t, Google r sidering the short period that has transpired since their emancipation. The working classes in Russia arc availing themselves of the advantages offered by a certain amount of freedom and such privil^cs as they owe to the enlightened monarch who sways their destinies, and it needs no shrewd observer to notice the movement that is at work among them, and the influence that movement is having to the prejudice of the upper classes, who are unwilling to reconcile themselves to the change in their relative positions, and make small efforts to advance with the times. It is at the roots of society and through the force of circumstances that civilisation in Russia is progressing, and the time will surely come when the nobility, a nobility such as it is in name only, will be swept away by the tide of modern thought and action, unless stirred to timely activity and to a sense of its duties and responsibilities.
It has been the practice of the Government of Russia, since the reign of the Empress Catherine, to grant leases of land on advantageous terms to foreigners upon their agreeing to settle in certain parts of the empire, and a large number of Germans having availed themselves of the favourable conditions, cultivated the land to their own great benefit, for prosperity has invariably attended the exertions of that industrious and persevering race. There are upwards of half a million of Teutons, members of the Lutheran Church, distributed throughout the empire; but if the wretched condition of the Russian habitations be contrasted with the neatness of the German colonists, it becomes evident that the latter have had no influence whatever in raising the tone of the native peasantry.
To the serious disadvantage of the Russians, if to the advantage of their country, the Germans in general are not only extenby Google
INFLUENCE OF GERMANS. Ji sive landoivners, but they hold many prominent and influential offices in the State, and the old feeling of jealousy engendered during the reign of Peter the Great, still lives in no small d^ree. It is related of General Yermiloff, that when the Emperor NicHblas inquired in what way he could reward him for his distinguished services, that officer replied, ' Will your Majesty deign to make me a German?'
by Google
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FORTIETH AND FORTY-FIRST DAYS.
Fublic buildings at Vladykavkai— The 77lh Regiment— Roman) ic episode— Schools — Bai»*r» — The sect of the Slrinnyky — Their tenets — Projected railways from Vlndykavkaz- Departure- Prince Kasbeck— Religions of the Ossets — Curious customs — Attempts made to convert them — An unreasonable officer.
Among the public buildings at Vladykavkaz, is the new military hospital, of a size to receive 360 patients; we found 289 inmates, of which number, 80 were soldiers, suffering from miasmatic fever contracted whilst at work on the roads that lead tu the mountain passes. The temperature in the wards and corridors was from 10° to 14° Reaumur, in a foul atmosphere, the doors, windows, and ventilators being kept carefully closed. There was much left to desire in the general condition of this establishment, especially in the surgical department.
It has already been stated that a large military force occupies the province of the Terek; one of the regiments in garrison at this time was the 77th, the Tenghynsk, or regiment of the Grand Duke Aleksey Alexdndrovitch. A curious episode in the history of this corps is worth relating, and I give it as I have learnt it from various military sources.
In 1840, during the struggle in the Caucasus, the Miharlovsky fort,' garrisoned by a detachment of the 77th under the command
' On the river Netchepsouko, sec Vol. I. p. 118.