Resistance, Repression, and ReformOther important pursuits in this region were horse-breeding (until
when the stud-farms were abandoned as unprofitable)^43 and livestock-rai
De la Rue, who visited the area in 1834, noted that the Kherson settlen
could supply 45,000 head of cattle to other provinces where there "'
famine-but that the stricken areas included the Chuguyev settlement dis
whence an entire division had to be temporarily evacuated at a cost o
million roubles.^44 Another visitor, an Austrian officer very favourable t•
scheme, produced figures for Kherson province which, examined criti(
reveal that by this date the expansion of the livestock herd had done no 1
than keep pace with the rise in population.^45
The total herd of cattle and sheep in the military domains increased by
per cent and 53.4 per cent respectively between 1826 and 1850.^46 Presurr
the state did well out of this. What the individual settler gained is less obv
In the latter year there were, in eight districts of the former Slobods
U kraina, 1,800 settlers and twice as many persons curiously designated '
farmers' (dependants?); taken together, half of them had no cattle at all,
income levels were stated to have declined since the 1820s because agricul
expansion had failed to keep up with population growth.^47 In the Bug s1
ments a system of labour norms was introduced around this time which, a
forced by unsympathetic young cavalry officers, added considerably t<
farmers' burdens. A local priest described their situation as if reciting a lit
'If a man fails to fulfil his quota, he is beaten; if he works too fast and le
[grain in the stubble), he is beaten; if he gets tired and lets the grain sta
while, he is also beaten. '^4 ~
By the end of Nicholas I's reign over 1 million dessyatines had been add
the territory under military rule, which covered nearly 3 Y2 million dessya
(3.76 million hectares). The expansion affected new areas. In 1837 five dis
were set up in Kiev and Podolia provinces on land confiscated from 'disl·
Polish proprietors. The civilian population here numbered 56,000. In <
to make room for the settlers, nearly I 3,000 of them were compelled to 1
to other areas.^49 This forced migration resembled the one undertaken in 18:
look no further back), except that, so far as is known, it did not lead to Ii
casualties. Simultaneously other regions were established in the Caucasm
they never became a major undertaking.5°
In 1850 the War Minister reported that there were 713,000 'resid
(zhiteli) in military settlements, nearly twice as many as in 1826.^51 This f
(^4). (^1) Chernyshev, '1st. obozreniye'. p. 422.
44 De la Rue to Maison (July 18.14) lsce fn. 241. ff. 143, 145.
45 Marmon!, Voyage, i. 227. The duke, who wa' a fril·nd of General Viii, was IOLl
deceived by appearances, but gives a useful des.:riplion of 1h.: >ellkr,' lift: (pp. 199-204).
4h Calculaled from data in Chernyshev, 'Isl. oboneniyc', p. 422.
47 Stolypin, 'Ob uprazdnenii', pp. 767-8.
48 Lobachevsky, 'Bugskoyc kazad1estvo', p. 624.
4Y II PSZ xiii(ii), 10775a (6 De.:. 18.l7) lin .\ii. app.]; Ferguson, 'Se11lcments, 18~
pp.120-1. 5o II PSLxii(i), 10576(100.:J. 1837); h:rgu>on, 'Set1k111cnh, 1825-66', I
<1 Chernyshev, '1st. obotrcniyc', p. 420.