fifth of the booty taken from the enemy, and the fines imposed for
violations of the scharyat, but has introduced a regular system of
taxation. A poll-tax to the amount of a silver rouble, or its value in
kind, is levied on every family; one tenth of the produce of the land
goes into the public treasury; the property of every person dying
without direct heirs, falls to the government; and the wealth
accumulated in the mosques and shrines, consisting of the gifts of the
pious, has been applied to the uses of the State, the mollahs receiving
regular pay in exchange, and the wandering dervishes, who lived on
voluntary contributions, having either been incorporated into the army
or driven out of the country. Economical in the use of his revenues and
living himself in a style of simplicity scarcely superior to that of his
comrades in arms, the Imam has accumulated considerable funds, and is
known to have deposited in secret places in the woods of Andi and
Itchkeria treasures of gold, precious stones, and various valuables. The
sinews of his war are not indeed gold and silver, but love of freedom
and hatred of the infidel; still he understand as well as the rulers of
countries more civilized, that riches are a strong ally; and moreover he
can neither issue paper-money nor live by borrowing. But while he has
wisely laid up in store for the conduct of the war and the upholding of
his government whatever could be saved by frugal and simple living, he
has always dealt out with a liberal hand the means necessary for
rewarding acts of extraordinary valor or self sacrifice, for making
converts to the faith of the Sufis, or for winning over to his side a
hostile tribe or chieftain.
The mountaineers acknowledging the rule of Schamyl do not number more
than about six hundred thousand, the entire population of the Caucasus
being estimated at a million and a half. The forces of the Imam have
never exceeded twenty thousand. On the other hand, the Russian army in
the mountains during the last dozen years has consisted of from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand men of all arms. These have
been distributed indeed throughout both Cis and Trans-Caucasia, a
portion of them being occupied in vainly endeavoring to conquer the
Circassians proper in the western extremity of the mountains, but a
greater proportion, say from fifty to one hundred thousand, being
concentrated along the line of the Tchetchenian and Lesghian highlands.
According to the Russian ordnance accounts of the year 1840, their total
expenditure of artillery cartridges was 11,344, and of musket cartridges
1,206,675. Large expenditure, and small result.
XLI.
RECENT EVENTS.
During the last few years the Imam has kept the Czar well at bay. Since
the capture of Dargo, the Russians have made few incursions, and
reported no more victories. And on the other hand, the mountaineers
making only now and then a razzia, or storming a krepost, have been
contented to allow the enemy the quiet enjoyment of his prison-houses
along the line, on the condition of his not leaving them. Schamyl seems
to be well aware that his best ramparts are the rocks, and his palisades
the primitive forests. To leave these for the sake of attacking
fortified places bristling with cannon, and which if captured he could
not hold, would be a useless waste of blood too precious to be spilled
without cause. And, besides, he must know that he is contending not only
against superior numbers, but also a more perfect knowledge of the art
of war, and that therefore his only hope of ultimate success can rest on
the interposition of that Providence which guides the world's destiny.
At length that heavenly power seems to be coming to his relief. For
nearly half a century he has been holding in his hand the keys of the
great pathway from southern Russia to the East, despite the utmost
efforts of the czar to wrest them from him. In vain did the emperor
Nicholas visit the Caucasus to cheer on his troops; in vain did the
grand-duke Alexander, the present emperor, take part in the campaign of
1850; or Prince Baratinksky in 1852 attempt by his bravery to overawe
Tchetchenia. From Jermoloff to Woronzoff and Mouravieff the emperor has
sent to the Caucasus his best generals, who have devised or put into
execution every possible system of both attack and defence for the sake
of destroying this nest of mountaineers; the banks of the Kuban and the
Terek have been covered with Cossacks until their lances stand as thick
as the river-reeds; ten thousand times in the year, it has been
estimated, does the cannon roar through these valleys, and ten hundred
thousand times does the musket ring; but the mountains stand firm; the
hills are not shaken; the flag of freedom, though but a rag tied to a
spear, still floats from the summits of Andi and the Solo-Tau; and
Schamyl still holds the mountain path which leads from Russia to the
valleys of Persia and the plains of Hindoostan.
England, comprehending at last that the progress of Russia eastward, if
not checked, would at no very distant day threaten the security of her
own dominion in Asia, has in concert with France commenced a war which,
if carried to a successful and true issue, will bring about the
evacuation of the Caucasus by the Russian arms, and shut on them, at
least during the present generation, this gate of the Orient. Should the
war stop short of this result, the subjugation of this strong-hold of
liberty will not probably be postponed long beyond the decease of its
present heroic defender; and the student of history will search in vain
to discover the purposes of Providence to accomplish which this child of
genius and of nature was raised up.
It is not strange, however, that Schamyl should not fully comprehend, as
he appears not to do, the nature of the deliverance which would seem to
be preparing for him. Attempts are said to have been made to induce him
to adapt his policy to the peculiar state of the relations of eastern
and western Europe, and to coöperate with the enemies of Russia by
attacking her lines in the Caucasus now that they are beginning to be
weakened from the suspension of the usual reinforcement. France has sent
presents of muskets to the Caucasus, and England has despatched
diplomatic agents. But hitherto the Imam has not departed from the line
of policy which was traced out previously to the breaking out of the war
in Europe, and with sole reference to the posture of affairs in the
Caucasus. It is said, and probably with truth, that he distrusts the
overtures of alliance made to him. For since the government of Great
Britain refused to demand redress for the capture by the Russians of the
"Vixen," an English vessel trading on the coast of Circassia in
contravention, as was alleged, of their laws of blockade, and thereby
virtually declined to acknowledge the rights and independence of the
Circassians, the latter have lost all faith in that intervention of
England in their favor which for a time they had been encouraged in
entertaining. For the name of the great Napoleon, the sultan of the
west,--for into what parts of the earth has his name not gone
forth?--they cherish the most profound admiration; but they do not know
his nephew, nor have they ever been brought into any relations whether
of trade or diplomacy with France. Moreover, the words, "ally," and
"protector," have become almost words of ill-omen in the Caucasus, from
the fact that the Russians, like the Persians and the Turks before them,
have always used these terms to mask their designs of interference and
ultimate conquest. The wily Imam therefore distrusts the Franks though
_dona ferentes_, and dreads lest they who should come into the mountains
as allies might remain there as masters. He prefers to continue trusting
in himself and Allah, and to let the unbelievers fight their own
battles. Nor, indeed, is it quite certain that herein he does not act
wisely.
It has been supposed by some, though without sufficient reason, that the
recent restoration to Schamyl of one of his sons who had been taken away
in his boyhood to Russia and there educated, has had some influence in
rendering him more disposed to be on terms with his enemies. This
interesting event occurred, however, in the course of a regular exchange
of prisoners, and in the manner following.
His son, together with a ransom of forty thousand silver roubles, was
demanded by Schamyl in return for the deliverance from captivity of two
Russian princesses, the princess Tschattchavadse, and the princess
Orbelian, with the children of the latter, all of whom had some months
before fallen into the hands of some of his followers. This was finally
agreed to, and the interchange was effected by Schamyl in person.
Distrustful, however, to the last moment, he came to the appointed place
of rendezvous on the banks of the frontier river Mitschik accompanied by
a force of some six thousand warriors and several field-pieces. Then
having taken up his position on the right bank while the Russians
occupied the left, he sent forward another of his sons, Khasi-Mahomet,
with thirty murids to escort the captives. At the same time a party of
riflemen commanded by Major-general Von Nikolai advanced from the other
side, having in charge Jamal Eddin, the son who was to be exchanged, and
a carriage containing the ransom money. When then Jamal Eddin came down
to the ford, the thousands of his countrymen who covered the neighboring
heights set up a shout of thanksgiving, and chanted the _Estaphir
Allah_. Then having crossed the river, he put on a Circassian dress, and
in company with his brother and the Russian officers climbed the hill
where, surrounded by his murids, and having a large parasol held over
his head, sat the Imam. When the son who had been lost and was found
approached, the heart of the venerable father was deeply moved; and
stretching out his hand for the young man to kiss, he then embraced him,
and wept.
The report of the interview, published in Tiflis, states that Schamyl at
the close of it, after having bowed courteously to the officers and
thanked Baron Nikolai for the kindness with which he had treated his
son, exclaimed, as if involuntarily, "Now I believe in the honor of the
Russians." This however, is doubtful.
The interview, it may be added, was memorable also from the circumstance
that it was the first time since the year 1839 that any Russian is known
to have seen the face of Schamyl. All present were struck with it
expressiveness as they also were favorably impressed by his noble and
prepossessing manners.
THE END.