The Sun.
London, England, 1804-07-23 00:00:00

OF SOUTIIiRN
ASIA.

(FROM MAURICIVS MODERN HISTORY OF lIINDOSTAN.)

Triumphant orireverY field where his banners had
hitherto been displayed, they represent to us the
Emperor of the Moguls as ,-content with his large
`acquired moiety of divided'Asia, as anxious to cul.:
tivate friendship and commetcei with the Charati.
mian Monarch ; as sending successive Ambassao,
dors to announce those friendly sentiments, and con.
firiniOg.tbem by aoaple presents of the richest pro.
dudions of his country.. The-stern, suspicious, uno
accommodating nature:of° the Sultan, led .hiM to cori.
Sider those presents as snares, and those Ainhaasadors
as spies. His haughty said brooked not a rival, ewe.
cially an infidel rival; and secretly, meditating that
dreadful blow which, though it convulsed Asia, and
plunged myriads Of human beings into the abyss of
eternity,olle-seemed to think deserving of the great
Mohammed, in the full career and .confidence of
vi Cory, to strike. The specks of insult which. he
offered to Gengis, was of a nature never to be for.
;gotten or forgiven. In every age, and among file
most barbarous people, the charader o( an Ainbas%
sador, the image of obe Sovereign, has ever been
held sacred. 'The attestation and murder, by his
order, of three Ambassadors and a caravan of peace.
able Merchants atiOtrar, instantly became the bloody
signal of a war interminable, tmeatingaishable, but
by the death of one or of, the other of the royal
champions., Called 'upon by fresh Ambassadors,
dispatched by the policy of Gengis to demand an
explanation of the fad, the Sultan returned no 9;her
answer than a repititon of the airing crime ;
,and
the heads Of three. other noble Moguls, sever:
ed by the sabres of his attendants, while
vering their master's commands, -stained with.blood
the foot of the throne of the.perfidious tyrant. Gen,
gis, on receiving this 'intelligence, in the fury and
anguish of his heart, is • said 'to have separated_ him.
self for three dayti and three nights, from his family,
and during that space, to have 4evoutly supplicated
the assistance of heaven againt a monster black
with so many crimes. It is added, but by. a Chris.
tiaohistotian (Abulfarajius), that on the third night,
a person in the habit of a Christan Monk appeared j
to him in a dream, and encouraged him to fear not,
but instantly lead his troops to battle ; a relation
justly rejeded by his, mare modern biographer, as
unworthy a Christian Monk, anti the God of Chris.
tianity. The spirit that incited Gengis to arms was
the dmmon ambition, anti the vision which he be.
held was the vast and beautiful landscape of Southern
Asia, full of noble cities, abundantly stored. with the
costly articles of. luxurious commerce, reciprocal
among various and distant nations,.. that had-grown
rich under the protedion of the more peaceable Sul.
tans of the Gaznavide and Seljuk dynasties. Though
plunder amf aggrandizement were the real, the pri,
ma ry objet} of Gengis ; yet the murder of his Ambas.
sailors was a theme'on which he negleded not to ex.
patiate in terms of 'the warmest anti bitterest invec.
live ; impelling in a hold and manly strain of chi.
quence, the fire. and vengeance that glowed in his
own bosout to those of his 'sons and his courtiers.
The battalions of .his immense army were instantly
put in motion ; the arms of the common men wets
the sabre, the bow, the quiver full:of arrows, anti the
battle-axe. All the officers of this army were clothed
in complete suits of mail, and their horses also wore
breast.platei of iron, anti other defensive armour,'
impenetrable by the arrows of the enemy. The
Positive order of Gengis was, that every man should
fight in his own station till he conquered or fell
the flight of individuals or of single squadrons, was
to be punished with instant death, by their nearest
comrades. By a singular' law of the military code of
Gengis, it was ordained, that if ten commanders at
the head of their combined squadrons, the whole
army being 'divided Into bodies regulated by that
number,should think it necessary to retreat, they were
at liberty to do so ; but•sin tiler pours, icy a retro.
-grade-moverttentOrushed only, on inevitable dest:uc.:
Lion. In this manner desciplinedand- armed,
.the
solitiers of Gengis, under' the c.anmand of himself
anti his four, valiant sons,-marched forth to battle,
and On a reviesti:prearious 'to the engagement, were
found to consist of noless 01.46 seven hundred thou..
sand men ; men, says the historian;, of an athletic
make, of high.braced vigorous 'sinews, impatient
for anion, breathing nothing b °and blood
yet though fiery, perfedly obediefflr to their Prince ;
Men, who, unlike the dainty Moslems, could. ban_
quct on any kind of food, wolves, bears, and dogs ;
tnen able to britife the rigours of every climate, and
soundly slumber on a' bed of flint.
Mohammed, without terror, heard from his
scouts the details of , their :.umber arid ferocity.—
He considered these savage, hordes as utterly desti.
lute' of all true military science-, and as unable to
. Stand before the veteran Conqueror, of Persia, who
had triumphed over the bravest Nations of arid:
who themselves amounted to 'four hundred thousand
lighting men, being the flower of the warlike re.
giuns dispersed over the domains of this mighty
Prince in Iran, Transoxiana, Chtirasan, and all the°
vast frontier of Western India.. The terrible con.'
ctission of two such immense armies can be better
Conceived than described. It took place, accord.'
ing to Le Croix, at Karaku, near Otrar, north of
the river jaxartes, in A. H. 6 is, .or A. D. 1218,
a ,memorable epoch in Eastern Annals, being the
date of the first grand irruption, of the Moguls' anti
Tartars into Southern Asia, and with such intense
fury did the battle last, that the darkness of the night
tilone separated the contending A imies. The ensuing
morrodiscovered a sight horrible to humanity, one
hundred sand sixty thousand Charazmians, and' a
still- more numerous body of Moguls, wellexing in
an ocean of human blood. • A dreadful pause en.
sued ; die Charazmion Army retired within its
lines, where for some days it remained strongly
Wrenched, to avoid the hazard,nf surprize from the
Moguls,. and at length a retreat before so potent
and still numerous an Enemy was resolved upon,
and effeded. All the considerable cities and strong,
holds of Charazot and Transoxiana wore powerfully
reinforced with fresh troops,; and the Snitaty hoped
to Ward. at least", if not to weary our, the Mogul
Emperor, by the length of tedious sieges, and the
desultory harassing attacks of a large flying army of