There was no escape. The horsemen of the Tartar Khan
were fast and merciless. The endless prairie did not give a
man a chance to cross into the safe territory of his neighbour.
He must keep quiet and bear what his yellow master decided
to inflict upon him or run the risk of death. Of course, Europe
might have interfered. But Europe was engaged upon business
of its own, fighting the quarrels between the Pope and
the emperor or suppressing this or that or the other heresy.
And so Europe left the Slav to his fate, and forced him to
work out his own salvation.
The final saviour of Russia was one of the many small states,
founded by the early Norse rulers. It was situated in the heart
of the Russian plain. Its capital, Moscow, was upon a steep
hill on the banks of the Moskwa river. This little principality,
by dint of pleasing the Tartar (when it was necessary to
please), and opposing him (when it was safe to do so), had,
during the middle of the fourteenth century made itself the
leader of a new national life. It must be remembered that the
Tartars were wholly deficient in constructive political ability.
They could only destroy. Their chief aim in conquering new
territories was to obtain revenue. To get this revenue in the
form of taxes, it was necessary to allow certain remnants of
the old political organization to continue. Hence there were
many little towns, surviving by the grace of the Great Khan,
that they might act as tax-gatherers and rob their neighbours
for the benefit of the Tartar treasury.
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