Regiment of Horse Grenadiers. Regiment of Hulans Lancers. Regiment of Cossacks of the Don (Atamanski polk, or Regiment of the Hetman-the heir-apparent of Russia). This regiment is relieved by another every year, of which all the men and officers must be Cossacks. Their seat is just like that of a jockey, for they support themselves on their stirrups, and their usual pace is a long trot. They ride, what is called short. Company, i. e., Squadron of Cossacks of the Black Sea. Company of Circassians, or Tcherkess; all are khans, and rank as ecuyers, or nobles. They come from the Caucasus and serve three years, and are then sent back to their homes, and relieved by their countrymen. They are clad in chain-armour, and are remarkable for their feats of horsemanship and skill with their weapons; for instance, they place a piece of paper on the ground and send a ball through it at full gallop; they jump on and off their horse when at full speed, in which they are much assisted by their seat, the stirrup on one side being much shorter than the other; and they perform various other feats, such as are prac tised by the Irregular Horse in India. The officers are distinguished by a quiver of arrows at their side. Company of the Tartars of the Crimea. Both the last two corps are Mussulmanns, and have only the pay not the privileges of the Guards. 1st Brigade: SECOND DIVISION OF LIGHT CAVALRY. Regiment of Dragoons (which Lord Londonderry considered, when he was at St. Petersburg, to be the most perfect, and best appointed regiment of the Guards). Regiment of Hulans of the Grand Duke Michael. 2d Brigade : Regiment of Hulans of Grodvo. Company of Cossacks of the Ural. Company of Troopers which have not the privilege of the Guards. The guard has not in peace time its full complement, for three or four of the regiments of infantry and cavalry do not properly belong to that corps. These regiments have, therefore, not the privileges, but only the pay of the guards during their stay at St. Petersburg, so that the total number of guards may be computed at 42,000 men only. To this force are added, in war-time, or even on the occasion of a review, several supernumerary regiments which swell the force to 60,000 men. Among the additions may be reckoned two regimens de modèle, or drill regiments, one of cavalry and one of infantry, each being composed of two officers and ten men from every several regiment throughout the army. They have triple pay, and are changed every year and sent back to their respective corps to teach them the improvements of the capital. The privates are promoted to the rank of sous-officiers, i. e. non-commissioned officers. A regiment of carabineers is sometimes added to the corps. It occasionally happens that the regiment of the Emperor of Austria, of the King and Prince Royal of Prussia, are appointed to this duty; for these royal and princely personages not only give their names but command as colonels their own regiments; and there is also a regiment, among the rest, belonging to, and bearing the name of the Duke of Wellington. The Cossacks are said to be divided into 146 regiments, each of 800 men. To these may be added the irregular force composed of Bashkirs and Calmucks, whose number has been computed to be about as much again. But the numerical strength of this force is uncertain, and the force itself not to be depended upon. Before we proceed to sum up the total and effective force of Russia, it will be necessary to give some account of the irregular tribes that swell the amount; and first among them we must reckon the Kozak or Cossack, a Turkish word for Tartar, or robber on horseback, and now used for any irregular body of horse, and sometimes even for militia. The Cossacks are divided into several distinct tribes. Having been transported from their original resting place on the Don to other localities where they might be employed as a defence of the boundaries of the empire, their numbers were gradually increased by fugitives, driven to lead a wandering life either for crime or conscience sake. The Cossacks were, within the last twenty years composed of Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, Tartars, and Turks. Each tribe had, till within the last century, to perform military service, in consideration for which they enjoyed certain privileges, elected their own officers, and especially their attaman or hetman. But they received no pay, lived altogether by plunder, and made themselves notorious only for the daring and predatory services which they performed, in the wake of the Russian armies. Attracting, however, the notice of the military authorities, they were ultimately formed into regiments, disciplined, and mixed with Russians. In losing, however, their distinctive character and nationality, they lost their chief merits. The receipt of regular pay led them to St. Petersburg and Moscow, and caused them to enter into all the frivolous and turbulent gaieties of these capitals. They soon became voluptuous and enervated, incurred debts, and were thenceforth in the power and under the thumb-screw of the government. Flattered by military decorations and orders, some among the leaders surrendered the last remnant of their independence; and at the death of Platow yielded to the crown the appointment of attamen or hetman. This title is now conferred on the heir apparent. It may be answered that in the time of Catherine, Potemkin had held the office of hetman of the Cossacks. But Potemkin had shared their perils and fatigues, had raised the character of the Russian army, gained the confidence of the Russian soldier, and secured the lasting affections of the Cossacks by allowing them to fight with their own weapons in their own fashion. The greatest proportion of the aboriginal Cossack tribes now occupy themselves in fishing, in tending cattle, and breeding horses. They have entirely lost their military character. They are looked on by the best Russian officers as an inefficient and cowardly body, and are said to retain nothing of their former character but a love of plunder. They are principally employed at present in performing the duties of police and gendarmes. Their uniform is light, easy, and soldier-like, and is sought to be generally introduced throughout the cavalry by Field Marshal Sacken, who is desirous of transforming that branch of the service into a body of light horse. The remaining tribes of the Cossacks, including those of the Don, who were a distinct race have now spread to the Ukraine. The Bog and the Black Sea or Tchernomorskoi Cossacks have been of great use in the wars against Turkey, and more recently have done good service against the Circassians, whom they are said to resemble in stratagem and address. The Cossacks of the Volga have mostly transformed themselves into peaceable burghers, but the tribes of Grubenskoi, Orenburg, the Ural mountains, and of Siberia, retain all their wild and savage propensities. They are now so numerous and extended that they are looked upon by Russia as a great engine, to be worked in case of any attempt on India. They dwell, or are rather encamped, on the farthest and south-west boundaries of the empire, and have, also, been of great service against the Circassians, as well as against the roving tribes around and in the deserts. They are able to distinguish their own men at a great distance by certain signs, such as wheeling their horses in a peculiar manner, so that, at any visible distance, they know whether the party approaching are friends or foes. They have all the acuteness of their race. is exemplified by an anecdote often related in Moscow by General Prince Troubetzkoi, who held a command before Schumla in 1811. On visiting the outposts, he was told by a cossack sentry that the Turkish force had been augmented. The general, however, was incredulous, for he could see no indication of such an event, but the Cossack insisted that there had been a reinforcement during the night, and gave as a reason that he had marked a spot of ground before him, with a tree between him and the enemy, and This that one branch, the day before, just reached to the end of the camp, but that it was now a little way beyond it. The sequel proved that he was correct, for the Russians found an overwhelming force opposed to them, and were obliged to retire in disgrace. The greatest management is required to keep these different Cossack tribes in order. The future peace, safety, and prosperity of Russia depend in a great degree on their civilization. Of unsettled character, lovers of change, and of the marvellous, they have, hitherto, given an eager support to every impostor who has appeared among them. They afforded a ready aid to the Strelitz, supported the cause of the false Demetrius, and of the Pugatschef, as well as the bolder design of the rebel Shenko Rosan, whose object it was to establish an independent sovereignty at Astracan. The Calmoucks, another of the principal tribes, have now become civilized, education being now general among them. They can read and write, and are said to be acute and even eloquent. They have still retained some of their warlike propensities and their personal courage; qualities which ought almost to be hereditary to them, as they are descended of the Huns of old, and of the Mongols of Ginghis Khan. They are, luckily, restrained within the salt deserts and the tract of country about the Caspian Sea. The Bashkirs are a wandering and warlike tribe, Mussulmans by religion, and plunderers by profession. They lead a pastoral life, and are rich in flocks. Their weapons are bows and arrows, and many of them wear armour. The Khirgizes, from the borders of China, are similarly armed, and have the same pursuits. They are rich in flocks and herds, and dwell in their deserts, 280 leagues from the Attock. Among the foreign auxiliaries incorporated with the Russian army are a few regiments raised by Paskevitch in Persia. These, though Mussulmans in religion, did good service against the Turks. Two of these regiments were quartered at Warsaw a few years ago. They still retained their native dress and seat on horseback. There is also a body of Circassians incorporated in the Russian service. As an irregular force they have distinguished themselves by their courage, address, and ferocity, both against the Poles and the Turks. While serving with the Russian army they have various privileges, and are, after a certain service, sent back to their own tribes, now in subjection to Russia, and are replaced by others of their countrymen, to whom they can enlarge upon the wealth, luxury, and power of the Imperial Court. This corps, which is of the tribe of Tcherkasses, is under the command of its own sultaun, or chief. Some idea of the lives and habitudes of these men before their subjection to Russia may be formed from The Strength of the Army displayed on the Frontiers. 207 the confession of the old sultaun or chief, who declared that he had not taken off his armour for twenty-five years, having been all that time in a state of perpetual warfare, not only with his immediate neighbours, but with Russia, Turkey, and Persia. Ferocity and disregard of life are prominent traits in the character of these Circassians. During the Polish insurrection a village had been roused to revolt by its pastor, and had in a skirmish killed one of the principal Circassian khans. The body was borne off with some difficulty and risk, but the attempt was to be made, as the Circassians consider it a disgrace to leave the dead body of one of their tribe in the hands of an enemy. On the following night a signal was sent round the Russian camp, and a body of five hundred Tcherkasses was soon collected. They proceeded to the village, and after cutting to pieces a battalion of one thousand Polish infantry, not only burnt the village to the ground, but put all its inhabitants, men, women, and children to the sword. For some time after they were occupied in selling for a mere trifle the spoil of ear-rings, trinkets, &c., which they had collected, and to which were appended the ears and fingers of their former possessors. Some of these khans speak very tolerable French, enter into society and adopt European manners. Having given the best account we could procure of the different regiments and supernumerary troops, we will now enter on the question of the numerical strength which Russia is able to bring forward. One of the reasons why Russia is generally but erroneously considered as the most gigantic power in Europe, arises from the circumstance of her maintaining the greatest portion of her force, and the most complete in discipline and matériel on her frontiers; a policy that took its rise in the time of Elizabeth, whose minister, Bestuchef impoverished the kingdom, and weakened its centre by the large force he kept upon the borders. It should also be recollected that it was formerly the custom, and indeed the habit has prevailed till within the last thirty years, to include under the head of military, all who drew pay under a military title. And when it is considered that most of the titles conferred by the emperor are of a military nature, it is not difficult to divine by what means the amount of the Russian armies is swelled out. The official returns raise the numerical force of Russia to the astonishing amount of 1,020,000 men, and not including the reserves, to 989,000, though there is another statement which reduces it to 862,000. Some military writers there are indeed, who would reduce the army of Russia to 400,000 men, but this is an obvious error; for it cannot be supposed that with her population and extent of territory, Russia is inferior in numerical strength to either France, Austria, or Prussia, whose |