peremptory style of one who thought bursting in front of Picton's battalions, himself superior to the possibility of disclosed their line, and made their deception. Yet never was man more instant advance necessary. Moving completely and contemptuously de- half an hour before the assault on the ceived. We can imagine no more breach, and crossing a stream, which pungent subject for the ridicule of a compelled them to move in single file, Swift or a Cervantes than the feelings exposed to a perpetual fire from the of this human oracle, when it was told ramparts, they still pushed on, though him by some pallid and faltering mi- the light of the guns and combustibles nister that the whole British army was showed every man as clear as day. in full march for Badajoz, or perhaps “ Forming on the other side, they no finer subject for the pencil of some rushed quickly up the rugged steep to great master of the human passions, the foot of the castle wall. There than Napoleon's powerful and fore: Kempt, who had hitherto headed the boding countenance as he stood, with assault, was struck down, and Picton the despatch in his hand, announcing was left alone to conduct the column. its fall, and measuring in it the de. To the soul of a hero, however, he clining course of his own stricken star. united the skill of a general; and well Yet the strength of Badajoz might were both tried on that eventful night. have been some justification of impe. Soon the palisades were burst through, rial security, if any thing were to be and in ran Picton followed by his regarded as safe in war, in the pre- men; but when they got through and sence of British troops. The fortress reached the foot of the wall, the fire was commanded by Philippon, already almost perpendicularly down was so viodistinguished for its defence. Its gar. lent that the troops wavered; in an inrison amounted to 5000 troops of the stant the loud voice of their chief was line. It was amply provisioned, and heard above the din, calling on them to six months had been employed in advance, and they rushed in, bearing on completing its defences to the highest their shoulders the ponderous scaling point of art. Perhaps no siege was ladders, which were immediately raised ever undertaken under greater diffi up against the wall. Down in an instant, culties. Marmont might be expected with a frightful crash, came huge logs to pour down on one flank, and Soult of wood, heavy stones, shells, and handwas known to be advancing from An- deadly effect was plied from above, and grenades, while the musketry with dalusia on another. The season was singularly inclement, and the trenches whole battlements, enabled the the bursting projectiles, illuminating the enemy were flooded, while the same cause filled the ditches of the place with veral of the ladders were broken by the to take aim with unerring accuracy. Se. water. The French garrison, anima; weight of the throng who pressed up ted by their governor, and determined them; and the men falling from a great not to share the disgrace of Ciudad height, were transfixed on the bayonets Rodrigo, fought well, made sorties, of their comrades below, and died miserand caused the defence of a single out ably. Still fresh assailants swarmed work to cost the assailants 350 men. round the foot of the ladders. MacpherThe rapidity of the siege was unex- son of the 45th, and Pakenham, now Sir ampled but by those of the British Edward Pakenham, reached the top of themselves in the Peninsula. Ground the rampart, but were instantly and was first broken on the 17th of March; severely wounded and thrown down. but a tempest stopped all operations for Picton, though wounded, called to his four days. On the night of the 24th, men that they had never been de. the great outwork, La Picurina, was feated, and that now was the time to stormed; and on the night of the 27th, conquer or die. “If we cannot win the the British in four divisions, under castle,said he, let us die upon the Picton, Leith, Colville, and Bernard, walls.' Animated by his voice, they gallant names, long to be remembered again rushed forward, but again all the in the annals of bravest were struck down. Picton him brave, rushed to the assault. We turn from the nar. self was badly wounded, and his men, rative of the central storm, excellently recoil, and take shelter under a projec despite all their valour, were obliged to told as it is, to the progress of the tion of the hill. single column which first mastered “ The attack seemed hopeless, when the rampart, the troops under Picton. the reviving voice of Pieton again sumThe general assault had been fixed moned the soldiers to the attack, and he for ten o'clock at night; but a shell directed it a little to the right of the 6 former assault, where the wall was some- and solemn grandeur of history; and what lower, and an embrasure promised its style is perfectly suited to the some facility for entrance. There a strongly defined character of its subFoung hero, Colonel Ridge of the 45th, ject. Simple where plain things are who had already distinguished himself to be told, and eloquent and imagina. at Ciudad Rodrigo, sprang forward, and tive where the subject demands a calling on the men to follow, himself loftier wing. Though Mr Alison mounted the first ladder.” frequently gives the precedence to The castle was won. A brigade Colonel Napier in his military pictures, under Walker soon after made their we think his own much better ; and way in an opposite quarter, the troops gladly turn from the melodramatic joined in the centre of the fortress, colouring of the gallant colonel, to and Badajoz was in the hands of the the natural hues and classic outline of British general. This was one of the his own pencil. most desperate struggles in military The remainder, about one half of the history. "The slaughter in Turkish volume, is occupied with the Russian fortresses has been greater, but there war of 1812, which it brings down to it was the slaughter of fugitives. the retreat from Moscow. The writer Here the slaughter was bayonet to is to be greatly envied who has the bayonet, and bullet for bullet; the opportunity and the powers to treat long, persevering, and resolute éffort such a subject. The vastness of the of bravery, that nothing could quell contest, the rapid and consummate on either side but wounds and death. nature of the collision, and the unli. The storm cost the British the un- mited consequences to the earth, make exampled number of 3500 killed and it almost a subject of awe. The hand wounded in the breach! But Badajoz of a mightier disposer than man never was taken. The war had never be. was so visibly disclosed since the fall fore exhibited such a prize : 170 heavy of the Roman empire. guns ; 3800 soldiers, with their gover- In turning from the monotonous nor, prisoners; and, most important and trifling transactions of our day to of all, the reputation of France, which the majestic events of those pages, we was its power, shaken by an additional feel, not unlike the explorers of some and mortal blow, on the eve of a war of the great Egyptian catacombs, with all Northern Europe. The loss leaving all above sand and sunshine, of Ciudad Rodrigo had broken one palpable and arid, to plunge into siwing of the Imperial eagle, the loss lence and shade, yet surrounded with of Badajoz now broke the other; and the relics of the mighty, the monu. from this moment it never rose from ments of warriors and kings; the dust the ground in Spain. of men before whom the world bowed We must now, and it is with reluc. down in reverence or in terror; all tance, close our sketch of this impor- long since passed away, yet still sepul. taut performance. We have seen no chred and enshrined ; forgotten by the work more adapted to interest the idle world above, but administering existing generation, or more secure recollections of illustrious memory to of being valued by the future. Its the thoughtful, and lessons of solemn subject unites the vivid and breathless wisdom to the wise. excitement of romance, with the solid CIRCASSIA. SINCE the middle of the 16th century, when Russia, under the martial Ivan Vasilievitz, first began to seek extension for her empire towards the south, her efforts in furtherance of that object, whether by war, by diplomacy, or by intrigue, have been incessant; and a study of the expedients by which she has succeeded, will amply reward those who desire to know her native character, divested of the hypocritical guise she has ever worn toward Europe. But the history, or even a summary, of this eventful portion of her career— of the perfidies and atrocities through which she possessed herself of the various Tatar Khanats-of her simulated friendship for, and final betrayal of, the ill-starred Georgians-of her cajolery of the obtuse Ossetes-of her politic acknowledgment of the independence of the heroic Kabardans, as a preparatory step toward annexing their fertile plains to her territory-of her fierce and frequent struggles with those invincible and intractable moun. taineers, the Lesghis, Mitsdjeghis, and Koomooks-might distract attention from the subject upon which alone we seek, for the present, to concentrate it -Circassia. Although that portion of Kabarda which lies to the eastward of the river Kooban, be inhabited by a race of Circassians who yield to none in purity of blood, in patriotism and heroism of character; yet in Europe, where the nomenclature of the Caucasian races has been dictated by Russia, they appear to be no longer ranked among the parent-stock, with which are associated, among us, so many ideas of romance and gallantry. This is but a sorry return for the desperate valour with which, throughout the greater portion of the past century, they opposed the progress of Russia-for the devotion with which they sigh for, and look forward to, a time when they may yet emancipate themselves from her thraldom. We shall, however, for the present, treat of Circassia as that portion of the region of the Caucasus comprised within the limits generally assigned to it; viz., the course of the river Kooban, to the eastward and northward; the shore of the Black Sea to the westward; and, to the southward, the prime mountain-range terminating on the coast at Gaghra: for that portion of the Azras who .live to the northward of that range, have ranked themselves voluntarily under the national appellation of the Circassians—Adighe. Yet the much more numerous portion of that race who live to the southward, as far as the confines of Mingrelia, saving a few on the seashore, whom the more practicable nature of their territory has induced to make terms of peace, are equally allies of the Circassians, and as implacable as they in hostility to the common enemy. The greatest extent, in length, of the region above described, that is, from Mount Elbrooz to the embouchure of the Kooban, is about 300 English miles; and its greatest breadth, from the bend of the Kooban to the shore of the Black Sea, about 190. More than two-thirds of its surface are composed of the spurs (or vorgebirge, as the Germans more suitably say,) of the prime range of mountains; the remaining third, toward the Kooban, consisting of rolling country and some plains. And the hills in question, though rarely loftier than from two to three thousand feet, are of such form, in great variety, as to make them in the aggregate quite impracticable for the usual operations of a modern army; were they not, moreover, wherever cultivation has not yet extended, clothed with impervious forests. The forests, being mostly of oak, prove the general fertility of the soil, which supports, throughout, a dense population, whose subsistence is chiefly derived from its culture. In the low country, toward the bend of the Kooban, some villages, of at most from four to five hundred inhabitants, are to be found; but elsewhere, the inhabitants are dispersed in single farmsteads, or in family hamlets, placed, for their protection, in such localities as are least accessible, or even discoverable, in wooded dells amid the hills, or in the skirts of forests in the valleys. It may thus be conceived, that a Russian army moving in mass, as it has always been compelled to do, cannot effect much mischief, even although the houses of the natives were not, as they are, of the simplest and least expensive construction, and their furniture of the most portable description. 1 2 Circassia, like many other regions of the Caucasus, has never yet, within the record of history, owned a master, or been subjected, even temporarily, by an enemy; and the adoption of Islamism-though but by a portion of its inhabitants, with the religious supremacy of the Padisha, or chief of that faith, thence accruing, as in the Crimea, in Bokhara, and other states formerly or still independent in matters of government-forms the only shadow of a pretext under which Russia has sought to establish a belief of its having owed allegiance to the Turkish Sultan-a claim which, on his part, was never yet put forward, even amid his earliest contests with his Muscovite antagonist for supremacy in the waters of the Black Sea and the sea of Azof, when, as head of the states of the Mussulman league, he was for a time in condition to dic. tate terms to their common enemy. But the experience and the farsightedness of Russia must have made her early aware of the long-continued and costly efforts through which alone she might hope eventually to subdue the desperate valour and innate love of freedom of the tribes of the Caucasus; and thus it became her policy to have this region considered as the appendage of an empire which, as having its power concentrated, she might by a single and decisive blow, compel to make a transference to her: and then, under the plea of sovereignty and of the necessity of quelling revolt, carry on, at her leisure and convenience, a war of conquest, which, had this its true character been known, might have brought into question in Europe both her power and character. By treaties with Turkey, and not by conquest in Circassia, did Russia acquire that semblance of right by which she seeks now to abrogate the independence of that country. We shall therefore review them. "The first of these treaties, by which Russia advanced her frontier into immediate contact with Circassia, (as above limited,) was that of Kutchuk Kainardji, (in 1774,) which gave her the nominal sovereignty of the two Kabardas, (declared by herself at the peace of Belgrade, in 1793, to be independent,) the possession of Taganrog and of other towns on the sea of Azof, and the free navigation of its waters. The second is of primary importance; because upon its frail and most unstable foundation has since been constructed by Russia, aided by the negligence or the collusion of the foreign minister of England, a claim for sovereignty over people to this day free and independ ent, and an exclusive right to their trade on a coast comprising nearly 400 miles of the shores of the Black sea! This treaty, which was signed at Constantinople on the 28th December, 1783 9th January, 1784 or rather the 2d of its articles, which alone concerns Circassia, is thus expressed :-"La cour impériale de Russie ne fera jamais valoir les droits que les Chans. des Tartares avaient formés sur le territoire de la forteresse de Soodjak Calessi; et par conséquent elle la raconnait appartenir, en tute souverainté, à le Porte !" Here is a claim which, justly or unjustly (unjustly we verily believe), was ascribed to the independent sovereign of the Crimea, transferred, by the sole ipsa dixit of the Russian Empress, to the sovereign of Turkey! The purpose for which such transference was made, instead of permitting the rights, if "formés," to expire, will appear hereafter. We shall only remark in passing, that the fort in question had been constructed by a native Circassian chief, in the course of the preceding century, chiefly for the purpose of affording security for foreign merchants; that it had become the principal place of residence of Tartars of the Crimea, and of villagers on the sea of Azof, who had fled from the aggressions of Russia; and that it continued to be such until the construction of Anapa, in 1781, when it became almost entirely deserted. The third treaty, or rather convention, occurred in the same year 1784, and it secured to Russia the Crimea, the isle of Taman, at the mouth of the Kooban, and territory up to the right bank of that river-on all which she had already seized, without justification. In 1787, Turkey declared war against Russia, in consequence of her increased aggressions; in which declaration Sweden participated. In course of the hostilities thence resulting, General Bibikoff attempted, in 1790, to take Anapa, and was repulsed with great slaughter; but next year, General Goudovitch effected that enterprise; and after two sanguinary repulses, succeeded in his third attempt in reaching Soodjook-Kalé, which, however, he found in ruins, as the Circassians had blown it up upon his approach. Since that period it has been rebuilt by them. To put an end to this war, and make Russia revert to the principles of the treaty of Kutchuk-Kainardji, England, France, and Prussia intervened; and Turkey, as the usual unfortunate result of her recourse to hostilities, guaranteed to Russia, as compensation for her concessions, the supremacy of Georgia, promising to endeavour to do the same in regard to the other states of the Caucasus. Russia, on this occasion, reconsigned Soodjook-Kalé and Anapa to Turkey. In 1811, war having again occurred between Turkey and Russia, (during which Anapa was again captured,) the latter dispatched a force into Circassia, under the Duc de Richelieu, who like wise succeeded in reaching SoodjookKalé-that is, the site of its ruins where he constructed a fortress; and, having placed therein a garrison, retraced his steps toward the Kooban. In less than a year, however, this garrison was withdrawn, and the fortress entirely dismantled; since which event it has never been reconstructed by any one, remaining to this day an uninhabitable and extensive waste of ruins, amid which the neighbouring proprictors pasture their flocks. By the treaty of Bukarest, (in 1812,) Russia again consigned both Soodjook-Kalé and Anapa to Turkey. For the following sixteen years, although Turkey and Russia were at peace, the Circassians still continued to carry on war with the latter, until it was partially arrested in consequence of an offensive and defensive league, (or, as the Circassians express it, an engagement to be thenceforth at peace with the friends of the Padisha and at war with his enemies,) into which they entered at the suggestion of Hassan, pasha of Anapa, who also spent very large sums in his endeavours to convert the people to Islamism; immense crowds having, for many months, con. gregated daily in the valley of Anapa, to undergo conversion, and to participate in the "largesse" distributed upon this occasion, many returning also for such confirmation. These proceedings, equally at va riance with the prospective interests of the Russians, did not, as may be presumed, escape their observation, and may probably have confirmed their determination to retain possession of Anapa, if it should again fall into their hands. They, therefore, attacked it again upon their declaration of war against Turkey in 1828. But on this occasion Sefir Bey, the native chief of the dis trict in which it is situated, was second in command; and, if his measures had been supported and his gallant example followed, the Russians would, in all probability, not only have been foiled in their attempt, but few of them would have escaped to bear across the Kooban the tale of their disaster. The families of this chief, and of another in Temegui (related to him), take precedence in rank of those of all the other princes of Circassia; and the personal influence over his countrymen, resulting from his patriotism and the firmness and energy of his character, is very considerable. On the occasion in question, as the Russians carried on their operations partly by land, he concerted with his countrymen simultaneous attacks upon the front and rear of their enemy; but, before they could be carried into execution, Osman, the Turkish governor of the fortress, who had been bribed for the purpose, opened its gates to the Russians. Even in this extremity, Sefir persevered in its defence, and yielded only when resistance was no longer possible. In 1829 this war was concluded, between Turkey and Russia, by the tready of Adrianople, by which Russia appropriated to herself the whole of Circassia, through half a-dozen obscure words, among which the name even of that country does not appear, having been implied only by "tout le littoral de la Mer Noire!" Against this acquisition, so furtively made,* in violation of Russia's most solemn and reiterated engagements to her allies, not to seek any accession of territory nor any exclusive privilege, the English Government of the day protested, by a reservation of British rights; yet have these rights, and the honour of the country therein involved, been sacrificed by the present foreign minister, in a manner which at once In the periodical publications of that time it is not even chronicled; because, in all probability, it was not observed! |