A History of Persia/Chapter 6

by Robert Grant Watson

CHAPTER VI.

Abdication of Czar of Georgia in favour of Emperor of Russia, 1800—Prince Alexander defeated by General Lazeroff—Capture of Genja—Battle of Etchmiadzeen—Seeseeanoff routs Persians and lays Siege to Erivan—Nocturnal Attacks—Siege of Erivan raised—Events on Eastern and Southern Frontiers of Persia—Bokhara, Nermansheer, and Seistan—Chief of Karabagh submits to Russia—Campaign in that Province—Russian Descent on Gilan—Capture of Genja by Persians—Assassination of Seeseeanoff—Mission of M. Jaubert—Fall of Ibraheem Khaleel Khan—Turko-Persian Frontier—Establishment of Russian Authority from the Caucasus to Moghan—War between Persians and Affghans—Embassies from Napoleon and from the Talpoors of Sindh—Embassy from England—Treaty—Mission from India—Disaster to Persian Arms in Russian War—Capture of Lankoran—Peace of Gulistan, 1813

IT has been mentioned in a previous chapter that Goorgeen, or George, who had succeeded his father Heraclius as Czar of Georgia, had written to Fetteh-Ali Shah making his submission to that monarch, and that Fetteh Ali had accepted this act of allegiance on the part of the Iberian prince. The war which had been waged between Russia and Persia in the cause of the Czar Heraclius seems not until long afterwards to have been concluded by a formal treaty of peace. At the death of Catherine and of Aga Mahomed, hostilities on both sides ceased. The caprice or policy of the Emperor Paul caused a check to be placed for a time on the aggressive movements of the great northern power, and Fetteh Ali Shah, as we have seen, was fully occupied in putting down the various pretenders to the Kayanian crown. The traditional policy, however, which had been inaugurated by Peter the Great, soon prevailed over that passing freak of the eccentric son of Catherine. Russian agency was allowed to use its influence over the feeble mind of the last occupant of the throne of the Bagratides, and the result was that, by an instrument dated the 28th of September of the year 1800, the Czar George XIII. of Georgia, in his own name and in the names of his successors, renounced his crown in favour of the Emperor of Russia. This act, we are told, drew down upon him the hatred and curses of the nobles of his country.^[1] His queen was ashamed of the pusillanimity which had induced her timid husband to yield compliance to the insidious demands of the agents of Russia, and when it was wished to arrest her person in order that she might be conveyed to Moscow, the indignant princess drew her dagger and wounded the Russian officer who had attempted to seize her. Prince Alexander, the younger brother of George, was not disposed to see the crown thus pass from his father's family without making an effort to secure it for himself. He used his utmost endeavours to raise a general revolution; but the chiefs of the country saw the hopelessness of attempting to throw off the Russian yoke, unless they could obtain the armed support either of Persia or of Turkey. Alexander accordingly tried to enlist both of those powers in his favour; but the Turkish Government was occupied in watching the progress of Napoleon, and Fetteh Ali was not at that time disposed to draw down upon himself the antagonism of his powerful northern neighbour. Alexander was, however, hospitably received by the chief of the Avars and by the Khan of Karabagh, both of whom agreed to join him in an attempt to expel the Russians from Georgia. But these schemes became known at Tiflis in time to admit of measures being concerted to thwart them; and General Lazeroff, by the aid of his superior artillery, gained on the banks of the Lora a decisive victory over the hardy followers of the Georgian prince. The Russian commander of the troops in the Caucasus attacked the town of Genja, the modern Elisabetpol, and the severity with which he treated the inhabitants was meant to be a warning of what those had to expect who should resume to withstand the power of the Czar. From Genja, General Seeseeanoff dvanced to Erivan, being led on by a promise of the governor of that fortress that he would yield it to the Russian commander.

The court of Persia was with reason alarmed at these proceedings, and the crown-prince was instructed to take the field and to march on Erivan, while the Shah himself, in order to be near to the scene of operations, encamped upon the plain of Oojan. The crown-prince sent one of his officers, Mehdi Kuli Khan, with six thousand horsemen, to the Turkish frontier for the purpose of bringing back some wandering tribes of the province of Erivan, whom the governor of that place had persuaded to cross the border.

As this officer was returning, after having successfully accomplished the object of his expedition, he suddenly found himself confronted by the troops of General Seeseeanoff. His forces were in no condition to withstand the artillery of the Russian army, and he therefore avoided an encounter. By rapidly retiring by alternate squadrons he covered the march of the tribes; thus defied the efforts of the enemy to overtake him; and was enabled to make good his junction with the forces of the crown-prince. General Seeseeanoff then advanced to the neighbourhood of the celebrated monastery of Etchmiadzeen, the residence of the Patriarch of the Armenian church, where he encountered the Persian army ready to oppose him. Abbass Meerza, the crown-prince, drew up his forces in three divisions, of the central one of which he took command in person, being attended in the battle which followed by the son of the deposed Czar of Georgia. The conflict lasted for three days, and the Persians assert that though they suffered much from the Russian guns, they were not defeated. General Seeseeanoff then marched to Erivan, the governor of which town now refused to fulfil the compact into which he had entered. This personage was consistent in wishing throughout to be on the side of the strongest, but when he saw that the Russian troops could not drive the Persians before them, his estimate of the strength of the invaders at once went down, and he sent his confidential agent to the prince's camp, offering to return to his duty to the Shah, provided he were assured of pardon. Having been satisfied on this point, he informed the Russian officer who had been sent to treat with him for the cession of Erivan, that he had nothing farther to say to his master. General Seeseeanoff was exasperated at this breach of faith, and he determined to execute a sudden movement which might have the effect of establishing Russian prestige. The Persian army had followed him to the neighbourhood of Erivan, and on the morning of the sixth of Rebbi-es-Sani, 1219,^[2] he surprised the Shah's forces in their camp. The Persians were unable to make head against the impetuous attack of the disciplined Russian infantry, and they fled in confusion, notwithstanding all the efforts of the prince to stop them. The Russian general then besieged Erivan and opened a fresh negotiation with Mahomed Khan, the governor. The Persian prince collected the remnants of his army at Derek, forty miles from the field of battle, where he resolved to await the instructions of the Shah. Reinforcements were at once sent to him, and the king prepared to follow in person. On reaching the river Araxes, the Shah, foremost of all, forced his horse into the current, and the brave example of their monarch inspired all ranks to follow his example. On reaching Nakhtchivan the king conceived it to be a good omen that he was met by an officer bearing the heads of several Russians, which, according to the barbarous custom of the Persians, had been severed from the bodies of some soldiers who had fallen in a night attack on the invader's camp. The Shah on joining the crown-prince became convinced that his irregular troops could not successfully encounter disciplined infantry in the open field, and he therefore gave orders for a night attack upon the Russians in their entrenched position. According to the Persian accounts this movement was executed by seven Persian divisions, who inflicted considerable loss upon the enemy. The same mode of attack was in turn adopted by General Seeseeanoff, but an intimation of his intended movement was conveyed to the Persian camp by the prince's spies. The Shah upon this withdrew his forces to a neighbouring hill, on which his guns were placed in such a position as might enable them to pour a murderous fire on the camp beneath, so soon as the enemy should have entered it. But the Russians in this night march lost their way, and only arrived at their destination in time to discover by daylight the advantageous position in which the Persians were posted. An engagement took place between them which ended in both parties returning to their former camps. General Seeseeanoff in the meantime made but little progress in his operations against Erivan, and he began to be severely pressed by the want of stores and of ammunition. An expedition which he sent out for the purpose of conducting into his camp a convoy of provisions of war from Tiflis, was opposed by the Shah and forced to return to before Erivan. All the roads leading to that place were strictly watched by the Persians, and the failure of an attempt to bring a second convoy from Tiflis into his camp forced the Russian commander to raise the siege and to depart by night from before the city. His hurried retreat was followed by the corresponding advance of the Persian cavalry, who were able to inflict considerable annoyance upon his shattered divisions. Thus the Shah was for a time again master of the province of Erivan. Before proceeding to recapitulate the subsequent events of this war, it is necessary to glance for a moment at the state of things at other portions of the extensive Persian frontier.

The career of Nadir Shah had caused a general disturbance of landmarks throughout central Asia, and one of the events which followed his death was the occurrence of a change in the reigning dynasty of Bokhara. The son of the Ameer Daniel, the Ameer Massoom, commonly known by the name of Beg-i-Jan, not only consolidated his power over the Oozbegs, but was enabled by his powerful cavalry to overrun the province of Khorassan, and to possess himself of the town of Merve. This prince at his death left two sons, the elder of whom took up arms against his brother, who was thus forced to take refuge with the King of Persia. The Shah received him in the most cordial manner, adopted him as his stepson, and instructed the governor of Khorassan to endeavour to give effect to the views of the exiled prince with reference to his being able to obtain the mastery over his brother.

At the close of the reign of Ahmed Shah, the first king of Affghanistan, a chief of the tribe of Ghilzye who feared the supremacy of the Abdallis, had, by the permission of Kereem Khan, possessed himself of the district of Nermansheer in Beloochistan, in the government of which he had been succeeded by his son. Fetteh Ali Shah at a later period ordered the governor of Kerman to extend his authority over the neighbouring Affghans, whose chief on hearing of this proceeded to the Persian court and obtained from the king counter-orders to the governor of Kerman, and an investiture to the government of both Nermansheer and Seistan; this chief, however, whose name was Mahomed Khan, on returning to his home threw off his allegiance to the Shah, and accordingly a Persian army invaded the district of Nermansheer, and after having driven the Affghans from it, the governor of Kerman annexed it to the province over which he ruled.

In the year succeeding that which had been signalised by the Shah's campaign at the base of Mount Ararat, the royal camp was pitched upon the plain of Sultaneeah, and the crown-prince was ordered to pursue the war in the province of Karabagh. Ibraheem Khaleel Khan, the chief of Sheeshah, who has been mentioned in a previous chapter, had voluntarily given in his submission to Russia, and had sent his grandson to General Seeseeanoff as a hostage. Upon the approach of the crown-prince he besought Russian aid to enable him successfully to defend himself; three hundred soldiers were accordingly sent to assist irregular cavalry in the defence of the bridge of Khuda-Afereen on the Araxes, by which the prince would approach Karabagh. The Persians, however, made good their passage, and the forces of Ibraheem Khan were compelled to retire with loss. Upon this the crown-prince advanced towards the fortress of Sheeshah, and the governor of that place once more pressed upon General Seeseeanoff the urgent need in which he stood of assistance. Strong reinforcements were accordingly sent to him from Tiflis, but they were encountered by the troops of Prince Abbass Meerza; these were forced to entrench themselves in a cemetery, and, according to the Persian account, after six days' incessant fighting the Russian troops retreated, and their camp and camp-equipage fell into the hands of the prince. At the same time the important city of Erivan was taken possession of in the name of the Shah. At the opening of the campaign Mehdi Kuli Khan, whose successful cavalry manoeuvre before the forces of General Seeseeanoif has been already mentioned, had been sent on by the king to Erivan with instructions to ascertain the real intentions of the governor of that place, Mahomed Khan. It would seem that that chief had once more listened to the overtures of the agents of Russia, and Mehdi Khan accordingly determined that he should be superseded. He entered the fortress with some of his followers, and, under the pretext of preparing the place against a fresh siege by the Russians, he was enabled to introduce all his troops without having aroused the suspicions of the governor. Upon an appointed signal being given, his soldiers manned the walls and took possession of the gates, and Mahomed Khan, when it was too late, discovered that Erivan was no longer his to betray.

About this time the Russian commander-in-chief conceived the idea of making a descent upon the coast of Gilan, and from there threatening the Persian capital; but he had not fully taken into account all the difficulties that lay in the way of such an undertaking. The Russian ships landed at Enzelli, a small seaport which commands the entrance to the lake or lagoon of the same name. Of that place the soldiers possessed themselves, and from there their commander prepared to advance on Resht, the chief town of the province of Gilan. The lake of Enzelli is about twelve miles in breadth, and for a part of that distance it is so shallow that only small boats can pass over it, and these must be carefully steered in order to avoid being stopped by the mud which is continually being deposited by the river of Peer-Bazar. To cross the lagoon in the ships was thus impossible, and a sufficient number of boats could not be procured to convey the soldiers, the stores and the guns to the mainland. The Russian commander, therefore, determined to march his troops round the border of the lake; but the marshy ground which surrounds it was so heavy that it was with the greatest difficulty that guns could be dragged over it. A thick forest occupies the surface of the country between Enzelli and the chief city of Gilan, and in this forest the Gileks were concealed ready at the suitable moment to open a fire upon the invaders. It would be almost impossible to imagine a more difficult undertaking for a general than in the face of an enemy to transport an army with stores and artillery over the muddy and marshy thickets that lie before the town of Resht; and accordingly it is not to be wondered at that when the Gileks opened fire from their ambush the Russians should have been thrown into confusion from which they found they could not extricate themselves. The order was given to retreat on Enzelli, and the expedition there took ship, leaving behind, if we may rely on the Persian accounts, some guns and stores of war.

The Russian commander-in-chief in Georgia marched out of Genja and took up his position on the banks of the river Tatar. The Shah instructed the crown-prince to endeavour to make himself master of Genja, and, in order to occupy General Seeseeanoff, Ismail Khan was Bent to make a diversion in front of the stream, on which that officer had taken up his position. He thence dislodged the Russian general, and the prince then obtained possession of Genja, the inhabitants of which city were removed to Tabreez. General Seeseeanoff subsequently marched on Sheeshah, which fortress was made over to him by Ibraheem Khaleel Khan. From there he proceeded to Genja. The governors of Koobeh and Derbend, and of Bakoo, and the chief of the Lesghis, having sent to ask assistance from the Shah, a Persian force was sent to their aid. The Russian squadron had steered from Enzelli to Bakoo, where it was attacked by the guns of the governor, whereupon the Russians landed before the fortress and inflicted severe damage by their artillery. The governor, however, was reinforced by an army from the Lesghi mountains and from Derbend, and the Russian commander was compelled to re-embark and steer for the coast of Taleesh. General Seeseeanoff marched to attack the chief of Sheervan, who professed to yield to his wishes. The Russian commander-in-chief then proceeded to Bakoo, to which place the squadron returned from Taleesh. The crown-prince in the meantime threatened the Russian general with an attack on his rear, from the direction of Ardabeel; and Seeseeanoff, fearing lest he should be hemmed in, proceeded to open a negotiation with the chief of Bakoo for the surrender of that fortress. That chief resolved to meet the Governor-General of the Caucasus with an act of treachery as flagrant as that to the commission of which he was invited. Pretending to listen to his arguments, he sent to the Muscovite camp to inform the General that he wished to have a personal interview with his Excellency for the purpose of settling the precise terms upon which Bakoo was to be given up. Seeseeanoff fell into the snare which the unscrupulous Persian had thus prepared, and whilst he was occupied in conversing with the Khan beneath the walls of Bakoo, he was beset by assassins who at once put an end to his existence. Whilst the confusion consequent upon the loss of its commander still reigned in the Russian camp, it was attacked and broken up by the Persian troops, and the squadron which lay in the harbour once more put out to sea.

We have thus seen the reopening of friendly intercourse or hostile operations between Persia, under Fetteh Ali Shah, and England and Russia. We have next to record a further interchange of peaceful relations between that king and France. We are informed that in the year of the Hegira 1216,^[3] an Armenian merchant, who came to Tehran from Baghdad, professed to be the bearer of credentials from the Government of the Emperor Napoleon. But no one at Tehran could decipher the French characters in which the letters were traced, and consequently the soi-disant envoy had to submit to the neglect from which his appearance and following were not sufficient to rescue him. No doubt, however, could be felt as to the authentic nature of the mission of the next French envoy, whose coming was announced to the court of Persia. But this envoy, who had been sent from Paris, in consequence of a wish expressed on the Shah's part to the French ambassador at Constantinople that he might receive the support of France,^[4] was arrested near the Persian frontier, by the agents of the Pasha of Byazeed,^[5] and was conducted to that town, where he was for eight months confined in a dry subterranean cistern. The Pasha of Byazeed died at the end of that time, and the news of the victory of Austerlitz, which penetrated into the heart of Turkey, was likely to give increased security to the agents of France; and when the crown-prince of Persia demanded the release of M. Jaubert, he was permitted to continue his journey. He arrived at Tehran in the month of May, 1806, and after a short stay, returned to Europe, in the company of a Persian ambassador accredited to the Emperor Napoleon. This ambassador proceeded to Tilsit, where he concluded a treaty, which was ratified by the Emperor at Finkenstein, in May, 1807.^[6][7]

It has been stated that the chief of Karabagh, the same Ibraheem Khaleel Khan who had so long withstood the power of Aga Mahomed, had voluntarily admitted the Russians to the fortress of Sheeshah. But on mature reflection that aged chief came to the conclusion that it was not the duty of a faithful Mussulman to assist in establishing the power of an infidel government over a population of true believers. The reproaches of his conscience were quickened by the messages he received from his sister, who was the wife of Fetteh Ali Shah, and from his son, who was in that monarch's camp. The result was, that he determined to destroy the Russian garrison of Sheeshah, and to hand over that stronghold to the Persian authorities.

On this resolution being communicated to the king, the crown-prince was ordered to march to Karabagh, so that he might be at hand to support Ibraheem Khaleel Khan. The prince accordingly set out for Karabagh, and despatched in advance the son of the Khan of that province; but on reaching the bridge of Khuda Afereen on the Araxes, his Highness was met by the soldiers of the son of Ibraheem, whose downcast eyes and mournful bearing announced that a chief of the people had fallen. Ibraheem Khan had, it appeared, quitted the fortress with two thousand followers, and proceeded to a camp four miles distant from it, with the intention of awaiting the arrival of his son. Amongst those to whom he had communicated the plot which had been concerted, was his grandson; and this youth, who hated his uncle, betrayed the whole scheme to the Major in command of the Russian garrison. That officer was equal to the critical situation in which he now found himself placed. Taking with him the grandson of the Khan, he proceeded in the dead of night with three hundred men to the camp of Ibraheem, and in the confused affray which followed, that chief and thirty-one of his family or servants were put to death. The Russian commander then appointed one of the sons of the deceased Khan to be governor of Karabagh, and shut himself up in Sheeshah in expectation of receiving reinforcements from Tiflis. These were promptly sent into Karabagh, and they were encountered by the forces of the crown-prince at a spot called Khansheen, where, after an obstinate struggle, success attended the arms of Persia; the Russian soldiers being obliged to retreat in confusion. The Persian irregular troops were then spread over different parts of the country of Georgia, for the purpose of laying it waste, and the Persian commander returned towards the Araxes. A force had been despatched to bring the tribes of Karabagh over to Persia, and as one of these was averse to the movement, it sent to ask Russian aid to enable it to withstand the Persian troops. A regiment was accordingly sent to its aid, and the Persian detachment was defeated. Reinforcements were, however, despatched to his countrymen by the prince, and the result was, that the Russian commander, after having strengthened the garrison of Sheeshah, retreated to Tiflis. The prince then marched into the province of Sheervan, for the purpose of punishing the disaffected governor of that district, and having carried out this object he returned to Tabreez. The Khan of Derbend had in the meantime given in his adhesion to the Russian cause.

In the same year the Persian arms were employed in another quarter. Between Uroomeeah and Kermanshah lies the frontier district of Shehr-i-zoor, which was governed by a Pasha named Abdur Rahman. This Pasha, being oppressed by the governor-general of Baghdad, took refuge with the Shah of Persia, who at once agreed to afford him his protection. Through his influence he was restored to his government, and at the same time the Shah's eldest son, Mahomed Ali Meerza, was appointed viceroy along the Turkish frontier. After this the Pasha of Baghdad once more treated Abdur Rahman in such a manner as obliged him a second time to seek refuge in Persia. His quarrel was espoused by the prince, and Suleiman Pasha, the son-in-law of the governor-general of Baghdad, advanced to oppose him with thirty thousand men. In the action which ensued, the Turks were defeated, and they were followed by the Persians to the neighbourhood of Mosul. Their commander, who had been made prisoner, was sent to Tehran in chains, and on his being released the Shah appointed Abdur Rahman to be governor of Shehr-i-zoor.

It would, I fear, weary the reader, were I to state in detail the various operations which ended in the possession being secured to Russia of the provinces of Derbend, Bakoo, Sheervan, Sheki, Genja, Taleesh, and Moghan. The Northern Power, as her arms obtained a mastery in Europe, was enabled gradually to bring her vast resources to bear upon the field of operations in Asia. A want of vigour and consistent action was to be observed in the operations of the Persian Government, while, on the other hand, no means were spared by the agents of Russia to work upon the passions and the self-interest of the unprincipled Khans who governed the people of the country which was the scene of the war. According to the Persian statements, some of the Khans remained true to the Shah, but were obliged to quit their governments on account of their people having declared for the Czar. Others were won over by Russian gold, and Russian blandishments. One gave in his adhesion to the Emperor on condition that his local enemy should be put to death; and the result in every case was the same. The hardy warriors of the North gradually established their authority over the outlying provinces of Persia.

In the year of the Hejira 1222,^[8] a short but bloody war took place betwixt the Persians and the Affghans. It arose with reference to the frontier fortress of Ghorian in the territory of Herat. When the Affghan prince Feerooz Meerza had been a suppliant refugee in Persia, the Shah, as has been written, had instructed the governor of Khorassan to support his cause. Ghorian was taken, and it remained in the hands of the Persians. The deputy-governor, however, agreed to give it over to the Affghans, and Prince Feerooz, with an utter forgetfulness of his obligations to the Shah, sent troops to attack Ghorian, where a battle was fought, which ended in the signal defeat of the Affghans, whose commander was slain in the golden howdah from which he viewed the battle. The governor of Khorassan now advanced to the gates of Herat, and Prince Feerooz was forced to pay a sum of money for tribute of the last two years, and to agree to pay such tribute in future with regularity. He further gave his son as a hostage for his faith, and delivered up to the Persians the deputy-governor of Ghorian.

About this time the Governor-General of the Caucasus who had been appointed to succeed the ill-fated Seeseeanoff, sent an envoy to the Persian court, to propose that peace should be concluded on the basis that Karabagh, Sheervan, and Sheki, should be made over to the Czar. He received a reply^[9] to the effect that no peace could be concluded which should not provide for the restoration to the Shah of all the provinces that had formerly been the property of Persia.

The Shah of Persia had demanded the assistance of the British Government of India in the war which he was prosecuting with his Northern neighbour; but in the earlier stage of that war, England was in alliance with Russia, and therefore did not afford the aid which Persia required. In the meantime the geographical position of Persia made the alliance of the king of that country an object of importance to the enemies of England. From two very different Powers the Shah nearly at the same time received an ostentatious embassy. The first was from the Talpoors of Sindh, who already had become alarmed at the encroaching policy of the Britsh Government in the East, and who claimed the Shah's alliance and protection against the English. The other embassy was from the Emperor Napoleon. General Gardanne arrived at Tehran, accompanied by seventy officers. He brought with him the treaty with Persia that had been ratified by the Emperor, and the Shah saw no other means of being able to recover his lost provinces than by entering into an alliance offensive and defensive with France. The officers of General Gardanne were accordingly employed to drill the Persian soldiers upon the model of European infantry and artillerymen. It was the hope of the Shah, in which he was encouraged by the French ambassador, that in any treaty of peace which might be made between Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia, it would be stipulated that the latter should restore to Persia the provinces of Georgia and Karabagh. An envoy from the Governor-General of the Caucasus was sent to Tehran with proposals for peace, and the opinion of General Gardanne was consulted as to the answer that should be sent to the Russian Governor. The Shah would not, by ceding his provinces, forego the hope of recovering them by an European treaty; but General Gardanne used his influence to prevent both sides from engaging in further hostile operations in the meantime. He assured the Russian authorities, that should they abstain from advancing towards the Persian frontier, no move would be made by the Shah; and on the other hand, he engaged to the Persian monarch that he should suffer no loss from his temporary inaction. Such was the state of things when the news reached Tehran that a treaty of peace had been concluded between the Emperors at Tilsit, in which no provision whatsoever was made for the cession to the Shah of the provinces of Georgia and Karabagh.

But though the most pressing demand of Persia was thus set aside by France, the Emperor Napoleon had still an object in securing the alliance of the Persian Government. In case of his thinking fit to attempt the invasion of India, it must be by way of Persia that such invasion would have to be effected; and in sight of the possibility of such an attempt being made, the Indian Government determined to put forth all its influence to dislodge the embassy of France from the Shah's court. General Malcolm was despatched to the Persian Gulf in the year 1808; but on being requested to address himself to the prince-governor of Fars, and not to advance nearer to the capital, he at once returned to India to receive instructions from the Governor-General as to the measures which it would be necessary to adopt for the purpose of compelling the Persian Government to adhere to its treaty engagements. At the same time that General Malcolm had been sent to Persia from the Government of India, an ambassador had been despatched to that country direct from the court of St. James's; and whilst preparations were in train for the occupation of the island of Karrack, in the Persian Gulf, by an English force from India, the ambassador of England proceeded to Bushire, and thence to the Persian capital, where he drew up a treaty with the Shah's Government, by which Persia renounced her alliance with France. Indeed, Sir Harford Jones stipulated that General Gardanne should receive his passports as the condition upon which alone he would consent to advance to Tehran. In the Anglo-Persian treaty it was agreed that Great Britain should pay an annual subsidy to the Shah for the expenses of the war he was waging with Russia, whilst England should be at war with that Power. This subsidy was to be furnished from the Indian treasury, and the Governor-General of India resolved to send an envoy under his own immediate orders, who might make the necessary disbursements to the Persian Government. At this time there existed a regrettable jealousy and want of common action between the embassy sent to Persia from England and the British authorities in India. Sir Harford Jones was accused of having used to the Persians language calculated to lower in their estimation the dignity of the Government of India; and, in return, that Government did its best to lower the estimation in which the King's ambassador was held at the Persian court, by dishonouring the bills which he drew on Calcutta.

General Malcolm, who had been disappointed at the setting aside of his scheme for seizing the island of Karrack, was equally ready to return to Persia in a more peaceful guise.^[10] At the head of a mission which, we are told, the Governor-General of India readily agreed to render more imposing than the embassy that, under the conduct of Sir Harford Jones, represented the crown of England, General Malcolm landed once more at Bushire,^[11] from which point he made a progress through the country such as was calculated to leave a permanent impression on the minds of the people of the wealth and liberality of the rulers of India. The exact relation in which the Anglo-Indian possessions stood with respect to the British crown was not easily understood by the Persian Government. They saw the two envoys striving against each other for influence, as if, so far from belonging to the same country, they had been the representatives of two hostile Governments; but a solution of this puzzling enigma, which seemed eminently satisfactory, soon suggested itself to the Persian mind. General Malcolm was the more open-handed of the two envoys, and as he was known to be the representative of the Government of a commercial company, they inferred that he of course received a percentage upon all the money which he spent during his mission, and that therefore it was for his own interest that he should disburse as much money as he might find the Persians willing to accept.

In addition to the direct objects of this mission from India, there were other ends which it was meant to secure. The want of accurate information relative to the countries beyond India on the North-west had long been severely felt by the Government of that country; and it was the more necessary to obtain this information at a time when the invasion of India by an European enemy was supposed to be a probable event. Several enterprising young officers were for this purpose attached to the staff of General Malcolm; and to the exertions of Pottinger, Christie, Macdonald-Kinneir, Monteith, and others of their number, Europe was indebted for the greater part of the reliable statistics regarding the countries situated between the Black Sea and the Indus which were known for the next quarter of a century.

In the meantime hostile operations between Persia and Russia had been resumed. The general commanding-in-chief the army of the Caucasus had advanced to Erivan, to which city he laid siege, while he sent forward a separate force to occupy the crown-prince of Persia in the direction of Khoi. The prince, on his part, sent reinforcements to Erivan, and prepared to advance to the Araxes. He encountered a Russian force at Nakhtchivan, which, being unable to make any sufficient impression upon his battalions, retreated towards Mount Ararat and pressed the siege of Erivan. The fidelity of the governor of that place was tried by the agents of Russia, but as he still held out, orders were given for a night assault on the city. Of this intention the Persians received timely warning, and their soldiers were instructed to maintain a dead silence until the moment when the Muscovite troops should attempt to scale the battlements of the fortress. At that moment a simultaneous discharge from the muskets and matchlocks of the Persian infantry threw the ranks of the assailants into confusion, and, after having undergone a heavy loss, the Russian general withdrew his forces to their camp. After this he only remained before the city sufficiently long to admit of preparations being made for his retreat; when he marched upon Genja, being annoyed by the way by the light troops of the Persians who followed in his wake.

The Persian king and the crown-prince were most anxious to obtain the aid of General Malcolm and of his officers in the prosecution of this war. His advice to them was to avoid attacking the Russians in line or in their strong posts, but to keep their newly-raised infantry and ill-equipped artillery in reserve; and to limit the employment of these to the defence of forts and difficult passes, whilst they pushed forward every horseman the country could furnish to distress and harass the enemy. General Malcolm would not consent to accompany the Persian army into the field, unless he should be instructed to do so by the English ambassador: but this was a step which was not, under the circumstances, thought by his Excellency to be advisable. Two English officers were, however, placed at the crown-prince's disposal; and General Malcolm returned towards India, after having received the Order of the Lion and Sun, which was instituted in his honour.

In return for the embassy from King George III. the Shah sent Haji Meerza Abul Hassan Khan, the nephew of the late prime minister, on a mission to London, with the especial object of clearly ascertaining who was to pay the subsidy which he was entitled by treaty to receive from England.^[12]

About this time the Wahabi Arabs attacked the island of Bahrein, on the Arabian coast of the Persian Gulf an island to the sovereignty over which Persia advanced pretensions.^[13] The Imam of Muscat informed the prince governor of Fars of his inability to make head against the Wahabis; and Sadek Khan, who commanded in Fars, was instructed to undertake an expedition for the purpose of punishing them: a service which he accomplished in a manner which satisfied the Persian Government, but which does not seem to have been followed by any permanent results.

In the meantime the Georgian war continued to rage. The Shah's eldest son was instructed to take 20,000 men with him, and to endeavour to penetrate to Tiflis. He had to content himself, however, with ravaging the country up to the Gokcheh Lake, whence he returned to Erivan. The crown-prince also advanced to the neighbourhood of Genja, which place the Armenians resident in it promised to deliver up to him. Of this plot the Russian commander obtained intelligence, and he put the Armenians in chains, on which the prince marched back in the direction of Tabreez. The Russian commander-in-chief afterwards advanced to a spot called Haji-Kara, where an engagement took place between his forces and those of the Persian prince. On another occasion a Russian battalion was, we are told, captured, and was sent with its colours to Tehran.

The year 1812 was marked in the annals of Persia by a signal disaster which occurred to the army of the crown-prince. Of the events of the short campaign waged in the autumn of this year, we possess a vivid account from the pen of one who took part in them.^[14] Sir Gore Ouseley, who was now the English ambassador at the court of Persia, had joined the prince's camp near the Araxes, in the hope of being able to act as mediator between his Royal Highness and the Russian commissioner. A Russian general-officer was sent to the Persian camp to propose the appointment of deputies on both sides, who should meet on the banks of the Araxes. This arrangement was agreed to, but it failed to produce any satisfactory results. The Russian deputies would cede nothing, and the Persians would not accept an arrangement based on the actual state of possession of territory. In the meanwhile a report had reached Tabreez to the effect that a peace had been brought about between England and Russia, and, as this report was in some degree confirmed by a letter from a Russian officer in the Caspian, Sir Gore Ouseley ordered the English officers with the Shah's army not to take any further part in the military operations against Russia. He further informed the Russian commissioner of his having issued this instruction. On the entreaty, however, of the crown-prince and his ministers, the English ambassador permitted two of the British officers, with thirteen sergeants, to remain in the Persian camp. These officers received no specific orders as to how they were to conduct themselves, but they thought that they were bound in honour not to refuse to fight for the prince under whom they were serving. The Persian army marched to the Araxes, to a place called Ooslandooz, where they encamped with their front to the river, having a small tributary stream on their right. There they remained for ten days in a state of undisturbed quietness, and of blind, incautious security. But from this dream they were rudely aroused on the forenoon of the 31st of October, by a sudden attack of the Russians.^[15] No one in the Persian camp had in the slightest degree anticipated their approach, and before the troops could be drawn up to oppose them they had advanced through a clear, open plain to within a few hundred yards of the Persians, and were in possession of a little hill in their rear, which commanded every part of their camp. The prince had intended to go out hunting, and as the English officer in command of the Persian artillery^[16] had been ordered to attend him, the guns narrowly escaped from falling into the hands of the enemy. The other English officer^[17] had drawn up his infantry, as well as hurry and confusion would admit of, between the Persian camp and the hill of which the Russians had gained possession, being determined there to oppose their entrance into the camp. They opened fire upon him from above with one gun, and three hundred men advanced upon him in skirmishing order. Then followed a scene illustrative of the childishness of the Oriental character. Whilst the English officer was preparing to charge the enemy, an order reached him from the prince to retreat across the small stream to the right of the camp; and when Captain Christie sent a sergeant to represent the impropriety of retiring, and the necessity of annihilating the small number of men opposed to him, the prince completely lost his temper, abused the nation of the officer who was exposing his life in his service, himself galloped to the soldiers, and, seizing their colours, ordered them to run away. Two companies remained with Captain Christie, and with these he followed the retreating troops, carrying with him some wounded officers. The artillery also was conveyed across the stream, where it was rendered ineffective from the want of ammunition. The Persian camp, and everything it contained, fell a prey to the Russians, and the crown-prince collected his scattered troops, and took up a position within shot of the enemy, and divided from him by the above-mentioned stream and by six hundred yards of jungle. Lieutenant Lindsay, at the head of twenty of his men and one of the prince's gholams, made a gallant dash into the camp, and each man succeeded in carrying off six rounds of ammunition. In the new position the Persian right was under a hill, which it was intended to strengthen, a task which was the more easy as there already existed a ditch and several holes round it. Their front faced their former camp, and their left extended along the little stream. With two companies Captain Christie drove the Russians out of the intervening jungle, and Lieutenant Lindsay, with two guns, silenced an equal number of Russian field-pieces which were opposed to him. Such was the state of things when darkness came on. It was represented to the crown-prince by the English officers, that as the ammunition of the infantry was nearly exhausted, he had not the means of renewing the fight, and that, as the Russians would certainly attack him if he should remain where he was, it was absolutely necessary that he should retreat. His Royal Highness, however, would not act upon the suggestion thus proffered to him, and passed the night in asking the advice of every one about him. He consulted all within his reach, but he would be guided by no one, and as he himself, his minister, his meerzas, and his secretaries, all issued orders, his camp presented a picture of inconceivable confusion. Soldiers, gunners, horsemen, mules, horses, and camels, crowded the little hill within the ditch, round which there was only room for two hundred men, and which was unfortunately nearly full of houses with thatched roofs. The prince finally ordered that two guns should be taken to the top of this hillock, from which it was impossible that they could be used with any advantage. Even the ordinary precaution of posting pickets in the direction of the enemy was neglected by the infatuated Persian commander, and it was only at half-past four o'clock on the morning of the 1st of November, that Captain Christie received permission to take his men to any position he might think proper, whilst Lieutenant Lindsay was peremptorily ordered to bring his guns to the base of the hill-fort, into the ditch and the holes round which eleven of thirteen guns soon fell. At that very hour the Russian troops were in the Persian camp, and, meeting with no resistance, they carried all before them. The Persians on the hill, in their senseless confusion, fired upon their comrades below, and the returning fire from the Russian artillery kindled the thatched roofs of the fort. The flames at once spread, and three hundred men were consumed by fire. Captain Christie was shot through the neck, and as he was seated helpless on the ground, we are told, the Russian commander^[18] ordered two men to advance and put him to death. The prince's army was totally annihilated, all his guns were lost, and he himself retreated to Tabreez.

After this defeat a year elapsed, and the opposing forces still remained in arms, ready to resume hostile operations. We may well believe that at that memorable epoch Russia had too much to attend to in Europe to admit of her following up adequately the advantage she had gained in her struggle with Persia. Nevertheless, tried as she was by the invasion of Napoleon, she found means to prosecute her advance along the shore of the Caspian. Lankoran^[19] was now the object of her attack, and of that town she gained possession after an obstinate struggle, in which the Persians state their own loss to have been five thousand men.^[20] On the other hand, the Russian arms sustained a check on the Araxes, and the Shah advanced once more to Oojan, where he formed a camp for the purpose of attempting to drive the Russians backwards. But news of a rise of the Turkomans induced his majesty to adopt more peaceful counsels, and not to gratify the crown-prince in his wish to be allowed an opportunity of wiping off the disgrace of the preceding year. By the request of the Russian Governor-General of Georgia, Sir Gore Ouseley used his good offices with the Persian Government for bringing about a peace, and accordingly commissioners were sent for that purpose to a place called Gulistan, in the province of Karabagh. On the 12th of October, 1813, a treaty of peace was there concluded between General Rtischeff and Abbass Meerza, by which Persia ceded to Russia the provinces of Georgia, Derbend, Bakoo, Sheervan, Sheki, Genja, Karabagh, Moghan, and part of Taleesh,^[21] and by which she agreed thenceforth to maintain no navy in the Caspian Sea, while Russia, on her part, became bound to aid the crown-prince at the proper time in securing his accession to the Persian throne.

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1. The following is an extract from the proclamation of the Emperor Alexander to the Georgian nation of the date of September 12, 1801:—"Ce n'est pas pour accroître nos forces, ce n'est pas dans des vues d'interêt, ou pour étendre les limites d'un empire déjà si vaste, que nous acceptons le fardeau du trône de Géorgie; le sentiment de notre dignité, l'honneur, l'humanité, seuls nous ont imposé le devoir sacré de ne pas resister aux cris de souffrance partis de votre sein, de detourner de vos têtes les maux qui vous affligent, et d'introduire en Géorgie un gouvernement fort, capable d'administrer la justice avec équite, de protéger la vie et les biens de chacun, et d'étendre sur tous l'égide de la loi."
2. A.D. 1804.
3. A.D. 1801.
4. M. Langles' Notes on Persia.
5. Voyage en Armenie et en Perse, par P. A. Jaubert: chap. 6-9.
6. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. xxi., 1827.
7. Progress of Russia in the East.
8. A.D. 1805.
9. Persian History.
10. The Life of Sir John Malcolm, by J. W. KAYE.
11. A.D. 1810.
12. It is this Persian envoy whose mission has been so amusingly described in Hajee Baba in England.
13. See Palgrave’s Arabia.
14. Dr. Cormick. See Appendix to Life of Sir John Malcolm, by J. W. Kaye. Vol. ii.
15. The Russian force consisted of 2,300 men, with six pieces of artillery. The Persians were very much more numerous.
16. Lieutenant Lindsay.
17. Captain Christie.
18. Kotlareffsky.
19. Lankoran is a flourishing town lying on the coast between Bakoo and the frontier of Persia. Lankoran means in. the Persian tongue the place of anchorage.
20. Lankoran was taken by assault by General Kotlareffsky, on January 1 (Russian) 1813.
21. Persia further by this treaty ceded whatever rights she may have possessed over Mingrelia and other parts of the Caucasus.