entirely military. They form the body of troops of the cordon around the Caucasus, and from Siberia to the Black Sea. Being all trained to arms from their youth, and constantly on horseback, they are the most ready and convenient military resource in Russia, and effectually protect the eastern frontier from the attacks of the hostile tribes of Tartars beyond. They are bound, also, to serve at a day's notice in any part of the world. They receive no pay, and furnish their own arms, clothes, horses, and accoutrements, but are allowed rations, ammunition, and plunder ad libitum.

The process of raising a regiment of Cossacks consists simply in ordering a certain number to meet at a certain place at a given time, from whence they are, sans cérémonie, marched off to the appointed destination. Every male Cossack is considered as a soldier from his birth by the Russian Government, and as brought into the world for no other purpose than to fight their battles for them. The number of Cossacks generally enrolled in the Russian service is one hundred thousand.

The appearance of the Cossack is at all times dignified and respectable, or, rather, majestic. His brow is elevated, his dark moustachios neatly trimmed, and on his head he wears a cap or helmet of black wool, terminated by a crimson sack and a plume and white cockade. His erect posture, and the ease and elegance of his gait, give him an air of great importance. The uniform dress worn by all the men consists of a blue jacket, edged with gold, and lined with silk, and fastened with hooks across the chest. Beneath the jacket appears a silk waistcoat, the lower part of which is concealed by the sash. Their large and long trousers, either of the same material as the jacket, or of white dimity, are kept scrupulously clean, and fastened high above the waist, covering their boots. The sabre is not worn except on horseback, on a journey, or in war; and its place is supplied by a switch, or cane with an ivory head, which every Cossack carries in his hand, as an appendage of his dress, being at all times ready to mount his horse at a moment's notice. Their cap, or helmet, is the most beautiful part of their costume, and is becoming to any set of features. It adds considerably to their height, and, with the addition of whiskers, imparts a martial air to the most insignificant figure.

It can hardly be expected but that the continual intercourse with Russia would produce a gradual change in the manners of the Cossacks. Oliphant asserts that since the Don has ceased to be the boundary between Europe and Asia, they have become in some degree "occidentalized," and that he could not recognise

those striking costumes described by early travellers; that with the manners and customs by which they were once distinguished, they are also losing all traces of their former independence; and that as they become gradually absorbed into the Russian empire, their identity as a separate race must soon cease. We can

scarcely think such a result probable to the full extent he anticipates, unless they lose their extensive privileges, which is not likely to be the case. They are too formidable, by their warlike character and their numbers, for the Russian Government to attempt to deprive them of those peculiar advantages they possess; and unless they can corrupt, they cannot enslave them.

During the last war, from the invasion of Russia by Buonaparte to the surrender of Paris to the allied armies, the Cossacks played a conspicuous part. Whilst they are not calculated to encounter regular troops in a pitched battle, they are peculiarly adapted to harass an army in retreat, or on the march, or suddenly to take it in flank when engaged. By this desultory mode of fighting they contributed greatly to the success of the allies, and the defeat of the French, who had a great horror of them; and even Buonaparte himself spoke of them as "the terrible Cossacks."

As all their movements are rapid and sudden, they make no prisoners, and are not very scrupulous of taking life. An instance of this in the retreat of the French from Waterloo occurs to our recollection, as related by an officer who witnessed it. A French officer had been taken prisoner, and was standing with his captor at the gate of a hotel, in a town on the road to Paris. The English officer, seeing a Cossack enter the street, advised his prisoner to retire for safety. Thinking himself safe with his new friend, he declined doing so; but the Cossack espying him when within a few yards, couched his lance, clapped his spurs to his horse, and before the Frenchman could retreat, ran him through the body, and he dropped dead at the feet of the Englishman.

Terrible as these people are in war, there are none more kind and hospitable to strangers who visit them in their own country. Their houses are neat and clean inside, and many of them comfortably furnished. They have no poor, the abundance of provisions of all kinds being distributed amongst them by a system of equality, secured in the division of the land; by which every Cossack possesses the means of supporting himself and his family. They profess the Greek religion, and are very strict in the observ ance of its rites.

POLAND.—No. I.

THE kingdom of Poland, as it formerly existed, occupied no small portion of the European continent. When at the height of its prosperity, it extended from the 48° to the 57° of north latitude, and from the 16° to the 33° of east longitude. It was bounded on the north and north-west by the Baltic Sea, on the east by Russia, on the west by Germany, and on the south by Hungary, Moldavia, and Austria; embracing an area of two hundred and eighty-four thousand square miles, and a population of about fifteen million souls. It comprehended the provinces of Great and Little Poland on the west, Masovia and Podlachia in the centre, Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine in the south-east. The grand duchy of Lithuania occupied a large portion of the north and centre. These provinces were subdivided into palatinates, of which there were thirty-six. This extensive

territory contained, comparatively, few cities and towns of importance, the principal being Warsaw, Crakow, Dantzic, Lemberg, Wilna, Brodyj, Kiov, Posen, Charkov, Mohilev, Vitepsk, &c. With the exception of the Carpathian chain of mountains, which separates it from Hungary, Poland is a level country, possessing a rich fertile soil, but a cold and humid climate. Although the land is wretchedly cultivated and undrained, it is very productive, and immense quantities of wheat of the finest quality are grown; the plan pursued being, to continue cropping the fields as long as they will produce grain without manure; and when exhausted, they allow it to remain untilled, and break up a fresh tract. The south-eastern portion of the country, comprising the Ukraine, Podolia, Volhynia, &c., are by far the most agreeable portions of ancient Poland, as well as the most productive. The whole country is intersected by numerous large rivers, as the Vistula, Niemen, Bug, Dniester, Dnieper, Dvina, Przypice, Pregel, &c., all of which, except the Niemen, are shallow, and in spring, overflow their banks, rendering the adjoining country marshy. The entire export of corn from this portion of Europe, is, probably, not less than five million quarters annually; the chief of which is wheat. And notwithstanding the backward state of agriculture, it is worthy of remark, that from no country is the wheat produced so free from a mixture of other grain and seeds of weeds. Large numbers of

cattle are reared and exported. In some of the less populous districts, there are herds of wild oxen, as well as horses.

The inhabitants of Poland are chiefly a branch of the great Sclavonic family, formerly occupying the banks of the Danube, but who migrated at an early period, and spread themselves along the valley of the Vistula, where they mingled with the Goths. They are supposed to have come originally from Siberia, and were known by the ancients under the name of Badins or Bouddins. Being driven westward by hordes of nomad Tartars, and other Asiatics, about three centuries before the Christian era, they came as far as the Danube, and settled along its banks. At that period, Poland was occupied by the Sarmatians, Herules, Vandals, Goths, and several other tribes. These afterwards abandoned their wild country, and invaded the south of Europe; and the Sclaves, who were more addicted to the peaceable pursuits of agriculture than to war, migrated, and took possession of the vacant territory. Very little is known of their history, until the fourth century, at which period, they had increased in numbers, and extended themselves over Eastern Poland, so as to form a powerful nation, composed of numerous republics, something on the principle of the United States of America, having one common political interest, but separate local organizations. This form of government continued until the ninth century, when the hostility of the Russians on one side, and the Germans on the other, suggested the necessity of a more strict and armed confederation of the several tribes of which the nation was composed, to enable them to repel their common foes.

It was at this period that Christianity was introduced into Poland, whose inhabitants were previously heathens. Mieczyslas, their military chief, married a Bohemian princess, who had embraced Christianity, and having followed her example, he soon converted his subjects to the same faith. The enormous power, however, claimed and exercised by the clergy, and sanctioned, for political purposes by the western emperors, reduced the authority of the sovereign to that of a simple marquis or duke, and Mieczyslas was compelled to pay tribute to the Emperor, and assist him in his wars. Boleslaus I., the eldest son of Mieczyslas, resolved to relieve his country from this yoke; and having set aside his brothers, who shared the kingdom with him by the will of his father, he conquered Bohemia, Silesia, and Crakovia, and rendered himself so powerful, that the Emperor thought it most prudent to make a league, and place him in the position of a friend

and ally, rather than a vassal; and at the same time, recognized him as Grand Duke of Poland.

On the death of the Emperor Otho, his successor, Henry II., renewed the war; upon which Boleslaus invaded successfully Lusatia, Servia, Bohemia, and Moravia, and pushed his conquests to Bavaria. At the conclusion of this war in 1018, he gave up Bohemia and Servia, but retained Moravia and Lusatia, which with Masovia, Crakow, Silesia, and Poland Proper, were firmly united into one kingdom under his sway. During his reign civilization and education made a rapid progress. All the male population bore arms, and those who possessed horses and equipments, were considered nobles, which was the only distinction existing amongst them. Such was the founder and the foundation of the once powerful kingdom of Poland.

Boleslaus the Great died in 1025; and for thirty years after his death, no events occurred worthy of remark; but from that period, Poland was divided into twelve palatinates; and a succession of conquests, until about the year 1140, added to the kingdom, the provinces of Red Russia, Bohemia, and Hungary.

For several centuries after the death of Boleslaus II. the history of Poland, like that of all the continental states, is one continuous narrative of war and bloodshed, in which, whilst the success was various to the belligerents, the miseries inflicted upon the inhabitants were beyond description. The true genius of Christianity was little understood at that period; and in the prosecution of war, the fiercer passions of men were allowed their full sway. In the contests with Prussia and the Teutonic knights, for instance, eighteen thousand towns, villages, and hamlets were destroyed (according to Malte Brun), and the wars with Russia were equally destructive; and those waged with the Teutonic Order, were of the most treacherous and sanguinary character. In the fourteenth century the Grand Duke Vladislaus, caused himself to be proclaimed King of Poland, and the White Eagle upon a red shield or buckler was, from that period, the escutcheon of Poland. In the great battle of Plowce in 1331, with the Teutonic Knights, that celebrated Order lost twenty thousand of their number. Vladislaus died soon after, leaving as a legacy to his son and heir, his personal and national animosity against the Teutonic Order, they having seized several of the Polish provinces, after conquering Prussia.

During the following two hundred years, ending. in 1587, Poland was under the sway of the Jagellon dynasty, and enjoyed

1