generations, to those with whom they first commenced. Diebitch read the letter, sent it back, and proceeded to inflict barbarities more cruel than ever. Yet neither the government nor the general permitted themselves to use their asserted right of retaliation, thus preserving the nation guiltless of innocent blood.

CHAPTER VIII.

Insurrection of the Russian Countries, or of Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraina.

WHEN a country that has formed a part of Poland, borne her name and breathed her social spirit, is deprived of the national appellation, it becomes an unintelligible cipher; the import of which can be found only in the records of ten centuries back, when Sclavonia lay as a tablet on which the sword successively traced and obliterated empires, and on which the only enduring characters are those impressed by Christianity. Such an

empire was Russia, a part of which now bears the names of Volhynia, Podolia, Ukraina. But, that the present subject may be more fully understood, it is necessary to define distinctly, what were ancient Russia, Muscovy, and the Russian empire of the present day. A few retrospective remarks will elucidate the question.

In the ninth century, whilst the Poles were establishing the centre of their power on the banks of the Vistula, a tribe of the Scandinavian warriors, known in western Europe as Normans, the Varan

CHARACTER OF POLAND AND RUSSIA. 263

gian Russians*, led by Rurik, subjugated the Sclavonian countries along the Dnieper (Borysthenes), and founded an empire, of which Kiow was made the capital. The Poles were originally a Sclavonian tribe; the Varangian-Russians were foreign interlopers, and thus two antagonistic elements settled in the bosom of the Sclavonian family: the essential principle of the one, being to diffuse liberty to the extremest limits of the communitythat of the other, to absorb every particle of social vitality to the centre of power. Poland protecting the Sclavonian tribes from German subjugation, Russia enslaving them by millions. These distinctive characteristics of the two powers became yet more evident as time rolled on.

The Roman world had split into two parts, and the young nations, which established themselves upon the ruins of the western half, infused fresh life into that portion of the empire. The eastern was but the propped up fragment of a crumbling edifice. The sacred doctrine of Christ was readily received by the healthy west, and imparted fresh vigour to its social communities. The Greek empire was weighed down by heathen sophistry and Oriental despotism, and the seed of Christianity fell there upon the stony ground. The germ of schism,

* The primitive country of the Varangian Russians would seem to have been some tract on the eastern side of Sweden. The Finns, in their vernacular idiom, still call Sweden a Russian country.-Routze Moa.

though concealed, thus already existed in the Christian church. The new doctrine approached the Sclavonian nations both through Germany and the Greek empire. Hence it was an important consideration, not only to themselves, but to the rest of the Christian community, whether, in becoming its members, they would range themselves on the side of the eastern or the western church. Mieczislas, king of Poland, embraced Christianity in 965, according to the Latin ritual;-Vladimir, Grand Duke of Kiow, was baptized in 991, according to the Greek. Poland thus became associated to the western

powers-Russia turned to the east, and their geographical character was thus stamped for future ages. At that eventful moment, the two kindred nations, as if impelled by antagonistic forces, diverged towards the opposite poles of civilization, and the question arose, at what spot between the Vistula and the Dnieper, the fraternal bond should be severed. The question remains undecided still.

The greatest extent of territory possessed by Russia, was during the reign of Vladimir the Great. The Bug, the Dniester, and the Karpats, constituted her western limits; and towards the east, she extended her power to the sources of the Oka and the Volga.

It is the characteristic of the Sclavonian nations to absorb into themselves every foreign element. The vast country bearing the name of Russia, still preserved its aboriginal features. The descendants

of Rurik learned to speak from Sclavonian mothers, and the band of Scandinavian invaders soon disappeared among the native millions. In point of language, therefore, Russia still remained Sclavonian. The universal adherence of the inhabitants to the Greek ritual alone, distinguished them from those of the other states. Still, as Constantinople acknowledged the supremacy of Rome, religion as yet formed no barrier of separation. Political power was thus the only tie which held together so many millions of Sclavonian origin. This power was foreign, founded upon the ruins of their national liberties, and its despotic character was aggravated by being united with the oriental despotism of the Greek empire.

In 1015 Vladimir, on his death bed, divided his conquests among his twelve sons, enjoining them to regard the Grand Duke of Kiow as their chief. Their mutual quarrels, however, soon rendered them vassals to Boleslas the Great, king of Poland; but during the long contest in which the latter was subsequently involved with the German emperors, Jaroslas the Great, having slain his brothers, once more united the provinces of Russia, and dying in 1054, in his turn divided them between his five sons. This partition proved more durable, and 300 years after the arrival of Rurik, the very name of Russia was forgotten, and three new states arose out of her ruins. In the north, the principal commercial towns formed there a confederative republic. Their power