Resistance, Repression, and Reform 2next year Arakcheyev again responded with relative moderation. j Neverthel•
the incidents left a painful impression. Four years later some dissenters passed
their grievances to a visiting'diplomat, who was moved by their plight.~ They p;
ticularly resented assignment to regiments that w·crc named after foreign (ii\
Orthodox) rulers, the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria.
In the south both Old Believers and Dukhobors found themselves conscriptt
An appalling judicial massacre took place at Zyhkaya (Kher~on province)
1821, when a group of dissenters was forced to run the gauntlet. At least ni
men succumbed at a public beating while their womenfolk watched, urging tht
on to die bravely as martyrs for their faith.^5
In the Bug settlements trouble broke out as soon as they were established- It was rooted in social rather than religious grievances. The men belie\
that their rights as Cossacks had been guaranteed in perpetuity by the Cro 1
under Catherine II. This was also the view of one of their officers, Capt<
Barvinsky, who was branded as the ringleader in the subsequent investigatk
Ninety-three men faced charges, of whom 64 were sentenced to death. On revi·
Arakcheyev mitigated the penalties; two of those convicted were transferred
service in Siberia-Barvinsky's fate is not known-while the rest were freed w
a warning.^6 Disturbances recurred the following spring, when the tsar was due
visit the area. The authorities tried to prevent the men from presenting a petiti
to him, although earlier complaints submitted through regular bureaucra
channels had been ignored. A soldier raised the matter on parade and was stru
in the face by an officer. At once there was general uproar, which rapidly spre
to other units in the region. This time 30 men were indicted, of whom thr
eventually ended up in Siberia.^7
Arakcheyev acted in a harsher spirit in 1819, when a similar commotion bro
out in the Slobodskaya Ukraina. The reasons for his change of behaviour ;:
unclear. He may simply have lost his temper. Alternatively he may have beco1
alarmed by disturbances that were occurring at this time among the D
Cossacks and have decided that a show of force was required to prevent agene
revolt in the southern borderlands. In the Chuguyev area, as on the Bug, the
was common ground between officers and ordinary soldiers. The former w1
aggrieved at the inadequate compensation offered to them for confiscated p1
perty. An ex-captain whose brother was senior adjutant of the 2nd Ulan Divisi
drew up a petition calling for the military settlements to be abandoned. T
probably encouraged some of the men to act. On 27 June a party of soldi
.1 Kartsov, 'O voyennykh pmdcniya~h', 3, p. 91.(^4) Bois-le-Comte to De la Ferronays, 24 July t82 I, l\IAI:, M ct D, Ru"ic 27 ( t 8t9-27), ff. .'~
(also in 40 (1821-2), rr. 6 ff.).
l Storozhenko, 'lz zapisok', p. 464. The incident was abo told to Dreux-Brete when he arri1
in the area in 1826: 'Notes recueillies ... ',ibid., Russie 29 (t807-27J, ff. 184-5.
6 Petrov, 'Ustroystvo', pp. 146, 239-40; Bogdanovid1. Iswriyu, '. 358-64; but
Storozhenko, 'lz zapisok', p. 452 and Fcdorov, Soltlut.~/..0_1•e d1·izhe11l.l'e, p. 29. tor a differ·
version.
7 Petrov, • Ustroys1vo', pp. 148-9, 242-4; Y cvstaf' yev, Vms1um1·e, pp. 88-9.