The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-10-30 00:00:00

111 E STA'I'ESM

pieces a Russian army, took Kolomna, and sacked
Wladimer ; he destroyed all the family of Surge 11.
who was killed himself in battle. Baton-Khan pur-
sued his conquests in the North of llnssia, and after-
wards extended his ravages to the West, and made
himself master of Kiovie, Kaminieck, in Podolia,
and of Wladimer, in Wolhynia. The fate was, the
Russians were the most deplorable ; they were but
''the slaves of the Tartars.
The conquerors made lists of the people thee had
conquered in the different principalities, and itn-
posed rents upon them, which the Khans exacted
under the name of voluntary gifts, but soon con-
verted them into annual tributes. Bereke-Khan,
successor of Baton-Khan, was the first who had
his tribute collected by his own Officer, the Re-
ceiver-General, who was at the same time Corn.
mender of the Tartar troops in Russia, under the
title of the Grand Baskake. He resided at ‘Vladi.
mer, in the Palace of the Grand Dukes, and all
i the Baskakes of the other towns and principalities
were under him. The successors of Bereke-Khan
increased the taxes, and made the Russian Princes
themselves subject to military service ; some were
compelled to attend in person on the hord of the.
Khan of Kaptschak : these Princes were obliged to
solicit as a favour a confirmation of their dignities ;
they were made to walk between two piles of wood
on fire, that they might purify themselves and the
presents that they bore to their new masters ; they
were also obliged to bow before an image that was ,
placed at the entrance of the ,Khan's tent, where
they often suffered ,ignominy and death. The Grand
Duke Michael was executed there in 1318 ; Dimitry •
Michaeolowitz met the same fate in 13'26. Thus -
was the terrible yoke of the Mongols forced upon
the Russians for two entire centuries.
In the end, when the power of the conquerors was
enfeebled, the fate of the vanquished was not more
deplorable.
The Lithuanians, who had been for a long time'
tributary to Russia, cast oil the yoke, and in their
turn became conquerors. They dismembered by
little and little all the western part of the ancient
Russian Empire. Towards the middle of the twelfth
century, Ringold, Duke of Lithuania, assumed the
dignity of Grand Duke. Gedmin, one of his sue-
cessors, seized, in 1320, the city and principality of
Kiovie, after having often beaten the Russian Paces,
supported by the Tartars. All the Grand Duchy of
Kiovie was conquered by the Lithuanians; Godmin
was the founder of a new line of Grand Dukes, and
of the towns of Troki and Vilna. Many Russian
land Polish families as Chowanskoi, Galitzin, Ku.
! rukin; Scbtschenetew, Koreskor, Mtislawskoi, 'fru-
bezkoi, Tschertoritskoi, Bulski, bc. take their ori•
gm from him.
Thus Russia, after having suffered under the se.
vere dominion of the Tartars for two hundred years,
uas despoiled by the Poles and Lithuanians. She
mas almost annihilated; she had no political exist-
Nice, and seemed to have been effaced from the
Powers'of the earth. Now did she rise from that state
of humiliation and debasement? It is that which we
shall examine in another article. We shall show how
the Russian Empire escaped from servitude, and pre-
sented a new and brilliant prospect of greatness and
audacity ; how she disunited those by whom she was
reduced to slavery ; how she corrupted the one and
enslaved the other; hew she extended her dangerpus
influence; and how she provoked that redoubtable
confederacy of Europe, the profound conception of
the greatest getlius that ever existed, and the execu-
tion of which promises to France, her august Ckief,
I and her faithful allies, new triumphs and renown.

The body of poor Burke, the lamplighter, who
was blown over the ballustrades of Blackfriars'-
blidge, on Tuesday night, was picked op last night
near Wapping, and conveyed to his disconsolate

family.
ItoeuraT AT Sucentan's Brig.—A few nights
since, some villains effected an entrance into the
dwelling-house of Mr. Tait, at Shepherd's Bush, by
forcing open the kitchen-door with an iron crow, and
succeeded in carrying off plate and kitchen utensils to
a great amount.
PCGlLlsm.—TestPrday a pitched battle was fought
between George Folks and Little Andrew, two I
journeymen bakers, in Copenhagen Fields. *Georgor!
Brown seconded Folks, and Paddington Jones Lit...l
tte Andrew. The match was for five pounds. After'
fighting 80 rounds in one hour and a half, Little An-
drew beat his man. lt was a real milling fight. An- :
drew gave him enough to satisfy any glutton.
was taken t o the Cock, Nei-street, Carnaby4marker,
dreadfully beaten. After the 6g,ht, Snuff, who fought!
Cats' Meat, commonly dined the Singing Boy, chat- !
longed the victor for 501 which Was readily accepted.
Tl.ey arc to fight iti a month, if Mr. Snuff can get any
body to back Maim:Rhin that time.
• NlAtt. llouttralt.—lt is rather an extrordinary
Lei I CUM Stance connected with the robbery of the Leeds
mail-coach, that an interval of nearly three days
should pass without the occurrence of a single fact
that can lead to a disgovery of the robbers, or throw
any light upon the mysterious trausaction, unless the
following can be considered as of that description :
On Tuesday, about noon, the guard, accompanied
by two Bow-street officers, set out from town for
the place where the robbery was supposed to have
been committed. On reaching Bedford, they ob-
tained information that three men of a suspicions
appearance, with a light caravan, had been seen in that
and other towns on the route of the mail-coach, pre-
vious to the robbery. The officers procekded north-
wards
in the track of the caravan, but had heard no
farther tidings of it so late as Werluesday morning.—
A report was prevalent in the city, that all the bags, I
with a considerable part of the letters and property, I
had been found in fields near the road-side, about
mid-way between Kettering and Iligliam Ferrers.—
This report proved to be unfounded. We formerly,
stated,, that the guard declared he was not more than
tire minutes in the act of leaning over the roof and
conversing with the coachman ; and that, in this
In-
terval, the 16 bags were abstracted ; but whether he
affirmed the same in his deposition before the LORD
MANon, the examination being private, -we have get'
the means of ascertaining. We are now assured,
however, that the guard travelled by the side of the
I •
iranchman, on the box, between three and four miles,
pind that on returning to the dickey; he discovered
he robbery, a story more consistent with probability
°than the other; •

,N ,

LAW INrELLIGENCE.
•, )
COURT OF KING'S BENCH, OCT. 'P.
Adjourned Sittings Wore Lord BiLltilloiforfetr.
snurns c. *Atter., S'
This was an action on-a poucy..(;# insurance ef-
fected in October, 1810, pretnnini”of 40 guineas
per cent. on goods by the ship Sophia, from London
to the Baltic, against all.rsks, except British cap-
ture, and until delivered into the warehouse of the
consignee, and with liberty to carry simulated
papers.
It appeared that the cause had been before tried,
and that the goods insured belonged to a house in
Prussia, and on their arrival in a Prussian port were
seized by the Pruss:an Government fur tradieg with
England.
A verdict was then found for the assured, subject
to the opinion of the Court, whether an uo-
iderwriter could be legally compelled to pay a loss to
a Prussian subject arising from the seizure of the
Prussian .Government. The question had been
argued before the Omit, when it ‘s as contended for
the Plaintiff that the Undorwriter knew the risk of
seizure at the lime he wrote the policy, and meant
to insure against it, which was denied on the other
side, and a new trial was ordered, for the purpose
of having the nature of the trade and other ciran-
stances enquired into.
It was now proved, that for a considerable time
previous to the signing the policy, the tittle with 1
England had been entirely prohibited in every port
in the Baltic, notwithstanding which a very exten-
sive trade had been carried on by means of simulated
papers and with. British licences ; but that the pro-
perty was seized when discovered to have come from
England. The Plaintiffs also offered evidence to
show that the Defendant and the other underwritets,
when this risk was_ insured at a premiem of forty
guineas per cent, knew that the seizure by the Go-
vernment was one of the risks to he incurred ; but
this eddence was rejected. A verdict was again
found for the Plaintiff, subject to the opinion of the
Court, whether the underwriter is legally' liable to',
the loss. 1