The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-11-09
THE CAUCASUS REVOLT.
Land of the Golden Fleece "
Rent Apart by Misrule
PEOPLE ARE WARFARlNG
Virtually No Native Born Russians I'm
the Country-Opposed to Russia's
Method of Government-Ituss
Claim Armenia Had a Part I'm De-
struction of Oil Wells.

tne SOuntry- W huSS"
Method of Government-Russia
Claim Armenia Had Part i'm De-
struction of Oil Wells.
Perhaps the strangest feature OF
the Caucasus is the fact that, with
the exception of the two army corps
by means of which alone the Car is
able to maintain semblance of SOW
ereignty and the civil government
officials, there are virtually no ua-
tive born Russians in the country.
The population of some five millions
is the most polyglot and polydox to
be found anywhere in the world,
since there are scores and scores OF
nationalties, many hundreds of tribes
and a considerable number of creeds.
Add to this the fact that the Cauca-
SLAMS as a whole are prone to blood
shed, opposed to the methods of gov
ernment which Russia has for nearly
hundred years been endeavoring to
force upon them and imbued with
the strongest kind of racial preju-
dice and fanaticism, and it becomes
possible to form some kind of no.
tion of the elements of disorder
in that particular part of the Cars
empire, says New York Tribune.
1t was Catherine the Great who
first initiated the acquisition of the
Caucasus, partly by means of inva-
sion and partly, too, through per-
suading chiefs and princes to accept
Muscovite suzerainty under the
promise, never kept, Of being per-
mitted to retain their sovereignty
and autonomy. Then, too, a consid-
cradle portion of the Caucasus was
obtained by conquest from Persia,
while another big slice of territory
was acquired by similar means from
Turkey. Speaking broadly, the popu-
, lation OF the Caucasus was and re-
mains divided into Moslems, who
are, for the most part, the dwellers
of the mountain regions, and the
Christians, who were and are almost
exclusively Armenians. And in the
olden days the hardy Mahometan
mountaineers would prey upon the
Christian lowlanders. And Russia,
finding 1t difficult-nay, almost i'm
possible-to subdue the highlanders,
induced by various pledges of favor
and protection the Armenians Of the
plains to assist her in her task. She
appealed to the analogy of the Or
thodox and Armenian churches, and,
, by keeping before the Armenians the
antagonism which must necessarily
exist between the Crescent and the
Cross, and by holding out hopes to
them of the restoration of the an
cient kingdom of Armenia under the
suzerainty of the Car, secured such
valuable cooperation that the noun
tain tribes were at length reduced to
more or less nominal subjection.
Subsequently the championship by
Russia of the cause of the Armen-
ians in Turkey, for the purpose of
promoting her designs upon Con-
stantinople, led to an extensive emf
grafton of Armenians from the Otto
man Empire, and the war between
Russia and Turkey of 1877 had the
effect of still further adding por-
ton of the Caucasus, populated al
most exclusively by Armenians, to
the dominions of the Gar. 1t was
not long, however, before the Musco-
vite authorities discovered that the
Armenians declined to become as
simulated. They not only insisted on
remaining Armenians and loyal to
their Church, but they likewise be-
gan to agitate with a view of secur
ing from Russia the fulfilment of her
promise to restore the ancient king
dom of Armenia with an autonomous
government under the suZerainty of
the Car. Then, too, the Armenians
have the commercial spirit as strong
ly developed as the Jews, and the
Russian government began to find in
the Armenians the same objections
of an economic character which they
are forever invoking as a pretext for
their oppression of the Hebrew race.
That is to say, they insist that the
Armenians, like the Jews, have a
tendency to monopoliZe all the wealth
and prosperity, and beggar their fell
low citizens of different race and
creed, wherever they may happen to
settle. The Moslems of the Caucasus
ulu HoI h'Ci hiuSh SlSoul dSciiShI "
assail their Armenian fellow citizens.
They have neither forgotten nor for
given the fact that it was through
the assistance given by the Arme-
mans to the Russians that they had
lost their independence; that their
national hero, Schamyl, had been ta-
ken prisoner, and their mountain
faStnpSsaS oVarrun and "a apturad nv
the Muscovite invader. They were
only too glad of the opportunity of
wreaking their vengeance on those
whom they regarded as their be-
trayers, and the result is that neither
life nor property is safe. When the
dnstructinn of nrnnartu hacannn 90