XIII. than any of the Russian Academicians,) are a mix- CHAP. ture of various nations, principally of Circassians, Malo-Russians, and Russians, but also of Tahtars, Poles, Greeks, Turks, Calmucks, and Armenians. In the town of Tcherkask alone, and in the same street, may be seen all these different people at the same time, each in the habit peculiar to his own nation. A considerable proportion of the inhabitants have ever been refugees from Turkey, Greece, or from other countries. Concerning the original establishment of Tcherkask, they relate, that it was founded by refugees from Greece, to whom the people of Azof denied admission, and who, in consequence, proceeding farther up the river, came to this island, where they made a settlement; giving to the place a name derived from the people upon whose frontier it was situate, and with whom they afterwards were intermingled. The name of the town, although pronounced ТCHERKASKY, is written TCHERKASK, implying "The small village of the Tcherkas," pronounced generally Tcherkess, or, as we write it, Circassians. Thus, from a small settlement of rovers, augmented principally by intercourse with the neighbouring Circassians, has since accumulated, like a vast avalanche, the immense horde of the Cossacks. Before the middle of the tenth century, they had already reached the frontier of Poland, and had com XIII. CHAP. menced an intercourse with the people of that country this was often attended with an augmentation of their horde by the settlement of Polish emigrants among them. Their first notable armament is said to have been in the year 948', when the Greek Emperor employed them as mercenaries in his war against the Turks. From their address in archery, their neighbours had given them the name of Chogars, and Chazars: under this latter appellation they are frequently mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenetes, and their country called Chazaria2. The Greek Emperor, for the services they rendered, sent (1) Scherer, Tableau de la Petite Russie, tom. I. p. 67. (4) Storch, Tableau de la Russie, tom. I. p. 55. tr (5) See "A Discourse of the Original of the Cossacks," by Edward Brown, p. 1. Lond. 1672. derivation, substitutes another still more frivo- the Chazacks," says he, " formed a part of that CHAP. XIII. (6) Scherer, Tableau de la Russie, tom. I. p. 67. (7) See Letters concerning the Spanish Nation, by the Rev. E. Clarke (the author's father), p. 338. (8) Observations Historiques, &c. sur les Peuples Barbares, par Peyssonnel, p. 125. Paris, 1765. XIII. CHAP. Volga, of Grebenskoy, of Orenburg, of the Ural Alps, and of Siberia; where they have received yet other appellations, and reach even to the mountains of China, and to the Eastern Ocean. It is necessary to confine our attention to the principal hive, whence, with little exception, all those swarms have migrated. Causes of their in crease. Nothing has contributed more to augment the nation of the Don Cossacks, than the freedom they enjoy. Surrounded by systems of slavery, they offer the singular spectacle of an increasing republic; like a nucleus, putting forth its roots and ramifications to all parts of an immense despotic empire, which considers it a wise policy to promote their increase, and to guarantee their privileges. As they detest the Russians, a day may come, when, conscious of their own importance, they will make their masters more fully sensible of their power'. A sage regulation in their military constitution, from a very early period, induced them to grant all the privileges they enjoy to all prisoners of war who were willing to settle among them. (1) After slightly noticing their most important revolts under Razin and Boulavin, towards the end of the seventeenth, and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, Storch observes, "L'histoire de ces rebellions est assez interessante pour occuper un de nos historiens modernes.”—See p. 26 of the Notes to Storch's Tableau de la Russie, tom. I. XIII. Thus, from the success attending their incur- CHAP. sions, their numbers have rapidly increased. In the year 1579, they made their appearance, for the first time, in the Russian armies. In 1734, their earliest colonies were established upon the Volga. About the same time, another colony marched towards the Terek, and settled there. Towards the middle of the last century, a detachment fixed their residence along the banks of the Samara, the Ui, and the Ural, as far as the Kirgisian frontier. But by much the most powerful detachment from the original hive is established upon the shores of the Caspian, at the mouth of the Ural river: it left the Don in the beginning of the fifteenth century, and has since been augmented by subsequent emigrations from the parent stock. This branch of the Don Cossacks joined in the rebellion under Pugatchef. In order to annihilate the memory of their revolt, the Russian Government prudently changed their name, (which had hitherto been, Cossacks of the Jaik,) together with the name of their capital, and of the river upon which they resided'. The most remarkable branch of the Don Cossacks has been established in Siberia. It (2) Storch, tom. I. p. 68. (3) Ibid. p. 73. |