490 
R U S 
It would be vain to attempt to describe all the different 
nations that are to be met with in the Kaucasus. Its most 
celebrated nation is the Tcherkasses, called by Europeans 
the Circassians. A general outline of them may be drawn in 
a very few words: a strong constitution, handsome face, 
graceful figure, extraordinary agility, great indifference to 
religion, a dislike of agriculture, but a decided propensity to 
plunder, a crafty mind and hospitable manners—such are 
the characteristic features of all the Kaucasians. 
Nothing can be more beautiful than the equipment of the 
Tcherkassian princes and ousden when they go to war, or 
upon extraordinary occasions. Kimmel has justly observed, 
that there is no nation whose army can exhibit a more bril¬ 
liant spectacle. They are then armed in the manner of the 
ancient knights, wearing a cuirass, or coat of mail, a large 
helmet, gauntlets, coverings for the thighs and arms, in short, 
all the pieces of armour employed by our heroes of old, ex¬ 
cepting the buckler, to the use of which they are strangers. 
To this antique and brilliant suit, made of fine iron or steel, 
ornamented with silver, they add the sabre, carbine, and 
pistol; on parade days they also carry a quiver, bow and 
arrows. 
The opposite plate (fig. 5) represents a Tcherkassian 
clothed in armour, and provided with a peculiar weapon 
which is sometimes used by them. This weapon is a thick 
stick having a large iron ball at one end and a sharp point 
at the other; it is thrown like a javelin, and seems to 
resemble the javelins called plumbatie, used by the Illyrian 
legions in the time of Dioclesian. 
Figure 6 is a prince of the same nation. 
The Government of Russia is an absolute hereditary mon¬ 
archy, in which the Emperor is the sole framer of the laws; 
but, as in other absolute monarchies, the exercise of power is 
tempered, and somewhat moderated by the rights and privi¬ 
leges to which many bodies in different provinces have, by 
long-established usage, such claims as would be dangerous 
to the monarch to infringe. In the administration of the 
government, there is an uniformity preserved throughout all 
the several provinces, and in the different branches into 
which the executive power is divided. The Emperor, through 
the directing senate, issues his ukases, or laws, to the Gover¬ 
nors of the several provinces; which laws are executed by a 
Board, divided into sections, of which they are presidents. 
Besides the civil, there is a military governor in each depart¬ 
ment, to whom alone the affairs of the army are intrusted. 
There are in Russia 36 of these governments. The remaining 
nine, consisting of Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, Vitebsk, 
Mohilof, Minsk, Wilna, Grodno, and Volchinia, are admi¬ 
nistered according to particular laws. Some tribes of the 
Kozaks are ruled by their hereditary chiefs. The ministers 
are appointed to different branches, denominated Foreign 
Affairs, War, Marine, Interior, Instruction, Finance, Jus¬ 
tice, Police, Agriculture, and Ecclesiastical. 
Law .—The Civil and Criminal codes of Russia are very 
imperfect, notwithstanding the efforts directed towards their 
improvement by the empress Catharine, and the more prac¬ 
tical attempt of Alexander. In the cities, two burgomasters 
and four counsellors; and in the country, one justice, with 
two noble and two plebeian proprietors, form tribunals of 
the first instance. From these, appeals may be made to 
higher courts in the several provinces; and from them again 
to the supreme tribunals at St. Petersburgh or Moscow. 
Among the less civilized people, great deviations from this 
system are still indulged; and their chiefs exercise an here¬ 
ditary power in civil as well as in criminal matters, over 
their several tribes. A kind of Court of Conscience exists in 
most places, which hears verbal complaints; acts as arbiters 
indifferences about smaller matters; and exercises power in 
behalf of minors and idiots. 
Finances .—The Finances of the Russian empire are not 
submitted to general inspection; and the great depreciation ex¬ 
perienced in the paper currency, creates some difficulty in 
S I A. 
ascertaining their amount. The chief taxes are the capita-' 
tion-tax of two roubles from each peasant, and five from 
each burgher; the property-tax of If per cent, on the capi¬ 
tal of the traders; and the duties on the importation of 
foreign goods. The other material sources of revenue are, 
the monopoly of distilled corn spirits; the profits of the coin¬ 
age, of postage, and of stamped paper; and the sale of wood 
from the annual cuttings of the royal forests. These several 
branches have been estimated to have afforded, in the year 
1820, about thirteen or fourteen millions sterling, including 
the kingdom of Poland. The expenses of the state, for 
many years, exceeded the income; and thus the public 
debt has been constantly increasing; but, it is said, the 
revenue now equals, or rather exceeds the expenditure. The 
national debt is supposed to amount to 1,000,000,000 roubles, 
or about 160,000,000/. sterling. One-half of this is believed 
to consist in the government paper roubles, which have been 
issued at a gradually increasing depreciation. The other 
half, or funded debt, is principally owing to foreigners, and 
the interest is paid to them in silver money. This state of 
debt, for so extensive and so numerously peopled a country, 
may not appear very heavy; but in Russia there is only 
paper money in circulation, and the constant drain to pay 
the interest of the debt in the precious metals, makes the 
difficulty of returning to a metallic currency almost insur¬ 
mountable. The project of a sinking fund was adopted in 
1817, but it has hitherto made but a slight progress in 
redeeming the debt. 
The increase of the Russian army has far exceeded what 
has been experienced in either the territory, the population, 
or the revenue of the empire. 
Tzar Peter I. in 1687, had, of regular troops 10,000 
Emperor Peter I. in 1724 . 108,350 
Empress Elizabeth, in 1747 . 162,750 
Empress Catharine, in 1771... .V.. 198,107 
-in 1786 . 263,662 
Emperor Paul, in 48(00.. 368,715 
Emperor Alexander, in 1805 . 428,287 
-in 1820. 989,117 
Besides this prodigious force, a national guard, or militia, 
is organized in all parts of the empire, except in Siberia and 
the two northern European provinces. The expense of this 
vast force is very small; the articles of their equipment, pro¬ 
visioning, and arming, being of the cheapest and coarsest 
kind ; and as the recruits are procured by ballot, and the pay 
of officers and men is low, the whole expense of the esta¬ 
blishment is only 20,000,000 roubles, or about 3,000,000/. 
sterling. The institutions for military education are fully 
commensurate to the extent of the force. In the Cadets’ house 
at Petersburgh, are 1000 youths; and the whole number in 
the empire, under appropriate instruction for the military 
profession, amounts to nearly 3000. 
The navy of Russia has not been neglected; but though 
the present force is equal to what existed in 1813, yet its 
character is much inferior, as many of the ships are become 
old. Very little timber of the best quality is to be found in 
the Russian territory; but every other article, required for a 
navy, is abundantly and cheaply supplied from domestic 
sources. We have already mentioned its numerical force. 
Commerce .—Though Russia is, in common with all semi- 
barbarous states, rather fitted by nature for production than 
manufacture, a very natural, though pitiable emulation of 
England, has induced her rulers to take considerable pains 
to encourage the practices of weaving, cutlery, &c. Their 
success has not been so great as to produce any importan 
consequences; and the exportations of Russia are confined 
to raw, or nearly raw, products. 
The imports consist chiefly of rice, sugar, yarn, dyeing 
materials, cotton, cotton manufactures, and wine. The ex¬ 
ports, of tallow, flax, hemp, and corn. 
The 
