against Russia, against the country which the exiles have not
lost all hope of again seeing--and which they will see again.
No, a Russian would never unite with a Tartar, to weaken,
were it only for an hour, the Muscovite power!"

The Czar was right in trusting to the patriotism of those whom
his policy kept, for a time, at a distance. Clemency, which was
the foundation of his justice, when he could himself direct its effects,
the modifications he had adopted with regard to applications for the
formerly terrible ukases, warranted the belief that he was not mistaken.
But even without this powerful element of success in regard to
the Tartar rebellion, circumstances were not the less very serious;
for it was to be feared that a large part of the Kirghiz population
would join the rebels.

The Kirghiz are divided into three hordes, the greater, the lesser,
and the middle, and number nearly four hundred thousand "tents,"
or two million souls. Of the different tribes some are independent
and others recognize either the sovereignty of Russia or that of
the Khans of Khiva, Khokhand, and Bokhara, the most formidable chiefs
of Turkestan. The middle horde, the richest, is also the largest, and its
encampments occupy all the space between the rivers Sara Sou, Irtish,
and the Upper Ishim, Lake Saisang and Lake Aksakal. The greater horde,
occupying the countries situated to the east of the middle one, extends as
far as the governments of Omsk and Tobolsk. Therefore, if the Kirghiz
population should rise, it would be the rebellion of Asiatic Russia,
and the first thing would be the separation of Siberia, to the east
of the Yenisei.

It is true that these Kirghiz, mere novices in the art of war, are rather