The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1877-05-31

Woe to the happiness vamly invoked on
| the shores of the desOlatiOn opening all
around.
Circassia's Struggle Against Russia.
The cable dispatch that the porte had
| resolved to send Shamyl, younger son
of the great Shamyl, to the Caucasus,
| recalls the most striking phase of the
| continual march fer a hundred years of
| the Russians to the lands to the south of
| them. In this march the brave and hardy
| Circassians have always been the lions
| in their path. After a most romantic
| history, in which the names of Prone
| theus, DeucaliOn; Pyrrha, the ATgOnauts,
Sesostris. and the Egyptians, the Scy-
| thians, Mithridates. Pompey and Trajabj :
| the Arabs, Tartars and TuTkOmans figure
| Ciscassia, in 1905, 6vorthTew the rule of
| the khans of the CriE1sa, and be6am the
| allies of the Turkish sultan. in 1889
! the CirCassians were declared independ-
| ent, bnt they have always retained an
| affection for their old masters. In 1871
| Russia acquired the kuban border, and
! for eighty years afterward waged war
| fare on the bold mOUntaineeIs, whose
| heroic struggles to maintain their freedom
| are not exc6lled in the history of any
| people. In 1884 the Turks bnilt the
| fortress of Anapa, and thence inclted tbs
| Circas slams to insurrectiOn against the
| Russians. The fortress was captured by
| the Russians in 1907, Uttve years later,
| by the treaty. of Bucharest, was restored
to the Turks, who availed themselves
| of the peace that followed to convert
the CiTcassians to Islafnism. In
1929 hnapa agaiS fell into
| IF ln on
with it the country. The Circassians,
| however. refused to recognize the ses-
sion, and then began the struggle which
| has made them fsmOuz. and gave to the
world one of the greatest leaders-Sha-
myl, the father of the young man whom
| the Turks now propose to send to his ma
| tive land to stir up his COuntrymen against
| their historic enemies and OPpressOrs.
| Sndmyl, the elder, was born about 1897,
and died at Medina. Arabia, in 1871.
He first appears in 1913, as subordinate
| in religious war against the northern
! infdels. In 1894 he became a leader; and
organized his grand Warfare against
| Russia, which lasted for nearly thirty
years. His first victory was over Gene
/ raj Ivelitch, in 1889, at AkulgO. His
! forces were supposed to be crushed and
| himself killed, but lie reaPPeared soon
] afterward and renewed the struggle.
| The fighting at kkuIgO was of the NEST
desperate character, and for three days
the conflict was hand to hand. After
! five years of guerilla warfare the Gar
Nicholas sent a large army into the
country, which Shamyl opposed with
one of equal numbers. The Russian
campaign was foiled, and new plan Of
action was introduced against the brave
] o44 %1 hrIF
them to pitched battle, in which they
had shown themselves the equals, if not
the superiOrs, Of the Russians, were
abandoned, and detachmetts sent
against isolated spots. Wherever a
! footing was obtained, there a fort was
erected. But this plan also failed. The
| Circassians kept up their offensive opera
| tions, and in SAG they swept the chain of
| Russian forts and returned to their noun
! tains laden with pluiideT. This victory
was repeated in 1913 and 1850, and In
! 1853 they drove the Russians back from
| eight leagues of territory. During the
! Crimean war Russia had her hands full
! elsewhere, and Shamyl was cOmpar
atively inactive. As soon rs the treaty
| of Paris was signed the car TeOpened
! the war. Shamyl held out herOicllv for
three years, but the capture Of Neden
! in April, 1859, virtually decided the con-
! test. ShamvI retired to the mountain
| fastness of GAunib, near the Caspian sea.
| Here on September 9th, after one OF the
most desperate conflicts of history, he
was forced to surrender, and carried
prisoner to Moscow and st. Petersburg.
| With this battle all active efforts to main
| tain the Independence of Circas3ia
ceased. Shamyl was treated with dis
tinguiShed courtesy by the Gar, who
settled a pension of 10000 rOubles upon
him in 1870 the old hero repaired to
the shrine of MahOmet. where he died
the following year. Although subject
to Russia, the CirCassians have not aban-
dOned their hopes of freeing their country
with the assistance of their old allies,
the Turks In 1856 they sent
a deputation to COnstantinople
imploring the sultan's protection
in 1862 a deputatiOn arrived in London
and presented a petition to the queen
protesting against Russian rule and the
right of Turkey to cede their country a.
she had done nearly thirty years before,
and in 1862. during a visit of the CZar
Alexander IT. to the Caucasus, a delega-
tion Of Circassians waited upon him,
praying to be left in possession Of their
country, and promising to live On
terms of peace and amity with the
Russians The emperor refused, and
offered them the alternative of war OF
emigration. The mountajneers chose the
former, but their great leader was sadly
missed and after years fighting they
submitted, and there was a great emigra-
tiOn of about 200, 900 persons to Turkey.
! The Circassians yet remaining in the
Caucasus are still discomfort and ripe for
revolution, and If young Shamyl have
but half the heart Of his father, the
Russian armies now operating in Asia
Minor may suddenly find a more formid-
able foe in their rear than in front of
them.