THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE: A STORM-SONG. GATHER ye silently, Even as the snow Heapeth the avalanche : Gather ye so, In the wide glare of day, Sternly and tranquilly; Flake by flake gather; Bind ye the whole Firmly together One form and one soul! Are ye all gather'd? Welded in one ? Hark to the thunder-shout! Now roll ye on! Roll ye on steadily; Steadily grow; Swifter and swifter roll! Who stays you now? Leap from your hill of right; Burst on the plain! Ye were born in those valleys; Roll on in thunder! Man's buildings are there: Lo! they mock'd at your movement : Roll, roll, world-whelmingly ! Calm in your path Glory walks harvest-ward : God rules your wrath. It is accomplished:" Gather ye silently! Even as the snow Buildeth the avalanche, Gather ye, Now! SPARTACUS. OUR MARTYRS. 3. PESTEL AND THE RUSSIAN REPUBLICANS. r the close of 1825, the throne upon which the emperor Nicholas had scarcely sat, was stained with republican blood. blood was That the baptism of the Russian revolutionary movement, begun by the formation of secret societies so far back as 1817. The first of these societies bore the name of the Alliance of Faithful Sons of the Fatherland' under the leadership of the brothers Mooravieff and the prince Trubetskoy. This in 1818 gave way to that of the Commonweal' or 'Fraternity of the Green Book,' of which after 1821 Pestel and Reeleyeff were the chiefs. Their object was a thorough political reform of Russia, and the restoration of the conquered provinces to Poland. In 1823 they extended their aims to contemplating the creation of a Sclavonic Alliance, under which Russia, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Servia, were to form a Federation of independent Republics. Their plans also included the enfranchisement of the serfs, and the deposition of the reigning family of the Romanoffs. These societies originated in the army, among the more educated of the officers, who even in the campaigns of 1813, '14, and '15 had found opportunity for some commencement of free thought, with which to disturb the excellent peace of Europe, established at Vienna. The opinions of these men soon began to leaven the degraded nobility of Russia, and to inspire them with the hope of overturning the despotism under which they groaned. The Russian government has since endeavoured to spread abroad the impression that this disaffection was partial; but in fact it pervaded a whole class of society. The Government, for nine years aware of the existence of a wide-spread conspiracy, was yet unable to suppress it, and even when with extreme difficulty one society was dissolved, it did but spring up again immediately in another form. The chief and most zealous of the leaders of the movement were Colonel Pestel, Lieutenant Colonel Sergius Mooravieff-Apostol, and Lieutenants Reeleyeff, Bestuzeff-Roomin, and Kakhowski. Of these Pestel appears to have been the most skilful and practical; admitted, even by his adversaries, to have been a man of remarkable talent, though no pains have been spared to blacken and vilify his name. All the rules and regulations which he proposed bear the stamp of a widely comprehensive benevolence, joined with that immediate applicability which argues the work of a man who is more than a dreaming theorist. He also compiled a code of Russian jurisprudence, from which the Czar himself was fain to borrow; though under the corrupt system of Russian administration his subjects could be but little benefited. There are two remarkable features in the history of this conspiracy: the one, that during nine years it was never betrayed by any fully initiated member, till the treason of the two princes Jablonovski and Oginski, in 1825; and the other, that during its proceedings the existence of three other similar societies-the 'Russian Knights,' the 'Society for the Independence of Poland,' and the "United Sclavonians '- -was discovered. These societies all merged into the main Union, which, divided into a northern and southern department, spread over the whole country. The members of this extensive association appear to have consisted of three very distinct classes of men. The least numerous, but at the same time the most active, was the republican party, composed principally of young men, acting under the most generous and disinterested convictions, and desirous of raising the whole of the Russian nation to a position of freedom. Some of these were men of the highest aristocracy, possessed of large fortunes, which they were prepared to sacrifice, by emancipating their serfs, the sole source of their wealth. The greatest majority, however, of the conspirators were the oligarchists, who were only anxious to overthrow the tyranny which weighed upon themselves. These were so numerous that the government, after the explosion of the conspiracy, found it impossible to punish all concerned in it; the committee of inquiry finding that there was not one noble family of note in the empire guiltless of participation. There was also a third class who might be said rather to approve of the conspiracy than to join in it, who waited to take advantage of its results. These two last parties, jealous of the genius and activity of Pestel, opposed his influence by the appointment of creatures of their own as chiefs of the movement, and so prepared for failure. On the accession of Nicholas, the incarnation of that despotism against which they were banded, the conspirators were called upon to act. The Northern Circle was summoned together, but the majority, the oligarchists, only proposed to abandon their designs and to dissolve the association. Kakhowski and the more determined minority (Pestel was then in the South) indignantly opposed this, and apparently succeeded in inspiring even the majority, who thereupon chose one of themselves, Prince Trubetskoy, as the Dictator of the movement. On the news of Alexander's death Constantine had been proclaimed, and many regiments actually took the oath to him. The conspirators determined to contradict the announcement of his resignation, and to persuade the army that Nicholas was usurping; and the 26th of December (the day appointed for administering the oath of fidelity to the new emperor, to the troops, and authorities) was fixed for the outbreak of the revolution in St. Petersburg. The Dictator was to take the command of the insurrection, and to appear for that purpose with all the influential unionists in the Isaac's Plain, whither the conspirators were to repair with such regiments as they could gain over. On the morning of the 26th, no sooner were the troops ordered under arms to take the oath, than they were addressed by the conspirators in their ranks. At first the marines of the guard, under the command of their general, laid hands on the haranguers, but the eloquence of the brothers Bestuzeff was persuasive, and the whole battalion followed them. The regiment of Finland also declared for Constantine; the grenadiers of the guard were gained over; a part of the regiment of Moscow followed. But here a check was given. Their Generals had gathered round them the grenadier company, with the standard of the regiment, and exhorted the troops to obedience. But the Bestuzeffs and Prince Rostovski, unhesitatingly pushed aside the bayonets directed against them, and dashed sword in hand into the midst of the grenadiers. After a fierce but momentary conflict they possessed themselves of the standard, and then all resistance vanished. The two generals, the colonel, and several soldiers, lay bleeding on the ground; the conspirators were unharmed. The regiment no longer hesitated, but with loud acclamations followed these daring leaders to the place of meeting. On their way they were joined by some few of the conspirators in plain clothes; but upon reaching the Isaac's Plain they found none of the leaders awaiting them. During the whole day they saw nothing of the chiefs, the elect of the oligarchical majority, whose province it was to direct the insurrection which had been so successfully begun. As for Prince Trubetskoy, the Dictator, at the very hour on which he had appointed for the outbreak, he was taking the oath to Nicholas. The revolted regiments were formed in line with their backs to the Senate House. They stood there passive and irresolute, unknowing how to act, and awaiting their confederates. The Czar sent to summon them to take the oath of allegiance, but they answered with fierce cries of Constantine and the Constitution.' Count Miloradovitch, the favorite veteran of the army, in vain attempted to harangue them. He was reproached with a former act of treachery, and his efforts to obtain a hearing cut short by a pistol bullet, fired, it is said, by Kakhowski. Colonel Surler, who followed on the same errand, met a similar fate. The regiments who had not revolted were then ordered to fire upon the insurgents. Some refused, others fired over their heads. Artillery was then brought, and round after round of grape and canister poured from a murderous distance on the patient mass which still waited for their chiefs. Before evening the revolt had been ended by the massacre of the revolters. Whilst this was taking place in the North, Pestel, betrayed by his own adjutant, was arrested at Toolchin, in Podolia. Too suddenly surprized to be able to make any resistance, he, when overpowered, evinced no anxiety for any thing A but his work on Russian jurisprudence. His equanimity never deserted him, even to the gallows; and he died with sealed lips, though tortured, to wring out his secret. In the South the brothers Mooravicff were arrested at the same time that Pestel was secured Toolchin; but they were speedily delivered by Bestuzeff and Kouzmin, and raising boldly the standard of revolt, they entered the town of Vasilkof. Some troops were gained over; but it was in vain that they sought to appeal to their reason or religious feeling. In vain Bestuzeff's Republican Catechism was read to them. They answered only to the promise of double pay, and the cry of 'Constantine.' In the south as in the north, the great mass of the conspirators hung back, and the insurgents, yet too feeble to undertake anything, were overtaken on their march to Telessie by the vanguard of the imperial forces. Conscious of how much depends upon the first onset, the Mooravieffs charged right upon the artillery, but the elder brother was desperately wounded by a grape-shot, and Hyppolyte, the younger, fell dead at his side, by the first discharge. Their soldiers fled: in vain the devoted leaders strove to rally them. Mooravieff and Bestuzeff, both wounded,-Matthew, Mooravieff's second brother, and Kouzmin, were given up by their own men. Kouzmin, unwilling to survive the wreck of their hopes, snatched a pistol from one of his captors and discharged it at his own head, splashing the Mooravieffs with his blood and brains. So terminated this vast conspiracy. In the north, in the centre and in the south, the same devoted courage was displayed by the few who had conspired from patriotic motives, the same pusillanimity exhibited by the majority, whose narrow and contracted views were bounded by mere interest of caste, or that miserable self-interest which is the very root of caste. One hundred and twenty-one conspirators, for their share in these events, were sentenced to death, or to banishment to Siberia for life, or for periods of from 20 to 50 years. Only five, however, were executed, the death-sentences of the remainder being commuted to transportation for life. At 4 o'clock on the morning of the 25th of July, 1826, Pestel, Reeleycff, Mooravieff, Bestuzeff, and Kakhowski were dragged to the place of execution on the glacis of the fortress of St. Petersburg, and compelled to watch the erection of their gibbets. They were all hanged together; but the ropes broke or slipped over the heads of three of them-Reeley eff, Mooravieff, and Bestuzeff, and they fell, breaking the scaffolding beneath them. Two of them coolly re-ascended the fatal ladder; but the third was nearly dead and obliged to be carried up. Reeleycff merely observed that he had been exposed to the agony of a second death; and Bestuzeff exclaimed-'Nothing succeeds with me, even here I meet with disappointment.' Pestel died with the firm conviction that the Constitution he had prepared would, sooner or later, be the only refuge for Russia against a violent dismemberment. So perished the Russian martyrs,-their holy sacrifice He had written a great deal; but nothing was ever printed. He is said to have buried his manuscripts somewhere near Illintse, in the province of Kiioff. When asked by his friends what he was writing he used always to answer that he was treating of the wretched condition of the Russian soldiery; but it was understood that he wrote about the organization of the future Russia. |