730 



RUSSIA. 



in 1864. Since the defeat and capture of 

 Schamyl, the chief of the most warlike of the 

 tribes, loosely included under the general 

 name of Circassians, the progress of the Rus- 

 sians has been on the whole steady and irresist- 

 ible. Once or twice the brave mountaineers dealt 

 heavy blows, which unduly excited the hopes 

 of their friends in Europe, some of whom were 

 sanguine enough to believe that with a little 

 foreign aid they would be able to make an 

 attack on Southern Russia, that would operate 

 as an important diversion in favor of the insur- 

 gent Poles. In November, 1803, the Shapsuhs, 

 under the command of Hadji Thasigussa, who 

 already possessed a distinguished reputation, 

 which he well sustained on this occasion, drove 

 back the Russians several times. But the in- 

 vading army, which was under 'the chief com- 

 mand of the Grand-duke Michael, and estimated 

 at over 200,000 men, was too numerous to 

 leave any hope to the Circassians. The last 

 engagement seems to have taken place in April, 

 1804. The Circassians then gave up the strug- 

 gle, and, having received permission from the 

 Turkish Government, determined to follow 

 those of their countrymen who, during the pre- 

 ceding five years, had emigrated to Turkey. 

 They severely suffered in this emigration, and 

 thousands of them perished. The Turkish 

 Government made great efforts to assist them, 

 and gave them settlements near the mouths of 

 the Danube. 



The pacification of Poland and of the Caucasus 

 was soon followed by the accomplishment of 

 another of the objects of the settled Russian 

 policy, of attaining the supremacy in Asia the 

 conquest of Toorkistan. The Bombay "Ga- 

 zette" gives the following account of this cam- 

 paign : "Before the Caucasus was entirely sub- 

 jugated, the Russians had already made good 

 their footing in Toorkistan, having taken pos- 

 session of Khiva, and sent pioneers as far as 

 Bokhara. But they have lately taken the of- 

 fensive with a force evidently much larger than 

 they ever before entered the field with in this 

 part of Central Asia. The cause of their inva- 

 sion of the principality of Kokan is not stated, 

 but a strong power, covetous of the territory 

 of a weak neighbor, can always find a con- 

 venient excuse for an appeal to arms. "With- 

 out, however, presuming to determine whether 

 the Russians had or had not real injuries to re- 

 dress, we think Englishmen in general, both- 

 soldiers and politicians, may well take note of 

 the surprising vigor with which the Kokan 

 campaign has been brought to a successful close 

 by the Russians. Fort after fort has been 

 stormed in rapid succession ; and the latest ad- 

 vices from Cabul are to the effect that Kokan 

 itself has been taken, and that the Khan, after 

 making submission to the conquerors, has been 

 replaced on his throne as a vassal of the Em- 

 peror of Russia. Thus, Russia has already sub- 

 jugated two of the States of Toorkistan, Khiva 

 and Kokan ; of the other two, Bokhara and the 

 Affguan principality of Balkh, the former is 



governed by a king who is the chosen ally and 

 friend of the Russians, and Avho openly main- 

 tains the title to Balkh of Sirdar Abdoolrah- 

 man Khan, in defiance of the Ameer of Cabul, 

 whose treacherous conduct to Afzul Khan, the 

 father of Abdoolrahman, has made him most 

 unpopular with all the Mussulmans of Central 

 Asia. From the small beginnings, then, of 

 twenty years ago, when the suspicions of Indian 

 politicians of vivid imaginations were first; 

 aroused by rumors that here and there a Rus- 

 sian travelling merchant had penetrated within 

 the borders of Toorkistan, Russia has steadily 

 and surely advanced till she is now the most 

 formidable military and political power in Cen- 

 tral Asia, with a favorable opportunity pre- 

 sented to her of interfering in Affghan politics, 

 and making her influence paramount in the only 

 still independent State which separates her do- 

 minions from those of the Government of British 

 India." The conquest of Toorkistan was fol- 

 lowed by an imperial decree organizing the con- 

 quered territory into a Russian province. 



The years 1803 and 1804 have not only been 

 marked by great military successes, but by in- 

 ternal reforms even more important for the 

 future destinies of the empire. The last vestiges 

 of serfdom are fast disappearing. As a conse- 

 quence of the emancipation of the peasants, the 

 Government has taken measures for the diffu- 

 sion of instruction among the agricultural popu- 

 lation. An additional budget of 450,000 roubles 

 for the year 1865 has been decreed, so that the 

 budget of Public Instruction now amounts to 

 about 1,300,000 roubles. This supplementary 

 budget provides for the founding of village 

 schools, of eleven new gymnasia (colleges) ; for 

 the purchase of books, paper, etc., for the poorer 

 peasants ; for supplementary payment to school- 

 masters and professors; for the purchase of 

 scientific instruments ; for the establishment of 

 laboratories and museums; for the reorgani- 

 zation of the University of Warsaw ; for the 

 foundation of a polytechnic school, and foi 

 other schools for teaching agriculture and hor- 

 ticulture. The Latin system of higher educa- 

 tion in the gymnasia has heen reorganized, and 

 the most strenuous efforts are being made to 

 raise them to a level with the colleges of Prus- 

 sia, which are generally recognized as the best 

 of Europe. 



But the most important of all the reforms is 

 the introduction of a constitutional form of 

 Government. The first step toward this reform 

 was taken in the Grand Duchy of Finland. On 

 September 18, 1803, the Emperor Alexander 

 opened personally the Diet of the Grand Duchy 

 with a speech, which expressed his confidence 

 in a liberal form of Government, and intimated 

 his design to develop liberal institutions first in 

 Finland, and later in other parts of the empire. 

 The emperor states that his attention had long 

 been engaged with questiors of a serious in- 

 terest to Finland, but that they had to remain 

 in suspense because " their solution demanded 

 the cooperation of the Diet." It was impossi- 



