In March 1819, Mikhail Speransky, a reformer who had been favored by Tsar Alexander I of Russia, was transferred from Governor of Penza to Governor of Siberia. The Tsar intended to send the reformer, known for drafting bills, to tour the vast Siberian region and systematically reform the Russian system of rule in the region. [1] Speransky's reforms of the Siberian regional administration, the administration of alien (инородец), commerce, taxation, and exile are often mentioned in previous texts, and the 1822 Ordinance on the Siberian Kyrgyz[2] (Устав о сибирских киргизах, hereinafter referred to as the "1822 Ordinance") is often mentioned by historians. This is understandable within the framework of the traditional narrative of Russian history, with Russia and Europe as its geographical center, since Siberia before the mid-nineteenth century was relatively minor to Tsarist Russia, let alone the Kazakh steppes, which had only begun to be incorporated into Tsarist territory since the beginning of the nineteenth century.
However, from the perspective of modern history in Central Asia, especially from the perspective of Tsarist Russia's ruling policy in Central Asia, the Siberian Kyrgyz Regulations were the first time that Tsarist Russia extended its administrative system to the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe since it established itself in the Ob River valley in the 16th century, and ruled the Kazakhs in a bureaucratic manner. This marked a shift in Russian rule over Central Asia from its previous policy of restriction to the establishment of administrative institutions to gradually absorb newly conquered territories and subjects, and laid the foundation for further expansion in Central Asia in the nineteenth century. From the point of view of the text of the code, the 1822 Regulation of the Siberian Kyrgyz was the foundation work for the subsequent regulations on the administration of the regions of Central Asia promulgated by Tsarist Russia. Whether it is the Orenburg Kyrgyz Regulations (1824) of the same period, or the Regulations on the Administration of the Seven Rivers and Syr Darya Provinces (1867), the Provisional Regulations on the Administration of the Steppe Areas (1868), and the Regulations on the Administration of the Steppe Provinces (1891), which were promulgated after the conquest of the steppe areas in the mid-nineteenth century, each version of the regulations inherits to varying degrees the ruling principles pioneered by the 1822 Regulations, and has been deleted and modified in policy details as appropriate. Therefore, the interpretation of the text of the 1822 regulations is the most important entry point for the study of Tsarist Russia's policy of domination in Central Asia.
There has been relatively little attention paid to the regulation by domestic and foreign academic circles. [3] The research on the policy of Tsarist rule in Europe, the United States, and the Russian and Soviet scholars has focused on the agricultural areas in the middle of the river, and the time period has mainly focused on the period after 1867. However, the first half of the nineteenth century is positioned as the history of military conquest and diplomacy, so less attention is paid to the aspect of its institutional construction. [4] The relevant works of contemporary Kazakh scholars mainly serve the demand for the construction of national subjectivity after independence in the 90s of the last century, and their narratives focus on describing the conquest of Tsarist Russia and the resistance of the local people, and only a few scholars pay attention to the specific policy practice of Tsarist Russia. [5] Based on the text of the 1822 Ordinance, this article aims to describe the main governing policies underlying the Ordinance and its impact on Tsarist Russia's expansion in Central Asia.
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Portrait of Mikhail Speransky
(M. M. Speransky, 1772-1839)
Historical background of the promulgation of the 1822 Regulations on the Siberian Kyrgyz
The Regulations on the Siberian Kyrgyz have a connecting meaning at the level of political history and institutional history. After the abolition of the Kazakh throne of Yuz Khan, the ordinance nominally continued to maintain the dominance of traditional Kazakh social elites such as "Sultan" (султан) and "Bi" (бий), and used the power of the Tsarist Russian authorities to divide pastures for the steppe areas, mediate inter-clan conflicts, and provide infrastructure such as medical care, epidemic prevention, and food supply in famine years, so as to maintain the continuation of the nomadic lifestyle; However, in fact, the administrative system backed by the military power of the fortress disciplined the tribal elite as the grassroots bureaucracy in the frontier areas of the empire, compressed the scope of application of the customary law of traditional nomadic society with imperial law, prevented the rise of large-scale nomadic regimes with steppe spatial division and border management, and attracted nomads to abandon herding and agriculture with commerce, culture, education, and social services. On the basis of partial recognition of the nomadic traditions of the steppe, the regulation provided a systematic solution for the deep involvement of the Russian frontier authorities in Kazakh society, and laid a solid political and military foundation for the subsequent gradual conquest of the entire steppe region and the large-scale use of troops in the agrarian areas south of the steppe region. Due to the political situation in the grassland area, a series of institutions and functions stipulated in the regulations were not quickly realized after the promulgation. But it set the course for Tsarist Russia's policy in the steppe region for more than half a century.
The term "Siberian Kyrgyz" (сибирские киргизы) in the name of the 1822 ordinance refers to the Kazakh nomadic people who were roughly distributed in the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe, from the west of the Irtysh River to the south of Lake Balkhash, and geographically corresponded to the northern, eastern and central regions of present-day Kazakhstan. [6] The Kazakh Middle Yuz and Great Yuz, which lived in the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe, were annexed to the Qing Dynasty in the mid-18th century, so the eastern part of the steppe was Qing territory before the gradual forcible annexation by Tsarist Russia in the 19th century. The concept of "Siberian Kyrgyz" in Russian literature is related to the perception of the Kazakhs in Tsarist Russia. After the founding of Orenburg in 1734, the Kazakhs of Koyuz, who were active in the western part of the Kazakh steppe, were often referred to in Russian literature as "Orenburg Kyrgyz" (оренбургские киргизы), and were mainly under the jurisdiction of the military and political chiefs stationed in Orenburg. Correspondingly, the Kazakh Yuz tribe in the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe was called the "Siberian Kyrgyz", and their related negotiations were under the jurisdiction of the Siberian governor until 1822. The geographical boundaries of this concept are also closely related to the expansion and domination of Tsarist Russia in Siberia in the 17th and 18th centuries. Among them, the Russian authorities maintained their rule in the Ob-Irtysh River basin with the fortress line, and the fortress line itself became a cultural symbol for dividing regions and identifying people.
Before Speransky's reform of the Siberian administration in 1822, the Tsarist authorities had a two-member administrative body for dealing with the Kazakhs in the eastern steppe, subordinate to the commander of the Siberian Corps stationed in Omsk. The district councils manage the affairs of the Kazakhs living near or within the fortified line, and have no jurisdiction over the Kazakhs outside the fortified line. [7] The agency had limited involvement in the internal affairs of the Kazakh Central Yuz, and was intended to co-opt the khans and sultans in order to maintain their nominal vassal status. In 1819 Wari Khan died. At this time, Speransky, who was in charge of Siberia, seized the opportunity to announce that he would no longer recognize the throne of Zhongyuz Khan and pushed for the introduction of new regulations. On July 22, 1822, the Tsar's decree officially promulgated the Regulations on the Kyrgyz of Siberia.
The new system of administration as seen in the 1822 Siberian Kyrgyz Regulations
The main text of the 1822 Ordinance on the Kyrgyz of Siberia consists of 10 chapters and 319 articles. Chapters 1 to 6 (Articles 4 to 253) are the main body of the Regulations, which set out the institutional composition and terms of reference of the new regulatory regime. The new system consisted of two levels of Russian government, the Governor of Western Siberia and the Omsk Governor, and the local grass-roots government of the frontiers, elected by the Kazakhs. With regard to the upper ruling organs of the frontier, the affairs of the eastern Kazakh steppe were coordinated by the Governor of Western Siberia, and the specific affairs were handled by the Governor of Omsk Province and his office (provincial office) in the border bordering the steppe.
At the administrative level, the Omsk province is divided into districts (округ)[8], which are divided into inner districts (внутренний округ) and outer districts (внешний округ) according to their geographical location relative to the Siberian fortress line. The outer area is the nomadic area of the Kazakhs in the eastern part of the steppe, so it is also the main object of regulation of the 1822 Ordinance. The district is divided into a township (волость), and the countryside is divided into Awul (аул). The Awul consists of 50 to 70 nomadic households (кибитка) and is equivalent to a village in an agricultural area. Each Ayul is governed by an Ayul chief (аульский старшина) elected by the Kazakhs within the country. The commune consists of 10 to 12 Awuls. The division of the communes often corresponds to a certain Kazakh clan (род). The chief of the communes was called the Sultan (султан). The commune sultan may appoint an assistant with a scribe who is fluent in Russian and Tatar. On the basis of Awul and township, the district consists of 15 to 20 townships that are relatively close by blood or geographically adjacent.
The core of the 1822 Siberian Kyrgyz Regulations was the introduction of an administrative system in the eastern part of the steppe. Under the administration of the Omsk province, the administrative bodies of the outer districts are the district offices (окружный приказ). The district is chaired by the Great Sultan (старший султан), with two Russian representatives (заседатель)[9] and two elected Kazakh representatives appointed by the Omsk governor. The district government shall be staffed with scribes, translators and interpreters in accordance with the establishment prescribed by the regulations.
One of the most important features of the regulation is the so-called "electoral" system. The Ordinance of 1822 attempted to establish a system of tenure and elections at the district and commune levels. The regulations stipulate that before the establishment of the district government, the election of the governor of Awul and the township must be held. Elections for the head of Awul are held every three years and can be re-elected. The election of the chief of Awul is conducted orally and is elected on the basis of a simple majority. The candidate who is elected must be submitted to the district office, which will approve it, but the district government has no right to change the election results. If the district government has any objection to the election of an Ayul, it may be reported to the provincial governor. [10] The election rules and term of office of the commune sultan were similar to those of the Ayur chief election. Once elected, "the title of sultan may be hereditary in accordance with the principle of chief; In some cases, however, it is customary to elect another sultan to the commune with the consent of the commune (волостное общество), but not to confer authority on that person without the consent of the provincial office. If the Sultan has no heir, the candidate is nominated from among his brothers or close relatives, but also with the permission of the commune and provincial office. Similarly, if the entire Sultan branch is extinct, it will go through the same election and approval process. [11] The Sultan of the township, who was no longer in charge of the affairs of the township, was not allowed to intervene in the management of the affairs of the township, although he would not be deprived of the title of "sultan". The relevant provisions of the Ordinance do not specify the specific voting and counting procedures for the election of the Sultan of Awul and Commune. Such details were perfected in the regulations introduced after the sixties of the nineteenth century.
Compared with the township sultan, who has hereditary privileges once elected at the township level, the district head of the great sultan has a stricter election and term of office system. The great sultan of the district shall be elected from the candidates of the township sultan of the townships under his jurisdiction; The two Kazakh representatives of the district government can be elected from among the people of the township sultan, Bi or Awul chief. The candidates for the district government members must be approved by the provincial office. The term of office of the Great Sultan is three years, and the term of office of the Kazakh deputies of the district government is two years, and they are both eligible for re-election. [12]
In the area of basic justice, the regulations divide judicial cases involving Kazakhs into three categories: criminal, civil and administrative proceedings. Criminal cases include treason, murder, robbery and seizure of livestock (Russian: баранта, Cyrillic Kazakh: барымта) and resistance to the law. Such cases are heard by the district government and supervised by the provincial courts. The administrative proceedings cover litigation cases against indigenous officials such as the chief of Ayul, the commune sultan, the great sultan and the Kazakh representative of the district council. The plaintiff is required to file a lawsuit against the chief executive who is one level higher than the defendant's target according to the administrative rank.
Litigation cases, including theft, were dealt with by the Ayul and the commune Bi (бий). Such cases are dealt with orally, in accordance with Kazakh patriarchal customs, and are executed immediately after the verdict. If the plaintiff is not satisfied with Bi Guan's verdict, he may appeal in writing to the Governor of Omsk Province and request a retrial. Bi's disqualification may be suspended at any time due to unfair trial. [13] It is noteworthy that the 1822 Ordinance attempted to introduce the principle of separation of administration and judiciary at the commune level: the ordinance provided that the commune sultan had no right to interfere with the administration of justice at the commune and ayur levels. Ordinary civil litigation cases are handled by Bi Guan, while criminal and administrative litigation cases are mainly handled by district officials. The 1822 Ordinance did not specify the manner in which the officials were to be formed.
The 1822 Ordinance stipulates that the Kazakh grass-roots government shall have the district government as the power center of the three-level administrative system of "district-township-Ayul". The district government has a permanent station, and daily cases are handled in written documents, and the registers are in Russian and Tatar. In the day-to-day affairs of the district, if there is a disagreement between the members of the district office, the case shall be handled according to the opinion of the Great Sultan, but the opinions of the parties shall be registered and submitted to the provincial office (Article 71). The chiefs at the commune and Ayur levels are mainly verbal in their day-to-day administration, but activities involving state expenditures are subject to the simple manner of accounting at the district, commune and Ayur levels in accordance with the relevant laws. The Great Sultan, the Kazakh deputies of the district ya, the township sultan, and the clerks of the district and township sultans all received salaries and allowances from the Tsarist border authorities according to the establishment. The district government also disburses the office expenses of the provincial office, as well as allocations for disaster relief, medical care and education (arts. 117-119). The district government was equipped with a Cossack guard (отряд) as a police force. The Cossack Guard was transferred from the Cossacks on the line of the Russian fortress, and was generally stationed at the location of the district office; Under special circumstances, it was assigned to the township and was the main force for Tsarist Russia to control the grassroots society in the steppe areas.
In order to reinforce the impression of the Russian authorities as a source of authority for Kazakh officials, the 1822 Ordinance set out a separate section on the administrative ranks of these Kazakh officials. On the day of his election, the Great Sultan received the rank of Major of the Tsarist Army (equivalent to a civilian officer of the eighth class) and, after three terms of service, had the right to apply to the authorities for the status of a Tsarist nobility (дворянство). No other official in the district government is allowed to obtain a rank higher than that of a ninth-class civil official. The rank of the Commune Sultan is equivalent to that of a civil official of the twelfth rank. If the chief of Awul and Biru are not given official titles, they are regarded as village chiefs in the interior of Russia. [14] Article 50 of the Regulation expressly stipulates that "all elected Kyrgyz chiefs may not determine their own powers and responsibilities without the consent of a higher level of government." They are merely local officials authorized by a higher level of government to inform the people. "In addition to giving the Kazakh government a sense of rank, the regulations pay special attention to the ceremonial construction of the election and authorization process. The regulations sought to shape the election of the Great Sultan and district deputies into a major ceremony under the new system. [15]
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The center of the front row is the Great Sultan in the costume of a Russian military officer
In short, the new system broke through the tradition of tactive rule in the steppe regions of the eighteenth century, and formed the township and Ayur ruling elites by popular election and official authorization, and elected the district-level Great Sultan and two Kazakh representatives on the basis of these two levels of Kazakh officials. This system institutionalized the previous intervention of the Tsarist border authorities in the nomadic Kazakh society: on the one hand, the authorities made the competition between the political elites within the nomadic tribal society open and "visible" to the authorities in the name of elections. On the other hand, in terms of administrative processes, through the establishment of a system in which the provincial office supervises the election of districts and townships, and the district government supervises the election of townships and Aur, the legitimacy of the Kazakh grassroots government still derives ostensibly from the elections of nomadic tribes and clans, while the authorization of the Tsarist border authorities has become increasingly important.
The main objective of the 1822 Ordinance was to establish a system of governance applicable to the steppe areas, but the new system of administration was not entirely renewable. In terms of official titles, the new system retained the title of "sultan" as the head of the tribe and clan, but greatly constrained the authority of the sultan. The status of Bi in traditional Kazakh society varies from time to time. Among the high positions of power were the legend of Tole, Kazbek and Aiytek, who were in charge of the three yuz in the 17th and early 18th centuries. However, under the new administrative system established by the 1822 ordinance, Bi became a position in the judicial system at the commune and ayul levels, and was only empowered to hear civil lawsuits. Nonetheless, the institutionalization of official titles allowed the new system to take root in the steppe region, allowing tribal elites and ordinary herders to gradually accept the very different connotations of power behind the same titles.
Drawing the Boundaries of the Territory - The Zoning and Maintenance of the Grassland Space in the 1822 Ordinance
The integration of indigenous elites into the bureaucratic management system is only one aspect of the management system envisaged in the 1822 Regulations. Equally important is the spatial division of the eastern Kazakh steppe and the maintenance of spatial order. Although the 1822 Ordinance still explicitly divided Awul and townships on the basis of blood, while acknowledging the importance of the principle of kinship, the Tsarist Russian authorities strengthened the concept of internal and external boundaries through various means, and then combined the vertical bureaucratic organization of district-township-Awul with horizontal spatial division, aiming to limit the mobility of nomads and inhibit the potential of nomadic societies to unite across regions.
The title of the first chapter of the Regulations is "Разделение" (Разделение). The regulations require the division of the eastern Kazakh steppe along the line of the Siberian fortress on the Irtysh River to the west and south according to the district-commune-Ayur administrative units. The division of the boundaries of the districts was the responsibility of the quartermaster of the Russian fortified line. Once the boundaries of the districts have been demarcated, the powers of the districts "shall not exceed the administrative boundaries" (arts. 10 and 60). The regulations emphasize that "the inhabitants of each district shall not cross the border without the permission of the magistrate" (article 9). Localities are prohibited from arresting criminals and fugitives on their own in the territory of other district offices, and must notify the district government in the district where the fugitives are located to take measures. At the level of commune boundaries, the regulations also emphasize that administrative boundaries set the spatial scope of the exercise of power: if the same clan is divided into two communes after the township boundaries are demarcated, the commune sultan cannot manage the affairs of the two communes. "With the consent of the commune, the rights may be given to his son or brother; Otherwise, a new commune sultan shall be elected through elections" (Article 35). The commune sultan may not exercise power in a commune outside his territory, even if the Kazakhs of the other commune are related to the sultan by blood (Article 107). Chief Awul was not allowed to move from nomadic to the Sultan without informing the Sultan, and was only allowed to have official contact with other officials if ordered to do so by the Sultan. The purpose of these provisions is to replace the traditional ties of kinship with administrative principles and to restructure the nomadic organization at all levels.
The regulation is concerned not only with the delimitation of the internal boundaries of the eastern part of the Russian Kazakh steppe, which is considered to be the demarcation of the internal borders. Depending on the distance from the fortified line, the districts were divided into two categories: the near line zone (близ-линейные округи) and the border zone (пограничные округи). Border districts were to be marked far from the fortified line in order to declare the boundaries of Tsarist sovereignty. At the same time, the border districts should be equipped with larger Cossack guards to garrison the borders. The members of the district government were to lead the Cossack guards to inspect the border, and on weekdays the chiefs of the border were to be in charge of the patrols. Permanent markers should be erected on important plots of land (arts. 77-80). The regulations stipulate that "Russian Kazakhs are forbidden to cross this border for nomadism" (Article 78).
Once the boundaries are demarcated, the control of cross-border movement will be matched accordingly. In addition to the routine nomadic activities mentioned above, the regulations focus on two types of mobility: commerce and seizure of livestock. In the area of commerce, the regulations stipulate that the district government is obliged to collect information on merchants and caravans crossing the border and to provide protection. When all foreign nationals (иноземец) enter the first Russian border zone, the district government is responsible for issuing written documents. If a foreigner intends to enter the provinces of the Russian mainland through the fortified line, the district official must escort him to the nearest checkpoint along the fortified line. Foreigners must present a written document issued by the district office for customs clearance. If the foreign person or business traveler does not enter the district office, the Sultan of a certain border township can issue a written document for inspection at the fortress line checkpoint. Written documents issued by the commune sultan must be submitted to the district government (arts. 69 and 83). All foreigners and business travelers entering the mainland provinces through the fort line must pass through the checkpoint and their written documents must be reported to the provincial office. In the section on the disposal of foreigners who illegally crossed the border, the regulations only mentioned the treatment of Qing subjects: detained, sent to the provincial office, which was then sent to Kyakhta (Article 86). The control of travelers and caravans can effectively reflect the significance of the spatial division of the new management system, and strengthen the awareness of Kazakh officials at the district and township levels of administrative boundaries in daily administrative practice, and then strengthen the concept of boundaries that the Russian authorities are trying to shape, and limit the mobility of nomadic groups.
Another focus of border control is to curb livestock seizures. Livestock seizure is a common phenomenon in nomadic societies. It refers to a nomadic or clan, who feels that they have been unfairly treated by another person or clan, by plundering or detaining the other person's livestock in order to force the other party to negotiate compensation. After the negotiation is completed, the party who seized the livestock will often return the entire livestock or withhold a portion as compensation. [16] However, such simple steppe traditions tend to provoke conflicts between clans and even tribes, leading to long-term strife. Therefore, for the Tsarist authorities, who were trying to establish a stable political order in the steppes, the seizure of livestock could not be treated as a mere national custom. Chapter V of the 1822 Regulations divided judicial cases involving Kazakhs into criminal, civil and administrative proceedings, while the seizure of livestock, together with treason, murder and robbery, was defined as a criminal case, subject to investigation by the district government, trial by the district council and supervision by the provincial court (articles 206-214). As influential figures in the clan, the Commune Sultan was often related by blood or geography to the parties to the seizure of livestock. Thus, the regulations stipulate that "if the Sultan is accused of allowing robbery or seizure of livestock, or even being involved in it, he shall be immediately brought before the courts" and put on criminal trial (Article 256).
In addition, the regulations have a special section on epidemic prevention and isolation measures in grassland areas. The design of these measures makes full use of the above-mentioned administrative system, turning the response to potential epidemics into a favorable factor for strengthening administrative construction. The ordinance places the primary responsibility for responding to the epidemic on the district government. In the event of the death of livestock, the district government needs to immediately notify the commander of the nearby fortified line; On the other hand, it is necessary to cut off the connection between the epidemic and the disease-free townships on a township basis, and transmit information through the soldiers at the outposts in the grassland areas. The district government should warn Kazakhs in disease-free townships to move away from the pastoral areas where the disease is occurring as soon as possible, and establish isolation measures for susceptible herds. The commune sultan and the chief of Awul must spread the message to ordinary herders in order to prevent the spread of the disease (arts. 236-242).
It should be noted that before the 1822 ordinance was enacted, the steppe region was not the free world as later generations of literati imagined: nomadic clans and tribes also had pastoral boundaries divided by custom, negotiation or violence. In 1822, for the first time, the regulations in the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe defined the administrative hierarchy and the corresponding administrative boundaries in the form of written law. Correspondingly, administrative boundaries delineate the boundaries of power of Kazakh officials at all levels in a normative sense. Combined with the customs, judicial, and anti-epidemic isolation systems along the fortress line, the Tsarist authorities gradually transformed the administrative boundaries from text to reality through the regulation of grazing, migration, livestock seizure, and disease prevention and control, and then made them the cornerstone of the ruling order of the steppe in Tsarist Russia.
Restriction of grazing and persuasion of farmers: the guidance of the 1822 regulations on the settlement of herdsmen
As mentioned above, the establishment of government and the demarcation of borders were both means of inhibiting the rise of large-scale nomadic regimes in the steppe areas. In order to fundamentally eliminate the military threat of nomadic groups to agrarian societies, it is ultimately necessary to achieve this through the large-scale settlement of nomadic herders and their transition to an agrarian lifestyle. The Regulations of 1822 provide detailed provisions for the collection of information, the construction of premises, the allocation and use of land and social services at all levels of government. To develop the economy of the grassland areas, we first need accurate statistical information on population and land resources. The ordinance of 1822 required the district officials to register the real names of the Sultan and the Governor of Ayul in the communes under their jurisdiction and the changes in their stations; Conduct a census of the accounts and changes in the townships and Ayul every three years in order to count the population; If there is a building or immovable property in the jurisdiction, it is required to register the information on the plot (Article 68).
Secondly, the frontier authorities used funds to incentivize the district government to build various types of buildings, and to develop the district government station into a commercially significant market town. The Regulations of 1822 required the construction of the following four types of buildings in each district: 1) the premises of the district government and the residence of the district clerk; 2) a place of worship for the clergy; 3) clinics that can serve 150 to 200 people; 4) Barracks of the Cossack Guards (Article 124). To this end, the district government must draw up a budget, submit it to the provincial office, and implement the construction plan according to the budget. In the first five years of the introduction of the 1822 Ordinance, Kazakhs in the districts implementing the Ordinance enjoyed a five-year tax exemption, but Kazakhs were encouraged to voluntarily donate livestock, goods or money to support the construction of hospitals, schools and welfare institutions. All donated materials must be registered by the district government and submitted to the provincial office.
Relatively accurate population and land information is the basis for the subsequent allocation of land use rights by the district government in accordance with the regulations, while the land use policy clearly includes the goal of guiding herders to settle down and participate in farming. The Regulations of 1822 required each district to designate plots of land suitable for farming, crafts and commerce. The Great Sultan has the right to use 5-7 square versts of land around the district government station; Each Kazakh representative of the district has the right to use 2 square versts of land; Each Russian representative of the district has the right to use 1 square vert of land. The criteria for the distribution of land for district interpreters and clerks were comparable to those of Cossack officers of the same rank. And the members of the Cossack guards stationed in the steppe areas were given 15 Russian acres of land for subsistence. In addition, Kazakhs who are willing to engage in agriculture are given 15 Russian acres of land per person, and their cultivation and use are supervised by the district government. The regulations required that the Russian representatives of the district government and members of the Cossack Guards should take an exemplary part in farming and building construction. If possible, horticulture, beekeeping and other side businesses should be developed. Sultans, Ayur chiefs and ordinary Kazakhs should be attracted to make use of the various facilities under the district administration to provide them with help, support and advice in order to attract more people to settle into settled life. If the allotted land has not been cultivated or used for a period of five years, the district government has the right to repossess and redistribute it (arts. 167-183).
It is worth noting that the drafters of the 1822 Ordinance also tried to introduce social service agencies in the steppe areas, including public food supply, medical care, epidemic prevention, education, and social security, in order to attract herders to settle down. The regulation devotes 17 articles to the public food supply policy, and article 150 begins with the following provisions: "Even if wheat is not the main food of the Kyrgyz people, in order to prevent them from famine due to the death of their livestock or disease, and to encourage them to settle in agriculture, official grain stores (казенная хлебная продажа) shall be established in each district." [17] The purpose of the official grain store was to provide basic food supplies to herders in the grassland areas, especially to stabilize grain prices during times of famine. For this purpose, the Omsk Province has prepared a loan of 30,000 rubles for each newly opened outer district. After the capital scale of the official grain store reaches 2.5 times the initial capital, the loan can be repaid. The regulations impose specific restrictions on the profits, sales prices, and sales volume of government grain stores. The directors and guards of the official commissaries in each district shall be determined by the provincial office, and their salaries shall be paid from the operating profits of the official commissaries (arts. 150-164). It is worth noting that Article 160 stipulates that the official commissaries trade grain in Russian currency. The 1822 Ordinance still taxed Kazakh herdsmen in kind (ясак) in kind. [18] It can be seen that, in addition to maintaining the basic food supply, the establishment of official grain shops in the steppe areas also had the purpose of promoting the use of Russian fiat currency and integrating the border areas into the economic cycle of the Russian Siberian region to attract Kazakhs to settle down and farm.
In the area of health care, the regulations stipulate that each district must be staffed with two doctors (лекарь) to provide medical care to the officers and residents of the army. A permanent clinic should be established in each district to provide a place for the treatment of poor and seriously ill Kazakhs in the district. Poor Kazakhs are employed by the general staff of the clinic, the expenses of which are borne by the communes and the Aur, and the day-to-day operations are managed by the district government. Physicians should visit the area for the patient's needs. In addition, doctors should try to persuade Kazakhs to be vaccinated against smallpox, with material incentives provided by the authorities (Articles 229-235).
In terms of culture and education, the drafters of the regulations believed that the beliefs of the Kazakhs at that time tended more towards primitive polytheism than orthodox Islam, and therefore there was a possibility that the majority of Kazakhs would be attracted to convert to Orthodox Christianity. The regulations encourage provincial offices to contact churches and send missionaries to the grassland areas. If the number of converts to Orthodoxy in a district reaches a thousand, then the Omsk province must allocate funds for the construction of churches and ask churches to allocate priests. If the pastor is successfully stationed, he should cooperate with the provincial education department and make every effort to raise funds for the establishment of a church school to teach Kazakh students Russian reading, writing, arithmetic and law. The children of the commune sultans and the elders of Aur who voluntarily attend Russian schools can be supported by the authorities at public expense. After receiving training in Russian literacy and numeracy, a child may take up public office with the consent of his or her parents. In addition to the above-mentioned steppe schools to be built, all other Russian schools should support Kazakhs in various ways. The regulations also promise that every Kazakh has the right to send his children to Russian schools in accordance with the law (articles 243-249). In the area of social welfare, the regulations require the state agencies to prepare between five and ten tents for social assistance and to provide assistance to the injured, elderly, mentally ill and incapacitated persons (arts. 252-253).
The regulations even contemplated the opening of social avenues for Kazakhs who received a settled way of life and Russian education. The regulations stipulated that Kazakhs in the territory of the empire had the right to go to the inland provinces to earn a living with the permission of the communes and the local governors. Every Kazakh has the right to apply for membership in a certain estate of the empire (государственное сословие) and has the right to register as a member of a certain guild. After being transferred to other classes, Kazakhs shed their alien status and assumed the rights and obligations of the corresponding classes (articles 268-271).
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"Thrust"
A painting by the Russian painter Veretschagin
(V.V. Vereshchagin, 1842-1904)
The Ordinance of 1822 was a turning point in the history of the eastern Kazakh steppe
Although the full text of the 1822 Ordinance regulates the political affairs of the eastern Kazakh steppe in the language of the sovereign, in fact the opening of the first outer district outside the fortified line was not until almost two years after the promulgation of the ordinance. On April 8, 1824, the first outer district of the Omsk province, the Karkalalinsk district (Каркаралинский округ), held elections for the Great Sultan[19] and district deputies. The election of the Great Sultan was Tursun Chingisov (Турсун Чингисов) from Tozhe. [20] In order to support the work of the district government, the Omsk Province sent three students from the Omsk Asia School to the district to serve as scribes for the Sultan of the subordinate townships. The district Cossack guard consisted of 250 Cossacks drawn from the fortress line. In the decree of the district government, the governor asked the Cossacks to carry agricultural tools and seeds and to engage in farming around the district government, so as not to cause a financial burden on the Kazakh herdsmen of the district, and to attract herdsmen to settle through the development of agriculture. At the time of the opening of the district office, the demarcation of the districts, townships and Awul had not yet been implemented. On April 29 of the same year, a second outer district was opened in the Omsk province - Kokchetav district (Кокчетавский округ). The common feature of these two districts was the presence of a nomadic social elite who supported the new administrative system of Tsarist Russia. The scribes, translators, Cossack guards as escorts, and the funds for the operation of the district government for the first five years were supported by the Russian authorities. Although there were still forces opposing the new management system in the townships under the jurisdiction of the districts, the two districts were successfully opened. [21]
In the thirties of the 19th century, five districts were established in the province: Ayaguz district (Аягузский, 1831), Akmolinsk district (Акмолинский, 1832), Bayan Awul district (Баян-аульский, 1833), Uchbulak district (Уч-булаксий, 1833), Amankaragay district (Аман-Карагайский, 1834). Similar to the core concerns in the text of the regulations, the Governor of Western Siberia and the Governor of Omsk at the time of the opening of the districts focused on the following five main areas: 1) the participation of the commune and Ayur elites in the election of the heads of the districts and in the oath-ordination ceremony; 2) the demarcation of the boundaries of administrative units at the district and township levels; 3) strict restrictions on the seizure of livestock; 4) support for agriculture and commerce; 5) Attract the Kazakh clans that have not yet pledged their allegiance to the Russian nationality and adopt a new system of administration. [22]
Russian military and political officials and travelers who passed through the eastern part of the Kazakh steppe during this period wrote about the changes in the steppe region from different angles. By the 60s of the 19th century, Tsarist Russia had firmly controlled the eastern steppe road. Russian travelers in the mid-19th century rarely recorded the nomadism of Kazakh clans across the Irtysh. Although the boundaries between districts and communes are not yet secure, the concept of regional division brought about by the administrative system already exists. In terms of settlement, the Akmolinsk district government station was developed into a regional commercial center, a place for spontaneous trade between merchants and herders. Notably, most of the Russian military officials who visited complained about the region's inability to extend Russian culture to local communities, but few complained that local rule was not sufficiently secure.
As part of Speransky's lifelong legislative undertaking, the Siberian Kyrgyz Regulations deserve 319 articles to construct a system of Russian rule that combines the nomadic traditions of the steppe. The bureaucratic system based on the absorption of the Kazakh tribal elite and the establishment of administrative divisions and border management systems are all means of preventing the formation of trans-regional nomadic regimes in the steppe areas. In order to fundamentally eliminate the possibility of the emergence of nomadic empires in Eurasian history and completely establish the agricultural management system on the steppe, it is necessary to take a variety of measures to attract herders to settle their lives. In line with the technologies of firearms manufacturing, fortress construction, land surveying, and logistics management that emerged in modern Europe, the bureaucratic, administrative, and settlement policies implemented by the 1822 Regulations basically covered the East Grassland Road for more than ten years under the conditions of relatively limited personnel stationing and capital investment.
After the Crimean War (1853-1856), Russia's expansion in Central Asia was meteoric. However, "if you win the world immediately, you can rule it immediately", the institutional construction of Tsarist Russia in the newly conquered territories has received little attention from previous scholars. In the development of the Russian ruling system in Central Asia, the 1822 Ordinance played a foundational role. Before 1822, Tsarist Russia placed more emphasis on the rule of customs in the eastern part of the steppe. In 1822, the ordinance administratively transferred the tribal chiefs with the title of "Sultan" to bureaucrats at the district, commune, and Ayur levels under the leadership of the frontier authorities; The boundaries of districts and townships are demarcated, and the forces of districts and townships and fortress lines are used to restrict cross-border nomadism; and to weaken nomadic traditions by giving preferential treatment to the sedentary population through land use, taxation, culture, education, and social security. In short, the 1822 Ordinance marked a shift in Russia's policy of domination over the Kazakh steppe from restraint to establishment, with the aim of curbing the emergence of large-scale nomadic regimes in the steppe region and gradually transforming the steppe region from a "dangerous frontier" to an imperial hinterland.
Exegesis:
[1] 关于斯佩兰斯基在西伯利亚总督任内的改革措施概述，参见徐景学主编：《西伯利亚史》，哈尔滨：黑龙江教育出版社，1991年，第235-239页；Marc Raeff, Siberia and the Reforms of 1822 (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1956), pp. 39-128.
[2] Russian texts before the beginning of the twentieth century often referred to the "Kazakhs" as they were known after 1926 as "Kyrgyz" or "Киргиз" or "Кайсак" as "Karakyrgys" or "Дикокаменный киргиз". In order to be close to the original text, this article is translated as "Kyrgyz". In the general language, the more familiar contemporary translation of "Kazakh" is used. For a related discussion, see Barthold, translated by Zhang Li, A Brief History of Kyrgyzstan, Vol. 2, Part 1, Collected Works of Barthold, Lanzhou: Lanzhou University Press, 2013, pp. 584-585; See also Georgy Vasilyevich Kan, trans. Silk Road Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, et al., A Brief History of Kazakhstan, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2018, pp. 2-4.
[3] Among them, the most important work is Meng Nan, A Study on the Policy of Russian Rule in Central Asia, Urumqi: Xinjiang University Press, 2000, pp. 87-91. This work has been of great help to the author in translating Russian terms.
[4] 如皮尔斯（1960）叙述时间点从1867年开始，仅以一章概述1867年之前以军事行动为线索概述沙俄征服中亚的进程；考察重点也集中在锡尔河、撒马尔罕和费尔干纳三省。 马丁（2001）考察的时段同样以19世纪60年代为开端。 这与她参考的档案时段有关。 重要英文著作参见Richard A. Pierce, Russian Central Asia, 1867-1917: a Study in Colonial Rule (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1960)； Virginia Martin, Law and Custom in the Steppe: the Kazakhs of the Middle Horde and Russian Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century, (Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001); 重要俄文著作如Терентьев М.А. История завоевания средней Азии. Т.1–3. СПб. 1903–1906; Халфин Н.А. Политика России в Средней Азии (1857–1868). М., 1960.
[5] 例如，哈萨克斯坦学者坎的通史作品充分体现独立后民族主义史观视角下的历史叙事，参见格奥尔吉·瓦西利耶维奇·坎著，中国社会科学院丝绸之路研究所等译：《哈萨克斯坦简史》，北京：中国社会科学出版社，2018年，第110-125页。 当代哈萨克斯坦也有一些学者从事微观层面的制度史研究,如苏丹加利耶娃关于沙俄统治下基层哈萨克官僚的系列研究,参见Gulmira Sultangalieva, "Kazakh Officialdom of the Orenburg Department: Formation and Direction of Activity (XIX)," Acta Slavica Iaponica (Volume 27, 2009): 77–101.
[6] The territory encompassed by this concept roughly corresponds to the North Kazakhstan region, the Akmola region, part of the Karaganda region, the Pavlodar region, and the Eastern Kazakhstan region of present-day Kazakhstan.
[7] Babkov, trans. Wang Zhixiang, Memories of My Service in Western Siberia, Volume II, Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1973, p. 314.
[8] Regarding the translation of the Russian term округ, Meng Nan translated округ as "oblast" because he translated both губерния and область as "province". Georgy Khan's A Brief History of Kazakhstan is translated as "district" in Chinese, and Terentiev's History of the Conquest of Central Asia (Volume 1) is translated as "district". In order to avoid misunderstanding, the author translates округ as "region".
[9] Regarding the translation of the district yazhi zаседатель here, Meng Nan's work is translated as "representative"; The Chinese translation of Terentiev's History of the Conquest of Central Asia (Volume I) is translated as "Juror". Since the functions undertaken by the members of the district government are not limited to the judiciary, the translation of "juror" may be ambiguous, so this article adopts the translation of Meng Nan's book.
[10] Masevich M.G. Materialy po istorii politicheskogo stroya Kazakhstana [Materials on the history of the political system of Kazakhstan]. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 94.
[11] Masevich M.G. Materials on the history of the political system of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 94.
[12] Masevich M.G. Materials on the history of the political system of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 95.
[13] Masevich M.G. Materialy po istorii politicheskogo stroya Kazakhstana [Materials on the history of the political system of Kazakhstan]. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. Pp. 103–104.
[14] Masevich M.G. Materials on the History of the Political System of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 95.
[15] For a discussion of the felt-carrying part of the succession ceremony of the nomadic leaders of the Eurasian steppe, see Luo Xin, The Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty on Black Felt, Beijing: Dolphin Publishing House, 2014, pp. 24-48; Su Beihai, A Cultural History of the Kazakh Ethnic Nation, Urumqi: Xinjiang University Press, 1996, pp. 335-336. For an account of the Kazakh tradition of carrying the felt during the succession ceremony of the Khan, see Terentiev, translated by the Department of Foreign Languages of Wuhan University, History of the Conquest of Central Asia (Volume 1), Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1980, p. 105.
[16] 关于牲畜扣押的相关描述，国内较早的研究参见苏北海：《哈萨克族文化史》，乌鲁木齐：新疆大学出版社，1996年，第363和366页；英文学界的主要研究参见Virginia Martin, Law and Custom in the Steppe: the Kazakhs of the Middle Horde and Russian Colonialism in the Nineteenth Century, (Surrey: Curzon Press, 2001): 140–155. 但马丁没有注意到的是，与哈萨克草原地区牲畜扣押相关的立法至少可追溯到1822年条例。
[17] Masevich M.G. Materials on the History of the Political System of Kazakhstan. Vol. 1, Almaty, 1960. P. 100.
[18] 即牧户每占有一百头牲畜,每年须向当局上缴一头作为赋税,参见Masevich M.G. Materials on the History of the Political System of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 100.
[19] 哈萨克斯坦著名思想家阿拜·库南巴耶夫的父亲库南拜(Kunanbai Oskenbaev)于1849-1852年担任该区大苏丹。
[20] He then served six consecutive terms as Grand Sultan of the region (1824-1843), and his sons Тулек and Сержан also served as Grand Sultan of the region in the second half of the 19th century.
[21] Letter from Sultan Sasym Ablaikhanov to the Orenburg military governor with a request to close the Kokchetav district order. June 24, 1825. Masevich M.G. Materials on the History of the Political System of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. P. 137.
[22] Rules of activity of the Karkaraly District Order, compiled by the Omsk Regional Head. April 11, 1824. Masevich M.G. Materials on the History of the Political System of Kazakhstan. T. 1. Almaty, 1960. Pp. 112–118.
Source: Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University