The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-27 00:00:00

RAILWAXS.

Cash. A mount.
Orleans
Northern . 937 50 .. 940
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 931 25 .. 902 50

(fen ev a 550 ---

Southern
Western GOO 600
Eastern
Sardinian 420 420
Austrian
Lombard
Exchange on London, at eight, paper, 25f. 13c. ; money,
251 11c.; three months, paper, 24fr. 9?c.; money, 21f. 931 c.

TUE CAPTURE OF SCITAMYL.
We take the following from the Nord
"ST. PETERSBURG, SEPT. 17.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Grabbe, who arrived yes-
terday from the Caucasus, has brought details of
the capture of Schamyl.
" Having been sent off by Prince Bariatinski
from Gounib a few minutes after the surrender of
the Iman, he has brought no written details, but
has given a verbal account of events to the Em-
peror.

• " The following is a correct version of the affair :
"After numerous defeats, Schamyl, as a last re-
source, shut himself up, with, 400 murides who re-
mained faithful to him, in the fortified soul- of
Gounib. Gounib is a fortified stronghold, on very
elevated ground, of large extent. On three sides
the rocks are perpendicular; the only other side
was deemed impregnable, and it was supposed that
a handful of determined men could have defended
it for months against any odds.
"Prince Bariatinski ordered the attack to be
made on both sides at once. The attack commenced
on the 7thof September. While the chief attack
was made on the only accessible side a number of
men, who volunteered, scaled the rocks. The enemy
• was taken by surprise. A fearful struggle ensued.
The resistance was most determined. Of the. 400
murides in Gounib only 47 remained alive. Five
guns were captured.
" Schamyl retired to a house cut out in the solid
rock The plateau was co' ered with corpses. We
have lost more than 100 men. Prince Bariatinski,
who had come up, summoned Schamyl to surren-
der, and ordered his men to cease firing. The Imam
asked upon what conditions. ' •
s camedvitd
by h
i s officers
ffirs to retire, " Come out without conditions,' said the Prince.
out,acned tlleP.rtin:, forem fear met him
thou Schamyl
h aof
treachery.
" Are you Schamyl ?' said the Prince. Yes;
I am,' replied the Iman. Well,
you may keep your wives and treasure, but to-
morrow I send you to St. Petersburg. Your fate
will depend • upon the will of the E • •
mpmm, my
august master.'
" Schamyl bowed without uttering a word. The
Prince then said to I expected you at Teflis ;
I thought you would have come to make your
submission. As you did not, I was obliged to
come and seek yOu hero.'
" Turning then to Lieutenant-General Grabbe,
Prince Bariatinski said, Start at once for St.
Petersburg, tell his Majesty what_ you have seen
and heard, I will send written details to-morrow
and Schamyl with them. •
" This is the denouement of the sanguinary
drama which has lasted so long. But it is not
%lite over yet. There are many tribes in the
Caucasus who still maintain their independence,
but the capture of Schamyl will contribute greatly
to their subjection.
The following details of Schamyl and the war in
thd Caucasus are of interest at the present moment :
"It was towards the end of the last century
that the• Russians, having become masters of tho
Crimea, advanced towards the Caucasian regions.
They commenced by the side nearest the Black
'Sea, and in 1791 took Anapa, the other places on
the coast falling into their- power one after the
other. • Th 3 conquest of the lowlands was easy,
but when the Russians arrived in the mountains
they found them occupied by fierce tribes, who
Made a terrible resistance, which was rendered
more determined by the nature of the ground.
The mountaineers were commanded by chiefs who
possessed all the confidence of the populations, both
for their religious and political character. The most

powerful of the chiefs at the beginning.of the cen-
tury was Khasi-Mollah, a prophet and a warrior,
who exercised authority over all the tribes on the
side of the mountains towards the Caspian Sea.
During 20 years he made war on the Russians and
died in combating. He was succeeded by a man still
more resolute, and who in a sho2t time acquired great
celely ity—Schamyl. This leader was born on May
14, 1797, of a family of Tartar shepherds who had
founded the village of Himry, to the north of Dag-
hestan. He was brought up by the Arab Djelal-
Eddin, the founder of a peculiar religious doctrine,
called the Souffine, traces of which previously existed
in the creeds of the tribes of Upper Asia. Schamyl
adopted the new religion, making rc odifications in it,
and taught its tenets to the inhabitants of the moun-
tains. According to this doctrine, the world is go-
verned by a superior spirit which inhabits the celes-
tial sphere, and which every one hundred years sends
on egrth a man cleitined to govern his fellow crea-
tures. The person in question has to attain suc-
cessively four different degrees of religious per-
fection to become worthy of his destiny. He is
then designated Mourchid or the Elect of God,
and assumes the right of commanding other men,
of presiding over their labours, and of leading
them to combat. By preaching this doctrine,
Schamyl obtained numerous adherents, who pro-
claimed him their chief. He commenced in 1824
the warlike clreer by which he has gained so much
glory. Ho proclaimed the holy war, and up to
1831 obtained continual success. In that year he
was hard pressed, and escaped almost by miracle
from the pursuit of his enemies, disappearing until
1839. At the end of 1839 he recommenced the
campaign, and continued it during 20 years with
more or less, but always with credit. The fortress of
Gounib, in which he finally sought refuge, having
been invested by the Russians, he at last gave him-
self up under a capitulation approved of by Prince
Bariatinsky. Schamyl has been sent with his
three sons and the rest of his family to St. Peters-
burg, and the last accounts from the Black Sea
state that he had already arrived at Odessa on his
way there,"