326 



COLONIES. 



termination of the wars with Napoleon, desired plans 

 for diminishing the great expense of a standing army, 

 Araktschejefl' advised him to quarter the soldiers 

 among the crown peasants, to build military villages 

 on a given plan, to allow to each house a certain num- 

 ber or acres of land, and to devise a code of laws for 

 the government of this institution. The soldier was 

 thus to become a peasant of the crown, and the 

 crown peasant a soldier, and both were to be made 

 to contribute to their own support by the cultivation 

 of the soil, and the whole male population of the co- 

 lonies was to be drilled in the military exercises, and 

 be kept as a reserve for field-duty. On account of 

 the vast extent of the empire, the recruits hitherto 

 levied liad often been totally separated from their 

 homes; they joined their regiments, and, after twen- 

 ty-five years of service on the frontiers of Turkey, 

 1'ersia, Poland, Norway, and China , forgot that they 

 had families and a country. It was therefore consid- 

 ered desirable that the whole military force of the 

 Russians along the boundaries of Poland, Turkey, 

 and the vicinity of Caucasus, should be collected into 

 military colonies, by which not only the population 

 and cultivation of the country should be promoted, 

 and the families of the soldiers in actual service be 

 provided for, but also the soldiers themselves in times 

 of peace, and in the midst of their wives and chil- 

 dren, and around their own firesides, should acquire an 

 attachment to their country. Such colonies were first 

 established in the government of Novogorod ; the sol- 

 diers were placed in certain villages, which were the 

 property of the crown ; the peasants were gradually 

 brought under military government, obliged to wear 

 their hair short, and to shave then* beards, and were 

 also drilled in military exercises, so that, in case of 

 the death, absence on service, or sickness of the quar- 

 tered soldier, the peasant could immediately take his 

 place. Some disorders, the consequence of this pro- 

 ject, were soon suppressed, and the whole system 

 gradually developed. According to this system, the 

 name, age, property, and family of each inhabitant of 

 the selected villages are specified ; the older peasants 

 are declared the chief colonists, and houses built for 

 them, in regular rows constituting streets. Each 

 chief colonist is equipped in uniform, trained to mili- 

 tary exercises, and receives a house with fifteen desa- 

 tines of land, on condition of maintaining one soldier 

 and his horse, if cavalry is colonized). The soldier 

 quartered on him is called the agricultural soldier, 

 and assists him in the tillage of the fields and in do- 

 mestic labours. He also selects one of his family as 

 un assistant, commonly the eldest son, who, after the 

 tfeath of his father, with the approbation of the 

 <olonel of the regiment, inherits his real estate. 

 The second son, or some other relation, comes 

 into the u reserve," and also dwells in the house ; 

 the third is also made an agricultural soldier; 

 the others are cantonists, &c. A family is divid- 

 ed into three classes. The boys, until they are 

 eight years of age, are allowed to remain with their 

 parents ; they are then sent to the military schools, 

 where they are habituated to strict discipline : at the 

 age of thirteen years, they become cantonists, and at 

 the same time are educated as peasants and soldiers, 

 and at seventeen years, they form a part of the mili- 

 tary colony, which is governed by a peculiar code. 

 Each colony has its own court of justice, at which 

 the highest officer presides, and the rest follow ac- 

 cording to rank. No girl is permitted to marry any 

 one but a soldier. No person is allowed to enter 

 the military district without a special pass from the 

 military authority. The duties connected with the 

 post-houses are also committed to the care of the 

 soldiers. After twenty or twenty-five years' service, 

 the agricultural soldier may renounce his double 



duty as a soldier and a farmer, or declare himself an 

 invalid. His place is then filled by one of the re- 

 serve. Thus had Russia, in 1824, already establish- 

 ed a kind of military caste, and, as it were, a mili- 

 tary zone, which extends from the Baltic to the Black 

 sea, along the western frontier of the empire, in the 

 governments of Novogorod, Cherson, Charkow, and 

 Ekaterinoslaw, and constitutes the proper country of 

 her standing army. In this belt of land, all the 

 male children are born soldiers ; in their seventeenth 

 year, they are placed under the standards, constantly 

 drilled in military exercises, and remain soldiers till 

 they are sixty years of age. As soldiers, they cease 

 to be boors. They are divided into regiments, com- 

 panies, &c., for whose support a part of the crown- 

 lands is set apart. From the produce of the land 

 granted them, the soldiers of the colony must sup- 

 port themselves and their horses, while not in active 

 service ; then they receive pay. It is calculated, 

 that the number of these agricultural soldiers, when 

 the system is fully carried into execution, will amount 

 to 3,000,000, half of whom can be drafted for service. 

 The colonies already established, in 1824, contained 

 about 400,000 male inhabitants, including 40,000 

 cavalry. In July of the same year, the emperor 

 visited in person many of the colonies, and publicly 

 expressed his satisfaction with their condition. As 

 this system is extended, the conscription and recruit- 

 ing hitherto practised must gradually fall into disuse. 

 The empire, on its only assailable side, is thus in a 

 continual state of defence ; this living rampart also 

 compensates for the want of fortresses, of which 

 there are none of much importance in Russia. Gene- 

 ral count Araktschejeft' was, till the deatli of Alex- 

 ander, the commander-in-chief of all the military 

 colonies of the empire. In January, 1824, all the 

 military cantonists of the military orplian schools (in 

 which reading, writing, and arithmetic are taught on 

 the Lancastrian plan, and the soldiers' catechism ex- 

 plained), were made subordinate to the commander- 

 in-chief of the military colonies. Of the cantonists, 

 a considerable number yearly enter the military ser- 

 vice, in the place of those of the reserves, who have 

 been drafted to supply the numbers of the agricul- 

 tural soldiers. The boys then succeed to the places 

 vacated by these cantonists, and so on. A military 

 education is the peculiar support of this system, 

 which subjects the peasant to a military police. For 

 the education and support of the boys and cantonists, 

 the revenue obtained from the release of recruits is 

 applied. By the ukase of December 29, 1823, the 

 possessors of landed property in the thinly settled 

 governments were released from the duty of levying 

 recruits, by the payment of a certain sum of money ; 

 3500 of these releases, at 2000 roubles paper money 

 each, were issued, which produce an income to the 

 state of 7,000,000 of roubles. The expenditures 

 for the military colonies amounted, according to the 

 report of the commander-in-chief, in the year 1822, 

 to 4,962,475 roubles, and the total expenditure since 

 their organization, to 1824, amounted hi all to 

 15,780,115 roubles. Of the 6,000,000 of crown 

 peasants, 4,000,000 are sufficient to furnish quarters 

 to the whole army. Thus Russia, together with her 

 present army of 8900,000 men (according tc the 

 rolls, though not in actual service), would have one 

 equally strong in her colonists, which can be recruit- 

 ed from the cantonists and the body of reserve, with- 

 out interruption, and in the best manner. A very 

 despotic authority will, however, be requisite to pre- 

 serve a body of 2,000,000 of soldiers, who have 

 houses and families, under military discipline and re- 

 strictions. This system, since the death of the em- 

 peror Alexander, has been extended no farther, but, 

 as far as it was already in existence, lias been retain- 



