The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-04-06
OLD AND NEW RUSSIA.
A Brief History Of it's Political and Social
Growth, in Connection With the Rise
of the Romanofs.
written for the RIVER PREss.l
NUMBER III.

ties at the time of the Mongol invasion. the
largest Of which by far was Novgorod, and
the latter had developed into q republican
form of government, the citizens choosing all
their dignitaries from duke to petty justice.
All the princes Or dukes of these thirteen
states each kept up his army establishment,
and generally used it for settling feudal quar-
rels and acquiring new Territory from
each other, in fact the development of Russia
at this time (about 1920 was proceeding
along in the same channel, and in the same
manner, that it was in Germany and France,
and probably would have reached its develop
ment in the same time, if the whole process
had not been disturbed by the forcible recep-
ton of the new and barbaric element of the
Tartars. This incursion did not proceed
all at once, with a single invasion, such as
characterized. the Well-trained hosts Of an
Alexander or q Napoleon, but was @ success
sion of movements which occupied from
1922 to 1926, or about two hundred years,
before it reached its maximum under Ilmur
and Edijei. when it gradually subsidized. For
some years. previous to the period OF active
invasion Of Russia, the portion Of what is
now included as Russian territory, between the
Black sea and the Don, had been subjugated,
if it could be called a subjugation to conquer
q people who were in sympathy with both the
race and family instinct Of the Tartar race;
a remnant of which it was, that at some pre-
vious age had been pushed forward through
the growth Of populations. But they were
now sufficiently alien to call upon the Russian
princes to aid them in daming the incoming
flood which had begun to alarm the prln-
ces themselves. The aid asked for was grant
ed with true Russian heartiness for war, and
a large army under Prince George of Vladimir
met the horde on the banks Of the Kalka,
where eneued 8 sanguinary battle, in which
the Russians were totally defeated. Twelve
years afterwards Batu Kahn, with a half
million followers, broke through the narrow
strip and conquered Kazan, Moscow and Val
dimir, and destroyed the remnant of the Rus
sian army to the point of humiliation, where
Prince George sacrificed himself IN q he
roic resistance. Five years more and the
"dVC lh0 SnCpt pcSb StNd " t0C
forests of Moravia, where the onward move.
ment was stopped and the empire consolidated
on the banks Of the Vo]ga, where the Russian
princes proceeded to swear allegiance to the
conqueror and take part in the humiliating
ceremonies Of an Asiatic court. The taxes
were the sole object Of government, and were
farmed out to the swarm of oriental mer-
chants who are always q part of an Asiatic
army-a class who knew not Of mercy nor
cared for 9 policy Of conservatism which
would allow Of any development-that ab-
sorbed everything and impaired nothing-but
mercilessly exacted their pound Of flesh with
the aid of the Kahn's soldiers, when they
could not get it without them. The elements
of self government, which were inherent
in the people, we're totally destroyed, industry
was %paralyzed, literature, which had taken
deep root in the same form it had in Western
Europe though the medium Of the class of
troubadours, %truevors, Ministries and priests was
strangled, and only within the last few years
has q period of remnaissance re returned to Rus
sia, which is just now arising from the CEN
turtles of stupor and darkness Of this worst Of
all the governments humanity has been afHict-
ed with.
But the fierce energy Of the hordes soon
subsidized, and their power gradually reverted
back to the princes and mobiles who had sworn
fealty to the Kahns, through q sheer impossi-
bility of retaining it themselves, for power
implies some responsibility, and they had no
idea of it, and it also requires some labor,
and what labor could they do but plumber,
and plumber there was none after q few years
Of possession, only the soil, and what does
the Tartar want of soil? With the power
delegated to the dukes, as governors of the
provinces which were formerly their own,
and with 8 people always in secret sympathy
with their old lords, the princes themselves
began to WELD power again, and this power,
though it was delegated, was used BY
them for their own advancement, and
this was, of course, at the expense OF their
nearest neighbors. Vladimir was the hrst
anb most powerful Ct these, where resided
thel metropolitan, and where was concentrat-
ed all there was of Russian Institutions.
Tvler and Moscow had also arizen to q height
of mower which was contested between them
ami Vladimir by d series Of bloody wars, and
unlher the leadership Of Ivan Kalitka, whose
o@anAi1s founded the centralized administration