the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalmucks. Great
was their surprise at the suddenness of the irruption, and great also
their consternation: for, according to their settled custom, by far the
greater part of their number was absent during the winter months at the
fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to surprise at the most
exposed points, fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was
immediately invested, and summoned by Oubacha. He had, however, in his
train only a few light pieces of artillery; and the Russian commandant
at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried circumstances in which the
Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge, as it were, of
a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these considerations to a more
obstinate resistance than might else have been advisable, with an enemy
so little disposed to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The
period of his anxiety was not long: on the fifth day of the siege, he
descried from the walls a succession of Tartar couriers, mounted upon
fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains around the fortress at a
furious pace, and riding into the Kalmuck encampment at various points.
Great agitation appeared immediately to follow; orders were soon after
despatched in all directions: and it became speedily known that upon a
distant flank of the Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminating battle
had been fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the Khan's
dependents, numbering not less than nine thousand fighting men, had
perished to the last man. This was the _ouloss_, or clan, called
_Feka-Zechorr_, between whom and the Cossacks there was a feud of
ancient standing. In selecting, therefore, the points of attack, on
occasion of the present hasty inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally
eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with the service of the
Empress some gratification to their own party hatreds; more especially
as the present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if
the Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated as
large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances allowed, they attacked
the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation which denied to it all means
for communicating with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding an ample
range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast flocks and
herds, had separated this _ouloss_ from the Khan's head-quarters by an
interval of eighty miles: and thus it was, and not from oversight, that
it came to be thrown entirely upon its own resources. These had proved
insufficient; retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and
camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances of their live
stock, was absolutely out of the question: quarter was disdained on the
one side, and would not have been granted on the other; and thus it had
happened that the setting sun of that one day (the 13th from the first
opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays upon the final agonies of
an ancient _ouloss_, stretched upon a bloody field, who on that day's
dawning had held and styled themselves an independent nation.
Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the
Khan's encampment by this disastrous intelligence; not so much on
account of the numbers slain, or the total extinction of a powerful
ally, as because the position of the Cossack force was likely to put to
hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard, and
hold them in check, until the heavier columns of the Russian army should
arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised;
and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and their
children, once again resounded through the tents--the signal for flight,
and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one hundred and
fifty miles ahead of their present position, there arose a tract of
hilly country, forming a sort of margin to the vast, sea-like expanse
of champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy deserts, which
stretched away on each side of this margin both eastwards and westwards.
Pretty nearly in the centre of this hilly range, lay a narrow defile,
through which passed the nearest and the most practicable route to the
river Torgai (the further bank of which river offered the next great
station of security for a general halt.) It was the more essential to
gain this pass before the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the
delay in forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing columns for
combining their attacks and for bringing up their artillery, but also
because (even if all enemies in pursuit were thrown out of the question)
it was held by those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure
geography of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one narrow
strait amongst the hills would have the effect of throwing them (as
their only alternative in a case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was
required) upon a circuit of at least five hundred miles extra; besides
that, after all, this circuitous route would carry them to the Torgai at
a point ill fitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The defile
in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and yet, unless they
moved upon it with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little
chance but it would be found pre-occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is
true, had suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their
enemies; but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with
their unexampled triumph, had again swelled their ranks--and would
probably act with the force of a vortex to draw in their simple
countrymen from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre-occupation
was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line
not above fifty miles longer than that which led to the same point from
the Kalmuck head-quarters before Koulagina: and therefore without the
most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance
for them, burdened and 'trashed' [Footnote: _'Trashed'_--This is an
expressive word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their Bonduca, etc., to
describe the case of a person retarded and embarrassed in flight, or in
pursuit, by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to
be left behind.] as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as
the Cossacks in seizing this important pass.
Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition
of the case. For they easily understood that too capital an interest
(the _summa rerum_) was now at stake to allow of any regard to
minor interests, or what would be considered such in their present
circumstances. The dreadful week already passed,--their inauguration in
misery,--was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffering were
impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons and
the persons of their children. And they knew that where no speed had
much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no test would
be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had been
accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive,
has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the women and elder boys
assisted in drawing the tent-ropes. On the 5th of January all had been
animation, and the joyousness of indefinite expectation: now, on the
contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to take an
amended calculation of what it was that lay before them.
One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight
continued: the sufferings had been greater than before: for the cold had
been more intense: and many perished out of the living creatures through
every class, except only the camels--whose powers of endurance seemed
equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, brought
an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall: and though not
deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would be so; and
that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no plan could
be better than that of staying where they were: especially as the same
cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here then was the last
interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy nation during their
whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall with little
intermission. At the end of that time keen bright frosty weather
succeeded: the drifting had ceased: in three days the smooth expanse
became firm enough to support the treading of the camels, and the flight
was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic comfort had been
enjoyed: and for the last time universal plenty. The cows and oxen had
perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches, that an order was
now issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering the whole,
and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the immediate
consumption. This measure led to a scene of general banqueting and even
of festivity amongst all who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions
by distress of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the few last
days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future. Seventy thousand persons
of all ages had already perished; exclusively of the many thousand
allies who had been cut down by the Cossack sabre. And the losses in
reversion were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to arrive
from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom the Khan had despatched
to the rear and to each flank as well as in advance, that large masses
of the Imperial troops were converging from all parts of Central Asia
to the fords of the river Torgai as the most convenient point for
intercepting the flying tribes: and it was already well known that a
powerful division was close in their rear, and was retarded only by
the numerous artillery which had been judged necessary to support their
operations. New motives were thus daily arising for quickening the
motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting those who were
previously but too much exhausted.
It was not until the 2d day of February that the Khan's advanced guard
came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares,
in which they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A
pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, pre-occupied the
pass by some hours; but the Khan having too great advantages, namely,
a strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on
about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which
he had not yet been forced to abandon, soon began to make a serious
impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at
any rate have retired; but at the very moment when they were making some
dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear with
a body of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war
with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the cliffs
which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the dry beds of the
summer torrents, and other inequalities of the ground, to conceal their
movement. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack
files; the Khan, who had been waiting with the _elite_ of his heavy
cavalry, charged furiously upon them; total overthrow followed to the
Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure avenged the
recent bloody extermination of their allies, the ancient _ouloss_ of
Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were unable to support
the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained _cameleers_
(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were, but
not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight; and their
extraordinary efforts through the last few days to gain their present
position, had greatly diminished their powers for effecting an escape.
Very few, in fact, _did_ escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as
memorable amongst the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days before,
had signalized the complete annihilation of the Faka-Zechorr. [Footnote:
There was another _ouloss_ equally strong with that of _Feka-Zechorr_,
viz., that of Erketunn, under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom
some obligations of treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general
conspiracy of revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means
to assure the Governor of Astrachan, on the first outbreak of the
insurrection, that their real wishes were for maintaining the old
connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit
was intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously and according to
circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through the
prudent management of Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising
their pride or independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied
the Cossacks; and eventually both chiefs and people received from the
Czarina the rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity.]
The road was now open to the river Igritch, and as yet even far beyond
it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue, was
every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a
large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon the
Torgau, under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to be
joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the
same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks--both
exasperated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which Oubacha
and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as
served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore with
submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been imposed;
and, accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present occasion
offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of
their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time a message
significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to execute them, viz.,
'That they would not trouble her Majesty with prisoners.'
Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks
with the regular armies of Russia, and concurrently with nations as
fierce and semi-humanized as themselves, besides that they were stung
into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military
abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more
especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too overwhelming to permit
the thought of a regular opposition in pitched battles, even with a less
dilapidated state of their resources than they could reasonably expect
at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their speed lay their
only hope--in strength of foot, as before, and not in strength of arm.
Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, marking the lines of their
wide-extending march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a
never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the young, the sick man on
his couch, the mother with her baby--all were left behind. Sights such
as these, with the many rueful aggravations incident to the helpless
condition of infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned to
the wolves amidst a howling wilderness, continued to track their course
through a space of full two thousand miles; for so much at the least,
it was likely to prove, including the circuits to which they were often
compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on the
Wolga until they could reach their destined halting-ground on the
east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven weeks of this march their
sufferings had been embittered by the excessive severity of the cold;
and every night--so long as wood was to be had for fires, either from
the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice of their
baggage-wagons, or (as occasionally happened) from the forests which
skirted the banks of the many rivers which crossed their path--no
spectacle was more frequent than that of a circle, composed of men,
women, and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire, all dead
and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads were left behind from
pure exhaustion of whom none had a chance, under the combined evils
which beset them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours.
Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute; the vast extent
of the march at length brought them into more genial latitudes, and the
unusual duration of the march was gradually bringing them into the
more genial seasons of the year: Two thousand miles had at least been
traversed; February, March, April were gone; the balmy month of May had
opened; vernal sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the
heart-weary travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, they
crossed the Torgau, and took up a position where they hoped to find
liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort as well as in
security, and to draw such supplies from the fertile neighborhood as
might restore their shattered forces to a condition for executing, with
less of wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the journey.
Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been
completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific
sacrifice of at least two hundred and fifty thousand souls, to say
nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished:
ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived--only the
camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of some
antediluvian animals, without the affections or sensibilities of flesh
and blood--these only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern
heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long tempest
of trial unscathed and unharmed. The Khan, knowing how much he was
individually answerable for the misery which had been sustained, must
have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he threw his
eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled: for the tears of Xerxes
were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his power
he resolved to make by sacrifices to the general good of all personal
regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, he once
more deliberately brought under review the whole question of the revolt.
The question was formally debated before the Council, whether, even at
this point, they should untread their steps, and, throwing themselves
upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old allegiance? In that
case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat for the
general transgression. This, he argued, was no fantastic scheme, but
even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited and sacred power of the
Khan, so well known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to
attribute any separate responsibility to the people--upon the Khan
rested the guilt, upon the Khan would descend the Imperial vengeance.
This proposal was applauded for its generosity, but was energetically
opposed by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole journey of two
thousand miles? Was their misery to perish without fruit; true it was
that they had yet reached only the half-way house; but, in that respect,
the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. Either way
they would have pretty nearly the same distance to traverse, but
with this difference--that, forwards, their rout lay through lands
comparatively fertile--backwards, through a blasted wilderness, rich
only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the
trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the Empress might accept
an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear to suspect for the
future? The Czarina's _pardon_ they might obtain, but could they
ever hope to recover her _confidence_? Doubtless there would now be a
standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of jealousy; and
a jealous government would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally,
whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt surely remained
unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality the revolt was,
after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return to their old
allegiance, since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz., in
the year 1616,) their ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China.
They had now tried both governments; and for them China was the land of
promise, and Russia the house of bondage.
Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the
people was strongly in behalf of the Khan's proposal; the pardon of
their prince, they persuaded themselves, would be readily conceded by
the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time have
thrown themselves gladly upon the Imperial mercy; when suddenly all was
defeated by the arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had
reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the 12th of
April; thence he set forwards towards Oriembourg, which he reached
upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at various times
through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand
Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official offer to
the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory, holding out no specific
stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting unconditional
submission as the preliminary price of any cessation from military
operations. The personal character of Traubenberg, which was anything
but energetic, and the condition of his army, disorganized in a great
measure by the length and severity of the march, made it probable that,
with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone would have
been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister events occurred
in the meantime, such as effectually put an end to every hope of the
kind.
The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this
officer that a distance of only ten days' march lay between his own
head-quarters and those of the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the
Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the
Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon
in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel
Khan and his people would be in his own hands; and they would themselves
form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however, _why_ has not been
certainly explained, refused to march, grounding his refusal upon the
condition of his army, and their absolute need of refreshment. Long
and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing no chance of
prevailing, and dreading above all other events the escape of their
detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by forced
marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their
horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed for many a league
in search of food or provender for their camels. The first day's action
was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field
of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking up into
three or four, and again (according to the accidents of ground) three or
four blending into one; flight and pursuit, rescue and total overthrow,
going on simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all quarters of
the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged, by the scattered
state of the Kalmucks, to split up into innumerable sections; and thus,
for some hours, it had been impossible for the most practised eye to
collect the general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the Khan and
Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners, and more than once in
imminent danger of being cut down; but at length Zebek succeeded in
rallying a strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the
camel-corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds,
however, of these wild cavalry continued to arrive through the next two
days and nights, followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being
viewed as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kalmuck
chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it
happened that a retreat, which had so recently been brought to a
pause, was resumed at the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were
anticipating a deep repose without further molestation, the whole summer
through.
It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to
the Kalmucks; and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they
were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of
summer's heat could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this
sequel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing
a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha
and his unprincipled cousin Zebek-Dorchi.
There was at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian
gentleman of some rank at the court of the Khan, whom, for political
reasons, it was thought necessary to carry along with them as a captive.
For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in one or
two instances cruel. But, as the increasing distance was continually
diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as the misery of
the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all minor interests
to their own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody grew
more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a petition to the Khan, Mr.
Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was understood that
he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose, even for returning
to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he was making active
preparations for his journey to St. Petersburg, when it occurred to
Zebek-Dorchi that, not improbably, in some of the battles which were
then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to lose some
prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian Weseloff would be a pledge
in their hands for negotiating an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own
severe affliction, the Russian was detained until the further pleasure
of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used through the whole affair,
but, as it seemed, with so little concurrence on his part, that, when
Weseloff in a private audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice
done him, and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by setting
him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into dreams of home
and restored happiness only for the purpose of blighting them, the
good-natured prince disclaimed all participation in the affair, and went
so far in proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to effect
his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing it without raising
suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr. Weseloff that he had just then
received a message from the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a
private interview on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out; that
interview was arranged for the coming night; and Mr. Weseloff might
go in the Khan's _suite_, which on either side was not to exceed three
persons. Weseloff was a prudent man, acquainted with the world, and
he read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by the
Khan--treachery against the Khan's person. He mused a little, and then
communicated so much of his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on
his guard; but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to decline
the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact was, that three Kalmucks,
who had strong motives for returning to their countrymen on the west
bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to
join him in his escape. These men the Khan would probably find himself
obliged to countenance in their project; so that it became a point
of honor with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to
accomplish the evasion from the camp, (of which the first steps only
would be hazardous,) without risking the notice of the Khan.
The district in which they were now encamped abounded, through many
hundred miles, with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each
of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited
creatures in the course of the last few days; this raised no suspicion;
for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of provision
against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These horses
were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets which
lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at night,
the four fugitives repaired; they took a circuitous path, which drew
them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of the
outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the quarters
where the Bashkirs lay; and in three quarters of an hour they reached
the rendezvous. The moon had now risen, the horses were unfastened, and
they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the woods
was disturbed by a violent uproar, and the clashing of arms. Weseloff
fancied that he heard the voice of the Khan shouting for assistance.
He remembered the communication made by that prince in the morning; and
requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in the direction
of the sound. A very short distance brought him to an open glade in the
wood, where he beheld four men contending with a party of at least
nine or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of
Weseloff's arrival; one of these he recognized almost certainly as the
Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great disadvantage, with two
of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff
fired, and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged their
carbines at the same moment, and then all rushed simultaneously into
the little open area. The thundering sound of about thirty horses, all
rushing at once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a whole
troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants; who, accordingly,
wheeled about and fled with one impulse. Weseloff advanced to the
dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, proved to be the Khan. The
man whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were shocked, though
Weseloff at least was not surprised, on stooping down and scrutinizing
his features, to recognize a well known confidential servant of
Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode off,
escorted by Weseloff and his companions, and for some time a dead
silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was delicate and critical;
to leave the Khan at this point was probably to cancel their recent
services; for he might be again crossed on his path, and again attacked
by the very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the
other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the chances of
accomplishing the escape. The Khan also was apparently revolving
all this in his mind, for at length he broke silence, and said--'I
comprehend your situation; and, under other circumstances, I might feel
it my duty to detain your companions. But it would ill become me to do
so after the important service you have just rendered me. Let us turn a
little to the left. There, where you see the watchfire, is an outpost.
Attend me so far. I am then safe. You may turn and pursue your
enterprise; for the circumstances under which you will appear, as my
escort, are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for the present.
I regret having no better means at my disposal for testifying my
gratitude. But tell me, before we part, was it accident only which led
you to my rescue? Or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which
I was decoyed into this snare?' Weseloff answered very candidly that
mere accident had brought him to the spot at which he heard the
uproar, but that _having_ heard it, and connecting it with the Khan's
communication of the morning, he had then designedly gone after the
sound in a way which he certainly should not have done at so critical
a moment, unless in the expectation of finding the Khan assaulted by
assassins. A few minutes after they reached the outpost at which it
became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the four
fugitives commenced a flight which is perhaps without a parallel in the
annals of travelling. Each of them led six or seven horses besides the
one he rode; and by shifting from one to the other (like the ancient
_Desultors_ of the Roman circus,) so as never to burden the same horse
for more than half an hour at a time, they continued to advance at
the rate of two hundred miles in the twenty-four hours for three days
consecutively. After that time, considering themselves beyond pursuit,
they proceeded less rapidly; though still with a velocity which
staggered the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was,
however, a man of high principle, and always adhered firmly to the
details of his printed report. One of the circumstances there stated is,
that they continued to pursue the route by which the Kalmucks had
fled, never for an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the
skeletons and other memorials of their calamities. In particular, he
mentions vast heaps of money as part of the valuable property which
it had been necessary to sacrifice. These heaps were found lying still
untouched in the deserts. From these, Weseloff and his companions took
as much as they could conveniently carry; and this it was, with the
price of their beautiful horses, which they afterwards sold at one of
the Russian military settlements for about £15 a-piece, which eventually
enabled them to pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as
regarded Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe.
He was at that time young, and the only child of a doating mother. Her
affliction under the violent abduction of her son had been excessive,
and probably had undermined her constitution. Still she had supported
it. Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial
affection, had imprudently posted through Russia, to his mother's
house without warning of his approach. He rushed precipitately into her
presense; and she, who had stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal
to the shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot.
We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. These it would
be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand
miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering
was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but
also more severe. Its main elements were excessive heat, with the
accompaniments of famine and thirst, but aggravated at every step by
the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the
Kirghises.
These people, 'more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea,' stuck to the
unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of enraged hornets. And very often whilst
_they_ were attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and
flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people of the country
which they were traversing; and with good reason, since the law of
self-preservation had now obliged the fugitive Tartars to plunder
provisions, and to forage wherever they passed. In this respect their
condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for, sometimes,
pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred
miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the comforts of life; but
in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, of which
every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages
of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all the
defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Sometimes, again,
wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of
perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or
no inhabitants. But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute
starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of
starvation, whether with or without this plague of hostility in front,
whatever might he the 'fierce varieties' of their misery in this
respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet
atra cura_; it was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. And,
upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented in the
history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not unfrequently
immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice
in a nation. And what embittered the interest was, that the malice was
reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon equal terms; but that
equality only sharpened the sense of their dire inequality as to other
circumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight 'from morn to dewy eve.'
The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to run; was it _from_
their enemies, as creatures whom they feared? No; but _towards_ their
friends--towards that final haven of China--as what was hourly implored
by their wives, and the tears of their children. But though they fled
unwillingly, too often they fled in vain--being unwillingly recalled.
There lay the torment. Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day
the same unprofitable battle was renewed; as a matter of course, the
Kalmucks recalled part of their advanced guard to fight them; every day
the battle raged for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no
sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that
the Kalmuck march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired
into the boundless deserts where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the
Kalmucks resolved to press forward, regardless of their enemies, in that
case their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming, that the general
safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any
effectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each separate day,
except by a most embarrassing halt, and by countermarches, that, to men
in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not
be surprising, that the irritation of such a systematic persecution,
superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the
stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual
vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into the
wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before
the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both sides had
assumed the appearance much more of a warfare amongst wild beasts than
amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims
of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it was that of a
host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends.
On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the
Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier
district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred square
leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in woods of
ancient growth, and overrun with game of every description. In a
central spot of this solitary region, the Emperor had built a gorgeous
hunting-lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief
from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of game, he had
rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from this lodge,
followed at a little distance by a sufficient military escort, and every
night pitching his tent in a different situation, until at length he
had arrived on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia.
[Footnote: All the circumstances are learned from a long state paper
upon the subject of this Kalmuck migration, drawn up in the Chinese
language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper have been
translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the whole
motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length.] Here he
was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, enjoying
the morning sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there arose a vast
cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be
slowly diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By-and-by
this vast sheet of mist began to thicken towards the horizon, and to
roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite assembled from all
quarters. The silver trumpets were sounded in the rear, and from all the
glades and forest avenues began to trot forward towards the pavilion the
yagers, half cavalry, half huntsmen, who composed the Imperial escort.
Conjecture was on the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon,
and the interest continually increased, in proportion as simple
curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain danger. At
first it had been imagined that some vast troops of deer, or other wild
animals of the chase, had been disturbed in their forest haunts by the
Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey, and
might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering the forest grounds
at some remoter points secure from molestation. But this conjecture was
dissipated by the slow increase of the cloud, and the steadiness of its
motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon had advanced to a
point which was judged to be within five miles of the spectators, though
all calculations of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when
applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next
hour, during which the gentle morning breeze had a little freshened,
the dusty vapor had developed itself far and wide into the appearance
of huge aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the
earth; and at particular points, where the eddies of the breeze acted
upon the pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains rents were perceived,
sometimes taking the form of regular arches, portals, and windows,
through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 'indorsed'
[Footnote: _Camels 'indorsed;'_--'And elephants indorsed with towers.'
MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.] with human beings--and at intervals the
moving of men and horses, in tumultuous array--and then, through other
openings or vistas, at far distant points, the flashing of polished
arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened or died away, all those
openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and
for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although the growing
din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans, ascending from infuriated
myriads, reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, what was going
on behind the cloudy screen.
It was in fact the Kalmuck host, now in the last extremities of their
exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation
and intense misery, beyond which few or none could have lived, but also,
happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final
stage of their long pilgrimage, at which they would meet hospitality on
a scale of royal magnificence, and full protection from their enemies.
These enemies, however, as yet still were hanging on their rear as
fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the last of their
hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward couriers with
all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to the Emperor
of China. These had been duly received, and preparations made in
consequence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence.
But as these couriers had been despatched from the Torgau at the moment
of arrival thither, and before the advance of Traubenberg had made
it necessary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the
Emperor had not looked for their arrival on their frontier until full
three months after the present time. The Khan had indeed expressly
notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks of the
Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning of September.
The subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long, left him for
some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put upon this
mighty apparition in the desert; but at length the savage clamors of
hostile fury, and the clangor of weapons, unveiled to the Emperor the
true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely
precipitated the Kalmuck measure.
Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived
that the first act of his fatherly care for these erring children (as
he esteemed them) now returning to their ancient obedience, must be--to
deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than
might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well
appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment of artillery, who always
attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime it
occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to the
Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy; and accordingly
he was induced to retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared,
however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that
its motion was not such as would argue the direction of the march to
be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal line, making an
angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in which the Imperial
_cortège_ had been standing, and therefore with a distance continually
increasing. Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks were
making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or eight miles distant;
they were right; and to that point the Imperial cavalry was ordered up;
and it was precisely in that spot, and about three hours after and at
noon-day on the 8th of September, that the great Exodus of the Kalmuck
Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a scene of such memorable
and hellish fury, as formed an appropriate winding-up to an expedition
in all its parts and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not
personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see from too
great a distance to discriminate its individual features; but he records
in his written memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of
his own officers.
The lake of Tengis, near the frightful desert of Kobi, lay in a hollow
amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three
thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese
cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like dip
in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. From this pass,
elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, they
continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour
and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were compelled to
be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. The Kalmucks,
reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand souls to two
hundred thousand, and after enduring for two months and a half the
miseries we have previously described--outrageous heat, famine, and the
destroying scimitar of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs, had for the last
ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were seen
of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found. Camels and men were
already so overladen, that it was a mere impossibility that they
should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this frightful
wilderness. On the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had
been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus for two days
of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst had been carried to the
fiercest extremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the hills
and the forest scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides
the neighborhood of the lake of Tengis, all the people rushed along with
maddening eagerness to the anticipated solace. The day grew hotter
and hotter, the people more and more exhausted, and gradually, in the
general rush forwards to the lake, all discipline and command were
lost--all attempts to preserve a rear-guard were neglected--the wild
Bashkirs rode in amongst the encumbered people, and slaughtered them by
wholesale, and almost without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts
proclaimed the progress of the massacre; but none heeded--none halted;
all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to
the waters--all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver,
and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was affected
by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery as
the wretched Kalmuck; the murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic
misery as his murdered victim--many indeed (an ordinary effect of
thirst) in both nations had become lunatic--and in this state, whilst
mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to the
destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and
to that the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together continued
to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one almighty
instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite
lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final scene of
parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were
instantly dyed red with blood and gore; here rode a party of savage
Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swathes fall before the
mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple with
their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both
sinking together below the surface, from weakness, or from struggles,
and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at any point
collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the assault?
Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode them,
generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into
a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as many as they
could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore-legs. Every moment
the water grew more polluted: and yet every moment fresh myriads came up
to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their frantic thirst, and
swallowing large draughts of water, visibly contaminated with the blood
of their slaughtered compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow
enough to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there for
scores of acres were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing
struggle, of spasm, of convulsion, of mortal conflict, death, and the
fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--hatred, and the
frenzy of hatred--until the neutral spectators, of whom there were not
a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length averted
their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of further
addition, was, however, increased by an unexpected incident. The
Bashkirs, beginning to perceive here and there the approach of the
Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently at
leisure from the passions of the murderous scene--to gather into bodies.
This was noticed by the governor of a small Chinese fort, built upon an
eminence above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside,
which spread havoc amongst the Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs
collected into 'globes' and 'turms' as their only means of meeting
the long line of descending Chinese cavalry--so often did the Chinese
governor of the fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at
length the lake at the lower end, became one vast seething cauldron of
human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry had reached the foot
of the hills: the Bashkirs, attentive to their movements, had formed;
skirmishes had been fought: and, with a quick sense that the contest
was henceforwards rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises
began to retire. The pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred
would have desired. But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred
could not but find, in their own dreadful experience of the Asiatic
deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat
that same experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price
exacted by a retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty--not
the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting, but found
in all this a retaliatory chastisement more complete and absolute
than any which their swords and lances could have obtained, or human
vengeance could have devised.
Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the Desert; for any
subsequent marches which awaited them, were neither long nor painful.
Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exhausted
bodies had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely
munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to
them in ample extent along the river Ily, not very far from the point
at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the
beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in
his own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit
missionaries:--"La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_) arriva à
Ily, toute _delabree_, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vêtir. Je
l'avais prévu; et j'avais ordonné de faire en tout genre les provisions
nécessaires pour pouvoir les secourir promptement; c'est ce qui a été
exécuté. On a fait la division des terres; et on a assigné à chaque
famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir à son entretien, soit
en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On a donne a chaque
particulier des étoffes pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir
pendant l'espace d'une année, des ustensiles pour le ménage et d'autres
choses nécessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent, pour
se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a désigné des lieux
particuliers, fertiles en pâturages; et on leur a donné des boeufs,
moutons, &c. pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite travailler par euxmêmes a
leur entretien et à leur bienêtre."
These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person
of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same
subject, records the munificence of this prince in terms which proclaim
still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and the
delicate considerateness which conducted this extensive bounty. He
has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils
arrivèrent sur nos frontières (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de
mille), quoique la fatigue extrême, la faim, la soif, et toutes les
autres incommodités inséparables d'une très-longue et très pénible route
en eussent fait périr presque autant, ils étaient réduits a la dernière
misère: ils manquaient de tout. Il" (viz. l'Empereur, Kien Long) "leur
fit préparer des logemens conformes a leur manière de vivre; il leur fit
distribuer des aliments et des habits; il leur fit donner des boeufs,
des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en état de former des
troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, _et tout cela à ses propres frais_,
qui se sont montés à des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent qu'il
a donné à chaque chef-de-famille, pour pourvoir à la subsistance de sa
femme et de ses enfans."
Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks were replaced
in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal perhaps, or even
superior, to that which they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior
political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no
longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered
in quality; for instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people,
they were now in circumstances which obliged them to become essentially
dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social rank, that by
the natural course of their habits and the necessities of life they were
effectually reclaimed from roving, and from the savage customs connected
with so unsettled a life. They gained also in political privileges,
chiefly through the immunity from military service which their new
relations enabled them to obtain. These were circumstances of advantage
and gain. But one great disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance
all other possible gain; the chances were lost or were removed to an
incalculable distance for their conversion to Christianity, without
which in these times there is no absolute advance possible on the path
of true civilization.
One word remains to be said upon the _personal_ interests concerned in
this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was remarkable and
complete. Oubacha, with all his goodness and incapacity of suspecting,
had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his
mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man that would have
murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so visibly as to provoke
a reaction in the bearing of Zebek-Dorchi, and a displeasure which all
his dissimulation could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, by
keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of Oubacha; for the
friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than his open enmity. After
the settlement on the Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came
under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which all the
Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting-lodge in 1772. The
Emperor informed himself accurately of all the particulars connected
with the transaction--of all the rights and claims put forward--and
of the way in which they would severally affect the interests of the
Kalmuck people. The consequence was, that he adopted the cause of
Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his
part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his ambitious projects,
that in conjunction with other chiefs he had the presumption even to
weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. Plots were laid--were
detected--were baffled--counterplots were constructed upon the same
basis, and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered.
Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with
all his accomplices; and under the skilful management of the Chinese
nobles in the Emperor's establishment, the murderous artifices of these
Tartar chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole
of them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet. For the
Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything
the _lex talionis:_--
----'lex nec justior ulla est (as _they_ think)
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.'
So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar
_Exodus_. Oubacha, meantime, and his people, were gradually recovering
from the effects of their misery, and repairing their losses. Peace
and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount,
re-dawned upon the tribes; their household _lares_, after so harsh a
translation to distant climates, found again a happy reinstatement in
what had in fact been their primitive abodes; they found themselves
settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and
endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from the
hills of this favored land and even from the level grounds as they
approach its western border, they still look out upon that fearful
wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of
nearly half a million from amongst its numbers, and, for the remainder,
a storm of misery so fierce, that in the end (as happened also at Athens
during the Peloponnesian war from a different form of misery) very many
lost their memory; all records of their past life were wiped out as
with a sponge--utterly erased and cancelled; and many others lost their
reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy, some in a more
restless form of feverish delirium and nervous agitation, and others in
the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy.
Two great commemorative monuments arose in after years to mark the depth
and permanence of the awe--the sacred and reverential grief with which
all persons looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the year
of the Tiger--all who had either personally shared in those calamities,
and had themselves drunk from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually
been made witnesses to their results, and associated with their
relief; two great monuments, we say; first of all, one in the religious
solemnity, enjoined by the Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language a
_Romanang_, that is, a national commemoration, with music the most rich
and solemn, of all the souls who departed to the rest of Paradise from
the afflictions of the Desert: this took place about six years after the
arrival in China. Secondly, another more durable and more commensurate
to the scale of the calamity and to the grandeur of this national
Exodus, in the mighty columns of granite and brass, erected by the
Emperor Kien Long, near the banks of the Ily: these columns stand upon
the very margin of the _steppes_; and they bear a short but emphatic
inscription [Footnote: This inscription has been slightly altered in one
or two phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the
Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China and
the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the designation
adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon some confusion
between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the former, being
of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part the same
longitudes, though in different latitudes) might be considered as
his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of
Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.] to the
following effect:--
By the Will of God Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, Which from
this Point begin and stretch away Pathless, treeless, waterless, For
thousands of miles--and along the margins of many mighty Nations, Rested
from their labors and from great afflictions Under the shadow of the
Chinese Wall, And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon
Earth, The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars
Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, Wandering Sheep who had
strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the year 1616, But are now
mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, Into the fold of their
forgiving Shepherd. Hallowed be the spot for ever, and Hallowed be the
day--September 8, 1771! Amen.