Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1854-09-23
SChamyl, tho Circassian Hero.

For a period Of nearly thirty years
the gallant tribes of the Caucasus have
woged deadly war against Russia But
on their side the war has been almos! en-.
lirely defensive. 1t has been war for
life and liberty, for house and home aud
il ever war was sacred. the war of the
Circassians agans! Russia has been so.
Russia, which had overwhelmed Poland
and enslaved its population which had
annexed Finland and its adjncen: islands;
which had subjugated the Cossacks of the
Ukraine, and was rolling onward like a
resistless flood towards Consanlnople;
this Russia with its "omnipo.en." Gar
and his "invincble" hosts, was banled,
held at bay, and repeatedly beaten, by
the petty, independent tribes which in.
habit the mountain Of Circassla. For
many wears the tribes resisted the ar
mics of Russia, severaly, and in small
bodies; sometimes they succeeded in des-
troying their detachment, at other times
they were beaten back into their fortress.
es with great loss. But they never ceas-
ed to rosist. They fought with bravery
which neither Scotch or Swiss, fighting for
their liberties under Bruce or Tell, had
ever surpassed. Foot BY foot they retr.
cd when overcome, and when their enc
mics, worn out by fatigue and decimated
by bullets, had ina gine them bea'e and
dispersed, 10! again did the brave Circas-
slams swoop down from the mountains and
smite with fearful slaughter the Russian
invaders. At length great hero arose
amongst the Circassians, of extraordinary
bravery and daring--a man whose life
had been full Of perils, and from which
he had repeatedly escaped in such SEEM
ingly miraculous ways, that the people
of the country regarded him as sacred
being, and not onl ly regarded him as he.
ro, but hailed him as prophet. Such is
Schanhyl, the valorous leader Of the Cir.
cassian tribes.
The tribe which nhabit the Caucasus
range of mountains exhibit many peculi.
arities and varieties. They speak widely
different dialects, the constitution Of soc;-
~ varies in different regions, and the ply.
sical peculiarities of the tribes greatly
vary. But they are almost uniformly
brave, devoted, and ardent lovers of free.
dom. 1t is not improbably that they are
she remains of many tribes who. at re-
mote periods had Teen driven into the
mountains by the oppression of the Mon.
gols on the north, and of the Osmanlis
and Persians on the south. Or, preferring
hardly poverty with liberty, to compare.
tive ease with slavery, they retired into
mountain forlresses; and ever since they
have fourished there among the gorges
and ravines Of the Caucasus, brave,
hardy, and beautiful, though. it may be,
rude and comparatively uncivilized
people.
Amongst the eastern Circassians, or
Caucasians, has the prophe..hero, Scha-
1nyl, sprung into life and power, fit he.
ro for such a people at such an epoch
Russia has been steadily rolling its mud
tide Of Cossackism and Mougoleanism
southwards towards Persia and Turkey
in Asia since Peter tho Greats time. FRS.
getting itself called in % protector, it
gradually became the subjugator of i'm
mense tracts of territory. Thus it se-
cured possession Of the C-imea; thus it
obtained the immense tract of country ly.
ing between the Don and the mountains
of Caucasus thus il laid hands on Geor.
gia, and pushed i.s frontier to the Turk.
ish province of Kars, and thus it has ev-
er steadily been encroaching upon Per-
sia and Turkey on it's road to India, in