The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-09-26 00:00:00

12,000 men required to be renewed every five years. Af-
ter describing the geographical position of Taman, which
he next visited, and which was inhabited by the Don
Cossacks, Mr. Seymour observed that they sometimes met
with curious characters in the Caucasus, and instanced a chief
whose history furnished some marvellous incidents. He
once fell into the power of the Russians, by whom he was
ordered to be hanged ; but, on the morning on which the
sentence was to have been carried into execution, he
escaped from prison, and made his way to a neighbouring
town, which he reached on the following day, when the
intelligence of his having been hanged was being duly cir-
culated. He subsequently repaired to the Caucasus, where
recently, although upwards of 60 years old, he married
a rich heiress, and was now living in affluence and ease.
In all these mountain districts there was a considerable
alerinie.. in the movements of the people, which was par-
ticularly astonishing to the traveller, until he ascertained
the necessity of alacrity if he would save his life. The
Russian army in the Caucasus, in 1846, amounted to
170,000, 150,000 of whom were stationed on the northern
division, to the left of Stavrapol, the remainder being
posted at Tiflis, the capital of Georgia. He gave a gra-
phic description of the dangers of travellers in these
mountain provinces, which, however, he hoped would ere
long be opened to the commerce of this country. (Cheers.)
Alluding next to the Elburz mountains, he said, they once
played a conspicuous part in the mythology of the ancients,
it being supposed that it was on them that Prometheus
was bound. It was an important stronghold of the Rus-
sians, and was regularly guarded by them, and had
hitherto resisted every attempt to dislodge them, although
nine years ago it was nearly taken by Schamyl, who
made a sudden attack upon it with 15,000 men. In his
(Mr. Seymour's) opinion, he would have succeeded, had it
not been for the fact that the Circassian chief narrowly
escaped assassination; but not, however, without receiving
severe wounds. With regard to the language of the
Circassians, he described it as more like that of birds than
men—the nearest illustration he could give being, "Wsh,
wsh, wsh." (Laughter.) Having noticed some of the
prominent points in Schamyl's history, referring espe-
cially to his " hair-breadth 'scapes," which are now
matters of history, Mr. Seymour made reference to the
Georgians and Lesghins, valorous mountain tribes, who,
by the coercive measures of the Russians, were now

arrayed against us.; whereas, by a little management, they
might, in his 'opinion, have been our powerful allies in
the struggle which was being carried to their provinces. In
illustration of this, he stated that he remembered being told
by a Georgian prince who once went out with an expedition
into that country with a Russian battalion—that on ap-
proaching the mountain fastnesses, the Lesghins called out
to the Georgians, "Why do you come to fight us ; it is the
Russians we want to fight. You may fire 'upon us, but
we will not touch a Georgian." They allowed the Geor-

gian militia—which, being brave and ardent warriors, were
always put in advance of the Russian troops—to pass with-
out molestation, and they then completely destroyed one

remnant of the- battalion composed of Tiussians.w With
proper management, therefore, he thought they could have
.obtained the co-operation of these varied • populations
of the mountains, who had an earnest love for their
.country, a thorough detestation of their Russian con-
querors, and a firm belief in their ultimate deliverance from
their yoke. They all spoke the three languages—Persian,
Turkish, and Arabic—and he regretted that a person
understanding these languages, and acquainted with the
country, had not been sent out by the British Govern-
ment ; but that a gentleman had recently been dispatched
who was utterly unacquainted with either, and who had
lived nearly all his life in South America. (Cheers.) He
:hoped and trusted that in the forthcoming year better
steps would be taken, otherwise we would have great
difficulty in regaining what we had lost by this neglect.
(Cheers.) After some further remarks, he showed that
the whole of this part of the country was formerly in a
-state of Christianity, as was proved' by the remains of

cluded his
Colonel C

,tion of t

he Caucasus, or a geographical
paper of such importance as that delivered by ➢ir. Sey-
mour, who was well entitled to their heartiest thanks.
He entirely coincided with him in his observations as to

the importance of sending out competent persons to effect
a good understanding with the mountain tribes. In his
opinion, if a few British officers and troops had been sent
to the Caucasus .at the commencement of the war, they
would have driven out the Russians from the Caucasus,
protected Persia, and thus defended our Indian possessions
from the possibility of attack. (Cheers.)
A vote of thanks was, by acclamation, awarded to Mr.
Seymour for his excellent paper.

The following papers were also readt---
Mr. Richard Cull—On the Ethnological Value of the
Results of Philological Inquiry.
„ Captain W. Allen, R.N.—Remaks on some Levels
taken in Jerusalem with the Aneroid.
„ James Fergusson—On the Site cf the Holy Sepul-
chre at Jerusalem.

The object of the two latter was 'to prove that the
general impression as to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem
was incorrect—that the sepulchre was not the one to
which reference was made in the Scriptures—but that the
real sepulchre was in a different locality. An interesting
discussion followed, in which the Rev. Mr. HIGGINS took
part in defence of the generally received supposition.
A vote of thanks was accorded to the authors of the

papers.
The section adjourned at three o'clock,lleaving the fol-
lowing papers to be read to-day :
Dr. Latham.—On the Non-Russian Populations of
European Russia.
Exploration of the Isthmus of Darien, under Capt. Prevost,
of H.M.S. Virago by Mr. Geo. H. Inaky, communi-
cated by Sir Roderick I. Murchison ; with
Remarks on the Isthmus, by H. Hamilton.
Extract of a Letter from Captain Spratt, to Col.
Leake, on the Island of Crete.
Late Exploraticins between Valfish Bay and Lake Ngami
in S. Africa, with ascent of the River Teoge, by Mr.
Charles Andersson.
George Rennie. F.R.S.—Hydrographical Remarks on the
Improvement of the Port of Liverpool..
Joseph Brooks Yates.—On the Estuary of the 'River Mer-
sey, and the hazardous and uncertain

apyruacites to
the Port of Liverpool; with Sectional Diagrams, il-
lustrative of Changes in the bed of the Kim: Mersey
and its approaches, by Joseph Boult.