The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-05-29
JENGHIZ KHAN.
The Greatest Conqueror the World Has
Ever Seen.

JENGHIZ KHAN.
The Grentest Conqueror the World Ans
Ever Seen.
Temuchin, afterwards known as Jen
ghiz Khan, was born in the year 1852
in Mongol tent, on the banks OF the
river Onon, one of the headwaters of the
Amoor. When he grew up, he did
nothing of any Importance, and was
looked upon by his neighbors as an
ordinary kind of being. But the birth
of Temuchin was not without its por-
tent, for "clot of CONCEALED blood like 9
red stone was found in his clenched fist. u
At the age of thirteen he lost his father,
and became the head of several associ-
ated tribes, but some of these fell away
from him, and he had at once to enter
upon q career of warfare which ended
only with his death. In the year 1906
his power had 80 greatly increased that
he resolved "to proclaim himself the
ruler OF the empire" So he called an
assembly of chiefs at his birthplace on
the Onon, assumed the imperial title,
and, at the request of the assembled
chiefs, took the name of Jenghiz Khan
or "Perfect Warrior" Then he con.
ceiyed the idea of attacking the Kin
dynasty, which reigned in Northern
China, and of avenging the wrongs
which he believed himself to have suf-
fered from that power.
Jenghiz Khan died in the year 1927,
in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and
was buried in the valley of Keleen, north
of the Desert of Cobb. He had I" forty
wives save one," and he had six sons.
Jenghiz must undoubtedly have been
man of vast ability, and was perhaps
the greatest conqueror the world has
ever seen. 1t is apparent that he pos
sessed that characteristic of great men,
the art of selecting able assistants, of
attaching them to his person, and OF
imbuing them with his own spirit and
energy. His early wars had accustomed
his Mongol followers to victory, and
gave them that sense of superior prowess
and that daring spirit which almost en-
sure success. On the other hand, his
opponents were dismayed by bis victor
les, and were horror struck by the cruel
ties and wholesale slaughters in which
his armies indulged. It was his spirit
that animated and set IN motion the vast
armies which accomplished such Won
drous conquests; but he worked through
able lieutenants, whose campaigns and
successes depended more upon circum-
stances and opportunities than upon
settled plans of conquest devised by
Jenghiz himself. As the head Of a
mighty confederacy of warriors, the con-
quests effected by his armies are attribu.
table to him, and he must also bear the
everlasting odium of having caused the
slaughter of millions of human beings;
but some of his greatest victories were
achieved, and some of the worst massa-
cres perpetrated, when he was far abb
sent and could have had no Immediate
directing influence.
It is remarkable that the Chinese
writer's say very little about those whole
sale and indiscriminate butcheries which
figure so prominently in the writings OF
Mohammedan and other historians.
According to Mr.. Howorth, who no
doubt had authority for the statement,
"19, ,470, 900 human beings persisted in
China and Tangut alone at the hands of
Jenghiz and his followers. :" Chinese
authors tell of armies most imposing in
many thousands-in one instance of as
many as 80, ,O00-on the field of battle
and the sum total of the slain, if it could
be arrived at, would reach very high
number, but nothing approaching to the
almost inconceivahle total of eighteen
millions and a half. Once, and once
only, are we told that the Mongols,
after taking certain cities, "butchered
their inhabitants. This silence about
massacres can hardly be accounted for
by the supposition that they were so
common as to escape mention. Writer'S
who frequently took care to record the
numbers who fell upon the battlefield
would have been equally if not more
careful to mention any cold-blooded
slaughters which followed. These
authors were not Indifferent to Mongol
savagery; they speak of supernatural
warnings which Jenghiz received against
"blood. shedding" and "slaughter,"
but there is nothing to show that this
uleduU luOlc Ill IL GuC Cd1hdSO Va pouuAOs
In China it was apparently the common
practice OF the Mongol armies TO carry
away captive men and women" for the
conquerors were comparatively near
home, and the prisoners had perhaps
value as slaves which saved them from
slaughter. Of the general character of
the Mongol warriors, however, the rec
ords are too numerous to be set aside.
It is incredible that 100000 people lost
their lives, as stated, in the massacre at
Merry, 1,747,000 at Nishapoor, and
y, 10000 at Herat, but much as we may
diminish them, the enormity of the
crime is in no. degree extenuated, and if
the Mongols rank among the greatest
warriors of the earth they are equally to
be classed among the most brutal of its
sayapes