Internal change also threatened the characteristic civilization of the Cossacks of Little Russia. During the short-lived rule of Peter III an attempt was made to introduce a system of nobility among the officers of the Cossack regiments, undermining the democratic principle of equality which had formed one of the strongest traditions of Cossack life. Under Catherine the Great, even more strenuous measures were taken to wipe out all differences between the Ukraine and the neighbouring Russian provinces.
During the strange parliament summoned at Petrograd by the Empress (in an access of what she flattered herself was "liberalism") we find "representatives" from the Ukraine Cossacks among the delegates forcibly gathered to deliberate upon a general system of laws for the "people" of Russia. Proud of their national customs and regulations, the Cossacks of the Ukraine appear to have strenuously resisted all these innovations. But the terrible Roumianzov, now Catherine's favourite minister, would not allow this imperial passion for reform to be denied. The delegates from the Cossack provinces were dragged to the capital in chains and forced to take part in the debates under the guard of Russian troops. As a result of tiieir strange deliberations a new code of laws was adopted for the Ukraine, in which the ancient customs of the Cossacks were given little consideration. Thus a new impetus was given the great migration of Cossacks towards the Caucasus and the Kouban — beyond the settlements of the Don — where their descendants have preserved their customs to the present day.
CHAPTER V
AT no time since the "Troublous Days" which followed the death of Boris Godounov has the padarok or public order of the Russian people seemed so irretrievably disturbed as at the present time. The period of anarchy to which the above name was given has always been looked upon with pious horror by the moujik, at heart a none too heroic lover of peace and quiet above all other considerations. Yet the "Red Terror" of the present day is not the only grave upheaval which, since the days of the "False Dmitri," has disturbed the slow evolution of Russia toward light and civilization. The strange "seeking" un-European idealism of the peasantry makes them liable — in spite of their instinctive docility — to almost savage outbreaks of impatience. Again and again false prophets have arisen to deceive the people. If true Russians, these have often deceived themselves.
Pougatchev, the leader of the great Cossack revolt during the latter half of the eighteenth century, was a typical specimen of the Russian mobleader. In addition to ruthlessness and the gift of command he possessed talents of organization and rmilitary leadership which the Bolshevik chieftains of the present day might well envy. Above all he appears as a master of the note of religious appeal which in Russia must always accompany "popular" success — an appeal recalling the dominant note of Russian life, whether made in the name of a schism in the Orthodox Church, on behalf of some socialist doctrine like that preached to-day in the form of a gospel "according to Marx."*
After the partition of Poland and the success of Catherine's armies during their Polish campaigns, every curious detail with respect to the vast empire governed by "The Semiramis of the North" was eagerly sought after and commented upon in the distant capitals of Europe. The correspondence which the Empress Catherine conscientiously maintained with Voltaire and Diderot, besides her letters to Grimm, her unofficial repre-
* Among the author's books is an edition (in German) of a pamphlet entitled "The False Peter Third, or the Life and Adventures of the Rebel Yemelyan Pougatchev." Originally published in England, bj "Seyffert in Angel's Court, Westminster, 1775," this work was translated into French, German and Dutch. Although the style of its contents scarcely rises above the descriptions contained in the "Chap-Books" of the time — dealing with the life and death of celebrated criminals — the extraordinary interest aroused by the now almost forgotten adventure of the Cossack "usurper" obtained for this biography a wide circulation for several generations following the strange events it describes.