The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-04-11

restles spirit of ,the Cossacks, Russia
owes her dominion over Siberia. In the
reign of John the Terrible, Cossack
chief by the name of Yermak, in the
employment of the Stroganoffs, a family
of wealthy merchants, undertook, with
handful of followers, $40 in number,
an expedition across the Ural Noun
tains, which, like the expedition of Cor
tez to Mexico, resulted in the conquest
of an empire, immesc in extent, and
abounding in Inexhuustable mines of
gold. The defendants of these adven-
turers and of those who followed them,
now compose the aristocracy of Siberia
Some of them live in the towns; others
are stationed in garrisons along the from
tiers of China.
From the Cossack of Siberia, We pass
by the Cossacks of the Ural and Orcn-
burg, who number together about loo,-
600, to those who compose tho military
line of the Caucasus Their population
amounts to about $50 900, of whom on
less than 10000 are constantly under
arms They occupy the chain of fortif-
ed villages or military posts which ex-
tends along the northern frontier of Cir
cassia, from the Black Sea to the Cas-
plan. The defendants Of the Cossacks
who were first sent to this rigion, have
had their ranks thinned so often
by the fortunes of the war, and then
again, so often re-enforced by fresh levies
from various parts of the Empire, and
volunteers from the Tartars and other
tribes around them, that the original
stock Of the Cossacks is scarcely discern
-ible in this mixture of-races. But if
these military colonists are not Cos
sacks by decent, they are more SO by their
habits and manner of life than any 9th
er subjects of Gar Here, as nowhere
else, the frontier settler is constantly ex-
posed to the same dangers from the Cir
cassians, as the Cossacks of former times
were from the Tartars. The same cir
cumstances and necessities beget the
same habits of life, and tho same eharae-
ter. Here, the Cossacks are engaged
in a perpetual warfare with their south
ern neighbors like these of former
times; and hence we find them possess
ed of the same bold and adventurous
spirit, the same hardihood and bravery.
But it is far otherwise with those
Cossacks who still dwell in the land of
their ancestors, on the banks of the
Don. Tie boundaries of the Empire
have been pushed far beyond their bor-
ders, so that their country is no longer
the theatre of war-no longer the from
tier, any more than the Ukraine. Their
soil is remarkable for its fertility
Hence, they have become an agricultural
and pastoral people, much more Injured
to the arts of peace than of war. As
was said above, their population amounts
to about 700, ,o0o They speak the same
language as the Russians, and belong to
the same great Sclayic race. The Cos
sacks of the Don never undertook TO
throw off the yoke of Russia, and make
themselves entirely independent, like
the Cossacks of the Duieper, and hence
they have been spared the fate which be-
fell the later. But their government
and institutions underwent serious mod |
ifcations, in the reigns of Peter the
Great and Catharine H. In the pres
ent century, too, and especially within
the last twenty or thirty years, process
of assimilation to the despstic system of
Russia has been going OIL. so that the
Cossacks, although more favored, per-
haps, than the other subjects of the Gear,
still retain very few of their ancient lib
critics. They no longer choose their
own .Hctman. The title of Hetman of
all the Cossacks is now vested in the
hereditary prince of the empire. Most
of their military and civil functionaries
are appointed by the Gear. Once, the
principal of equality prevailed, but now,
has been instituted, and serf-
dom established. Formerly, all lands
we're held in common. But in lS4l, this
kind of tenure was abolished, and every
free male person was made the exclusive
owner of about so acres of land, and to
every serf was given half that amount
The Cossacks of the Don have no direct
taxes to pay, and they are free from the
operation of the government monopo-
lies, which weigh so heavily upon the
other provinces. In consideration for
these exemptions, every Don Cossaeks
between the age of l6 and "a, must hold
himself in readiness for military duty at
my moment, armed, equipped, and
exclusively at his own expense.
By the operation of this system of con-
'cription, the Cossaeks of the Don furn-
sh an army of so 900 to 90, 900 caval-
y for the services of the Gar These
troops from, perhaps, the best body of
light cavalry in Europe. No depend
,nce can be put upon them in pitched
oattle They would never stand before
The mouth of cannon, or charge of
But they are proyerbial for
heir skill in horsemanship, and their