Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-11-24

1853.
is at the head of an army of more than 100000
men. He is thoroughly posted in the most i'm.
proved European tactics, and his defences and
plan OF operations are said to be admirable.
English and other foreign officers who have
visited his camp, have expressed not only ad-
miration but astonishment at the skill dis
played in all his arrangements of defence and
of tactics, and are confident that he will make
stand worthy of any European army. He
displays the activity of youth in all his move
ments, and is eager to commence the contest.
Omer Pasha is now fftytwo years old He
is little below the medium height, but he has
martial physiognomy, full of expression. He
speaks with equal facility, Servian, Italian and
German. He has been frequently offered port
folios of state, by the Sultan, but always re-
fused, preferring to remain in the army. After
the insurrection in Hungary, he took in hand
the defence of the refugees, whose extradition
had been demanded by Austria and Russia.
He went in person TO Shumla, where he made
the acquaintance of Kossuth, and the other
| principal members of the refugees, and upon
his arrival at Constantinople, he actively inter
brought several of them with him into Bosnia
and Montenegro, and confded to them import
ant posts Several ofthese distinguished them
selves, and have remained in the service Of
Turkey. The distinguished Hungarian officers,
Dembinski and Klapka, who fought SO nobly
for the independence of their country, were
amongst this number, and they now have the
command of 1000 men in the camp of Omer
Pasha. There are other foreign officers of dis
tinction in his staff, mostly refugees from Rus
sian, and Austrian oppression and it will be safe
to predict that these men will show little cow
ardice when placed once more face to face with
their old and hated enemy.
ABDI PAsHA.
The Asiatic division of the Turkish army,
that division of it which is now collected at Er-
zeroum, Mount Ararat, in Armenia, and des-
tined to prevent an invasion of the Russians
from the northeast shore of the Black Sea- COM
manded by Abdi Pasha, an Asiatic, of the same
age and youthful activity as Omer Pasha. This
officers tactics will be half European, half ASH
attic, and his military education has been such
as to well fit him for the kind of warfare which
he will be compelled to adopt in that country,
and with the kind of soldiers under his COM
mand. 1t is to him that are focking the hordes
of Circassians, Georgians, Syrians, Arabians,
1 uAu OIACl uHClfHiLCu tIlutS DcyUuu OCIuSdlcLu.
The latter fight because it is under the standard
of the Prophet Mohamed that they are called,
and the Circassians and Georgians, because,
| like the Poles and Hungarians, they have an
old enemy to deal with. 1t is in the mountains
or the confines of Georgia that the skill of Abdi
Pasha will be first tried, and he is said to be
peculiarly fitted for this kind of mountain war
fare. He has surrounded himself with staff
of officers of like stamp, many of whom are Cir
cassians and Georgians, and have already dis
tinguished themselves in the long contest which
has been going on between them and Russia.
| scHAMYL, THE cIRcAssIAN LEADER.
In the staff of Abdi Pasha, is Schamyl, the
Circassian, the most remarkanmend desperate
man with whom the -RNssians will have to con-
tend. The following biographical details 0!
this man, who has now for SO many years sue
cessfully withstood the onslaught Of Russian
armies in the Caucasus, and who has Just been
placed by the Sultan in position where his
talents will be more fully developed, will, no
doubt be read with interest. 1t is derived from
a source worthy of credit.
! The first time we hear of Schamyl is in 1892
In that year, devout mussulman, Kas-Mol-
| lah, held chief command in the bands of Les.
ghians, Tchetchentzes, and other tribes of the
eastern chain and the steppes abutting on the
Caspian and traversed by the Koisu. Kasi-
Mollah's reputation for sanctity was greater
than that which he acquired for the higher
military qualities, although dashing leader,
and Individually one Of the bravest of the brave.
He was brought to bay in 1882 by General Ro-
sen, at place called Gumri. Encircled on all
sides, almost the last scrap of food devoured,
nothing remained, in the opinion of Kasi-Mol-
lah, and about thirty of his most Jealous dsci-
pies, but to hew for themselves path through
the Russian bayonets, to freedom or to Para
dise-either alternative welcome one This
resolution finally taken, they suddenly emerged
from the fastness they could no longer hold,
and burst upon the Russian troops with the
shock Of an avalanche and the furious, discord-
ant yells of troop of madmen. For one or two
brief moments it seemed that they must escape,
so far through the beleaguering circle of their
foes did they cleave their desperate way, before
the momently-recoiling ranks reclosed around
them, and they fell by twos and threes, wildly
fighting to the last, riddled by musket balls
and bayonet stabs. Kasi-Mollah " died with
his hand on his beard, and a last prayer mur-
muring from his lips;" and his pupils perished
with him, all save one, and he the bravest and
fercest of them all, who broke through the en-
circling bayonets, dashed at headlong speed
past the more distant lines of running fire un-
harmed-reined suddenly up as he reached the
angle of mountain gorge, into which he knew
none dared to follow, shook his red scimiter,
and hurled defiant execration in the faces of
his baffed foes, and the next moment with an
exulting shout Of Allah Ii Allah !''' disap-
peared in the dark mountain pass.
future Imam 1 asRsffmaR8 eNats fsssahamyl the
the Caucasus, whose escape, as just described,
many of his followers to this day firmly be-
lieve was due to the direct interposition of
the angel Gabriell Schamy who is one of
the dark-haired, dark-eyed, partly Tartar race
of Tchetchentzes, was born at Tschirskei,
place of about three thousand inhabitants;
and, after his escape from Gumri he employed
several years in perambulating the mountains
of the Lesghian chain, preaching, wherever he
went, with fervid eloquence, upon the sacred
duty devolved by God upon all true believers
to extirpate the intrusive infdel, and the para
dsal rewards which death in so high and holy
a cause must infalibly insure. This prophet