A final article of the treat^^ solemnly set forth that neither King nor Tsar should interfere with any measures which the other High Contracting Party should deem necessary in order to discipline these new, involuntary subjects. At first kept secret, the clauses of this treat^^ which thus disposed of their territory without their consent became known to the Cossacks on both sides of the river. The settlements blazed with indignation. Doroshenko the hetman elected by the Polish faction, and Brukowicki, the hetman appointed by the Tsar, became equally objects of suspicion among the men of their own parties. A tumultuous invasion was immediately made by the Zaporogians upon the neighbouring Polish and Russian provinces in the defense of the "Xational Liberties." Ever}' party now understood the term "Freedom" to mean the right to sack and pillage unrestrained the fair territory of the Ukraine whose interest all professed to defend. These disorders finally resulted in a second convention with Russia, to which the majority of the Cossacks adhered.
Under the Hetman Samoilovntch devoted to the cause of the Tsar, the imperial power was greatly extended. By the signature of a new peace at
Moscow in 1686 both Kiev and Smolensk were abandoned by Poland to the administration of Russia, the Tsar undertaking to maintain order along the troubled frontiers of the Crimean Tartars, thus leaving Sobieski free to continue his famous crusade against his sworn enemy, the Turkish Sultan.
Through the skilful diplomacy of the Tsar Alexis — even greater as an empire builder than his son Peter the Great — these negotiations finally resulted in drawing closer the bond uniting the Cossack class to the Russian Crown. Their obstinate pride and determination to exercise their feudal "rights" over a free and warlike population had lost to the Polish nobles of the frontier the jurisdiction they had formerly claimed. It must not be supposed, however, that in passing to Russian allegiance the Cossacks abandoned their claim to autonomy.
The story of the Cossack revolts during the eighteenth century fills an important page in Russian history.
Even under the regime of the last Romanovs a service was held every year in many of the churches of Russia for the solemn cursing — with full ritual — of all religious and political heretics who in the past had ventured to disturb the public order of the empire. Mentioned separately the names of
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"the False Dmitri," Boris Godoimov, Stenka Razin, iMazeppa and Pougatchev were greeted by the clergy with thundering responses of "Anathema! Anathema I' '
The fact that three of the persons judged worthy of this curious distinction were Cossacks, while "the False Dmitri" generally enjoyed their support, would seem to demonstrate that even the potent brew contained in the "melting-pot" of Russian imperialism found difficulty in absorbing such recalcitrant elements as the "Republics" of the Dnieper, the Don and the Jaik.
In spite of its brief importance, the Cossack revolt led by Stenka Razin in the years 1671-3* may be dismissed as an outbreak of border ruffianism led by a particulariy successful river pirate and brigand. Profiting by a time of famine and distress along the Volga, Razin became a kind of border Robin Hood, enjo}Tng the popularity easily acquired by anyone who pretends to revenge the wrongs of the poor upon the purses of the rich. His name will, moreover, always be remembered in Russia for its connection with the unforgetable lilt of the song "Volga, Volga," etc. But his overthrow near Zimbirsk by Bariatinski and his execution at Moscow put a sudden end to a career which left no aftermath.**
* The date is variously given from 1673 to 1679. ** The incident celebrated in the popular song "Volga, Volga," tells of Razin's ready solution of an ethical prob-
The early years of the reign of Peter I were troubled by a series of revolts or mutinies in the Cossack territories of the Don, which, although ending in a severe punishment of the ringleaders, exhibited the determination of this important branch of the "Free People" not to allow their privileges to be overridden by the growing power of the autocracy.