going on at
Rome in Radzivill's house, ordered her generals in
Poland to pillage, destroy, and burn, under some pre-
text or other, all the property of Radzivill; to arrest
all his stewards, and not to allow them to send him
any money abroad, under any circumstances. She
even went so far as to make a liberal gratuitous offer,
through her agents, to all the bankers at Rome, to
induce them not to provide Prince Radzivill with any
money.
Radzivill, thus suddenly deprived of his immense
revenue, was obliged to live in Italy on the produce of
his diamonds ; and when these supplies, and the money
borrowed by him from his friends were exhausted, he set
out in order to gain some intelligence concerning his
private affairs in Poland ; leaving the young lady under
the care of a governess, to whom he gave proper in-
structions to watch over her charge, and not to admit,
during his absence, any stranger to the princess, with-
out a previous knowledge of his character and princi-
ples. Scarcely had Prince Radzivill returned to
Poland, when the Russian ambassador stated that, if
he would deliver the Princess Tarakanof to the empress
of Russia, not only all his possessions should be in-
stantly restored to him, and all his losses liberally paid.
I
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 167
but that the prince would also thereby secure to
himself for the future, her imperial majesty's favour,
extended even to aU his relatives and friends.
In the first burst of indignation, Radzivill intended
to demand personal satisfaction from the Russian am-
bassador for his insulting proposition ; but, acting on
the advice of his friends, he answered, in writing, with
great dignity, that whatever might happen, and how-
ever eager he might be to secure her imperial majesty's
favour, he would never betray the trust placed in
his honour, and would never deliver Princess Tara-
kanof into the hands of her enemies, as such an action
would stain his noble name with eternal infamy, and
would lower him in his own estimation. In this letter
he threw all the blame on the over zeal of the Russian
ambassador; and played so well on the generosity,
nolle feelings, and magnanimity, of the czarina, that
the insulting proposition was ne^er renewed to him ;
and though he was not recompensed for his losses, his
possessions were all restored to him, and his stewards,
previously arrested by the Russian generals, liberated.
The Russian ambassador added also, that if he, the
prince, gave him his promise, as a gentleman, not to
have any personal intercouse with the princess alluded
to, not to encourage any ambitious dreams in her mind,
directly or indirectly, and not to correspond with her,
he could assure him, as a gentleman, that she should
be left unmolested abroad. Should, however, anything
happen to the contrary, Radzivill would thereby work
168 PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
her misfortune and ruin. Radzivill, who was naturally
of a chivakous disposition, thinking any man of high
station incapable of breaking his word or of affirming
a falsehood, and dreading, not without reason, the
dark hints of the ambassador respecting the young
lady's fate, sent her privately some money, which,
however, never reached her; recommended her to
some friends, and left her exposed, unprotected, and
helpless, to the diabolical snares skilfully prepared for
entrapping her, just at that very time when she re-
quired protection more than anything else.
The czarina, having been apprized that Radzivill
had been duped, henceforth acted with more boldness.
At that time Prince Gregory OrlofF was her principal
and acknowledged favourite ; and it was said that his
own brother, Count Alexy Orloff, who had gained
some naval victories over the Turks, and who had come
to Petersburg, to share with other Russian generals
the honours and substantial rewards awaiting them at
court, aspired also secretly to supplant his brother in
her imperial majesty's heart. Catherine had a keen
eye ; she soon suspected his concealed aim, and listening
to the warm protestations of gratitude of Alexy OrloiF
to her imperial person for the favours lavished on him,
gave him hints that they would soon be put to the test ;
and that the sacrifice of his passion for a young and
beautiful lady, dangerous to the well-being of the em-
press herself, might probably be required from him, as a
condition for the future continuance of her imperial
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 169
majesty's kindness. In reality, however, thd czarina
wished to turn to her own advantage the growing attach-
ment of Orloff to her person, to prolong his stay
abroad, and to induce him to commit a crime, the dis-
grace of which (if committed) would fall heavier on
him than on her. She was anxious, probably, also to be
at liberty to gratify some new fancy, without the envious
gaze of a too jealous and troublesome rival. Instruc-
tions were given to Orloff respecting Princess Tai'aka-
nof ; he promised to fulfil them, and was true to his
word ; a part far more difficult than the promise itself.
Orloff soon left Petersburg, and after stopping some
days at Vienna, repaired to Leghorn, where the Russian
squadron was already expecting him. He was also
commissioned to find an artist to paint some pictures,
representing the burning of the Turkish fleet by the
Russians. Orloff soon found a painter of the name of
Halkert, to whom he made liberal propositions to this
effect ; but the artist told him he never saw the burning
of a ship. Orloff immediately ordered one of his large
ships to be blown up, for the purpose of satisfying com-
pletely the painter's curiosity, and to enable him to
finish his pictures with greater precision, though at
the hazard of the ships lying in the port.
As soon as Count Orloff had acquired from his agents
all the necessary information about the young Russian
lady, he sent to Rome Carlo Ribas, a convicted felon, a
Neapolitan of foreign extraction, a young man of good
address, whose dashing appearance, smoothness of
170 PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
tongue, and insinuating manners, coupled with a pecu-
liar fitness for intrigue, concealed a black and treache-
rous heart, and rendered him a worthy associate of his
infamous projects. After discovering, as if by accident,
the lodging of the young princess, Eibas (who had re-
ceived every necessary instruction from Orlofi",) in-
troduced himself to her in a splendid uniform, under
the name of an officer. He told her that he had ven-
tured to call on her from the sole desire of paying due
homage to a princess, whose fate and misfortunes, ac-
complishments and virtues, were highly interesting to
all her countrymen. He seemed very much affected
and distressed at the state of destitution in which he
found a young lady of her rank. He afforded her some
pecuniary assistance ; beseeching her on his knees to
accept it, as he would consider her so doing as a great
honour paid to him ; and as he was well assured that
she would not forget him as soon as she should be re-
stored to her country, and to the lofty station in society
to which her rank and birth entitled her. As his man-
ner and behaviour were extremely respectful, and at
the same time subdued and distant, and as the tone of
his voice was sorrowful and tender, she requested him
to rise, accepted his money with a slight blush, evidently
grateful and flattered at his conduct: and the wily
traitor soon appeared to his artless and unsuspecting
victim in the light of a messenger whom heaven had
sent for her deliverance.
Henceforward, Ribas was occasionally admitted to
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 171
the society of the princess ; and when he thought he
had sufficiently gained her confidence, he declared that
he was commissioned from a far higher personage than
himself, to apprise her of an intended visit connected
with her private afiairs. And when she became eager
to know the name and particulars of the intended
visitor, after tantalizing for some time her curiosity,
he apparently yielded to her entreaties, and told her
respectfully, in a whisper, that Count Alexy OrlofF
wished to offer to the daughter of Elizabeth, the throne
that was lately filled by her mother. He said that the
Russians were discontented with Catherine ; that Orloff
especially could never forgive her ingratitude and
tyranny ; and that if the young princess would accept
the proposals and services of that general, and reward
them with the grant of her hand, an outbreak would
soon take place, which was already ripe for action and
success.
Such extraordinary and brilliant proposals ought na-
turally to have opened the eyes of the Princess Taraka-
nof, and to have raised her suspicions ; but her amiable
and confiding soul, her inexperience of the world, com-
pletely deceived her. Besides, the language of the
emissary of Alexy Orloff was in harmony with some
hints which she often heard about herself at Prince Rad-
ziviU's house. She imagined herself destined to the
throne ; and all the airy and poetical dreams floating in
her head on that subject, could not but encourage the
deceit. With a thankful heart she unhappily promised
17^ PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
to receive the proposed visitor, and thus herself con-
curred in the work of her destruction.
Count Alexy Orloff shortly afterwards came to Rome,
having been announced already by his agent; and
hastened to pay his respects to the young Russian lady.
He was received as a particular friend, as a benefactor.
However, some persons to whom the princess and her
governess communicated the good fortune that awaited
them, advised them to be on their guard against the
evident treachery of a man whose character for wicked-
ness was well known ; and who, without doubt, had too
much reason to remain faithful to his present sovereign
to think of conspiring against her.
Instead of paying due attention to such useful and
timely advice, the princess was so imprudently frank as
to repeat immediately, word for word, to OrloiF all she
had heard. The latter, as a skilful courtier, soon con-
trived to allay her apprehensions ; and thenceforth threw
a deeper shade of dissimulation, address, and hypocrisy
into his honied speeches and behaviour. Not satisfied
with flattering the ambition of the young Russian, he
contrived, by the usual arts of dissimulation and of
feigned attachment, to assume the semblance of a passion
for her, and succeeded so far as to inspire her with a
true one. As soon as he was sure of it, he conjured her
in the most urgent terms to marry him without delay ;
she unhappily consented, and even with joy, thinking
that the title of spouse to Count Alexy Orloff would
shelter her powerfully from the imminent dangers and
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. liS
treacherous machinations which she was taught to ap-
prehend.
Feigning a desii'e that the marriage ceremony should
be performed according to the rites of the Greek
church, Orloff suborned some low villains to disguise
themselves as lawyers and priests, and the mock
marriage shortly afterwards took place. Thus profa-
nation was combined with imposture, in the conspi-
racy plotted against the unprotected and too confident
Tarakanof.
When Alexy OrlofF had become the husband of the
unhappy princess, he represented to her that their stay
in Rome exposed her to too close observation ; and that
it would be better for her to proceed to some other city
of Italy, to wait for the breaking out of the plot that was
to call her to the tlirone. Believing this advice to be
dictated by love and prudence, she answered that " she
had married him, not out of ambition, but for affection ;
and that as became her duty towards him as an obedient
and devoted wife, she would willingly follow him where-
ever he chose to conduct her, even to the end of
the world." He brought her immediately to Pisa,
where he had previously hired a magnificent palace.
There he continued to treat her with unshaken marks
of tenderness and respect ; but he permitted none to
come near her, excepting persons completely devoted
to him ; and when she went to the theatre, or to the
public promenades, he himself always attended her.
The division of the Russian squadron, under the
174 PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
orders of Admiral Grieg, had just entered the port of
Leghorn. Having been apprised of this, OrlofF told
the princess that his presence was necessary at Leghorn,
for the purpose of giving some orders; and he re-
quested the latter to attend him there. To this she
immediately consented, having previously heard of the
magnificence of the Russian ships, and the beauty of the
port of Leghorn. Imprudent creature, the nearer she
approached the catastrophe of the plot, the more she
trusted to her faithless betrayer.
The princess departed from Pisa with her customary
suite of attendants, and was greeted by the whole
population, her aifability and obliging manners having
rendered her a general favourite. On arriving at
Leghorn, she landed at the house of the British consul,
where suitable apartments had been already prepared for
her, and where she was received with all the marks of
the profoundest respect. The next day she was visited
by all the ladies of rank, and was soon surrounded by
a numerous court. Every one was preparing some
new entertainment for her. Whenever she went out,
the people lined the way as she passed along; and
being pleased with her beauty, and having heard of her
liberality and kindness, cheered her with repeated
huzzas, with that southern enthusiam so difficult to
describe, and which is seldom known in the northern
countries. They called her, La hella e huena prin-
cessa — " The good and beautiful princess." All circum-
stances conspired to lull her into a fatal security. All
I
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 175
tended to dispel the idea of any immediate danger at
the very time when her days were already numbered.
The young Russian princess was so far from
apprehending any danger threatening her, that after
having passed several days in a round of amusements
with which she was pleased and delighted, she made
of her own accord the proposition to visit the Russian
fleet. The idea was applauded, the necessary orders
were immediately given, and the next afternoon every-
thing was ready at the water-side, for her reception.
On her arrival at the port, the princess was handed
into a boat with splendid awnings. Many ladies, with
the British consul, seated themselves with her. A
second boat conveyed Count Alexy Orloff and the
admiral ; and a third, filled with Russian and British
officers and sailors, closed the procession. The boats put
from shore in sight of an immense multitude of people,
and were received by the fleet with bands of music,
salutes of artillery, and repeated huzzas. As the
princess came alongside the ship on board of which
she was to go, and when silence was restored, she could
not help admiring the beautiful scenery of Leghorn,
and the distant tops of the Appenine range drawn in
the streams of crimson light of an Italian setting sun.
A splendid chair was let down from the yard, in which
being seated,* she was readily hoisted upon deck ; and
it was observed to her that these were particular
honours paid to her rank.
OrlofF soon followed her, under the plea of helping
176
PRINCESS TARAKANOF.
some ladies ; but no sooner was she on board with him
than she was handcuffed. In vain she implored the pity
of her cruel betrayer; in vain she called him by the
most tender names ; in vain she threw herself at his
feet, and bathed them with her tears. No answer even
was given to her lamentation, she was carried down into
the hold, put in irons, and the vessel set sail for Russia.
The confusion, the shrieks of the ladies, and of all those
who were present, may be better imagined than described.
On arriving at St. Petersburg, the young victim was
shut up in a fortress, placed in a dark dungeon, and
treated with the greatest harshness and barbarity.
What became of her afterwards was never precisely
kno^vn, no one ever daring to inquire about her. It is
said that Catherine once feasted her eyes with her
torments. The author of the interesting Memoires
Secretes sur I'ltalie, says, that the young victim was
drowned on the 10th of September, 1777, when the
waves, moved by a terrible gale, rose ten feet above
their usual level. Others assert that the unfortunate
princess fell in prison by the hands of the executioner.
All agree that she died in the course of that year.
The inhabitants of Leghorn, who saw the princess
embark, heard shortly after with inexpressible horror
that, instead of the grand entertainment which the
princess was to have on board the fleet, she was put in
irons. The grand Duke of Tuscany, whose territory
was thus so shamefully violated, wrote immediately to
Vienna and Petersburg, to complain of the outrage ; but
PRINCESS TARAKANOF. 177
protestations without coercive measures are of little
avail. All the British oiScers in the naval Russian ser-
vice, indignant at the infamy perpetrated in their pre-
sence on the Princess Tarakanof, returned to England.
Such was the fate of the grand-daughter of Peter the
Great, bom in wedlock : whose only crime was, that she
raised the jealousy of Catherine II., and might have
laid claim to the Russian throne.
Nothing can possibly exculpate Catherine from her
participation in this barbarous deed, however some of
her admirers may partially justify her conduct in the
matter : as for Alexy Orloff (in whose heart the rattle-
snake, the foam of a mad cat, and the bile of seven
jealous furies must have taken shelter), considering
that Princess Tarakanof was an orphan, young, beauti-
ful, unprotected, innocent ; that she never in any way
offended him ; that she loved him ; that she lived with
him for some months as his lawful wife; that she
belonged to a family which ought to be dear to every
Russian ; considering that she put perfect trust in him ;
we must consider his action as an instance of the most
abominable and blackest perfidy that ever stained the
conscience and honour of any human being.
See Histoire de Pierre III., et les Amours secretes de
Catherine II.; Life of Catherine II. p. 61 ; Life of
Catherine II., by Costera ; Memoirs of the reign of
Catherine II. ; and Memoires secretes d'ltalie.
178
CHAPTER X.
CATHERINE II. AND HER FAVOURITES.
Catherine's Birth, Education, and Talents— Her early Gallantries and
Dissimulation— Arrival at the Court of the Empress Elizabeth of
Russia — Marriage with the Grand Duke Peter, afterwards Czar of
Russia, under the name of Peter IH. — She concocts a Plot with her
liorers to hurl him from the Throne, and conducts it with great
skill and boldness— Is successful— Orders the Murder of her Hus-
band, and becomes after his Death the absolute Sovereign of Russia
— Her numerous Lovers — Prince Potemkin — The manner of
Choosing and Dismissing the Favourites — Lontskoi — Momonof and
his Lady — Catherine's Cruelty and Excesses— Her Death.
As the reign of Catherine II. empress of Russia, her
crafty intrigues, the caprice of her numerous favourites,
and the enormities of her generals, greatly influenced
the ultimate fate of unhappy Poland, it may not be
improper to give a sketch of her early days ; to furnish
the reader with the names of her principal lovers (the
others are too insignificant and numerous to be men-
tioned), and to narrate some of the dark villanies related
by her most authentic biographers.
Sophia Augusta Frederica, who, under the name of
Catherine II., became the absolute empress of Russia
after the murder of Peter III. in 1762, was the lawful
daughter of Prince Augustus Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg
CATHERINE II. AND HER FAVOURITES. 179
and the princess of Holstein ; and was bom May 2,
1729, at Stettin, in Prussian Pomerania.
Catherine's mother was a remarkably clever woman,
and gave her an excellent education. From her early
days the youthful Princess Sophia was not less remark-
able for her beauty, her eloquence, and her firm and
sagacious mind, than for her ambition, her licentious-
ness, and the extraordinary art with which she con-
cealed her most secret thoughts. Even at the early age
of fourteen she conducted her love affairs with no
ordinary dissimulation. Brought to the court of the
Empress Elizabeth, and married to the Grand Duke
Peter, she attracted general admiration. Feigning an
ardent passion for her husband, who became, after the
death of his aunt Elizabeth, czar of Russia, under the
title of Peter III., she planned with her lover an in-
trigue for hurling him from the throne, and taking into
her own hands the sceptre of the Russian empire. In
this difficult undertaking, which she conducted with
extraordinary skill, boldness, and dissimulation, under
the most trying circumstances, she ultimately suc-
ceeded.
Without attempting to describe her life, which has
been so well written by many distinguished authors,
we proceed to the description of the czarina's favourites.
It is a general remark, that when kings reign,
women rule; and when women reign, men govern.
Though some women may have possessed great strength
of mind and talents; yet, on the whole, they never
180 CATHERINE II.
equal in any science or undertaking eminent men;
but they always govern them by the power of their
charms. From a remote period of Russian history, and
especially in the last century, the monarchs of Russia
have always had favourites oiScially ; it is no wonder
that a custom, so ancient and scrupulously observed by
four empresses, namely, Catherine I., Anne, Elizabeth,
and Catherine II., should be almost considered as the
fundamental law of the empire, and as a concomitant of
the imperial grandeur.
As the reign of Catherine II. was longer than that
of any of her predecessors, and as her passions were
warmer, it was natural that the number of her favourites
should be greater. Sovereigns are but mortal after all,
and are governed by the same feelings as the rest of
mankind; consequently, they are often slaves to the
same caprices and weaknesses, and having a larger field
wherein to gratify their fancies and propensities, and
being obliged often for state reasons to sacrifice their
affection to the paltry considerations of court policy,
they have more claim to our indulgence than those
whose sphere of life shelters them from similar sacri-
fices. Infamy and crime, however, must not be com-
mitted, nor the laws of public decency violated with
impunity.
It may not be uninteresting to give some idea of the
ceremonies connected with the installation of Cathe-
rine's favourites. When her imperial majesty had
fixed her choice on a new favourite, she created him
AND HER FAVOURITES. 181
her general aide-de-camp, in order that he might
attend her everywhere, without creating scandal or
attracting malicious observation. Thenceforward, the
favourite occupied in the palace an apartment below
that of the empress, to which it communicated by a
private staircase. The first day of his installation, he
received a present of £15,000, and every month he
found £2500 on his dressing-table ; the chief steward
of the court being commissioned to provide him with
a daily table of twenty-five covers. The favourite at-
tended the empress to all places of amusement ; was
her constant companion at the opera, at balls, prome-
nades, excursions of pleasure, and was not allowed to
leave the palace without express permission. He was
given to understand, that it would not be taken well
if he conversed familiarly with other women ; and if
he went to dine with any of his friends, the mistress
of the house was not to be- present.
Whenever the empress took a fancy to any one of
her subjects, with the design of raising him to the
post of favourite, she caused him to be invited to din-
ner by some lady of her confidence, on whom she
dropped in as if by chance. Then she would enter
into familiar conversation with the new comer, with a
view to discover whether or not he was worthy of the
favour she intended to bestow on him. When the
judgment she formed was favourable, the confidant,
who was informed of it by a significant look from the
empress, did not fail, on the departure of her imperial
182 CATHERINE II.
visitor, to notify to the favourite the extent of his
happiness. The day following, he received a visit
from one of the principal physicians of the court, who
came to inquire into the state of his health without
ceremony ; and the same evening he met the empress
at the hermitage, and took possession of the apart-
ment that had been prepared for him.
When the power of a favourite was on the wane,
a hint of dismissal was given to him by ordering him
to travel; and from that time he was debarred all
access to her majesty. All his debts, however, were
paid, his near relatives provided for, and he received
a boon of an hereditary estate in recompense for his
services.
The first of Catherine's acknowledged lovers, after
she came to Russia, was Count Soltykof — second,
Stanislaus Poniatowski (the late king of Poland) —
third, Prince Gregory Orloff— fourth, Vissensky — fifth,
Vassiltchikof — sixth. Prince Potemkin — seventh, Za-
vadosky — eighth, Zoritch — ninth, Rymski-Korsakof —
tenth, Lontskoi — eleventh, Yermolof— twelfth, Momo-
nof — thirteenth, Prince Platto Zubof — fourteenth.
Valerian Zubof.
It is to be remarked, that among all the above men-
tioned lovers (though to Prince Gregory Orloflf she
was chiefly indebted for her throne), the ablest man
was undoubtedly Potemkin, who governed the Empress
Catherine, her lovers and the whole Russian empire,
to the end of his days. He was of Polish origin.
AND HER FAVOURITES. 183
Lonskoi (Lonski) was the only one for whom she
entertained, when already past the meridian of life,
the most tender and devoted attachment ; which, it is
said, was partly returned : he died in her arms, and
left her his fortune, which she gave to his relatives.
After his death, she was so completely absorbed in
grief, that she wished to die of inanition, and for three
months did not quit her apartment. During this
time, she refused to see any one, excepting her ser-
vants; and erected him a superb mausoleum in the
garden opposite the windows of her bed-room ; bathing
it for several years with her tears, and actually stating
with sobs that she was unworthy of having such a
lover. She often visited his grave at midnight. He
was a native of the Polish province torn by Russia
from Poland by the first partition ; his original name
was Lonski, which was changed by Catherine into
Lontskoi.
After the death of Lontskoi, and shortly before her
own death, Catherine seems to have much liked
Momonof ; but he fell in love with one of her maids of
honour, Princess Schteherbatof, and had private inter-
views with her. This was soon reported to the em-
press ; and she once, unperceived, caught him actually
kneeling before her. The next day she suggested
to Momonof a marriage with the rich Countess Bruce,
as if to know what efiect such a proposal would make
on him. Momonof, after some hesitation, threw himself
at the empress's feet, and openly avowed his attach-
184 CATHERINE II.
ment for the princess. The next day they were mar-
ried, and set out for Moscow, with orders not to visit
St. Petersburg. Catherine, however, never forgave
Princess Schteherbatof for having deprived her of
Momonof's society, and planned secretly a merciless
vengeance. Momonof had the imprudence to relate
some curious particulars of his love affair with the
Empress Catherine ; and his lady, who hated Cathe-
rine, divulged them immediately with a levity injurious
to the sovereign, and amplifying, it is said, many
things. Momonof and his lady had one night gone to
rest, when the master of the police of Moscow entered
their apartment with six men in women's attire, and a
written order of the empress. They seized the babbling
lady, and having stripped her entirely of her night-
clothes, flogged her terribly with rods, in the presence
of her husband, whom they compelled to kneel during
the ceremony. Such a barbarous violation of domestic
privacy could only happen in Russia, and gives some
idea of the manner in which that country is governed.
The choice of her imperial majesty was not always
bestowed on educated men. Once a simple trumpeter
attracted her attention, and speedily became a general.
In the latter part of her life, the empress threw aside
all restraint, and shortened her life by the most dis-
gusting excesses. She died November 6, 1796.
It is stated that Catherine lavished nearly fifty
millions of pounds sterling on her love affairs, and
demoralized for centuries the whole Russian nobility.
AND HER FAVOURITES. 185
Some Eussians, however, refused the place of favourite,
in spite of all the substantial advantages derivable from
it. Among them was Prince S. Dolgoruki.
Such was the woman on whom sordid writers have
lavished their flatteries ; but if there have been women
on the throne, who have disgraced it by their vices,
there have been, as there are still, others, who are ex-
amples of domestic virtue, and who have been orna-
ments to their station.
See Life of Catherine II., 3 vols. ; Authentic Me-
moirs of Catherine II. ; Life of Catherine II., by Costera ;
Pierre III. et les Amours de Catherine ; Dzieta Nie-
meevioza, &c.
186
CHAPTER XI.
REBELLION OF PUGATCHEF.
Pugatchef— His Birth and Initiation in Warfare and Robbery— Bio-
graphies of him difficult to be procured — His Flight into Poland —
Adopts the religious Creed of Roskolniki (Starowiertzy Puritans)
— Joins the Cossacks of the laik — His Expedition in Kuban — Is
arrested at Malefolka, but escapes — Rebellion among the Cossacks
of the laik on account of the Infringement of their Privileges —
Pugatchef joins them — Uncertain when he assumed the title of
Peter IH. — His Invasion of the newly -established Colonies at the
Banks of the Irghis — Besieges the Town of laitzkai, and is re-
pulsed— Attracts to his Party the Cossacks of the Betz — Takes
Basyrnaya, Ossernaya, and Tateschtcheva — Cuts to pieces the
Russian Corps under Colonel Bulof— Vanquishes General Tchemi-
shef, and slays all who refuse to join him— Besieges the Town of
Orenburg — His Successes and Extent of his Domination — His Hy-
pocrisy— Inscription and Motto on his Standards — His unexpected
Successes — His Court and Ministers — His Intention of extermi-
nating the Russian Nobility — His Proclamations and Manifesto —
Price offered for his Head — Partial Successes of Bibikof— Unsuc-
cessful Siege of Orenburg— Battle with the main Army of General
Bibikof— His Retreat into the Uralian Mountains and Re-appear-
ance with an Army — Burning of Kazan, and Rejection in the Moim-
tains by Michelson— Re-appearance with Proclamations and Mani-
festos—Capture of the Towns of Pensa, Saratof, and Dymitrefsk —
His SurpriseofDuboskai'a- Ultimately vanquished and routed near
Tchernojar — His Flight to the Deserts on the Banks of the Ouzem
— Is Betrayed and delivered to the Russians— His Punishment and
Execution at Moscow — Consequences of his Rebellion — Compa-
rison with Stenko Razin — Remarks.
After the murder of Peter III. by Catherine's fa-
vourite, at the imperial seat Ropscha, in 176^, though
the body of that ill-fated monarch was publicly ex-
REBELLION OF PTJGATCHEF. . 187
posed in the convent of Alexander Newski, a rumour
was prevalent that the czar had escaped the snares of
the assassins, and was living concealed in a distant pro-
vince of the Russian empire, till more favourable circum-
stances should allow him to regain his throne and
punish the traitors.
Several different impostors successively attempted to
avail themselves of this popular delusion, and, by per-
sonating the ill-fated emperor, to make good their claims
to the Russian throne; but four of them were suppressed
with more or less difficulty, and they expiated, by a cruel
death on the scaffold, the crime of their mischievous
imposture.
Of these audacious pretenders, who were all more or
less favoured indirectly by the Russian priests, the
first was a shoemaker of Voronetz ; the second, a private
deserter from the regiment of Orlof ; the third, Stefano
Piccolo, an lUyrian, an Austrian deserter of good
address, who practised surgery in Turkey ; the fourth,
a serf of the illustrious family of Vorontzof ;* and the
fifth, a malefactor escaped firom the prison of Irkutsk.
One only of them, the third in rotation, Stefano Piccolo,
more fortunate than the others, amassed some wealth and
escaped, probably because he attempted his imposture,
not in Russia, but in the country of the Montenegrinos,
under the Turkish domination.
In spite, however, of aU these repeated failures, and
of the terrible example of retributive justice thus
afforded, the elements of rebellion still existed; the
188 REBELLION OF
discarded clergy, the Cossacks, and some disappointed
Russian grandees, were busily engaged in preparing
secretly a more serious and more formidable outbreak,
and a terrible and unexpected storm was gathering.
The man whose name made the whole of Russia trem-
ble to her very foundation — the man whose courage,
enterprise, ability, perseverance, as well as ferocity,
hypocrisy, and disgusting excesses, are about to be
narrated — deserves particular notice, though the extent
of this work does not afford space to explain many
interesting facts.
Ikhmelian Pugatchef, son of a private Cossack,
Izmailof, was bom in 17^6, at Simoveisk, on the banks
of the Don, in the commune of the Kossack Stanitza
Zinvilskaia, served under the command of Field-
marshal Apraxyn, in the seven years"* war, and made the
campaign of 1769 against the Turks. After the siege
of Bender, where he distinguished himself by his
gallantry, he resolved, for some reasons never yet
clearly explained, to leave the military service; but,
not having received on that subject a satisfactory an-
swer, he deserted, went to Poland, and was hospitably
received and taken care of by some clergy of the Greco-
Russian church in Podolia.
Concealed and sheltered in this retired spot, he
adopted the religion of Roskolniki — the Russian puritan
faith; an ancient community of the Greek Church,
established by some fanatics in the twelfth century, who
were to be the strict observants of the New Testament;
PU&ATCHEF. 189
a community persecuted by Peter the Great and his
ancestors, and scorned by the majority of the Russian
people, not for trifling differences in the ceremonies of
their rites, but for a singular custom, to this time, it is
said, prevalent among them, which decency forbids
me to mention. The rigorous persecutions of these
fanatics, known by their great chastity and abste-
mious habits, produced in Russia the same effect as
everywhere else in similar circumstances: it greatly
increased, instead of diminishing their number, espe-
cially in the remote parts of the Russian empire.
Pugatchef did not fail to turn these persecutions to
his own account. Being obliged to leave his hospitable
friends, he went to Dobrynka, where he lived on alms :
thence he wandered some time in Lesser Russia, pro-
vided for and well taken care of by the numerous vota-
ries of his adopted creed; but having received timely
warning of the danger to which he was exposed in
dwelling among them, he proceeded through the coun-
try of the Don, towards the land of the Cossacks of the
laik, where religious persecution, combined with the
growing impatience of the Russian yoke, were preparing
a formidable rebellion.
As soon as Pugatchef had assembled some of his
partisans, he hinted that he was about to undertake a
lucrative expedition; and went towards the river Kuban
and the passes of the Caucasian mountains, where the
commerce carried on between the Turks, the Persians,'
and the Russians, afforded him excellent opportunities
190 REBELLION OF
of satisfying the rapacious habits and cupidity of his
followers. It is certainly not easy to imagine the exist-
ence of such a band of organised robbers in western
Europe; but nothing is more common than similar
bands in eastern Russia, which have always existed
somewhere, and are found even at the present time.
During his successful and murderous excursions, Pugat-
chef frequently complained of the cruelty and oppression
of the Russian government, and never failed to impress
the belief on the mind of his people that the time was
not far distant when they would see better days.
Similar expressions and promises, always artfully in-
troduced at proper times and under favourable circum-
stances, and seasoned, moreover, with the powerful
stimulant of affected secrecy, augmented daily the
number of his adherents, and attracted, at the same
time, the attention of the Russian authorities. Pugat-
chef was suddenly arrested at the small town of Male-
folka, and sent in irons to Kazan to undergo his trial.
This unlucky accident would have cut short all his
mighty projects, had he not so skilfully assumed the
character of a half idiot, as to baffle the vigilance of the
governor, whose consequent delay in inflicting the
punishment awarded to Pugatchef, enabled the latter,
by means of certain money furnished him by the clergy-
men of his community, to bribe his guards and to effect
his escape.
Thus liberated, almost by a miracle, from his dungeon,
he lost no time in descending the Volga and the river
PUGATCHEF.
Irghis which flows in the desert; and reappearing on
the banks of the laik under more favourable circum-
stances, adopted fresh expedients for the furtherance of
his projects. The Cossacks, who bear the name of that
river, are the scattered remains of the ancient inhabit-
ants of Kaptshak ; a curious mixture of Russians, Tatars,
Kalmucks, and Kerghis. On the whole, they were
more barbarous than their western brethren ; rather
pagan than Christian, ignorant, superstitious, leading a
wandering life, hating the culture of the soil, and sub-
sisting chiefly on rapine, the produce of their fisheries,
and the breeding of cattle, as well as extracting salt
from their extensive marshes. The Russian govern-
ment robbed them, inch by inch, not only of the vast
tracts of fertile soil which they never touched, but also
of the abundant pastures which fed their herds in these
cold and dreary solitudes. Deprived of the scanty
allowance which was due to them on the sacred faith of
voluntary treaties with Russia ; deprived unjustly of all
the comforts of existence ; obliged to sell almost for
nothing their celebrated herds of beast, and denied
redress from Petersburg, where their deputies were
treated as rebels, they dispersed, partly in wilder tracts
towards the Uralian mountains, and partly in other
directions. Passionately attached to the creed of the
Russian puritans (Roskolniki), to their barbarous cus-
toms, to their laws, bearing a strange resemblance to
the customs of the Zaporogues, they obstinately rejected
all the changes and reforms intended for their civilisa-
192 REBELLION OF
tion ; they were more attached to the conservation of
their beards than of their lives. The Russians, agree-
ably to the order transmitted to them by the czarina,
endeavoured to transform them from regiments of
Cossacks, into regiments of regular cavalry ; but they
absolutely refused to allow their beards to be cut, and
raised a rebellion. Major-General Trauenberg was sent
against them with some regulars ; but he was beaten
and massacred, together with their own attaman, who
was suspected of being favourable to the Russians.
The approach of winter, so terrible in these climates^
prevented a speedy quelling of their insurrection ; but
in the following spring the Russian general Freyman,
with a large body of troops, traversed their territory,
routed them, and took laitzkay by storm. After
putting to the sword their principal leaders and com-
mitting great cruelties, he quelled their rebellion, and
left the town to the care of a Russian colonel, who had
under his command a large body of regulars.
In spite of all this, many of the unfortunate Cossacks,
and even some of their leaders, escaped into the wilds
which surround the lakes of Kamish SamarsMe, where
they lived on fish and some animals which frequent,
occasionally, its bleak and inhospitable shores ; as well
as on the scanty provisions which their families sent
them secretly, with great difficulty and danger, till they
found a skilful chief who terribly avenged the cruelties
mercilessly inflicted on them.
It is very difficult to fix on the correct time when
PUGATCHEF. l93
Pugatchef assumed the name of Peter III. : before,
however, he determined on the adoption of that dan-
gerous character, he did not fail, during his stay in
Podolia and elsewhere, to collect all the information
possible relative to Stenko Razin, the celebrated rebel,
and likewise respecting the peculiarities of character
that had distinguished the ill-fated Peter. His friends
hinted also to some of the Cossacks, that he was sent
secretly by a few discontented Russian nobles in quest
of the lost emperor ; others, that he wished to ascertain
in what manner they would consider the idea of his
assuming the character of the deceased czar. It is,
however, a weU-known fact, that when Pugatchef
was sent to his general with a despatch, during the
siege of Bender in 1769, aU the officers of his staff
were surprised at his extraordinary resemblance to
the late emperor Peter III., in consequence of which,
he was invited to dine at the table of General Tot-
leben, where this resemblance was fully and unani-
mously confirmed : it is also to be remarked that
when Pugatchef, after deserting his ranks, was in
Podolia, two clergymen knelt before him and ac-
knowledged him as the Russian czar. In vain some
authors deny this resemblance : the great majority of
them, as well as some disinterested testimonials, and
even the portraits of Peter III. and Pugatchef, to be
found in the British Museum, and which we have care-
fully examined, fully confirm it. All these things com-
bined together made a deep impression on the mind of
o
194 REBELLION OF
Pugatchef, and he resolved to try his fortune in that
capacity. His resemblance, even, to the late czar was
not absolutely necessary for seducing the credulous,
ignorant, and persecuted people living at a great distance
from the capital.
After his arrival, in the month of April 1773, in the
town of laitzkoy, Pugatchef attended a secret meeting
of discontented Cossacks ; and being well aware of their
excitement and thirst of revenge, he industriously
circulated a rumour that the late czar, supposed to be
murdered, would not fail shortly to make his appear-
ance amongst them; and soon after, having been
apprised of the secret abode of their chiefs who had
escaped from the late destruction of the town by General
Freyman, he went boldly to them, asserting that he was
the Czar Peter III. himself ; that he had escaped from
the daggers of his paid assassins ; and that the news of
his death was invented by his enemies ; he therefore
claimed their protection.
These savage and oppressed Cossacks had never seen
Peter III. The crafty impostor flattered their vices ;
adopted their creed; and promised to avenge their
wrongs. They recognised him unanimously as their
lawful sovereign ; swore blind obedience to him, and
promised to sacrifice their lives in his cause: and
numerous bands of their brethren enrolled themselves
under his orders. Placing himself at their head,
Pugatchef immediately attacked the newly-established
colonies on the banks of the Irghis, composed chiefly
PUGATCHEF. 195
of the Polish political exiles, as well as of men artfully
entrapped into those cold and dreary regions. They
yielded to the first caU, and some of them swelled
the rebel ranks. He took their arms, horses, and
provisions ; did them no harm ; and mastered his
natural cruelty for a time.
After this easy success, Pugatchef directed his steps
towards laitzkoy. It seems to have been imprudent
to attack, with savage and untrained bands, expe-
rienced and victorious soldiers, commanded by skilful
officers, well aware of their advantages, and especially
interested in the defence of that place. Some defi-
ciency in the fortifications however induced Pugatchef
to turn his eyes towards it. Arrived under its walls,
he summoned, officially, the governor to surrender the
town to Peter III., czar of Russia ; and, after having re-
ceived a peremptory refusal to comply with his demand,
he issued immediate orders to take the place by storm.
Repulsed everywhere, he converted the siege into a
blockade, hoping to render himself master of the town
by famine : but he was again disappointed by the
extraordinary perseverance of the garrison. The inha-
bitants, reduced to the last extremity, after consuming
the most disgusting animals, were at last relieved by
the arrival of some Russian troops ; which obliged
Pugatchef to retreat.
Checked, but not dispirited, by this slight reverse,
he marched against the Cossacks of the Iletz, the
greater part of whom joined his standard. Soon after,
196 REBELLION OF
he made liimself master of two forts, Basyrnaya and
Ossernaya, as well as of the important town of Tates-
chtcheva; the wooden walls of which he destroyed
by fire. The governor of Ossernaya, Major Charlof,
was newly married to a young and beautiful woman,
strongly attached to her husband. Her beauty
made an impression on the daring Cossack, who,
excited by her refusal to satisfy voluntarily his
passion, ordered her husband to be hanged, the
officers to be butchered; and then, after ravishing
the lady, delivered her over to the brutality of his
soldiers.
As soon as the governor of Orenburg was apprised
of the success of the rebellion, he despatched in great
haste, a large body of troops, under Colonel Bulof, to
fight the rebels. Bulof was expecting to be reinforced
by the corps of General Tchernishef, sent from Simbirsk,
but their movements w^ere badly managed. Pugatchef,
possessing by nature military capacities improved by
experience in warfare, prevented their junction, and
marching against Bulof, cut him in pieces. He then,
without losing an instant, attacked Tchernishef who,
surrounded and entrapped by false rumour into a
difficult position, surrendered and perished. Pugatchef
in these two victorious battles ordered all who refused
to join his ranks to be put to the sword. Being well
aware that the most important part of a good general
is not only to gain a victory, but to take the proper ad-
vantage of it, he directed his steps toward Orenburg.
PUGATCHEF. 197
That town, situated on the banks of the la'ik, on the
verge of a bleak desert, and noted for some fine build-
ings and extensive commerce with the most remote
parts of Asia ; at a great distance from the centre of the
Russian empire ; fortified also by art and nature, was an
excellent place of defence, and well suited his purposes.
He expected also to find money there and some parti-
sans. He would have taken it by storm, stratagem,
or bribery, had not the garrison of Krasno'iark cut its
way through the rebel army. Soon afterwards the
Baskirs and the Kirghis, the remainder of those fero-
cious and barbarous hordes which followed the star
of Bathu-Khan, and who were nominally subject to
Russia, weary of the Russian yoke, and longing for pillage
and rapine, joined the impostor's ranks. The Nogay
Tatars, inhabiting formerly the deserts of Boodziak, not
far from the ancient country of the Zaporogues, and
whom Russia transplanted to the banks of the Volga,
lost no time in following the army of one who ofiered
them the opportunity of returning to their fatherland,
and of taking signal revenge on the Russians. This
example was quickly followed by the inhabitants of all
the principal colonies in those inhospitable regions, and
especially by the exiles condemned to work in the
mines in the bowels of the Uralian mountains. Many
Poles, who fought in the ranks of the Confederates of
Bar, and who had been taken prisoners by the Rus-
sians, sent to these wilds, deprived of their country,
and torn from their homes and families, by the violence
198 REBELLION OF
and injustice of the Empress Catherine, animated by
the thirst of revenge against E-ussia, flocked from all
parts of Siberia, to serve in the ranks of the rebels.
Hitherto nothing seemed to have checked the gigantic
projects of Pugatchef. His sway extended from the
Uralian mountains to the banks of the Volga, about
three thousand three hundred miles. The Russians,
shut up in some of the towns, expected to be crushed
and annihilated at any time, by the ever-increasing
forces of the daring impostor. The troops sent from
the interior of Russia, could scarcely defend the most
important military points between Kazan and Oren-
burg. The siege of Orenburg was followed up with
great spirit and constancy by undisciplined bands, unac-
quainted with the formidable means of prosecuting war
adopted by regular armies, in spite of the gallant re-
sistance of the Russian general, Reinsdorf, who vainly
attempted to repulse the attack made by Pugatchef on
the latter town. General Carr received orders to take
the command of the Russian army, and to quell the
rebellion of Pugatchef. He travelled by post from
Moscow ; arrived in the neighbourhood of Orenburgh ;
and sent a detachment of regulars against Pugatchef,
who was besieging that town ; he was, however, not
successful. One part of Pugatchef 's army attacked and
so completely routed the detachment, that scarcely five
men escaped.
The general himself then advanced with a larger
force ; but, contrary to the advice which he received
PUGATCHEF. 199
fi:om some of his friends, to be extremely cautious in
all his movements, he rashly attacked Pugatchef, fell
into the snare laid for him, lost his forces, and, com-
pletely beaten, seeing no chance of success with that
celebrated rebel, he returned by post to Moscow, with
as much haste as he came from that city. In the mean-
time, whilst one part of the rebels were engaged near
that town in the dead of winter, Pugatchef, always
restless and enterprising, went to the mountains to
take from the mines aU the silver and gold he could
lay hands upon, and likewise the store of brass, far
more necessary to him for casting cannon for the
purpose of battering the walls of Orenburg. During
this daring excursion, at the head of numerous bands,
Pugatchef returned with rich spoil, but failed to take
the fortress of Uffa : * soon after, a false rumour, pur-
posely spread, of the march of a large Russian army,
made him more cautious in his movements ; and gave
time to some scattered regiments on the Siberian
frontier, to prevent his taking Ecatherinendstat,
where he would have found considerable sums of
money. Duriag Pugatchef s absence in the Ural,
the Polish exiles who had joined his standard, and
whom he left behind near Orenburg, were specially
entrusted by him with the organisation and drilling of
his untrained troops : a task in which they succeeded
to his entire satisfaction. At a latter period, Pugat-
chef promised them a safe return to their country,
gave them the command of his chosen cavalry.
200 REBELLION OF
made Major Suchodolski (previously sent to Siberia by
Catherine's order,) the chief of his staff, and ordered
him to take particular care of his artillery.
For a long time Pugatchef following strictly the
rites of his adopted creed (Roskolniki Starowiertzy),
assumed their abstinence and piety. Often he was
seen in sacerdotal robes to bless, with humility, the fero-
cious fanatics continually flocking to his presence. On
his standards were written, in large letters of gold, the
latin words, Redivivus et ultor (Re-arisen and avenged),
a motto which, often repeated and explained, daily in-
creased the number of his partisans. In order to stimu-
late as far as possible the zeal of his people, Pugatchef,
being well aware that one of their priests, Fuma, had
been condemned to lose his right hand by fire and to
be burned alive, in 1715, at Moscow, by the orders of
Peter the Great, for having hewn to pieces, with an axe,
the images of the Saints and of the Virgin, in the Russian
church ; and having been also apprised that that religi-
ous fanatic, when summoned before the Russian autho-
rities and clergy for the recantation of his faith, was
true to his creed, and possessed extraordinary firmness ;
calmly preaching against the abuses of the Russian
heresy, while his right hand was burned to ashes ; (for
which he was worshipped by the Roskolniki, his image
exhibited without a hand, and himself considered as a
saint) ; the crafty Pugatchef not only procured the like-
ness of the martyr without a hand as his standard, to
which he showed publicly a religious veneration, but he
PUGATCHEF. 201
also found an impostor without a hand of the name of
Fuma. This fanatic, possessing great flow of language,
assumed the character of a descendant of the celebrated
martyr ; preached daily against the abuses of the Russian
church and against Catherine's tyranny ; and with such
effect, that crowds of people were always saluting him
■Nvith repeated huzzas, crying, " Long live Fuma ! "
"Long live our beloved emperor; our great czar; our
benefactor, the defender of our church ;"*' with a sort
of phrenzy. Speaking of his resurrection and ven-
geance, the pretended Peter III., openly declared that,
having himself no longing for power,, he had decided
to place the Muscovite crown on the brow of the
grand duke his son; and, after accomplishing that
laudable action, to spend the remainder of his days
in retirement. This pretended disinterestedness, this
resignation and piety, this deep and well sustained
hypocrisy, admirably served his purposes. In the
meantime, active, enterprising, indefatigable; always
rea^y to take every possible advantage of the weakness
of the Russians, and of the incapacity of their generals ;
combining with superiority of information, a perfect
knowledge of the country and of his numerical strength,
Pugatchef soon inspired his army with that blind con-
fidence in his genius, which Mahomet, in bygone ages,
infused into the hearts of his warlike and conquering
followers.
Surprised and dazzled at his unexpected success,
looking with pride at the niunerous tribes and immense
REBELLION OF
barbarian army devoted to him, Pugatchef believed
himself really the mighty sovereign whose name he
usurped ; forgot his engagements, ceased to be a hypo-
crite, adopted the imperial insignia, established a court,
named his ministers, instituted orders of knighthood, and
distributed honours and dignities among his friends. In
the delusion of his presumption and victories, he would
never admit any undertaking, however unreasonable, to
be impracticable, nor the existence of any obstacle, which
the energy of his will might not overcome; but he
failed, by miscalculation, to pick up scattered diamonds
at his feet, which, according to Shakspere, are at some
one period of every man's life within his reach. He
lost undoubtedly some precious moments for action,
which if promptly seized would have saved him, and
changed the destiny of the Russian empire : he neg-
lected, too, soon the means which served him so well ;
cast off the mask, and showed himself such as he was
in reality. Vexed and excited by the desperate re-
sistance of Orenburg, instead of mastering his passions,
he abandoned himself wantonly to all sorts of disgusting
excesses and atrocious cruelty. There was an excellent
opportunity for the accomplishment of his projects at
that time. In consequence of the war with Turkey,
the celebrated field-marshal, Romantzof, could not
weaken his army on the Danube; and Moscow was
without troops, and full of serfs hating their masters.
They were all prepared to join heart and hand with
Pugatchef, who certainly had at his disposal more means
PUGATCHEF. 20S
than any other impostor in bygone ages, for founding a
new Russian dynasty. By an unpardonable blunder,
or an unwise policy, he openly avowed the dangerous
intention of exterminating the Russian nobility; and
to convince his friends that his words were in harmony
with his actions, he peremptorily ordered to be put to
death, with their wives and children, all the nobles
who fought against him. Being also well aware that
Peter III. spoke, with great fluency, the German lan-
guage; and dreading that it should be known that
he did not understand a word of it, he summoned
before him all the German officers who were taken
prisoners by his army, and, at a preconcerted sign which
he had made to his guard, they were all put to the
sword without mercy.
Pugatchef committed also a great imprudence, which,
by giving rise to scandal in his army, was stiQ more
dangerous than the loss of a battle, in espousing publicly
a common woman from laitskoy, though he was actually
married to Sophia, the daughter of a Cossack, and had
three lawful children. In the midst of the pomp and re-
joicings on that occasion, during which he lavished his
favours and squandered immense sums, he was apprised
that a regular army, of 45,000 Russian veterans, well pro-
vided, was actually marching against him, under the
command of General Prince Bibikof, and with a formid-
able artillery. There was also no longer any doubt
that the Empress Catherine had pubKshed a manifesto
against him in the principal towns of the empire. For
204
REBELLION OF
a long time, this formidable rebellion was considered,
at Petersburg, as a mere rising of a band of robbers,
so common among the wandering tribes of disaiFected
Cossacks and Tatars in those regions ; and Pugatchef
as their audacious chief. Catherine's policy was inter-
ested in considering his efforts as unworthy for an in-
stant of any serious alarm respecting the stability of her
throne, just at the time when all the great military
talents of Romantzof could scarcely prosecute the
bloody war against the Turks, who fought with un-
disputed bravery, and displayed in it more than
ordinary spirit. Some enemies also of the ancient and
powerful family of Orloff, ventured more than once to
hint that Gregory Orloff secretly fostered the rebellion,
and had actually sheltered Pugatchef in his house.
There was also a rumour that Baron de Tott, a skilful
French officer in the Turkish service, and who, on more
than one occasion, had beaten the Russians, and had
displayed his sound policy in protecting, at the Sultan's
court, the views of the Polish confederates of Bar,
(whose sole aim was to fight their common enemy), had
some communication with Pugatchef, and directed his
mihtary movements. Catherine, who seems to have
scorned these rumours, laughed at them openly ; and
gave to Pugatchef the title of marquis, in derision.
Soon, however, her sagacious mind did not fail to
perceive the whole extent of the danger to which
she was undoubtedly exposed; and for a long time
she directed her whole energy and activity to the
PUGATCHEF. 205
means of avoiding it. Her masculine mind forgot
the weakness of the female body, and was completely-
absorbed in this pressing and important business.
Not satisfied with sending a powerful army, under
General Bibikof, to crush the rebels, she in her
manifesto, hinted, indirectly, at the well-known death
of her murdered husband, and at the daring impo-
sition of Pugatchef in assuming the name of Peter III.
She also put in circulation some ukases or ordinances
to her subjects. By one of them she warned her people
not to obey any order which was not signed with her
own hand, or that did not emanate from her private
chancery at Petersburg; by another, she invited all
the deluded Cossacks of the Don and the laik, who
were in the rebel army, to return speedily to their
homes; accompanying this advice with a liberal promise
of forgetfulness of the past : by a third, far more dan-
gerous for the personal safety of Pugatchef, and in full
accordance with the rapacious propensities of the Cos-
sacks, she promised a reward of one hundred thousand
silver rubles to any one who should deliver him, dead
or alive, to the Russian authorities ; with a free pardon
if the individual, so delivering him up, was in the rebel
army. Pugatchef, however, who could neither read nor
write, having some men of ability at his court, was not
idle on his part ; and replied by other proclamations and
manifestos, which he always issued in the name of the
sovereign, whose name he unblushingly usurped ; he
ordered also small busts of himself to be cast; and
206 REBELLION OF
issued gold, silver, and copper coins, stamped with
his image, with the inscription, Peter III., Emperor
of all the Russians. Conforming also to the advice
of the Polish major, Suchodolski, his chief of the
staff, who joined him from the Confederates' ranks,
he , widely circulated, in all parts of Russia, a well-
couched and solemn order, printed in several dialects,
in large letters, by which he abolished servitude,
liberated unconditionally all the peasants from the
grasp of their oppressors, and made them proprietors
of the soil on which they toiled and worked;
giving proper instructions to all the governors of
the Russian empire, for the rigorous fulfilment of
this order, under the penalty of death. This measure
would have completely disorganised the Russian
empire ; would have put down the influence of the
nobility for ever; might, if strictly executed, and oppor-
tunely enforced, have worked a great social revolution ;
and had not the adventurous, daring Cossack chief,
shaken the confidence of his bands by all kinds of
debauchery, and scorn for every kind of religious creed.
After his arrival at Kazan, General Bibikof found all
the citizens and nobles eager to take arms against a
man who visibly attempted their complete annihilation ;
and they immediately formed some regiments. The
Empress Catherine, apprised of their conduct, and
strongly urged by the necessity of self-preservation, as-
sured them publicly of her gratitude, and ordered her
imperial name to be inscribed in letters of gold among
J
PUGATCHEF. 207
the nobles and citizens of the town of Kazan — a mise-
rable farce, gratifying only to vanity.
The merit of possessing some military talent can not
be denied to General Bibikof. In marching from Kazan
towards Orenburg he retook some towns, which had
been surprised by the rebels, over, whom, with the
aid of his lieutenants, he gained some advantages.
Pugatchef was soon apprised of his victorious march,
just at the time when all the horrors of famine in
Orenburg, gave him a weU-founded hope of the speedy
surrender of that important place. He, however,
quickly retired from its walls, animated with a strong
desire to retrieve his fortune on some more favourable
occasion. The major-general. Prince GaUiczyn, who
was ordered to follow him quickly, with a great part
of BibikoFs army, lost no time in attacking him in
a strong position near Tateschtcheva. The combat was
fierce and obstinate ; and it was soon evident that
Pugatchers army was well trained and instructed by
many Poles who had crossed swords with the Russians,
not only in the wilds of the Baskhirs but also else-
where. He was, therefore, repulsed with great loss ;
and as the Cossack chief did not think proper to
fight a decisive battle immediately with him, he con-
tinued his retrograde movement, with his ferocious
bands, in great order, without molestation.
Pugatchef retreating with extraordinary speed, chang-
ing every day the direction of his march, well acquaiated
with the country, and having the best possible inform a-
208 REBELLION OF
tion of his adversary's movements, deceived Galliczyn ;
and, after crossing a sandy desert, a large forest, and
some almost impassable marshes by an unknown track,
he in a few days concentrated all his forces, and ap-
peared, in hostile attitude, before Bibikof's army, which
was completely taken by surprise. The Prince accepted
the battle : it was one of the most obstinate ever
recorded in the annals of Northern Russia. Pugatchef
was a skilful commander ; he employed, for the second
time successfully, a very simple stratagem worthy
to be mentioned, and which greatly contributed to
gain the battle. As the battle was fought in the winter,
so protracted in these gloomy regions ; and as the
ground was covered with snow, Pugatchef, perceiving
some snow-hills skirting one of his flanks, and at a
point whereon he expected to be attacked, planted
behind them some of his cannon, and ordered, under
cover of his men, some trees and planks to be
placed on the declivity of these snowy hills, direct-
ing as much water to be thrown on them as pos-
sible. This done, he feigned a retreat, after some
resistance ; the Russians saw their adversary's weak
point; a strong body of Bibikof's infantry received
peremptory orders to storm the rebel's wing, and was
taken in the snare : the water thrown on the trees and
planks was frozen, which made them slippery; the
Russians, in spite of all their efforts, were unable to
climb them, and were suddenly exposed, at point blank
distance, to such a deadly fire of musketry and grape-
PUGATCHEF. 209
shot, that they were almost annihilated; and as
Pugatchef lost not a moment in taking advantage of
his success, General Bibikof was completely beaten,
and could scarcely effect his retreat with the wreck
of his forces : he died soon after.
After the death of General Bibikof, Galliczyn took
the command of the army ; and having concentrated
his forces, and reinforced them by some scattered
regiments, marched against Pugatchef, whom he closely
chased for several days through wild and unknown
tracts, with great spirit and perseverance, reaching
him at last at Kargula, not far from Orenburgh, where,
after six hours' hot fighting, he completely routed his
bands. Pugatchef fled towards the Ural mountains
in great haste ; and the rebellion was supposed to be
entirely suppressed.
Only one head however of the Cerberus was cut oiT.
The inaccessible wilds of the Ural mountains, unknown
to the Russian troops, swarmed with numerous hordes
of Kalmucks, Kirghis, and wandering Cossacks, whom
Galliczyn dispersed rather than annihilated; these wilds
also, were not completely cleared of those peasants and
miners, who, as we have seen, were always eager to
breathe fresh air and avenge their wrongs. At the
magic voice of Pugatchef, they again took the field;
and for the second time, he appeared with an army,
victorious in all directions. After mastering some towns
and forts, built for the purpose of keeping in obedience
the refugees and miners, he besieged and burned
h
210 REBELLION OF
Troitsa. Beaten, however, near that town by General
de Koln, he disappeared again in the mountains.
More excited than dispirited by these reverses, he
determined to retrieve his fortune by all possible
means. Pugatchef descended, for the third time, from
the summit of the Ural, and conceived the bold idea of
conquering the ancient kingdom of Kazan; like a
chafed lion rushing suddenly from his den, he marched
towards Kazan on the wings of destruction ; burning,
sacking, and killing everything which obstructed his
terrible progress, but treating at the same time his
friends with great kindness and liberality. After gain-
ing several victories over the Kussians, and putting to
the sword every one in the suburbs of Kazan, he mas-
tered nearly the whole kingdom. Everything was com-
pletely subdued excepting the citadel. The Archbishop
of Kazan came submissively, with large bags of gold, to
Pugatchef; acknowledged him publicly as his sovereign,
and promised to crown him, and to provide him with
immense treasures, as soon as the citadel surrendered.
Not only the latter, but the generality of the popula-
tion in the regions of Orenburg, Kazan, UiFa, the whole
of Siberia, and the whole country to the river Ural,
had declared unanimously for the daring impostor.
Pugatchef besieged the strong citadel of Kazan; and
having been apprised of the treasures there concealed,
promised its plunder to his bands, and pressed the siege
vigorously. Major General Paul Potemkin, relative to
the celebrated favourite of the czarina, dared not openly
PUGATCHEF. 211
to fight with Pugatchef ; he did not even try to prevent
the burning of Kazan ; and would, in all probability,
have been taken by him, and have perished in torments,
had not Colonel Michelson appeared, at the critical time,
to relieve him.
Michelson, the active, indefatigable, worthy subaltern
of Rumiantzov, was not wanting in this exigency; he
gave not a moment's rest to the rebels, and was con-
stantly at their heels. During several days they resisted
him with great skill and ferocity ; he, however, com-
pelled them to accept a battle, in which they were so
far beaten and routed, that Pugatchef himself escaped
almost by miracle. He repassed the "Wolga with
scarcely three hundred Cossacks of the lai'k, the
remainder of his numerous army. This time, accord-
ing to all human probability, he was humbled to the
dust, and the rebellion seemed crushed and annihilated.
But while various rumours were prevalent respecting
his death, he suddenly reappeared, like the fabled
Antaeus, reinvigorated from his faU. He seemed only
to have to stamp with his foot on the top of the
Ural mountains, to wrest from them new and powerful
legions devoted to him. His manifestos and pro-
clamations, written in different languages, penetrated
into the remotest parts of the empire ; other hordes of
Baskirs, Kalmucks, Cossacks, and exiles, swarms of
peasants armed with scythes and other agricultural
instruments, flocked from all directions to hail their
liberator. The mass of the people are seldom mistaken
212 REBELLION OF
ill their friends. At siglit of these new bands, which
seem to have mainly increased in proportion to his
misfortunes, he yet cherished a hope of reaching
Moscow, where his emissaries were secretly organizing
a powerful rebellion. Well aware of their exertions,
and having been taught by experience how difficult
it was for his newly-levied troops to cope in the field
with well-trained regulars, Pugatchef resolved to
avoid all fortified towns and general engagements ; to
march through the deserts, to descend the Volga, to ap-
proach the Caucasus, and to amass, during his projected
journey, the remainder of the new colonies, the hordes
of discontented Tatars, the Cossacks of the Don favour-
able to himj as well as the Cossacks of the Ukraine, and
especially the Zaporogues, deprived of their ancient
territory. He intended also to proclaim, for the third
time, the freedom of the press, liberty of conscience,
the extermination of the nobility, and the abolition of
all social and hereditary distinctions. In spreading
everywhere terror, devastation, and fire, he wished to
disorganise the stability of the empire, to undermine
the throne, and to change, reform, and remodel the
whole of E-ussia; or to plunge her in anarchy, if he
could not be her sole and mighty ruler.
But the favourable tide for accomplishing so gigantic
a project had ebbed ; the people showed some mistrust
and disafiection; and the treaty of Koadtshak-Kain-
ardgy which was concluded between Turkey and Russia,
in the month of July, on the banks of the Danube,
PFGATCHEF. 213
obliged Pugatchef to change his quarters. Dreading,
not without strong reasons, that the army which was
engaged against the Turks, might be sent against him,
he came to the decision of remaining on the spot which
he had chosen, in the very centre of his power, near
those deserts and wilds so familiar to him ; and where he
might yet find a refuge, in the event of any mis-
fortune befalling him ; he resolved to annoy the Russians
by quick marches, unexpected attacks, and guerilla
warfare ; thereby training his bands, by well directed
excursions, and by the exercise of unremitted and rest-
less activity, to acquire, gradually, the nerve, expe-
rience, and power of disciplined soldiers ; and gaining
time and opportunity either to seduce and disorganize
the Russian armies, or to brave them openly.
As Pugatchef had lost, in previous battles, many able
officers who were training his army ; as his adversaries
were infinitely superior to the former Russian com-
manders ; as he had some practical knowledge of naviga-
tion and was a good sailor, he descended suddenly the
Wolga, on a small flotilla which had been formerly con-
structed by his orders ; and having heard that a Russian
corps, unprepared for his visit, was encamped near the
small town of Dubofska, under the orders of Baron
Diez, he pounced suddenly upon him, put to the sword
every living soul, and took by storm, Pensa and Saratof.
The governor of the latter town escaped with scarcely
fifteen of his men. A few days later, Pugatchef, whose
very name spread terror in all directions, seduced the gar-.
S14 REBELLION OF
rison of Demitrewsk; and after putting to death without
mercy all the Russians faithful to the czarina, he feasted
his eyes with the agonies of its commander, who, aban-
doned by his soldiers for his oppression and cruelty, was
barbarously impaled alive by the order of the Cossack.
Not far from that town, Pugatchef, having been
apprised that a scientific man, Lowitz, a member of
several universities and a distinguished astronomer, was
actively engaged, by order of the Russian government,
in taking the proper measures for the construction of a
navigable canal between the river Wolga and the Don,
summoned him before him; and after conversing
with him, asked him whether he was an astrologer
and could foretell his destiny ? On giving an evasive
answer, the man of science was not a little amazed at
the sight of his own letter, which the terrible Cossack
drew from his pocket ; and in which the astronomer had
spoken slightingly of him, and had given information to
the Russian colonel respecting his military movements.
Lowitz cried for mercy ; but Pugatchef, casting on him
the look of a tiger, ordered him to be lifted up with
long spears, that he might have the better opportunity, as
he said, of giving more correct information respecting
this world, and he on the way to the other, nearer the
countless stars. Thus perished Lowitz in terrible
agonies, in spite of all his entreaties to spare his life.
The Empress Catherine, having now nothing to fear
from the Turks, who were often duped by Russian
diplomacy, in the most critical moments for the safety
PUGATCHEF. 215
of the Russian empire, was able to concentrate all her
power against the Cossack chief. Count Peter Panin,
who had distinguished himself in the last Turkish war,
received a peremptory order to march immediately
with a large army and unlimited power against Pugat-
chef, and to crush the rebellion by all possible means.
Having been apprised that Colonel Michelson had
successfully fought against Pugatchef, who had offered
a large reward for his head. Count Panin detached from
his army several regiments, and sent them by forced
marches towards Kazan, for his release. He also dis-
missed, under different pretexts, all of superior rank,
whose jealousy or inferiority might have obstmcted his
views and fettered the military talents and activity of
Colonel Michelson. These two wise measures, and
especially the latter, coupled with unexpected circum-
stances, produced the ultimate success of General
Panin's mission, just at the very moment when the
crown of the czarina was already tottering.
Pugatchef must have possessed a secret and unac-
countable charm to make himself dreaded and che-
rished at the same time. Even at the time when the
victorious army pressed him with restless activity;
when, by the loss of several engagements, his forces
were reduced to 4,000 men ; and himself, compelled
constantly to be changing his quarters ; his very ap-
pearance produced wonders ; at his mere voice in the
districts in which he had never been before, the people
flocked to him, murdered their lords, and acknowledged
216 REBELLION OF
him their sovereign and master, with a sort of devotion
difficult to describe, and which surpasses all belief. At
length, though vanquished, he seemed to have formed
the most dangerous of his plans; he crossed the Wolga,
gave the slip to his enemies, and resolved to march
towards Moscow. Whole regions went over to him ;
the utmost consternation prevailed in that capital, the
great mass of Russian serfs were longing for his arrival ;
and had he reached Moscow, nothing could have pos-
sibly resisted him, as the fame of his genius and vic-
tories, strongly magnified, preceded him. Some writers
venture to say, that he had more chance of being ulti-
mately successful in his second attempt to conquer
Moscow, when he had matured his plans, than at first.
In order to check his progress, and to convince the
people of his being an impostor, his first wife, Sophia
(the second he married at laitzkoy), was found out at
the Don, and sent to meet him publicly, by special
orders of Catherine II. The interview took place.
She came on him unexpectedly, but the object of the
stratagem failed. Pugatchef did not lose, for an instant,
his presence of mind ; and, perceiving her, he said to his
friends, ''Take care of that woman; I knew her hus-
band ; he was very kind to me ; the poor creature is at
times deranged."
But the time had now arrived, when Pugatchef was
rapidly approaching the end of his hitherto prosperous
career.
Colonel Michelson having received the necessary
PUGATCHEF. 217
reinforcements, and gained new advantages, lost not
a moment in marching against Pugatchef. Not satis-
fied with forcing him to retreat with his army from
the town of Tzaritshin, he pushed him towards
Tschernoiar, cut oif his supplies, and following his
advantage with great ability, surprised him at last in a
difficult position, when his scattered forces, embarrassed
by waggons, women, artillery, cavalry, and a multitude
without order, were scarcely moving, in a long and deep
ravine on the banks of the Wolga. His bands, attacked
in all directions, were compelled to fight for their lives,
and made the most determined resistance ; but soon
disabled by the superiority of numbers, not less by the
difficulties of their military position, than by the efforts
of their adversaries, they gave way and fled in all
directions. Some of them were cut to pieces ; others,
who endeavoured to escape, were hurled with their
horses and waggons from high rocks into the river, and
were either killed or drowned; the remainder sur-
rendered at discretion.
After miracles of valour and supernatural efforts in
fighting to the last, Pugatchef, covered with Russian
blood and gore, was compelled to seek safety in flight.
Unhurt amidst a thousand dangers which threatened
his life ; spared by all the bullets, spears, and swords
directed against him, he plunged into the Wolga, swam
across the river, and fled into the desert, where he
found himself by a singular chance on the wild banks
of the Ouzem, in the very spot so familiar to him,
218 REBELLION OF
whence lie had started eighteen months before on his
terrible expedition. Weary, anxious, having lost his
army, his wealth, and his most devoted subalterns;
hunted in all directions, but not dispirited, he took
shelter in a wild cavern, concealed by an enormous
stone, bearing to this day his name, and attended only by a
few friends, who soon, however, were obliged to disperse.
Of aU his partisans torn from him by terror, fatigue,
misery, and all-powerful hunger, there remained only
three Cossacks, TworogofF, of Iletz ; Tschumakof, and
Fidulef, of laik. All three gave him, repeatedly, the
most unequivocal proofs of their devotion ; and never
failed to risk their lives for him and his popular cause ;
all three seem to have enjoyed, to the last, his confidence.
At last, however, alarmed at their common danger and
the gloomy prospects for the future, they began to
waver ; they remarked to each other the full pardon
and the reward which was offered by the empress to
him who should deliver their chief to the Russians.
After some consultation, the lower feelings of human
nature prevailed, and they resolved to purchase their
own safety by the sacrifice of their chief: but such was
the magic ascendancy which Pugatchef exercised over
every one who came in contact with him, that though
they were, next to himself, the most daring, they all
trembled lest he should suspect their intention. One of
them being seated close to Pugatchef, hinted to him the
danger to which he was exposed, and the impossibility
of avoiding it, if he should still refuse to beg the mercy
PUGATCHEF. 219
of the empress. At the word, mercy, Pugatchef, though
humbled and assailed by his misfortunes, started like a
tiger, and drew a sharp dagger to plunge it into the heart
of his pretended friend ; when the two other Cossacks,
who were already anxiously watching all his movements,
jumped on him, and after a desperate struggle, disarmed,
secured, and conducted him immediately to the camp of
Major-General Samarof, posted at that time with his
corps on the banks of the laik. Thence he was dragged
in chains, to the town of laitzkoy (now Uralsk), and soon
after, to Simbirsk. From this place, by the express
order of General Panin, he was publicly driven through
aU the country he had sacked, to Moscow, shut up in an
iron cage, and attended by a detachment of soldiers.
As soon as Pugatchef arrived at that capital, his
trial commenced with all possible formality and display ;
a special commission of the Senate was ordered to
attend it and be present at all its minute investigations.
There he avowed that he was a Cossack of the Don ;
he named the place of his birth ; he was recognised not
only by his relatives, but by his former companions in
arms ; and after the strictest examination of his life, it
was not proved either that his rebellion was instigated
by any foreign power, or that he had made treaties with
independent states, as mentioned in the historical
romance bearing his name ; though all this might cer-
tainly have happened, had the existence of the re-
bellion been prolonged. The empress forbade the ap-
plication to him of the torture, as at first intended ;
KEBELLION OF
either from clemency, or the fear of some sanguinary
reaction which might have exposed the empire to dan-
gerous disturbances. It is said that the Empress
Catherine visited him secretly in disguise, -attended by
her lover.
Pugatchef voluntarily avowed, before his death, that
his great resemblance to Peter IIL, coupled with clerical
intrigue, was the true reason of his rebellion, in which
he would undoubtedly have been successful, had his
lieutenants fulfilled his orders, and had he not had Co-
lonel Michelson for his principal adversary. The above
named resemblance between the ill-fated Peter III.
and Pugatchef was not such as is sometimes met
with between twins ; but it was at all events a striking
resemblance, although Pugatchef's countenance was
gloomy, and his frame infinitely more vigorous. Pug-
atchef was condemned to be quartered alive ; to have
his hands, feet, and head cut off, and to be left on the
scaffold, his body to be burned, and his ashes scattered
to the wind.
To the last moment he hoped for mercy, in considera-
tion of the daring courage he undoubtedly possessed ;
but when all hope of life had vanished, he completely
lost, it is said, that spirit and ferocious energy which
made him so celebrated : he appeared, even, so timid
and terror-stricken in his dungeon, that it was neces-
sary to lift him up, that he might not faint, and to
enable him distinctly to hear every word of his sentence,
to which he was obliged to listen.
PUGATCHEF. 221
The vanquished rebel-chief, however, was not sub-
jected to the whole of his cruel sentence ; in all proba-
bility owing to a mistake, or the pity of his executioner.
What confirms this is, that the executioner received
the knout, had his tongue cut out, and was sent to
Siberia for life. Pugatchef was first beheaded (21st
of January, 1775,) and afterwards quartered, and the
different parts of his body exhibited on the principal
gates of the town. Some of his accomplices were also
executed, and others were sent to Siberia. The others,
among them Antizof, were employed in pacifying their
countrymen. The payment for guarding the frontiers,
suspended temporarily, in order to defray the expenses
of the Turkish war, was resumed among the hordes oi
the laik ; and everything, for the time, pacified.
Such was the end of this rebellion, which, during the
space of eighteen months, was the cause of immense
losses, the burning of numerous and flourishing towns,
the complete destruction of three hundred and fifty
boroughs, the sack of extensive provinces, the massacre
of upwards of 350,000 human beings, and the extinc-
tion of several noble families.
It was decided by a special order, that the town of
laitzkoy, near which was the principal focus of the
rebellion, should in future be called Uralskaia ; and the
river laik, Uralsk; alluding to the large chains of
mountains of that name, from the foot of which it flows
to the northern shore of the Caspian sea.
In investigating the life of Pugatchef, we cannot
22^ REBELLION OP
refrain from comparing him with Stenko Razin. Both
these celebrated men were Cossacks; both raised a
rebellion which made the whole of Russia tremble to
her very foundation ; both rose by the same means, and
almost in the same places ; both would have changed
the de§tiny of the Russian empire, had they not missed
the proper tide of action; both intended to abolish
slavery, and exterminate the nobility; both, cloaking
themselves under the mask of concern for the people,
aspired to the supreme power ; both took advantage of
religion and of the clergy for accomplishing their private
political purposes; both were practical and excellent
seamen, as well as good generals ; both were betrayed,
and perished on the scaffold ; both were cruel, daring,
and crafty ; and might have been mighty rulers in the
north-eastern wilds ; but would have been crushed
under the weight of the crown of the czars, after
plunging the Russian empire in a long anarchy ; both
punished crimes by the commission of still greater
crimes ; so certain is it that every great injustice perpe-
trated in a higher social position, always creates a terrible
reaction. Had the brother of Stenko Razin, a colonel
of the Cossacks, not been hanged by the orders of Prince
Dolgorouki, the lives of upwards of 300,000 human
beings would have been spared ; and fifteen thousand
men would not have perished in torments on the scaffold :
had not Peter III. been murdered by order of the Em-
press Catherine, the frightful rebellion of Pugatchef
would never have taken place, and 350,000 men would
PUGATGHEF. 22S
have been spared. They were both evidently children
of democracy. Stenko Razin seems to have been
craftier than Pugatchef, because the latter cast off the
mask too soon. It is, however, difficult to say, which
of the two was more daring and skilful. Some writers,
and among them two Englishmen, assert that Pugatchef
met his fate with the most undaunted resolution. Let it
be remembered that his examination was secret ; and
that what was allowed to transpire respecting him was
exactly suited to Catherine's interest. I gathered many
things from a friend of Suchodolski, who returned to
Russian Poland, and who used to relate many inter-
esting anecdotes of Pugatchef. Suchodolski died at an
advanced age. Pugatchef was evidently a sort of Tam-
erlan ; his rebellion gives an idea of the weak points of
Russia.
"We have not had, to this time, any real, well
written history of Pugatchef. What seems extraordinary
is, how Pugatchef, after his defeats, appeared with new
trains of artillery. The best lieutenants of Pugatchef
were Chita, Salavatka, Naga-Baba-Azanof, and Sucho-
dolski. (0
See Lesur"*s Histoire des Cosaques; William Tooke;
Authentic Memoirs of Catherine II. ; Life of Catherine
II., 3 vols.; Biography of Russian Generals; Les
Amours de Catherine II. ; Voltaire ; and Cox's Travels
in Russia.
224.
CHAPTER XII.
DESCRIPTION OF THE UKRAINE.
Derivation of the word Ukraine — Its Boundaries — Eastern and
Western Ukraine— Its Fertility — Description of the Steppes — Their
Loneliness and Danger— The Cimmerians and Khosars— Their
early History — Description of Kiow — Its interesting Reminis-
cences— Brief Account of various Towns in the Palatinate of
KVow — Towns in the Palatinate of Czernichow— Animals— Popu-
lation of the Ukraine — Costume — Singular Custom — Nuptial
Ceremonies— Characteristics — Description of the Nobility — Music
— Poetry — Legends — Superstitions — Prophecy respecting the
Ukraine — Visions of the past.
The country situated between the 50th and 53rd
degrees of north latitude^ and of which the city of
K'iow has ever been, if not the central, at all events
the principal place of resort ; the country traversed by
the foaming waters of the mighty Dnieper, and extend-
ing about five hundred English miles in length, and
nearly two hundred miles in breadth, may furnish some
idea of the contested locality of the Ukraine, which has,
at no time, been accurately defined.
This vast extent of barren fields, rich pastures, and
cultivated lands, bounded at their edges by dense forests,
deep lakes, and sandy monticules, formed a province, be-
longing, for the most part, to the ancient palatinates of
K'iow, Bratslav, and Tchernikhof (comprised at the pre-
sent day under the governments, gubernies, of Kharkov,
and Pultava, Zytomierz, and Kiow). This ancient Polish
DESCRIPTION OF THE UKRAINE.
province, comprehending the southern part of Volhynia,
the eastern part of Podolia, and some bleak districts
which extend as far as the Black Sea, was called
Ukraina (Oukraina), from the Polish words Kraina,
u Kraiu, a country near the edge ; Kraiac ukroic, to
carve, to cut ; a country near the limits, or towards the
Hmits, or near a detached portion, near a part cut off.
Some authors suppose the Ukraine derives its name
from the Latin, as the Romans called this province
Acheronensis. For a long period it was a mere desert,
the haunt of numerous herds of wild cattle, the dwell-
ing-place from time immemorial of some nomadic tribes,
the wreck of ancient nations, and frequented by hordes
of adventurers, whose origin is involved in obscurity.
The Ukraine was long the apple of discord between
the Tatars, the Poles, and the Russians, by whom it
was deemed a common frontier. The Greek authors
have partially described this country : their description
is equally appHcable, for the most part, to the main
features of its appearance at the present time ; they
notice its wandering hordes, its immense troops of wild
horses, and many of its other characteristics.
The Ukraine is divided into two parts; Eastern Uk-
raine and Western Ukraine, stretching eastward and
westward from the banks of the Dnieper. It is also
divided into the Russian, and the Polish Ukraine ; the
latter, the more extensive and populous of the two,
contains the city of Kiow, the capital of the Ukraine ;
and preserves, even to our own times, its primitive
o
22Q DESCRIPTION OF
name of a province. Although both Ukraines belonged
formerly to Poland, as they now belong to Russia, we
shall give a special description of the western Ukraine
only, that is, of Polish Ukraine ( Ukraina Polska.)
On the north of the Polish Ukraine are Polessia
(Polesie), and Yolhynia (Volyn): on the east it is
bounded by the Dnieper, on the west by Red Russia,
(Czervona Rusy and Podolia (Podole) ; and on the south
by the Black Sea (Czarne Morze.)
The political existence of the Ukraine seems to
belong to the past ; since, in legitimate accuracy, neither
government nor province of the Ukraine at present exists.
There, however, is a government of Volhynia, and like-
wise of Podolia, in Russian Poland. Nevertheless, every
Pole who is a native of Russian Poland understands
this designation better than any other; the more
especially, as in every point of view, the Ukraine
bears the peculiar and exclusively characteristic im-
press of its origin.
The armorial bearings of the Ukraine, as a province
of the ancient kingdom of Poland, were an angel, with
a sword in his right hand, and a halo over his head, a
two-headed eagle and a crescent moon in an oval, set
in a large cross. In this province there were three
palatinates, ^those of K'iow, Bratslav, and Tchernigow.
There are several bishops, both Roman catholic and
catholic of the Greek united church, and also a metro-
politan of the Greek faith, schismatic and not united.
The Ukraine, as a province, enjoyed privileges from
THE UKRAINE. 227
which others of the Russic territories were excluded.
As the Ukraine was inhabited by the Polish Cossacks,
it was very difficult to take an exact estimate of its ever-
varpng population. The Ukraine formed, in almost
every particular, an exception to the other Polish pro-
vinces. Its rivers are the Dnieper, too well known to
need description ; the Dziesna, the Sula, the Yorskla,
and the Samara, which poured their tributary waters
into the Dnieper on the east ; and the Teterof, the
Piema, the Ros, the Tasmina, with several others, on
the west. The climate of the Ukraine is temperate,
being softer in the Polish than in the Russian Ukraine.
This country is rich in various produce; its soil is
almost eveiywhere impregnated with saltpetre; it
abounds in timber, grain, esculent vegetables,
odoriferous flowers, and delicious fruits; and was
justly considered from remote ages as the garden
and granary of the neighbouring provinces. The nu-
merous herds, scattered over the luxuriant and spacious
pasturages ; the fish with which the rivers teem ; the
honey and wax of the bees, in the management of which
the inhabitants excel ; the oil, saltpetre, leather, tobacco,
salt (the produce of the salt lakes towards the Black
Sea), and many other usefal articles, may justly entitle
this country to the figurative character of " a land flow-
ing with milk and honey." In short, if the Ukraine
were not at times laid waste by myriads of locusts,
(Szarancza, pronounced Charantsha), which destroy
sometimes the most abundant crop; if the cataracts
22S DESCRIPTION OF
of the Dnieper did not form an obstacle to the naviga-
tion of that river ; and if the energies of the popula-
tion were not crippled by Russian domination, trade
•with the Ukraine would be more flourishing than even
that of the East Indies ; and, at the same time, its ter-
ritory would be one of the most fruitful and delightful
in all Europe.
The traveller, journeying from the romantic scenes
of the beautiful and mountainous Podolia, commonly
called the garden of Poland, on reaching the Ukraine,
is struck with amazement at beholding those vast
uncultivated plains, known by the appellation of
Steppes. In these Steppes, the troops of wild horses
Wild as the wild deer and untaught,
With spur and bridle undefiled.
Btkon's " Mazeppa."
dashing across the plains, are seen suddenly to halt,
to extend their necks, and gaze with intensity, as if sur-
prised at the sight of a living being come to disturb
them in their solitude; one of them neighs, others
respond, then aU retire with lightning speed.
A thousand horse and none to ride !
With flowing tail and flying mane,
Wide nostrils — never stretched by pain.
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
A thousand horse, the wild, the free.
Like waves that follow o'er the sea.
Byron's "Mazeppa."
At times also is descried, soaring in the welkin, a
THE UKRAINE. 229
solitary eagle, or perchance a flight of large ravens.
Sometimes hungry wolves have been known to pursue,
with savage howling, the flying steeds yoked to the
traveller's car. Now and then may be seen flights of
wild ducks and geese cleaving the air ; or cranes in
triangular bodies, with other birds, sending forth
shrieks that re-echo in the deep silence around. Not
a house, not a tree for miles, not a spot of elevated
ground meets the eye, except, indeed, large barrows
containing the bones or dust of the myriads of victims
of war or pestilence. Ravines, called iary, of im-
mense length, sometimes intersect the monotonous
plains. There exists also an ancient rampart, known
by the name of Wall-zmiiowy; this is of considerable
length ; and there is also another commencing near Biala
Cerkiew, which disappears towards the Dnieper, and is
called the Rampart of Trajan, a name explained by a
popular tradition, but rejected by historical criticism.
The Ukraine has been, from remote antiquity, the
theatre of sanguinary battles. It was anciently inha-
bited by the Cimmerians, extending from the river
Kuban to the mouth of the Dniester towards the
Black Sea. Herodotus relates, that at the time of the
irruption of the Scythians into the country of the
Cimmerians, the latter were overcome by the superior
numbers of the invaders, and their sovereigns sacrificed
by the sword of the victors, and buried on the banks
of the Dniester, where the vestiges of their tombs were
still traceable. In proportion as the traveller advances
230 DESCRIPTION OF
towards the east and south of the Ukraine, similar
tombs become more numerous ; and the Steppes as-
sume an aspect still more monotonous and sterile.
Occasionally the pelican of the desert is to be met with.
At sight of a human being, this rare and unsocial bird,
a fitting representative of the Black Sea, takes rapidly
to its wing, uttering a wild and piercing cry. Here
and there, too, may be seen an enormous and isolated
oak tree, whose spreading branches and venerable head
awaken a reminiscence of bygone ages. Were these
time-honoured oaks gifted with the faculty of speech,
and could they describe all the events to which they
have been eye-witnesses, what strange things could they
not tell us, what mysteries unveil, what mundane vani-
ties rebuke; might they not, perchance, instruct us, how
to interchange our ideas by some hitherto unknown
medium of converse with our distant friends ? how to un-
fold the secrets of our hearts, to the objects of our afiec-
tion, by the roaring of the winds or the sacred power
of music. Whoever has not seen the mighty Steppes
of the Ukraine, especially in the dead of the night,
and at the rising and setting of the sun, cannot possibly
describe the sensation which they produce ; their vast
expanse, their soul-chilling monotony, shake, humble,
crush the human mind.
The traveller in journeying over these Steppes, oc-
casionally meets with large inns, or caravansaries, the
true oases of this great desert. They are for the most
part kept by Russian Puritans, or by Jews {Karaimes)^
THE UKRAINE. 231
whose lively gesticulations and oriental characteristics
bespeak an Asiatic origin. In these resting places,
particularly in such as are kept by Russian Puritans
{Marhitani)^ there is need of precaution; personal
security is often endangered, and frequent murders
have been committed, few being discovered, from the
secluded nature of the locality. The traveller, there-
fore, in these regions, should be well provided with
fire-arms, of which the innkeepers stand in great
dread. Banditti sometimes lie in wait for the mer-
chants returning from the marts at Kiow, or from the
port of Odessa, and who are supposed to carry with
them considerable sums of money.
After the wars of the Scythians, the Cimmerians and
the Khosars, supposed to be the earliest ancestors of
the Cossacks of the Ukraine, traded with the Greeks
of Byzantium ; the industry and activity of the latter,
induced them to establish Greek colonies, and to build
several cities in these provinces ; amongst others, Olbia
and Nicosia, whose names bear testimony to their Hel-
lenic origin. At a subsequent period, this country
witnessed the sanguinary wars between Mithridates and
the Romans. The Goths, in their turn, about the year
214, and the Huns about 376, extended their incursions
to the banks of the Dnieper. In the tenth century,
the Moscovites (Russians), inhabitants of the shores of
Ladoga, driven from the north to the south, poured
down upon these fertile territories, under Rurik, who
established his residence in the wealthy town of Kiow.
DESCRIPTION OF
The companions of Eurik, Oskold and Dyr, were
raised to the dignity of governors of Kiow ; but Oleg,
guardian of Igor, the son of Rurik, after having
caused the above governors to be massacred, and
having, subjugated the Viatichans and the Radi-
mitchans, the Severians and the Drevelians, nations
of Slavonic origin, founded the Russic power, which
became more formidable under Igor, and arrived at a
great point of maturity under Vladymir the Great.
As the latter divided his conquered territories
among his twelve sons, their dissensions gave Boles-
laus the Great, king of Poland, an opportunity of
avenging those tribes or nations that had been invaded
by the Russians ; and of this opportunity he availed
himself the more readily, as they had been allies of
Poland. Sviatopelk, a Russic duke, and step-son of
King Boleslaus, driven out of Kiow by Jaroslav
his nephew, sought refuge in Poland. Jaroslav
not contented with having dispossessed him of his
possessions, invaded Poland. Boleslaus marched to
oppose him ; and, after having twice defeated him, and
re-established Sviatopelk in his ancient possessions,
made his triumphal entry into the city of Kiow, in
the year 1018.* He returned into his own states with
an immense booty. Some time after this, Boleslaus
the Bold, great grandson of Boleslaus the Great, being
attacked by the Russic princes, defeated them, re-
duced the Ukraine into subjection, and took the city
of Kiow; but, indulging in the most shameful ex-
THE UKRAINE. 233
cesses, he lost the fruits of his victories, and having
committed great cruelties, amongst them the murder of
the bishop Szczepanoski, he was dethroned and excom-
municated, and died a miserable death in a foreign land.
At the time when the Polish scimitar was menacing
the power of the Russic dukes, a power which was
not yet firmly established, there appeared in the
Steppes of the Ukraine, some tribes of Polovcians
(Polovcy), springing, like the Hungarians and Turks,
from the race of the Huns. In 1060, these Polovcians
made themselves masters of the town of Pereaslaw, in
Lesser Bulgaria ; and taking advantage of the dissen-
sions of the Russic dukes, established- themselves in the
Ukraine. The calamities which weighed heavily upon
these territories, were succeeded by others still more
terrible ; when the hordes of the Tatars, at first led by
Genkiscan, and subsequently by other chiefs, com-
menced the struggle, which lasted five centuries,
between barbarism and civilisation, between Europe
and Asia — that dreadful struggle during which Poland
alone preserved the other powers from destruction,
otherwise inevitable, and which, at a later period, was
the principal cause of her ruin.
The Russic power, weakened as it was by the Polish
and Tatar arms, still thought itself sufficiently strong to
make an attack upon the Lithuanian possessions. The
grand duke of Lithuania, Guedymin, already famous by
the victories he had gained over the Teutonics, placed
himself at the head of an army, traversed Volhynia,
^34 DESCRIPTIOX OF
overtook twelve Kussic dukes near the river Pierna,
gave them battle, defeated them, made himself master
of the whole Ukraine, took possession of Kiow in 1320,
established a governor-general in the conquered terri-
tories, and returned into Lithuania. His son, the Grand
Duke Olgierd, inheriting the high qualities of his father,
attacked the Tatars in Podolia (which was still groaning
under the yoke), near Sine Wody, totally defeated them,
and united, in 1331, the two provinces to Lithuania,
which formerly extended from the Baltic to the Black
Sea.
The Tatars, subdued by Olgierd, having rebelled, the
Grand Duke Vitold, son of Keystut, and nephew of the
above mentioned Olgierd, marched against them at the
head of an army, attacked them several times on the bank
of the Don, and made them feel the weight of his sword.
Vitold, ere long, penetrated the confines of Asia ; and
powerful princes sought his alliance and protection.
One of the Tatar princes, Tacktamisz, being twice
beaten, and then driven from his states by Timur*
Kutluk, of the horde of Kapchake, one of the lieu-
tenants of Tamerlan, solicited Vitold to protect him
against his enemy. Vitold kindly received the illus-
trious exile, granted him a residence in the town of
Kiow, promised to reinstate him in his domains, and to
punish Timur-Kutluk the usurper. Although many of
Vitold's friends advised him to abstain from taking any
part in the measures required to effect these objects,
warning him of the immense numerical superiority of
THE UKRAINE. 2S5
the Tatars, and reminding him of the military experience
and valour they had derived from their wars with
Tamerlan ; Vitold, unshaken in his decision and
nothing daunted, assembled an army composed of
Tatars and the Russia dukes, his tributaries, as well as
of Lithuanians and Poles, under experienced leaders :
ambitious of glory, panting for conquest, and hating
repose, he led his forces against Timur-Kutluk.
The latter, having learned that Vitold was advancing
at the head of a hostile army, sent to him an envoy
with a message, couched in the following words : —
*' Valiant prince, deliver into our hands Takhtamysz,
formerly a powerful chief, now an exile and our enemy :
such is the will of the khan, my master."
Vitold replied — '' I am on my way to see him !"
then, having crossed the Sula, Khorolem, and several
other rivers, he came in sight of the army of Timur-
Kutluk, encamped on the opposite bank of the Vorskla.
Well acquainted with the high renown of Vitold, as
well as with his military talents, he did not appear dis-
posed to combat with him. He sent a second time an
envoy, bearer of the following question : —
" I ask you the cause of this war. I have never
offended you. I have never invaded your states. What
then do you want from me ?"
Vitold answered, '' God is preparing to give me the
dominion over all nations ; my will is, that you be my
son, and my tributary, or my prisoner."
Timur-Kutluk, according to several historians, was
2S6 DESCRIPTION OF
not averse to peace under certain conditions ; but Vitold
required that Timur-Kutluk should restore all the pro-
vinces of Takhtamysz, and that money should be
coined, bearing Vitold's image.
The Mongolian chief requested a delay of three days
for his final answer, ardently expecting the arrival of
reinforcements under Ediga Holoossa, a renowned
Tatar chief, who soon made his appearance. Having
heard the conditions of peace, he exclaimed, that he
would rather perish than accept them ; and he imme-
diately demanded an interview with the grand duke of
Lithuania, which was granted. The two chiefs met
each other in the space between the two armies. Vitold
was one of the greatest captains of the age, and a
renowned conqueror. Ediga Holoossa was one of the
ablest chiefs of Tamerlan, whose praise, admiration,
and even jealousy, he excited. After the usual greet-
ings, the Tatar addressed him, " Great prince, Timur-
Kutluk, with good reason, called you father, for you are
older than he ; but as I am more advanced in years than
you, let my image be stamped on your coinage ; bow
down your proud head before your master, and be my
slave." At these words, Vitold's anger was roused to
the highest pitch ; he retired from the Tatar's presence,
reviewed his army, and placed it in battle array. The
two Tatar chiefs made a final eflfort to bring about a
reconciliation, and they would perhaps have succeeded,
had not a Pole, named Szczukoski, who, seeing the cele-
brated Yitold, for the first time in his life, undecided and
THE UKRAINE. 237
wavering, thus rashly addressed him : — " Great prince,
if the charms of a young and beautiful spouse, perchance
attach you so strongly to the pleasures of this world,
permit us at least to perish, or humble the pride ot
these innumerable hordes." These words wounded the
pride of Yitold, and he gave immediate orders for the
attack.
Both armies amounted together to five hundred
thousand men. The Tatars were, at first, unable to resist
the impetuous shock of Vitold's troops, far less nume-
rous than the Tatar host, which, in the hyberbolical
language of some of the historians, was said to be
" countless as the sand of the sea."*' The bravery of
Vitold was assisted by a few cannon, employed, for the
first time in the north of Eui'ope in this conflict.
These, though ill-served, committed great ravages in
the ranks of the Tatars : but they failed to produce,
in his favour, the successful result which, at the battle
of Cressy, the use of artillery, then of modern intro-
duction into European warfare, assured to the English.
Ediga thrice rallied his troops, and by a desperate ejffort,
captured the scanty artillery. Vitold performed pro-
digies of valour ; but, being at length overwhelmed by
superior numbers, he was completely defeated. After
having lost forty thousand men, and seventy-five princes,
he was indebted for his life, to the swiftness of his
courser. This famous battle was fought on the 12th
August, 1399, on the banks of the Vorskla. The loss
of the Tatars was enormous. After the victory, Ediga
238 DESCRIPTION OF
Holoossa pillaged Kiow, returning laden with booty
and glory into his deserts; and having learned that
Vitold was assembling a fresh army, he offered the
latter an advantageous peace, which was accepted.
Some historians have wrongly recorded that Vitold
was conquered by Tamerlan, who died in 1395, four
years before this battle took place. The mistake may
have arisen from the confusion of the names of Timur-
Kutluk and Timur-Lankh (Tamerlan.) It is to be re-
marked that, although Vitold was worsted in the battle of
Vorskla against Timur-Kutluk, yet he always preserved
his ascendancy over the Transdnieperian Tatars, inas-
much as he brought away several of their tributary
khans at the battle of Grundwald.('')
The whole of the Ukraine, as well as the country
which extends to the Black Sea, comprehending Wal-
lachia, remained under Lithuanian dominion till 1453,
when Mahomet II., sultan of Turkey, after the taking
of Constantinople, changed the political condition of the
east. Shortly after this conquest, the Ottomans achieved
another over the vassals of Lithuania, already united to
Poland. A long series of unfortunate wars, comprehend-
ing those with the Cossacks, ravaged the Ukraine and
all the south of Poland up to the time of the treaty of
Karlovitz, concluded in 1699. The Ottomans, then
swearing eternal friendship to Poland, united them-
selves to their natural ally, in order to combat the Mus-
covite power, which was beginning to extend itself in
every direction. The history of its wars from Peter the
THE UKRAINE. 239
Great to Nicholas I. is too well known to require our
notice here. With regard to the Transdnieperian
Ukraine, it passed with the city of Kiow, by the illegal
treaty of Andruszof, in 1688, under the dominion of the
czars of Russia. This treaty, concluded in the reign of
Sobieski, was a most unfortunate one for Poland, who,
by the consequent troubles, was weakened and disorgan-
ised ; and the same treaty subsequently brought down
gradual calamities upon Polish Ukraine ; especially in •
the year 1768, during the revolt of Zelezniaque and
Gonta, which was fostered and organised by Eussia.
After the second dismemberment of Poland, Polish
Ukraine passed also (according to all appearances, pro-
visionally) under Russian domination.
Our notice of the principal towns of the Ukraine shall
be preceded by a description of Ki'ow (which the
Russians spell Kief), the capital of the province. The
origin of Kiow appears to date from a time very far
anterior to our own era ; it may be traced back, in the
opinion of some annalists, to the period when the
Greeks (Cheronites), who laid the first stone of tliis
city, carried on an active commerce with Byzan-
tium, the modern Constantinople. On the right bank
of the Dnieper, the true patriarch of Polish rivers,
which pours its broad floods into the Euxine, stands the
sacred city of Kiow, crowning a rugged steep, that
rises from the bosom of the moving sands on the river's
brink. It is divided into two portions, the upper town,
called Pieczarsk, and the lower, called Dolny Kiov. The
240 DESCRIPTION OF
former contains the noble cathedral of St. Sophia, con-
secrated in 1037, a masterpiece of architecture and
magnificence ; and in the same portion of the city, there
are subterranean vaults or catacombs, containing the
bones of many saints or Russian martyrs. Under the
ruins of the ancient church of St. Basil, are alabaster
tablets with Greek inscriptions, bearing the date 260
of the Christian era. Ki'ow has always been the seat of
extensive commerce, and several times has been sur-
rounded with ramparts, the scene of many a warlike
achievement. When, in 1018, Boleslaus the Great,
king of Poland, entered this city in the character of a
conqueror, it contained eight spacious squares, and
more than four hundred churches, with their gilded
towers, shedding floods of reflected radiance when the
sunbeams played upon them. These churches contained
immense riches, supposed to have been taken from
Theodosia (Kaffa). A great part of this wealth was
conveyed into Poland by Boleslaus ; and at a later date,
when Mieczyslaw II. occupied the Bohemian throne,
the Bohemians carried the same into Prague. Although
the greatest number of these churches were dedicated
to the worship of the Greek Church, yet there was a
Roman Catholic cathedral ; and there were also some
Roman Catholic churches. In the beginning of the
tenth century, the Russian duke Gleg, first took this city
from the Slavonians. In 988, Vladimir the Great,
established his residence in this city; and, after having
espoused Anne, or Anastasia, sister of Basil and Con-
THE UKRAINE. S41
stantine, who occupied the throne of Constantinople,
embraced Christianity, together with a great number of
his subjects. In the same year, the patriarch of Con-
stantinople gave to K'iow its first metropolitan bishop,
in the person of Bishop Michael. In 1018, Boleslaus
the Great, and in 1077, his great grandson, Boleslaus
the Bold, entered this city as victors. In 1228, it was
plundered by the Tatars. In 1320, the grand duke of
Lithuania, Gedymen, took possession of it in his turn.
In 1399 and 1414, Ediga, who conquered Vitold,
committed in it many acts of ravage and destruction,
from which it never recovered. In 1650, Chmielnicki
(Khmielnitski), made himself master of it with his
Cossacks ; but in the following year, Prince Janus Rad-
ziwill, always successful against these Cossacks, drove
them out of it. In 1660, it was occupied by the Mosco-
vites, and has remained in the power of the Russians
ever since 1686. Ki'ow possesses an academy and a
gymnasium. For a long time the schools of the govern-
ment of K'iow were under the direction of the university
of Vilno ; but in recent years, they have been transferred
to that of the university of Kharkof. A bishop of K'iow,
J. A. Zaluski, is known in the annals of Poland, by his
having formed a library composed of two hundred
thousand volumes. This noble collection was ordered,
in 1795, to be transported from "Warsaw to Petersburg.
In the vast gardens of Pietcharsque, abounding in aU
the most delicious fruits of the season, there are vines
producing grapes, from which wine is sometimes made.
B
S4S DESCRIPTION OF
In these gardens, situated in the upper town, black
grouse are sometimes to be seen. Kiow has from a re-
mote period been greatly celebrated for its exquisite
confectionary, elsewhere unsurpassed. At the festival of
St. John, towards the end of June, the highest ranks of
society belonging to the Ukraine, and even the proprietors
of all the Kussic lands, assemble at Kiow ; many trans-
actions are effected, and immense sums change hands.
The whole city is crowded with wealthy visitors ;
estates are sold and purchased ; balls and brilliant
parties exhilarate the young and the gay.
In 1831, during the war with the Eussians, Kiow
yearned to be united to Poland, its long-lost mother
country. This happiness it was not destined to enjoy ;
and now, sad and solitary, seated in Moscovite darkness,
sullied by acts of infamy, it groans as an unfortunate
heroine in chains, directing its straining gaze towards
regions whence the adored hero, the life of its life, is
expected to arrive, to release it from its bondage, and to
fill with the thrillings of rapture, the heart now rent by
despair. It is worthy of remark, that though the
government of Kiow is composed of a population pro-
fessing the religion of the Greek church, yet, in 1831,
the insurrection here was much more formidable to
Russia, than it was in any other government forming a
part of Russian Poland.
We will now take a view of other places formerly
belonging to this palatinate. Loiovygrod, on the right
bank of the Dnieper, is at the north of Kiow. Near
THE UKRAINE. 243
this borough,- on the 31st July, 1640, Prince Janus
Radzivill, grand hetman of Lithuania, gained a complete
victory over 38,000 rebellious Cossacks. Vasilkof and
Montvidovka were, in the olden time, fortresses on the
ancient frontier of Polesia. Ovrucz, a small town on the
Naryna, formerly, as well as at the present time, the
chief town of the district ; it now belongs to the govern-
ment of Volhynia. Trylisc and E-omanof, on the Ka-
miencza, Staviski fortified against the incursions of the
barbarians ; it has also been rendered famous by an
act of heroic courage on the part of a Pole named
Zglobitski. This heroic man was the first to leap upon
the walls, and plant thereon the Polish standard; his
hands were struck off* in succession, and he seized the
standard with his teeth, and held it so firmly, that
no force could wrest it from him. He died with the
consolation of preserving the standard from the hands
of the enemy, and beholding his countrymen victorious.
This noble act of devotedness took place under Czar-
niecki, in the wars against the Cossacks.
Korsun, a borough, situated upon the Ros : it was
founded by Stephen Batory, in 1581 ; it was here
that Khmielnitski, with the Cossacks that revolted in
1648, surprised and defeated the Poles under Martin
Kalinowski and Nicholas Pototski.
Zytomii'z, with a population of 6,000, is at present
the chief town of the government of Volhynia, after
having formerly stood in the same relation with regard
to the district of the palatinate of Kiow. There is
244 DESCRIPTION OF
here a school, as also a small theatre, in which Polish
pieces are sometimes acted.
Bialotcerkief, a borough, of 3,000 souls, with an im-
mense castle, belongingto the wealthy family of Branetski.
Trehtymirow, a borough, which was formerly assigned
by Stephen Batory as a residence for the attaman of the
Cossacks.
Kaniof, upon the Dnieper, an ancient starosty that
belonged to the nephew of King Stanislaus Poniatowski,
who had an interview, in 1787, with Catherine II. in
this town.
Berdyczef, with a population of 10,000, principally
Jews. This town belonged, and probably still belongs
to the illustrious family of the princes Kadzivill ; it is
incorporated in the government of Yolhynia. It is re-
markable for the horse-fairs which are held there twice
in a year. The most considerable is that which is held
in the month of August ; it lasts three or four weeks. It
may be stated, without exaggeration, that there are
often to be seen in the fair 100,000 horses of every kind,
from aU parts of Russia, Poland, Austria, and Turkey ;
and even at times, a few from Persia. In my boy-
hood, I twice visited this fair ; and I remember having
seen in it, a Persian stallion, as white as snow, with the
exception of his mane and tail, which were as black as
coal, exciting the admiration of ^11 beholders ; he was
purchased at a high price. There are also many wild
horses, which are sold at a ducat each ; sometimes six
shillings each.
THE UKRAINE. 245
Jahorlik, a borough, situated at the confluence of the
Jahorlik and the Dniester. There was, here, a kind of
obelisk, which marked the boundaries between Poland
and Turkey, after the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
With regard to the towns and boroughs situated in
Transdnieperian Ukraine, and which belonged to the
ancient palatinate of Kiow, before the treaty of Grzy-
multov, by which they were ceded, in 1686, to Mus-
covy, we will follow the Polish geographer, Swie^ki
(Sviantski.)
Hadziacz, upon the Pszczola, memorable for a treaty
concluded here between Poland and the Cossacks, on
the 16th of September, 1658.
Pultawa, upon the Vorskla, at the present day the
chief town of the government of this name, and re-
markably associated with the defeat of Charles XII. on
the 8th of July, 1709.
Batourin, a town founded by Stephen Batory, king
of Poland. In 1664, John Casimir here concentrated
his formidable forces, ere he marched against the Cos-
sacks, who then threw themselves into the arms of
Moscovy. Prince Menzikoff took this town by assault,
in the time of Peter the Great, in 1709; and after
having destroyed the magazines of provisions which
Mazeppa had there amassed for the use of Charles
XII., he put all the Cossacks to the sword, as accom-
plices of the latter, and set fire to the town.
Jeremiof ka, formerly belonging to Prince Jeremiasz
Wisniowiecki.
246 DESCRIPTION OF
Pereaslaw, upon the Trubitza, a town formerly
flourishing, which contained a college of Jesuits, founded
by Zolkiewski, nephew of the renowned general of
that name. The Cossacks under Khmielnitski pillaged
it, committing every kind of excess.
Nizyn, on the Ostrza, which formerly separated the
palatinate of Kiow from that of Czernichow, and the
most eastern of the possessions of ancient Poland.
We now turn to the palatinate of Czernichow (pro-
nounced Tchernikhof ), the territories of which were at
first governed by the Eussic dukes descended from
Vladimir the Great ; but the grand duke of Lithuania,
Gedymin, having annihilated their army on the banks
of the Pierna, incorporated in his own states, in 1320,
the towns and fortresses of Kiow, Bialogrod, Slepowrat,
Kaniow, Czerkassy, Bransk, Pereaslaw, and the duchy
of Severia, even to Puty vel, with all their dependencies.
About the year 1394, Vladislaus Jagellon, king of
Poland, confided to his brother Korybut, the government
of Severia and of Czernichow ; but Korybut, wishing to
make himself independent of the grand duke of Lithua-
nia, Vitold assembled an army, marched against him,
gave him battle, routed him completely near Niedo-
kodow, took possession of his states, made him pri-
soner with all his family, and sent him under a strong
escort to Vilno; he then established starosties in this
palatinate.
Subsequently, Korybut was restored to liberty by
the intercession of the duke of Kazan; and obtained
THE UKRAINE. 247
the castles of Bratslaw and Vinnista, in Volhynla, with
all their dependencies. He then founded Zbaraz and
Visnioviatz, whence the powerful families of princes
Zbaraski and Visniovietski derived their origin. To
the latter of these families belonged Michael Korybut
Wisniowiecki, (pronounced Visniovietski) elected king
of Poland, before Sobieski. These families have been
long extinct. Towards the close of the reign of Casimir
the Jagellon, in 1490, the dukes who governed Severia
repaired to Vilno, to do homage to the king of Poland ;
but as one of the servants of the castle, in opening the
gate, accidentally broke the finger of one of these dukes,
this exasperated them so much that, without delay, they
quitted Vilno, and threw themselves into the arms of
Russia ; becoming subject to that power, till the year
1684, when the victories of the Poles over the Czar
Michael Federovitch, brought about the glorious peace
of Wiazma. By the treaty then made, Smolensk, Se-
veria, and Tchernigovia reverted to the power of the
mother country, and were included in the palatinate of
Czernichow, divided into three districts by the decision
of the diet of 1635. They again, by the truce of
Andruszow, fell, together with all the Transdnieperian
territory, into the power of Russia.
The principal towns and boroughs of the ancient pala-
tinate of Czernichow are: — Czernihow, a flourishing
town upon the Desna, at the present day chief town of
the government of the same name in Russia. — Novo-
grod Sieverski, formerly the residence of the dukes.
248 DESCRIPTION OF
now the chief town of the district. — Bransk, a town
memorable for the victory of the hetman Pac over the
Russians. The illustrious Polish family of Tryzna
were the possessors of estates here situated. — Konotop,
memorable also for a celebrated victory gained by the
Poles over the Russians in 1664. — Glinsk, anciently
the property of the family of the princes Glinski, one of
whose members betrayed his country, and delivered up
to the Russians, the fortress of Smolensk in 1548. This
traitor afterwards met with condign punishment; his
eyes were put out by the czar, and he perished in a
dungeon. This family is extinct. — Putywell, an ancient
fortress, adjacent to an immense forest, scarcely inferior
in extent to that of Bialovieza.
In concluding this short geographical view of the
Ukraine, it may be interesting to give a description of
its inhabitants, particularly those of Polish TJki-aine.
The population of the Ukraine is composed of seve-
ral races, which have more or less amalgamated with
each other. The Scythians, or Cossacks, were the first
to seize upon the lands and to defend them ; but their
nomadic habits, added to a thirst of predatory excur-
sions, did not allow them to set a just value on these
lands, which lay, for the most part, in fallow, or
altogether uncultivated. Poland, accordingly, established
therein colonies of veteran soldiers, whose services
seemed worthy of a recompense ; and whose posterity
constitute, at the present day, the nobility of the Ukraine.
Besides the Polish and Russian nobles that have long
THE UKRAINE. 249
been established here amidst some Cossacks^ several fami-
lies of the latter, tired of their unsettled and turbulent
life, built dwellings and settled here, forming a class of
small proprietors, much more numerous in the Ukraine
than in any other part of the ancient kingdom of
Poland. The grandees have at all times formed and
still form, as it were, a separate caste. There are also
many Jews in the various towns. The huts of the
common people are formed of argillaceous loam, mixed
with the hair of beasts, and covered over with glaize,
or fine clay. These huts are cleaner and more conve-
nient than those of the Russians; and they are ge-
nerally surrounded with firuit trees.
The costume of the common people in the Ukraine,
resembles that of the Cossacks. Their hair is gathered
up behind into a tuft ; and they wear loose trousers.
The young women wear a corset, fitting close round
the waist: their long flowing tresses, hanging over
their shoulders, are tricked out with variegated ribbons;
and there is much grace and elegance in the general
features of their dress.
The celebration of the nuptial rites has been, from
time immemorial, accompanied with singular and
peculiar usages. In other countries, probably without
exception, the softer sex are wooed; in the Ukraine,
on the contrary, they are the wooers. When a young
female has conceived an attachment for a youth, she
goes to the house of his parents, where she tells the
young man, in the presence of his parents, that " the
250 DESCRIPTION OF
kindness she beholds depicted in his countenance, and
the good qualities of his heart, inspire her with the
hope that he will prove a good husband, and under
this impression she has come to beg he will accept her
as his wife." If this initiatory announcement meets
with hesitation or coldness on the part of the parents
or their son, she sometimes renews her solicitation,
either immediately or after the lapse of a few days ;
and then, if the young man assents to her proposal,
the parents believe they would expose themselves to
the wrath of heaven, should they withhold their com-
pliance.
Then follow the ceremonies of the betrothal, which
are more boisterous, more expensive, and of longer
duration, than elsewhere. At the time of the sacred
ceremony, the father of the intended inflicts upon her,
during the administration of the holy sacrament, several
slight blows with a kind of scourge, at the same time
saying to her, " if to-morrow you obey not your hus-
band, it will be he that will chastise you." On the
day after the marriage, amid the prevailing mirth and
festivity, attestations of the chastity of the new bride
are attached to a board aiExed to the chimney-piece ;
and, if her purity is arraigned, there is neither dancing,
nor music, nor rejoicing, but a mournful silence is
observed ; and amid this gloom, several females, with
tears streaming down their faces, and one of them
bearing a dead crow, suddenly appear sobbing, and
lamenting the lost innocence of the unhappy maiden ;
THE UKRAINE. ^51
and all the family prostrate themselves before the All-
powerful, beseeching him, in his divine mercy, not to
visit the sin of the daughter upon the whole family.
The bride is then publicly beaten by her father or
nearest male relative; receives a number of strokes
corresponding to the years of her age, and must
observe a rigid fast for a certain length of time. This
custom is not, however, in all cases, rigidly observed.
There was an exception to this custom, if it was proved,
by respectable witnesses, that the girl was too basely
treated, during the invasion of some barbarous horde ;
a visitation at all times frequent in the Ukraine.
The nuptial ceremonies for a widow, though they
are remarkable and singular, do not seem worthy of
especial notice here. A woman, guilty of infidelity
to her husband, was formerly buried alive up to the
neck in the ground, and condemned thus to perish by
starvation. This law, which was in force among the
ancient Scythians as well as in Russia, still remains
valid in the Ukraine, although it is not strictly
enforced.
The inhabitants of the Ukraine are generally well
formed and robust. Their address is dignified, their
speech concise, their gestures energetic ; they have
piercing eyes; in this respect resembling the inhabitants
of the savannah or the desert. They are excellent
equestrians, and faithful and devotedly attached to those
who are kind to them ; but they are implacable in their
hatred, which is occasionally fatal to those on whom
S53 DESCRIPTION OF
it falls. Murders are sometimes committed, robbery
very seldom. The common people speak the E-ussic
language, which has greater affinity with the Polish
than with the Russian ; and they profess the schismatic
Greco-Russian religion. The nobility are principally
Polish.
The Ukraine is the nati^ve land of the princes Czet-
wertynski, lablonowski, Lubomirski, Radziwill, Sangus-
zko; of Counts Bobr, Borkowski, Branicki, Brzozowski,
Chodkiewiez, Esterhazy, Dunin, Czacki, Gizycki, Gro-
cholski, Komar, ICrasicki, Mniszech, Moniuszko, Mos-
zynski, Morsztyn, Leduchowski, Olizar, Ostrowski Or-
lowski, Potocki, Potulicki Rzewuski, Sobanski, Stecki,
Sulatycki, Szalayski, Ulatowski, Wit, as well as of the
wealthy families of Abramowicz, Balaban, Baniewski,
Choiecki, Czarkowski, Czaykowski, Dzierzek, Goszczyn-
ski, Grodecki, Glebocki, Haraburda, larmunda, laros-
zynski, Turunski, Ilowicki, lelec, Iwanicki, Iwanowski,
Karsza, Kormanski, Mankowski, Orlinski, Oskierko,
Prazmowski, Proskura, Ruzycki, Woynarowski, Wys-
zynski, Szaszkiewicz, Urork, Zubr; but more especially
of the families of princes lablonowski, Lubomirski,
Sanguszko, and counts Branicki, Potocki, and Orlowski.
All these nobles possess immense estates in the Ukraine,
inhabiting magnificent castles, whose gilded towers
and grey lichen-clad walls display their gigantic pro-
portions amid the monotony of the Steppes ; dazzling
or surprising the traveller as they present them-
selves to his gaze, withdrawing his thoughts from the
THE UKRAINE. ^53
present to the past, filling his mind with historical
associations, and again leading it forward to an ideal
contemplation of the future : of that future, which makes
the heart beat with hope or anguish, and which, behind
its impenetrable veil, conceals, perhaps, blood-red visions
of slaughter, and the roseate dawn of restoration and
glory. In these noble palace-like mansions, adorned
with the splendour of the east and the elegance of
Europe, ancient Polish hospitality has taken refuge ;
that hospitality elsewhere unequalled, and which even
the enthusiastic feelings of a true patriot could hardly
define. The customs of the Polish nobles are too well-
known to need description. The nobles of the Ukraine
are stamped with a peculiar impress. They are unos-
tentatious, though splendid; refined, though blunt;
and to these contradictory qualities they unite bravery
unsurpassed. In their castles, enchanted as it were, all
that flatters the senses, aU that cultivates the mind, all
that strengthens the body, finds a dwelling ; and amid
all this, there is a something grand, sombre, and wild,
which forces itself upon the imagination, and rivets
attention. The same noble personage who charms by
his conversation upon Rousseau, Voltaire, or Byron ; ox
who expatiates upon liberty, will order a domestic to be
punished with fifty blows for a trivial offence, will treat
without much ceremony a female domestic; and will
kill a man in a duel for any slight breach of etiquette.
No armies of Germany or France have ever waved their
banners in the Ukraine ; it has never been in contact
254 DESCRIPTION OP
with civilised Europe ; and, hence, it has preserved its
primitive character. All that locate themselves in the
Ukraine, soon become essentially Ukrainian. The Ukrai-
nians are generous, brave, friendly, faithful, neither
cunning nor egotistical. When a stranger visits the
country, every politeness is shown to him : if he be a
person of consequence, he is invited to the different
castles on his route, separate apartments are assigned to
him, two servants are commanded to do his bidding, a
Cossack attends upon him, three horses are at his
orders; a purse of gold is placed in his drawer, and his
wardrobe receives the attention of appointed female
servants.
The youth of the Ukraine are not softened by luxury.
The young Ukrainian, in addition to having received
advantages of a high intellectual education, is taught to
handle the sabre, to fire the pistol, to hunt wolves, and
to tame a wild horse, a feat by no means easy of accom-
plishment. The Ukrainian ladies are taught music, paint-
ing, dancing, and several languages. They are at once
graceful and beautiful ; preserving their freshness to
declining years, uniting to an eastern imagination a
persuasive eloquence, and possessing manners amiable
and distinguished, and are especially celebrated for the
beauty of their eyes, for the most part dark, which attract
and burn at the same time ; and can almost guide a mis-
directed traveller in a gloomy night. During ten years'
residence in England, I have met only three ladies whose
features bear decidedly an Ukrainian impress, namely,
THE UKRAINE. 255
Mrs. L. G. Remington, in London, whose father is a
governor of a part of British India; Miss Fanny Brand-
ling, at Newcastle; and the dashing and handsome
maiden sister of the fair Mrs. Simpson, at the Grieves,
the general favourite at Lancaster, known in the neigh-
bourhood under the glorious denomination of a most
excellent daughter.*' There is in the Ukraine a singular
custom prevalent during the carnival: whole fami-
lies visit each other, prolonging their stay for several
weeks. As many as ten or twelve of these families, or
more, are thus often congregated under the same roof;
while the vacant houses are left to the care of the domes-
tics. This usage is confined to the upper class ; and a sort
of rotation is observed in the order of the visitors and the
visited. Such a habit of life, although practised only
at the season of the carnival, would be scarcely practi-
cable in western Europe ; it tends, however, greatly to
develope the manners, the happiness, the sociability, the
wit, and the eloquence of the Polish nobles ; and renders
them, without any Exaggeration, the most courteous and
attractive in the whole world. The Polish nobles are a
singular race of men; outrageously jealous of any en-
croachment upon their class- privileges, they were yet
often despotic towards those of humbler station : their
lives were principally devoted to war, political strife^
personal contests, and aflfairs of gallantry : they must
consequently have acquired great skill in the successful
management of such matters. These family meetings
(termed kuliki), are sometimes productive of domestic
256 DESCRIPTION OF
troubles and conjugal separations. They are more in
vogue in the Ukraine and Polessia, than in Poland
Proper.
The animals in the tFkraine are the same as those
found throughout Poland, with few exceptions. The
rossomach, which is occasionally seen in the Steppes, is
a mixture between a wild cat and a wolf J it is to be
found also in the forest of Bialovieza, but it is extremely
rare. The pelican, the jet-black hare, and a kind of red
teal, much smaller than the common teal, are met with.
There is a kind of scorpion very dangerous, and a
peculiar viper called vrzetsionitsa {wrzecionica) , short,
thick in the middle, small at the ends, whose bite
is almost certain death ; it is to be found in dry situa*
tions, and is of a slightly reddish colour ; it is by no
means common. An ordinary viper (commonly called
adder) can be easily distinguished from a harmless ser-
pent (whose colours vary according to the species, the
age, and the season) by two characteristics never to be
mistaken, namely, by dark spots in^ig-2ag on its back,
and its brown belly ; it is also considerably thicker and
shorter than the common serpents, and likes more ele-
vated ground, while the latter has always a belly of
variegated colours, a yellow ring close to its head, and
is to be found in more moist places : the female and
young vipers are of a reddish colour. Sometimes a
viper hangs on a low bush ; generally speaking, open
copses, dry heaths, newly-covered woodlands, sandy
wastes, and southern banks of rivers, are the haunts of
THE UKRAINE. 257
the viper. Poisonous bites are more dangerous in
summer than in the autumn, and can be cured by-
rubbing the fat of the viper or olive oil on the part
wounded, over a chafing-dish of coals, and taking the
oil internally. It is also necessary to purge the body,
and to apply the remedy without delay. Much depends
on the state of the blood. A bite in a blood-vessel is
always very dangerous : the female viper is the more
poisonous of the two. There is a large kind of spider
which digs a round hole in the earth, and carries
its young on its back ; it is a sort of tarantula, and is
dangerous. The children put some water in their
holes, and thus oblige the spider to come out, and often
kill it. There was, and there is still, probably, a
wild goat, called sumah, whose horns are transparent
and as white as snow ; they are to be found in the
higher range of the southern Steppes. According to
Samicki, boa constrictors were occasionally to be met
with in the south-eastern part of the Ukraine. The
ptarmigan is very common, and the buzzard the largest
bird after the turkey : the latter is extremely shy, of a
greyish colour, have long feet, and must rim at least
thirty yards before it can rise. They are often
caught by greyhounds.
The music of the Ukraine is strikingly peculiar.
Those wondrous melodies, called dumki^ are charac-
terised by their touching harmony ; they are at once
Ossianic, oriental, plaintive, and martial. They abound
in the loftiest sentiments, and are interwreathed with
s
258 DESCRIPTION OF
eastern imagery. Now the fiercest emotion, the wild
tornado of the soul, rushes through them; now the
dark eyes of some love-lorn maiden are the theme of
their enthralling strains. They always terminate with
some sad catastrophe, and happy love finds no refuge in
their touching stanzas. The popular ditties of the
Ukraine form a pleasing and enrapturing minstrelsy.
Very many of them are not set to music. In others,
the tide of song rolls gently on. At times, the harmo-
nious lay rises, through a climax of exaltation, from the
softness of the breeze, to the dirge-like wailings of the
blast, and the roar of the hurricane; and bloodshed,
revenge, and conflagration glide through the flowing
cadence ; the neighings of the steed, the howling of the
wolves, the whizzing of arrows, the pattering of musketry,
the clash of arms, the ill-boding cries of the vulture, or
the croakings of the raven, the shouts of victory, the
groans of the dying, despair, rage, and laughter, gush
forth in their imitative harmony. The songs of the
Ukraine are its history. Its wars, its triumphs, its
defeats, its sorrows, are imaged forth and chronicled as
it were in these sublime and spirit-stirring rhapsodies.
One might say, as is said of Ariel's music in the im-
mortal Shakspere, ** This is no mortal business, nor
no sound that the earth owes."
The fragments of the Ukrainian poetry charm and
attract by their tenderness and pathos, by the sympa-
thies they awaken, and by thoughts which a different
race would in vain essay to express. Among the gems
THE UKRAINE. 259
of this delightful art, we may notice '' Maria," by
Malczewski ; " The Castle of Kaniov " (Zamek Kani-
owski), by Goszczynski, written in the Polish lan-
guage. Both have a clark^ essentially Ukrainian im-
press; both describe love, murder, despair, and re-
venge ; both hint at the terrible pride of the Polish
oligarchy ; both dig a hole into the coal-pit of human
passion ; both are founded on facts. Both these effu-
sions of genius unfold the beauty, the richness, and
the harmony of the Polish language. These strange
poems seem to be twin sisters, and both unaccountably
linked with the other world. The latter is completely
in Byron''s fashion, and by no means inferior to any
production of that celebrated poet. But it is local, and
cannot be judged by any translation. . There are also
several other Ukrainian writers, namely, Bohdan Zalew-
ski, Michel Czaykowski (nephew of Colonel Rozycki),
Grabowski, the two brothers Budzynski, Olizarowski,
and Alexander Ilowicki.'^ The works of the latter are
written in a pure and pleasing style, while some of the
passages claim, by their ideality and wonderful power
of description, no ordinary place in Polish literature.
— (A. Ilowicki having felt an unfortunate passion for the
beautiful Countess Komar, took holy orders, and is in
great favour with the present Pope, who is certainly no
ordinary man, and would have assured the welfare of
Italy had his counsels been followed). — Zalewski is
well known for his poetry in Poland. Michel Czaykowski
and Grabowski are celebrated novelists : all their Polish
260 DESCRIPTION OF
works are exclusively devoted to the Ukraine, and, in
point of the knowledge of the human heart and the de-
scription of strong passion, are undoubtedly superior to
Sir Walter Scott: but as Poland has not, at present, po-
litical existence, their works cannot be well appreciated.
Czaykowski took the Cossacks under his special pro-
tection, and intends to Polonise them, a thing by no
means impossible. I am intimately acquainted with
him ; he is an extraordinary man, and speaks several
languages : he is a great writer, an able politician, an
excellent officer in the field, an accomplished gentle-
man : he is well acquainted with the whole machinery
of the Russian government, is now abroad, and may
be very useful to his country under proper circum-
stances; but having never been in England, he is
not well aware of her gigantic powers. During five
years I had daily intercourse with him at Paris. The
two brothers, Budzynski have translated "Goethe" into
Polish. Olizarowski has written some poems, and often
writes ballads which please Prince Czartoryski.
Malczewski is dead.^ Czaykowski, the two brothers
Budzynski, Goszczynski, are political emigrants. There
is also an Ukrainian lady, Miss Korzeniowska, so
fond of science, that whenever she was invited
to a party, she always carried with her a pencil for
taking notes of any thing worthy to be noticed. It
is impossible to describe the stock of information
which this bride of science possesses, who is known in
the literary world for her wonderful productions. She is
THE UKRAINE. 261
a sort of Polish Miss Agnes Strickland, and her style
resembles that of the Marchioness of Londonderry in
her ladyship's poetical description of Moscow.
The legends of the Ukraine, which form the nucleus
of the dumki airs, are very numerous. These legends
have no parallel in any other part of the civilized or
barbarous world. Some of them evidently refer to the
wars of Mithridates with the Eomans, others to more
modem eras. In these legends figure enchantresses,
prophetesses, seers, furies, good and evil genii, demons
of every kind, females in tears, drowning women, inva-
sions, massacres, famine, and pestilence. Some of them
make obvious reference to the discovery of America ;
others plunge into the Scandinavian mythology, in
union with the vestiges of the heathenism of the
ancient Lithuanians, mingled with the rites of the East
and with Christianity. These legends, too, may be
sometimes explained by the Greek colonies, the wars of
the Poles under the two Boleslaus ; the conquests of
the grand dukes of Lithuania; the invasion of the
Tatars ; and other events of history. In one of them
are some passages, word for word, to be found in
Shakspere'^s " Hamlet." In another, a floating island in
Keswick lake is so well and so precisely described,
that no one can possibly doubt its reference to that
island. It has, however, a singular tale attached to it.
It is extremely difficult to trace the manner in which
these two Ukrainian legends became so strangely asso-
ciated with English literature and scenery.
DESCRIPTION OF
The superstitions of the Ukraine are numerous.
The great enemy of mankind is sometimes called
Didho, sometimes Biss, sometimes Satan, sometimes
Czort. He is represented now under the form of a
black dog ; now of a three-horned bull ; now of a he-
goat ; now of a boy in a German dress, — this latter is
not considered to be very malignant or dangerous, — he
smokes tobacco, regales himself with cream, visits the
ladies, taking the features and assuming the dress and
manners of their husbands. The one in the form of a
black dog is most dreaded ; he can be exorcised only by
holy water and fervent prayers ; and when he yields, the
hurricane takes place, which dances ^Ae Cossack vi^onihe
Steppes. The apparition of a tall female, arrayed in
white, with her arms folded, mourning . and wailing on
the skirts of the forest, forebodes pestilence. The re-
peated hootings of the owl are considered to prognos-
ticate a corresponding number of deaths in the village
during the space of three years. The appearance of
a beautiful maiden, Topielitza, weeping and sobbing,
on the banks of rivers or the margins of lakes, with
her head hanging down, and dishevelled hair, represents
the drowned unhappy one, who has murdered her
illegitimate child ; and is destined, by way of penitence,
to walk upon the marsh-plants, to induce the young of
the opposite sex to come in pursuit of her, and perish in
the waters, until some one succeeds in saving an infant
from death by drowning. A woman with a beard,
Czarownica, (pronounced Tcharovnitsa), is looked upon
THB UKRAINE. 263
as a sorceress, and is accounted extremely dangerous.
Such were sometimes burned.
There prevailed also very singular notions and customs
in regard to a being they called Pachole (pronounced
Pakhole), which comes from, the Polish word Pacholeh^
signifying a mysterious orphan who knows not his
parents, and who is left alone and without protection in
the wide world ; and who appears to be the fruit of an
ill-assorted marriage of a lady of quality with a husband
of low grade. This orphan, without home or country
or relatives, wandered about in quest of some one who
might give him a resting-place, adopt him, and by acts
of kindness banish from his mind the recollections of the
miseries he had undergone : he generally appeared about
eleven to eighteen years of age, and was accompanied by
a large dog. This species of orphan boy enjoyed great
privileges in the Ukraine, and received the especial pro-
tection of the ladies, of the nuns, and above all of
widows, who sometimes espoused them. They were ac-
customed to sing plaintive songs by moonlight, under the
window of some love-lorn widow. After the refrain at
the conclusion of each stanza, the dog set up a howl, and
the following dialogue ensued :
Widow. Who is singing there ? — Boy, A Pachole, a
Pachole.
Widow, What is your name? — Boy. I have no
name.
Widow, Where do your parents live ? — Boy. I have
no parents.
S64 DESCRIPTION OF
Widow. Where are your brother and sister, your
cousins ? — JBoy. I have none.
Widow. "Where do you live? — Boy. I have no
home ; the wild Steppe is my bed, the heaven my
covering; but perhaps I shall find a mother, or a
kind female friend who will guard me from hunger,
cold, and misery ; who will give me a cool shelter in
summer, a warm one in winter, and will take care of
my dog, that he become not the prey of wolves.
Widow. Present yourself at the great gate of my
abode, in presence of two witnesses ; I will adopt you,
you shall be my son. (He was accordingly adopted, and
inherited her possessions ; nor was it in the power of
any one to entirely disinherit him).
If the widow replied to the boy, ^' Your voice
pleases me ; come in and be mine, we will be united ;
such is the will of God," then they were married,
and the marriage was considered legal, if the Pachole
had attained his seventeenth year. If the widow re-
sponded, " Knock at the gate, you shall receive my
hospitality, as my guest you shall want for nothing ;"
then he knocked accordingly, and came under the
hospitable roof.
This custom, unique and strange as it appears, pre-
vailed in the Ukraine with greater or less modifications,
and it may easily be accounted for. Wars continually
raged in the Ukraine in ancient times ; the Zaporoguians
carried oflf the children in their predatory and warlike
excursions; these children were left to wander, when
THE UKRAINE. 265
their captors might have perished by the sword. Like-
wise, many children might have fled into the Ukraine
when the Tatars had butchered their parents; these
children received hospitality in the villages, and it
would have been thought a crime to ill-treat them. The
Cossack women also^ during the long absence of their
husbands, often adopted such orphans. Hence is
derived most certainly the Polish proverb, '' Happy as
a Pachole with a Ukrainian widow/* (Szczesliwy iak
na Ukrainie pacholek u wdowy.)
The manner of drinking, amongst the Ukrainian
people, with each other, strongly resembles the usages
known on such occasions in England. A man who in-
tends to drink a glass of brandy with another, takes a
glass, rises, bows to him, and when the bow is returned
he makes a speech and drinks his health, while the
others are standing. His friends return the compli-
ment, and all the guests follow in rotation with speeches,
in which they all fehcitate themselves till they lose their
senses and become inebriated. (It is called byczek,)
Land in the Ukraine has greatly increased in value
since the foundation of the port of Odessa; but as
the roads are bad, and there is not any railroad
yet completed, this port has not given that ex-
tension which it would otherwise have given to the
trade of this province. The roads of the Ukraine, from
the nature of the soil, are bad only during the rains of
spring and latter autumn ; at other seasons they are
most excellent. The nobility of the Ukraine lately
266 DESCRIPTION OF
proposed to the Russian government to construct at
their own expense, some good common roads, as well
as railroads to the Black Sea for facilitating the export
of grain; but this project incurred the displeasure of
the Emperor Nicholas, and it was abandoned. There
exists in the Ukraine a superstitious belief that, ac-
cording to the prophecy of Vernyhora, the principal
attack upon Russia will be made by the Ukraine, and
that Poland will be restored by the Ukraine. The
Russian government appears by no means disposed to
favour any undertaking which might augment too
much the revenues of the Ukrainian nobles, facilitate
their communication, and give them access to the Black
Sea, whence in case of war they may derive resources
and reinforcements.
If the lover of his country should perchance stray
among the Steppes of the Ukraine, when the sun casts
its setting glories over the plains, wherein the bones of
ancient warriors have become dust, and drunk of Bo-
kudo's blood ; the Ukraine will present to his imagina-
tion an indefinable something between love and hatred,
between civilisation and barbarism, between the past
and the future, between the darkness of night and the
brightness of day, between poetical fiction and reality,
between Europe and Asia, between modern and ancient
days; the nations whose names have perished; the nations
whom tradition has preserved, — the Scythians, the Huns,
the hordes of Ghengiskan, of Tamerlane, those of the
Grand Dukes of Lithuania, the Russic chieftains, the
THE UKRAINE. 267
Turks, the Poles, the Cossacks, the Swedes, the Kus-
sians, — will pass before his eyes as a phantasmagoria on
this arena of blood, on which Poland repelled during
several ages the invasions of the barbarians, which were
especially directed against civilised Europe.
That Poland now, alas ! lies prostrate, bathed in her
tears and moaning in the dust. Shall she perish ? No,
she shall yet rise again. I see the Pole, the Cossack,
and the Mahometan in a friendly embrace. I see a
dazzling light in the west and in the east. I see a
splendid cradle drawing forth from her imaginary
tomb.
Having depicted the country of the Steppes, let us now
glance at the present state of Europe. Napoleon said,
" Dans cinquante ans d'ici, toute TEurope sera libre, ou
Cosaque," i. e., '^ every thing would depend on Poland."
Should Russia sincerely attach Poland to herself— not
by the subjugating sword, but by genuine acts of kind-
ness, restoring to Poland its complete independence,
then might these two great nations be eternally re-
conciled, and Eussia thereby enabled to become indeed
almost " mistress of Europe," but never otherwise. As,
however, no such reconciliation is probable, and as,
sooner or later, war between Russia and western Europe,
that is, between despotism and liberty, must burst forth,
— a war which will shake the most remote parts of the
globe — it is incumbent on us to expose the weak point of
Russia, and convince the reader, by facts, that Russia is
really far weaker than other nations. Moreover, we must
S68 DESCRIPTION OF
demonstrate that, in the event of war with Russia, if
proper means are taken to strike at her vital point, she
must be vanquished, and repulsed behind the Dzvina
and the Dnieper within one year; but if, on the con-
trary, she is allowed to concentrate her whole strength,
if she be not attacked with wisdom and vigour, she may
prove the victor ; may, if aided by Austria, swallow
up the Turkish empire ; may pour her barbarous hordes
in the west, and may inflict terrible mischief on the
whole of Europe (France alone excepted) for centuries.
If a sportsman, when confronted by a tiger, levels his gun
at its paw or leg, he may wound slightly that tiger and
himself perish ; if, on the contrary, he aims at the heart,
the animaFs terrific growl of anguish will testify that the
shot has taken effect ; and, without peril to himself,
the sportsman may slay the ferocious beast. So if a
ravenous wolf is prowling near a farm, it is the farmer's
duty for the safety of his herd to maim or kill it. This
comparison is, to a great extent, correct as respects
Russia and her neighbour nations. Russia is specially
dangerous, not to France, but to Germany, Austria,
Turkey, and even England. It is difficult to conceive
that any German army could victoriously contest in a
pitched battle with a Russian army. The latter, composed
of men of sterner stuff, more accustomed to hardship, to
the rules of iron discipline, possessing the advantage of
unity of command, longing for pillage and rapine, and its
movements protected by swarms of Cossacks, must have
ultimately a decided advantage over the former ; the
THE UKRAINE. 269
more so, that while Germany is vulnerable the whole
year, Russia is scarcely vulnerable for six months.
For checking at once such a calamity, at any time
pregnant with danger to civilized Europe, there are
only two modes. One consists in having an immense
standing army, in magnitude double that of Russia,
which would necessarily entail increased taxes, and
swallow more gold than Crcesus ever possessed ; and
the other mode presents itself in rendering Poland
sincere assistance in regaining her independence,
to dissolve the principal aggressive resources of Russia,
and to weaken in every direction that power. The
second remedy is, in every respect less troublesome,
and appears far more certain than the first. What is
Russia ? It is rather a government than a nation ;
a government, whose first edition reverts to the time of
Ivan the Cruel, and its second edition Peter the Great
and the debaucheries of Catherine II. It is a govern-
ment which, from the Gulf of Finland to the Chinese
boundary ; from the Black and the Caspian to the
White Sea; from the Pacific to the Baltic; exists
only by rapine, plunder, oppression, and systematic de-
moralization. Russia is continually augmenting her
armies; increasing her large navy (which costs her
immense sums, though she has no colonies) ; intriguing
in all parts of the world ; undermining some years ago
the British power in India ; watching the movements of
Turkey, almost as a spider watches the movements of
a fly ; menacing the whole of Germany with invasion ;
270 DESCRIPTION OF
speaking of religion and God, yet scorning and perse-
cuting every creed which is not of Greek persuasion ;
spreading her propaganda of panslavisra, which visibly
disorganises, under various colours and different shades,
the vital parts of Turkey and several other states.
Further, bribing swarms of authors and periodicals in
foreign countries, she prostitutes with the utmost im-
pudence, the words of justice, disinterestedness, and
virtue, and dares to speak of her pacific intention;
because she was suddenly stopped in her aggressive
career by the magic and all powerful word Poland !
Happily, Kussia has in herself the germ of her own
destruction. There is no law, no liberty of the press,
no personal security in Eussia. All the civilians, and
the army, are so badly paid that, according to approx-
imative calculations, they cannot subsist more than two
months in the year out of their pay, and, therefore,
during the remaining ten months they must exist by
robbery. Plundering the people, and compelled to main-
tain their own superiors, they let loose the flood-gates
of immorality, and excite general hatred or contempt
to the government. In short, they form one cancer of
corruption, and promote insurrection, the more so that
the Russian nobles may be considered as the very heart
of despotism. There being almost no control over
them, they are at times more oppressive than the
czar himself, and the Russian people, therefore, are
subjected, not to one but a whole swarm of tyrants. A
Russian noble is sole master and sovereign of his serf;
THE UKRAINE. 271
le can flog him at any time, and as brutally as he
pleases ; he can choose any female that his unbridled
lust may desire ; he can transport his serf under any
pretext to Siberia; he can sell his serf, or tax his
labour to the uttermost, as it may suit his convenience
or rapacity ; and woe to a serf who presumes to mur-
mur against the oppression of his lord. Such a frightful
and artificial state of society cannot possibly exist in the
present state of Europe without endangering the whole
structure of the Russian empire, the more so, that a
regular democratic element exists among the Cossacks
and other semi-civilized hordes nominally subjected to
Russia. The historical reminiscences given in previous
chapters, testify that the Cossacks have never been com-
pletely reduced under the Muscovite sway. Centuries
of Russian domination has utterly failed in assimilating
the Cossack to the Russian; and Cossack hostility to
Russia, like the sacred fire of the ancient Persians, has
never been extinguished. Thus, at the very commence-
ment of the Russian supremacy in the Ukraine, we
behold Stenko Razin — an obscure Cossack, previously
unknown, even by name, to his tribe — exciting a for-
midable insurrection against Russia. Throughout the
desperate war waged by Stenko Razin, he did not re-
ceive the slightest aid, or even countenance, from any
foreign power, yet his self-energy alone enabled him to
rally 200,000 men round the standard of revolt. He
vanquished Russian army after army ; subjugated the
kingdom of Astrakan ; checked Russian influence in
212 DESCIilPTION OF
Persia; marclied upon Moscow itself; and, in brief,
made Russia tremble to her very foundation. Nay,
had not Stenko Razin been betrayed into the hands of
his enemies, he would, most assuredly have overthrown
the Romanow dynasty, and seated himself on the Mus-
covite throne. A century after this, we behold the
Cossack, Pugatchef, at the head of innumerable barba-
rous hordes, who gave him constant proofs of their
devotion even under the most unfavourable circum-
stances. Five times repulsed, yet five times he re-
newed the contest. During the terrific struggle he
routed several well organised Russian armies, con-
quered Kasan, and the whole country between the
Ural Mountains and the Volga, and threatened Mos-
cow itself with destruction ! What, then, is to be
done? Why, to attack Russia by press and in-
surrections, and to raise against her those very bar-
barian hordes with which she threatens Western
Europe ; to re-establish the independence of Poland ;
to restore to Sweden and Germany their former pro-
vinces; to liberate the Russian serfs; to excite an
insurrection in the military colonies, where rebellion
has already twice broken out ; to give to the Cossacks,
to the Mahometans, to the Mato Russes, to the Kirg-
hise, to the Circassians, and the other large tribes now
under Russian domination, kings, who may protect
their own nationalities, establish regular governments,
and erect their countries into separate states. It is
deserving of note, that Colonel Dorigni, a foreign re-
THE UKRAINE. 273
fugee in the Russian service, proposed to the French
cabinet during the seven years' war, to raise 300,000
Kherghes and Tcheramess against Russia, and he was
confident of the success of such a raising. Napoleon,
gigantic genius as he was, yet knew not where to strike
a real blow on Russia. If instead of sending his armies
into Russia, he had but adopted the line of policy here
suggested, with proper care and activity he would
easily have humbled Russia. Russia was then, as I
have proved it now to be, weaker internally than any
other European state, in which such rebellions as those
above referred to have never been known, and, indeed,
are impossible. In fact, a conspiracy of some Russian
colonels can, at any time, shake the whole Russian
empire ; especially in the military colonies.
It may be remarked that the weakness of any govern-
ment is always in proportion to the number of spies
employed by that government ; and in no country are
they so numerous as in Russia. However, the secret
police, so formidable in Russia, have failed in checking
the frequent conspiracies against the government — con-
spiracies that may yet prove successful. I will but add,
that every attack on Russia from the Pacific, or from
the regions of the White, jCaspian, Black, and Baltic
seas, is fraught with danger to her.
In conclusion, I may remark that although the
present state of Germany, and of Europe generally
clearly proves that communism or socialism is nowhere
in fashion on the continent (and thanks to General
T
274 DESCRIPTION OF THE UKRAINE.
Cavaignac, is almost extirpated in France) ; yet, at the
same time, the progress of despotism — such as that of
Russia — is quite out of the question. A strong re-
action against ultra-democratic principles is visible, and
their fallacy clearly proved ; but a new era of European
reasonable liberty is to be established on the basis of
a real friendship between England and France. Eng-
land has no other desire than to behold France great
and powerful, and never intended to interfere in her
internal affairs. Lamartine testified himself a wise
politician as respects England, since he foresaw well the
consequence that might spring out of an unjustifiable
interference with the threatened Irish insurrection. To
quote from my work '^ The Poles in the Seventeenth
Century," I can but exclaim, " Let then France and
England unite heart and hand ; let them extinguish
every spark of petty rivalry. Not then, would Russia
raise her despotic head, but these two nations might
exercise a salutary influence over the civilized world.
Cherished and adored by the whole human race, they
might crush oppression, annihilate tyranny, and restore
to their former integrity the nation that has been dis-
membered, and, for a time, enslaved !"
See Clarke, Beauplan, and Lesur, Description de
rUkraine, Malte Brun, Chodzko, Siviecki, Staszyc
Count Lewis Plater, Bzonczynski Sarnicki, &c. &c.
NOTES.
CHAPTER I.— THE COSSACKS OF THE UKRAINE.
Page 3. (a). — Kazachia Orda was a tribe known in the Caucasus
long before the word Kozak was known in Europe, Some writers say,
that Schah Matey, the Tatar khan of the Wolga, bound by a treaty
made with John Albert, king of Poland, to make war with the khan of
the Crimea, had a brother of the name of Kosak, whom he sent to the
Nogay Tatars for reinforcements, and that that brother, having a
whole tribe of Tatars under his command, gave the name of Kosak to
the whole Kosak nation, in whose territory the conflicts between the
two Tatar chiefs were raging. Others assert, that the name is
derived from the Polish word Koza, which means a goat, in order to
give an idea of the swiftness of the Cossacks. Sherer, in the Annals
of Lesser Russia, asserts, that they derive their name from a sUp of
land called Kossa (a scythe). The Poles and the Russians mean by
the word Kosak, a brigand lightly armed. See Cromer, p. 452 ;
Lesur, pp. 185, 186.
Page 3. (6). Such is the version of Lesur, but he contradicts him-
self visibly respecting the Cossacks of the Ukraine ; and we would
rather be inclined to follow the opinion of Cromer, and other PoHsh
historians, who assigned the existence of the Cossacks to the ninth
century.
Page 6. (c). — See Cromer, Sherer, and other historians, who mention
that the militia of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which, after the
annexation of the Ukraine to Poland, passed completely under the
dominion of the Polish crown, was dressed, in the reign of the Polish
276 NOTES.
king Kazimir Jagellon in English grey woollen-cloth. The above-men-
tioned militia were no other men but Cossacks.
Page 12. (d). — See Lesur, Beauplan, about the inhabitants of the
Ukraine.
Page 13. The Kings of Poland were the possessors of certain
lands belonging to the crown, which they were obliged to give to the
Polish nobles, who signalised themselves in war, or in council, or who,
on other occasions, might have deserved well of their country. These
lands varied in value, according to the rank and merits of those to
whom they were assigned. They were not given in perpetuity, but
for life, sometimes for two or three generations, but very seldom as a
heritage. The widows very often continued in possession of these
estates till the time of their death, and none but nobles could receive
them. They were called in Polish Starostwa. The title of Starosta
was enjoyed by the possessor of them, and his consort was entitled
Staroscina ; the Starosta's son was called Staroscic, and the Starosta's
daughter Staroscianka, and the name of the estate or village was often
adjoined to the title. The Starosta enjoyed a certain authority on
their estates, especially during the interregnum. There were two
sorts of Starosta, those who enjoyed the magistracy on their estates,
and those who did not enjoy the same privilege ; yet it is to be re-
marked, that when a Polish noble had nine sons, six of which were in
the army, he received an estate of the government and was Starosta.
Page 14. (e).— See Lesur sur les Kosaques ; Beauplan's Description
de rUkraine.
Page 20. (/). — Czayki (pronounced tchaiqui), means, in Polish, the
sewwicks. These boats were so called on account of their lightness.
Page 21. (g). — The Polish Cossacks, according to Beauplan, used
in their piratical expeditions a kind of cask, which contained a quan-
tity of fresh water, so well preserved that it never putrified, and
acquired at sea, even with the length of time, a better taste. The secret
of preserving sweet water from putrefaction— a secret which would
be of the greatest importance in navigation— was never disclosed by
the Cossacks. Several historians mention it. It seems now to be
completely lost .
Page 29. (A).— According to Lesur, p. 321, Czaplinski, after ravishing
the lady of Klimielnitski on the dead body of her son, massacred her,
put Khmielnitski in prison, and burned his house. Lesur, however,
who wrote his History of the Cossacks in 1813 and 1814, dwells often
on all things unfavourable to Poland. He mentions that the Cossack
NOTES. 277
chief, Nalevayko, vanquished and taken prisoner by the celebrated
Polish chieftain Zulkiewski, in 1598, was publicly burned at Warsaw,
in a copper bull made on purpose ; when it is a well known fact,
which I minutely investigated, that nothing of the kind ever happened
in Poland. Nalevayko was beheaded. Some authors assert that
Czaplinski ill-treated Khmielnitski, burned his house, put him in
prison, and lived publicly with his wife.
Page 56. (t). — It is a singular fact, that a real democracy does not
exist anywhere but among the Cossacks. How then the democratic
element can harmonize with the Russian government and the Russian
aristocracy, the very heart of despotism, and the most decided element
of oppression and tyranny, it is difficult to account. These two con-
trary elements, which have already had some collision, cannot ulti-
mately harmonize, and must sooner or later fight to the death.
CHAPTER II.— REBELLION OF STENKO RAZIN.
Page 65. (a). — A young Circassian, Prince Pereghorski, previously
taken prisoner by Stenko Razin, was obliged, by the orders of the
latter, to assume the character of the czarewicz, in the bark covered
with red velvet ; in that covered with black velvet, another young
man represented Nickon, the disgraced patriarch. The above named
Prince Pereghorski was pardoned and kindly treated by the Czar
Alexy, as it was undoubtedly proved that the former was compelled to
do so under the fear of a violent death. See relation of the Rebellion
of Stenko Razin.
Page 69. (6).— To this time, this name, the Suburb of Hell, still
exists, according to the author of the relation of the Rebellion of
Stenko Razin.
CHAPTER m.-THE ZAPOROGUES.
Page 74. (a). — Suppressed.
Page 77. List of the Attamans Koshovy of the Polish Ukrainian
Cossacks, nominated by the kings of Poland, or approved by them, till
the defection of Khmielnitski : — 1, Pzeclaw Lanckoronski (pronounced
Fshetzlaf Landskorongski), called also Pazetzlav Lantski Bronski, first
chief attaman of the Polish Cossacks, nominated in 1506 by Sigis-
mund I. ; 2, Ostaphy Daszkiewicz (pronounced Dashkievitch) ; 3, Ro-
zynski (pronounced Rojinski) ; 4, Wezyk Chelmicki (pronounced Van
jick Khelmitski) ; 5, Twerkoski (pronounced Tferkoski) ; 6, Bohdanko
Rozynski (Rojinski) ; 7, Podhowa {Podkovd)^ means in Polish a horse
278 NOTES.
shoe ; 8, Szah (Sshagk) ; 9, Skalozup (Skalozoop) ; 10, Kosemski (Ko-
samski); 11, Nalevayko (JValavaiko) ; 12, Piotr Konasewicz Sahay-
daczny (Peter Konasavitch Saghaydatchny) ; 13, Yaras (Yaras) ; 14,
Saavkanof-Perewieska (Savakanof-Paraviaska) ; 15, Pawluk (Pav-
look ; 16, Ostranica {Ostranitza) \ 17, Poltora-Kozuch (JPooltora-Ko-
joogh) ; 18, Buluk {Boolook) ; 19, Sineroy Bohdan Chmielnicki (Sina-
voi Boghdan Khmielnitski). Among the aboTe-mentioned Polish Cos-
sack chiefs, or attamans, Ostafy Daszkiewicz, Twerkowski, Boghdanko
Rozynski, Shah, Nalevayko, Sahaydaczny, and Khmielnitski, were the
most celebrated. After the defection of Khmielnitzki to Russia, in
1654, the Cossack chiefs in Russia were, and are to this time desig-
nated under the title of Hetmans, a title borrowed from Poland, cor-
responding in meaning to the general-in-chief, and which lasted in
Poland till the partition of the latter country.
After the defection of Khmielnitzki, as there were continual wars
between Russia and Poland respecting the Cossacks, and as the Zapo-
rogues formed a distinct community, though there were more atta-
mans Koshovy nominated by the kings of Poland, yet as the Cossacks
of the Ukraine alternately acknowledged the supremacy of Poland,
Russia, and Turkey, it is extremely difficult to trace the regular suc-
cession of their attamans.
Page So. {h). — Suppressed.
Page 82. (c). — Colonel Lagowski, who spent part of his life in the
Ukraine, and was a living dictionary of the Russic lands, mentioned,
with many other persons, that the Zaporogues, leading several years
a wild life on the islands of the Dnieper, acquired sometimes, if young,
a secret love charm for the ladies, which, if once known by them, in-
creased their attachment to a sort of phrenzy for those who pos-
sessed it. The colonel alluded to, who gave himself the trouble of
describing this charm, says, that it was often transmitted from the
father to the son ; that the use of the waters of the Dnieper near the
cataracts, and the river Boh, especially at the time when a kind of red
flower is blooming on the Steppes, — a flower whose aromatic scent has
been known to invigorate the human frame, — produced occasionally
such a charm. Be this as it may, I have heard several times of that
charm, and a gentleman well-known in Volhynia and the Ukraine, of
the name of Iwanicki (pronounced Ivanitski), probably still alive,
has been known to possess undoubtedly such a charm.
Page 85. (</).— Some authors assert that the Lissowczyki, a kind of
light cavalry, which jierformed extraordinary feats of valour abroad
NOTES. "279
and in Poland, during the reign of Sigismnnd III., were recruited
among the Zaporogues : they were almost all killed on the field of
battle.
CHAPTER IV.— MAZEPPA.
Page 92. (a). — Not aU things in Mazeppa's early life are explained.
We never could find any authentic information on Mazeppa's re-
venge, which is mentioned in Byron's work.
CHAPTER v.— ZELEZNIAK.
Page 106. (a) — Schismatic. The Russians of the Greek church
not united, were so called because they seceded from the metropolitan
of Constantinople and acknowleged the czar as their patriarch. By
the Synod of Brzesc Litewski, in 1594, under the reign of Sigismimd
ni.. King of Poland, a voluntary union between the Polish subjects
of the Greek Church and the Roman Catholic, was partly accom-
plished, by which the Polish Unitarians acknowledged the supremacy
of the Pope, retained however the Sclavonian language in the cele*
bration of divine service, and were not subjected to the inconveniences
of celibacy ; they were, however, not allowed to marry more than once,
and not with a widow, and were obliged to shave their beards. The
metropolitan of Kiow, with several Bishops, publicly assented to that
union with great pomp. This wise and important political event hap-
pened under the papacy of Clement VIII. , and was accomplished chiefly
by the exertions of Adam Pociey, Bishop of Vladimir, and Terlecki,
Bishop of Lutzk. From that time the followers of that creed were called
Unici, Unitarians, or Unistes ; sometimes Greek Catholics. Six millions
of them were formerly under the Polish domination. They were always
subjected to annoyances and persecutions by the Russian Govern-
ment, especially during the present reign. The Emperor Nicholas
ordered their suppression. The celebrated nun, Svientoslawska, (the
Abbess of Minsk), whose name was so familiar to the British and
French newspapers not long since, is of that creed. From two
hundred Greek Catholic nuns, above one hundred and eighty died in
torments, which are too shocking to be mentioned. In vain the
Russian Ambassador attempted to contradict these cruelties,
they were corroborated and satisfactorily proved. The apos-
tate villain, who became, by sordid and selfish motives, the infa-
mous and principal tormentor of the nuns of Minsk, came to an un-
timely end. He did even terrible harm to the Emperor Nicholas'
280 NOTES.
and increased his unpopularity everywhere. In spite of all this,
there are some miserable authors connected with Petersburgh, who
dare to mention, for sordid motives, under the beards of the Poles in
a foreign country, things contrary to historical facts and their own
conviction. They preach, indirectly, the Greek creed in Poland, and
other ideas tending to increase visibly the Kussian power ; in doing
so, the above authors wiU injure only their open protectors, but not
the sacred cause of Poland. Two millions of Unistes are yet to be
found in Gallicia. It is to be remarked that two descendants, in
direct line, from the illustrious families of Pociey and Terlecki, are
among the Polish emigrants. The worthy Count Pociey is at Paris,
and John Terlecki (pronounced Terletski) in London. The latter?
for years, was copying in the British archives, documents connected
with Polish history. He went recently to Posen, believing in the
probability of a War with Russia, and having received a wound, came
back to England and resumed his laudable occupation. He is a
native of the same province as myself, and though we may differ in
opinion on some branches of Polish politics, I consider his conduct
with me, as well as with everyone who knows him well, perfectly in
accordance with an honourable man. Among the real Polish emi-
grants in England, no one possesses more superior knowledge of his-
tory and geography than Baszczewicz, (pronounced Bashtchevitch) :
more fortunate than most other Poles, he formed an accidental ac-
quaintance with an influential clergyman, who procured him a situa-
tion, with a fixed salary, at Leamington, where he became professor
of universal history. Sheltered completely from want, and being of
a quiet disposition, he devoted his time to sedentary occupation and
study, and acquired a stock of information difficult to describe. His
pupils presented him with a splendid watch as a testimonial of their
good wishes and regard. It is a well-known fact, that the protestant
clergy, at all times liberal and eager in promoting knowledge, were
the tried and most valuable friends of the Poles.
A rather curious usage exists among the Unistes. The consecration
of their respective churches is annually commemorated by a kind of
fete called praznik. This is attended by the neighbouring clergy and
their families, as also by the proprietor of the village (who is mostly
the owner of the presentation) with other guests. The reunion lasts
the whole day, and the guests are regaled with various delicacies,
including a sort of cake {kolduny), 'strongly resembling the English
plum-pudding. In the evening a peculiar dance, accompanied by
NOTES. 281
singing, takes place. It is called poduszeczka (pronounced podoos-
chetchka), and may be thus described. A circle of gentlemen and
ladies is formed, with a lady or gentleman in the centre. The song
and dance terminated, the centre performer flings a handkerchief to
one of the other sex, bestowing at the same time a kiss upon the
party so selected. The receiver of the kiss then takes his or her
place in the centre, dancing and singing are resumed, concluding, as
before, with the flinging of the handkerchief and kiss, and ^so on, imtil
the entire company have participated in the " fim." A yet more
singular custom winds up the festivities of the day. The number of
guests precluding the accommodation of beds, their hosts endeavour
to obviate that difSculty by strewing hay on the floor, with a cover-
ing of carpets and blankets, upon which all are necessitated to repose
for the night. But previous to preparing this " shake-down," (as it
would be designated in England), the company are numbered, the
gentlemen's numbers being placed in one purse, and the ladies' num-
bers in another. The youngest boy and girl are then called in, and
they draw the numbers, by way of lottery, until each lady is provided
with a " sleeping partner " of the other sex. So strictly is this ad-
hered to, that even husbands and wives, or brothers and sisters, are
forbidden to sleep close to each other, if not favoured by the lottery —
in which, as a matter of course, some trickery occasionally prevails.
It may be assum'ed that this strange mingling of the sexes sometimes
leads to unwarrantable liberties. However, this is not of frequent
occurrence, as they endeavour, as far as possible, to guard against
such an abuse by forbidding any one from disrobing, and by having a
lamp burning, throughout the night, in the corner of the adjacent
chamber. Besides, the guests are, generally speaking, sufl&ciently
numerous to be a mutual check upon indulgence in any impropriety.
In my youth I personally assisted at several such reunions on the
estates of my late maternal uncle, Mr. Gabryel Orzeszko. I recollect
that on one occasion a jealous-minded young clergyman, the hus-
band of a beautiful woman, — who attracted the admiration of the
whole neighbourhood, protested against the chance of the lottery,
imfavourable to his wishes. This raised a storm. The master and
mistress of the parsonage, especially the latter, were extremely
oflended that he should imagine for an instant that anything improper
could possibly occur in their house. Indeed he narrowly escaped
being well thrashed, though he stuck to the last to the safer side of
the question, in matrimonial fidelity. These fetes are invariably held
282 NOTES.
in the latter part of autumn, or in winter. But the peculiar custom
here described is not limited to the Unistes. It was popular among
the Greek clergy, and prevails, with slight modifications, in some of
the wild districts of the ancient kingdom of Poland. Doubtless it
originated in the unbounded hospitality of those secluded regions,
where bad roads, snow storms, and numerous hordes of prowling
wolves, render internal communication in winter extremely diflBcult.
Something somewhat similar, but under diflferent circumstances,
exists, I believe, in the rural districts of Great Britain, as in Wales
the custom of "bundhng " is well known. So also in the Carpathian
mountains, where a Highlander courting a widow, was privileged,
by custom, to consider her as his lawful wife during forty-eight
hours, with the option of subsequently marrying or leaving her.
This singular custom is not yet abolished, and is called /^-^/erAa.
Page 106. (6).— The confederation of Bar was signed on the 29th
of February, 1768, in Podolia, by Adam Krasinski, the Bishop of
Kamienietz, his brother Michael, Prancis Potocki, and Pulawski, for
the protection of the Roman Catholic religion, and the expulsion of
the Russians from Poland.
Page 111. (c). — The cruelties perpetrated by Gonta and Zelezniak,
during the religious rebellion of 1768, are beyond all power of descrip-
tion. There was a hall at Houmagne where they compelled naked
women to dance on the floor covered with broken glass. These unfortu-
nate ladies were surrounded with spears, and often stabbed while the
music was playing.
Page 112. (c?). — These are things which cannot be mentioned.
CHAPTER VL- GONTA.
Page 119. (a).— Suppressed.
Page 120. — Zelezniak promised to spare every one at Lysianka
if the gates of the town were opened to him. Its governor was
suoh a fool that he complied with this proposition j but no sooner did
he do so, than a general massacre ensued.
Page 126. (6). —Levelel says, that when the inhabitants of Houmagne
were slaughtered, some young females of great beauty were spared,
holy water was thrown on them on account of their changing their
creed, and they were given to the Haidaraaques. The rebellious pea-
sants were called Haidamaques. Only three boys were spared by acci-
dent ; they secured themselves on the top of the church, and re-
NOTES.
mained three days without food ; among them was the brother of
Colonel Lagowski, who became a clergyman.
CHAPTER IX.-PRINCESS TARAKHANOF.
Page 175. (a). — In an old novel, entitled "Les Annales de Leghorn,"
it is aflirmed that the Princess Tarakhanof inspired a real passion in an
Italian youth at Pisa, who having been introduced to her at a party,
accidentally discovered the fatal snare so artfully prepared for her de-
Btruction. On the sadden departure of the princess from Pisa, her
southern lover followed her to Leghorn, resolved on saving her, or
perishing himself in the attempt ; but by a strange fatality, which
sometimes mars human purposes, he arrived too late, and as she was
just embarking on board the Russian man-of-war. Had he arrived
but a few minutes sooner, he would in all probability have preserved
her from her fate. He waS seen running with extraordinary speed
towards the sea shore, crying and gesticulating, and was taken for a
madman. Polled in this attempt to save the princess, he feU senseless
to the ground, overwhelmed by excitement and despair. This anec-
dote, slightly varied in detail only, was further narrated to me by
several persons ; consequently I am induced to believe it based
on fact.
By the way, speaking of love at first sight, her Imperial Highness
the present Grand Duchess Michel of Russia is most likely uncon-
scious, and may always remain so, that she also excited such a passion
in the bosom of a private Polish soldier, attached to the first division
of infantry, and who was hence nicknamed by his comrades Wielki
Xiaze Michal, that is. Grand Due Michel. Previous to the war of
1831 the Grand Duchess made frequent visits to Warsaw, and was
then seen by her humble Pohsh admirer, whose peace of mind
she then unintentionally destroyed. How I became the confidant
of this poor fellow's hopeless love may perhaps amuse the reader.
One day previous to the insurrection of 1831 I sallied forth on a
shooting excursion in the neighbourhood of Warsaw, and meeting with
my brother oflBcer, Chmielinski, who was enjoying a ramble, induced
him to accompany me. Scarcely had we entered the forest of Bielany,
when, in a secluded part of it we perceived a private Polish soldier
reclining despondingly, on the brink of a rivulet, while big tears
were trickling down his sorrow-stricken cheeks. Having observed
him at first in silence, we called to him, but received no answer.
Lieut. Chmielinski then touched him slightly on the shoulder, when
S84 NOTES.
he turned quickly round, and recognizing his superiors, made his
obeisance. We then inquired the reason of his grief, promising, if
possible, to alleviate it. He answered that he wanted not money,
nor had he to complain of any ill treatment, but that death alone
could terminate sufferings for which there was no remedy what-
ever. After some entreaty, he frankly confessed his unconquer-
able passion for her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Helene of
Russia, consort of the Grand Duke Michel, youngest brother of the
Emperor Nicholas. This confession was corroborated by these words
carved on the trees— Cudowna, piekna, hloga, Wielka, Xiezna, Micha-
lowa. (Wonderful, beautiful, sweet, Grand Duchess Michel !) We ad-
vised him to be chary in talking of his love, as there was no telling
what effect such a tale, if known, might have on the mind of the
Grand Due Michel, and especially on that of the Grand Due Con-
stantine his brother, then commanding the Polish army. The latter,
if apprised of his malady, would probably have prescribed a twitch
dance on his skin, as the most effectual means of cure. His comrades,
however, frequently teazed him, and even reproached him, that he
was enamoured of a Russian lady. This always put him in a passion,
and he answered that the Grand Duchess was a German, and not a
Russian lady.
A passion for a married lady seldom produces on the lover's part a
friendly feeling towards the husband, but it did so in this instance-
Lieut. -Colonel Gorski subsequently informed me, that during the last
war, 1831, before a general engagement between the Polish army and
the Russian guard, the soldier above referred to oflBcially apprised
his superiors, that although otherwise determined to do his duty in the
field as became a Polish soldier, yet should he chance to be confronted
sword to sword with the Grand Duke Michel, he would neither kill
nor wound his imperial antagonist, in order to spare the bitter
anguish which such misfortune would probably produce on the mind
of the Grand Duchess, but that he should have no objection to make
him a prisoner.
This singular declaration naturally excited general hilarity among
the oflBcers, who, at all times courteous to the ladies, afforded the Grand
Duchess's ardent admirer the opportunity of drinking sundry glasses
of excellent claret, to the health and prosperity of the fair object of
his affection, whom he saw but twice for an instant, and with whom
he never exchanged a word. The taste of the Polish soldier was by
no means a bad one : the Grand Duchess proved to be the best dancer
NOTES. 285
at the fashionable Polish balls at Warsaw ; she is of dignified stature
and graceful deportment ; she bears an equal resemblance to the
Marchioness of Aylesbury and Viscountess Palmerston, and thus
realising our conception of a Scandinavian queen, one of those northern
beauties so glowingly portrayed in Ossian's poetry. She received a
superior education at the celebrated seminary of Madame Campan,
protected by Napoleon, and was there called la belle savante.
His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Michel when in a passion
is like a lion, ready to tear, it is said, everything before him, but when
the passion is over, he is sociable, and such a wit, that his jests force a
smile on the most care-stricken countenances. Albeit he is a Eussian,
he behaved well some years ago to one of my female relatives at
Carlsbad. He saved her intended from a journey to Siberia. Indeed
he does not seem to partake of the deadly hatred of the generality of
the Russians towards the Poles, nor is he so much hated by them.
It is to be remarked that the late Grand Duchess Constantine ex •
cited almost a similar passion at first sight in the heart of Baranski,
one of the strongest men in the guard in the late Polish army, pro-
bably still alive ; but the latter saw her often at the reviews. She
even remarked him first, and the late Grand Duke, her husband^
wishing to oblige his wife, and having been apprised of his good con-
duct, promoted him to the rank of an officer.
CHAPTER XL— PUGATCHEF.
Page 187. (a). — As everything on Russia now is interesting and
excites the general curiosity, it may not be amiss to give a sketch
of her principal military commanders.
The most powerful men in Russia, after the emperor, are Princes
Worontzof and Paszkiewich.
The former has an aristocratic name ; has been in England, and
has the reputation of being an accomplished gentleman, an able
administrator, a man of extensive knowledge and information,
rather than a great general, though he is not altogether deficient
in military capacity. He has always, it is said, advised peace being
made with the Circassians, against whom, no Russian general was
ever successful. He owes his elevation not only to his enormous
wealth, to his high friends and connexions at the Russian court, but
also to the minor military successes of Prince Dolgorouki and General
Freytack.
As to Prince Paszkiewich, he is a man that does not belong to the
286
NOTES.
Russian aristocracy by birth, but who owes his elevation chiefly to
his own exertions, and to some favourable events attending his cam-
paigns. His military capacity in the last Polish war was much
exaggerated. When he took the command of the Russian army in
Poland, in 1831, the Poles were deserted and discouraged ; their
indomitable valour was gradually and systemically shaken by the
indecision, weakness, and incapacity of their leaders ; and by many
treasonable machinations which might have been prevented and
crushed, had more energetic measures been taken, a true govern-
ment established, and some generals been shot. The cancer of
anarchy and corruption had spread in all directions. Under such
favourable circumstances, any general possessing a moderate share
of ability and patience, and with such extensive means at his dis-
posal as Paszkiewich had, might have been equally successful. But,
as to his former campaigns in Persia and Turkey, no lover of fair
play, who carefully studies them, can possibly deny him military
talents ; and his rule -in Poland, under difficult and trying circum-
stances, denotes a sagacious mind : and though Paszkiewich is not a
man of Suvarof cruelty, and is not disliked, it is said, by the
generality of the Poles, the following circumstance will convince
the reader how terrible are the means he sometimes employs for
repressing abuses and disorders : —
Some time since, a Polish gentleman with his wife and daughter
left Warsaw in a carriage and four ; and, contrary to the advice of
his friends, was returning, in the night, to his home in the country.
Scarcely had he proceeded a few English miles from Warsaw, when
he was stopped by a Circassian cavalry patrol. He was robbed, his
servants beaten, his wife and daughter ill-used, and one of the
ruffians cut off his lady's finger on which was a large diamond.
As the use of every kind of weapon is forbidden in Poland, the
gentleman, in the struggle, repelled several of the assailants with his
fist, and gave one of the Russians such a happy blow with his pipe
on the hind part of his head, that it stunned the ruffian, who fell
senseless to the ground ; and soon afterwards another travelling car-
riage liberated the Polish family from further molestation. As the
outrage occurred almost within sight of Warsaw, the gentlemen,
indignant at such a robbery on the public highway, returned imme-
diately thither ; and alighting directly at Paszkiewich 's residence,
demanded an interview with the latter ; the prince soon came out,
and felt eager to know what he wanted. Scarcely had the Russian
NOTES. 287
field-marshal made his appearance, when the Polish lady, excited by
the loss of her finger and by the infamous treatment to which they
had been subjected, opened so skilful an attack on the latter in her
first burst of indignation, (and with her cutting eloquence inter-
spersed with sobbing and screammg), that the conqueror of Poland,
unprepared to parry her reproaches and forcible arguments, could
not at first say a word in justification ; but, after a while answered,
*' Madam, remember with whom you are speaking ; if you address me thus
in public, I shall be obliged to punish you : but, enter my house with your
husband, and I give you my word of honour, as a soldier, that no harm
shall be done to you : and there you may say to me what you think pro-
per" She then entered his house, where she was patiently listened
to ; — and when a Polish lady unbridles her tongue it is no joke.
Paszkiewich, in all probability, heard such verba veritatis, as he will
never hear again. At all events, he promised her to take all neces-
sary measures for punishing the guilty parties. He called his
aide-de-camp and gave him peremptory orders that all the Cir-
cassians who were engaged in patroling the previous night,
should attend, without the exception of a single man, (whether sick
or dead,) in the Saxon square, the next morning ; and after taking
leave of the injured ladies, he requested the Polish gentleman to
attend him there at the proper time. The next day he inspected,
personally, all the Circassians, made the most minute inquiries, but
could not discover the guilty parties ; and asked the gentleman,
alluded to, whether he could recognise any one among these soldiers
who had robbed him on the preceding night ; the latter answered,
that it was a dark and starless night, and his conscience would not
allow him to criminate any particular man unjustly ; that he thought
however, that they belonged to the field-marshal's guard ; and, that
the one who received a blow on the head from him, must have a mark.
The field-marshal immediately ordered that all the men belonging
to the Circassian detachments, should come, one after the other, take
off their caps, and show him their heads. One soldier actually had
a fresh and bloody mark on his head ; and after a careful examina-
tion it was soon found that it must have proceeded from a blow.
Paszkiewich gave him a box on the ear, accused him of robbery,
and peremptorily ordered him to name his accomplices : he men-
tioned seven persons, among them an oflBLcer ; they were all im-
mediately arrested, tried, and convicted. Paszkiewich ordered three
physicians to be called without delay, and seven coflObas to be con-
288 NOTES.
structed in two hours, if they were not to be found ready-made at the
undertakers. When everything was ready, the seven men alluded to,
including the officers, were undressed, tied to their coffins, and,
without any further ceremony flogged to death, in the presence of
the Polish gentleman. When the physicians had pronounced them
to be dead, they were all buried close to the place where they com-
mitted the offence. From that time the spot is called " the grave of
the seven robbers " (^rob sied miu rozboynikow). This terrible example
struck terror into the hearts of the soldiers ; and stopped the further
commission of robbery. The soldiers alluded to, were certainly
deserving of exemplary punishment, but the manner of its infliction
was not in accordance with the customs of civilized Europe. I
mention this -anecdote, the details of which I give on the authority
of an eye witness to the circumstance, as it bears the peculiar stamp
of the Russian rule. Field-marshal Paszkiewich, Prince of Warsaw,
seems to be superior in military capacity to Prince Worontzof, but
the latter, it is said, is more liked at the Russian court. I noticed
at Warsaw, to my fellow-officers in the Polish guard, in 1828, the
military talents of the former.
Page 199. (e). — Ufia ; a town of that name exists near White-
haven, in Cumberland, in a very bleak and deserted neighbourhood,
the most isolated perhaps in England ; where the communication, on
account of the extended moors, steep hills, deep ravines, bad roads,
and snow storms, in winter especially, is difficult. The surrounding
scenery of Uffa is grand, romantic, and beautiful. Not unfrequently
eagles are to be seen on the top of Blackcombe.
CHAPTER XII.— DESCRIPTION OF THE UKRAINE.
Page 226. (a). — The word Russian must be distinguished from
Muscovite ; the epithet here does not apply to any part of Muscovy
or Russia, simply so called. Black Russia, White Russia, and Red
Russia, belonged, from time immemorial, to the kingdom of Poland.
The country round Vitebek Polotzk and Mohilev, on the banks of the
Dnieper, of the higher banks of Dzvina, at the present time incorpo-
rated, in a great measure, with the governments of Minsk, was called,
and is still called White Russsia, Biala Rus\ on account of the nume-
rous white hares that are met with therein, as also on account of the
dresses of the same colour worn by the peasants. It is one of the
poorest countries in Europe. The country between the Dnieper and
the Prypetz, forming the ancient circle of Novogrodek, at the pre-
NOTES. 289
sent time incorporated with the government of Grodno, was formerly,
and is still denominated Black Russia, Czama Rus\ The southern
part of the ancient palatinate of Lublin, the country round Chelm, a
portion of Volhynia, and, above all, the circle of Lutzk, the country
round Przeraysl and Halicz, were formerly called Red Russia, Czer-
vona Bus\ White and Black Russia, at the dismemberment of Poland,
came imder the power of the Russians. With respect to Red Russia,
the soil of which is extremely fertile, and which was very extensive,
tlds was not assigned to Russia ; it was only the extreme north of
this province that was annexed to the Government of Volhynia. The
territory, in the environs of Lublin and Chelm, belonged lately to the
kingdom of Poland, which was suppressed after the war in 1831. All
the rest was placed under the dominion of Austria, together with the
capital of Red Russia Leopol, in Polish Lvov ; in German Lemberg,
now the capital of GaUicia, that is, of all the Austrian portion of Po-
land. This town was not only the ancient capital of Red Russia, but
of all the Russic territories. These Russic territories (we venture
upon the use of this epithet for the sake of distinction) comprehended
nearly a third part of the kingdom, embracing the whole extent of
the south of Poland, that is, of the Ukraine, Podolia, Volhynia, and
Red Russia. This latter was ruled, in the thirteenth century, by a
king, the only Russic king, Daniel, who invaded the country at the
head of a Batar force, which committed dreadful devastation. Casi-
mir the Great, Kazimierz Wielki, in the year 1346, incorporated Red
Russia with Poland, and divided it into palatinates ; it formed a part
of Poland for the space of 449 years, that is, till the final dismember-
ment of the country. An individual dared to write in the " Britisli
and Foreign Review," especially devoted to the Polish cause, that
the provinces in question ought to belong to Russia ; this singular
assertion can in no wise alter the truth, based as it is on historical
facts, and absolutely incontrovertible. Peter the Great was the first
who took the title of Emperor of all the Russias. This title is rather
politic and imaginary than real, inasmuch as the last king of Po-
land, Stanislaus Poniatowski — that effeminate puppet, better calcu-
lated to figure in a tavern, than on the throne of a great nation — that
vile tool of the Russian cabinet, who signed the dismemberment of
his own kingdom, and quietly allowed the senators of the diet of
Grodno to be carried away by force, an act of complaisance which,
after his abdication, appeared to have gained for him a prompt pass-
port into the other world — bore the title of King of Poland, Grand
V
290 NOTES.
Duke of Lithuania, Grand Russic Duke. It is to be regretted that
there is no difference in English, as in Polish and French, between
Ruski a,nd Bussyiki, Russien and i?Msse, Rus and Rosya, Rmsie and terres
Russiennes, by which many historical errors would have been avoided.
We have presumed to use the epithet Russic to mark a distinction so
imperatively necessary ; since the denomination of the word Rus, the
Poles understand and consider Red Russia, Volhynia, Podolia, and
the Ukraine, on the right bank of the Dnieper, all the Russic terri-
tories belonged to Little Poland, Malo Polska the most extended pro-
vince of ancient Poland.
Page 230. [Steppes.] The steppes of the Ukraine are for the most
part covered with plants, from three to four feet high, called budziake
(pronounced 6ooc?2:za^i). They are smooth from the end, and prickled on
the top ; thus affording an excellent shelter for all kinds of game, wild
animals and sometimes wolves. "Wood being very scarce, these reeds
are used as fuel, especially in winter. To afford the reader some idea
of the danger to which a traveller was not unfrequently, (in times past,
and may yet be) exposed, at the inns, in the thinly peopled wilds of the
south- eastern Ukraine, I may instance an appalHng circumstance that
occurred during my stay in that province many years ago, as also an
adventure which happened in those regions to my father (deceased 28
years since), and in which his life was almost miraculously preserved.
Twelve Greek merchants, having successfully sold their goods at
Odessa, were returning to the town of Brody with large sums of
money, and halted at an inn in the Steppes. One of them attended
to the horses ; the remainder slept in the same room on the carpets,
placed on hay, as the comfort of beds, known in Western Europe, is
out of the question in these resting-places.
Having partaken of refreshments, smoked their pipes, and drank
some grog, the merchants, fatigued by the journey, and, confident in
their number, scorning the necessary precautions, soon fell into a
deep slumber. After midnight three men, with noiseless steps, en-
tered the travellers' room. Two of them carried a narrow plank,
prepared beforehand, and holding it at each end, in which some lead
was put on purpose, placed it cautiously across the breasts of the
unsuspecting travellers, pressing it down with all their might, while
the third, with a double-edged, thick, and sharp-pointed knife, cut
the eleven victims' throats with lightning speed.
A mere accident, however, led to the detection of this atrocity.
Shortly subsequent to its perpetration another traveller entered the
NOTES. 291
inn, and accosted one of the assassins. This fellow had appropriated
to himself the valuable watch of one of his victims, which watch, by
an ingenious contrivance, played several airs, after the fashion of a
musical box. While the two were conversing the watch commenced
playing. " Wliat is that ? " inquired the traveller. " It is only my
watch," answered the villain, turning pale with conscious guilt. "It
must be a very curious one; pray let me examine it," said the tra-
veller. The man's hesitation at complying with this request, and his
evasive replies to other interrogatories, naturally excited a suspicion
that an article so imusual to one of his humble rank had not honestly
come into his possession. Consequently the traveller lost no time in
communicating the affair to the police. The premises were thereupon
searched, and the result was the detection and arrest of the criminals.
After a protracted trial, they were convicted, knouted, and executed.
Now for my father's adventure. Shortly after the above transaction,
he was travelling between Odessa and Kiow, and stopped at an inn,
kept by a married couple of Ormians (^Ormianie), an eastern sect of
mixed race, deserving separate description. Having held a commis-
sion in the Polish legion, and having fought against Souvarof in Italy,
under the command of the French general, Championet, my father,
who had only two servants with him, was conscious of the danger
attending such places ; therefore, after taking a complete survey of
the premises, he gave the necessary orders to the servants to be on the
watch, himself being well prepared for any emergency. The landlord
pressed him to seek repose, but as there was something in the man's
looks which by no means inspired confidence, my father resolved not
to comply with his importunities. He was very submissive, and in
answer to several questions, contradicted himself on the main points.
He aflSrmed that he did not expect any other guests, and that no one
then resided in the house except his wife, his daughter, a girl about
fifteen years of age, and a male servant, notwithstanding that my
father thought he occasionally heard a low whispering of strange
voices ; but as, despite his most searching examination, he could not
discover any one, he ascribed it only to the working of his imagination.
The disappearance, however, of the coachman's dog, which could no-
where be found, re-excited his suspicion. Being well provided with
fire-arms, he placed a brace of loaded pistols on the table Why he
remained at all was that the badness of the road, the want of provender
for his tired horses, and the utter darkness of a November night pre-
cluded a removal, at that late hour, from his anything but pleasant
292 NOTES.
quarters. He remarked that the hostess often cast her eyes on the
pistols, and, bringing a cup of tea, she let fall the cup, as if by acci-
dent on the locks. My father, greatly displeased, began to scold her,
and in order to ascertain whether there were really more persons in
the house than those mentioned by the landlord, he put fresh powder
in the locks, and fired a pistol. At the report some traps were sud-
denly opened, and several men, with flashing eyes and large knives in
their hands, sprang up from beneath. My father, however, was pro-
vided with two brace of pocket pistols, which he had kept concealed,
and one of the domestics, with pistol in hand, came, conformably to
the previous orders which he had received, to my father's assistance,
while the other was guarding the carriage and horses. My father
threatened to shoot the first who dared to approach, and the warning
produced a salutary efiect. Soon, however, the welcome daylight
afibrded him a fair opportunity for quitting this most suspicious
house of entertainment. Although the whole affair was reported to
the Russian police, and a Russian magistrate (sprawnik) examined the
premises, it could not be satisfactorily proved that the landlord ac-
tually designed to murder my father, but the latter had certainly no
reason to doubt the man's guilty intention in that respect. My mother
was also once in great danger, while travelling in the Ukraine mider
different circumstances. But a large volume would be filled were I to
detail the numerous similar circumstances, of unquestionable authen-
ticity, that have come to my knowledge — not alone intended murders
but actual assassinations, as also attacks not always successful. Ge-
nerally speaking, such crimes are committed on by-roads, on tra-
vellers not sufficiently on their guard. The offenders are not so
easily to be caught, it not unfrequently happening that the Russian
police magistrates, who are badly paid, are indirectly participators in
the robbers' plunder. The vast extent of the country forms also
another obstacle to the speedy capture of the offenders. The robbers
also have their faithful spies abroad, who guide them how to act, even
in large towns. The whole country of the Steppes, from the Ukraine
to the Tartar boundary, is not safe. It is thinly settled, indeed, from
the difficult access to water in dry seasons. The following precautions
may be useful in such places : to examine carefully the premises ; to
have a dog and fire-arms ; to be always on the qui vive; not to take
any liquid from the landlord, and, by sounding with a hammer or
other means, to ascertain whether there is any trap or concealed
entrance into the room. The journey in these wilds, notwithstanding
NOTES. 293
all its difficulty, presents, especiaUy in agreeable company, far more
charms and attraction than the common and prosaic journey in
Western Europe. Mr. Cortazi, member of the Polish Association,
who was for some years resident in the Ukraine, and is now in Lon-
don, can decide as to the correctness of my observations.
Page 232. (6). — As he entered in triumph he struck with his sword
the gilded gate of the city, and made a mark upon the gate as well as
upon his sword, which was called Szezerbiec (pronounced Schtchar-
biatz) on account of the mark. The kings of Poland were girded
with this sword during the ceremony of their coronation.
Page 255. (c).— Speaking of Ukrainian ladies, I take this opportu^
nity of describing other shades of provincial PoUsh beauties, whose fac-
simile I have seen among the fair daughters of Great Britain. Gene-
rally speaking, Polish ladies do not resemble either French, or German,
or English ladies, though, by their manners, complexion, and charac-
ters, they form a curious mixture of them, partaking something of the
eastern ladies. Poland is also such a large country, that between North
Polish ladies and South Polish ladies there may be a slight difference
in features. The Marchioness of M (the lady of the gallant
Colonel, Marquis of M ) aide-de-camp to Prince Louis Napo-
leon, has somethingJPolish in her manners and features, and can be easily
taken for a Gallician lady (Gallicia is in Austrian Poland.) Mrs.
H , the second wife of the banker of that name, at Skipton, Mrs*
Richard D , at Knaresborough, and one of the Misses D ,
from Red How, in the Lake district, present living specimens of
Polish ladies, of purely Polish race, of midland Poland. Mrs. Henry
G , of Moorland, Lancashire, the wife of a member of Par-
liament, can be taken as a specimen of a Polish lady, a native of the
grand duchy of Posen in Prussian Poland. Mrs. M. T re-
siding in the secluded wilds of the south-eastern borders, is a living
specimen of a Mazovian lady. Indeed these ladies are equally distin-
guished for their personal graces, their fascinating manners, their
varied accomplishments, and their estimable qualities.
Speaking so much about Ukrainian ladies, I consider it as a pleasing
duty to mention the name of one of the shining stars among them,
Countess Delfina Potocka (pronounced Pototska), whose talents, know-
ledge, eloquence, various accomplishments, united with high birth,
wealth, noble feelings, fascinating manners, and virtues, are fully
worthy to be described. Prom Poland to the banks of the Rhine, from
♦ he foaming cataracts of the Dnieper to the soft sky of Italy, power-
294 NOTES.
ful princes bow to her, court her smile and approbation, and would
be glad to crouch at her feet. Polish grandees and poets paint her in
their poetry, and retain for her, after their marriage, a platonic
attachment founded on esteem, respect, and friendship. When she
sings, and when her fair fingers touch the piano, or slightly teaze and
caress the grateful strings of the harp, she pours streams of delight
into the human soul: not only men but animals are moved, and even
the sorrowful sister of the night, the silent protector of lovers, mourn-
ful and solitary, longing for ages in vain for a sweet companion,
slightly advances from the tops of time-honoured oaks, looks in at her
window, and begs for a kiss — Bobr..»a Zapomniana Sigis.
Page 260. (e.) — It may not be amiss to inform the reader that not
only young Potocki (Palatine's son) mentioned in Malczewskis
mournful poem " Maria," was unfortunate (the father having ordered
the son's beautifid wife to be murdered during the honeymoon, under
circumstances of peculiar atrocity) but Malczewski himself. The
latter was a yoimg man of ancient family settled in the Ukraine.
Possessing an ardent soul, and having received a superior education,
he left his home, visited the holy land, reached the top of Mont Blanc,
and travelled through all Europe. After spending the greatest portion
of his moderate fortune during his wanderings abroad, he suddenly
felt a taste for retirement, and stayed for some time at the seat of his
schoolfellow (to whom he was very much attached), in a secluded
part of Volhynia, not far from the town of Wlodzimirz ; the latter
married a lady who was induced by family connexions to accept
him for a husband ; and scarcely had Malczewski been introduced
to her, than he fell suddenly a victim of her charms. Admitted to
her intimacy, he had the opportunity of displaying his knowledge
and eloquence, which his friend, a good and homely kind of man,
did not possess. As, however, the latter received him with open
arms, and never gave him any offence, and as in Poland, where great
sociability exists, the sacred laWs of hospitality are always respected,
he never abused his friend's confidence, nor betrayed his secret to any
one. The temptation, however, of seeing the beloved object every
day increased the difficulties of mastering that passion ; he became
restless, whimsical, shunned her sight, wandered in the night, often
spent the whole day on the neighbouring lake, yet always patted
and caressed the children in the house, who became fond of him.
Once he was taken for a robber, another time for a madman. The
lady complained to her husband that she never gave any offence to
295
lis friend, and yet that friend's manners were so distant towards her,
that it led her to tliink she had somehow offended him. Malczewski,
however, tormented by temptation, suddenly formed the wise resolu-
tion to leave his friend's house, but before leaving it he wished to take
a secret farewell of the object of his ardent affection. After waiting a
long time in the night, he suddenly left his room, came imder the
window of her bed-chamber, knelt, pronounced the cherished name,
and wept like a child. A favoured maid, however, of the lady
alluded to, induced by curiosity, watched him, and discovered his
secret, and after his departure, apprised her mistress of everything
connected with the subject. Though ladies keep their own secrets
very well, yet they very seldom keep the secrets of others. This
matter, under various shapes, soon became the principal topic of con-
versation amongst the old maids of the whole neighbourhood, and
Malczewski, whose health was much injured, careless about his
business, wandering from place to place, without friends and relatives,
was confined to his bed, and subjected to want and misery. Some of
his enemies, jealous of his talents, had the imprudence to slander him
in the presence of his favourite lady and her husband, who had nothing
to reproach him with, and who seemed to listen too much to their
tattle : this offended his wife, who, highly indignant at their in-
justice, packed up her things, left a letter for her husband, and went
directly in quest of Malczewski. She stepped into the room as he
was just pronouncing her name ; he was very iU, and could not at
first believe his own eyes. She, however, embraced him, and apprised
him of her gratitude. She never left him any more, and he soon
died in her arms. It is an indisputed fact, confirmed by a thousand
ages, that we cannot command our affection, that true love is always
felt at the first sight ; though its power can be modified or increased
under adverse and favourable circumstances. It is also a sentiment,
which is sometimes ungovernable, and gains the mastery despite all
difficulties; combining moral weakness with sexual passion, it asserts
that one common law governs all mankind, though natural disposition,
education, and habits, make a wonderful difference between one man
and another. Love is also always disinterested and generous ; it is a
friend to youth, and an enemy to old age ; it seldom bears a long
absence ; it requires also reciprocity, because though we may be occa-
sionally partial for awhile to those who care not for us, yet on the
whole, and for any length of time, we cannot love but those who
love us.
296 NOTES.
It is also a great mistake to think that even friendship, which is
based on esteem, is formed only with years ; particular circumstances,
and our first impression of the man whom we choose for our friend,
have a good deal to do with it. "We may live for half a century
with a man, and even esteem him, yet we do not feel for that man the
same friendship as for another whose countenance pleased us ; and,
therefore, in love and friendship there is a mesmeric influence which
guides us indirectly, is felt and cannot be described. For my part, I
never could conquer my first impression of any one imder the most
trying circumstances.
The " Castle of Kaniof, by Goszczynski," is founded on the follow-
ing fact, which happened during the time of the rebellion of Gonta.
A powerful Polish grandee, Staroste, and governor of Kaniof, who was
residing in that town on the banks of the Dnieper, had a favourite
Cossack, known by his valour and strength, called Nebabo, who fell
in love with a beautiful Ukrainian girl, Orlika, strongly attached to
him, and courted at the same time by the governor, whose advances
she rejected. The marriage, however, between the two lovers did not
take place, though the day for the nuptial ceremony was settled. The
governor of Kaniof, having been informed of the intended marriage,
summoned the girl Orlika and her brother before him, and peremp-
torily ordered the former either immediately to become his wife, or to
be the eye witness of her brother's death on the gibbet for an imagi-
nary crime. Orlika saved her brother, and married the governor.
Nebabo, in despair, joined the bands of Gonta, and came with them
at midnight to sack the castle, and to kill its inhabitants, but was
prevented in his project by Schvatchka. Orlika, when the governor
was sleeping on his splendid couch, cautiously took a sharp knife,
and plunged it in the heart of her husband. When the gates of the
castle were broken by the Haidamaques, and when they entered with
lighted torches, Id quest of the governor, Orlika, out of her senses,
in her night dress, and with a knife stained with warm blood in one
hand, and a lamp in the other, with a sneering smile, talked of her
vengeance, and killed herself. Soon afterwards, however, Nebabo
was woimded, and died in the arms of another girl whom he had
previously seduced. These two poems are translated, but the trans-
lations are as inferior to the original as a candle to tlie sim.
Page 269. (d.) — Alexander Ilowicki (pronounced Ilovitski), the
present lloman Catholic clergyman at Home, with his brother Edward
Ilowicki, had thirteen squadrons of cavalry, which was formed in a
NOTES. 297
fortnight in the Ukrakie, in the last Polish insurrection in 1831 ;
they had vigorous men and excellent horses, but no officers to direct
them. Alexander Ilowicki was one of my seconds in a duel which I
fought, the 29th of September, 1833, with Count Vladislas Plater, at
Paris. Edward Ilowicki, commonly called Marszalek (a title in Rus-
sian Poland corresponding to the title of a high sheriff of the county
in England) has a peculiar taste for mechanics, studied the art of
artillery for several years in France, and had a practical knowledge
of it, and indeed is one of the best artUlery marksmen I ever saw.
He was for some time residing at Algiers, where he distinguished
himself by his gallantry, and was decorated with the French order
of legion d' honneur, while his hospitality, attachment to Poland, and
cheerfulness of mind, made him a general favourite. There is also in
the Polish emigration their namesake Nicholas Ilowicki a good lin-
guist, and clever writer.
COUNT KORWIN KRASlNSia'S FAMILY.
As in my pamphlet on the Polish aristocracy, published in 1842,
I did sufficient justice to the principal Polish families, but committed
some errors respecting the origin of my own family, I promised
a person acquainted with my relatives to correct such errors in
any new work that I might subsequently publish. I think it proper
to fulfil my promise now in a note ; and to describe faithfully, not
only the origin of Corvin (Korwin in Polish) Ka-asinski's family
according to the most authentic information which I have since
gleaned from several authors ; but also to mention all those who
belong to it, to_ name the seats of which they are the owners, and to
describe more or less, their features and character, according to
my disinterested observation, though I know very well that it may
expose me to annoyances.
The first ancestor of Korwin Slepovron Krasinski's family was a
Roman knight, who, called out by a foreign chief of noted size, strength,
and bravery to fight a deadly duel with him, slew him, and took a
golden ring from his finger in the presence of both armies. As during
the fight a raven was seen near him, he was called from that time
CorAin (Korwin), which means raven (Kruk), and which name he
transmitted to his descendants. He died at the age of a himdred years.
From Italy that family went to Hungary. Valerius Messalus Cor-
vinus conquered that province for the Romans in the reign of
S98 NOTES.
Tiberius Caesar. There are still in Dalmatia and Raguza some
splendid buildings, public documents, and historical reminiscences
associated with that family.
The mother of Holy Szczepan, king of Hungary, was a Corvin.
To that family also belonged the celebrated Hungarian warrior, John
Huniad Corvin, whose son Mathias was elected to the throne of
Hungary. For political reasons the latter's natural son emigrated to
Poland, and settling among his relatives there, became the progenitor
of the youngest branch of the Krasinski family ; while at the same
time, another Krasinski went from Poland to the court of King
Mathias, who acknowledged him as his relative, and satisfied
with his courage and ability, liberally rewarded him for his
services, and then allowed him to return to his country. These
two branches were much mixed by intermarriages, and the young-
est branch is extinct. The Hungarian Korwins are also, I have
heard, in all probability extinct, though many years ago they
claimed their share of succession in Poland. There was a time
when some Hungarian Korwins were staying among the Polish
Korwins, and some Polish Korwins were staying among the Hunga-
rian Korwins. From Hungary that family passed to Poland, and
settled in the duchy of Mazovia, which, before its annexation to the
kingdom of Poland, in the reign of Sigismundus I., in 1537, was an
independent principality.
Antecedent to the year 1224, Conrad, the old Duke of Mazovia
(Konrad Stary), at the request of Vavrzenta Corvin (Wawrzeta
Korwin), who first removed from Hungary to Poland, permitted the
latter to add to his original surname the title of his estate, Slepovron,
which means a crow. The above Wawrzeta Korwin married Dorothy
Pobozanka, a Polish heiress, who to wealth and beauty joined great
amiability of character. Her husband had a daughter to whom he
was attached, and whose personal attraction was daily increasing ; his
lady, however (Pobozanka), instead of being jealous of her, paid so
much attention to her, and overwhelmed her with so much kindness
that she gained her friendship for life ; while Wawrzeta Korwin,
wishing to give a mark of his particular regard to his wife, adopted
legally her coat of arms, and put them under his own, which he
transmitted to his descendants : a case scarcely ever known in
Poland. Under the raven with a golden ring in its beak, he placed a
silver horseshoe in a blue field, which was originally red, on account
of the blood spilt by his ancestor's vanquished antagonist. He left
NOTES. 299
two sons, and divided among them his estates ; the law of primo-
geniture never having prevailed in Poland. The oldest who took
his mother's estate, retained the blue field in his coat of arms ; the
youngest reverted to the red field. In some documents and title
deeds it is half red and half blue, or entirely red or blue, though the
armorial bearings are the same.
Slavomir Korwin was the first who, from the estate called Krasne,
transmitted him by his father, took the name of Slawomir Korwin
Slepowron Krasinski, in 1337. His descendant, Stanislas Krasinski,
palatine of Plock (pronounced Plotsk), who visited Africa and travelled
over all Europe, left, by two wives, five daughters and ten sons. He
was raised to the dignity of a foreign coimt, which title was inherited
by his progeny (Vide Konstytucye Xwa Mazovieckiego).
Among all the above mentioned descendants of Korwin Krasinski's
family, none was more noted for his knowledge and influence than
Francis, the bishop of Cracow, who was several times sent as an
ambassador from the Polish clergy to the pope, Paul IV., and by
whose exertions the ultimate imion of the Grand Duchy of Litvania
with Poland was accomplished in 1569, in the reign of Sigismundus
Augustus. He was the latter king's confessor, and was always
opposed to religious persecutions, in fasliion in his time.
After him, setting aside some good generals, none was equal in
wisdom, craft, and knowledge to Coimt Adam I^j-asinski, the bishop
of Kamienietz, who signed the confederation of Bar, the 29 th of
February, 1768.
There are at present four branches of Krasinski's family, and three
generations. The head of the first branch, and the senior in age,
is General Count Vincent Korwin Krasinski, who by his late wife.
Princess Radzivell, has an only child, a son, Sigismond, married some
years ago to Elizabeth Countess Branitska, by whom he has two
yoimg boys.
The general alluded to, performed extraordinary feats of valour
under Napoleon, especially at Samossiera in the month of November,
1808, in Spain, where three squadrons of Polish lancers under his
command stormed, up hill, a pass half a mile in length^nd twenty-
five yards in breadth, defended at the top by fifteen pieces of heavy
cannon, and eleven thousand of Spanish regular infantry, under the
order of General St. Juan. In spite, however, of all these formidable
defences, and the two hills swarming with sharpshooters ; in spite of
the grape shot of the cannon, his intrepid band, composed of chosen
300 NOTES.
men and chosen horses, reached the top, took all the cannons, hroke
all the squares, routed the Spaniards and cleared the road for Napo-»
Icon's army to Madrid.
In aU the French, and even British military works, this celebrated
charge is mentioned, and is undoubtedly considered as one of the
most extraordinary in this century. It, however, succeeded, not only
by the brilliant and indomitable valour of the Polish lancers and
their gallant commander ; but also by some favourable circumstances
attending it. Napoleon was so much surprised at the complete suc-
cess of the charge of Samossiera that he said : " Now, dear Krasinski,
I believe in wonders." "It would be a wonder, sire," rejoined the
latter, " if there was one single soldier under my command, who
should hesitate an instant to sacrifice the last drop of his blood for your
majesty's glory." This bon mof extremely pleased Napoleon, and was
followed by many others, which, always delivered under proper
circumstances, brought him substantial favours. Napoleon called
him the Polish Alcibiades ; the PoHsh Alcibiades having expensive
habits was often in want. Once Napoleon met him walking dis-
pirited in the streets of Paris. " You have debts, Krasinski," said the
emperor. "Yes, sire, I have ;" "Your debts are mine;" and thrice
they were paid (30,000/,) Once Napoleon ordered Duroc to give to his
favourite Polish aide-de-camp £6,000. Duroc looked cross. " Give to
Krasinski £3,000 more," and they were given, and when the latter said,
" The interest is worthy of your majesty," a handsome interest of
that sum, much larger than that which any banker would require for
it, was added to the additional gift, which altogether amounted to
100,000/. The general alluded to served in all the wars from 1806
till 1814, under Napoleon, and his regiment of lancers became the
terror of the enemy, as they broke and routed every cavalry and
infantry, which they ever attacked, and they never were beaten. To
this time even at Bordeaux, there are numerous ballads and songs in
their favour. They formed the guard of the French emperor, under
the name of chevaux legers ; they did wonders at Wagram, and in 1813.
It is impossible to describe the enthusiastic cheers with which the
remainder of the gallant Polish bands, under the command of the
General alluded to were received at Posen in 1814. Men, women, and
children hailed them weeping. The uniform of the lancers was blue,
trimmed with crimson, and double-breasted (not according to
the Enghsh fashion), trimmed witli rich embroidered gold. They
wore a splendid crimson lancer's cap, on which there was a golden
NOTES. 301
sun and a fine white ostrich feather. This uniform, with golden
epaulets, splendid horses, chosen men, coloured pennants streaming
from the top of the lances, produced in the sunshine an efiect impos-
sible to describe. At the sight of these warriors, preceded by the fame
of the victories of Samossiera, Vagram, Reichenbach, and others, (most
of them being decorated with military orders) the heroes of a
hundred battles, commanded recently by the most skilful captain of
the age, to whom they were faithful when every thing left him, pass-
ing slowly in military array, and returning to their country without
ever having been fairly vanquished, a sort of religious veneration
filled the heart. One would have thought that the sacred soil of a
country that gave birth to such soldiers, could not be stained by a
foreign foot, or oppressed.
When the ringing of bells, the clash of arms, the roar of cannons,
and repeated huzzas ceased, when twenty-four beautiful maidens,
dressed in white, had thrown their flowers on the lancers, and silence
was restored, the general, one of the handsomest men of his age —
thirty-three at that time — dazzling the eyes by the diamonds of his
numerous decorations, sitting on a splendid steed worthy of a Maho-
met or a Tamerlane, advanced some steps towards the ladies, stopped,
bowed gracefully to them, and, in a clear and distinct voice, delivered
a speech during which, without any exaggeration, he put Cicero fairly
in his pocket, and melted half-a-dozen Demosthenes on his lips. After
repeated huzzas, when the officers left their horses, he was obliged to
submit his manly cheeks to the repeated kisses of the maidens.
The silky hair of one of them got entangled seriously to his golden
epaulets for more than a minute, to the jealous surprise of some dow-
agers. The same evening a ball was given, and as my late father
was a schoolfellow of the general's, and travelled with me in haste,
we arrived the same day at Posen. I was at that time nine years
old. After embracing me he introduced me as his relative at the ball,
and delivered me to the care of the Posen ladies. As I had not slept
for two nights, I soon fell into a deep slumber between two Posen
beauties. The sound of music awakened me ; I danced the polo-
naise with the lady, and partook of some ice. So strong are my
early impressions, that though this happened to me above thirty years
ago, I perfectly remember her features, which greatly resembled those
of the likeness of the northern Sappho at Ulverstone.
Some weeks afterwards I marched, between Lieut. Gnatowski and
Stakieuicz, with the Polish army into the late kingdom of Poland, and
802 NOTES.
entered Warsaw with the staff of the general, on a small black horse
of remarkable beauty. My first recollections were thus associated
with a military life. I never could forget the hospitality and kind-
ness shown me by the inhabitants of Posen.
General Count Vincent Korwin Krasinski Senalor Palatin, is one of
the richest men in Poland, and has most of the Polish, French, and Rus-
sian decorations. His knowledge, gallantry, and flowing eloquence, his
celebrated repartees, his singular adventures and liberality, also made
him the pet of all the ladies, from queens to peasant girls, and the
favourite of all the sovereigns to whom he was introduced. He was
successively the aide-decamp and the favourite of Napoleon (who
made him lieutenant-general), to whom he was faithful as a dog to
its master, even to the last when every thing left him. After bringing
the remainder of the Polish army in 1814, from France to Poland ;
he became aide-de-camp of the Emperor Alexander and Nicholas, as
kings of Poland, and held a superior command in the late Polish
army. He served them faithfully. Some of his adventures are so
singular, that they are worthy to be mentioned. During his youth
he had a mistress, called Tekla, who presented him a first-born
son. At this happy news, two batteries of small cannon (vivatove
harmaty), fired one hundred shots ; merry peals were ringing in all
directions, there was a regular levee at his palace ; eloquent speeches
were delivered, five-hundred bottles of champagne were beheaded,
thousands of pounds in money and clothing were distributed to the
poor, offences of the peasants on his estates were forgiven, fifteen
thousand pounds were settled on the mother and child, a wine
merchant, unexpectedly patronised, made his fortune and married
his daughter well, the old maids unbridled their tongues for a fortnight,
six couples of young orphans were united and provided for, and even
the faithful companions of man, dogs and horses (according to the
letter of my late uncle, Hilary), had their share of rejoicings. At this
time Warsaw was under Prussian domination, and the Prussian police
seeing the whole fashion of the town in motion, and hearing constant
firings and the ringing of bells, became alarmed, and thought it was
an insurrection ; but the alarm soon subsided. At any rate, no
human being ever came into this world under more noisy and favour-
able circumstances for the prosperity of his fellow-creatures, than the
lateral descendant of the noble house of Korwin, but unfortunately,
he died soon, and his inconsolate and beautiful mother followed him to
the grave, to the general's regret. Having heard that it is in fashion
NOTES.
not to attach too much importance to money, he lost at cards
^25,000 in one evening. On another occasion he engaged a cab
for the whole day ; the next day a cabman called early and re-
quested to speak with him ; he was admitted, and handed to the
general (at that time a civUian), a small parcel containing in
mixed bank notes £500 ; the general counted them, and saw that
all was right ; thanked the cabman, marked his number, gave
him a glass of wine and shook hands with him ; when he was
close to the door, he re-called him, and handed him £500 as
a reward for his honesty, which made his fortune for life. Similar
actions on a smaller, and even on a larger scale, were repeated. At
another time, his friend being well aware of the general's taste for
naked feet, induced his wife to give a splendid ball, at which all the
female portion of her chosen guests were dressed a Vantique, and
obliged to disclose the top of their fair, snowy, and delicate feet to the
searching gaze of men, who plunging their eyes in them, should have
liked to discover, if possible, on those feet the same charms which
a happy bridegroom discovers on the cheeks of his blooming bride,
when after a kiss, he dares to hint to her in a whisper the prospects of
the pleasures concealed for them under the cloke of night, whose very
name make her blush and tremble at the same time. The general,
whose passion for the naked feet is too well known, was so delighted
with it, that he never could forget it, and was obliged to describe it to
the late Queen Hortense and Napoleon. No man in the world was
ever cherished more by his servants, his tenantry, his soldiers, and
his officers. To the latter he was a sort of brother. To his dinners,
which I often attended, he invited one day the country squires, another
day military men, the third his equals and superiors, and every Friday,
scientific men, poets and writers. The latter party always included
a paltry writer named Marcin . . . ski, whose poetry and person ex-
cited general hilarity and undoubtedly promoted digestion ; for
which laudable services he was rewarded by a situation of £200
per annum. The subjoined facts will best prove the devotedness and
affection which distinguished the servants and officers of the general.
During the time of Napoleon a fierce quarrel broke out, close to the
general's palace at Warsaw, between the Saxon and Bavarian troops.
Mutually exasperated, they fought furiously among themselves.
Several had already fallen on either side, when, anxious to stop the
further effusion of blood, the general interposed between the com-
batants ; but no sooner had he done so, than the infuriated soldiers
304 NOTES.
turned their weapons upon the general's person, who would undoubt-
edly have perished, had not Zdanovitch, by chance beholding the
extreme peril of his beloved general, come, at the most critical
moment, to his assistance, and presented his naked hands as a shield
against the swords and bayonets so ferociously thrust at the general.
Their assailants every moment increasing in number, the danger be-
came yet more imminent. Thereupon Zdanovitch exclaimed, " Fly at
once, dear general, or you are lost." "But," said Krasinski, "what
will become of you ? " "I shall be happy to die for you," replied the
noble-minded Zdanovitch. With some difficulty the general escaped,
and having procured aid, returned to the scene of his adventure.
The devoted gallant Zdanovitch was found stretched senseless on the
ground, literally bathed in the gore which had gushed from his
numerous wounds. However, he ultimately recovered, and was not
forsaken by the grateful general. On another occasion, during the
war of 1813, the same general accompanied only by his lieutenant
Vonsovitch, was surprised and surrounded by a detachment of the
enemy's dragoons. Having fought until their swords were broken,
Vonsovitch then flung himself between the general and his opponents,
receiving on his own person the blows aimed at the former, until he
was actually covered with wounds, thus preserving Krasinski's life at
the hazard of his own. Vonsovitch also survived the effect of the
dangerous injuries thus sustained by him, and was not forgotten, in
having an estate presented to him, by the general. I am personally
acquainted with these two noble defenders of his life, and believe them
yet in existence. Surely the man who could thus attach other men
to himself, could not have been destitute of good qualities.
The general was not engaged in the Polish insurrection of 1831,
but he did not fight against his countrymen ; and after that un-
happy war did much good to them, even to some who were known
to be his enemies. Here is a proof of his kindly disposition and
his influence in this respect. A short time back, the Kussian
governor of Kamienietz Podolski having a spite against a Polish
gentleman, named Ratsiborowski, endeavoured to extort £2,520 from
him, by accusing him with being connected with an imaginary plot,
and also carrying on treasonable correspondence with the Countess
Cordule Fredro, of Austrian Poland, a kind, affable lady (Countess
Krasinska's de domo), who never interferes in politics, and has a
splendid seat near the Carpathian mountains, close to the corner of
tlie Austrian, Russian, and Turkish boundaries. To prove the guilt
NOTES. 305
of the unhappy Ratsiborowski and other Poles, the rascally governor
concocted, and produced, several letters and suitable answers, in sym-
pathetic ink. The Russian authorities required the iVustrian govern-
ment to deliver up the Countess, but this was refused, though some
of her tenants were arrested, and confronted (at Kiof), with other vic-
tims of the governors infernal artifice. They would, as a matter of
course, have been condemned and exiled to Siberia, but luckily for them
General Count Krasinski arrived at Kiof, on his way to his estates.
Hearing that a Russian subaltern (an agent of the governor) was
hovering previously about the Coimtess Fredro's estate, for the pur-
pose of collecting evidence respecting her correspondence, and so
forth, the general suspected some trick. He therefore lost no time in
communicating his suspicions to Count Bekendorf (the head of the
Russian police.) The result of the general's interposition was that
the subaltern was placed under arrest, and the first night of his in-
carceration hung himself — the letters were satisfactorily shown to be
forgeries— the iniquitous governor was dismissed— and his intended
victims liberated.
General Count Krasinski is about sixty-eight years of age. He is of
middle size, though stoutly built, and his features are marked by two
large scars, one extending across his face, the other on his fore-
head ; he is a celebrated pistol shot, and could, formerly, so well
manage the lance, that surrounded at the battle of Wagram, in 1809,
by several Austrians, he defended himself with it several minutes,
killing two and disabling some of them without himself sustaining any
injury. He dedicated to Napoleon a well-written pamphlet on the
advantages of the lancers, and the use of the lance, for which he
received a brace of pistols and a double-barrel gim from Napoleon
valued at £3,000.
On another occasion, in the Russian campaign in 1812, he was
ordered to make a reconnoissance with a small party of soldiers : he
met three battalions of Russian infantry, advanced, contrary to the
advice of his friends, within gun-shot of the Russians, alone, and,
wishing courageously to fulfil his duty, quietly inspected their lines.
The Russians fired a volley at him, and missed him ; he bowed to
them, and continued to observe them ; they twice reloaded their guns
and fired ; twice more he bowed, and departed unhurt. A Colonel of
the Cossacks, however, having an excellent horse, dashed so furiously
at the general, that had not one of the Polish lancers parried the
thrust of the Cossack, he would have in all probability killed the
X
306 NOTES.
former. The Colonel was taken prisoner, and cried like a woman when
obliged to part with his horse ; he was kindly treated by the general
and soon exchanged, and before leaving the Polish lancers a purse of
gold was given to him. The Cossack swore never again to fire at a
Pole, and was lost sight of.
In 1814, in France, the Cossacks were constantly at the heels of the
French, and the general made a bet with Lefevre Denouette, that in
the first encounter with the Cossacks he would not use his sword ; he
gained the bet, and narrowly escaped being shot or taken prisoner.
Most fortunately the same Cossack colonel recognised him, came to
his assistance, gave him a glass of brandy, did not allow any one to
fire at him, called hira his friend, and exchanged almost every day
some friendly words with him. This anecdote, which the general
often mentioned, was corroborated by a Frenchman, at Chantilly, who
was the eye-witness of it.
The general's mother (sister of the celebrated Count Czacki, the most
learned man in Poland) amassed immense wealth, and was residing
in Podolia. Some of her relatives watched this wealth like a hawk
watches a partridge, and so much slandered him, that she became
visibly cold to her son, and inclined to make a will in favour of his
enemies. He was apprised of the trap, and having heard that the
Countess R was the undoubted favourite of his mother, and re-
sided with her, he came on a visit to his mother for three weeks, and
paid so much attention to the lady alluded to, that she prevailed on his
mother to live with him, and to give him all the cash she had, with
slight restriction. After this she retired, it is said, to a convent ; it
was the last of his celebrated conquests, accomplished at the age of
forty-five.
To give an idea of his energetic eloquence, and bewitching man •
ners it is worthy to be mentioned, that Napoleon called him one
of the bravest, the most faithful, and the most dangerous of his
courtiers. The French marshals gave him a splendid sword as a
token of their regard for his fidelity to Napoleon. He is stiU alive,
and in favour at the Russian court. His discernment is so great that
he can read, as it were, the character of a man at twenty-five yards'
distance. He is now busy, it is said, in writing his memoirs, and cer-
tainly they will be well written and extremely interesting.
His only son, Sigismond, received an excellent education, and has
written some beautiful novels and poems : but some passages are so
mystic and at the same time lofty, that it is no easy matter for
NOTES. 307
common minds to comprehend their meaning without explanation.
Many poems attributed to him are not his. He possesses a liberal
mind, stocked with extensive information. To noble sentiments and
sterling qualities he unites some minor faults ; but his conversational
powers and pleasing manners enable him to shine in polite society,
although he possesses neither the manly beauty nor the dashing elo-
quence of his father. He is fond of the company of scientific men ;
loves and dreads his father ; is a faithful friend and forgiving enemy.
Though slightly whimsical, he charms every one by his obliging dis-
position, but wUl never take the lead in any thing. He, however,
inherited from his father a peculiar tact in gently befooling others.
Indeed, practical joking seems almost necessary to his existence, and
if he cannot find somebody in high society to endure his jests, he
will be satisfied with any man, on whom he may safely indulge such
propensities. His jests, however, are rather piquant than offensive.
He is a great sportsman. His wife, an amiable, rich, and handsome
Ukrainian lady, who gave him two children, must have greatly
contributed to his comfort and happiness. He is not far from
forty, and is smaller and thinner than his father. He did not take
any part in the last war with Russia, in 1831. His father's estates
are Dunaiowce ; lackovce, in Podolia ; Opinogora, in the late king-
dom of Poland ; a splendid seat, Knyszyn ; Slivna, Bembnovka, and
others, in Russian Poland ; he has a fine palace at Warsaw. One of
Count Sigismond's estates is Luboml, and others belonging to his wife.
It is the richest branch of the family.
The head of the second branch (Gallician) of Krasinski's family,
is Count Peter Krasinski, with his two brothers, Leopold and Augustus.
Count Peter was colonel in the previously mentioned celebrated regi-
ment of Polish lancers, and made several campaigns under Napoleon,
winning three decorations ; he married the late Countess Pawlikowska,
has no children, likes dashing life, is stout, bald, under the middle size,
above sixty-one, and resides on his fine seat of Rohatyn in Austrian
Poland. He has all the airs of a great lord, and is an honourable man.
His second brother Leopold is a man about sixty, thin, of middle size,
and still a bachelor ; he has pleasing manners, but there is nothing
Polish or Sclavonic in him. When his brother Peter was fighting
under Napoleon, he voluntarily entered the Austrian military service,
and fought against the French, but in the very first engagement
he received a musket-ball through the shoulder, which obliged him to
leave the Austrian ranks, and checked his martial ardour for life.
308 IQOTES.
This, however, brought him in such high favour at Vienna, that
he was created chamberlain at the Austrian court, and he has always
been treated by the Austrians with great regard. He is very clever,
but so aristocratic in his predilections, that he would consider himself
a criminal if his lips could pronoimce the name of a commoner.
He always says, " I have seen Prince, Marquis, Count,* or Baron
so and so ;" and as he is a rigid Catholic, he hears mass every day,
often confesses, speaks frequently of religion and God, kneels for
half an hour on rising in the morning and going to bed ; he may
be, and probably is, very honest and very good, but he yet has
an unfortunate countenance which seldom pleases. However,
he is not answerable for his countenance. The general used to
call him Fafenschtein, on account of his German predilections. He
was in 1843 residing in England, and is acquainted with the Earl
of Chesterfield. He has money in the funds and a small landed
estate. His youngest brother Augustus, married the late Countess
Jane Krasinska, the heiress of Krasne, the nest of Krasinski's family
in the district of Plotsk, fifty-six English miles north of Warsaw.
After his marriage he left Gallicia, and settled in the Russian kingdom
of Poland. He is extremely clever, an inveterate jester, and owes his
whole fortune principally to General Count Vincent Krasinski,
with whom he has frequent misunderstandings ; their tongues meet
each other, at times, like two razors, and they do not seem to be
always on intimate terms, though several reconciliations have taken
place, and the usual form of poUteness is still kept between them. They
fully acknowledge, however, their mutual abilities. Whenever the
general intended to jest too much, a la Frederick the Great, with
Augustus, he met such cutting rebukes, and such a stout resistance, that
like a skilful tactician, he observed only his adversary's movements,
without hurting him. The latter is a great lawyer, and defies the
best of them. His age is about fifty, he is strongly marked with small
pox, and has an aquiline nose. He was in the war with Russia, in 1831,
an aide-de-camp of the General-in-Chief, Skrzynecki, now in Belgium,
and fought nobly at Ostrolenka, where he was wounded and decorated*
An Ukrainian valet of General Count I^asinski called him "Raboy
jMudry Panicz, tliat is, a crafty, spotted, young lord." This sobri-
quet excited mucli mirth, and will remain with him for life ; he comes
to the point in all questions, and laughs at the poetry of life. His
estates are Krasne, Golow, Adamow ; the two latter are in Podlassia;
he has a son thirteen years of age, and two sisters, one, Cordula,
NOTES. 309
"married to the late Count Fredro, and the other married to lab-
lonowski. The former visited London recently.
The head of the third branch is Count Stanislaus Krasinski,
with his Wo brothers, Charles and Adam. He is now about
thirty-seven years of age, six feet high, proportion ably stout, has
dark hair, hazel eyes, and is a fine man ; he held a commission
in the Polish army in the last war with Russia, in 1831 ; distinguished
himself by his gallantry, charged boldly a large square of llussian
infantry with a half squadron of cavalry, and received sixteen
bayonet wounds ; a book put under his coat saved his life. He
married after the war. Princess lablonowska, a lady of superior
knowledge and amiable disposition, and has several daughters by her;
they are very happy with each other. He has strong common
sense, a good deal of tact (easily kept with wealth), and is a man of
noted principles of honour, and a certain ability in managing his
estates. His principal seats are Zegrze, near Warsaw, and Sterdynia,
in Podlassia, in the Russian kingdom of Poland ; his wife brought him
also some estates in the Polish Ukraine. His second brother, Charles,
is inferior to him in point of bodily strength and manly qualities ;
he married Countess Lubinska, and without speaking to her one single
word, a year after his marriage, having heard of some fine paintings
at Rome, suddenly left his wife and set out for Italy ; and when she
with tears and lamentations inquired what had become of him, she found
a letter on her table, in which he advised her not to distress her mind,
and to do during his absence what she thought best for herself,
because he should soon return, and he never ceased to like and esteem
her ; he actually returned in a few months, and the only motive of his
sudden departure was, it is said, a trial of his wife's attachment and
his love of the fine arts. His youngest brother, Adam, is about
twenty- six years of age, married Countess Mycielska, (a Gallician
lady, of high birth and noble feelings) and resembles in many respects
his eldest brother, Stanislaus. Their estates are Radzieiowitze,
Krasnosielc, a palace at Warsaw, and a mansion at Cracow.
They have two amiable sisters, one, Mandzia, married to Count
Kazimir Lubinski, and the second, Paulina, married to Gorski. Their
mother, the dowager Countess Joseph Krasinska, whose maiden name
was Countess Emily Ossolinska, is still alive, and was remarkable, no
less for her great beauty and fidelity to her husband, under the most
trying circumstances, than for her cheerful spirit.
The head of the fourth branch is the author, political emigrant
310 NOTES.
since 1831 ; he has two younger brothers, namely, Boleslaus, who
divorced the wife of Colonel Breanski, an emigrant, specially cherished
by Prince Czartoryski ; and Vincent, married to Miss Eustachia
Swientoslawska. The former received an excellent education, and in-
herited the principal part of the property of our uncle (Isldor),
the late Polish minister for the war department. He resides at lanikof.
The second, whose education was neglected, lives at Siemiennitze.
Both are of quiet, easy dispositions, and are fond of country life,
without being fond of shooting. The former was engaged in the
last war, and the other not. The former has no children. The second
is blessed with four of them. Our only sister, Adela, married to
the late General Malecki, resides at Zbozenna. She speaks seven
languages. She has a daughter.
There are three gener.ations of Count Korwin Krasinski's family. The
head of the first is the general alluded to ; and to the abovenamed
generation, besides him, belong Peter, Leopold, and Augustus Krasinski.
The author is head of the second generation, and it includes
Stanislaus, Sigismundus, Boleslaus, Charles, Vincent, and Adam
Krasinski. The youthful son of Augustus Krasinski is the head
of the third generation, and it comprises the two sons of Sigis-
mundus, the children of Stanislaus, and the children of the author's
brother Vincent. All the abovenamed Korwin-Slepowron Krasinski,
belonging to four branches and three generations of that family, are
Roman Cathohcs, though by no means fanatics. They are each entitled
Count in the registration of their birth, and their fathers paid some-
thing for legalizing their title after the partition of Poland, but such
title not being Polish, it was not held in much regard by them, and
seldom mentioned, except on the address of a letter. They were gene-
rally designated by their Christian and surnames. The late Emperor
Napoleon, however, wishing to reward the feats of General Count Vin-
cent Krasinski, and his unshaken fidelity to his imperial person, created
him also a Count of the French empire; but that title (of which he is
very proud, and which is acknoAvledged by the Emperor of Russia),
is limited to the general himself, his son, and grandsons. It may be
further remarked that the late Emperor Alexander, as king of Poland,
not only confirmed the general's possession of the lands temporarily
granted to him in Poland by Kapoleon, as an inheritance, but it is
said, desired to confer on him the title of a prince, which honour the
general, thinking that he had not the proper opportunity to deserve ,
begged his Imperial Majesty's permission to decline.
NOTES. 311
Besides the relationship of the Korwin-I^asinski family to two
dynasties of the ancient kings of Hungary, it is allied to other regal
families, in the following manner:— Countess Frances Krasinska mar-
ried, at Warsaw, Nov. 4, 1 7 60, the Prince Royal of Poland, Charles Duke
of Courland, son of Augustus III. King of Poland and Saxony. Their
only daughter, the Princess Mary, born at Dresden, espoused, after
the death of her parents. Prince Carignan of Savoy, whose descend-
ants are closely connected with the reigning families of Lombardy
and Sardinia.
After the conquest of Moscow by the celebrated Polish chieftain
Zulkiewski, who vanquished, dethroned, and took prisoner the czar
Szuyski, in 1610, a new Russian dynasty (called Romanoff) was
elected to the throne of Russia, in consequence of which, after the
death of the captive czar Szuyski, in Poland, his relatives, fearing the
persecution of the above-mentioned dynasty, left Russia, turned
Roman Catholics, and established themselves in Poland.
The author's grandmother, whose maiden name was Princess Anna
Szuyska, and who married, firstly. Count Krasicki (pronounced Kra-
sitski), and, secondly, John Orzeszko, and died twenty-five years ago,
at Warsaw, was one of the last female descendants of that family.
She was very proud of her noble descent, and used a crown (mitra)
in her armorial bearings. Her mother was an Italian lady, connected
with the powerful Sardinian family of Oreglio, and her grandmother
was a native of England. Thus, north and south of Europe, Korwin
Krasinski's family was, and still is, distantly related to sovereign
houses.
Though the author's branch is now the least wealthy of the four
abovenamed branches of Krasinski's family, it was originally the
richest. Enormous wealth passed from the author's ancestor into
Prince Lubomirski's family, and one Princess Lubomirska, having no
children, purposed bequeathing part of her wealth to the descendants
of the author's branch, (from whence it was derived), but she died very
suddenly without a will, and was thus precluded from carrying into
effect, her just and laudable intention, though it was proved by many
persons that she mentioned it the very day of her demise. The author
may be pardoned an expression of his hope that his Highness Prince
Henry Lubomirski, who is not only an honourable man, but one of the
most accomplished gentlemen in Poland, may so far prevail on hi s re-
latives, that the author, who is the eldest of the family, and has not
taken any share in the succession which was divided after the death
312 NOTES.
of his three uncles, among his younger brothers and his sister
(already mentioned), shall not be utterly left without some honourable
means of existence in England (where he will probably reside for life)
merely because he fought for Poland.
In the future edition of the " Polish Aristocracy " the author will
probably mention more anecdotes of the Polish families, and may
publish all the songs and poems on the celebrated regiment of Polish
lancers commanded, during the time of Napoleon, by General Count
Vincent Krasinski, who has been very kind to the author's parents,
and even to the author himself before 1831 ; and though he may differ
in politics with many, whoever knows the general must more or less
like him. He is a sort of scion of the Krasinski family ; and though
the author's paternal uncle (Isidor), who commanded the whole Polish
infantry before the war of 1831, had frequent misunderstandings with
the general alluded to, yet before his death in 1841, he appointed him a
trustee of his lady. Her maiden name was Countess Barbara Kra-
sicka, and she was half-sister to the author's late mother, and is still
alive, but blind.
All the abovenamed Krasinskis, with whom the author is personally
acquainted, are liberal, brave, at times excitable, slightly proud and
whimsical, extremely hospitable, rather fond of the fair sex and of jesting.
They prefer a monarchy to a republic. They possess strong perceptive
powers, are grateful for the slightest mark of kindness, and yet often
difficult to please. The general has recently established an entail in
the family, reversable to other branches.
From the above description of Korwin Krasinski's family it will be
perceived that it is not inferior to any, not only in Poland, but in
Europe. Pew even sovereign houses can trace their ancestors to the
Romans.
Count Stanislaus Krasinski was decorated for his gallantry, and
has been in England.
Among the female portion of Korwin Krasinski's family, Countess
Sigismond Krasinska is one of the best, and for charity and kindness
has a reputation equal to that which the honourable Mrs. Hamilton
enjoys, near Worcester, and Misses Harris and Lowther, near White-
haven.
See ancient edition of Niesiecki, Sarnicki, Konstytucye Xieztwa
Mazowieckiego, Akta, Woievrodztwa, Plockiego, Rozmaitosci, Wegi-
erckie i Szlaskie, &c. &c.
T. C. JOHNS, Wine Office-court, Fleet-street.
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