revolution in society in England at the same | tude of military success. It witnessed the con period, less remarkable. Henry VII. won the quest of Finland and Georgia, of Walachia, crown of England on the field of Bosworth in Moldavia, the acquisition of Poland, and the 1483, and reigned till 1509. By uniting the extension of the empire to the Araxes. Need rival pretensions of the Houses of York and we say with what events this period was conLancaster to the throne, through his marriage temporary in France and England?-that the with the heiress of the former house, he re- age which witnessed the burning of Moscow, constructed the English monarchy; his avarice saw also the taking of Paris-that Pitt and left a vast treasure which rendered the crown | Wellington were contemporary with Alexanindependent to his vehement successor; his der and Barclay-that but a year separatea cautious policy broke down the little power Leipsic and Waterloo?, Coming, as it did, at which the fierce contests of former times had the close of this long period of parallel adleft to the Norman nobility. John III., Louis vance and similar vicissitudes, during a thouXI., and Henry VII. were the real restorers of sand years, there is something inexpressibly the monarchy in their respective kingdoms of impressive in this contemporaneous rise of the Russia, France, and England; and they were three great powers of Europe to the highest men of the same character, and flourished very pinnacle of worldly grandeur-this simultanearly at the same time. neous efflorescence of empires, which during so long a period had advanced parallel to each other in the painful approach to worldly greatness. Nor let the intellectual pride of western Europe despise the simple and comparatively untutored race, which has only within the last century and a half taken a prominent part in the affairs of Europe. The virtues, whether of nations or individuals, are not the least im

❘racter not the least commanding, which, chastened by suffering, is based on a sense of religious duty. The nation is not to be despised which overthrew Napoleon; the moral training not forgotten which fired the torches of Moscow. European liberalism and infidelity will acquire a right to ridicule Moscovite ignorance and barbarity, when it has produced equal achievements, but not till then.

All the recent events in history, as well as the tendency of opinion in all the enlightened men in all countries who have been bred up under their influence, point to the conclusion that there is an original and indelible difference in the character of the different races of men, and that each will best find its highest

The next epoch in the history of Russia was that of Peter the Great, whose genius overcame the obstacles consequent on the remoteness of its situation, and opened to its people the career of European industry, arts, and arms. Russia had now gone through the ordeal of greatness and of suffering; it had come powerful, energetic, and valiant, out of the school of suffering. But the remoteness of its situa-portant which are nursed in solitude; the chation, the want of water communication with its principal provinces, the barbarous Turks who held the key to its richest realms in the south, and the Frozen Ocean, which for half the year barricaded its harbours in the north, had hitherto prevented the industry and civilization of its inhabitants from keeping pace with their martial prowess and great aspirations. At this period Peter arose, who, uniting the wisdom of a philosopher and the genius of a lawgiver, to the zeal of an enthusiast and the ferocity of a despot, forcibly drove his subjects into the new career, and forced them, in spite of themselves, to engage in the arts and labours of peace. Contemporary with this vast heave of the Moscovite empire, was a similar growth of the power and energy of France and Eng-point of social advancement by institutions land; but the different characters of the Asiatic and European monarchy and of the free community, were now conspicuous. The age of Peter the Great, in Russia, was that of Louis XIV. in France; of the Revolution of 1688, and of Marlborough, in England. The same age saw the victories of Pultowa and Blenheim; the overthrow of Charles XII. and humbling of the Grand Monarque. But great was now the difference in the character of the nations by whom these achievements were effected. Peter, by the force of Asiatic power, drove an ignorant and brutish race into industry and art; Louis led a chivalrous and gallant nation to the highest pitch of splendour and greatness; William III. was impelled by the free spirit of an energetic and religious community, into the assertion of Protestant independence, and the maintenance of European freedom. But this great step in all the three nations took place at the same time, and under sovereigns severally adapted to the people they were called to rule, and the part they were destined to play on the theatre of the world.

The last great step in the history of Russia has been that of Alexander-an era signalized beyond all others by the splendour and magni

which have grown out of its ruling disposi tions. This is but an exemplification of the profound observation long ago made by Montesquieu, that no nation ever rose to durable greatness but by institutions in harmony with its spirit. Perhaps no national calamities have been so great, because none so lasting and irremediable, as those which have arisen from the attempt to transfer the institutions of our race and stage of political advancement to another family of men and another era of social progress. Recollecting what great things the Slavonic race has done both in former and present times, it is curious to see the character which Karamsin gives of them in the first volume of his great work:

"Like all other people the Slavonians, at the commencement of their political existence, were ignorant of the advantages of a re gular government; they would neither tolerate masters nor slaves among them, holding the fruit of blessings to consist in the enjoyment of unbounded freedom. The father of a family commanded his children, the husband his wife, the master his household, the brother his sis ters; every one constructed his hut in a place apart from the rest, in order that he might live

more at ease, and according to his own incli- | fortresses, they allowed them to remain monations. A wood, a stream, a field, constituted tionless on their carriages on the ramparts of the dominion of a Slavonian; and no unarmed the Kremlin. In the moment of combat the person ventured to violate the sanctity of his Russians trusted more to their number than to domain-each family formed a little independ- the skill of their manœuvres; they endeaent republic; and the ancient customs, com-voured in general to attack the enemy in rear, mon to the whole nation, served them instead and surround him. Like all Asiatic nations, of laws. On important occasions the different they looked rather to their movements at a tribes assembled to deliberate on their common distance than in close fight; but when they did concerns; they consulted the old men, those charge, their attacks were impetuous and terliving repositories of ancient usages, and they rible, but of short duration. In their veheevinced the utmost deference to their advice. ment shock,' says Herberstain, 'they seemed The same system was adopted when they re- to say to their enemy,-Fly, or we will fly ctrquired to elect a chief for one of their warlike selves!' In war as in pacific life, the pecple expeditions; but such was their excessive love of different races differ to an astonishing deof freedom, and repugnance towards any kind gree from each other. Thrown down from his of constraint, that they imposed various limi- horse, disarmed, and covered with blood, the tations on the authority of their chiefs, whom Tartar never thinks of surrender: he shakes they often disobeyed, even in the heat of bat- his arms, repels the enemy with his foot, and tle: after having terminated. their expedition, with dying fury bites him. No sooner is the every one returned to his home, and resumed Turk sensible he is overthrown, than he throws the command of his children and household. aside his scimitar, and implores the generosity of his conqueror. Pursue a Russian, he makes no attempt to defend himself in his flight, but never does he ask for quarter. Is he pierced by lances or swords, he is silent, and dies."-Vol. vii. p. 252.

"That savage simplicity-that rudeness of manners could not long endure. The pillage of the empire of the east, the centre of luxury and riches, made the Slavonians acquainted with new pleasures and hitherto unfelt wants. These wants, by putting an end to their solitary independence, drew closer the bonds of social dependence: they daily felt more strongly the necessity of mutual support; they placed their homes nearer each other; they began to build towns. Others, who had seen in foreign countries magnificent cities and flourishing villages, lost all taste for the obscurity of the forests, once endeared to their hearts by the love of independence; they passed into the provinces of Greece; they consented to range themselves under the rule of the emperor. The fate of war placed, for a brief season, a large part of the German Slavonians under the government of Charlemagne and his successors; but an unconquerable love of freedom was ever the basis of their character. On the first favourable opportunity they threw off the yoke, and avenged themselves cruelly on their rulers for their transient subjection: they were never finally reduced to order but by the influences of the Christian religion.”—Vol. i. p. 68, 69.

How strongly does this picture of the Slavonic race, a thousand years ago, recall the traces of the Poles of the present time! The same love of solitary and isolated freedom, the same passion for independence, the same fretting under the restraints of civilization and the curb of authority,-the source at once of their strength and their weakness-their glories and their ruin!

If it be true, as Shakspeare has told us, that the ruling passion is strong in death; no slight interest will attach to Karamsin's graphic picture of the character evinced in the supreme hour by the three races which have so long contended for the mastery of the east, viz., the Tartars, the Russians or Slavonians, and the Turks.

These are the men of whom Frederick the Great said, you might kill them where they stood, but never make them fly.-"They were motionless, fell, and died!"

"Then shrieked the timid, and stood still the brave."

A devout sense of religion, a warm and constant sense of Divine superintendence, has in every age, from the days of Rurick to those of Alexander, formed the ruling principle and grand characteristic of the Russians, and has of all nations which have ever risen to durable greatness. Karamsin tells us that from the remotest period this has been the unvarying characteristic of the Slavonic race :

"In the 6th century, the Slavonians adored the Creator of Thunder,-the God of the universe. The majestic spectacle of storms,—at the moment when an invisible hand appears from the height of the burning heavens to dart its lightnings upon the earth,-must ever make a deep impression alike on civilized and savage man. The Slavonians and Antes, as Procopius observes, did not believe in destiny; but, according to them, all events depended on the will of a Ruler of the world. On the field of battle, in the midst of perils, in sickness, in calamity, they sought to bind the Supreme Being,-by vows, by the sacrifice of bulls and goats, to appease his wrath. On the same principle, they adored the rivers and mountains, whom they peopled with nymphs and genii, by whose aid they sought to penetrate the depths of futurity. In later times, the Slavonians had abundance of idols; persuaded that true wisdom consisted in knowing the name and qualities of each god, in order to be able to propitiate his favour. They were true polytheists, considering their statues not as images of the gods, but as inspired by their spirit, and wielding their power.

"Nevertheless, in the midst of these absurd superstitions, the Slavonians had an idea of a supreme and all-powerful Being, to whom the

immensity of the heavens, dazzling with thou- | boundaries of Russia in Europe at this time. sands of stars, formed a worthy temple; but The words of the Novogorodians, their allies, who was occupied only with celestial objects, which the old annalist of Russia, Nestor, has while he had intrusted to subaltern deities, or transmitted, expressed the principle of the goto his children, the government of the world. vernment of this vast empire, at this early peThey called him 'Bilibos,' or 'the White God,' riod: "We wish a prince who will command while the spirit of evil was named 'Teherm- and govern us according to the laws;" that is bog,' or 'the Black God.' They sought to ap- to say, as a limited monarchy. pease the lash by sacrifices: he was represented under the image of a lion; and to his malignant influences they ascribed all their misfortunes and miseries of life. The beneficent Deity they considered too elevated to be swayed by prayers, or approached by mortals: it was the inferior executors of his will who alone were to be propitiated."—Vol. i. p. 99—they fitted out against Constantinople, and

102.

It has been already mentioned, that the Russian empire was founded by Rurick, in 862. And it is very remarkable that supreme power was obtained by that great warrior, not by the sword of conquest, but by the voluntary and unanimous will of the people.

Kieff was for centuries the capital of this rising dominion, its situation on the bank of the Dnieper being singularly favourable for the development of the resources of the empire. Of its strength and formidable character from the earliest times, decisive evidence is afforded by the three great expeditions which

which are recorded alike by the Greek and early religious annalists. Of the first of these, in 905, Karamsin has given us the following animated account:—

"In 905, Oleg, in order to find employment for his restless and rapacious subjects, declared war against the empire. No sooner was this determination known, than all the warlike tribes from the shores of Finland to those of the Vistula, crowded to the Dniester, and were ranged under the standard of Oleg. Speedily the Dniester was covered by 2,000 light barks, each of which carried forty combatants. Thus 80,000 armed men descended the river, flushed with victory, and eager for the spoils of the imperial city. The cavalry marched along the banks, and soon the mighty host approached the cataracts of the Dnieper, which were of a much more formidable cha racter than they are now, when so many subsequent centuries, and no small efforts of human industry, have been at work in clearing away the obstacles of the navigation. The Varagues of Kieff had first ventured with two

"In Russia," says Karamsin, "sovereign power was established with the unanimous consent of the inhabitants; and the Slavonic tribes concurred in forming an empire which has for its limits now the Danube, America, Sweden and China. The origin of the government was as follows:-the Slavonians of Novogorod and the central districts around Moscow, sent an embassy to the Varegue-Russians, who were established on the other side of the Baltic, with these words-Our country is great and fertile, but under the rule of disor der: come and take it.' Three brothers named RURICK, Sincori, and Trouver, illustrious alike by their birth and their great actions, escorted by a numerous body of Slavonians, accepted the perilous invitation, and fixed their abode, and began to assume the government in Rus-hundred barks to enter into the perilous rasia,-Rurick_at Novogorod, Sincori at Bich Ozero, near the Fins, and Trouver at Izborsk. Within less than two years, Sincori and Trouver both died, and Rurick obtained the government of the whole provinces which had invited them over; and which embraced all the central provinces of Russia; and the feudal system was established over their whole | extent."-Vol. i. p. 143, 144.

.

The Dnieper was the great artery of this infant dominion; at once their watery high road, and no inconsiderable source of subsistence. It was on its bosom that the innumerable canoes were launched, which, filled with yellow-haired and ferocious warriors, descended to the Sea of Azoph, penetrated into the Black Sea, forced the passage of the Bosphorus, and often besieged Constantinople itself. In less than a century after its first origin, the Russian empire was already a preponderating power in the east of Europe. Before the year 950 the conquests of Oleg, Sviatoslof, and Vladimir, the successors of Rurick, had advanced its frontiers, on the west, to the Baltic, the Dwina, the Bug, and the Carpathian mountains; on the south, to the cataracts of the Dnieper, and the Cimmerian Bosphorus; on the east and north to Finland and the Ural mountains, and on the south-east nearly to the Caspian Sea; corresponding nearly to the

pids, and through pointed rocks, and amidst foaming whirlpools, had safely reached the bottom. On this occasion Oleg passed with a fleet and army ten times as numerous. The Russians threw themselves into the water, and conducted the barks by the strength of the swimmers down the rapids. In many places they were obliged to clamber up on the banks, and seeking a precarious footing on the sharp ridges of rocks and precipices, often bore the barks aloft on their shoulders. After incredible efforts they reached the mouth of the river, where they repaired their masts, sails, and rudders; and boldly putting to sea, which most of them had never seen before, spread forth on the unknown waters of the Euxine. The cavalry marched by land, and though grievously weakened in number by the extraordinary length of the land journey, joined their fleet at the mouth of the Bosphorus; and the united force, 60,000 strong, at proached Constantinople.

Leon, surnamed the philosopher, reigned there; and incapable of any warlike effort he contented himself with closing the mouth of the Golden Horn, or harbour of Constanti nople; and secure behind its formidable ram parts, beheld with indifference the villages around in flames, their churches pillaged and destroyed, and the wretched inhabitants driven

an assault. Thirty thousand were put to death in cold blood, a like number condemned to perpetual slavery, and a contribution of 200,000 pieces of gold levied on the town. Khiva Tirmel, and Balkh, in the last of which were 1200 mosques, and 200 baths for strangers alone, experienced the same fate. During two or three years the ferocious wars of Genghis Khan ravaged to such a degree the wide cour tries stretching from the sea of Aral to the Indus, that during the six centuries which have since elapsed, they have never recovered their former flourishing condition."-Vol. iii. p. 281, 282.

At length this terrible tempest approached the Moscovite plains. The first great battle between the Moguls and the Russians took place in 1226.

by the swords and lances of the Russians into the capital. Nestor, the Russian annalist, has left the most frightful account of the cruel barbarities committed on these defenceless inhabitants by the victorious warriors, who put their prisoners to death by the cruelest tortures, and hurled the living promiscuously with the dead into the sea. Meanwhile the Greeks, albeit numerous and admirably armed, remained shut up in Constantinople; but soon the Russian standards approached the walls, and they began to tremble behind their impregnable ramparts. Oleg drew up his boats on the shore, and putting them, as at the cataracts of the Dnieper, on the shoulders of his men, reached the harbour on the land side; and after launching them on its upper extremity, appeared with spreading sails, as Mahomet II. afterwards did, ready to land his troops behind the chain, and escalade the walls, on the side where they were weakest. Terrified at this audacious enterprise, the Emperor Leon hastened to sue for peace, offering to send provisions and equipments for the fleet, and to pay an annual tribute; and a treaty was at length concluded, on the condition that each Russian in the armament should receive twelve grionas, and heavy contributions should be levied on the empire for the towns of Kieff, Tchernigof, Polteck, Lubetch, and other dependencies of Russia."-Vol. i. p. 162–165. When the imperial city in the commence-ted their ranks, and carried the most frightful ment of the 10th century was assailed by such formidable bodies of these northern invaders, and its emperors were so little in a condition to resist the attack, it is not surprising that it should have been prophesied in that city 900 years ago, that in its last days Constantinople should be taken by the Russians. The surprising thing rather is, that in consequence of the lateral irruption of the Turks, and the subsequent jealousies of other European powers, this consummation should have been so long delayed as it actually has.

Passing by the two centuries and a half of weakness, civil warfare, and decline, which followed the disastrous system of apanages, which are uninteresting to general history, we hasten to lay before our readers a specimen of the description Karamsin has given of the terrible effects produced by the Tartar invasions, which commenced in 1223. The devastation of that flourishing part of Asia which formerly bore the name of Bactriana and Sogdiana, is thus described:

"Bokhara in vain attempted a defence against Genghis Khan. The elders of the town came out to leave the keys of the city at the feet of the conqueror, but to no purpose. Genghis Khan appeared on horseback, and entered the principal mosque; no sooner did he see the Alcoran there, than he seized it, and threw it with fury to the ground. That capital was reduced to ashes. Samarcand, fortified with care, contained 100,000 soldiers, and a great number of elephants, which constituted at that period the principal strength of the Asiatic armies. Distrusting even these powerful means of defence, the inhabitants threw themselves on the mercy of the conqueror, but met with a fate as cruel as if they had stood

"Encouraged by a trifling success they had gained over the advanced guard of the enemy, the Russians drew up their army on the left bank of the Kalka, and calmly awaited the approach of the enemy. Soon the innumerable squadrons of the Tartars appeared, and the intrepid Daniel, overflowing with courage, bore down upon the vanguard, broke it, and had well-nigh gained a glorious victory; but the cowardly Polontsks could not stand the shock of the Moguls, and speedily turned their backs and fled. In the delirium of terror, they precipitated themselves on the Russians, penetra

disorder into their camp, where the princes of Kieff and Tchernigof had made no preparations for battle, as Moteslaf, their general, who commanded the leading column, wishing to engross the whole honours of victory, had given them no warning of the approaching fight. Once broken, the Russians made but a feeble resistance; even the young Daniel was swept away by the torrent, and it was not till his horse stopped on the brink of a stream which it could not pass, that he felt a deep wound which he had received in the commencement of the action. The Tartars, in continuing the pursuit to the banks of the Dnieper, made a prodigious slaughter of the flying Muscovites; among others, six princes and seventy nobles were put to death. Never did Russia experience a more stunning calamity. A superb army, numerous, valiant, animated with the highest spirit, almost entirely disappeared; hardly a tenth part of its numbers escaped. The base Polontsks, our pretended allies, joined in the massacre of the Russians, when victory had decidedly declared in favour of the Moguls. In the consternation which followed, the few Russian generals who survived threw themselves into the Dnieper, and destroyed all the boats on the river, to prevent the enemy from following after them. All but Moteslaf Romanevich, of Kieff, passed over: but that chief, who was left in a fortified camp on the summit of a hill, disdained to abandon his post, and actually awaited the whole fury of the Mogul onset. During three days, at the head of his heroic band, he repulsed all their efforts, and at length wearied with a resistance which they saw no means of surmounting, the Mogul leaders pro posed to allow him to retire with his troops

.

provided a ransom was agreed to, which ca- ['Oh, Lord! stretch out your invisible arms, pitulation was agreed to and sworn on both and receive your servants in peace,' and gave sides. No sooner, however, had the perfidious his benediction to all around him. In fervent Tartars by this device wiled the Russians out devotion they fell on their faces, awaiting death, of their stronghold, than they fell upon them which speedily overtook them. Some were and massacred the whole, and concluded their suffocated by the volumes of smoke which triumph, by making a horrid feast of their rushed in on all sides, others perished in the bloody remains."-Vol. iii. p. 289–291. flames or sank beneath the sword of the Tartars. The blood-thirstiness of the Moguls could not await the advance of the conflagration; with hatchets they burst open the gates and rushed in, eager for the treasures which they thought were hid in the interior. The cruel warriors of Bati made scarce any prisoners: all perished by the sword or the flames. The Prince Vsevold and Moteslaf, finding themselves unable to repel the enemy, strove to cut their way through their dense battalions, and both perished in the attempt.”—Vol. iii. p. 344, 345.

The immediate subjugation of Russia seemed presaged by this dreadful defeat; but the danger at the moment was averted by orders from Genghis Khan, who withdrew his forces to the south for an expedition against Persia. But the_breathing-time was not of long duration. Before many years had elapsed, the Tartars returned flushed with fresh conquest under the redoubtable Bati. That terrible conqueror, the scourge of Russia, took and burnt Moscow, where the prince, who commanded, and the whole of the inhabitants, were put to the sword, without distinction of age or sex. City after city, province after province, fell before the dreadful invaders, who seemed as irresistible as they were savage and pitiless. Broken "After the destruction of Vladimir, the nu down into numerous little apanages, or separate merous Tartar bands advanced towards Koprincipalities, the once powerful Russian em-zilsk, in the government of Kalonga. Vassili pire was incapable of making any effectual commanded in that town, and with his guards resistance. Yet were examples not wanting and his people deliberated on the part which of the most heroic and touching devotion, they should adopt. Our prince is still young, worthy to be placed beside the names of Asta- exclaimed those faithful Russians: 'It is our pa and Numantium. duty to die for him, in order to leave a glorious

Another instance of sublime devotion wil. close our extracts from the scenes of carnage :

Tartars escaladed the ramparts; but at their summit, they were met by a determined band of Russians, who with knives and swords, disputed every inch of ground, and slew 4,000 Tartars before they sank under the innumerable multitude of their enemies. Not one of that heroic band survived; the whole inhabitants, men, women, and children, were put to death, and Bati, astonished at so vehement a resistance, called the town, the wicked city;' a glorious appellation when coming from a Tartar chief. Vassili perished, literally drowned in the blood of his followers."-Vol. iii. p. 549, 550.

"Bati sent a part of his troops against Souz-name, and to find beyond the tomb the crown del, which made no resistance. As soon as of immortality.' All united in this generous they had entered it, the Tartars, according to determination, resolving at the same time to their usual custom, put to death the whole retard the enemy as much as possible by the population, with the exception of the young most heroic resistance. During more than a monks at Nuni, who were reserved for sla- month the Tartars besieged the fortress withvery. On the 6th of February, 1238, the in-out being able to make any sensible progress habitants of Vladimir beheld the dark squad-in its reduction. At length a part of the walls, rons of the Tartars, like a black torrent, sur- having fallen down, under their strokes, the round their walls; and soon the preparation | of scaling ladders and palisades indicated an immediate assault. Unable to resist this innumerable army, and yet sensible that it was in vain, as the Moguls would massacre, or sell them all for slaves, the boyards, and nobles, inspired with a sublime spirit, resolved to die as became them. The most heart-rending spectacle followed. Vsevold, his wife and children, and a great number of illustrious nobles assembled in the church of Nôtre Dame, where they supplicated the Bishop Metrophene, to give them the 'tonsure monacale,' which severed them from the world. That solemnity took place in profound silence. Those heroic citizens had bid adieu to the world and to life; but at the moment of quitting it, they did not pray the less fervently for the existence of their beloved Russia. On the 7th of February, being the Sunday of the Carnival, the assault commenced, the Tartars broke into the city by the Golden Gate, by that of Brass and that of Saint Irene. Vsevold and Moteslaf retired with their guards into the old town, while Agatha, the wife of Georges, the general-inchief, his daughters, nieces, grand-daughters, and a crowd of citizens of the highest rank, flocked to the cathedral, where they were soon surrounded by the ferocious Moguls, who set fire to the building. No sooner did he perceive the flames, than the bishop exclaimed,

And it is at the time when, these heroic deeds are for the first time brought under the notice of the people of this country, that we are told that every thing is worn out, and that nothing new or interesting is to be found in human affairs.

But all these efforts, how heroic soever, could not avert the stroke of fate. Russia was subdued less by the superior skill or valour, than the enormous numbers of the enemy, who at length poured into the country 400,000 strong. For above two hundred and fifty years they were tributary to the Tartars, and the grand princes of Russia were confirmed in their government by the Great Khan. The first great effort to shake off that odious yoke, was made in 1378, when Dmitri collected the still