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

Lieutenants—John M. Reeve (1846) to the Gladiator,
paddle-wheel steam-frigate, at Portsmouth ; Charles 0.
Wood (1845) to the Phoenix, screw steam-sloop, fitting
for the Arctic regions.
Master—James Jeffrey (1841), recently serving in the
aCtomiveoto,
lswteicahm. surveying-vessel, to the Fiegard, flag-ship,
Paymasters—William Pinhorn (1836), to the Algiers,
91, screw steam-ship, at Devonport ; William T. Biddle.
combe (1852), from the Vixen, paddle-wheel steam-sloop,
on the south-east coast of America station, to the Eury-
dice, 26, commissioned yesterday at Portsmouth, by
Captain Erasmus Ommanney, for service, it is supposed,
on the south-east coast of America station, the Centaur,
6, paddle-wheel steam-frigate, flag-ship on that station,
being ordered home to have new boilers, and to be re-
fitted to serve with the steam fleets, in the event of hos-
tilities taking place between England and Russia.
Second Masters—William H. Searle (1848), at present
borne as additional on the books of the Phoenix screw
steam-sloop, for service in the Talbot, to be acting mas-
ter of the Phcenix ; and Denton H. Speer (18501, from
the Phoenix to the Talbot, at Woolwich.

Clerks—William F. Huyghue (1846), from the Im-
pregnable flag-ship, at Devonport, to the Algiers, 91,
screw steam-ship, at Devonport ; Richard J. Wiggins
(paymaster of 1852), to the Impregnable ; William S. E.
Freeman (1849), from the Waterloo, 120, flag-ship at
Sheerness, to the Eurydice, 26, at Portsmouth ; Samuel
W. Sadler (paymaster of 1849), to the Waterloo - Act-
ing Assistant-Surgeon James T. Rudall to the Phoenix.

THE PROPHET WARRIOR, SCHAMYL.

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-
rance 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—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 rias
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, he could
o
present himself to the whole Caucasus as the ally
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 Munich 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. Ho 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 iprisoners or the dead. He was not
found among either. 'ballad 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 eaw the
agency of Heaven in this deliveraiace.
taineers in their confidence in their Jeader.
His appearance and his habits confirm the ato,T.line-
speaks with the dignity and the
elevation of one
filled with divine inspiration. "n° has
lightning
in his eyes and flower on his Sys a poet of
Daghestan. He has a perfect scorn all obstacles.
Numbers are nothing to him. "Do
not believe,"
4
he says in one of his addresses, 4 that God favours
the greater number. God is on the side of good,
and these are always less numerous than the 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 h more insects
than useful animals . Is not gold scarcer than
notbut fawrem:ciiiraevne obeleethan
gold and roses, than pearls and horses, and all use-
ful animals taken together ? For all the treasures
pro-
mise of eternal life."
obfats he eeart metalsh
are? Atiid are
transitory, we
y, rans
In addition to the means of gainin; influence to
which we have alluded, the fear of exciting the
vengeance of Schamyl
may be recko aed as one of
his most efficient ins • t
ruments. Aft 9r vainly ap-
pealing to the Kabardah, a tribe of ihe Caucasus,
to join their troops with I• us against t le Russians,
he determined to take that by foro which he
could not obtain by milder means. :hi the year
1841, when the Russians were making ; extraordi-
nary efforts to put an end to the wl tr, Schamyl
collected a large body of troops, penetn ‘ted, through
a territory guarded by two lines o f fortresses,
crossed two great rivers, thereby mat; Mg his line
of retreat infinitely more dangerous„ and overran
the Kabardah. He plundered th, dwellings,
burned the corn, made hundreds of - pz cisoners, des-
tined to augment his own army, and then returned
rapidly and in safety through the Ri issian lines.
His administrative capacity is eqi ml to his
mili-
tary genius. He has made a nation out of hostile
tribes. The, new doctrine which h, 3 preaches re-
conciles the sects of Omar and Al Li, and the one
faith which all his subjects proles: ; is a bond of
union too strong to be broken .b: f the petty ri-
valries which once divided them. , He has di-
vided the country into twenty provinces, each
under the rule of a -I•Taib or govern or; Each Naib