Among the female prisoners there was a handsome nun, who over her female garments had a male attire. She commanded a corps of 7000 men, gave more than once proofs of extraordinary courage and great ability in the field, and inflicted terrible losses on the Russians. When summoned before Dolgorouki, she displayed a presence of mind and a firmness diflicult to describe, and said, if every one under her command had done his duty in such a manner as she had done, Dolgorouki, instead of erecting the gallows, would have taken to his heels. As for a nun in Russia to run away from a monastery is a capital oflTence, she lay down quietly on a funeral pile, and was burned to ashes. The dangling dead bodies of so many thousand veterans brought many crows and ravens, which devoured the corpses. From that time that suburb is called the suburb of hell.'* The likeness of the czar, the artificial church, the Greco-Russian priests in their black dresses with their long beards, the inquisitive auricular confession, the rack, the gallows, the instruments of torture, and the executioners, bring involuntarily to mind the dark ages of Muscovite tyranny, which, partly subdued by the spirit of our more fortunate age and the rising star of western liberty, is not yet completely vanquished. Stenko Razin, persecuted, chased and hunted without a moment's repose upon the Volga, through the Steppes, through the wildest tracks, trying in vain to recall and rally the fugitives, who were not less frightened at the ignominious death of their comrades, than at the danger of that merciless struggle; seeing them partly disposed to deliver him up; daring not to enter Astrakhan; arrived at the Don, requesting the hospitality of the Hetman Yakolof, and hinting at the possibility of planning new expeditions. But the latter, secretly offended against him, indignant at his cruelties, and wishing to take all possible advantage of that opportunity for ingratiating himself in the czar''s favour, betrayed him, put him in irons, and delivered him to the Russians, with his brother Frolko. The latter, being well aware of the terrible torments reserved for them both, reproached him with all his misfortunes, shed abundant tears, and gave up his mind to despair. Stenko, whose spirit was not yet subdued, comforted him as well as he could, and said that the whole population of Moscow might yet liberate him, and hail him as their benefactor. The czar, having been apprised of their conversation, and wishing to make a public example of him, ordered that he should enter the city in a mock triumph. A spacious cart, drawn by three mules, was accordingly sent to meet Stenko E-azin a mile from the city. Here he was stripped of his fine silk clothes, put in rags, and chained by his neck and his two hands and feet to the hinder part of the cart, in which was a gallow, without being able to move, and attended by two executioners with their long axes. Thus, with his brother, who, chained by the neck, followed on foot, the cart entered at noon the metropolitan city. He was publicly executed in the citadel of Moscow, the 6th of June, 1671, having been quartered. To the last moment he never lost his firmness, but comforting his brother, mocked the executioners; invoking the ghost of his brother, whose death he avenged, as he said, and to whom he seems to have been most tenderly attached. When one of his legs and one of his hands were cut off, he was whistling, and died without manifesting the slightest sign of pain. When his brother Frolko was going to be executed, he showed great contrition, and requested to see the czar, to reveal to him only a secret of great importance. His execution was postponed, and he apprized the czar of hidden treasures, buried by his late brother in a particular spot. As the information was found to be correct he was reprieved.
After Stenko Razin's death, Astrakhan opened its gates to the Russians, and Krivoy, alias Devil's-feast, who wished longer to disturb the public peace, was poisoned by his own soldiers for his tyranny. The other attamans of the Cossacks were betrayed and delivered up by a Circassian prince to the Russians, and some adventurers who intended to follow Stenko's example in the neighbourhood were quartered. Prince Dolgorouki, who destroyed above 115,000 rebels including his executions, was recalled, and Prince Tcherniskif ultimately quelled to a great extent the serious rebellion, respecting which there are some contradictions. Some authors assert it was quelled in 1671, some in 1673, and others that peace and tranquillity were not restored till 1679.
There is not the slightest doubt that had Stenko Razin, instead of spending a month in pillaging the provinces, marched directly to Moscow, he would have dethroned the czar. According to L'Eveque and some Russian authors, that rebellion cost the lives of 800,000 human beings; according to others of more, as anarchy, murder, and pillage reigned for several years after Razin's execution in distant provinces of the Russian empire, especially amongst the barbarous and predatory hordes and the serfs, in consequence of his proclamations.