The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia

by Voltaire

[CHAP. II.]

Continuation of the description of Russia, population, finances, armies, customs, religion: state of Russia before Peter the Great.

The more civilized a country is, the better it is peopled. Thus China and India are more populous than any other empires, because, after a multitude of revolutions, which changed the face of sublunary affairs, these two nations made the earliest establishments in civil society: the antiquity of their government, which has subsisted upwards of four thousand years, supposes, as we have already observed, many essays and efforts in preceding ages. The Russians came very late; but the arts having been introduced amongst them in their full perfection, it has happened, that they have made more progress in fifty years, than any other nation had done before them in five hundred. The country is far from being populous, in proportion to its extent; but, such as it is, it has as great a number of inhabitants as any other state in Christendom. From the capitation lists, and the register of merchants, artificers, and male peasants, I might safely assert, that Russia, at present, contains at least twenty-four millions of male inhabitants: of these twenty-four millions, the greatest part are villains or bondmen, as in Poland, several provinces of Germany, and formerly throughout all Europe. The estate of a gentleman in Russia and Poland is computed, not by his increase in money, but by the number of his slaves.

The following is a list, taken in 1747, of all the males who paid the capitation or poll-tax:—

Merchants or tradesmen	198000
Handicrafts	16500
Peasants incorporated with the merchants and handicrafts	1950
Peasants called Odonoskis, who contribute to maintain the militia	430220
Others who do not contribute thereto	26080
Workmen of different trades, whose parents are not known	1000
Others who are not incorporated with the companies of tradesmen	4700
Peasants immediately dependent on the crown, about	555000
Persons employed in the mines belonging to the crown, partly Christians, partly Mahometans and Pagans	64000
Other peasants belonging to the crown, who work in the mines, and in private manufactories	24200
New converts to the Greek church	57000
Tartars and Ostiaks (peasants)	241000
Mourses, Tartars, Mordauts, and others, whether Pagans or Christians, employed by the admiralty	7800
Tartars subject to contribution, called Tepteris, Bobilitz, &c.	28900
Bondmen to several merchants, and other privileged persons, who though not landholders, are allowed to have slaves	9100
Peasants in the lands set apart for the support of the crown	418000
Peasants on the lands belonging to her majesty, independently of the rights of the crown	60500
Peasants on the lands confiscated to the crown	13600
Bondmen belonging to the assembly of the clergy, and who defray other expenses	37500
Bondmen belonging to gentlemen	3550000
Bondmen belonging to bishops	116400
Bondmen belonging to convents, whose numbers were reduced by Peter the Great	721500
Bondmen belonging to cathedral and parish churches	23700
Peasants employed as labourers in the docks of the admiralty, or in other public works, about	4000
Labourers in the mines, and in private manufactures	16000
Peasants on the lands assigned to the principal manufactures	14500
Labourers in the mines belonging to the crown	3000
Bastards brought up by the clergy	40
Sectaries called Raskolniky	2200
Total	6646390

Here we have a round number of six millions six hundred forty-six thousand three hundred and ninety male persons, who pay the poll-tax. In this number are included boys and old men, but girls and women are not reckoned, nor boys born between the making of one register of the lands and another. Now, if we only reckon triple the number of heads subject to be taxed, including women and girls, we shall find near twenty millions of souls.

To this number we may add the military list, which amounts to three hundred and fifty thousand men: besides, neither the nobility nor clergy, who are computed at two hundred thousand, are subject to this capitation.

Foreigners, of whatever country or profession, are likewise exempt: as also the inhabitants of the conquered countries, namely, Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, and a part of Finland, the Ukraine, and the Don Cossacks, the Calmucks, and other Tartars, Samojedes, the Laplanders, the Ostiaks, and all the idolatrous people of Siberia, a country of greater extent than China.

By the same calculation, it is impossible that the total of the inhabitants of Russia should amount to less than twenty-four millions. At this rate, there are eight persons to every square mile. The English ambassador, whom I have mentioned before, allows only five; but he certainly was not furnished with such faithful memoirs as those with which I have been favoured.