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ground. In September 1812, at the time of the French invasion, the Russians set fire to the city and three fourths of it were consumed, the central divisions alone being preserved. Since that time the city has been rebuilt and the population carried nearly to its former magnitude. The deficiency is in the palaces of the nobility, many of which are not rebuilt, having before been on a scale by far too large for the income of their owners, who are now contented to live at a reduced expense on their estates in the country. The Kremlin stands on a height commanding a prospect of nearly the whole city. It is the great depot of the antiquities and curiosities of Moscow, and of the regalia of the Russian empire. Here also is the tower of Ivan, which is still amply replenished with bells, and which formerly contained the largest bell in the known world, the weight being above 200 tons. This remarkable monument of the taste of a rude nation, fell last century, in consequence of the tower being burned, and is now broken and considerably sunk in the earth. In regard to trade Moscow, though at a great distance from any sea, is the grand emporium for the interior of the empire. The population in summer does not much exceed 200,000; but in winter, it is nearly 300,000 from the great resort of traders and of the Russian nobility.

Odessa, the second commercial city in the Russian dominions, is situated on a small bay of the Black sea, between the mouths of the Dnieper and the Dniester. It is entirely of modern erection, having been founded by Catherine II. in 1792. The port is artificial, being formed by two large moles, each about a quarter of a mile long, and embracing a space sufficient for the reception of about 800 vessels. It is deep enough for the largest ships, and being never frozen, has a great advantage over all the other Russian harbors in the Black sea, which are generally obstructed by ice for several months, while vessels can arrive and depart from Odessa through the whole winter. The roads without the port are extensive, and safe in summer. The prosperity of Odessa has long been a favorite object of the Russian government. Fortifications, magazines, piers, and public works of various kinds have been erected at great expense, and the most liberal encouragement has been offered to foreigners to settle in the town and its vicinity, The increase of the population and commerce has been astonishingly rapid. In 1803 the town contained only 8,000 souls, and the surrounding country for many leagues was an uncultivated desert; in 1811 the population amounted to 25,000, and the environs within a radius of 80 miles, contained 40 flourishing villages; in 1820 the population of the town was more than 40,000, while the surrounding country had increased in an equal ratio. The great article of commerce is wheat, of which, in 1815, 6,000,000 bushels were exported, and the number of vessels employed in the trade of the port was more than 1.000.

Riga, the third town in commercial importance, is situated 235 miles S.W. of St. Petersburg. in a large plain on the Duna, about nine miles from the sea. The river is wide, and forms a safe and spacious harbor. Although not a regular fortress, Riga is a strong

mound and a moat.

town, having a citadel, and being surrounded with an earthen The entrance of the river is defended by the fortress of Dunamunde, The commerce of the town is very extensive, the number of vessels arriving annually being between 700 and 800, and the value of the exports, consisting principally of timber, flax, hemp and corn, being computed at £1.000.000, of which one half are sent to Great Britain. The foreign trade is chiefly managed by English and Scotch merchants. The popula tion is estimated at 36,000.

Archangel is a well known trading place on the Dwina, 24 miles from its entrance into the White sea, and 400 miles N. E. of St. Petersburg. It is much frequented by the English, Dutch and Germans, and upwards of 100 foreign ships enter the port annually. The exports consist of train oil, tallow, tar, linseed, furs and coarse linen. The trade of this place received a great shock on the foundation of St. Petersburg, the privileges conferred on the latter inducing the most opulent of the merchants to remove thither. The population in its flourishing state was 30,000; but at present only 7,000.

Cronstadt, the principal station of the Russian navy, is on the southeast side of an island in the gulf of Finland, 22 miles west of St. Petersburg. The harbor is very spacious, and the part appropriated to the navy is furnished with docks capable of containing 10 men of war. Here is a foundry for casting cannon, a ropewalk where cables of all sizes are manufactured, and great magazines of naval stores. Cronstadt is defended towards the sea by fortifications projecting into the water, and towards the land by ramparts and bastions. The principal passage to St. Petersburg lies between the town and a small island more than a mile distant, on which there is a fort for the defence of the intermediate channel. All vessels trading to St. Petersburg are examined here, and the largest vessels can ascend no further. The population of the town is 40,000, of whom at least 10,000 are sailors.

Cherson is situated in an extensive plain on the right bank of the Dnieper, about 60 miles from its mouth, where that river begins to form the marshy lake called Liman, which presents a spacious but shallow harbor. It was founded in 1778, by the empress Catherine, who intended to make it a place of extensive commerce and the principal station of the Russian navy in the Black sea. Within 10 years after its establishment it is said to have contained nearly 50,000 inhabitants, and many large ships of war were launched from its docks. But the difficulty of navigating the Dnieper and other inconveniences occasioned a removal of the naval establishment to Nicolajev, and owing to the same cause, its commerce has also greatly declined. The popu lation at present is less than 20,000. Nicolajev, the principal naval station of the Russians on the Black sea, is on the Bog, 30 miles from its mouth, and 45 N. W. of Cherson. It was founded in 1791, and from its advantageous situation bids fair to become one of the largest cities in the empire. The population at present is about 5,000 but is very rapidly increasing.

The other principal ports in the Black sea, and sea of Azoph are Akerman, at the mouth of the Dniester on the west side, a piace of considerable trade and containing 20,000 inhabitants; Otchukov, situated at the entrance of the estuary of the Dnieper, on the N. side, formerly a place of extensive trade with 30,000 or 40,000inhabitants, but which since the establishment of Odessa has regularly declined; and Tuganrock, situated on a promontory which projects into the sea of Azoph not far from the mouth of the Don: it contains 10,000 inhabitants and has an extensive commerce with the countries on the Mediterranean.

The following are among the other principal towns in the interior. 1. Tver. situated in lat. 56° 50' and lon. 36° 14' at the confluence of the Tvertza with the Volga contains 20,000 inhabitants, and carries on considerable trade. 2. Niznei Novgorod, situated at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, is a thriving .commercial town with 10,000 inhabitants, and has a fair which is frequented by crowds of merchants from different parts of Russia, Poland, Germany, Tartary and even Persia. The quantity of merchandize sold here is immense. 3. Tulo, celebrated for its hard-ware manufactures, is on the Upa, a branch of the Oka, in lat. 53° 45' N. and lon. 37° 40' E. and contains 30,000 inhab itants. Here is the largest manufactory of fire-arms in Russia. 4. Smolensk, on the Dnieper, in lat. 54° 50' N. contains 12,000 inhabitants. 5. Wilna on the Wilia, a branch of the Niemen, in lat. 54° 41' N. and lon. 25° 17' E. contains a university and 20,000 inhabitants, of whom 5,000 are Jews. 6. Kiev, on the Dnieper, in lat. 50° 27′ N. has a university and about 20,000 inhabitants. 7. Ismail, formerly belonging to Turkey, and memorable for its siege and capture by the Russians under Suwarrow in 1790, is on the N. side of the principal arm of the Danube, 33 miles from its entrance into the Black sea.

Inland Communication.] Owing to the flatness of the country the rivers of Russia are generally navigable almost to their sources, and a water communication is thus formed from the coast to every part of the interior. Several of the largest rivers, though flowing in opposite directions, rise near the same spot, and by means of short canals connecting them, a complete inland navigation is opened between the seas on the opposite coasts of the empire. The Caspian sea is connected with the Frozen ocean by means of a canal from the Volga to the Dwina, and with the Baltic by the celebrated canal of Vishnei-Voloshok, which with several intermediate streams unites the Voiga and the Neva. The Black sea communicates with the Baltic by two canals, one connecting the Dnieper with the Duna, and the other connecting the same river with the Niemen. There are various other canals opening less extensive communications. In winter the snow affords an easy mode of conveyance, and merchandize is transported on sledges from Moscow to the coast of the Pacific ocean at the remotest extremity of the empire.

Population. The whole Russian empire, including the kingdom of Poland, contains according to Hassel 45,515,797 inhab

itants. The mass of this population is concentrated on a very small portion of the territory in the southern and western parts of European Russia, the northern provinces together with the whole of Asiatic Russia being very thinly inhabited. No kingdom in the world contains so many races of men, and so different in their origin, language, manners and religion. It is estimated that there are more than 100 different nations who speak at least 40 different languages. 1. The Slavonians amount to 38,800,000, and are subdivided into Russians, Cossacks, Poles, Lithuanians, &c. 2. The Finns, 2,370,000 in number, are divid ed into proper Finns, Esthonians, Livonians, Laplanders, &c. 3. Tartars, 1,850,000, divided into proper Tartars, Nogays, Kirgises, &c. 4. Caucasians, 1,200,000. 5. Mongols, 300,000, divided into Mongols, Buriats and Kuriles. 6. Mandshurs, 80,000. 7. Tribes inhabiting the polar regions, viz. Samoieds, Ostiacks, Kamtschadales, &c. 300,000. 8. Walachians and gipsies, in Moldavia and Bessarabia, 300,000

Cossacks.] The Cossacks of the Don occupy an extensive territory on both sides of the river Don, and are governed by a military constitution. They are exempted from taxation, and enjoy great privileges when compared with the other members of the Russian empire. In return, each man is accounted a soldier, and is bound to maintain two horses, for which the crown supplies oats and hay during only six months of the year. Their number amounts to 40,000 fighting men, who receive no pay in time of peace, but in time of war, besides being furnished with every necessary, receive 12 dollars a year, and the usual military rations. Besides the Cossacks of the Don there are others on the Volga, the Bog, and in Asiatic Russia, governed very much in the same manner.

Classes of Society.] The Russian nation consists almost entirely of two classes, the nobility and the peasantry. The middle class comprises, even in the large towns, hardly any other than foreign settlers or their descendants. The nobility live in great style, and their persons and property are exempt from taxation. The peasantry are in a very abject condition, being bought and sold along with the estate which they cultivate, and sometimes even separately. Government has long felt the advantage that would result from emancipation, and in some of the provinces this has been partially effected.

Religion.] The established religion is that of the Greek church, with a free toleration however of all sects, even Mahometans. The numbers attached to the principal denominations, according to Hassel, are as follows: Greek church 34,000,000; Catholics and united Greeks 5,308,000; Lutherans 2,500,000; Mahometans 1,800,000; Jews 510,000. The number of churches throughout the empire is nearly 20,000; that of priests about 68,000; and if to these be added the monks, almost as numerous as in Catholic countries, the whole number of ecclesiastics in Russia may be computed at 400,000.

Education.] Education is still at a very low ebb in Russia, there being very few schools except those supported by government. Seminaries, great or small, have for a century past existed in the chief towns, but the villages and open country have been immersed in almost as great ignorance as the interior of Africa. In 1802 an imperial ukase was issued establishing a systematic plan of education for the whole empire, under the charge of the directing synod of the church. By this act were establishéd six universities, viz. at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Wilna, Dorpat, (in Livonia) Charkov in the south, and Kasan in the east. Each of the great governments of the empire has a gymnasium; each of the circles or lesser divisions a high school; while an elementary school is or ought to be established in each parish, or, where the population is small, in every two parishes. The parish schools, however, are not generally established, and when they are, are indifferently conducted. Besides these, there are special schools established at the expense of the government for instruction in navigation, the military art, painting, mining, theology, &c.

Government.] The Russian government was till lately a perfectly absolute monarchy. The title of the sovereign is "emperor and autocrat of all the Russias, and king of Poland." There are ministers for each of the great departments of government, viz, the army, the navy, the treasury, &c. and a senate whose powers are partly deliberative and partly executive. The present emperor has declared the Russian government to be a constitutional monarchy, and has given the senate the right of remonstrating against any ukase or edict contrary to law.

Revenue and Debt.] The national debt is about £35,000,000, exclusive of a large amount of paper money issued by the government, and which has depreciated to one third part of its nominal value. The interest of the debt at 74 per cent. is £2,250,000. The whole revenue of Russia is estimated £15,000,000 sterling. Army and Navy.] The army is the largest in Europe, consisting, according to the return of 1819, of 778,000 men, exclusive of militia and irregular troops of various descriptions. Of this number 613,000 were infantry, 118,000 cavalry, and 47,000 artillery. The irregulars, infantry and cavalry, were estimated at 405,000. Owing to the financial embarassments, the extensive frontier which is to be protected, and various other causes, it is supposed that. not more than from 200,000 to 300,000 of this vast force could be marched out of the empire.

The navy in 1820 consisted of 30 ships of the line, 20 frigates, 15 sloops, and 200 galleys. The men fit for the duty of the navy, who can be called forth in time of war, are between 30,000 and 40,000. A part of the navy is stationed in the Baltic, a part in the Black sea, and a part in the Caspian.

Manufactures.] The Russian manufactures owe their origin to Peter I. and since his time they have so greatly increased, that many articles are now made within the empire, which were for merly imported from foreign countries. The principal manufac.

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