The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-06 00:00:00

THE PROPHET WARRIOR, SCLIAMYL.

What is to be expected from Schamyl in the
coming war ? It was stated some time back that
he had offered to act in concert with Omer Pacha
at the head of 20,000 men. The Caucasus, how-
ever, has been comparatively tranquil, and in igno-
raice of the real movements of Schamyl, but judg-
ing from his former actions, we are led to the
belief that he is either meditating some decisive
stroke, and waits for the course of events to indi-
cate the proper season, or that he is endeavouring
to effect what has been the dream of his life—r-a
union between the whole of the tribes who inhabit

the Caucasus. M. Kupffer, the president of a
scientific commission which accompanied General
Emanuel in the expedition of 1829, makes use of
the following words in speaking of the possibility
of this union :—" We are struck with terror at the
idea of the peril which would threaten Southern
Russia, if the Circassians were ever united under
a single master." Were Schamyl at the head of
the whole of the mountain tribes—were there no
petty jealousies and hatreds added to the difficul-
ties produced by difference of language between
the various tribes--the Caucasus would form an
insuperable barrier to Russian ambition in the
south.

Schamyl is not a Circassian ; he does not even
understand the language of that tribe. When he
paid them a visit some time back to induce them
to make common cause with him, he was obliged
to express himself in Turkish, and was conse-
quently only understood by the chiefs and the
Mollahs. The Circassians have been, if not con-
quered, at least pacified by the Russians. They are
spread along the western portion of the Caucasus.
Daghestan, over which Schamyl rules, is inhabited
by the Lesghians, divided into several tribes, the
principal of which is that of the Tschetschenzes.
By a strong will, by the pretence of a divine mis-
sion, by the most determined bravery, and by con-
summate talents for administration, Schamyl has
succeeded in uniting the whole of the tribes of
Daghestan and many of those in the neighbourhood
under his own rule. Before his time they were a
haughty, disunited, feudal aristocracy, never acting
in concert except at particular times, when forced
together by some pressure from without. From
the success which attended him in his endeavours
to unite the jarring elements which he had to deal
with into a compact nation, we may judge what
he would do if circumstances put it in his power to
act on a greater scale. If, for instance, ho could
present himself to the whole Caucasus as the ally
of Turkey and her friends, furnished with armsand
money to deliver the mountain tribes from the
oppression of Russia, one of the obstacles to the
fusion of the tribes would be removed, and the ne-
cessity of united action might do something to-
wards generating a feeling of nationality, without
which it is in vain to hope that the Caucasus can
remain thoroughly independent.
Schamyl is the man of all others the fittest for
the execution of the work that we have pointed
out. He is a prophet to the mountaineers, and
there is no reason to doubt that he believes in his
own mission. His followers appeal to his deeds,
and ask you whether you can disbelieve that the
man is assisted by divine power. Mahomet is the
first prophet of God and Schamyl the second. If
God were not with him, how could he have es-
caped from the terrible slaughter at the fort
of Himri ? The whole garrison except him-
self perished. He was wounded by a bullet
and a bayonet thrust. No one ever knew how he
escaped, but he was soon after fighting against
the Russians. At another time Hamtad Bey, the
prophet of the Murids, the religious sect to which
Schamyl belongs, was attacked in a mosque. Ham-
tad Bey and all with him except Schamyl perished.
Schamyl escaped, and the Murids again asked
themselves was there not something supernatural
here. Once again, after he had succeeded to the
dignity formerly held by Hamtad Bey, he effected
an escape, which his followers persist in ascribing
to divine agency. He had withdrawn to the for-
tress of Achulko. After a murderous siege of four
months, the Russians succeeded in taking the
place. They felt certain that he must be either
amongst the 'tprisoners or the dead. He was not
found among either. He had escaped. The manner
in which he made the escape is variously told.
The accounts, however, concur in this, that some
of his followers laid down their own lives to save
his. The Murids and the great mass of the tribes
who were ready to act under his orders saw the
agency of Heaven in this deliverance.
His appearance and his habits confirm the moun-
taineers in their confidence in their leader. _
one
1-Jo
speaks with the dignity and the elevation of
filled with divine inspiration. 'll'
eh lightning
in his eyes and flower on his lips,'
saysall o a poet of
bstacles.
Daghestan. He has a perfect scorn of
believe,"
,
i
Numbers are nothing to him. "Do b not
he says in one of his addresses, "that, God favours
the greater number. God is on the side of good,
numerous than the and these are always less
god-
less. Look around and you will see everywhere
the proof of what I tell you. Are not the roses
less in number than the tares ? Is not mud more
plentiful than pearls ? Are there not more insects
than useful animals . 9 ls not gold scarcer than
base metals ? And are we not far more noble than
gold and roses, than pearls and horses, and all use-
ful animals taken together ? For all the treasures
of the earth are transitory, but we have the pro-
mise of eternal life."
In addition to the means of gaining influence to
which we have alluded, the • •
fear of exciting the
vengeance of Schamyl may be reckoned as one of
his most efficient instruments. After vainly ap-
pealing to the
Kabardah, a tribe of the Caucasus,
to join their troops with his against the Russians,
he determined to take that by force which he
could not obtain by milder means. In the year
1847, when the Russians were making extraordi-
nary efforts to put an end to the war, Schamyl
collected a large body of troops, penetrated through
a territory guarded by two lines of fortresses,
crossed two great rivers, thereby making his line
of retreat infinitely more dangerous, and overran
the Kabardah. He plundered the dwellings,
burned the corn, made hundreds of prisoners, des-
tined to augment his own army, and then returned
rapidly and in safety through the Russian lines.
His administrative capacity is equal to his mili-
tary genius. He has made a nation out of hostile
tribes. The new doctrine which he preaches re-
conciles the sects of Omar and Ali, and the oue
faith which all his subjects profess is a bond of
, union too strong to be broken by the petty ri-
valries which once divided them. He has di-
vided the country into twenty provinces, each
under the rule of a nib or governor. Bach Naib