290 The Military Settlements
dfe..:t'.^68 This was not a wholly impartial view, but it contained a good deal of
truth. One reason for the seulers' poverty was that their grants were phased
out too soon, before the farms were firmly established, in the interest of
i..:g:i:~tciing a profit. A!though they ~·ere exempt from taxation and received
many favours denied to ordinary peasants, the settlers had to bear a greater
economic burden. This was contrary to the government's intention and
resulted from its chronic .inability to calcul~te costs and benefits. The paradox
\\as all the greater in that the inhabitants·o(tl}.e military settlements enjoyed a
degree of social security that was far in advance of the time.These measures embraced medical care, education, and provision for orphans,
invalids, and veterans. By 1820 there was at least one hospital in each infantry
seulemem and one for every two of cavalry; each battalion had its para-
medical personnel (fe/'dshery); medicines were supplied free of charge. 69
Foreign visitors were impressed. A French diplomat who toured the settle-
ments in Kherson province noted that in the hospital at Petrikovka each
patient had a bed of his own, and that wives could stay there to look after the
men.^70 Yet a doctor in the northern settlements recorded that fever, dysentery,
and scurvy were rife. He attributed this mainly to poor diet and overwork. 71
Casualties were particularly heavy in military-labour battalions. Lieutenant-
Colonel N. I. Panayev, who supervised construction work in the Novgorod
area, wrote that 'if one man in ten died, this was not considered a high mortality
rare'; only if it rose to one in eight was an inquiry held, and even so those
responsible were not punished.^72
The authorities were more interested in raising the birth rate. Midwives-
still a rarity in the Russian countryside-were provided, one for each regiment,and initially at least married couples qualified for a 25-rouble grant. (^73)
Arakcheyev ruled that marriages should take place. by mutual consent, but
in practice some commanding officers would draw up lists of prospective
partners, much as landowners were wont to do with their serfs. Tales of
'colonels distributing brides like sheep' are probably exaggerated,^74 but there
is no doubt that the authorities interfered on an unwarranted scale in settlers'
private lives. Official expectations that such measures would generate a self-
perpetuating flow of soldiers were soon shown to be naive. Instead recruits
from the general levy had to be assigned to the settlements to make up their
numbers.^75
;s Shchepetirnikov (SVM iv) pp. 115-16.
-~ Dubrovin, Sbornik, v. 58; Ferguson, 'Settlements', pp. 186-7.
-o Dreux-Breze, 'Notes recueillies .. .' (1826) [see fn. 32). f. 187.
-1 Y evropeus, • Vosp.', p. 226.
-: Panayev, 'Rasskaz', pp. 66-7.
"J Petrov, 'Ustroystvo', p. 213.
-, Kansov, ·o voyennykh poseleniyakh', 2, p. 154.
·5 Shchepetirnikov (SVM iv) pp. 116, 119; N. [V.] Putyata, 'Yeshche neskol"ko slov o voyen-
nykh poseleniyakh', RA 1874, I, 4, col. 1046; Storozhenko, 'Iz zapisok', p. 466.