The Sun.
London, England, 1825-09-08 00:00:00

THE COSSACS.

(From the Asiatic Journal.)
The origin and early history of this remark-
able race of people, like that of most other na-
tions, are enveloped in total darkness. Ka-
ramsin (in his History of the Russian Empire)
endeavours to throw some light on this subject ;

and as this author's great -work is but little
known in England, we shall extract the whole

of his observations :

cc We observe that the annals of the times of
Wassily the Dark, in the year 1444, mention the
Rjasan Cossacs, a peculiar kind of light troops,
who have rendered themselves so famous in mo-
dern times. Thus we find that the Cossacs were

not exclusively in the Ukraine, where their name
occurs in history about the year 1507 ; but it is
probable that their name is older in Russia than
Batu's irruption (1241-2), and belonged to the
Torks or Berendeji, who dwelt on the banks of
the Dnieper, below Kiev. There we also find
the habitations of the Cossacs of Little Russia.
The 'Forks and Beredeji were called Cher-
kessi ; so were the Cossacs. If we call
to mind the Cassogi, who, according to our
annals, dwelt between the Caspian and Black
Seas, if will naturally bring as to the Kas-
sachie, placed in that country by the Emperor
Porphyrogenita. The Ossets Still call the Cher-
kessi, Kassachs : all which circumstances lead us
to conclude, that the Torks and Berendeji, who
called themselves Cherkessi, were also called
Cossacs; that some of them lived, protected by
their rocks, reeds, and marches, on the islands of
the Dnieper, independent of the yoke of both
Tartars and Lithuanians; that many Russians,
flying from their oppressors, joined them there,
and, together, formed the nation of the Cossacs,
which the more readily became Russian, as their
forefathers, who had lived in the territory of
Kiev since the tenth century, had themselves
nearly become Russians. Increasing in num-
bers, and nourishing a spirit of fraternity and
love of independence, they formed a republic of
Christian warriors in the southern parts of the
Dnieper, where they built villages and towns in
a country laid waste by the Tartars, and became
the defenders of Lithuania against the Crimeans
and Turks. For these services they obtained
many privileges and immunities by Sigismund 1.,
who also granted them lands above the falls of
the Dnieper, where. they gave their name to the
town of Cherkassy. They divided themselves
into hundreds and regiments, whose Chiefs, or
Hetmans, obtained from the Polish King, Ste-
phen Bathory, as a mark of particular esteem, a
royal standard, a horse's tail, a Commander's staff
and seal. It was these warriors, burning for liberty
and the Greek church, who, during the first half of
the 17th century, freed little Russia from its
foreign oppressors, and restored the province
to its lawful sovereigns. The Cossacs called
Saporoni (dwelling below the waterfalls) formed
a part of those of Little Russia ; their ssjetsha
(mud forts) were originally the rendezvous of
unmarried Cossacs, who had no other trade but
war and plunder ; but subsequently they settled
in them. It was probably from the example of
the Ukraine Cossacs, who were constantly armed
and prepared to receive the enemy, that the
northern cities caught the idea of forming a simi-
lar militia. The territory of Rjassan, which was
most exposed to the attacks of the nomade rob.
hers, wanted this kind of defenders more than
any other ; and the immunities offered, and the
prospect of booty induced many young men
without property to enlist themselves as Cossacs.
In the history of subsequent periods, we Lind
horde-Cossacss Assovian, and Nogaian Cossacs;
the name at that time implied volunteers, par-
tisans, or adventurers, hut not robbers, as some
pretend, referring us to the sense which the word
beau's in the Turkish. language. It cannot be
a term of insult—since warriors, who died for

their liberty, country, and religion, called them
selves thereby."
By this short sketch, it appears evident that
the Cossacs have not only originated in differen
tribes, but that many of them are a mixture o
different race, of which the real Russians form no
small proportion ; a supposition rendered the
more probable from their great conformity with
that nation in features, language, religion, and
habits. But still there is a difference in their
capacities and feelings, which is perhaps snore
owing to the peculiar mode of life they have been
pursuing for several centuries past, than to a na-
tural difference of disposition. They are by far
more active, intelligent,
and enterprising than the
other Russians in private life, as much as in war ;
and although fierce towards an enemy, they are
of a gentle and tractable disposition, and candid,
upright, and hospitable to the stranger who so-
journs in their land. What distinguishes them
above all from the rest of their countrymen, is
their spirit of independence and love of liberty.
They have proved of incalculable service to
the Russian Government, not only in actual
warfare, but also in guarding its extensive fron-
tiers, in the south and east, against the predatory
tribes which hover around them—in 'protect-
lag mercantile caravans and political missions
over Mount Caucasus, and through the. steppes
of the Kirghisin conveying government orders,
escorting prisoners, &c. ; their activity and
strength, courage, vigilance, and fidelity being
proof against the severest trials. Armed with
• his pistols and lance, and seated on a pony as
nimble and as indefatigable as himself, the Cos-
sac will travel for hundreds of miles with scanty
food, and without any other rest than a few short
snatches of sleep taken on the hard ground, and
under the canopy of heaven, while his faithful
animal is grazing near him ; and never be satisfied
till his commission, whether it. be the simple con-
veyance of a letter, or the intercepting
of a con-
voy, be fulfilled.
There is still another circumstance in which
they have been very useful to Russia, and under
which they are least known in this country, viz.
the monarchy itself (during the 17th century),
as discoverers. The vast countries of Northern
Asia, situated between the Ural mountains and
the Eastern Ocean, the Arctic Sea and the river
Amoor, now known by the general name of Si-
beria, were all discovered and rendered tributary
-
to Russia by Cossacs; and that at a period; when

struggling against the imbecility of its rulers and '
the rude attacks of foreign invaders, was on the
point of being dissolved. A few of these adven-
turers, encouraged by some Russian merchants,
and followed b? some hundreds of vagabonds
from all parts of the country, conquered the
country as far as Tobolsk, before they received
any aid from government. A few hundred of
them even effected a settlement on the banks of
the Amoor, bearding the power of thousands of
Chinese and Tartars, and would perhaps have ex-
tended their conquests far into Mongolia, had
they been properly assisted. In short, we may
say—as Providence bestows on every country
that which its climate and situation seem most
to require, so it gave to Russia her Cossacs, with-
out whom she would have remained a prey to the
Tartars, and could even now scarcely zubsist as
an empire.