's
conquests in Asia?

Among the old Slavs, the family was the unit from which the State was
built up, and this was confirmed under the Tartar yoke. There is (p. 123)
some similarity between the Empire of Russia and that of China, for
there, too, the family is the unit. In both countries the Emperor is
not only the master, he is also considered as the father and high
priest of his people. Their persons and property are the emperor's, to
do with as he pleases. But in Russia there was a nobility descended
from the former dukes; in China there was none, except the descendant
of Confucius. Yet in Russia these lords, many of whom traced their
descent to Rurik, became in time the slaves of the czar. They
prostrated themselves before him, as they had seen the courtiers of
the khan do. When they presented a petition, they expressed it by the
word _tchelobitie_, which means "beating of the forehead," showing
that they performed what is known in China as the _kowtow_. In
addressing the czar, they said, "Order me not to be chastised; order
me to speak a word!" The Grand Dukes of Moscow considered their
territory and the people on it, as their own private property. They
had learned this from the khans. The palace, a mixture of oriental
splendor and barbarism, showed the influence of the Tartars.

The people of Russia were divided into classes, the lowest of which
were the slaves or _kholop_, prisoners of war, men who had sold
themselves, or who were born in slavery. Above them were the peasants,
born on the estate of a noble, but still known as free men. Then came
the peasants who farmed the land of an owner, but these were few. Much
of the land was owned by the several mirs or villages, but in the
course of time they were assigned to gentlemen, who were able to serve
in the army without pay, being supported by the revenues derived (p. 124)
from these villages. Gradually these gentlemen looked upon the land of
the mir as their own property, but the peasants never did lose the
conviction that the mir was the real proprietor. In Ivan's time and
later, the mir and not the individual, was held responsible for the
tax to the czar, for the free labor furnished to the lord, and for his
dues. The mir, therefore, was absolute master over every inhabitant of
the village, and this power was vested in the _starost_. The peasant
gradually descended into a beast of burden, who was not even a human
being, but merely a productive force for t