racter than they are now, when so many subsequent centuries, and no small efforts of human industry, have been at work in clearing away the obstacles of the navigation. The Varagues of Kieff had first ventured with two hundred barks to enter into the perilous rapids, and through pointed rocks and amidst foaming whirlpools had safely reached the bottom. On this occasion Oleg passed with a fleet and army ten times as numerons. The Russians threw themselves into the water, and conducted the barks, by the strength of the swimmers, down the rapids. In many places they were obliged to clamber up on the banks, and, seeking a precarious footing on the sharp ridges of rocks and precipices, often bore the barks aloft on their shoulders. After incredible efforts they reached the mouth of the river, where they repaired their masts, sails, and rudders; and boldly putting to sea, which most of them had never seen before, spread forth on the unknown waters of the Euxine. The cavalry marched by land, and though grievously weakened in number by the extraordinary length of the land journey, joined their fleet at the mouth of the Bosphorus; and the united force, 60,000 strong, approached Constantinople. "Leon, surnamed the philosopher, reigned there; and incapable of any warlike effort, he contented himself with closing the mouth of the Golden Horn, or harbour of Constantinople; and secure behind its formidable ramparts, beheld with indifference the villages around in flames, their churches pillaged and destroyed, and the wretched inhabitants driven by the swords and lances of the Russians into the capital. Nestor, the Russian annalist, has left the most frightful account of the cruel barbarities committed on these defenceless inhabitants by the victorious warriors, who put their prisoners to death by the cruellest tortures, and hurled the living promiscuously with the dead into the sea. Meanwhile the Greeks, albeit numerous and admirably armed, remained shut up in Constantinople; but soon the Russian standards approached the walls, and they began to tremble behind their impregnable ramparts. Oleg drew up his boats on the shore, and putting them, as at the cataracts of the Dnieper, on the shoulders of his men, reached the harbour on the land side; and after launching them on its upper extremity, appeared with spreading sails, as Mahomet II. afterwards did, ready to land his troops behind the chain, and escalade the walls, on the side where they were weakest. Terrified at this audacious enterprise, the Emperor Leon hastened to sue for peace, offering to send provisions and equipments for the fleet, and to pay an annual tribute; and a treaty was at length concluded, on the condition that each Russian in the armament should receive twelve grionas, and heavy contributions should be levied on the empire for the towns of Kieff, Tchernigof, Polteck, Lubetch, and other dependencies of Russia."-Vol. i. p. 162-165. When the imperial city, in the commencement of the tenth century, was assailed by such formidable bodies of these northern invaders, and its emperors were so little in a condition to resist the attack, it is not surprising that it should have been prophesied in that city nine hundred years ago, that in its last days Constantinople should be taken by the Russians. The surprising thing rather is, that in consequence of the lateral irruption of the Turks, and the subsequent jealousies of other European powers, this consummation should have been so long delayed as it actually has. VOL. III. 2 K Passing by the two centuries and a half of weakness, civil warfare, and decline which followed the disastrous system of appanages, which are uninteresting in general history, we hasten to lay before our readers a specimen of the description Karamsin has given of the terrible effects produced by the Tartar invasions, which commenced in 1223. The devastation of that flourishing part of Asia which formerly bore the name of Bactriana and Sogdiana, is thus described : "Bokhara in vain attempted a defence against Genghis Khan. The elders of the town came out to leave the keys of the city at the feet of the conqueror; but to no purpose. Genghis Khan appeared on horseback, and entered the principal mosque; no sooner did he see the Alcoran there, than he seized it, and threw it with fury to the ground. That capital was reduced to ashes. Samarcand, fortified with care, contained 100,000 soldiers, and a great number of elephants, which constituted at that period the principal strength of the Asiatic armies. Distrusting even these powerful means of defence, the inhabitants threw themselves on the mercy of the conqueror, but met with a fate as cruel as if they had stood an assault. Thirty thousand were put to death in cold blood, a like number condemned to perpetual slavery, and a contribution of 200,000 pieces of gold levied on the town. Khiva, Tirmel, and Balkh, in the last of which were 1200 mosques, and 200 baths for strangers alone, experienced the same fate. During two or three years the ferocious wars of Genghis Khan ravaged to such a degree the wide countries stretching from the Sea of Aral to the Indus, that during the six centuries which have since elapsed, they have never recovered their former flourishing condition."-Vol. iii. p. 281, 282. At length this terrible tempest approached the Muscovite plains. The first great battle between the Moguls and the Russians took place in 1226. "Encouraged by a trifling success they had gained over the advancedguard of the enemy, the Russians drew up their army on the left bank of the Kalka, and calmly awaited the approach of the enemy. Soon the innumerable squadrons of the Tartars appeared, and the intrepid Daniel, overflowing with courage, bore down upon the vanguard, broke it, and had wellnigh gained a glorious victory; but the cowardly Polontsks could not stand the shock of the Moguls, and speedily turned their backs and fled. In the delirium of terror, they precipitated themselves on the Russians, penetrated their ranks, and carried the most frightful disorder into their camp, where the princes of Kieff and Tchernigof had made no preparations for battle, as Moteslaf, their general, who commanded the leading column, wishing to engross the whole honours of victory, had given them no warning of the approaching fight. Once broken, the Russians made but a feeble resistance even the young Daniel was swept away by the torrent; and it was not till his horse stopped on the brink of a stream which it could not pass, that he felt a deep wound which he had received in the commencement of the action. The Tartars, in continuing the pursuit to the banks of the Dnieper, made a prodigious slaughter of the flying Muscovites; among others, six princes and seventy nobles were put to death. Never did Russia experience a more stunning calamity. A superb army, numerous, valiant, animated with the highest spirit, almost entirely disappeared; hardly a tenth part of its numbers escaped. The base Polontsks, our pretended allies, joined in the massacre of the Russians, when victory had decidedly declared in favour of the Moguls. In the consternation which followed, the few Russian generals who survived threw themselves into the Dnieper, and destroyed all the boats on the river, to prevent the enemy from pursuing them. All but Moteslaf Romanevich, of Kieff, passed over: but that chief, who was left in a fortified camp on the summit of a hill, disdained to abandon his post, and actually awaited the whole fury of the Mogul onset. During three days, at the head of his heroic band, he repulsed all their efforts; and at length, wearied with a resistance which they saw no means of surmounting, the Mogul leaders proposed to allow him to retire with his troops, provided a ransom was given, which capitulation was agreed and sworn to on both sides. No sooner, however, had the perfidious Tartars by this device wiled the Russians out of their stronghold, than they fell upon them and massacred the whole, and concluded their triumph by making a horrid feast of their bloody remains.”—Vol. iii. p. 289–291. The immediate subjugation of Russia seemed presaged by this dreadful defeat; but the danger at the moment was averted by orders from Genghis Khan, who withdrew his forces to the south for an expedition against Persia. But the breathing-time was not of long duration. Before many years had elapsed, the Tartars returned flushed with fresh conquest under the redoubtable Bati. That terrible conqueror, the scourge of Russia, took and burnt Moscow, where the prince, who commanded, and the whole of the inhabitants, were put to the sword, without distinction of age or sex. City after city, province after province, fell before the dreadful invaders, who seemed as irresistible as they were savage and pitiless. Broken down into numerous little appanages, or separate principalities, the once powerful Russian empire was incapable of making any effectual resistance. Yet were examples not wanting of the most heroic and touching devotion, worthy to be placed beside the names of Astapa and Numantium. "Bati sent a part of his troops against Souzdel, which made no resistance. As soon as they had entered it, the Tartars, according to their usual custom, put to death the whole population, with the exception of the young monks at Nuni, who were reserved for slavery. On the 6th of February 1238, the inhabitants of Vladimir beheld the dark squadrons of the Tartars, like a black torrent, surround their walls; and soon the preparation of scaling-ladders and palisades indicated an immediate assault. Unable to resist this innumerable army, and yet sensible that it was in vain, as the Moguls would massacre, or sell them all for slaves, the boyards and nobles, inspired with a sublime spirit, resolved to die as became them. The most heartrending spectacle followed. Vsevold, his wife and children, and a great number of illustrious nobles, assembled in the church of Notre Dame, where they supplicated the Bishop Metrophene to give them the tonsure monacale,' which severed them from the world. That solemnity took place in profound silence. Those heroic citizens had bid adieu to the world and to life; but at the moment of quitting it they did not pray the less fervently for the existence of their beloved Russia. On the 7th of February, being the Sunday of the Carnival, the assault commenced, the Tartars broke into the city by the Golden Gate, by that of Brass and that of St Irene. Vsevold and Moteslaf retired with their guards into the old town, while Agatha, the wife of Georges, the general-in-chief, his daughters, nieces, grand-daughters, and a crowd of citizens of the highest rank, flocked to the cathedral, where they were soon surrounded by the ferocious Moguls, who set fire to the building. No sooner did he perceive the flames, than the bishop exclaimed, 'O Lord! stretch out thy invisible arms, and receive thy servants in peace,' and gave his benediction to all around him. In fervent devotion they fell on their faces, awaiting death, which speedily overtook them. Some were suffocated by the volumes of smoke which rushed in on all sides, others perished in the flames or sank beneath the swords of the Tartars. The bloodthirstiness of the Moguls could not await the advance of the conflagration; with hatchets they burst open the gates and rushed in, eager for the treasures which they thought were hid in the interior. The cruel warriors of Bati made scarce any prisoners: all perished by the sword or the flames. The Prince Vsevold and Moteslaf, finding themselves unable to repel the enemy, strove to cut their way through their dense battalions, and both perished in the attempt."-Vol. iii. p. 344, 345. Another instance of sublime devotion will close our extracts from the scenes of carnage : "After the destruction of Vladimir, the numerous Tartar bands advanced towards Kozilsk, in the government of Kalouga. Vassili commanded in that town, and with his guards and his people deliberated on the part which they should adopt. 'Our prince is still young,' exclaimed those faithful Russians: It is our duty to die for him, in order to leave a glorious name, and to find beyond the tomb the crown of immortality.' All united in this generous determination, resolving at the same time to retard the enemy as much as possible by the most heroic resistance. During more than a month the Tartars besieged the fortress without being able to make any sensible progress in its reduction. At length a part of the walls having fallen down under their strokes, the Tartars escaladed the ramparts; but at their summit they were met by a determined band of Russians, who with knives and swords disputed every inch of ground, and slew 4000 Tartars before they sank under the innumerable multitude of their enemies. Not one of that heroic band survived; the whole inhabitants, men, women, and children, were put to death; and Bati, astonished at so vehement a resistance, called the town' the wicked city'-a glorious appellation when coming from a Tartar chief. Vassili perished, literally drowned in the blood of his followers."-Vol. iii. p. 549, 550. And it is at the time when these heroic deeds are for the first time brought under the notice of the people of this country, that we are told that everything is worn out, and that nothing new or interesting is to be found in human affairs! But all these efforts, how heroic soever, could not avert the stroke of fate. Russia was subdued, less by the superior skill or valour, than by the enormous numbers of the enemy, who at length poured into the country four hundred thousand strong. For above two hundred and fifty years they were tributary to the Tartars, and the grand princes of Russia were confirmed in their government by the Great Khan. The first great effort to shake off that odious yoke was made in 1378, when Dmitri collected the still scattered forces of the appanages to make head against the common enemy. The two armies, each one hundred and fifty thousand strong, met at Koulikoff on the 7th September 1378, on which day, four hundred and thirty-four years afterwards, Napoleon and Kutusoff commenced the dreadful struggle at Borodino. เ "On the 6th September, the army approached the Don, and the princes and boyards deliberated whether they should retire across the river, so as to place it between them and the enemy, or await them where they stood, in order to cut off all retreat from the cowardly, and compel them to conquer or die. Dmitri then ascended a mound, from which he could survey his vast army. The hour of God,' said he, has sounded.' In truth, no one could contemplate that prodigious multitude of men and horses; those innumerable battalions ranged in the finest order; the thousands of banners, and tens of thousands of arms glittering in the sun, and hear the cry repeated by a hundred and fifty thousand voices,-'Great God, give us the victory over our enemies!' without having some confidence in the result. Such was the emotion of the prince, that his eyes filled with tears; and, dismounting, he knelt down, and stretching out his arm to the black standard, on which was represented our Saviour's figure, he prayed fervently for the salvation of Russia. Then, mounting his horse, he said to those around,'My well-beloved brothers and companions in arms, it is by your exploits this day that you will live in the memory of man, or obtain the crown of immortality.' "Soon the Tartar squadrons were seen slowly advancing, and ere long they covered the whole country to the eastward, as far as the eye could reach. Great as was the host of the Russians, they were outnumbered considerably by the Moguls. His generals besought Dmitri to retire, alleging the duty of a commander-in-chief to direct the movements, not hazard his person like a private soldier; but he replied,- No, you will suffer whereever you are; if I live, follow me; if I die, avenge me.' Shortly after, the battle commenced, and was the most desperate ever fought between the Russians and the Tartars. Over an extent of ten wersts, (seven miles,) the earth was stained with the blood of the Christians and Infidels. In some quarters the Russians broke the Moguls; in others, they yielded to their redoubtable antagonists. In the centre, some young battalions gave way, and spread the cry that all was lost: the enemy rushed in at the opening thus afforded, and forced their way nearly to the standard of the Grand Prince, which was only preserved by the devoted heroism of his guard. Meanwhile Prince Vladimir Andreiwitch, who was placed with a chosen body of troops in ambuscade, was furious at being the passive spectator of so desperate a conflict, in which he was not permitted to bear a part. At length, at eight at night, the Prince of Volhynia, who observed with an experienced eye the movements of the two armies, exclaimed,- My friends, our time has come!' and let the whole loose upon the enemy, now somewhat disordered by success. Instantly they emerged from the forest which |