THE Czar had not so suddenly left the ball-room of the New Palace,
when the fete he was giving to the civil and military authorities
and principal people of Moscow was at the height of its brilliancy,
without ample cause; for he had just received information that serious
events were taking place beyond the frontiers of the Ural. It had become
evident that a formidable rebellion threatened to wrest the Siberian
provinces from the Russian crown.
Asiatic Russia, or Siberia, covers a superficial area of 1,790,208
square miles, and contains nearly two millions of inhabitants.
Extending from the Ural Mountains, which separate it
from Russia in Europe, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean,
it is bounded on the south by Turkestan and the Chinese Empire;
on the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the Sea of Kara
to Behring's Straits. It is divided into several governments
or provinces, those of Tobolsk, Yeniseisk, Irkutsk, Omsk,
and Yakutsk; contains two districts, Okhotsk and Kamtschatka;
and possesses two countries, now under the Muscovite dominion--
that of the Kirghiz and that of the Tshouktshes. This immense
extent of steppes, which includes more than one hundred and
ten degrees from west to east, is a land to which criminals
and political offenders are banished.
Two governor-generals represent the supreme authority of the Czar
over this vast country. The higher one resides at Irkutsk,
the far capital of Eastern Siberia. The River Tchouna separates
the two Siberias.
No rail yet furrows these wide plains, some of which are in reality
extremely fertile. No iron ways lead from those precious mines
which make the Siberian soil far richer below than above its surface.
The traveler journeys in summer in a kibick or telga; in winter,
in a sledge.
An electric telegraph, with a single wire more than eight thousand
versts in length, alone affords communication between the western
and eastern frontiers of Siberia. On issuing from the Ural, it passes
through Ekaterenburg, Kasirnov, Tioumen, Ishim, Omsk, Elamsk, Kolyvan,
Tomsk, Krasnoiarsk, Nijni-Udinsk, Irkutsk, Verkne-Nertschink, Strelink,
Albazine, Blagowstenks, Radde, Orlomskaya, Alexandrowskoe, and Nikolaevsk;
and six roubles and nineteen copecks are paid for every word sent
from one end to the other. From Irkutsk there is a branch to Kiatka,
on the Mongolian frontier; and from thence, for thirty copecks a word,
the post conveys the dispatches to Pekin in a fortnight.
It was this wire, extending from Ekaterenburg to Nikolaevsk,
which had been cut, first beyond Tomsk, and then between
Tomsk and Kolyvan.
This was why the Czar, to the communication made to him for
the second time by General Kissoff, had answered by the words,
"A courier this moment!"
The Czar remained motionless at the window for a few moments,
when the door was again opened. The chief of police appeared
on the threshold.
"Enter, General," said the Czar briefly, "and tell me all you
know of Ivan Ogareff."
"He is an extremely dangerous man, sire," replied the chief of police.
"He ranked as colonel, did he not?"
"Yes, sire."
"Was he an intelligent officer?"
"Very intelligent, but a man whose spirit it was impossible to subdue;
and possessing an ambition which stopped at nothing, he became involved
in secret intrigues, and was degraded from his rank by his Highness
the Grand Duke, and exiled to Siberia."
"How long ago was that?"
"Two years since. Pardoned after six months of exile by your
majesty's favor, he returned to Russia."
"And since that time, has he not revisited Siberia?"
"Yes, sire; but he voluntarily returned there," replied the chief
of police, adding, and slightly lowering his voice, "there was
a time, sire, when NONE returned from Siberia."
"Well, whilst I live, Siberia is and shall be a country whence
men CAN return."
The Czar had the right to utter these words with some pride,
for often, by his clemency, he had shown that Russian justice
knew how to pardon.
The head of the police did not reply to this observation, but it
was evident that he did not approve of such half-measures. According
to his idea, a man who had once passed the Ural Mountains in charge
of policemen, ought never again to cross them. Now, it was not thus
under the new reign, and the chief of police sincerely deplored it.
What! no banishment for life for other crimes than those against
social order! What! political exiles returning from Tobolsk,
from Yakutsk, from Irkutsk! In truth, the chief of police,
accustomed to the despotic sentences of the ukase which formerly
never pardoned, could not understand this mode of governing.
But he was silent, waiting until the Czar should interrogate him further.
The questions were not long in coming.
"Did not Ivan Ogareff," asked the Czar, "return to Russia
a second time, after that journey through the Siberian provinces,
the object of which remains unknown?"
"He did."
"And have the police lost trace of him since?"
"No, sire; for an offender only becomes really dangerous from the day
he has received his pardon."
The Czar frowned. Perhaps the chief of police feared that he had
gone rather too far, though the stubbornness of his ideas was at
least equal to the boundless devotion he felt for his master.
But the Czar, disdaining to reply to these indirect
reproaches cast on his policy, continued his questions.
"Where was Ogareff last heard of?"
"In the province of Perm."
"In what town?"
"At Perm itself."
"What was he doing?"
"He appeared unoccupied, and there was nothing suspicious
in his conduct."
"Then he was not under the surveillance of the secret police?"
"No, sire."
"When did he leave Perm?"
"About the month of March?"
"To go...?"
"Where, is unknown."
"And it is not known what has become of him?"
"No, sire; it is not known."
"Well, then, I myself know," answered the Czar. "I have received
anonymous communications which did not pass through the police department;
and, in the face of events now taking place beyond the frontier,
I have every reason to believe that they are correct."
"Do you mean, sire," cried the chief of police, "that Ivan Ogareff
has a hand in this Tartar rebellion?"
"Indeed I do; and I will now tell you something which you
are ignorant of. After leaving Perm, Ivan Ogareff crossed
the Ural mountains, entered Siberia, and penetrated the
Kirghiz steppes, and there endeavored, not without success,
to foment rebellion amongst their nomadic population.
He then went so far south as free Turkestan; there, in the provinces
of Bokhara, Khokhand, and Koondooz, he found chiefs willing
to pour their Tartar hordes into Siberia, and excite a general
rising in Asiatic Russia. The storm has been silently gathering,
but it has at last burst like a thunderclap, and now all means
of communication between Eastern and Western Siberia have
been stopped. Moreover, Ivan Ogareff, thirsting for vengeance,
aims at the life of my brother!"
The Czar had become excited whilst speaking, and now paced up
and down with hurried steps. The chief of police said nothing,
but he thought to himself that, during the time when the
emperors of Russia never pardoned an exile, schemes such
as those of Ivan Ogareff could never have been realized.
Approaching the Czar, who had thrown himself into an armchair,
he asked, "Your majesty has of course given orders so that this
rebellion may be suppressed as soon as possible?"
"Yes," answered the Czar. "The last telegram which reached
Nijni-Udinsk would set in motion the troops in the governments
of Yenisei, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, as well as those in the provinces
of the Amoor and Lake Baikal. At the same time, the regiments
from Perm and Nijni-Novgorod, and the Cossacks from the frontier,
are advancing by forced marches towards the Ural Mountains;
but some weeks must pass before they can attack the Tartars."
"And your majesty's brother, his Highness the Grand Duke,
is now isolated in the government of Irkutsk, and is no longer
in direct communication with Moscow?"
"That is so."
"But by the last dispatches, he must know what measures have
been taken by your majesty, and what help he may expect from
the governments nearest Irkutsk?"
"He knows that," answered the Czar; "but what he does not know is,
that Ivan Ogareff, as well as being a rebel, is also playing the part
of a traitor, and that in him he has a personal and bitter enemy.
It is to the Grand Duke that Ogareff owes his first disgrace;
and what is more serious is, that this man is not known to him.
Ogareff's plan, therefore, is to go to Irkutsk, and, under an
assumed name, offer his services to the Grand Duke. Then, after gaining
his confidence, when the Tartars have invested Irkutsk, he will
betray the town, and with it my brother, whose life he seeks.
This is what I have learned from my secret intelligence; this is
what the Grand Duke does not know; and this is what he must know!"
"Well, sire, an intelligent, courageous courier . . ."
"I momentarily expect one."
"And it is to be hoped he will be expeditious," added the chief
of police; "for, allow me to add, sire, that Siberia is a favorable
land for rebellions."
"Do you mean to say. General, that the exiles would make common
cause with the rebels?" exclaimed the Czar.
"Excuse me, your majesty," stammered the chief of police,
for that was really the idea suggested to him by his uneasy
and suspicious mind.
"I believe in their patriotism," returned the Czar.
"There are other offenders besides political exiles in Siberia,"
said the chief of police.
"The criminals? Oh, General, I give those up to you!
They are the vilest, I grant, of the human race.
They belong to no country. But the insurrection, or rather,
the rebellion, is not to oppose the emperor; it is raised
against Russia, against the country which the exiles have not
lost all hope of again seeing--and which they will see again.
No, a Russian would never unite with a Tartar, to weaken,
were it only for an hour, the Muscovite power!"
The Czar was right in trusting to the patriotism of those whom
his policy kept, for a time, at a distance. Clemency, which was
the foundation of his justice, when he could himself direct its effects,
the modifications he had adopted with regard to applications for the
formerly terrible ukases, warranted the belief that he was not mistaken.
But even without this powerful element of success in regard to
the Tartar rebellion, circumstances were not the less very serious;
for it was to be feared that a large part of the Kirghiz population
would join the rebels.
The Kirghiz are divided into three hordes, the greater, the lesser,
and the middle, and number nearly four hundred thousand "tents,"
or two million souls. Of the different tribes some are independent
and others recognize either the sovereignty of Russia or that of
the Khans of Khiva, Khokhand, and Bokhara, the most formidable chiefs
of Turkestan. The middle horde, the richest, is also the largest, and its
encampments occupy all the space between the rivers Sara Sou, Irtish,
and the Upper Ishim, Lake Saisang and Lake Aksakal. The greater horde,
occupying the countries situated to the east of the middle one, extends as
far as the governments of Omsk and Tobolsk. Therefore, if the Kirghiz
population should rise, it would be the rebellion of Asiatic Russia,
and the first thing would be the separation of Siberia, to the east
of the Yenisei.
It is true that these Kirghiz, mere novices in the art of war, are rather
nocturnal thieves and plunderers of caravans than regular soldiers.
As M. Levchine says, "a firm front or a square of good infantry could
repel ten times the number of Kirghiz; and a single cannon might destroy
a frightful number."
That may be; but to do this it is necessary for the square of good
infantry to reach the rebellious country, and the cannon to leave
the arsenals of the Russian provinces, perhaps two or three thousand
versts distant. Now, except by the direct route from Ekaterenburg
to Irkutsk, the often marshy steppes are not easily practicable,
and some weeks must certainly pass before the Russian troops could
reach the Tartar hordes.
Omsk is the center of that military organization of Western Siberia
which is intended to overawe the Kirghiz population. Here are
the bounds, more than once infringed by the half-subdued nomads,
and there was every reason to believe that Omsk was already in danger.
The line of military stations, that is to say, those Cossack
posts which are ranged in echelon from Omsk to Semipolatinsk,
must have been broken in several places. Now, it was to be
feared that the "Grand Sultans," who govern the Kirghiz
districts would either voluntarily accept, or involuntarily
submit to, the dominion of Tartars, Mussulmen like themselves,
and that to the hate caused by slavery was not united the hate
due to the antagonism of the Greek and Mussulman religions.
For some time, indeed, the Tartars of Turkestan had endeavored,
both by force and persuasion, to subdue the Kirghiz hordes.
A few words only with respect to these Tartars. The Tartars
belong more especially to two distinct races, the Caucasian and
the Mongolian. The Caucasian race, which, as Abel de Remusat says,
"is regarded in Europe as the type of beauty in our species,
because all the nations in this part of the world have sprung from it,"
includes also the Turks and the Persians. The purely Mongolian
race comprises the Mongols, Manchoux, and Thibetans.
The Tartars who now threatened the Russian Empire, belonged to
the Caucasian race, and occupied Turkestan. This immense
country is divided into different states, governed by Khans,
and hence termed Khanats. The principal khanats are
those of Bokhara, Khokhand, Koondooz, etc. At this period,
the most important and the most formidable khanat was that
of Bokhara. Russia had already been several times at war
with its chiefs, who, for their own interests, had supported
the independence of the Kirghiz against the Muscovite dominion.
The present chief, Feofar-Khan, followed in the steps
of his predecessors.
The khanat of Bokhara has a population of two million five
hundred thousand inhabitants, an army of sixty thousand men,
trebled in time of war, and thirty thousand horsemen.
It is a rich country, with varied animal, vegetable,
and mineral products, and has been increased by the accession
of the territories of Balkh, Aukoi, and Meimaneh. It possesses
nineteen large towns. Bokhara, surrounded by a wall measuring
more than eight English miles, and flanked with towers,
a glorious city, made illustrious by Avicenna and other
learned men of the tenth century, is regarded as the center
of Mussulman science, and ranks among the most celebrated
cities of Central Asia. Samarcand, which contains the tomb
of Tamerlane and the famous palace where the blue stone is kept
on which each new khan must seat himself on his accession,
is defended by a very strong citadel. Karschi, with its
triple cordon, situated in an oasis, surrounded by a marsh
peopled with tortoises and lizards, is almost impregnable,
Is-chardjoui is defended by a population of twenty thousand souls.
Protected by its mountains, and isolated by its steppes,
the khanat of Bokhara is a most formidable state; and Russia
would need a large force to subdue it.
The fierce and ambitious Feofar now governed this corner
of Tartary. Relying on the other khans--principally those of Khokhand
and Koondooz, cruel and rapacious warriors, all ready to join
an enterprise so dear to Tartar instincts--aided by the chiefs
who ruled all the hordes of Central Asia, he had placed himself at
the head of the rebellion of which Ivan Ogareff was the instigator.
This traitor, impelled by insane ambition as much as by hate,
had ordered the movement so as to attack Siberia. Mad indeed
he was, if he hoped to rupture the Muscovite Empire. Acting under
his suggestion, the Emir--which is the title taken by the khans
of Bokhara--had poured his hordes over the Russian frontier.
He invaded the government of Semipolatinsk, and the Cossacks,
who were only in small force there, had been obliged to retire
before him. He had advanced farther than Lake Balkhash,
gaining over the Kirghiz population on his way. Pillaging, ravaging,
enrolling those who submitted, taking prisoners those who resisted,
he marched from one town to another, followed by those impedimenta
of Oriental sovereignty which may be called his household,
his wives and his slaves--all with the cool audacity of a modern
Ghengis-Khan. It was impossible to ascertain where he now was;
how far his soldiers had marched before the news of the rebellion
reached Moscow; or to what part of Siberia the Russian troops
had been forced to retire. All communication was interrupted.
Had the wire between Kolyvan and Tomsk been cut by Tartar scouts,
or had the Emir himself arrived at the Yeniseisk provinces?
Was all the lower part of Western Siberia in a ferment?
Had the rebellion already spread to the eastern regions?
No one could say. The only agent which fears neither cold nor heat,
which can neither be stopped by the rigors of winter nor the heat
of summer, and which flies with the rapidity of lightning--
the electric current--was prevented from traversing the steppes,
and it was no longer possible to warn the Grand Duke, shut up
in Irkutsk, of the danger threatening him from the treason
of Ivan Ogareff.
A courier only could supply the place of the interrupted current.
It would take this man some time to traverse the five thousand two hundred
versts between Moscow and Irkutsk. To pass the ranks of the rebels
and invaders he must display almost superhuman courage and intelligence.
But with a clear head and a firm heart much can be done.
"Shall I be able to find this head and heart?" thought the Czar.
