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

n0DleS Vled with tile priests IN depressing
the Cossacks; for intolerc nee in reli
gion always goes in hand with tyranny
in politics. Treaties were disregarded
and old established laws trodden under
foot. There lived among the Cossacks
at this time, man by the jaw breaking
name of Chreuieueske. He became
their Hoffman. His property had been
viczated, ard family outraged by Pol
ish Governor. Private revenge, there
fore, added fuel to his patriotism he
made an alliance with the Tartars of the
Crimea. An army was raised, large
enough to conquer the Poles, who, in
l649, by the treaty of Zborou, were
forced to recognize all the rights and
privileges of the Cossacks. But the
Cossacks had become too far alienated
from the Poles, ever to be their friends
again. No treaty of peace could close
up the beach between them. The Poles
and Russians were enemies; and the
Cossacks had become formidable enough
to hold the balance of power between
them. They had generally fought on
the side of the Poles, but the wrongs
they had suffered led them to forget
their enmity towards the Russians
Their religion was the same that of the
Russians, and they were as nearly allied
to them by blood as to the Poles. They
accordingly put themselves under the
protection of Russia, and in 1854 the
treaty of peace was concluded which
made them the subjects of the Czar.-
This even gave Il shock to Poland, from
which she never recovered.
But the Cossacks of the Dnicper Jared
no better with tie Russians for their
masters, than if they had submitted to
the expressions of the Poles. 1t made
little difference that the Czar had sworn
to respect their Constitution, and to re-
frain from interfering in their eternal
affairs. The Democracy of the Ukraine,
and the Absolutism of Russia could not
exist together, any more than fire and
water. Sooner or later the one was to
absorb tie other. The process was
probably hastened by the turbulent and
disorderly spirit Of the Cossacks They
were nation OF warriors, and like war
like nations generally, they were heroes
on the field of battle, and notorious
robbers everywhere else. When Peter
the Great and Charles XII of Sweden
were at war with each other, the Cos
sacks had Mazeppa for their Hetman,
the same whom Byron has immortali-
zcd; he turned traitor to Russians, and
united his forces to those of Charles
The victory gained by Peter at the bat
tie of Pultowa, in 1909. gave him full
opportunity to exercise his revenge
against the rebels. The Cossacks were
deprived of their most valuable privil-
eyes they were no longer permitted to
choose their own Hetman and the am
bassadors whom they sent to the Gar to
complain of their grievances, were put
in chains. Twelve thousand Cossacks
ended their days in hard labor, as con-
victs, upon the Ladoga canal. Ten thou
sand moro were martched into Persia.
In l7S4, Catharine II put a finishing
stock to the work which her predeces-
sor had begun The boundaries of the
empire had been extended far beyond
the Ukraine. The Cossacks were no
longer the protectors Of the frontier,
and hence there was no need of coutinu-
ing an organization SO inconsistent with
the despotic system of Russia. They |
had conspircd together to throw off the
yoke of Russia, and establish an indepen-
dent government. Thus, a plausible
prctext was furnished for their complete
annihilation. Some of their number
were transported to the banks of the
river Knban, where their descendants /
still from part of the line of the eau
casus, under the name of Cossacks of the
Black Sea. With the exception, of the
existence of the Cossacks of the Dnieper
is only matter of history, and All traces
of their institutions in the Ukraine are
wcll-nigh obliterated.
The Cossacks of thesRon, on the con
trary, still continue to occupy their an
cient home, in one of the most fertile
districts of the Russian Empire Their
territorFis little larger than the State
of Indiana, and contains population of
700 ,oOo' of which 0,oOo are scrfs.-
Besides these, there are about 800, 900
so-called Cossacks, distributed in militia
ry colonies along the line of the Cauca-
sus, and through Siberia, who trace their
to the Cossacks of the Don,
through the early settlers, that were
sent But from them, in former times, to
those regious, to guard the fronticrs.-
Thus, it appears that the Gossacks of the
present Russian Empire number, at pres
ont, about million ofsouls.
As early as 1860, the Cossacks of the
Don became tributary to Russia. In
those times, they were avid race of
freebooters, famous for their courage
and skill in war, and their turbulent and
predatory spirit. We meet them in his
tory, fighting the battles of the Russians