Through Siberia

Divisible into three periods.—Period of Cossack plunder.—Poyarkof.—Khabarof.—Stepanof.—Discovery and occupation of Shilka.—Chernigovsky.—Period of conflict with Chinese.—Russo-Chinese treaty of 1686.—Russian mission at Peking.—Affairs on the Amur during Russian exclusion.—Third historic period from 1847.—Preparatory operations on Lower Amur.—Muravieff’s descent of the river, 1854.—Influence of the Crimean war.—Colonization of Lower Amur.—Further colonization, 1857.—Chinese protests.—Influence of Anglo-Chinese war.—The Sea Coast erected into a Russian province.—Renewed difficulties with China.—Treaty of 1860.—Review of Russian occupation.

The history of the Amur, or so much of it as need here be mentioned in connection with the Russians, may be divided into three periods. We have first the period of Cossack pillage and plunder of the native tribes, beginning in 1636, and extending over a period of 50 years to 1682. This was followed in 1683 by a period of warfare with China, lasting for half-a-dozen years, and succeeded by uninterrupted Chinese possession for (roughly) 150 years, to 1848; after which comes the period of Russian annexation, beginning in 1848, completed in 1860, and continuing to the present day.⁠[1]

I have already stated that, within about 20 years after the founding of Yeneseisk, the Russians pushed on their conquests to the Sea of Okhotsk, on the shores of which, in 1639, they built a winter station for the collection of tribute. It was here first they heard from the Tunguses of tribes to the south, dwelling along the Zeya and Shilka.⁠[2]

These reports attracted attention in Yakutsk, and an expedition of 132 men, most of them promyshlenie, was placed under Poyarkof, who left Yakutsk in 1643, ascended the river Aldan, and built winter quarters for 40 of his men, and stores, in the mountains. Pushing on himself with 92 men, he crossed the Stanovoi range, and, after suffering great hardships, reached the head waters of the Zeya, where he met the first reindeer Tunguses. Further on he came to a Daurian village, in which he was kindly received, but his extortionate conduct provoked the natives to hostility; and one of his officers, having attacked a village and been repulsed, Poyarkof, with the loss of many Cossacks through hunger, retired down the Zeya, descended the Amur to its mouth, and, crossing the Sea of Okhotsk, reached Yakutsk in 1646.

The next prominent traveller was Khabarof, from 1647 to 1652. A shorter route to the river had been heard of by way of the Olekma; and Khabarof, at the head of a band of adventurers, took this route to the Upper Amur. The natives, having heard of the conduct of Poyarkof, fled before the Russians; and Khabarof marched on, slaughtering his opponents, or putting them to flight. Strengthened by reinforcements, he descended the river to the Lower Amur, wintered at Achansk (which no longer exists), and was vainly attacked by the natives and the Manchu. In the following spring he turned back, and ascended the river to the Zeya, where some of his men mutinied. He sent messengers to Yakutsk asking for 6,000 men, and, there being no such force in Siberia, the voivod dispatched the messengers to Moscow, where the conquest of the Amur had been for some time under consideration. Khabarof returned in 1652, and thus ended the first nine years of Russian adventure on the Amur, during which some of the leaders had shown great perseverance; but the natives had been badly treated, exposed to all sorts of extortion, and their tilled lands reduced to deserts.

We come now to Stepanof (1652–1661). Reports of the excesses committed by the adventurers already mentioned had reached Moscow, and it was determined to send a force of 3,000 men to occupy the newly-explored territories. The command was given to Stepanof, and he was accompanied by hundreds of adventurers, who were attracted by the reported riches of the country. Stepanof was not able to carry out his instructions to found settlements, and spent his time in roving along the Amur and up the Sungari. At Kamarskoi he was besieged, in the spring of 1655 by a large Manchu force; but with a garrison of 500 men he put 10,000 foes to flight. Subsequently he was joined by Feodor Puschkin and 50 Cossacks, by whom he sent the tribute he had extorted to Moscow. Puschkin’s party lost their way, and 41 of them perished. Stepanof continued his predatory expeditions till 1658, when, at the mouth of the Zeya, 180 of his men deserted, and he was met by a Manchu force, and himself and nearly all his band slain or made prisoners. This for a time practically cleared the Amur of the Russians, and what few remained evacuated the district in 1661.

All the expeditions above mentioned reached the Amur from the north-west, striking the river some miles below the confluence of the Shilka, at what is now Ust-Strelka. We proceed to say a few words respecting the discovery and occupation of that tributary, 1652–58. Cossacks from Yeneseisk had pushed their explorations beyond the Baikal, and, in consequence of their reports, Pashkof the Voivod, in 1652, sent out a party to cross the lake, under command of Beketof, who, two years later, built a fort on the Nertcha; but the expedition came to nothing. Other adventurers went out in 1654 and 1655. At length Pashkof was entrusted with a force of 566 men to found a town on the Shilka, whence the surrounding territories might be subjugated. He left Yeneseisk in 1656, and on his way founded Nertchinsk. Whilst so doing, he sent a number of his men down the Amur to look for Stepanof, but they were met by his deserters, and robbed of their provisions, after which, in 1662, Pashkof returned to Yeneseisk, his mission unattained.

What Government troops had failed to effect, however, was soon after accomplished by a runaway exile—Nikitao Chernigovsky—who, at the head of a lawless band, murdered the Voivod of Ilimsk, and in 1665 fled to the banks of the Amur, where he built a fort on the site of Albaza’s village, opposite the river Albazikha. He was joined by others as lawless as himself; villages were founded near the fort, and Albazin became a place of importance. A petition was forwarded to Moscow, representing what had been done as done for the Tsar, and praying for Chernigovsky’s pardon, in consideration of his recent services. It was granted; and Chernigovsky made tributary many of the surrounding tribes near Albazin. The Chinese complained of Russian encroachments, and conciliatory embassies proceeded to Peking, in 1670 and 1675. The people of Albazin, however, determined to do as they pleased, and, in spite of orders to the contrary, they navigated the Lower Amur, and founded settlements, so that at the close of 1682 the Russians had established themselves at Albazin, on the Zeya, and on the Amgun.

This finishes the first period in the history of the Amur—that of Cossack pillage and plunder.

The oppression of the Russians naturally caused the tribes on the Amur to apply for help to their neighbours and nominal masters, the Chinese, who made large preparations to expel the intruders. They destroyed the Russian settlements on the Zeya and Amgun, took some of the garrisons prisoners, and advanced upon Albazin in June 1685. After a blockade of 18 days the garrison surrendered, and were allowed to retire to Nertchinsk. The Chinese then destroyed the fort, and withdrew down the river to Aigun; but the Russians followed in the wake of their conquerors and rebuilt their town. The Chinese, therefore, returned in July of the following year, again surrounded the fort, where the Russians held out bravely till November, in which month the siege was raised, in consequence of orders from the Chinese Government, to whom the Russians had sent ambassadors desiring conditions of peace.

The ever-recurring complications with the Chinese made the Russian Government desirous to come to some arrangement regarding the frontier of the two empires. Venyukoff accordingly was sent on a mission to Peking to arrange preliminaries, and he brought back with him a letter in Chinese, Manchu, and Mongol, translated into Latin, which supplies a good idea of Chinese views on the Amur question.⁠[3]

If this letter be anything like a true statement of the case, which there seems to be no just cause to doubt, then the moderation and forbearance of the Chinese stands out in striking contrast to the conduct of the Russians. I have described (Chapter XXXV.) how the conference was conducted, and how it ended in a treaty, by which Albazin and the whole of the Amur were confirmed to the Chinese.⁠[4]

This settlement practically closed the district to Europeans for about 160 years—that is, till 1848. A few encroaching hunters were from time to time caught and punished. Some convicts also escaped from the mines of Nertchinsk to Chinese territory, and others went down the whole length of the Amur, one of them getting away from Nikolaefsk to America; but very little is known of the Amur basin during these years, though Russia kept up the supply of priests who crossed the desert to sustain the Russian mission at Peking.

After the treaty of Nertchinsk, the town of Aigun was removed to the right or southern bank of the river, and in keeping with the jealous policy of exclusion peculiar to the celestials, the Chinese were forbidden to emigrate northward to the thinly-populated Manchuria, and the Manchu were forbidden to pass northward of the town of San-sin on the Sungari, whilst the privilege of trading on the Amur was restricted to ten merchants, who obtained for that purpose a licence at Peking. Besides these particulars of the Amur during the period of the Russian exclusion, we learn something from the letters of Roman Catholic missionaries in Manchuria, one of whom, M. De La Brunière, descended the Amur to the country of the Gilyaks, where he was killed. But I shall speak of this when I come to the people and place of his murder. This finishes our second period—that of war with China. It remains to treat of the recent history of the Amur, and of the annexation of all its left and part of its right bank by Russia. This will bring before us the events occurring between 1847 and 1861.

The recent history of the Amur may be said to date from the time that Count Nicolas Muravieff became Governor of Eastern Siberia in 1847. The Russians had long seen the desirability of acquiring the right of navigating the Amur, if only for the purpose of sending down it provisions for their settlements in Kamchatka, the land carriage of which annually required 14,000 to 15,000 pack-horses. With a view to this, they had sent Golovkin to Peking at the beginning of the present century to treat for the free navigation of the river, or, at all events, to gain permission to send a few ships once a year with provisions. But the Chinese were unwilling to make any concession whatever.

Muravieff became Governor of Eastern Siberia in 1848, and one of his first acts was to send an officer with four Cossacks down the Amur, who were never heard of again. Admiral Nevilskoi, in the same year, left Cronstadt for the Pacific to explore the mouth of the Amur; and, in 1851, founded Nikolaefsk and Mariinsk as trading ports. Two years later were founded Alexandrovsk, in Castries Bay; and other posts in the island of Sakhalin at Aniva Bay and Dui.

The next year, 1854–5, was important in the history of the Amur, as that in which the first Russian military expedition descended the river from the Trans-Baikal provinces. Russia had at the time three frigates in or near the Sea of Okhotsk, and, owing to the breaking out of the Crimean War and the presence of an English fleet in the Pacific, it was feared that these might be left in want of supplies, and that the Russian settlements on the Pacific, which at that time depended on shipments from home, might be seriously straitened. The Black Sea and the Baltic were blockaded, and the only feasible plan was to send provisions from Siberia down the Amur. The nearest Chinese authorities at Kiakhta and Urga professed themselves unable to give permission; but as no time was to be lost, Muravieff’s necessity knew no law, and he started down the river.

He had a steamer, 50 barges, and numerous rafts, 1,000 men, and guns. Several men of science, to whom we owe much of the solid information given us by Mr. Ravenstein, accompanied him. His journey down the river to Mariinsk was uneventful, and he returned by way of Ayan to Irkutsk.

The continuation of hostilities between Russia and the English and French allies naturally made the Russians prepare for an attack on their eastern settlements,⁠[5] and considerable activity was displayed by them on the Amur in 1855–6. Three more expeditions left Shilkinsk in the course of the year, and conveyed down the river 3,000 soldiers and 500 colonists, with cattle, horses, provisions, agricultural implements, and military stores.⁠[6] Accordingly, the places founded on the river grew fast. Villages were built by the colonists at Irkutskoi, Bogorodskoi, and Mikhailovsk. Great progress also was visible at Nikolaefsk, which from a village of 10 houses grew to one of 150.

The operations of the allied fleets in the Pacific in 1855 were on a larger scale than in the preceding year; but the results were equally insignificant, and the peace of 1856 left the Russians free to carry on their plans of annexation. General Muravieff now went to Petersburg to advocate the granting of large means for colonizing the river, and during his absence the direction of affairs was left in the hands of General Korsakoff.⁠[7]

But the year 1857–8 will ever be one of the most memorable in the history of the river. Muravieff had succeeded at Petersburg in securing large grants of men and money. Troops descended and formed numerous stations along the left bank, and colonists and provisions were conveyed to the possessions of the Russo-American Company. A Captain Furruhelm conducted down the river 100 emigrants and 1,000 tons of provisions, and with him travelled Mr. Collins, already referred to, as “commercial agent of the United States for the Amur river.” Count Putiatin, also bound on a mission to Japan and China, availed himself of the newly-opened way. Putiatin received orders to induce the Chinese to come to some definite arrangement regarding the frontier of the Amur, but he was not successful. This result was felt on the river; for the mandarins now again protested against the occupation of the territory, and in some instances molested the Russian traders. Accordingly, Muravieff hastened to Petersburg for fresh reinforcements, and more troops were sent east; whilst the territory in dispute, together with Kamchatka and the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, was erected into a separate province, called “the Maritime province of Eastern Siberia.” A squadron of seven screw steamers was dispatched from Cronstadt in the summer, and two European-built steamers, the Lena and the Amur, ascended the river with merchandise and troops.

When Muravieff got back to the Amur, in 1858, the Chinese were in a very different humour, for they were then at war with the English and French, and Russia found no difficulty in concluding an amicable treaty at Aigun on 28th of May. China ceded to Russia the left bank of the Amur down to the Ussuri, and both banks below that river, and opened the Sungari and Ussuri to Russian merchants and travellers.

On the 21st May, Muravieff laid the foundation of Blagovestchensk, at the mouth of the Zeya; he then descended the Amur, and founded Khabarofka, at the mouth of the Ussuri, and subsequently selected the site of Sophiisk; after which, in August, he was created “Count of the Amur.” On the last day of the year this territory received a new organization, and was divided into the “Maritime province of Eastern Siberia,” and the “Amur province,” the latter denoting a district along the river, above the mouth of the Ussuri.⁠[8]

We now come to 1859–60, during which time several measures were taken to favour colonization. Political exiles were to have passports granted them for three years, to enable them to proceed to the east; and if deserving, their term was to be extended permanently. The sailors stationed at the Lower Amur were allowed to retire after 15 years’ service, received a plot of ground, and might send for their families to come to them at the Government expense. The colonists, too, were to be maintained by Government for two years, after which time they were to provide for themselves. Government also renounced its monopoly of the mineral treasures of Siberia; and in future any one, except convicts, was to be allowed to search for precious stones or metals. This attracted many emigrants, and on the arrival from Western Siberia of 10,000 of them at Irkutsk, Cossack stations were founded along the banks of the Ussuri and the Sungacha, with a view to the settlement of the frontier.

Difficulties, however, with China again arose. The Chinese had repelled the advance of the allied French and English forces in 1859, and, being elated for the moment with the power of their arms, imagined that it was no longer necessary to conciliate the Russians, and told them that China had never ceded the Amur, that they had no right there, and must immediately quit. Things, therefore, looked gloomy towards the south;⁠[9] but the relative positions of China and Russia were suddenly transposed by the successes of the English and French, who thoroughly humbled China; and Russia, availing herself of the opportunity, was able to conclude, on the 14th of November, 1860, a most advantageous treaty, much more comprehensive than any ever concluded by China with a foreign power, which gave Russia a right to the country north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri, together with the entire coast of Manchuria, down to the frontiers of Corea.

I have thus traced the history of the Amur from the time that the Russians first heard of the river, in 1639, down to 1860, when they obtained possession of it.⁠[10] It remains for me now to give the reader, as best I can, an idea of the condition of things as I found them at the time of my visit.