Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-10-14

,srri.ery consisting Of Opsn valleys vas lees de
isaded BY mature against the lnroads Of enemies
bowed their necks for time in submission; ant
Georgia, on the Asiatic slope. took in she person
Of her king Alexander the oath If vassalagc to th'
Muscovite, obtaining master where she had ask
cd only for protector. Bot occupied daring tb,
nszt two hundred years with affairs al the north
the Russian princes lost their possessions and most
II their influence in the Ca6cssus; and il was moi
until 100 tina. the far.sccng ambition Of the great
Peter brought him TO the Albanian gates" oil
Derbend. and even within sight Of the sacred fires
Of the promon.ory Of Apsheron.
II was permitted h., this most gifted Of the czars
| 10 behold these mountains and get n glimpse Of
the fair Asiatic wales beyond. but not To pos
| seas them. In leaving. however. to his success
ors the legacy of his boundess ambition, he point.
cd with his dying hand TO the peaks Of Elbrus
and Kasbek; and ever since his race. extending
itself on both sides, has not ceased to press on
ward ia this pathway toward the rising of tho sun.
Especially within tho last quarter Of century
has Russia occupied herself in earnest with the
conquest Of the Caucasus. During that period
she has maintained there constantly large force.
and latterly as many as two hundred thousand
men under arms Year after year she has des-
patched her battalions To supply the places of
those who bad fallen by the shaskas Of the Cir
cassans or the stll more deadly arrows Of the fc-
yer, which in the most sickly seasons has cut of
no Icss than one-sixth Of tho whole army. She
has sent thiiher also her best generals and admin
istrators FROM Jcrmelof TO Paskiewitsch and Wo-
ronzon The Emperor Nicholas went himself in
to these mountains at the risk Of his life, 10 in
spect and encourage by bis presence the invading
columns Every system Of attack which the inge-
nuity of the st. Petersburg cabinet could devise
has in turn been tried efforts have constantly
been made to gain over by intrigue the tribes who
could not be subugated by force the cross, join
ing its influence TO the power Of tho sword, has
endeayorcd 10 bring tho native mind under the do
minion Of n system Of religion more favorable to
the aims Of the autocrat; u superior civilization
has held ont to tho comparatively rude barLarians.
its hands full Of gifts dazzling mud fatal to liberty;
but hitherto mostly, il not all in vain. The in
habitants Of the upper and more inaccessible
mountains have Lcid their independence above all
price. fighting for their homes IA the nountaineer
only WILL and tho chieftnns who have been
tempted by preferment in the Russian army and
the glitter Of its cpaulettes by the honors Of the
parades at Tias, and even by tho imperial cam
paign. and the sight Of the ballet dancer, If St.
have disdaincd to sell u brthright OF
freedom inherited from II thousand generations in
exchange for these high-1avorel sops of an over
reaching foreign despotislp.
An intense interest of humanity. therefore,
still hangs this prolonged contest between tho
forces of civilization aud those of the primitive
state Of nature, between tho battalions Of imperial
authority and the bands Of democratic liberty;
and tho more iniense because this barrier of ma
ture and wal! Of trcemen once mplctcly carried,
there will remain no further hindrauce 10 the vic
lor,ous course eastward of that ambition which.
possessing already the path to the orient by the
northern su9ws, covets that also across the sands
Of the tropics.
This article having already exceeded the limits
intended we must defer u sketch oi Sehamyl until
our next issue.