Pictorial History of the Russian War, 1854-5-6. With maps, plans, and wood engravings

Front matter

Part I Price One Shilling. I iii«^^fflj^R^*^.ift?is ■-^ fcb_S_S____s__ \V. AND R. C H A M B E R S, 47 PATERNOSTER HOW, LONDON, AND HIGH STREET, EDINBURGH; H. CAMPBELL, GLASGOW ; J. FRASER, DUBLIN ; C S. FRANCIS & CO. NEW YORK; BENJAMIN DAWSON, AND HEW RAMSAY, MONTREAL ; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. The right of Translation reserved. RE-ISSUE— Publishing in Weekly Numbers, price 6d. ; and in Monthly Parts, price 2s., THE PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, ILLUSTRATED BY UPWARDS OF SIXTEEN HUNDRED WOOD-CUTS. A NE"W AUD IMPROVED ISSUE, BROUGHT UP TO THE EUSSIAN* "WAE. The PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND— one of the many admirable books planned by Mr Charles Knight —has long established itself in Public esteem, as a history, not merely of political events (to which character most histories are limited), but of the People, in t/ieir common life and social progress.

The Edinburgh Review bore testimony to its merits in the following passage : — ' " The Pictorial History of England," now before us, seems to be the very thing required by the popular taste of the present day : adding to the advantage of a clear historical narrative, all the varied illustrations of which the subject is capable. After tho fashion first introduced by Dr Henry, the authors have divided their subjects into periods : the narrative of civil and military events in each being foUowed by chapters on the history of religion, the constitution and laws, the condition of the people, national industry, manners and customs; and almost every page in the earlier volumes is enriched with appropriate wood-cuts, generally of able execution— dresses, arms, industrial employments, sports, copied from illuminated manuscripts of the periods to which they belong— views of scenes rendered famous by historical events, taken from drawings or prints as near the period as could be obtained— ample illustrations of architecture and sculpture, portraits and sac-similes— and here and there cuts from historical pictures.' It is proposed to re-issue the Work, in its original form, and with all its original Illustrations— forming Eight Volumes, and terminating with the year 1815.

To this series will be added a New Edition of the History of the Peace, extended, under the care of Messrs Chambers, to March 1854, printed uniformly with the above, and including a COMPLETE CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX, based on that prepared by H. C. Hamilton, Esq., ofthe State-Paper Office. Thus the Entire Work will be A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND BROUGHT UP TO THE RUSSIAN "WAR. IN TEN VOLUMES. This Edition will be carefully printed, on good paper, and will form the most complete and highly illustrated work of the kind ever published.— A Ncmber, consisting of 32 pages, super royal 8vo, price ed., in a coloured paper Cover, will appear every Saturday ; and a Part, consisting of 128 pages, price 2s., will appear every Month with the Magazines. The work will comprise about 60 Parts. The FIRST VOLUME now Issued, handsomely bound in, cloth, price 15s. RE-ISSUE— Publishing in Weekly Numbers, price 6d. ; and in Monthly Parts, price 2s., THE PICTORIAL BIBLE: BEING %\t dto anto |Ufo %tBhmintst ACCORDING- TO THE AUTHORISED VERSION Splendidly Rlustrated with Steel Engravings, Wood-cuts, and Maps; WITH NUMEROUS NOTES BY JOHN KITTO, D.D., F.S.A. A HEW AND IMPROVED ISSUE.

Preface

. VI the humbler combatants. Physical science and mechanical inventions lent their aid towards the same general result, by supplying steam-ships, railways, and electric telegraphs : rendering many things possible which were impossible in former wars, and substituting celerity for slowness in many others. .All these favourable circumstances combined to render practicable the writing of a History of the War during the progress, and shortly after the termination, of the war itself: leaving to a later generation that more complete analysis of events, in their causes and their consequences, which can only be wrought when generals and statesmen — by means of Memoirs, Letters, and Dispatches — have given to the world their knowledge of occurrences fully to be explained by none but themselves. The Author of the present volume has endeavoured so to avail himself of all the above-mentioned resources — augmented and in some instances corrected by private communications — as to present a truthful picture of that short, but fearful and extraordinary war.

While estimating the contest conscientiously as a whole, in its national and international aspects, he has endeavoured to be — so far as such a character is possible — an impartial spectator; and while seeking to trace events up to their causes, to deduce the probable consequences, or to disentangle perplexities, he has deemed it a duty to observe caution in passing judgment on the actors in those scenes — judgment which cannot fairly be pronounced until angry controversies have been smoothed away by the lapse of time, or by the shedding of new light on transactions hitherto obscure. G. D. August 1856. B tt 1 1 1 1 i

Chapter I. Chapter VI

CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED TO THE WAR NAVAL OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH IN 1854 PACK PAQS RUSSIAN POWER IN THE BALTIC PROVINCES, . 152 FLEETS DESPATCHED BY THE WESTERN POWERS 155 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ALLIES IN THE BALTIC, 162 PROCEEDINGS IN AND NEAR THE WHITE SEA, . 184 PROCEEDINGS IN THE NORTH PACIFIC AND KAMTCHATKA, 188 TRADITIONARY AGGRESSIVE POLICY OF RUSSIA, 3 THE 'HOLY PLACES' AT JERUSALEM: A SUBJECT OF CONTEST, 9 RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS FOR WAR, UNDER PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF, 19 TURKISH PREPARATIONS FOR WAR, UNDER OMAR PACHA, 23

Chapter II. Chapter VII

CAMPAIGN ON THE DANUBE IN 1853-4— CAMPAIGN IN THE CRIMEA IN 1854— FORCES AND STRATEGY OF OMAR PACHA, . . 30 THE CRIMEA, PAST AND PRESENT, . . 195 THE GREAT ARMAMENT VARNA TO THE CRIMEA, 202 THE ADVANCE TO THE ALMA — THE BATTLE, . 208 ALMA TO BALAKLAYA — THE FLANK-MARCH, . 220 SEBASTOPOL, AND ITS YICINITY, . . . 227 COMMENCEMENT OF TnE SIEGE, . . . 233 MANŒUVRES OF TnE FLEETS, . . . 240 THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT BY LAND, . . 246 BATTLE OF BALAKLAYA, .... 253 THE TWO BATTLES OF INKERMANN, . . . 260 BATTLES OF KALAFAT, OLTENITZA, CITAT.E, AND GIURGEVO, 36 OPERATIONS IN THE DOBRUDSCHA AND AT SILISTRIA, 44

Chapter III. Alliance Of The Western Powers With Turkey- Diplomacy Of

1853 : THE ATTACK AT SINOPE, 56 THE 'SECRET CORRESPONDENCE' OF 1844 AND 1853,61 RUPTURE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE WESTERN POWERS, 67

Chapter IV Chapter VIII

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES BY THE ALLIFpS IN 1854— WINTER .VT SEBASTOPOL AND SCUTARI, 1854 THE SIEGE, IN THE CLOSING WEEKS OF 1854, 274 THE NOVEMBER HURRICANE, AND ITS EFFECTS, 280 WINTER-LIFE IN THE TENTS AND TRENCHES, . 28C THE SICK AND WOUNDED AT THE CAMP, . 295 THE SICK AND WOUNDED AT SCUTARI, . . 298 REMEDIES : THE HOSPITAL-NURSES AT SCUTARI, 305 REMEDIES : THE SUBSCRIBED FUNDS FROM ENGLAND, 311 REMEDIES: THE BALAKLAVA RAILWAY,. . 318 REMEDIES : OFFICIAL INVESTIGATIONS, . . 322 OPERATIONS AT ECPATORIA DURING THE WINTER, 330 THE SIEGE, IN THE EARLY WEEKS OF 1855, 335 FORCES AND STRATEGY OF THE WESTERN POWERS, 75 PROCEEDINGS AT GALLIPOLI, PERA, AND SCUTARI, 84 VARNA: PREPARATIONS FOR THE CRIMEA, . 93 THE FLEETS IN THE BLACK SEA : 1854, . 106

Chapter V. Hostilities On The Turkish Frontiers In

1853-4- SCHAMYL, AND TnE CAUCASUS, . . . 120 CAMPAIGN IN ASIATIC TURKEY IN 1854, . . 127 INTRIGUES IN NORTH-WESTEBN TURKEY, . 140 GREEK ATTACKS ON THE TURKISH BORDER, . CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII. CHAPTER IX.

CAMPAIGNS SUBORDINATE TO THE SIEGE IN 1855- pAGE OPERATIONS AT EUPATORIA, . iS" EXPEDITION TO KINBURN AND TnE DNIEPER, 437 442 BATTLE OF THE TCHERNAYA, . . ■ • <"*■*■ OPERATIONS IN THE SEA OF AZOF, . • **49 SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF KARS, . • • *»' OMAR PACHA IN MINGRELIA, . • *»*-,'J DIPLOMACY, FROM THE DECLARATION OF WAR TO THE VIENNA CONFERENCES- PAGE THE QUESTION OF THE NATIONALITIES, . . 345 NEGOTIATIONS WITH AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA, 351 THE SARDINIAN ALLIANCE, .... 358 FALL OF THE ABERDEEN MINISTRY, . . 360 DEATH OF THE CZAR NICHOLAS, . . . 365 THE VIENNA CONFERENCES, .... 370

CHAPTER XIII. NAVAL OPERATIONS IN THE NORTH IN

1855— DISCUSSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS, . . ■ 470

CHAPTER X. THE ALLIED FLEETS IN THE BALTIC,

. • 474 PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1855— MILITIA, CAMPS, AND FOREIGN LEGIONS, . . 376 THE ARMY-WORKS AND LAND-TRANSPOKT CORPS, 381 THE TURKISH AND SARDINIAN CONTINGENTS, . 384 BLACK-SEA SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH, . . 387 PROCEEDINGS IN THE WHITE SEA, . • • 483 PROCEEDINGS IN NORTH PACIFIC & KAMTCHATKA, 484

CHAPTER XIV.

A SECOND WINTER IN THE CRIMEA— THE ALLIES IN SEBASTOPOL, .... 491 THE OPPONENT ARMIES OUTSIDE SEBASTOPOL, 495

CHAPTER XI. SUBORDINATE OPERATIONS DURING THE WINTER,

502 CAMP AND HOSPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, . . 506 SEBASTOPOL: THE SIEGE, TO THE FALL OF THE MALAKOFF—

CHAPTER XV. ADDITIONAL WORKS OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE,

392 SORTIES: STRUGGLES FOR THE RIFLE-riTS, . 395 SECOND OR APRIL BOMBARDMENT, . . 399 CONTESTS IN MAY : CANROBERl's RESIGNATION, 403 THIRD BOMBARDMENT : CAPTURE OF THE MAMELON, ETC, 409 MALAKOFF AND REDAN IN JUNE : THE REPULSE, 414 DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN : TARDINESS OF THE SIEGE, 419 THE FINAL BOMBARDMENT, AND CAPTURE, . 424 DIPLOMACY— VIENNA CONFERENCES TO THE PEACE- RESULT OF THE VIENNA CONFERENCES, . . 512 STATE OF PUBLIC FEELING IN ENGLAND, . 517 PROGRESS OF NEGOTIATION, .... 522 TREATY OF ALLIANCE WITH SWEDEN, . . 525 PEACE CONGRESS AT PARIS, . . • ■ 528 THE PACIFICATION, ..... 533 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS, .... 538

Appendix

. I. TREATY OF PEACE- GENERAL TREATY, SIGNED AT PARIS, MARCH 30, 1856, 551 II. CONVENTIONS ANNEXED TO TREATY OF PEACE— 1. CONVENTION RESPECTING THE STRAITS OF THE DARDANELLES AND THE BOSPHORUS, . 554 2. CONVENTION LIMITING NAVAL FORCE IN THE BLACK SEA, 555 3. CONVENTION RESPECTING THE ALAND ISLANDS, 555 III. DECLARATIONS ON MEDIATION & PRIVATEERING— 1. EXTRACT FROM PROTOCOL NO. 23, RELATING TO MEDIATION AS A PREVENTIVE OF WAR, . 555 2. DECLARATION RESPECTING MARITIME LAW, 656 IV. DECLARATIONS ON THE AFFAIRS OF EUROPE— 1. EXTRACT FROM PROTOCOL NO. 22, RELATING TO GREECE, ITALY, THE PRESS IN BELGIUM, AND THE RIGHTS OF NEUTRALS, . . . 557 2. SARDINIAN MEMORIAL RELATING TO THE AFFAIRS OF ITALY, 661 V. TURKISH CHARTERS, GRANTED BY THE SULTAN— 1. HATTI-SHERIF OF GULHAUE, 1839, . . 562 2. HATTI-SHEKIF OF 1856, .... 563 VI.

FRENCH OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WAR— 1. FRENCH FLEET IN TURKISH WATERS, 1854, . 566 2. FRENCH CRIMEAN ARMY IN FEBRUARY 1855, 566 3. EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S PLAN FOR A CAMPAIGN OUTSIDE SEBASTOPOL, 566 4. CANROBERT'S MOTIVES FOR RESIGNING, . 568 5. STRENGTH OF SIEGE-ARTILLERY AT FINAL BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL, . . . 568 VII. ARMY ORGANISATION— 1. ON BRITISH MILITARY HOSPITALS, . . 668 2. COMMISSARY-GENERAL FILDER's REMARKS ON THE COMMISSAKIAT OF THE WAR, . . 569 VIII. HONORARY DISTINCTIONS TO THE BRITISH SERVICES— 1. CLASPS AND MEDALS, .... 5/0 2. INSCRIPTIONS ON FLAGS, .... 570 3. CLASPS FOR SEAMEN, .... 570 4. VICTORIA ORDER OF MERIT, . . . 570 5.

ORDER OF LEGION OF HONOUR, AWARDED BY THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCn TO BRITISH SUBJECTS, 572 INDEX, 5?7 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 5g3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, PAGE PAGE Illustrated Title, . ..... 1 Nicholas L, ...... . 3 Initial Letter, ...... 3 Constantinople, ..... 16 Russian Soldiers, . . . . .23 The Holy Sepulchre, .... 29 Initial Letter, ...... 30 Turkish Soldiers, ..... 31 Bashi-Bazouks, ...... 32 Omar Pacha, ..... 41 Bucharest, ...... 52 Wallachian Peasantry, .... 55 Initial Letter, ...... 56 Battle of Sinope, ..... 59 Count Nesselrode, ..... 63 Louis Napoleon, ..... 68 Initial Letter, ...... 75 Lord Baglan, ..... 78 Valetta, 80 French Soldiers and Zouave, ... 83 Gallipoli, ...... 85 The Bosphorus, ..... 89 Varna, ....... 94 Himalaya Steam-ship, .... 96 Interior of an Officer's Tent at Varna, . . 101 Anapa, ...... 109 Odessa, . . . . . ... 113 Destruction of the Tiger, . . . . 115 Baltschik, 119 Initial Letter, 120 Map of Caucasian Provinces and Parts of Asiatic Turkey 121 SCHAflTL, ...... 123 Erzeroum, ...... 129 Trebizond, ...... 131 Kars, ....... 134 Montenegro, ..... 143 Tail-piece, . . . . ., . 151 Liitial Letter, 152 Sm Charles Natier. — From a Photograph by Mayall, 157 Dulcc of Wellington Screw -War-steamer, . . 159 Cronstadt, 168 Bomarsund and Neighbourhood, . . . 172 Attack on Fort Tzee, .... 173 Map of Sveaborg, ..... 179 Eiga, 181 Map of Kamtchatka and Neighbouring Seas, . 193 Destruction of Kola, "White Sea, by H.M.S. Miranda, 24th August 1854, 194 Initial Letter, ..... 195 Landing at Old Fort, . . . . .205 Prince Menchikoff, .... 212 Battle of the Alma, 216 Plan of the Battle of the Alma, ... 217 Marshal St Arnaud, ..... 225 Sebastopol, . . ... . . 229 Balaklava, ...... 233 Kamiesch Bay, ..... 236 Plan of Sebastopol, with the Works of the Allies, October 17, 1854, 248 Bombardment of Sebastopol, October 17, 1854, . 249 Battle-ground of Balaklava, .... 256 Sir de Lacy Evans, .... 261 Map of Battles of Balaklava and Inkeriuann, . 264 Tail-piece, ...... 273 Initial Letter, ...... 274 Winter Scene between Port and Camp, . . 289 Lord Kaglan's Head-quarters, .... 293 Barrack Hospital, Scutari, . . . 300 Miss Nightingale, ..... 308 An Hospital Interior, .... 309 Railway at Kadiko'i — Head-quarters of Sir Colin Campbell 321 Eupatoria from the Sea, .... 332 Cankobert, ...... 337 Returning to the Camp after a Reconnaissance, . 340 TheMamelon, ...... 344 The Sultan Abdul-Medjid, . . . 345 Initial Letter, ...... 345 Earl op Aberdeen, .... 361 Nicholas I., as he appeared immediately after death, 369 Sulina Mouth of the Danube, .... 373 Initial Letter, ..... 376 Victor Emmanuel H, King of Sardinia, . . 385 Literior of an Officer's Hut before Sebastopol, . 391 Initial Letter, ...... 392 Bastion du Mat, or Flagstaff Battery, . . 393 Night in the Trenches, .....

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS X TAGE PAGE 408 Initial Letter, 47° Gunboat, 4?3 Revel, 475 Admiral Dundas, . 4*0 Map of De Castries Bay, Gulf of Tatary, . . 485 Burial-place of the English and French killed at Petropaulovsk, in September 1854, . . . 490 Initial Letter, 491 British Military Hospital, Balaklava, . . . 507 Camp Theatre, outside Sebastopol, . . 511 Initial Letter, 512 Czar Alexander II., . . . . 528 Balaklava Harbour, ..... 550 Tail-pieces, ....'. 576, 581, 582 The Cemetery opposite the Central Bastion, . Attack by General Mayran's Division on Works near the Malakoff, 416 General Simpson, ..... 421 General Pelissier, ..... 425 The Malakoff, 432 Initial Letter, ...... 433 Fort of Kinbum, 440 Tchemaya Bridge, ..... 444 Entrance to the Sea of Azof, . . . 452 Kertch, 456 General Williams, .... 460 Plan of Siege of Kars, ..... 464 Hospital at Smyrna, .... 469 490 Various Tail-pieces. !, Vignettes, &c. MAPS AND LITHOGRAPHED VIEWS.

Sebastopol, 9th September 1855. (Facing Title-page.) Russia in Europe in the Middle of the 15th Century, with its Extension in 1689 and 1855, .... 8 Turkey in Europe, •••••........ 24 Baltic Sea, Gulf of Finland, Cattegat, &c, .......... 152 Cronstadt, •••••......... 167 Crimea, •••••»••........ 195 Portion of the Crimea, forming Chief Scene of Warfare, ..... 232 Plan of the Siege of Sebastopol, previous to Final Assault, . . , ' 392 Sea of Azof, ••••■........ 449 Caucasus, and Portion of Turkey in Asia, ....... 457 Fortifications of Sveaborg and City of Helsingfors, .....

Chapter I. Circumstances Which Led To The War-preparations

iyyvwM ¥ UROPE might be said to have I/s^ruf* Pbeen' at tlie beSinnin? of 1853' in ■^%fyy-- 1 ? -i* state of profound peace. The Ttff^^p^Jr revolutionary agitations of 1848 M°S|*//(pand 1849 had ended in a reaction |1\|L--Pw]jjcll left the old governments at ease, j\W) and had fixed Louis Napoleon as Emperor \nf of France. England, advancing under •_*_/! favour of free-trade and the development s\J of her colonial gold-fields in a career of unexampled prosperity, had no serious apprehension of war, and was, on her own part, little prepared for such an event. Yet at thistime, a series of comparatively obscure transactions was in progress in a remote part of Europe, which was soon to involve us in a contest of the most sanguinary character. TRADITIONARY AGGRESSIVE POLICY OF RUSSIA. If we survey the history of Europe from the commencement of the last century, and set aside from it the career of revolutionised France between U792 and 1815, we shall be struck by nothing so much as the progress made during that time by Russia, in extent of territory and in influence over the affairs of other states.

In the middle of the fifteenth century, as will be seen by a glance at the accompanying map, what is now Russia consisted only of the grand-duchy of Moscow — a limited territory in the centre of Northern Europe, scarcely known even by name in the countries of the West. From that nucleus, in pursuance of an ambitious policy, and by a series of skilfully executed manœuvres, it has been enlarged in all directions, till it now embraces the vast region lying between the Arctic Ocean on the north and the Black Sea on the south, with the Pacific as its eastern and the Baltic as itswestern boundaty. Previous to the reign of Peter I., surnamed the Great, who ascended the throne in 1689, the history of Russia presents only a succession of savage struggles with surrounding nationalities. The ruling authority had attacked and been attacked by Mongols, Tatars, Cossacks, Turks, Lithuanians, Poles, and Swedes ; and, advancing in power, had acquired the title of Czar or Emperor.

Slavonic in race and language, and professing the Greek form of Christianity, the Russian people have never intermingled with the Western nations, but may be said, as a race, to partake of that character which we associate with the semi-civilised inhabitants of Asia. Amidst the rude Slavonians, Peter arose as a reformer of manners ; and notwithstanding some grave faults, deserves to be spoken of as one of the greatest men in an age prolific in distinguished persons. His personal history is well known, and need not be repeated. What concerns us at present, is his eager desire to extend as well as to consolidate the Russian power. Peter was animated with great aspirations. Besides desiring to civilise his people, his aim was to elevate them to the position of a leading nation ; and he lived to accomplish his purpose.

Assuming the title of 'Emperor of all the Russias,' he vastly enlarged his dominions, built cities, created a navy and a well-disciplined army ; and, aiming at trade with India, pushed his conquests to the borders of the Sea of Azof. In these projects may be perceived the first encroachment on the Ottoman dominions, which, during a period of nearly two centuries, would appear to have been the coveted prey of Russia. In 1709, Peter established a series of posts from the Volga to the Don ; and at the mouth of this latter river built Taganrog, as a centre of intercourse on the south, whence further advances could be effected. He was, however, in 1711, obliged to relinquish Taganrog and the Sea of Azof to the Turks. Being thus shut out from Persia and India by a route westward of the Caucasus, he turned to the east.

In 1717, he sent Prince Alexander Bekevitch on an apparently friendly mission to Khiva, eastward of the Caspian, but with secret orders to seize certain gold-mines, in whose existence he thought he had reason to believe ; but the Khivans were as cunning and cruel as he was treacherous ; they defeated his plan, and destroyed all the members of his embassy. He next sent an embassy to Persia, to open commercial relations with India ; and here Peter met with that which the czars have ever seemed to take delight in — a discontented tributary to a neighbouring monarch. The governor of Kandahar was at issue with his sovereign, the Shah of Persia. Persia was weak, and was attacked by Turks, Afghans, and Lesghis all at once. Peter, in 1722, interfered in the wonted Russian fashion : he ' protected ' his ' old good friend the shah,' his ' great friend and neighbour,' his ' dear friend,' as he called him in a remarkable manifesto ; he sent an army of 50,000 men into Persia ; and ended by conquering and appropriating three Persian provinces on the shores of the Caspian.

After this, the Afghans deposed one shah and set up another: this was a favourable opportunity for Russia; Peter offered his aid to the deposed monarch, on condition of certain concessions ; and the result was, that in a few years Russia obtained a hold on Daghestan, Ghilan, Mazanderan, and Asterabad — valuable provinces on the south-western shore of the Caspian. All the ambitious proceedings of Peter in the East were, however, suddenly checked. The terrible Nadir, the freebooter of Khorassan, who made himself Shah of Persia, was an antagonist such as Russia had not before encountered in Asia. Nadir first attacked the Afghans, driving them from all their conquests in Persia ; then turned westward, and similarly expelled the Turks from certain provinces which they had appropriated ; and then directed his attention to Russia, who was forced to relinquish every Asiatic acquisition she had gained.

Thus ended Russian aggression in the East for a time. Peter himself had departed from the scene; he died in 1725; and the treaty of 1735, whereby the Russians evacuated the Persian provinces, was made with one of Ms successors. After Peter's death, the throne was held by his widow Catherine. This remarkable woman had been a peasant ; her most powerful minister Prince MenchikofF — ancestor of the prince who was concerned in the events of 1853— had been a pastry-cook's boy in the royal kitchen; and neither of the two could read or write. Nevertheless Russia prospered during this short reign of two years, although Catherine's foreign acquisitions were limited to the exaction of homage from the Kubinskan Tatars, and of allegiance from a Georgian prince. After her death, in 1727, there was a succession of feeble reigns, during which Russia was too much occupied with domestic affairs to attend much to foreign conquests ; yet she was not idle.

In the triangular portion of country between the Don, the Volga, and the Caucasus, were various tribes— Kalmuks, Nogays and Circassians — nomad in habits, and more or less tributary to surrounding nations. Russia turned a wistful eye upon these. She sent some AGGRESSIVE POLICY OF RUSSIA. 5 missionaries to convert to Christianity the Osse tians, a pagan tribe in the Caucasian mountains ; whether or not they succeeded in this, they at least made the Ossetians consent to become tributary to Russia. The Ossetian country opened a pathway to Georgia, a fertile region for which Persia and Taganrog, Kertch, and Kinburn ; she secured an extension of her frontier to the river Bug or Boug, assumed the sovereignty of Kabarda, near the Caucasus ; and obtained the renunciation by Turkey of suzerain power over the Khan of the Crimea — a renunciation which Russia did not fail afterwards to turn to her own advantage.

These successes were not all that Catherine wished, but they paved the way for more. In 1776, she established a line of posts, including nearly thirty fortresses, from the Black Sea to the Caspian. A few years afterwards, the Christian princes of Georgia, Imeretia, and Mingrelia — all on the southern base of the Caucasus — flattered by Russian gifts, or intimidated by Russian threats, transferred their allegiance from Turkey to Russia ; as did also the chiefs of many petty principalities in the Persian dominions. Turkey had long struggled ; and Russia turned her attention to this path. Catherine II., during her reign from 1762 to 1796, was the great representative of Russian aggression. Of her personal character, we have not here to speak ; but her conduct as an empress towards her neighbours, as of vast political importance, cannot pass unnoticed.

Her tyranny over the tribes near the Caucasus, in the early years of her reign, was such, that the Circassians took refuge in the almost inaccessible fastnesses of their mountains ; the Nogays sought refuge with the Khan of the Crimea — then an independent Tatar state ; the Kabardans of Circassia abandoned The Treaty of Kainardji had rendered the Crimea independent of Turkey ; and Catherine immediately began to ' protect ' the khan in that extraordinary way so peculiar to Russia. The Russian determination to obtain Constantinople, also began about this time to be openly acknowledged ; and hostilities again commenced between the Russians and the Turks. Potemkin and Suvaroff poured their troops into the Caucasian region ; while other armies, under pretext of assisting the khan against the Turks, forcibly seized the Crimea, expelled and deposed the khan, and slaughtered all the Tatar nobles who tried to maintain the independence of their sea-girt peninsula.

About the same time, too, she offered her ' protection ' to the voyvodes or princes of Wallachia and Moldavia, and contrived that they should look up to her, rather than to the sultan, as a suzerain ; the Christians in Bulgaria and Servia were also encouraged to revolt, and to claim her protection whenever they pleased against the sultan — all in defiance of any pre-existing treaties. The conquest and massacre in thc Crimea occurred in 1783 ; but there had previously been a treaty, signed at Constantinople in 1779, containing a few clauses which effected but little in settling the relations between the two countries. They made a commercial treaty together in 17S3 ; but Catherine did not announce her determination to seize the Crimea until after this signing. The city of Kherson was built at the mouth of the Dnieper, in suspicious proximity to the Turkish frontier ; and in 1787, Catherine made a brilliant entry into her new city, passing under a triumphal arch, ou which was inscribed in the Greek tongue — ' The Way to Byzantium.' Again did Russia and Turkey go to war ; and again was the war ended by a treaty — signed at Jassy in 1792 — disastrous to the latter power : she was forced to yield the territory between the rivers Bug and Dniester ; to relinquish all control over Georgia and the neighbouring provinces ; and to give Russia a certain claim to influence in other quarters without actual sovereignty.

Christianity for Islam, as a means of exchanging Russian for Turkish rule ; and the Kalmuks took the wonderful resolution, in 1771, of departing in a body to their own original territory in Chinese Tatary, on the borders of the Tibetan dominions. History has, perhaps, recorded nothing more striking than this voluntary journey of half a million human beings, to a distance of probably two thousand miles, as a means of escaping from Russian despotism. When, at a later date, troubles broke out in Georgia — a fertile country southward of the Caucasus, and between the Black and Caspian Seas — and Persia and Turkey struggled for its possession, Russia stepped in on her wonted footing, offered to assist the one against the other, and ultimately took Georgia itself as her reward. While these affairs were in progress in Asia, Catherine was not idle in Europe.

Poland had fallen into difficulties concerning the succession to the crown, and Catherine succeeded in placing one of her dependents on the throne, and overrunning Poland with her agents. Turkey now became uneasy at the progress of the czarina, for the possession of Poland would bring Russia too near the Ottoman dominions ; and the sultan, having a stock of injuries to complain of, declared war against Russia in 1769. England assisted Russia in this war with a fleet ; and the results were so disastrous to Turkey, that she was driven to many humiliating concessions in thc Treaty of Kainardji in 1774.* By this treaty, Russia secured the free navigation of the Black Sea, the passage of the Dardanelles, the privilege of having one ship of war in those regions, and the acquisition of Azof, * As the treaties and conventions between Russia and Turkey ■will frequently be mentioned, the following list may be useful, relating to the period between 1774 and 1849 :— Treaty of Kainardji, 1774 " Constantinople, .... 17S3 Jassy, 1792 ■ Bucharest, 181:3 * Adrianople, .... 1829 " Unkiar-Skclessi, .... 1833 » St Petersburg 1834 » Constantinople, .... 183G » London 1841 a Balta-Liman, .... 1849 While making these aggressions towards the south, Catherine was not less successful in extending subjects of the Porte professing the Greek religion should be placed under the immediate protection of Russia.

The sultan refused to concede this, and war ensued some time afterwards. Turkey was in a wretched position : Paswan Oglu, in Widdin ; Ali Pacha, in Albania ; Djezzar Pacha, in Syria ; Mehemet Ali, in Egypt ; Czerny George, in Servia ; Ypsilanti, in Moldavia— all were more or less in a state of rebellion against the sultan, obeying him or not as their inclinations varied. The Peace of Tilsit gave a short respite to Turkey ; but hostilities soon recommenced, and continued several years. When a settlement of accounts took place, by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, the czar obtained Bessarabia (by which his frontier was advanced westward from the Dniester to the Pruth) — secured the navigation of the Danube to merchant-ships — obtained for his ships of war a right to ascend the Pruth up to its junction with the Danube — procured an amnesty for the rebellious Servians who had aided him — and stipulated for the demolition of the fortresses recently erected by the Turks in Servia.

Thus, again, was Turkey despoiled by its formidable northern neighbour. her empire towards the west. Poland suffered its first great disaster in 1772— its 'first partition.' There is much reason to believe that Prussia suggested this nefarious project — that Frederick planned it with Catherine ; and that a slice was given to Austria, as a means of winning consent to the spoliation. By the Treaty of St Petersburg, signed August 5, 1772, Russia grasped Polotsk, Vitepsk, Micislaf, and Polish Livonia ; Prussia helped herself to Malborg, Pomerania, Varmia, and portions of Culm and Great Poland ; Austria appropriated Galicia, with parts of Podolia and Sandomir ; while distracted Poland had to do as she best might with what was left to her. Russia acquired 3440 square leagues of territory, and 1,500,000 inhabitants.