登陆注册
5382300000102

第102章 CHAPTER XV(4)

The Cossacks in active service are to be met with in all parts of the Empire, from the Prussian to the Chinese frontier. In the Asiatic Provinces their services are invaluable. Capable of enduring an incredible amount of fatigue and all manner of privations, they can live and thrive in conditions which would soon disable regular troops. The capacity of self-adaptation, which is characteristic of the Russian people generally, is possessed by them in the highest degree. When placed on some distant Asiatic frontier they can at once transform themselves into squatters--

building their own houses, raising crops of grain, and living as colonists without neglecting their military duties.

I have sometimes heard it asserted by military men that the Cossack organisation is an antiquated institution, and that the soldiers which it produces, however useful they may be in Central Asia, would be of little service in regular European warfare. Whether this view, which received some confirmation in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, is true or false I cannot pretend to say, for it is a subject on which a civilian has no right to speak; but I may remark that the Cossacks themselves are not by any means of that opinion. They regard themselves as the most valuable troops which the Tsar possesses, believing themselves capable of performing anything within the bounds of human possibility, and a good deal that lies beyond that limit. More than once Don Cossacks have assured me that if the Tsar had allowed them to fit out a flotilla of small boats during the Crimean War they would have captured the British fleet, as their ancestors used to capture Turkish galleys on the Black Sea!

In old times, throughout the whole territory of the Don Cossacks, agriculture was prohibited on pain of death. It is generally supposed that this measure was adopted with a view to preserve the martial spirit of the inhabitants, but it may be explained otherwise. The great majority of the Cossacks, averse to all regular, laborious occupations, wished to live by fishing, hunting, cattle-breeding, and marauding, but there was always amongst them a considerable number of immigrants--runaway serfs from the interior--

who had been accustomed to live by agriculture. These latter wished to raise crops on the fertile virgin soil, and if they had been allowed to do so they would to some extent have spoiled the pastures. We have here, I believe, the true reason for the above-

mentioned prohibition, and this view is strongly confirmed by analogous facts which I have observed in another locality. In the Kirghiz territory the poorer inhabitants of the aouls near the frontier, having few or no cattle, wish to let part of the common land to the neighbouring Russian peasantry for agricultural purposes; but the richer inhabitants, who possess flocks and herds, strenuously oppose this movement, and would doubtless prohibit it under pain of death if they had the power, because all agricultural encroachments diminish the pasture-land.

Whatever was the real reason of the prohibition, practical necessity proved in the long run too strong for the anti-

agriculturists. As the population augmented and the opportunities for marauding decreased, the majority had to overcome their repugnance to husbandry; and soon large patches of ploughed land or waving grain were to be seen in the vicinity of the stanitsas, as the Cossack villages are termed. At first there was no attempt to regulate this new use of the ager publicus. Each Cossack who wished to raise a crop ploughed and sowed wherever he thought fit, and retained as long as he chose the land thus appropriated; and when the soil began to show signs of exhaustion he abandoned his plot and ploughed elsewhere. But this unregulated use of the Communal property could not long continue. As the number of agriculturists increased, quarrels frequently arose, and sometimes terminated in bloodshed. Still worse evils appeared when markets were created in the vicinity, and it became possible to sell the grain for exportation. In some stanitsas the richer families appropriated enormous quantities of the common land by using several teams of oxen, or by hiring peasants in the nearest villages to come and plough for them; and instead of abandoning the land after raising two or three crops they retained possession of it, and came to regard it as their private property. Thus the whole of the arable land, or at least the best part of it, became actually, if not legally, the private property of a few families, whilst the less energetic or less fortunate inhabitants of the stanitsa had only parcels of comparatively barren soil, or had no land whatever, and became mere agricultural labourers.

After a time this injustice was remedied. The landless members justly complained that they had to bear the same burdens as those who possessed the land, and that therefore they ought to enjoy the same privileges. The old spirit of equality was still strong amongst them, and they ultimately succeeded in asserting their rights. In accordance with their demands the appropriated land was confiscated by the Commune, and the system of periodical redistributions was introduced. By this system each adult male possesses a share of the land.

These facts tend to throw light on some of the dark questions of social development in its early stages.

同类推荐
  • 佛说大乘善见变化文殊师利化问法经

    佛说大乘善见变化文殊师利化问法经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 皆大欢喜

    皆大欢喜

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 雷公炮制药性解

    雷公炮制药性解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Of the Conduct of the Understanding

    Of the Conduct of the Understanding

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 会昌解颐录

    会昌解颐录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 近世社会龌龊史

    近世社会龌龊史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 禁庭欢

    禁庭欢

    澜月这一辈子有三件大事:摆脱皇帝,摆脱皇帝,摆脱皇帝……然而……皇上:皇后,朕给你捏捏肩……非穿越不重生,女主偶尔犯蠢,但是今生事儿今生了,有追求有目标,有仇报仇,不拖泥带水……
  • 红胡子小蚂蚱(绿绿的小蚂蚱)

    红胡子小蚂蚱(绿绿的小蚂蚱)

    知道小蚂蚱的一大爱好是什么吗?大扫除!想不到吧?他超级热爱扫地,边扫还边背唐诗呢。可是,小蚂蚱必须每天上午坚持上完四节课,才能分到一块他眼馋得不得了的包干区。小蚂蚱常常不上第四节课,他认为坐得太久影响小孩子发育,绿绿小老师长得细胳膊细腿的,就是因为从小第四节课上多了,可绿绿老师还自不量力地在他面前摆了个健美运动员的造型呢……唉,扯远了,还是说大扫除的事吧,算了算了,他俩的事一时半会儿也说不清,还是你自己看吧。
  • 阿难同学经

    阿难同学经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 誓不为妃

    誓不为妃

    一个外表懒散,实则精明,还有点卑鄙无耻的女主,穿越来到古代。一个外表灿如阳光,实则腹黑得无与伦加的强势男主,两人展开宫廷无间道,到底谁赢谁输,拭目以待。
  • 理门论述记

    理门论述记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 恶魔少爷:宝宝我要宠高高

    恶魔少爷:宝宝我要宠高高

    “我愿用我的余生弥补她的过错,只为留在你的身边呢!”小姑娘抬起明亮亮的眸子,望着身型挺拔的男人,“蠢货,你又不是她,尽管你们很像,但是,我的爱,好像只能给你。”男人面无表情,可眼神却是透露了他对女孩浓浓的爱意。她用一个见死不救之人的身份,来到他的身边,当谎话被揭穿,当求婚惊喜的出现,她那一抹傻笑,坚定了两人的一切感情。正真的她若是回来了,那一切又会怎么样?期待吧!(绝对宠文!小小的虐是情节需要!)
  • 或许只有你懂我

    或许只有你懂我

    “于绅,我们在一起吧?”成林语一脸傲娇地说道。“啊?我们不是约定了三年后解除婚约吗?”“作废了,违约金已经打到你卡上。”可甜可盐型女主VS双标男主
  • 甜婚:总裁擒妻有妙招

    甜婚:总裁擒妻有妙招

    他是恶魔,刻意接近她,摧毁了她的家庭,她的学业,她的爱情!三年后,她苟且生活,却再次撞见了他!“想一刀两断?告诉你,你别做白日梦了,这辈子,我就要死死的缠住你,让你永远都没有出头之日,你永远都别想摆脱我的掌控!”可是,费先生,要报复为什么非要结婚?又是谁没完没了的缠着她?追妻哪是那么好追!
  • 婚宠娇妻

    婚宠娇妻

    他是富二代,一把手,帅气多金。一场荒唐相亲,她摇身一变成为豪门阔太。没想到高富帅老公宠她黏她让她抓狂。“老公,咱们能暂停一下吗?”“那怎么行,老婆,我来了……”她无奈望天,究竟是捡到宝了,还是掉进魔窟了?