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    La western TmnacaucaBiftthe Georm ^ nSiand ^ in southern Transcaucasia the T " lflnfl . ^ ith settleaifints and colomes of Koords , Persians , Chinese , and Hi ^^ wntrib ute . sobiect s to the Rus sian -and T ^ u rkEmpires . Baron Haxth « isen ' fl statement © f these faflfcs , / though quite as clear as we had a aaehtfto expect , is somewhat desultory , And rests «> n very ( Unsubstantial data . StattaiesTmft half-wild mountain region , are positively unattainable . SThe position of Russia in the Caucasus may be described thus : —her e » pi » e *^ preadtt ! # - t 0 the boun ds of Northern ISaatem Europe is here compressed between * he Euxine aad the Caspian , and interrupted by the Gaucasian range . Of this range she has possessed herself of a Dart but has passed the whole , occupying beyond it a continuous belt of territory between the two seas , with Turkey and Persia lying before—Turkey westwards , Persia eastwards . Her object , therefore , is to secure the Caucasus as a base whence she may operate , by a political and military process , upon those dissolving sultanates of Islam . Before Biissia seized the Transcaucasian provinces , Turkey and Persia eontenaed for them , and she advanced while they disputed . Partly by forcing Jier way through the mountains , partly by encompassing them , partly by ¦ e stablishing a friendly intercourse with the free tribes , she has acquired a nucleus , which may be lost or strengthened in the present war . Two Obstacles alone exist to the fulfilment of her design , and those , says Baron Haxthausen , are—" England , and the Mountain Races of the Caucasus . We will not pause to investigate from his point of view the position of Engfisfc interests in Western Asia ; but , as the war in Circassia is a controverted topicof much importance , will deal with the statements in connexion with it , part of which are set forth in the succinct , though imperfect summary of Baron Haxthausen . The Circassian tribes ruled by Schamyl do not represent the population along the entire line of the Caucasus . Otherwise , that liae might never have been broken . It is artificially , as well as naturally fortified from sea to sea . Former writers have maintained that the Caucasian wall extended continuously from one end of the range to the other , like that upon tie Chinese frontier ; but such an assumption is unnecessary . Most of tne summits are nearly impassable , even for single pedestrians , and for artillery and mounted troops entirely so . Only At intervals are there practicable denies , and , wherever these occur , they exhibit the remains of gigantic towers and gates . Starting from the Black Sea traces of a wall may be followed , north of Mingrelia , for a length of ninety miles . The valleys sad passes , it is obvious , were entirely closed by fortifications ; at the chief of these , the Albanian Gate , Keineggs , who is corroborated by Bieberstein , iimnd , in the eighteenth century , ruins a hundred and twenty feet high . Thence , for nearly a hundred miles , these relics of ancient military art are traced to their termination near Derbent , on the Caspian Sea . They are constructed of limestone , hewn into square blocks , sometimes " so large that it would require fifty men to remove one . " Russia , penetrating the Caucasus , in spite of its martial tribes , its precipices , and its fortifications , imitates the Sassanides , hews highways in theroclc , restores the " long walls " of Western Asia , and establishes fortresses with colonies of Boldiers in the most accessible and commanding positions . ^ Her policy among the mountaineers has takea various forms . She has alternately eeduoed and terrified the more yielding tribes ; but , in the eastern ssaoge , her efforts to pacify and her efforts to intimidate have been eqiaaUyunBuccessful . There a martial organisation has been promoted by a-eligicrtts zeal , and a war of independence has been carried on , which is described by one set of writers as the heroic contest of a small nation with a vast-. empire , and by another as a succession of irregular forays , witn plubder as the object , and indiscriminate massacre as the means . ISaron Haxtfeatisen remarks • — - The accounts we receive are very incomplete ana inaccurate . , These mountaineers « se the mroru , but not the pen , —the Russiano fight , but are not allowed to write : aiateoelioy forbids thi « . A rich field for the inventive genius of the European press ! QncKSlotniU- tnwwllera have thought us true statements , but far more generally false ¦ ones « nd it is > no tmcommon thing for people to , take pleasure in imposing upon travellers , , part £ oalarly when they manifest a curious turn . There are no places of public resort , 4 *« coffee-houses , where such information can bo obtained : in Tiflis , for example , the war with the mountaineers is never mentioned . Foreign military omcers—Prussians , Austrians , Danos and French—have frequently accompanied the armies of Russia in their campaigns , to perfect themselves in field . service : they have uniformly met with the best reception , and been treated as comrades by- the ( Russians . This has naturally called for discretion and reserve on their part , via all the accounts 'they have made public . The consequence in short is , that « ompinraCively -few aoourate and connected accounts of this memorable Circassian war have aseaohedEurope . A recent English traveller , provoked to exaggeration by the extravagance -of the German papers , undertook to dissipate our popular admiration of Sphnmyl and Ms followers , whom ho disparaged as bandits , ruthless and mean . But it in certain that the struggle in the Caucasus has assumed all tbjBttrolportaona . df a national war . It appears to have been far more pure in its origin than the insurrection in China , and bears some resemblance "to the revolt of tfhe Indian aborig ines of Mexico , Central America , And Pern , against the Spnnish power . Schamyl ' represents , in fact , a new Mohwumedan reform , the second inspiration of the Faith on the Caucasian hille . JSIsfcwh ^ re Mohammedism is inert , and has reached a low stage of decays " . IjiDaghistan , corrupted by time and change , it had dwindled into alajfy forth , When t ^ e Murids arose , preaching o religious war , referring to « nciBi > t prqpiiedips , — -against <* og and . Magog , —awakening the peop le to consider ttko ( safety of } neir mountains , the lorce , of unity , Hfhe righteousness « Vf a orusad ^ " a ^ nst | R ^^ a , - ^ hieif ^| Or beat ^ ino-tfri ^ of the unbelieving J&te ? . In the Iuie ) , otf the , jafetchers ' , of tins cruaade , fJcham v 1 is tiot the lewfc obnspibuousv 'Bar ^ n derived , he tells uj ^ f ronv ^ , , ; . ' i ^ ittiSohanwl , like Oaai Moolluh ^ me * born in the village of Qhbnry , in the « 6 mitry kt the'KolaaubuIitta , in 1797 . Jiv stature , he la not tall , -hut of very noble rtaWrtbotae . proportions . He is not by nature , physically strong , but he "has ac-5 ( dr < & : wmarkatfle PPWer and vigour by every , kind of . fcodijy exorcise , HJu » head , pf * fceaut&linu regular shape , hjs aquiline nose , small mouth , bine eyes , blond hair * j | JPp tf $ -Sid . a *« c « te white cfltin , seem to point rattttrtb a Germanlo than an Eastern

    extraction . His hands and feet are formed with the most beautiful symmetry ; his mien and every movement are . proud and . dignified * . Whatever absurd reports may have been circulated in . Europe ^ concerning this chief tain ' s prowess , it is an established fact that he has carried on , with surprising genius and energy , a long guerilla war with Russia . He and his adherents have for thirty years maintained a free territory in the Caucasus , although Kussia has employed some of her most experienced generals to subdue them . He outwitted Fesi ; he eluded Grabbe ; he neutralised the successes of Golovin , Yermolof , Sass , Dolgoruki , and Neidhart : — One instance of Schamyl ' s warlike character and tactics may suffice . In the autumn of 1841 the Russians made an expedition against Tchetchenia . They forced their way into the country , exposed to harassing attacks on every side : a constant fire was kept up from behind every bush , tree , and rock ; . and they advanced amidst martial shouts from their unseen enemies : but the Mountaineers nowhere appeared in any force , nor engaged in any battle , except near the Asule , where bloody combats took place , which ended however in no decided results . The Russians burned down the villages and the stores of hay , and carried off the women and children , and some herds of cattle : all these spoils they were obliged to keep with the main body of the army ; for no sooner had they passed , than the Tchetehens appeared again and harassed their rear . The expedition ended in October , without any great advantage having been gained . Scarcely had the Russian troops dispersed to their different quarters , when Schamyl appeared in the country they had quitted , at the head of his followers . He immediately compelled all who were capable of bearing arms to join him , threatening all who held back with a fine of a silver rouble , or fifty Russian lashes with the knout In a few days his army increased to 15 , 000 men . With the rapidity of lightning he invaded the country of the Kumyks , allies of the Russians , burned their villages , slew or took prisoners the inhabitants , drove off all the cattle , and advanced to Kizliar . The colonel in command there -went out to meet him , with a few hundred men and two cannon ; but they -were all killed , and the guns taken . The commandants of the two fortresses , between which Schamyl had advanced , sallied out , to form a junction at his rear and cut off his retreat . They failed : Schamyl had effected his retreat ere they could attain their object . The Russian generals were only two versts apart ; Schamyl pressed on between them with his troops , which he rapidly formed into three columns , attacked the Russians with two of these , right and left , and , protected by the third , carried off to the mountains cannon , prisoners , and forty thousand head of cattle . This exploit raised the fame of Schamyl to an incredible pitch ; at the same time it was an era in the war , inasmuch as the Mountaineers for the first time captured two pieces of artillery , —the Czar ' s pistols , as they called them . For nine years , from 1845 , Prince Woronzof held the chief command in the Caucasian war . By his predecessors—Yermolof especially—the natural horrors of warfare had been aggravated to increase the terror of the Russian name . By him the western tribes , under their collective appellation of Circassians , were almost completely pacified . They were permitted to sell their youths and girls to the Turks , and only engaged in predatory expeditions , unconnected with political objects . The war against Schamyl meanwhile remained in the same Suspense . Woronzof attempted , by burning and cutting down long paths through the forests , to open the country by degrees j but the forests were too dense , and the land beyond them too mountainous and inaccessible to render this work successful . He effected little here in conquest . Since the breaking out and the continuance of the war with Turkey and the Western Powers , the communication between the Caucasus and Constantinople has become perfectly open . The Mountaineers have been greatly assisted by supplies of guns , ammunition , and provisions ; and , although little . authentic information has been received , it appears to be quite dear tbat tne Russians have lost all influence over tbe Mountaineers , that Schamyl at the present moment is the acknowledged head of all the inhabitants of the Caucasus , and that the Russians are now restricted to act on the defensive . The Circassians gladly accept the supplies of ammunition , salt , etc ., from Constantinople and the Western Powers ; but any inference from this that they would welcome an alliance with the Turks and the Western Powers is quite erroneous : they by no means desire the vicinity of the latter , which they would regard as equally obnoxious and fatal to them with that of the Russians . Indeed they might probably in the end agree even better with the Russians . Whether Schamyl himself would consent to a co-operation with the Western Powers appears , from his character , very problematical : he desires to rule , but undoubtedly not to be subject to the Sultan . Whether one of the many emissaries Bent to him through Circassia has really ever reached him , is very doubtful : they have generally been taken prisoners , robbed , nay murdered , by the Circassians . Baron Haxthausen ' s compact volume on the tribes of the Caucasus has been creditably translated by Mr . J . E . Taylor . It forms , virtually , a supplement to bis preceding work on Transcaucasia . We commend it to notice for the special information it contains , varied by some speculative passages of more doubtful value , but must caution the reader against accepting its statements on all points connected with the political circumstances of the Caucasus . The historical review is as sound as most historical views referring to unsettled dates and dubious eras . r lhe geography , perhaps , is as near perfection as it pretends to be . Whenever it touches the ffround described by Kinnier in his political memoir , it corresponds in general with his . The ethnological generalisations are only offered as confeotural . Of the Caucasian languages little is known , either in Germany or England . Again , as to politics , Bauon Haxthausen confesses to the limited facilities possessed by him for separating authentic details from rumours that " require confirmation . " . The region of the Caucasus is one of the most important on the globe , and it is one of which the least is known . In Hussiu , -probably , the knowledge exists , but is monopolised for political and strategic purposes .

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    TRANCE . ATI

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    ie TrjEtW Sj 0 A IEE / Ik [ No . 291 ^ SAisraPAT ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 20, 1855, page 1014, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2111/page/18/