brandy or iron, or any other commodity, when | last year (1847.) The list comprises, of regular once its durability and unchangability were demon strated. The various modes of applying the principle of air-exhausted reservoirs may be thus summed up. As Fixed Reservoirs. 1. Granaries for seaports and dockyards. 4. Ditto, for railways. 5. Ditto, for mills and breweries. 6. Reservoirs for butchers. 7. Ditto, for fishmongers. 8. Ditto, for fruiters. 9. Ditto, for private dwellings 10. Ditto, for dairies. 11. Ditto, for government dockyards. As Movable Reservoirs for 12. Grain ships. 13. Combustibles in ships. troops, fourteen regiments of infantry, three brigades of artillery, fifty-four battalions of Georgians, oons, and several battalions and companies of sapCaucasians, and Cossacks, one regiment of dragpers and miners, sharpshooters, &c.; of irregulars, nineteen regiments of Cossacks of the line, with three brigades of horse artillery, forty-three regiments of Tchernomorsky, Don, and Ural Cossacks, with a numerous militia raised in the provinces contiguous to the theatre of war. This immense force is under the sole direction of the governor-general of the Caucasus, Prince Woronzoff, who has received, from his imperial master, powers little short of dictatorial for the conduct of the war. M. Hommaire de Hell, in his valuable work, The Steppes of the Caspian Sea, gives the Russian statement, for 1843, at 160,000 men; but supposes that the official number is considerably above the truth. This, however, is not the opinion of Professor Koch and other late authorities-and, indeed, does not seem very probable in itself; for, considering the continual losses and defeats endured by the Russian 14. Fresh meat in ships as provisions or cargo. troops, it would be manifestly for the interest of the 15. Fruit and vegetable ships. 16. Fish vessels. 17. Damageable goods generally. 18. Canal boats. 19. Railway wagons. 20. Road wagons. commanders to rate their own forces at the lowest amount, and to exalt those of the enemy as much as possible. Accordingly, they do not scruple, in their bulletins, to assign to their most formidable opponent, Shamil, a force of 40,000 warriors, being about the total number of men, capable of bearing arms, within the territories subject to his sway. In these simple means will be found an economic and ample security against those fluctua-eral misapprehension prevails in this country. tions in the price of food that really constitute the groundwork of the greater part of the miseries of G. A. H. With regard to the chief just named, a very gen man.* From the United Service Magazine. THE RUSSIAN WAR IN THE CAUCASUS. He is commonly supposed to be a Circassian, and the present Russian contest in the Caucasus is almost always styled the war in Circassia. The proper Circassians, however, who inhabit the western part of the Caucasian range, bordering on the Black Sea, are quite distinct from the Lesghians and Tchetchens, the followers of Shamil, who live in the eastern mountains, near the Caspian. Twelve EUROPE owes a great debt to the Kabyles of Al-years ago, it is true, the Circassians were engaged geria and the mountaineers of the Caucasus. It is in a desperate struggle with the Russians, for their to their determined spirit of independence that is own independence. They came off triumphant; due the profound peace which has, of late years, but, at the same time, their losses had been severe prevailed among all the greater powers of Christen- enough to make a strong impression upon them. dom. The two most warlike and aggressive nations Thus they have welcomed with pleasure the respite of the continent have found ample employment for from strife which the insurrection of the eastern their arms in the vain attempt to reduce a few myr-tribes has afforded them, and all Shamil's endeaviads of semi-barbarians to the condition of submissive ors to engage them to take part in the present consubjects. How truly this has been the case with test have as yet proved fruitless. To this result, France is sufficiently notorious. But it is not gen- the presents profusely distributed by the Russian erally known that the assertion is even more appli- commanders among the Circassian chieftains have cable to the contest which Russia is now waging no doubt effectively contributed; and still more the with the tribes of the Caucasian mountains. How license now accorded to their slave-trade with Conmany are aware that 30,000 Muscovite soldiers per- stantinople-particularly the trade in female slaves. ish every year in this inglorious strife-either slain It is curious enough that one of the liberties for in actual conflict or carried off by disease? Most persons in this country will probably be surprised to learn that the Russian army at present engaged in the prosecution of this war amounts to the enormous total of more than 150,000 men. A work recently published in Germany (Travels in Georgia, along the Caspian Sea, and in the Caucasus, by Professor Koch) gives us a detailed statement of all the divisions and corps employed in that quarter during the *The suggestions contained in the preceding article appearing to us of great public importance, and eminently practical, we shall feel happy to be the medium of communication between any parties desirous of trying the experiment, and the author; for whom a line may be left with our publisher. The best mechanical arrangements involved in the principle have been the subject of some recent patents.—ED. which the Circassians contended so desperately was the liberty of selling their own daughters to the Turks; and it is said that the maidens themselves were particularly indignant at the interference of the Russians with this time-honored custom. The statement is not at all improbable. Considering that in Circassia, as in other eastern countries, wives are always bought, and are treated as the property of their husbands, there is, in fact, no material difference, in point of actual freedom, between the position of a Circassian woman as a slave in a harem of Constantinople and that which she would hold as the wife of one of her own countrymen ; while, as regards those pleasures to which oriental females are most addicted-namely, idleness, gossipping, gay adornment, and good living—the advan tages are all on the side of slavery. At present, as has been remarked, the Russians, to prevent the Circassians from joining with Shamil, have given up their opposition to this singular commerce; and the freeborn sons of the mountains now go on selling their offspring in peace and contentment. positions which would otherwise have been impregnable. A Russian incursion into the mountains is usually conducted pretty nearly in the following manner. A column of several thousand men advances from one of their military stations towards a stronghold The Tchetchens and Lesghians, who form the of the enemy. It experiences, at first, but slight main body of Shamil's adherents, share with the resistance. The mountaineers, lurking along its Circassians the palm of superior personal beauty flanks, in the encompassing forest, watch its proamong all the races of the world. There is, how-gress from a distance. Each bears in one hand his ever, some difference between them. The Circas- long and heavy gun, in the other a forked stick. sians, by their graceful forms, dark blue eyes, At length one of them catches the glimpse of an chestnut hair, and oval faces, recall the lineaments epaulet within the range of his piece. Planting the of the ancient Greeks, to whom they bear perhaps sharp end of the stick in the ground, he lays his greater resemblance than any other people of the gun in the fork, and, with this rest, takes long and present day. The Lesghians, on the contrary, may steady aim at the shining mark. Powder and lead rather be compared with the modern Italians; they are too precious to the mountaineer to be thrown are more strongly made than the Circassians, with away. Presently the report rings through the hills, full black eyes, dark brown hair, and bold features. the officer falls, and his company is thrown into They have a proud and martial expression of coun- confusion. Russian soldiers, excellent in a war of tenance, with something of the wildness natural to tactics, are of all troops the least adapted for mounmen who lead the free and reckless life of mountain tain warfare, which requires especially individual freebooters; for such, it must be confessed, was the energy, sagacity, and promptness of resource. Of calling of the present followers of Shamil, before these a Russian private has nothing whatever. He they adopted that of patriots. The united numbers is a mere machine, and of little more use without a of the two tribes are estimated at about 500,000 leader than a steam engine without an engineer. souls. All of these, however, do not acknowledge This fact is perfectly understood by Shamil and his the supremacy of the warlike chieftain. Many of followers, as is evinced by the disproportionate loss the lowland clans have submitted to the Russian of officers during the present war. domination. It is probable that the total of Shamil's At length, the advancing column reaches a naradherents and subjects, of all classes and conditions, row pass, which is found closed by a barricade. A does not exceed 300,000. With this petty follow-sharp conflict ensues. The artillery is ordered up, ing, he has maintained, for ten years, an equal contest with the absolute ruler of sixty millions of human beings. Such an enormous disparity of force was probably never seen since the days when "baffled Persia's despot fled" before the united contingents of half-a-dozen little Greek republics. Even in that case, the circumstances were by no means similar. The semi-barbarous host of Xerxes was inferior in all respects, but number, to the well-equipped and well-disciplined army of Russia; while the Greeks had every advantage over the Caucasian mountaineers, except in the natural strength of their country. This, after all, is Shamil's main reliance for success, as it was of Montrose and Zumalacarregui, and as it has been of the Swiss in all ages. The Caucasian mountains are even better adapted for purposes of refuge and defence than the Alps, or the Pyrenees, or the Scottish Highlands. In all those regions, the dwellings of the inhabitants are in the valleys which divide the heights; and an enemy who can penetrate to these glens and ravage the hamlets and cultivated grounds, will inflict a severe and perhaps irreparable injury upon the mountaineers. In the Caucasus, on the contrary, it is only the high table-lands on the slopes of the mountainridges which are habitable. The valleys are deep and narrow ravines, often the beds of torrents, extremely difficult to cross, and presenting a serious obstacle to the advance of an invading force. The mountain-sides, moreover, are covered by dense forests, through which a single wanderer often finds great difficulty in forcing his way. It may well be supposed that an army, encumbered by artillery and baggage, can make but slow progress through the country. Cannon, however, are indispensable in this contest, since they are the only arms of which the mountaineers really stand in dread. The terrible effects of artillery upon their breastworks of timber have often compelled them to retreat from the logs fly in splinters, and the enemy disappears. The column then proceeds, but a strong detachment is left to guard the pass. In this way the advance continues, the barricades becoming more frequent, and the resistance more stubborn, as the invading force approaches the stronghold. At length, weakened by many losses and by the separation of numerous detachments, it arrives at the intended goal. Here, on ascending a lofty height, is found a small plateau, upon which are the smoking ruins of a score or two of mountain huts. Sometimes, indeed, a strongly fortified hold occupies the summit, and is defended by the natives with desperate valor. But, more often, it is, as before said, a small mountain hamlet, which Shamil has selected as a place of deposit for his stores of ammunition. Having thus attained the object of their useless search, the Russians prepare to descend. But their case proves to be the converse of that of the Trojan hero in his Stygian expedition. To ascend is comparatively easy; but to retrace their steps and return to the lower regions, hic labor, hoc opus est. Now, around them, on every side, swarm the fierce mountaineers, seemingly in countless numbers. From every quarter are heard the yell of execration, the report of the unerring musket, and the whistling of the fatal lead. One gallant officer falls after another. Front, flank, and rear are driven in upon the centre, and the column becomes a confused mass of useless and helpless soldiers. Sometimes the commander-in-chief, awaking to his danger, pushes desperately onward, and reaches his station with the loss of half his force. Sometimes he waits, in a favorable position, until he is released by the advance of reinforcements. In either case, as soon as he regains his fortress, he writes a long and grandiloquent dispatch, detailing his successful operations, which have ended in destroying the chief stronghold of the rebels, and inflicting upon them a blow from which they will not readily re cover. He has hardly sent off his despatch to St. | mand with great strictness and equity. Life and Petersburg, before he hears that Shamil, at the property are perfectly safe, his armed followers not head of a strong force, is in the plains, ravaging being allowed the slightest license in their own the country almost up to the very gates of the Rus-country. Every crime, by whomsoever committed, sian forts. meets with prompt and just punishment. He is not A brief account of the origin and early history of accused of cruelty, except in the case of certain this chieftain may not be uninteresting. In all Mo- offences connected with the contest which he is hammedan countries there are men called Moorshids, waging. Woe to the individual or the tribe that who devote themselves expressly to the explication deserts or betrays the common cause! Instances of the Koran and the Sunna, (or body of Moslem are known of entire villages, whose inhabitants had traditions,) and are consequently held in high esti- been guilty of this offence, having been destroyed mation by the people. Each of them generally has by Shamil and his host as suddenly and completely about him a number of youths who attend him as as though they had been swept away by a flood, or scholars, and are called his Murides, or acolytes. buried under an avalanche. Nor is it merely for Such a Moorshid was Kasi Mollah, who about the treason that he inflicts such dire punishments. On year 1830 aroused the first great insurrection of the one occasion, when he was besieging a Russian deeastern tribes against the Russians. He was re-tachment in a small fort, and had nearly compelled garded not merely as a teacher, but as a prophet, it to surrender, the commander of the force, expectand displayed also some capacity as a military ing to be soon relieved, sent a messenger to Shaleader. He was, however, two years afterwards, besieged by General Rosen, in his stronghold called Gimri, and fell, pierced with many bayonet wounds, "with his hand on his beard," says the traveller Eichwald, "and a last prayer murmuring from his lips." His name is still a spell of power in the Caucasus. mil, avowedly for the purpose of negotiating a surrender, but with secret orders to protract the parley as long as possible, in order to give time for the assistance to arrive. He followed his instructions, and succeeded in the object of his mission. The relieving force came up before the terms were settled, and Shamil then became aware of the deception that had been practised upon him. When Napoleon was similarly tricked by Alexander, after the battle of Austerlitz, his resentment exhaled in the bitter speech-"Grattez le Russe, et vous trouverez le Tartare." Shamil, it appears, is not one whose vengeance can be satisfied with a pungent apothegm; and besides, his situation was somewhat different from that of the victorious emperor. It is said that the unfortunate messenger was literally cut in pieces. This was called cruelty, and a violation of the laws of war; but it is not recorded that any other officer has ever since attempted so to deceive the uncompromising mountain chief. One of his disciples was Shamil, a Tchetchen by birth, and whose early residence was in the large village or town of Tchirkei, a place of some 3000 inhabitants, on the Koissoo river. Although he was more than thirty years of age at the death of Kasi Mollah, he was still considered too young, according to the established usage, to become a leader. In Lesghistan, as in Circassia, none but men who have passed the middle term of life, and whose years afford a warrant both of experience and discretion, are considered worthy to occupy a post of such responsibility. It was not before the year 1838 that Shamil's name was first known to the Russians as that of an eminent Moorshid, and the leader of a considerable body of Tchetchens and Lesghians. He was, at that time, about forty years of age. He is described as a man of moderate stat-mander-in-chief of the Caucasian army-who bore ure and slender frame. His physiognomy seems to indicate some infusion of Tartar blood. He has, however, unlike most Tartars, am ample beard, on which ornament he, as a Moslem teacher, sets a peculiar value. The title which Shamil assumes in his proclamations, and by which he is best known in the mountains, is that of "Imam of the Caucasus." Professor Koch says that, according to the Koran, there can be but one Imam and successor of the Prophet, and that the Sultan of Constantinople is now regarded as such; but as he has ceased to extend protection to the Mohammedans of the north, they have transferred the title, and the reverence connected with it, to Shamil. This is not exactly correct. The title of Imam, or "preacher," was adopted by Mohammed in sign of humility, and was retained, for the same reason, by the Khalifs, or "successors." But it was not, like the latter term, peculiarly appropriated to that line of monarchs. On the contrary, every priest of a mosque is called its Imam; and the title is, moreover, frequently assumed by princes who desire to unite a religious prestige to their secular power. For this reason, it has been adopted by the ruler of Muscat, in preference to that of Sultan or Malek, to either of which he would be fairly entitled by the extent of his do minions. Shamil is said to rule the districts under his com The first attempt which the Russians made to crush the growing power of Shamil was in the year 1839. In the spring of that year, the com the unheroic designation of General Grabbe-assembled a considerable body of troops on the north side of the mountains, and proceeded to ascend them, with the intention of capturing the fortress of Achulko, which was then Shamil's stronghold. It was situated on the summit of a steep mountain, which rose near the swift Koissoo, the chief river of Lesghistan. As the Russians advanced up the river, they encountered some slight opposition, which was easily overcome. They soon arrived at the populous village of Tchirkei, rich in orchards of many species of fruit. The inhabitants, though strongly disposed in favor of their warlike fellowcitizen, were dismayed at the prospect of seeing their fields and gardens ravaged by the enemy; they submitted to the favorable conditions offered by the Russian general, and the latter pressed onward towards the interior of the mountains. At length he reached a spot which Shamil had apparently selected for the first serious resistance; for a battle ensued, which is described as the most bloody and fiercely contested that had been fought for many years in the Caucasus. The conflict lasted two days. The mountaineers disputed every foot of ground with desperate fury, and yielded at last only when the artillery was brought to bear upon their position. Again the Russian columns moved forward. Another fierce encounter awaited them before they attained the term of their expedi tion. It ended in a similar manner; and at length | operations, and winning over the numerous indepenthe division found itself at the base of the height on which stood the fortress of Achulko. dent tribes of the mountains to his standard. The The siege began on the 12th of July, and lasted till the 23rd of August. During that time every attempt to take the fort by storm was repulsed with heavy loss to the assailants. But the defenders began at length to suffer from the want of provisions. Shamil once tried to make terms, offering his son as a hostage; but the Russian commander would accept nothing but unconditional surrender, to which the chief would not submit. Three days afterwards a furious assault was made, and the resistance, though finally successful, showed that the Tchernitcheff arrived just in time to witness the besieged were too weak to hold out much longer. return of the Russian commander-in-chief from a Shortly after this affair, the Russian general was disastrous attempt to penetrate to Shamil's new informed by his spies of Shamil's intention to have asylum, the village of Dargo, situated near the himself lowered down at the steepest part of the source of the River Yaksai, some distance west of precipitous rock on which Achulko stood, and thus Achulko. It is worthy of remark that, in all his to elude the grasp of his enemies. His desertion changes of residence, Shamil has been gradually of his followers at such a juncture might perhaps advancing towards the centre of the Caucasian isthbe justified in his eyes by the certainty that they mus, as if in furtherance of his expressed design of would not, if taken, meet with the fate which would uniting the whole mountain region between the assuredly await him-namely, that of being sent Black Sea and the Caspian into a single compact away into the interior of Russia, never to return to government. The Russian general, anxious to dis his native land. On learning this design, the gen- tinguish himself before the minister's arrival by some eral ordered a close watch to be kept around the shining enterprise, similar to the capture of Achulko, whole mountain, but particularly at the spot desig- had set out, with a body of 8600 men, up the course nated. Suddenly a suspicious movement was ob- of the Yaksai. The mountaineers, according to served. The watch crept cautiously forward, and their custom, made at first only a faint show of perceived a man, suspended by a rope, descending resistance. When, however, he had reached a spot the side of the precipice. On reaching the ground, which they considered favorable for their purpose, the mountaineer freed himself from the rope, which they suddenly closed around him with such overwas then drawn up, and two more men were suc-whelming fury, that he was compelled to retreat; cessively lowered down. All then crouched on the and it was with the greatest difficulty that he reached ground, and were crawling away, when the trium- the fort from which he had started, having left all phant Russians seized them, and dragged them off his baggage and most of his artillery in the hands to the camp. One of them owned himself to be of the enemy. Out of 60 officers only 24 returned; Shamil, and the news of the capture caused the and 2000 soldiers remained dead on the field or greatest joy at the quarters of the general, who had along the line of march. promised the emperor to bring him the Caucasian hero, dead or alive. While he was receiving the congratulations of his officers, the rope was cautiously lowered again, at the same spot, now left unguarded; the real Shamil slipped quietly down, and crept away unseen. Presently a raft, bearing a single human figure, was observed floating swiftly down the impetuous Koissoo. The Russian muskets instantly rang from the shore, but the fugitive reached the opposite bank in safety. Such was the intelligence which greeted Count Tchernitcheff on his arrival. It is not surprising, therefore, that he should, after a careful examination of all the peculiar difficulties of the contest, have come to the conclusion that the wisest plan would be to confine all future operations strictly to defensive measures. This counsel was adopted. A cordon of posts was established around the mountains, to prevent the incursions of the enemy into the plains; thus, as was said, leaving the fire of fanaticism to burn itself out. It was, however, too late for the success of such a plan. The mountaineers were now conscious of their strength, and exasperated by the injuries which they had suffered. They judged the forbearance of the Russians to be an evidence of weakness-and not altogether without reason. Accordingly, their marauding descents into the lowlands became more frequent and daring than ever before. The imperial government was compelled again to change its policy. General Neidhardt, an officer of the highest reputation for both civil and military talents, was sent as gover In the morning the deception was discovered and, the general, rendered furious by his disappointment, ordered a last assault. Fifteen hundred men ascended the height, and when the action terminated, and the Russian flag waved over the ruins of the fort, only a hundred and fifty of the storming party remained unhurt. Of the seven hundred defenders of the fortress, very few escaped alive. Such was the capture of Achulko, the first of many similar enter prises undertaken by the Russians against Shamil, and which, however various in their circumstances, have all been attended with only one effect-that of exalting the reputation of the bold and astute chief-nor-general. The army was at the same time tain. In the present case, his singular escape added not a little to the peculiar reverence with which he was regarded by the mountaineers; for it was the general belief among them that the angel Gabriel himself had borne off the prophet-chief from the midst of bis enemies. His fame and influence spread through the whole of the Eastern Caucasus. During the next two years he was busily employed in organizing his adherents, extending the circle of his increased to the force, at which it now stands, of 150,000 men-a greater mass of troops than had been assembled between the Black and Caspian Seas since the time of Gengis-Khan. Neidhardt, however, was fated to be quite as unfortunate as any of his predecessors. His plans, well-laid in the commencement, were frustrated by a succession of unlucky accidents. Before he could venture to set his immense force in motion, according to his instructions, so as to envelope the disturbed districts on every side, it was necessary to lay in which so completely commanded the plateau of an ample store of provisions. With this object, an Dargo that several of the Russians, mostly officers, agent was sent to Astrachan, with a million of silver were picked off by the Lesghian sharpshooters, and roubles, (about 187,000l.,) to purchase the necessary Woronzoff was compelled to remove his camp to a supplies. The commissary and the money both safer locality. Finding, at the same time, that his disappeared, and were never heard of afterwards. provisions were about to fail, he despatched five Hardly had this loss been, with much difficulty, battalions, under Generals Von Klukenau, Passek, made good, when a native prince, hitherto esteemed and Victoroff, to bring up a supply of rations which one of the most faithful adherents of Russia-Daniel, had been left at a depôt on the way. The detachthe Sultan of Elisui, a small but important province ment, in returning, was set upon with resistless fury on the south side of the mountains-suddenly threw by the mountaineers; Generals Passek and Victoroff off his allegiance, and joined the party of Shamil. were killed, and almost the whole of the provisions A division of the army was sent to reduce the prov- was captured. Count Woronzoff's situation now ince, and the general plan of operations for the year became truly alarming. It would be hardly possible 1844 was completely broken up. A few villages for his force, diminished as it was, and nearly destiof the enemy were destroyed, and some revolted tute of provisions, to fight its way through the host districts were subdued; but no real progress was of enemies that encompassed it. Fortunately the made towards the general pacification of the country. governor succeeded, by large offers of reward, in Early in the following year Neidhardt was re-inducing two men, natives of the Caucasus, to make called, and Count (now Prince) Woronzoff sent to an attempt to elude the vigilance of the hostile bands, supply his place. This nobleman is one of the few and carry the intelligence of his situation to the fort men in Russia whose rank, wealth, and abilities of Gersel-Aul, where Freitag, one of the ablest and exact some consideration even from the autocrat most experienced of the subordinate generals, comhimself. The count received his education in manded. England, where his father was for some years the The attempt succeeded. Freitag did not lose a Russian ambassador. He possesses immense riches, moment. Drawing together all the force immediateand is thus enabled to maintain that outward state ly at hand-about 8000 men-he hurried to the which is so important an element in all Oriental relief of the governor-general. Shamil heard of governments. He ruled for many years the exten- his advance, and attempted, but too late, to intersive provinces of New Russia and Bessarabia, includ- cept him. Freitag, after a bloody encounter, in ing the Crimea, and evinced administrative talents which he suffered severely, broke through the of a high order. In addition to these personal opposing force, pushed on rapidly over the mounqualifications, he received, as has been already tains, and reached Woronzoff's encampment. The stated, almost absolute powers in all that related to united columns then took up their march for the the prosecution of the war. It is not surprising, Russian line, pursued and harassed all the way to therefore, that he should have indulged a confident the edge of the forest by their relentless enemies. expectation of speedily putting an end to the contest. On the 4th of August, Woronzoff, with his worn-out Three years, however, have since passed away, and and famished troops, found refuge within the walls that comsummation seems as distant as ever. of Gersel-Aul. From thence he despatched to St. Petersburg intelligence of his late exploit; and the Russian newspapers announced to the world the capture of Dargo, and the complete overthrow of Shamil. Woronzoff, in token of the value which the emperor affixed to his success, was raised to the rank of a prince. Not long afterwards news arrived that Shamil had broken out of the mountains, ravaged the northern plains, and carried off a convoy of provisions from under the guns of one of the Russian fortresses. Woronzoff's first undertaking was, as usual, an expedition against Shamil's ordinary place of abode, or, rather, of rendezvous-the village of Dargo. On the 12th of June, 1845, the governor-general set out, at the head of a division of 20,000 men, to penetrate into the central mountains. At every pass which he reached on his march he found a barricade of logs, defended by a considerable force of mountaineers. But as soon as an attempt was made to turn them, or the artillery was brought to bear upon their defences, they immediately retreated. It would be useless to pursue the history of the A detachment was left to guard the pass, and the war through the two following years, which offer army, thus diminished, continued its advance. little variety of event and nothing decisive in results. Gradually, however, the resistance of the enemy It is clear that Shamil's power becomes every year became firmer, and the barricades increased in num- more extended and consolidated, and that all the ber and strength. Within the last twenty miles of projects of the Russian commanders, however well Dargo there were no less than eighteen; and at devised and gallantly prosecuted, have failed to prosome of them the mountaineers rushed down, sabreduce any permanent effect favorable to their cause. in hand, upon the bayonets of the Russians, and bloody struggles took place before the numbers and discipline of the invaders finally prevailed. At length the term of the expedition was reached. Dargo was found to be a hamlet of some fifty houses, situated on a lofty plateau, and surrounded by a wood of gigantic beech-trees. Nothing whatever was gained to repay the labors and losses of the incursion, except the advantage of being enabled to send a despatch to St. Petersburg, announcing the destruction of Shamil's famous stronghold. But it soon became somewhat questionable whether the governor would ever have an opportunity of transmitting such an announcement. He now found that the most difficult part of his enterprise was to come. Shamil had retreated to a neighboring height, The latest authentic advices from the seat of war are dated the 22nd of October last. On the 26th o! the preceding month the Russians had succeeded, after a siege of several days, in capturing a small village, called Weila Salta, in South Daghestanprobably not far from Shamil's earliest stronghold, Achulko. The village must have been well fortified and desperately defended; for it was only taken after several unsuccessful assaults, though aided by a tremendous bombardment from 80-pound mortars. In three days-from the 19th to the 21st-the Russians lost 24 officers and 480 men, killed and wounded. The total loss of the enemy is set down at 3000; but, as the German papers cautiously remark, this number must be taken with the usual allowances for Russian accounts. |