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and to keep the road open to the castle requires the
united aid of all.[1]
When every country town was composed, as a rule, of
only a few farms, it was of the greatest importance to
have as strong a league as possible between these towns.
And thus it came about that all the thoughts of the
peasant were concentrated on giving to this league,—the
mir,—his world, his true fatherland, as perfect an
internal structure as possible. Necessity taught him
to unite with his equals, and to manage his own affairs
in union with them.
Russia, as is well known, has been a constantly
growing empire since the time of Peter the Great. Since
then, it has annexed annually, on an average, a territory
as large as Denmark. While its western boundaries in
our time cannot be extended or are even insecure,—for
in a great war neither the Baltic provinces nor Poland
could be depended on,—its Asiatic boundary is elastic,
and is constantly moving towards the east and south.
The significant condition of things is here manifested,
that such an immense empire is continually growing
larger, and, impossible as it may seem, all the new races
are immediately assimilated: the Russian race still
maintains its supremacy and moves on everywhere, however
far the boundaries are extended.
It seems as if the natural conditions of empire had
been a controlling force in this direction. The broad
endless plains have from an early time awakened a
migratory passion among the peasants. They never
emigrate to North America, like the peasants of other
countries; they go to new places in the Russian Empire.
The Russian peasant has always been given to roving.
He has been accustomed to make a day’s journey to
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