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Article TRANSCAUCASIA. ← Page 3 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Transcaucasia.
which pervades all government in Russia , Avas an arduous , if not an impossible task . It is probable , even , that serfdom did not originally exist in Georgia and Mingrelia , but Avas introduced , or rather grew up , under the dominion of the Russians . The Russian officials Avere accustomed to regard the peasants in their OAvn country as serfs , and earned these vieAA's into the countries they conquered . NOAV one very interesting peculiarity in these Caucasian races is the existence of a national constitution in familv
and communal life , springing directly from their manners and customs , and sanctioned by their laws . The celebrated national code of laAvs compiled and issued by the Georgian Czar Vakhtang , in the seventeenth century , comprised a collection of Greek , Roman , JeAvish , and Armenian laws , based upon their respective hereditary rights and traditional customs . All this
Avas diametrically opposed to the bureaucratic government to Avhich the Russian officials had been used . The latter class had no sympathies Avith the people over Avhom they were appointed , and ruled therefore with an arbitrary tyranny , the administration being purely of a military character . The inevitable result of this Avas a rooted animosity among all these
Caucasian tribes to the Russians , AA'hich Avas increased by the officials prohibiting any petitions or complaints being made to the Emperor . On one occasion , of a journey Nicholas made into these provinces , the inhabitants of an entire . village Avere seen kneeling in silence on the road as he passed . The Emperor inquired into the cause , and desired that all petitions should
be freely presented to him ; in consequence , on this journey to Erivari , 1400 petitions and complaints were preferred to him . The Emperor conceived the idea of remedying these evils by separating the civil and military administration , and he even ordered the native laws —the code of King Vakhtang , the Armenian laws , and those of the Tatars—to be collected and translated into
Russian , commanding that the administration should be regulated by these . A commission Avas sent to inquire into the social state and institutions of the country , and an enlightened project Avas formed by Baron Halm for ameliorating the state of affairs . No sooner , hoAvever , had he left the country , than every intrigue Avas set on foot to defeat the project , and the old system of despotism
and extortion Avas revived in full force . This is an instructive page in history , and exhibits in a strong light the invincible hold that a centralized tyranny , in its Avorst forms , has obtained over the entire system of government in Russia . Notwithstanding , all these obstacles , however , the Emperor determined to visit these countries himself . In the autumn of 1837 he inspected the fortresses on the Black Sea , travelled
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Transcaucasia.
which pervades all government in Russia , Avas an arduous , if not an impossible task . It is probable , even , that serfdom did not originally exist in Georgia and Mingrelia , but Avas introduced , or rather grew up , under the dominion of the Russians . The Russian officials Avere accustomed to regard the peasants in their OAvn country as serfs , and earned these vieAA's into the countries they conquered . NOAV one very interesting peculiarity in these Caucasian races is the existence of a national constitution in familv
and communal life , springing directly from their manners and customs , and sanctioned by their laws . The celebrated national code of laAvs compiled and issued by the Georgian Czar Vakhtang , in the seventeenth century , comprised a collection of Greek , Roman , JeAvish , and Armenian laws , based upon their respective hereditary rights and traditional customs . All this
Avas diametrically opposed to the bureaucratic government to Avhich the Russian officials had been used . The latter class had no sympathies Avith the people over Avhom they were appointed , and ruled therefore with an arbitrary tyranny , the administration being purely of a military character . The inevitable result of this Avas a rooted animosity among all these
Caucasian tribes to the Russians , AA'hich Avas increased by the officials prohibiting any petitions or complaints being made to the Emperor . On one occasion , of a journey Nicholas made into these provinces , the inhabitants of an entire . village Avere seen kneeling in silence on the road as he passed . The Emperor inquired into the cause , and desired that all petitions should
be freely presented to him ; in consequence , on this journey to Erivari , 1400 petitions and complaints were preferred to him . The Emperor conceived the idea of remedying these evils by separating the civil and military administration , and he even ordered the native laws —the code of King Vakhtang , the Armenian laws , and those of the Tatars—to be collected and translated into
Russian , commanding that the administration should be regulated by these . A commission Avas sent to inquire into the social state and institutions of the country , and an enlightened project Avas formed by Baron Halm for ameliorating the state of affairs . No sooner , hoAvever , had he left the country , than every intrigue Avas set on foot to defeat the project , and the old system of despotism
and extortion Avas revived in full force . This is an instructive page in history , and exhibits in a strong light the invincible hold that a centralized tyranny , in its Avorst forms , has obtained over the entire system of government in Russia . Notwithstanding , all these obstacles , however , the Emperor determined to visit these countries himself . In the autumn of 1837 he inspected the fortresses on the Black Sea , travelled