The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-28 00:00:00

CAP7'Ui?E 017

r e02:2 the Tkes)
Some years ago the capturp of Schamyl by the
Russians would have been to the enthusiasts of na-
tional liberty a blow hardly less severe than the
defeat of Charles Albert or the surrender of Georgey.
The Caucasian tribes were admitted to all the sym-.
pathies of European Liberals, and the name of their
chief was venerated wherever men admired the ex-
ploits of uncivilised heroism or dreaded the advance
of Russian power, --kill this sympathy was cer-
tainly not undeserved, The extraordinary man
whose career has now been brought to a close may
dal?:
well rank with the most famous chieftains of ar—
age. The mythical Tell never performed ran
ing actions; .Abd-el-Kad e tier, in our w r
won such Tietnries over discipl-le a 4.. O
never
.roops and im-
mense resources. Though it4-enamyl has not suc-
ceeded, like £zerny G rge, in winning the inde-
pendence of territory and establishing himself
as an independent Prince, yet there is no doubt
that his military genius has been more elevated, his
courage and endurance more fullyproved, and his
ascendancy over his countrymen more complete,
than that of any similar character in modern
Yet those acquainted with the cond;_t;.
'-en of the
Caucasian provinces have been long
aware that the
struggle was virtually conclud a-
The constant
and persevering efforts of 4Lne Russian Governors,
supported by the 'note strength of' the empire,
made the extippilon of national resistance merely a
question Qf tune. Of late years Schamyl, grown
old, and perhaps failing in hope, if not in energy,
has seen all the districts on which he could depend
for support slo sly occupied by the enemy, all the
tribes who were his allies conquered, or bought, or
driven from their strongholds. He has been grad-
ually confined to his native mountains of Daghestan,
and since the conclusion of the Turkish war the
toils have been drawn about him with a skill
and determination which made his capture
certain. Indeed, it may now be said that any
efforts for the destruction of Russian power
in the Caucasian districts must he too late.
The strength of the State, delivered from all
external enemies, and abandoning for the present
any designs on Europe, has been turned to the con-
solidation of the Asiatic provinces. Not only in
the Caucasus, but in Persia, in Tartary, and on the
borders of the Chinese Empire, will the activity of
St. Petersburg be employed, and perhaps success.
fully. We may regret the disappearance from the
'scene of so romantic a character as Schamyl, but
we are obliged to exclaim, as probably he exclaims
himself, " It is destiny !" and to accept the domi-
nation of the Czar on the southern slopes of the
great mountain barrier.
Still, the overthrow of the chief Caucasian leader
is an event not without significance. The struggle
has been by no means a mere display of barbarous
virtue without object or meaning or hope of seaa
cess. It has been a warfare full of importa;ice to
Europe, and to no country more than tQ England.. I
The resistance of the Daghestanees represented the
resistance of Central Asia to that invading march
of the Russians which we are told will take the
place of the designs on Censtantinople, The world
had an interest in the success of Sohamyl, and, to
do him justice he gave the Western Powers a
chance, of which they did not think proper to avail
themselves. The Turkish war was, indeed, the
crisis in the life of Schamyl. Such a conflict be-
tween East and West had probably never been ex-
pected by the old warrior, but when it came he
seems to have taken advantage of it to the utmost.
It is difficult, indeed, to speak with any certainty
of the proceedings in that obscure corner of the
earth, and Schamyl has been made almost a fa oul-
ous personage by the plans and enterprises falsely
attributed to him, But it is certain that in 1854 the
retreat of the Russians from Moldo-W-ilachia, and
the threatened attack on Sebasto-pol stirred up
Sehamyl to make a new effort, Ile advanced into
Georgia, and, though' the Russians were strong
enough to drive him back, he carried off no little
plunder, and took several Russians of rank as hos-
tages. Although this may not have been a very bril-
liant exploit, it had at least the effect of making the
Russians alarmed for the safety of Teflis, and com-
pelled them to detract from the strength of the
forces which were opposed to the Turks in Arme.
nia. About the same time a person representing
himself to be the delegate of Schamyl arrived at
the Porte ; he brought with him a letter from the
chief, and endeavoured to enlist the British and
French Embassies in his master's cause. The Naib,
however, returned without receiving any positive
assurances, and the result proved that the two
Western Governments cared little for the portion
of the earth in which Schamyl laboured, ft may
have been that in London and Paris no one con-
templated a long campaign in t)e Crimea. The
fall of the Russian fortress and the expulsion of the
enemy from the peninsula, were looked upon as a
matter of coursei-and then, may be, it was thought
that a final blow in Georgia would crush the power
of the Czar. If this was the scheme, the fates
thwarted it. The war in the Crimea lingered. on.
and France, wearied nith her exertions, was glad
to accept a peace, even while Russian cannon
crowned the heights on the north of Sebastopbl.
During the winter of 1855 the thoughts of both
nations were occupied by a contemplated enter-
prise against Nicholaieft and we are far from assert.
ing that this was not a point worthy of importance.
But it is impossible to look on these events politi-
cally without feeling that, for English interests
especially, the destruction of Russian power in the
Caucasus and south of it would have been a grand
design ; nor would it at that time have been diffi-
cult of accomplishment. Indeed, the straits to which
the Russians were brought in the matter of commu-
nication would have made Georgia an easy prey to
an invading army. Had the war continued—had
France carried on a campaign in Russia Proper,
and left our own. fine army free to operate on the
east of the Black sea, the fate of Asia might have
been very different. The army which M4buravieff
led to Kars would have been swept away by the
continually increasing levies which England, now
warm in her work, would have marched into the
country.
But this was not to be, and now the most inde-
pendent of the Caucasian races and the most inde-
fatigable of chiefs have bowed to the strength,
skill, and patience of Muscovite warfare. It is, in-
deed, possible that another Sehamyl may arise and
continue the contest, but this is very doubtful. The
advances of the Russians are slow, but sure. They
have cut down the forests, made roads, established
cordons round the disaffected tribes, and everything
promises that ere long they will be obedient, if not
loyal, subjects of the Czar. As to the Circassians
proper, inhabitingt
the coasts of the Black Sea, they
have long been unable to oppose any resistance o
the Russian commandants, and must not be con-
founded with the pertinacious warriors of the
eastern districts. The final success of the Russians
in pacifying the Caucasus will, no doubt, give them
further authority over the Court of Teheran, as
well as over the barbarous rulers of Bokhara, Khiva,
and the other Tartar khanships. Viewed in this
light, the capture of Schamyl is an event of interest
even to those who are little enthusiastic for heroes
or nationalities.

(From the Daily .kews.)
. The fall of Schamyl appears quite as • likely to
open a new period of Russian aggression as to close
an old one. The Court of St. Petersburg has main-
tained its persevering warfare of a quarter of a cen-
tury with the Chieftain whom it has at last sub-
clued and taken prisoner, net from the mere desire
of possessing the Caucasian range, but from that of
consolidating its power in the provinces which lie
to the southward. Transcaucasia has nominally
been a Russian province ; and the city of Tiflis,
approached from European R:fssia through one of
the easier passes of the Caucasus, has been the chief
seat of Russian authority between the Black Sea
and the Caspian. But hitherto this dependence Of
Transcaucasia upon Russia has been little more than
nominal: The provinces which Russia has thrown,
as it were; into a sort of political hotch-potch, and
has included under this general name, are six or
seven in number, the principal ones being Ime-
ritia, Abkhasia, Mingrelia, Gieorgia, and Abasia.
Most of these are governed by their native Christian
princes, and from their being formally included in
the Turkish Empire when the Caucasus formed
the acknowledged barrier between that empire and
Russia, they took the name, in analogy to the States
on the Lower Danube, of the Christian principali•
ties of Asia. From a Turkish stmeraincte these
States. passed to a Russian one, and the princes
have all paid heavy tribute to the Czar. The
extent of the Russian dominion differed, indeed,
between the difkrent States, and while intrepid
and unconquered tribes held possession of the chief.
ranges of the Caucasus, any consolidation of the
Russian power beyond that barrier was impossible.
It is supposed that the final defeat and capture:(
Schamyl have not extinguished the Cam a an
enemies of Russia; but there can be no doubt that.,
more pat ticularly in the eastern mountains, and on
the slopes which descend towards the Caspian,
which were Sehamy's strongholds, this en c roachinB
power will make a gi eat inroad into Transcaueasii:
This event has a very important bearing on the
recent settlement of the East, by the Treaty of Paris
in 1856. So far as Transcaucasia was concerned,
the great result of the Russian War had been, o'
course, the extinction of the maritime power of
Russia on its coasts. This event was of an import-
ance to the Christian Principalities of Asia which
has commonly been overlooked. The authority o
Russia, up to the ouarcak of the war, in 1854, had
been maintained in those States much more by sea
than by land ; and the evidence of this truth rests
in the fact that the sea-board Principalities were
the only ones in which St, Petersburg could be