Class l^F 45 3 4- Book "l^s4- 10 Gopyiightls^" 1^9 6 COPflUGHT DEPOSrr. . No. 169. f r •3 wO- r MAYNARD'S /Y^y English • Classic • Series viy J i_i_i-i_i_i— I— i-i— 1-^ FLlGHTofATAmRTWilt •"v^'Qax-^ Thomas De Quincey L. J i-i— i-i_i— i_i_i_i_i_i_i— i_i NEW YORK Maynard, Merrill <5c Co. 43, 45 & 47 East lOIH St. ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES, FOR Classes in English Literature, Reading, Grammar, et( EDITED BY EMINENT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SCHOLARS. Each Volume contains a Skeich of Ihe Author's Life, Prefatory and Explanatory Notes, etc., etc. 1 Byron's Prophecy of Dante. 1 31 (Cantets. Dryden's Alexander's Feast and MacFlecknoe. Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes. Irving.'s Legend of Sleepy Hoi low. Lamb's Tales from Shake speare. Le liow's How to Teach Read iiig. AVebster's Bunker Hill Ora tions. The Academy OrthoSpist. A Manual of Pronunciation. Milton's Lycidas, and Hymi on the Nativity. Bryant's Thanatopsis, and other. Poems. Buskin's Modern Painters. (Seleetiins.) The Shakespeare Speaker. Thackeray's Kouudabout Pa- pers. AA ebster's Oration on Adam > and Jefl'erson. Brown's Kab and his Friends. | Morris's Life and Death of Jason. Burke's Speech OH American Taxation. Pope's Rape of the Liock. Tennyson's Elaine. Tennyson's lu Memoriam. Church's Story of the .^Eneid. Church's Story of the Iliad. Swift's Gulliver's Voyage t»» Liiliput. Macaulay's Essay on Lord Ba- con. (C;onden-ed.) The Alcestis of Euripides. Eng- lish Version by Rev. R. Potter.M. A. (Additional numbers on next page.) MAYNARD'S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES.-No. 169 FLIGHT OF A TARTAE TRIBE THOMAS DE QUINCEY WITH INTRODUCTION, CRITICAL OPINIONS, AND NOTES ''241886 Thomas 08Quino>)^fA||(jjs^lH6l^ •^^'^^f/T, NEW YORK MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO. NewSerieP,No. 117. February 13, 1893. Published Semi-weekly. Subscription Price $10. Entered at Post Office, New York, as Second-class Matter. .■^' f^>.. A Complete Course in the Study of English. Spellifig, Language, Grammar, Composition, Literature. Reed's Word Lessons— A Complete Speller. Reed's Iniroductory Language Work. Reed & Kellogg's Graded Lessons in English. Reed & Kellogg's Higher Lessons in English. Reed & Kellogg's One-Book Course in English. Kellogg & Reed's Word Building. Kellogg & Reed's The English Language. Kellogg's Text-Book on Rhetoric. Kellogg's illustrations of Style. Kellogg's Text-Book on English Literature. In the preparation of this series the authors have had one object clearly in view — to so develop the study of the English language aj to present a complete, progressive course, from the Spelling-Book to the study of English Literature. The troublesome contradictions which arise in using books arranged by different authors on these subjects, and which require much time for explanation in the school- room, will be avoided by the use of the above " Complete Course." Teachers are earnestly invited to examine these books. MayNARD, Merrill, & Co., Publishers, 43, 45, and 47 East Tenth St., New York. Copyright, 1896, by Maynaru, Merrill, & Co. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Thomas De Quincey, the "English Opium-Eater," was born in Manchester, August 15, 1785. The main facts of his life were recorded by himself in the most remarkable autobiography in the language. Every detail was colored and expanded into a poetic picture by his eccentric imagination, but the story has been found to be essentially 3orrect. His father, a prosperous merchant engaged in foreign commerce, died in his thirty-ninth year, leaving a family of six children. The mother, a woman of unusual ability and culture, was enabled by means of an ample income to give to her children the best social and educa- tional advantages. From 1792 to 1796 the home of the De Quinceys was at Greenhay, a large country house on the outskirts of Manchester. Here they were furnished, he says, "with all the nobler benefits of wealth, with extra means of health, of intellectual culture, and of elegant enjoyment ; and if (after the model of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius) I should return thanks to Providence for all the separate blessings of my early situation, these four I would single out as worthy of special commemoration — that I lived in a rustic solitude; that this solitude was in Eng- land ; that my infant feelings were molded by the gentlest of sisters, and not by horrid, pugilistic brothers; finally, that I and they were dutiful and loving members of a pure, holy, and magnificent church." With the exception of the enforced adventures with one "pugilistic" brother, "whose genius for mischief amounted to inspiration," the shy, sensitive, diminutive 4 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Thomas was occupied constantly during his early years with books and day-dreams. "From my birth," he says, "I was made an intellectual creature, and intellectual in the highest sense my pursuits and pleasures have been even from my schoolboy days." He first received; instruction from a clergyman in Manchester; he spent two years at the Bath Grammar School, and a year at a private school in Wiltshire. Everywhere he was regarded as a prodigy in classical learning. Before he was fifteen lie could write and speak Greek with ease, and compose lyric poems in both Latin and Greek. One of his masters said to a visitor: " That boy could harangue an Athenian mob better than you or I could address an English one. " In his fifteenth year he was entered at the Manchester Grammar School for a term of three years, where it was expected he would obtain a university scholarship; but at the end of a year and a half, the monotonous and uninspiring life of the school having become intolerable to him, he ran away, slipping out of the head-master's house early one July morning, with an English poet in one pocket and Euripides in the other. His mother looked upon the act "much as she would have done upon the opening of the seventh seal in the Revelations"; but a lenient uncle arranged that he should have his liberty, with an allow- ance of a guinea a week. After a few months of vagrancy in North Wales, during which he "suffered grievously from want of books," with that strange perversion of com- mon sense which characteHzed his actions through life, he abandoned friends and support and hid himself in the wilderness of London. His mysterious adventures and sufferings at this time constitute that "impassioned parenthesis " of his life, the description of which reads like one of his marvelous opium dreams. After about a year of this penniless London life he was discovered by his friends and sent to Oxford, in the autumn of 1803. Of De Quincey's university career little is known further BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 5 than that he won the reputation of being "a quiet and studious man, remarkable for his rare conversational powers, and for his extraordinary stock of information on every subject"; that he read prodigiously, especially in German literature and philosophy, and that he left without taking a degree. He may have neglected much of the venerable lore of Oxford— " ancient mother, heavy with ancestral honors, time-honored, and haply it may be, time- shattered," as he calls her; but it was here that he laid the foundation of his literary fame, mainly by mastering the great English classics. The nobility of his stately prose and the fullness of his poetic thought bear ample evidence of the early influence of Milton, Shakespeare, Sir Thomas Browne, and Jeremy Taylor. De Quincey had been strongly attracted toward Words- worth tlirough his poetry, and in 1809 he took possession of the little cottage at Grasmere which had been recently the poet's home. Here he lived about twenty years, in inti- mate relations with the famous "Lakists," Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Lloyd, and Wilson. Here occurred the long struggle with the opium habit, from the horrors of which arose the splendid visions embodied in the poetic prose of his "Confessions." He had experimented with the pernicious drug at Oxford while suffering from neu- ralgia, and from the moment that he first experienced its wonderful effects he was the slave of opium, and was never afterward without a supply of the "ruby-colored laudanum." During the years 1804-18 the habit grew upon him until his daily allowance of laudanum was eight thousand drops, increased often to twelve thousand, enough to fill nine ordinary wine glasses. The result was a com- plete paralysis of the will; reading and dreaming consti- tuted his sole occupation during this period. He had married, in 1816, the daughter of a dalesman at the wayside cottage near by, known to tourists as "The Nab"; and aroused finally by domestic necessities, he 6 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH partially subdued his enemy and engaged in productive literary work. In 1821 his first paper appeared in the Lon- don Magazine, entitled "Confessions of an Opium-Eater, being an Extract from the Life of a Scholar." It was widely read, the author was immediately made famous, and for many years the public hailed with delight any article signed by the "English Opium-Eater." All his best work, comprising about one hundred and fifty articles, appeared in magazines, mainly in the Lo7idon Magazine, Blackwood^s, Tait's, and Hogg's Instructor. His connec- tion with Blackwood naturally led him to remove, in 1830, to Edinburgh, where he died December 8, 1859. From 1840 his home was a secluded cottage at Lass wade, seven miles from town. The eccentric appearance and habits of De Quincy have always been a fertile theme for anecdote. His figure was small and fragile, with a fine intellectual head, and lofty brow, "rising disproportionately high over his small, wrinkly visage and gentle, deep-set eyes." He says of himself: "A more worthless bodj'- than his own, the author is free to confess, cannot be. It is his pride to believe that it is the very ideal of a base, crazy, despicable human system that hardly ever could have been meant to be seaworthy for two days under the ordinary storms and wear and tear of life." He was as great a walker as Wordsworth, delighting especially in nocturnal rambles. He could keep no account of money or time, being, in the conduct of his finances, as picturesquely^ incompetent as Goldsmith. It is said that he once stopped at Wilson's to escape a shower and remained nearly a year. He studi- ously avoided society, but when secured — usually by stratagem— for an evening at the tables of the great, his conversation was as brilliant as that of Macaulay. Those who heard him, speak with enthusiasm of " the magic of his talk, its sweet and subtle ripples of anecdote and sug- gestion, its witching splendor when he rose to his highest." BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 1 " The talk might be of beeves, and he could grapple with them, if expected to do so ; but his musical cadences were not in keeping with such work, and in a few minutes (not without some strictly logical sequence) he would escape at will from beeves to butterflies, and thence to the soul's immortality; to Plato, and Kant, and Schelling, and Fichte ; to Milton's early years and Shakespeare's sonnets ; to Wordsworth and Coleridge; to Homer^and ^schylus ; to St. Thomas of Aquin, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom." "An obvious characteristic of De Quincey's writings," says Professor Masson, " is their extreme multifariousness. They range over an extraordinary extent of ground, the subjects of which they principally treat being themselves of the most diverse kinds, while their illustrative refer- ences and allusions shoot through a perfect wilderness of miscellaneous scholarship." His essays upon metaphysical topics, theology, and political economy are chiefly interest- ing as examples of his speculative tendency and his remarkable power of analysis and illustration. His best biographical papers are the "Recollections of the Lake Poets," "Dr. Parr," " Richard Bentley," "Shakespeare," and the "Last Days of Immanuel Kant." Some of his finest work is contained in the papers on " Rhetoric " and "Style." His peculiar descriptive powers are illustrated in the "Revolt of the Tartars," "The Spanish Nun," and "Three Memorable Murders," and the ghastly humor of his essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts " is without a parallel. The paper on " Joan of Arc " is "nobly perfect," says Professor Masson. But probably the finest achievement of his genius is the descriptive writ- ing, in " impassioned prose," as he himself styled it, of the " Confessions," " Suspiria de Profundis," " Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow," "Vision of Sudden Death," and "Dream Fugue." "The 'Dream Fugue' is of no great compass," says Peter Bayne, "but we think that it would alone have been sufficient to secure a literary immortality." CRITICAL OPINIONS The crowning glory of bis writings is their style, so full of involved melody, so exact and careful, so rich in mag- nificent apostrophes, so markedly original, so polished and elaborate. He never forgot that the prose writer, if he wishes to attain excellence, must be as much of an artist as the poet, and fashion his periods and paragraphs with as much care as the poet elaborates his rhymes and cadences. Many passages might be quoted from De Quincey of which the melody is so striking as to irresistibly attract attention, and make us linger lovingly over them, apart altogether from the matter they contain.— McoZZ's ''Landmarks of English Literature.^'' Though De Quincey was convinced that prose w^as his forte, and wisely worked in it, he had not a little of that poetic genius which is found in all great prose writers and is intensified, as in his case so fully, by an intimate acquaint- ance with the best specimens of poetry. He had what lies below all high expression in prose or poetry — the instinct of literary form; what Matthew Arnold would call the sense of beauty. Intellectual as his style was, it was con- spicuously artistic, and in this he has done the unspeakable service of show^ing that the best work in prose literature is neither the purely didactic nor the purely imaginative, but is seen in the judicious combination of thooe elements in what may be termed the expression of thought in aesthetic form.— Himfs ''English Prose Writers.^^ 8 ! CRITICAL OPINIONS 9 One may fancy that if De Quincey's lang-uag-e were emptied of all meaning whatever, the mere sound of the words would move us, as the lovely word Mesopotamia moved Whitefield's hearers. The sentences are so deli- cately balanced, and so skillfully constructed, that his finer passages fix themselves in the memory without the aid of meter. Humbler writers are content if they can get through a single phrase without producing a jar. They aim at keeping up a steady jog-trot, which sliall not give actual pain to the jaws of the readers. Even our great writers generally settle down to a stately but monotonous gait, after the fashion of Johnson or Gibbon, or are content with adopting a style as transparent and inconspicuous as possible. Language, according to the common phrase, is the dress of thought; and that dress is best, according to modern canons of taste, which attracts least attention from its wearer. De Quincey scorns this sneering maxim of prudence, and boldly challenges our admiration by appear- ing in the richest coloring that can be got out of the dictionary. His language deserves a commendation some- times bestowed by ladies upon rich garments, that it is ^.apable of standing up by itself. The form is so admirable that, for purposes of criticism, we must consider it as some- thing apart from the substance. The most exquisite pas- sages in De Quincey's writings are all more or less attempts to carry out the idea expressed in the title of the " Dream Fugue." They are intended to be musical compositions, in which words have to play the part of notes. They are impassioned, not in the sense of expressing any definite sentiment, but because, from the structure and combination of the sentences, they harmonize with certain phases of emotion. It is in the success w^ith which he produces such effects as these that De Quincey may fairly claim to be almost, if not quite, unrivaled in our language. Melan- choly and an awe-stricken sense of the vast and vague are the emotions which he communicates with the greatest 10 CRITICAL OPINIONS power; though the melancholy is too dreamy to deserve the name of passion, and the terror of the infinite is not explicitly connected with any religious emotion. It is a proof of the fineness of his taste that he scarcely ever falls into bombast. We tremble at his audacity in accumulating gorgeous phrases; but we confess that he is justified by the result. I know of no other modern writer who has soared into the same regions with so uniform and easy a flight. — Leslie Stephen's " Hours in a Library.'' DE QUINCEY'S authorities A WORD or two on DeQuincey's authorities for his splen- did sketch called ' ' The Revolt of the Tartars " : One author- ity was a famous Chinese state paper, purporting to have been composed by the Chinese Emperor Kien Long himself (1735-96), of which a French translation, with the title "Monument de la Transmigration des Tourgouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans TEmpire de la Chine," liad been published in 1776 by the French Jesuit mission- aries of Pekin, in the first volume of their great collection of " Memoires concernant les Chinois." The account there given of so remarkable an event of recent Asiatic history as the migration from Russia to China of a whole popula- tion of Tartars had so much interested Gibbon, that he refers to it in that chapter of his great work in which he describes the ancient Scythians. De Quincey had fas- tened on the same document as supplying him with an admirable theme for literary treatment. Explaining this some time ago, while editing his " Revolt of the Tartars " for a set of Selections from his Writings, I had toadd that there was much in the paper which he could not have derived from that original, and that, therefore, unless he invented a great deal, he must have had other authorities at hand. I failed at the time to discover what these other authorities were — De Quincey having had a habit of secre- CRITICAL OPINIONS 11 tiveuess in such matters; but since then an incidental reference of his own, in his " Homer and the Homeridae " has given me the clew. The author from whom he chiefly drew such of his materials as were not supplied by the French edition of Kien Long's narrative, was, it appears from that reference, the German traveler Benjamin Bergmann, whose " Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmtiken in den Jahren 180:p und 1803 " came forth from a Riga press, in four parts or volumes, in 1804-05. The book consists of a series of letters written by Bergmann from different places during his residence among the Tartars, with interjected essays or dissertations of an independent kind on subjects relating to the Tartars— one of these occupying 106 pages, and entitled " Versuch zur Greschichte der Kalmiikenflucht von der Wolga " ("Essay on the History of the Fliglit of the Kalmucks from the Volga "). A French translation of the Letters, with this particular essay included, appeared in 1825 under the title " Voyage de Benjamin Bergmann chez les Kalmuks : Tra- duit de TAUemand par M. Moris, Membre de la Societe Asiatique." Both works are now very scarce; but, having seen copies of both (the only copies, I think, in Edinburgh, and possibly the very copies which De Quincey used), I have no doubt left that it was Bergmann's Essay of 1804 that supplied De Quincey with the facts, names, and hints he needed for filling up that outline-sketch of the history of the great Tartar transmigration of 1771 which was already accessible for him in the Narrative of the Chinese Emperor Kien Long, and in other Chinese state papers, as these had been published in translation in 1776 by the French Jesuit missionaries. At the same time, no doubt is left that he passed the composite material freely and boldly through his own imagination, on the principle that here was a theme of such unusual literary capabilities that it was a pity it should be left in the pages of ordinary his- toriographic summary or record, inasmuch as it would be 12 CRITICAL OPINIONS most effectively treated, even for the purposes of real liis- tory, if thrown into the form of an epic or romance. Ac- cordingly, he takes liberties with his authorities, deviating- from them now and then, and even once or twice introduc- ing incidents not reconcilable with either of them, if not irreconcilable also with historical and geographical possi- bility. Hence, one may doubt sometimes whether what one is reading is to be regarded as history or as invention. On that point I can but repeat words I have already used: — "As it is, we are bound to be thankful. In quest of a literary theme, De Quincey was arrested somehow by that extraordinary transmigration of a Kalmuck horde across the face of Asia in 1771, which had also struck Gibbon; he inserted his hands into tlie vague chaos of Asiatic inconceivability enshrouding the transaction ; and he tore out the connected and tolerably conceivable story which we now read. There is no such vivid ver- sion of any such historical episode in all Gibbon, and possibly nothing truer essentially, after all, to the sub- stance of the facts as they actually happened." — From the Preface of Professor Masson's Edition. THE CHINESE ACCOUNTS OF THE MIGRATION As has been mentioned above, these appeared, in trans- lated form, in 1776, in Vol. I. of the great collection of " Memoires concernant les Chinois," published at Paris by the enterprise of the French Jesuit missionaries at Pekin. The most important of them, under the title "Monument de la Transmigration des Tourgouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans TEmpire de la Chine," occupies twenty- seven pages of the volume, and purports to be a translation of a Chinese document drawn up by the Emperor Kien Long himself. This Emperor, described by the missionaries as "the best-lettered man in his Empire," had special reasons for so commemorating as one of the most interesting events CRITICAL OPINIONS 13 of his reign the sudden self-transference in 1771 of so large a Tartar horde from the Russian allegiance to his own. Much of the previous part of his reign had been spent in that work of conquering and consolidating the Tartar appendages of his Empire which had been begun by his celebrated grandfather, the Emperor Kang-hi (1661-1731) ; and it so chanced that the particular Tartar horde which now, in 1771, had marched all the way from the shores of the Caspian to appeal to him for protection' and for annex- ation to the Chinese Empire were but the posterity of a horde who had formerly belonged to that Empire, but had detached themselves from it, in the reign of Kang-hi, by a contrary march westward to annex themselves to the Russian dominions. The event of 1771, therefore, was gratifying to Kien Long as completing his independent exertions among the Tartars on the fringes of China by the voluntary retirement within those fringes, and return to the Chinese allegiance of a whole Tartar population which had been astray and under unfit and alien rule for many generations. With this explanation the following sentences from Kien Long's memoir containing its histor- ical substance will be fully intelligible : "All those who at present compose the nation of the Tor- gouths, unaffriglited by the dangers of a long and painful march, and full of the single desire of procuring themselves for the future a better mode of life and a more happy lot, have abandoned the parts which they inhabited far beyond our frontiers, have traversed with a courage proof against all difficulties a space of more than ten thousand lys, and are come to range themselves in the number of my subjects. Their submission, in my view of it, is not a submission to which they have been inspired by fear, but is a voluntary and free submission, if ever there was one. . . The Tor- gouths are one of the branches of the Eleuths. Four different branches of people formed at one time the whole nation of the Tchong-kar. It w^ould be difficult to explain 14 CRITICAL OPINIONS their common origin, respecting which indeed there is no YQry certain knowledge. These four branches separated from each other, so that each became a nation apart. That of the Eleuths, the chief of them all, gradually sub- dued the others, and continued till the time of Kang-hi to exercise this usurped pre-eminence over them. Tse-ouang- raptan then reigned over the Eleuths, and Ayouki over the Torgouths. These two chiefs, being on bad terms with each other, had their mutual contests; of which Ayouki, who was the weaker, feared that in the end he would be the unhappy victim. He formed the project of withdraw- ing himself forever from the domination of the Eleuths. He took seci'et measures for securing tlie flight which he meditated, and sought safety, with all his people, in the territories which are under the dominion of the Russians. These permitted them to establish themselves in the country of Etchil [the country between the Volga and the Jaik, a little to the north of the Caspian Sea]. . . Oubache, the present Khan of the Torgouths, is the youngest grand- son of Ayouki. The Russians never ceasing to require him to furnish soldiers for incorporation into their armies, and having at last carried oflP his own son to serve them as a hostage, and being besides of a religion different from his, and paying no respect to that of the Lamas, which the Torgouths profess, Oubache and his people at last deter- mined to shake off a yoke which was becoming daily more and more insupportable. After having secretly deliberated among themselves, they concluded that they must abandon a residence where they had so much to suffer, in order to come and live more at ease in those parts of the dominion of China where the religion professed is that of Fo. At the commencement of the eleventh month of last year [December, 1770] they took the road, with their wives, their children, and all their baggage, traversed the country of the Hasaks [Cossacks], skirted Lake Palkache-nor and the adjacent deserts ; and, about the end of the sixth month of CRITICAL OPimONS 15 this year [in August, 1771], after having passed over more than ten thousand lys during the space of the eight whole months of their journey, they arrived at last on the frontiers of Charapen, not far from the borders of Ily. I knew already that the Torgouths were on the march to come and make submission to me. The news was brought me not long after their departure from Etchil. I then reflected that, as Ileton, general of the troops that are at Ily, was already charged with other very important affairs, 'it was to be feared that he would not be able to regulate with all the requisite attention those which concerned these new refu- gees. Chouhede, one of the councilors of the general, was at Ouche, charged with keeping order among the Mahometans there. As he found it within his power to give his attention to the Torgouths, I ordered him to repair to Ily and do his best for their solid settlement. . . At the same time I did not neglect any of the precautions that seemed to me necessary. I ordered Chouhede to raise small forts and redoubts at the most important points, and to cause all the passes to be carefully guarded ; and I en- joined on him the duty of himself getting ready the neces- sary provisions of every kind inside these defenses. . . The Torgouths arrived, and on arriving found lodgings ready, means of sustenance, and all the conveniences they could have found iii their own proper dwellings. This is not all. Those 'principal men among them who had to come personally to do me homage had their expenses paid, and were honorably conducted, by the imperial post-road, to the place where I then was. I saw them; I spoke to them; I invited them to partake with me in the pleasures of the chase; and, at the end of the number of days appointed for this exercise, they attended me in my retinue as far as to Ge-hol. There I gave them a ceremonial banquet and made them the customary presents. . . It was at this Ge-hol, in those charming parts where Kang-hi, my grandfather, made himself an abode to which he could 16 CRITICAL OPINIONS retire during the hot season, at the same time that he thus put himself in a situation to be able to watch with greater care over the welfare of the peoples that are bej'ond the western frontiers of the Empire; it was, I say, in those lovely parts that, after having conquered the whole country of the Eleuths, I had received the sincere homages of Tchering and his Tourbeths, who alone among the Eleuths had remained faithful to me. One has not to go many years back to touch the epoch of that transaction. The remembrance of it is yet recent. And now — who could have predicted it ? — when there was the least possible room for expecting such a thing, and when I had no thought of it, that one of the branches of the Eleuths which first sep- arated itself from the trunk, those Torgouths who had voluntarilj^ expatriated themselves to go and live under a foreign and distant dominion, these same Torgouths are come of themselves to submit to me of their own good will ; and it happens that it is still at Ge-hol, not far from the venerable spot where my grandfather's ashes repose, that T have the opportunity, which I never sought, of admitting them solemnly into the number of my subjects." Annexed to this general memoir there were some notes, also by the Emperor, one of them being that description of the sufferings of the Torgouths on their march, and of the miserable condition in which they arrived at the Chinese frontier, which De Quincey has quoted. 'Annexed to the memoir there is also a letter from P. Amiot, one of the French Jesuit missionaries, dated " Pe king, 15th October, 1773," containing a comment on the memoir of a certain Chinese scholar and mandarin, Yu-min-tchoung, who had been charged by the Emperor with the task of seeing the narrative properly preserved in four languages in a monu- mental form. It is from this Chinese comment on the Imperial Memoir that there is the extract at p. 67 as to the miserable condition of the fugitives. On a comparison of De Quincey 's splendid paper with CRITICAL OPINIONS 17 the Chinese documents, several discrepancies present them- selves; the most important of which perhaps are tliese: (1) In De Quincey's paper it is Kien Long himself who first descries the approach of the vast Kalmuck horde to the frontiers of his dominions. On a fine morning in the early autumn of 1771, we are told, being then on a hunting expe- dition in the solitary Tartar wilds on the outside of the great Chinese Wall, and standing by chance at an opening of his pavilion to enjoy the morning sunshine, he sees the huge sheet of mist on the horizon, which, as it rolls nearer and nearer, and its features become more definite, reveals camels, and horses, and human beings in myriads, and announces the advent of, etc. etc. ! In Kien Long's own narrative he is not there at all, having expected indeed the arrival of the Kalmuck host, but having deputed the military and commissariat arrangements for the reception of them to his trusted officer Cliouhede; and his first sight of any of them is when their chiefs are brought to him, by the imperial post-road, to his quarters a good way off, where they are honorably entertained, and whence they accompany him to his summer residence of Ge-hol. (2) De Quincey's closing account of the monument in memory of the Tartar transmigration which Kien Long caused to be erected, and his copy of the fine inscription on the monu- ment, are not in accord with the Chinese statements respect- ing that matter. "Mighty columns of granite and brass erected by the Emperor Kien Long near the banks of the Ily"is De Quincey's description of the monument. The account given of the affair by the mandarin Yu-min- tchoung, in his comment on the Emperor's Memoir, is very different. "The year of the arrival of the Torgouths," he says, " chanced to be precisely that in which the Emperor was celebrating the eightieth year of the age of his mother the Empress-Dowager. In memory of this happy day his Majesty had built on the mountain which shelters from the heat (Pi-chou-chan) a vast and magnifi- 18 CRITICAL OPINIONS cent miao, in honor of the reunion of all the followers of Fo in one and the same worship ; it had just been completed when Oubache and the other princes of his nation arrived at Ge-hol. In memory of an event which has contributed to make this same year forever famous in our annals, it has been his Majesty's will to erect in the same miao a monument which should fix the epoch of the event and attest its authenticity; he himself composed the words for the monument and wrote the characters with his own hand. How small the number of persons that will have an oppor- tunity of seeing and reading this monument within the walls of the temple in which it is erected! " Moreover the words of the monumental inscription in De Quincey's copy of it are hardly what Kien Long would have written or could have authorized. ."Wandering sheep w^ho had strayed away from the Celestial Empire in the year 1616 " is the expression in De Quincey's copy for that original secession of the Torgouth Tartars from their eastern home on the Chinese borders for transference of themselves far west to Russia, which was repaired and compensated by their return in 1771 under their Khan Oubache. As distinctly, on the other hand, the memoir of Kien Long refers the date of the original secession to no farther back than the reign of his own grandfather, the Emperor Kang-hi, when Ayouki, the grandfather of Oubache, was Khan of the Torgouths, and induced them to part company with their overbearing kins- men the Eleuths, and seek refuge within the Russian terri- tories on the Volga. In the comment of the Chinese mandarin on the Imperial memoir the time is more exactly indicated by the statement that the Torgouths had remained "more tlian seventy j^ears'Mn their Russian settlements when Oubache brought them back. This would refer us to about 1700, or, at farthest, to between 16J)0 and 1700, for the secession under Aj^ouki. The discrepancies are partly explained by the fact that De Quincey followed Bergmann's account — w^hich account CRITICAL OPINIONS 19 differs avowedly in some particulars from that of the Chinese Memoirs. In Bergmann I find the original seces- sion of the ancestors of Oubache's Kalmuck horde from China to Russia is pushed back to 1616, just as in De Quincey. But, though De Quincey keeps by Bergniann when he pleases, he takes liberties with Bergmann too. intensifies Bergmann's story throughout, and adds much to it for which there is little or no suggestion in Bergmann. For example, the incident which De Quincey introduces with such terrific effect as the closing catastrophe of the march of the fugitive Kalmucks before their arrival on the Chinese frontier — the incident of their thirst-maddened rush into the waters of Lake Tengis, and their wallow there in bloody struggle with their Bashkir pursuers — has no basis in Bergmann larger than a few slight and rather matter-of-fact sentences. As Bergmann liimself refers here and there in his narrative to previous books, German or Russian, for his authorities, it is just possible that De Quincey may have called some of these to his aid for any intensification or expansion of Bergmann he thought necessary. My impression, how^ever, is that he did nothing of the sort, but deputed any necessary increment of his Bergmann materials to his own lively imagination. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE ^ There is no great event in modern history, or, perliaps it may be said more broadly, none in all hisk)ry, from its earliest records, less generally known, or more striking to the imagination, than the flight eastwards of a principal Tartar nation across the boundless steppes of Asia in the 5 latter half of the last century. The terminus a quo of this flight and the terminus ad quern are equally magnificent — the mightiest of Christian thrones being the one, the mightiest of pagan the other; and the grandeur of these two terminal objects is harmoniously supported by the 10 romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness of its commencement and the fierce velocity of its execu- tion we read an expression of the wild, barbaric character of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting this myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a 15 mark so remote, there is something w^hicli recalls to the mind those almighty instincts that propel the migrations of the swallow or the life- withering marches of the locust. Then, again, in the gloomy vengeance of Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts of 20 * Flight of a Tartar Tribe. This essay originally appeared in Black- wood's Magazine for July, 1827. For De Qnincey's authorities see p. 65. 5 Steppes. The steppes of Asia are analogous to our western prairies. Note throughout the essay De Quincey's love of describing the vast and tremendous. 8 Terminus a quo. The point of departure, ' Terminus ad quern. The terminating point. 8 Mightiest of Christian thrones. Russia. " Mightiest of Pagan. China. 81 . / 22 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE _ the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images—^ such, for instance, as that of the solitary hand pursuing through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebel- lious host, and overtaking with volleying thunders those 5 who believed themselves already within the security of darkness and of distance. We shall have occasion, farther on, to compare this event with other great national catastrophes as to the mag- nitude of the sutfering; but it may also challenge a coni- loparison with similar events under another relation — viz., as to its dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the complexity of its separate interests. The great outline of the enterprise, taken in connection with the 15 operative motives, hidden or avowed, and the religious sanctions under which it was pursued, give to the case a triple character; 1st. That of a conspirac3% with as close a unit}" in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as 20 belongs to" Venice Preserved^or to the"Fiesco"of Schiller. 2dly. That of a great military expedition offering the same romantic features of vast distances to be traversed, vast, reverses to be sustained, untried routes, enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely prefigured, which 25 mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses; the anabasis 1 Miltonic images. Images such as those used by John Milton, especially in " Paradise Lost." 20 "Venice Preserved." A famous tragedy, by Thomas Otway (1651-85). 20 " Fiesco." A drama by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), one of the greatest of German poets. 25 Cambyses. A powerful king of the Medes and Persians. He reigned from 529-523 b. c, and is distinguished by his conquest of Egypt in 525 b. c. 35 Anabasis. In Greek, a going up. At the beginning of the reign of the Persian monarch Artaxerxes II. occurred the revolt of his younger brother Cyrus, satrap in Western Asia, who marched against Babylon and fell in the battle of Cunaxa, 401 b. c. He was supported by a body of ten thousand Greek mercenaries, whose retiring march to the Black Sea over the mountains of Kurdistan has been immortalized in Xenophon's " Anabasis." FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 23 of the younger Cyrus, and the subsequent retreat of the Ten Thousand to the Black Sea ; the Parthian expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and Julian ; or as more disastrous than any of them, and in point of space, as well as in amount of forces, more extensive, the Russian anaba- 5 sis and katabasis of Napoleon. 3dly. That of a religious exodus, authorized by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia — an exodus, therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural exodus of the Israelites under Moses and Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar 10 distinction of carrying along with them their entire fam- ilies, women, children, slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and their camels. This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests it ■ with a more comprehensive interest; but the dramatic 15 interest which we ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage representation, depends partly upon the marked variety and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even the steppes, the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy deserts are not 20 beyond the scale of our modern representative powers, as often called into action in the theaters both of Paris and 2 Parthian expeditions. The dominions of ancient Parthia extended from the Euphrates to the Indus, and from the Oxus to the Indian Ocean. The Parthian warriors enjoyed the rare distinction of having continually baffled the efforts of Rome for the subjection of their country, and in 53 b. c. inflicted on the Roman army under Crassus one of the most crushing defeats that ever befell the arms of Rome. The head of Crassus was cut off and sent to the Parthian king, who poured melted gold into the mouth in mockery of its owner's love for the precious metal. The Parthian expedition of the emperor Julian in 363 a. d., the Persian expedition in reality, as the kingdom of Parthia had been put an end to by the Persians in 226 b. c, was not as disastrous as that of Crassus, although Julian himself was killed. * Katabasis. A going down. Napoleon invaded Russia in the spring of 1812 with over half a million men. The Russians encountered him with great skill and determination, and after he had invested Moscow, set fire to the city, so that from lack of supplies he was obliged to retreat. This retreat through an enemy's country in winter almost entirely destroyed the French army, and was one of the greatest disasters recorded in history. 24 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE London; and the series of situations unfolded, beginning with the general conflagration on the Wolga; passins- thence to the disastrous scenes of the flight (as it literally was in its commencement); to the Tartar siege of the Rus- 5 sian fortress Koulagina ; the bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain passes at Ouchim ; the surprisal by the Bashkirs and the advanced posts of the Russian army at Torgau ; the j)rivate conspiracy at this point against the khan; the long succession of running fights; the part- 10 ing massacres at the Lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese, and, finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek- Dorclii at the hunting lodge of the Chinese emperor — all these situations communicate a scenical animation to the wild romance, if treated dramatically; while a higher and a 15 philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of authentic history, commemorating a great revolution, for good and for evil, in the fortunes of a whole people— a people semi- barbarous, but simple-hearted, and of ancient descent. 2o On the 21st of January, 1761, the young Prince OubachaJ assumed the scepter of the Kalmucks upon the death of his' father. Some part of the power attached to this dignity he had already wielded since his fourteenth year, in quality of vice khan, by the express appointment, and with the 25 avowed support, of the Russian government. He was now about eighteen years of age, amiable in his personal char- acter, and not without titles to respect in his public charac- ter as a sovereign prince. In times more peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized or more humanized 30 by religion, it is even probable that he might have dis- charged his high duties with considerable distinction; but his lot was thrown upon stormy times, and a most difiicult crisis amongst tribes whose native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of superstition, and by a nationality as 21 Kalmucks. A branch of the Mongolian family inhabiting parts of the Russian and Chinese empires. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 25 well as an inflated conceit of their own merit absolutely unparalleled ; whilst the circumstances of their hard and trying position under the jealous surveillance of an irre- sistible lord paramount, in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to the natural unamiableness of the 5 Kalmuck disposition, and irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his subjects or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the case; for the dilemma in wliich a 10 Kalmuck ruler stood at present was of this nature: tvant- ing the support and sanction of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from without to command confidence from his subjects or resistance to his competitors. On the other hand, with this kind of support, and deriving his title in 13 any degree from the favor of the imperial court, he became almost in that extent an object of hatred at home and within the whole compass of his own territory. He was at once an object of hatred for the past, being a living monument of national independence ignominiously surrendered ; and an 20 object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate pur- poses (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the Russian court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck scepter under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate circum- 25 stances of his position, it might have been expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently an object of detes- tation ; for, besides his known dependence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct line of succession had been set aside, and the principle of inheritance violently suspended, in 30 favor of his own father, so recently as nineteen years before the era of his own accession ; consequently within the lively remembrance of the existing generation. He, therefore, almost equally with his father, stood within the full cur- rent of the national prejudices, and might have antici- 35 pated the most pointed hostility. But it was not so : such 2G FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE are the caprices in human affairs that he was even, in a moderate sense, popular — a benefit which wore the more cheering aspect and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he owed it exclusively to his personal qualities of kind- 5 ness and affability, as well as to the beneficence of his government. On the other hand, to balance this unlooked- for prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met with a rival in popular favor — almost a competitor— in the person of Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to lo the throne, and, perhaps it might be said, with equal pre- tensions. Zebek-Dorchi was a direct descendant of the same royal house as himself, through a different branch. On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing equally good with that of Oubacha; while his personal 15 qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philo- sophical observer most odious and repulsive, promised the most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an intriguer or a conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a popular support precisely in those points where Oubacha was most 20 defective. He was much superior in external appearance to his rival on the throne, and so far better qualified to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous people; whilst his dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy w^hich knew no touch of 25 remorse, were admirably calculated to sustain any ground which he might win from the simple-hearted people with whom he had to deal and from the frank carelessness of his unconscious competitor. At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek- SoDorchi was sagacious enough to perceive that nothing could be gained by open declaration of hostility to the reigning prince. The choice had been a deliberate act •■'3 Machiavelian. Machiavelli's name has become proverbial for du- plicity. He was a famous secretary to the Florentine Republic and au arch dissembler (1469-1527). FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 27 on the part of Russia; and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the person to recall her own favors with levity or upon slight grounds. Openly, therefore, to have declared his enmity toward his relative on the throne, could have had no effect but that of arming suspicions against his own 5 ulterior purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to his interest that, for the present, all suspicions should be hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the course he took for opening his snares was tlris: He raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from the plots of 10 several saissang (that is, Kalmuck nobles), who were leagued together under an oath to assassinate him ; and immedi- ately after, assuming a well-counterfeited alarm, he fled to Tcherkask, followed by sixty-five tents. From this place he kept up a correspondence with the imperial court, and, 15 by way of soliciting his cause more effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg. Once admitted to personal conferences with the Cabinet, he found no diffi- culty in winning over the Russian councils to a concur- rence with some of his political views, and thus covertly 20 introducing the point of that wedge which was finally to accomplish his purposes. In particular, he persuaded the Russian Government to make a very important alteration in the constitution of the Kalmuck state council, which in effect reorganized the whole political condition of the state 25 and disturbed the balance of power as previously adjusted. Of this council— in the Kalmuck language called sarga— there were eight members, called sargatchi ; and hitherto it had been the custom that these eight members should be entirely subordinate to the khan ; holding, in fact, the 30 ministerial character of secretaries and assistants, but in 1 Elizabeth Petrowna, daughter of Peter the Great, was Empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762. 1* Tcherkask. Circassia. >* Tents. Those living in sixty-five tents, an example of what rhetoricians call synecdoche. 28 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE no respect ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had produced some inconveniences in former reigns, and it was easy for Zebek-Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian courts to others more serious wliich might arise in future 5 circumstances of war or other contingencies. It was re- solved, therefore, to place the sargatchi henceforward on a footing of perfect independence, and, therefore (as re- garded responsibility), on a footing of equality with the khan. Their independence, however, had respect only to 10 their own sovereign ; for toward Russia they were placed in a new attitude of direct duty and accountability by the creation in their favor of small pensions (three hundred roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that day were more considerable than might be supposed, and 15 had a further value as marks of honorary distinction emanating from a grealr empress. Thus far the purposes of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment; but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in the further development of his plots, this very dependency upon 20 Russian influence would be the most serious obstacle in his way. There was, however, another point carried, which outweighed all inferior considerations, as it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever should arise to disturb his plots— he was himself appointed presi- 25 dent and controller of the sargatchi. The Russian court had been aware of his high pretensions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy the ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged to be a reasonable passion for any man occupying his situation. 30 Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of Russia, Zebek-Dorchi proceeded in his new character to fulfill his political mission with the Khan of the Kalmucks. So artfully did he prepare the road for his favorable recep- tion at the court of this prince that he was at once and J3 Rouble. About seventy-seven cents in our money. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 29 universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions of the councilors were so much additional wealth poured into the Tartar exchequer; as to the ties of dependency thus created, experience had not yet enlightened these simple tribes as to that result. And that he himself should 5 be the chief of these mercenary councilors was so far from being charged upon Zebek as any offense or any ground of suspicion, that his relative the khan returned him hearty thanks for his services, under the belief that he could have accepted this appointment only with a view to 10 keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or friend- ship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness to the Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his new func- tions about the khan's person was to attack the court 15 of Russia, by a romantic villainy not easily to be credited, for those very acts of interference with the council which he himself had prompted. This was a dangerous step; but it was indispensable to his farther advance upon the gloomy path which he had traced out for himself. A triple venge- 20 ance was what he njeditated : 1. Upon the Russian Cabinet, for having underv^alued his own pretensions to the throne; 2. Upon his amiable rival, for having supplanted him ; and 3. Upon all those of the nobility who had manifested their sense of his weakness by their neglect or their sense of his 25 perfidious character by their suspicions. Here was a colossal outline of wickedness; and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, how was the total edifice to be reared in its comprehensive grandeur ? He, a worm as he was— could 30 he venture to assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate who counted three hundred languages around 31 Behemoth. In Hebrew, the great beast; used in Job xl. 15 for the hippopotamus. 31 Muscovy. The old name for Russia. 30 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE the footsteps of -his throne, and from whose "lion ramp" recoiled alike " baptized and infidel " — Christendom on the one side, strong by her intellect and her organization, and the "barbaric East "on the other, with her unnumbered 5 numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement — that it could not be suspected. The very hopelessness of the scheme grounded his hope; and he resolved to execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in the unity 10 of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged to be his enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from the Rus- sian empire the whole Kalmuck nation and breaking up that system of intercourse which had thus far been bene- ficial to both. This last was a consideration which moved 15 him but little. True it was that Eussia to the Kalmucks had secured lands and extensive pasturage; true it was that the Kalmucks reciprocally to Russia had furnished a powerful cavalry ; but the latter loss would be part of his triumph, and the former might be more than compensated 20 in other climates, under other sovereigns. Here was a scheme which, in its final accomplishment, would avenge him bitterly on the Czarina, and in the course of its'accom- plishment might furnish him with ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may be readily supposed, 25 indeed, that he who could deliberately raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an antagonist in single duel with him- self ^vas not likely to feel much anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He took his resolution, there- fore, sternly and irrevocably, to effect this astonishing 30 translation of an ancient people across the pathless deserts of Central Asia, intersected continually by rapid rivei's rarely furnished with bridges, and of which the fords were 1 " Lion ramp." Lion's spring, Milton's " Samson Agonistes," 1. 139. Cf. the heraldic "lion rampant" and Shakespeare's "Henry IV.," Part I. (III. 1. 153): " A couching lion and a ramping cat." 2 " Baptized and infidel." Milton's " Paradise Lost," I. 582. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 31 known only to those who might think it for their interest to conceal them, through many nations inhospitable or hostile — frost and snow around them (from the necessity of commencing their flight in the winter), famine in their front, and the saber, or even the artillery, of an offended 5 and mighty empress hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what was to be their final mark, the port of shelter, after so fearful a course of wandering ? Two things were evident: it must be some power at a great dis- tance from Russia, so as to make return even in that view 10 hopeless, and it must be a power of sufficient rank to insure them protection from any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina for reclaiming them or for chastising their revolt. Both conditions were united obviously in the person of Kien Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was 15 further recommended to them by his respect for the head of their religion. To China, therefore, and, as their first rendezvous, to the shadow of the great Chinese Wall, it was settled by Zebek that they should direct their flight. Next came the question of time. When should the flight 20 commence ? and, finally, the more delicate question as to the choice of accomplices. To extend the knowledge of the conspiracy too far was to insure its betrayal to the Russian Government. Yet at some stage of the prepara- tions it was evident that a very extensive confidence must 25 be made, because in no other way could the mass of the Kalmuck population be persuaded to furnish their families with the requisite equipments for so long a migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all events, to make* no 30 general communication on the subject until the time of departure should be definitely settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three persons to his confidence — of >8 Chinese Wall. A great wall 1400 miles long, from fifteen to thirty feet high, running over mountains and valleys. It was built in the third century, B. c, as a protection against the inroads of Mongol invaders from the north. 32 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE. whom Oubacha, the reigning prince, was almost necessarily one; but him, for liis yielding and somewhat feeble char- acter, he viewed rather in the light of a tool than as one of his active accomplices. Those whom (if anybody) he ad- 5 mitted to an unreserved participation in his counsels were two only — the great lama among the Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law, Erempel, a ruling prince of some tribe in the neighborhood of the Caspian Sea, recommended to his favor not so much by any strength of talent corre- losponding to the occasion as by his blind devotion to him- self and his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a sov- ereign prince. A titular prince Zebek already was, but this dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of a 15 scepter, seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambi- tious rivals. The other accomplice, whose name was Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was that of lama, or Kalmuck pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished pretensions. He had something of the same gloomy and 20 terrific pride which marked the character of Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energj^ accompanied by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural facility of dissimu- lation even more f)rofound. It was by this man that the other question was settled as to the time for giving effect 25 to their designs. His own pontifical character had sug- gested to him that, in order to strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded men whom they were to lead into a howling wilderness, after persuading them to lay desolate their own ancient hearths, it was indispen- 30 sable that they should be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction of God for their entire enter- prise. This could only be done by addressing themselves to the great head of their religion — the Dalai Lama of Tibet. « Lama. A priest of the belief called Lamaism, which is a modified form of Buddhism prevailing in Thibet, Mongolia, and some adjacent parts of Asia. The chief lama, or Dalai Lama, resides at Lassa in Tibet. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 33 Him they easily persuaded to countenance their schemes ; and an oracle was delivered solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no ultimate prosperity would attend this great exodus unless it were pursued through the years of the tiger and the hare. Now the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their 5 years by attaching to each a denomination taken from one of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being ab- solutely fixed; so that the cycle revolves, of course, through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the approaching year of the tiger were suffered'to escape them, 10 in that case the expedition must be delayed for twelve years more; within which period, even were no other unfavor- able changes to arise, it was pretty well foreseen that the Russian Government would taka most effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by a ring fence of forts. 15 or military posts, to say nothing of the still readier plan for securing their fidelity (a plan already talked of in all quarters) by exacting a large body of hostages selected from the families of the most influential nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was solemnly determined that this 20 terrific experiment should be made in the next year of the tiger, which happened to fall upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less latitude allowed to their choice than with respect to the year. It was absolutely necessary, or it 25 was thought so, that the different divisions of the nation, which pastured their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should have the means of effecting an instantaneous junc- tion, because the danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the imperial armies was precisely the greatest 30 at the outset. Now, from the want of bridges or sufficient river craft for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means which could be depended upon (especially where so many women, children, and camels were concerned) was ice; and this, in a state of sufficient firmness, could not be 35 absolutely counted upon before the month of January. 34 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE Hence it happened that this astonishing exodus of a whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design had begun to circulate amongst those wliom it most interested, before it was even suspected that any man's wishes pointed 5 in that direction, had been definitely appointed for January of the year 1771 ; and, almost up to the Christmas of 1770, the poor, simple Kalmuck herdsmen and their families were going nightly to their peaceful beds without even dreaming that the^a^ had already gone forth from their rulers which 10 consigned those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned within them, to a withering desola- tion, now close at hand. Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia and the Sultan ; and, until tlie time arrived for throwing 15 off their vassalage, it was necessary that Oubacha should contribute his usual contingent of martial aid ; nay, it had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute much more than his usual aid. Human experience gives ample evidence that in some mysterious and unaccount- 20 able way no great design is ever agitated, no matter how few or how faithful may be the participators, but that some presentiment — some dim misgiving — is kindled amongst those whom it is chiefly important to blind. And, however it might have happened, certain it is that 25 already, when as yet no syllable of the conspiracy had been breathed to any man whose very existence w^as not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless some vague and uneasy jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of the Kalmuck khan; and very probable 30 it is that, but for the war then raging, and the consequent prudence of conciliating a very important vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would powerfully alienate him, even at that moment such measures would have been adopted as must forever have intercepted the Kalmuck 35 schemes. Slight as were the jealousies of the imperial 13 War. Catharine's first Turkish war began in 1768 and ended in 1774. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 35 court, they had not escaped the Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the lama; and under then' guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the Russian court with a policy corre- sponding to their own, strove by unusual zeal to efface 5 the Czarina's unfavorable impressions. He enlarged the scale of his contributions, and that so prodigiously that he absolutely carried to headquarters a force of thirty-five thousand cavalry, fully equipped. Some go further, and rate the amount beyond forty thousand ; but the smaller 10 estimate is, at all events, within the truth. With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as light, the khan went into the field under great expec- tations; and these he more than realized. Having the good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized and 15 disorderly a description of force as that which at all times composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory along with his banners; gained many partial successes; and at last, in a pitched battle, overthrew the Turkish force opposed to him, with a loss of five thousand men left upon 20 the field. These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate in various ways against the impending revolt. Oubacha had now a strong motive, in the martial glory acquired, for continuing his connection with the empire in whose 25 service he had won it and by whom only it could be fully appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great empire— one of the Paladins around the imperial throne. In China he would be nobody, or (worse than that) a mendicant alien, prostrate at the feet, and soliciting theSo precarious alms, of a prince with whom he had no con- nection. Besides it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina, grateful for the really efficient aid given by the 19 In a pitched battle. It has been pointed out that there was no battle in the Empress Catharine's first Turkish war answering to De Quincey's description. 36 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE Tartar prince, would confer upon him such eminent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor his hopes upon Russia and to wean him from every possible seduction. These were the obvious suggestions of prudence and good 5 sense to everj'^ man who stood neutral in the case. But they were disappointed. The Czarina knew her obligations to the khan; but she did iiot acknowledge them. Where- fore? That is a mystery perhaps never to be explained. So it was, however. The khan went unhonored; no ukase 10 ever proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly recompensed by Russia, there were others who would have defeated these tendencies to reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the lama were pledged life- deep to prevent any accommodation ; and their efforts were 15 unfortunately seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the Russian court there were at that time some great nobles preoccupied with feelings of hatred and blind malice toward the Kalmucks quite as strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor toward Russia, and not, perhaps, 20 so well founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated the Russian yoke, their galling assumption of authority, the marked air of disdain, as toward a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians, which too generally marked the Russian bearing and language — but, above all, the insolent 25 contempt, or even outrages, which the Russian governors or great military commandants tolerated in their followers toward the barbarous religion and superstitious mum- meries of the Kalmuck priesthood— precisely in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian resentment, and 30 their wrath at seeing the trampled worm turn or attempt a feeble retaliation, react upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this crisis it is probable that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing the splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the Turks and Bashkirs, contributed 35 strength to the Russian irritation ; and it must have been 3* Bashkirs. A nomadic tribe in the south of Ruseia. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 37 through the intrigues of those nobles about her person who chiefly smarted under these feelings that the Czarina could ever have lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this critical period toward the Kalmuck khan. That Czarina was no longer Elizabeth Petrowna; it was 5 Catharine II.— a princess who did not often err so injuriously (injuriously for herself as much as for others) in the measures of her government. She had soon ample reason for repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it must have co-operated with the -other motives lo previously acting upon Oubacha in sustaining his deter- mination to revolt, and how powerfully it must have assisted the efiPorts of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds of their people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by arming their pride and their 15 suspicions against the Eussian Government, through the keenness of their sympathy with the wrongs of their insulted prince, may be readily imagined. It is a fact, and it has been confessed by candid Russians themselves when treating of this great dismemberment, that the conduct of 20 the Russian Cabinet throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis of hesitation in the Kalmuck council, was exactly such as was most desirable for the purposes of the conspirators; it was such, in fact, as to set the seal to all their machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and 25 official vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most matters of doubtful suspicion and indirect pre- sumption. Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the 30 injustice or the impolicy of the imperial ministers, it is ■ fl Catharine II. Elizabeth Petrowna became empress in 1741. Her reign was characterized by the capricious rule of women and favorites. She was succeeded by her nephew, Peter III., who was deposed and imprisoned by his wife, the energetic and immoral Catharine II. This empress was, with the exception of Peter the Great, the greatest ruler Russia has ever had, and her reign was marked by signal diplomatic and military successes. 38 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE contended by many persons who have reviewed the affair with a command of all the documents bearing on the case, more especially the letters or minutes of council subse- quently discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, 5 and the important evidence of the Russian captive Wesel- off, who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight, that be^'ond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any pur- pose of impeding, or even of delaying, the revolt. He himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the lo most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrust- ing the firmness of his resolution under any unusual pres- sure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the khan's well- 15 known superstition, to engage him, by means of previous concert with the priests and their head the lama, in some dark and mysterious rites of consecration, terminating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, as regarded 20 the personal share of the khan in what was to come, Zebek was entirely- at his ease. He knew him to be so deeply pledged by religious terroi*s to the prosecution of the con- spiracy that no honoi^s within the Czarina's gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion : and then, as to threats from 25 the same quarter, he knew him to be sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier character and better adapted to his peculiar temperament. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and timid as the most 30 supei'stitious of old women in facing the frowns of a priest or under the vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had it been otherwise, and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady demeanor on the part of this prince at the approach of the critical moment, such were 3^ the changes already effected in the state of their domestic » WeselofF. See page 44. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 39 politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the lama, that very little importance would have attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually lodged in the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true and absolute wielder of the Kalmuck 5 scepter. All measures of importance were submitted to his discretion, and nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation. This result he had brought about in a year or two by means sufficiently simple : first^of all, by avail- ing himself of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused 10 amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck khans, stood upon a better basis than that of Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch; secondly, with respect to 15 that sole advantage which Oubacha possessed above himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this difference between their situations to the disadvantage of his competi- tor, as one who had not scrupled to accept that triumph from an alien power at the price of his independence, which he 20 himself (as he would have it understood) disdained to court; thirdly, by his own talents and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his moral character ; fourthly, —and per- haps in an equal degree,— by the criminal facility and good nature of Oubacha; finally (which is remarkable enough, 25 as illustrating the character of the man), by that very new modeling of the sarga, or privy council, which he had used as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation against the Russian Government, whilst in reality he first had suggested the alteration to the Empress, and he chiefly 30 appropriated the political advantages which it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the chief of the sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst in effect they owed their appointments to his nomination, it may be easily supposed 35 that wliatever power existed in the state capable of con" 40 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE trolling the khan, being held by the sarga under its new organization, and this body being completely under his influence, the final result was to throw all the functions of the state, whether nominally in the prince or in the council, 5 substantially into the hands of this one man ; whilst, at the same time, from the strict league which he maintained with the lama, all the thunders of the spiritual power were always ready to come in aid of the magistrate or to supply his incapacity in cases which he could not reach. ID But the time was now rapidly approaching for the mighty experiment. The day was drawing near on which the signal was to be given for raising the standard of revolt, and, by a combined movement on both sides of the Wolga, for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration 15 that should wrap in a common blaze their own huts and the stately cities of their enemies over the breadth and length of those great provinces in which their flocks were dispersed. The year of the tiger was now within one little month of its commencement. The fifth morning of 20 that year was fixed for the fatal day when the fortunes and happiness of a whole nation were to be put upon the hazard of a dicer's throw ; and, as yet, that nation was in profound ignorance of the whole plan. The khan, such was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to 25 make the revelation so urgently required. It was clear, however, that this could not be delayed ; and Zebek-Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself. But where or how should this notification be made, so as to exclude Russian hearers? After some deliberation, the following plan was 30 adopted: Couriers, it was contrived, should arrive in furi- ous haste, one upon the heels of anothei% reporting a sudden inroad of tlie Kirghises and Bashkirs upon the Kalmuck lands at a point distant about one hundred and twenty miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, according 32 Kirghises. A wandering people of mixed Tartar and Mongolian stock, in Turkestan. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 41 to immemorial custom, were required to send a separate representative ; and there, accordingly, within three days, all appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed for the rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended to make it almost certain that no Russian could be present. 5 Zebek-Dorch i then came forward. He did not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an immense sheet of parchment, visible from the outermost distance at which any of this vast crowd could stand. The total number amounted to eighty thousand : all saw, and many heard. 10 They were told of the oppressions of Russia ; of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced toward tliem by a thou- sand acts; of her contempt for their religion; of her determination to reduce them to absolute slavery; of the preliminary measures she had already taken by erecting 15 forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborliood; of the ulterior intentions she thus announced to circum- scribe their pastoral lands, until they would all be obliged to renounce their flocks, and to collect in towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical and servile trades of 20 shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, sucli as the freeborn Tartar had always disdained. "Then, again," said the subtle prince, ''she increases her military levies upon our popula- tion every year. We pour out our blood as young men in her defense, or, more often, in support of her insolent 25 aggressions; and, as old men, we reap nothing from our suflterings nor benefit by our survivorship where so many are sacrificed." At this point of his harangue Zebek pro- duced several papei^ (forged, as it is generally believed, by himself and the lama), containing projects of the Russian 30 court for a general transfer of the eldest sons, taken en masse from the greatest Kalmuck families, to the imperial court. "Now, let this be once accomplished," he argued, 20 Sarepta. A manufacturing town on the Volga in tlie south of Russia. «» En masse. A French expression, meaning " in a body." 42 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE "and there is an end of all useful resistance from that day- forwards. Petitions we might make, or even remonstrances ; as men of words, we might play a bold part ; but for deeds ; for that sort of language by which our ancestors were 5 used to speak ; holding us by such a chain, Russia would make a jest of our wishes, knowing full well that w^e should not dare to make any effectual movement," Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his vast audience, and having alarmed their fears by this ID pretended scheme against their firstborn (an artifice which was indispensable to his purpose, because it met before- hand every form of amendment to his proposal coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not otherwise have failed to insist upoi> trying the effect of bold addresses 15 to the Empress before resorting to any desperate extremity), Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt ; since any preparations reported at St. Petersburg would be a signal for the armies of Russia to cross into such positions from all parts of Asia as would 20 effectually intercept their march. It is remarkable, how- ever, that with all his audacity and his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks, the subtle prince did not venture, at this stage of his seduction, to make so startling a proposal as that of a flight to China. All that 25 he held out for the present was a rapid march to the Tamba or some other great river, which they were to cross, and to take up a strong position on the farther bank, from which, as from a post of conscious security, they could hold a bolder language to the Czarina, and one which would have 30 a better chance of winning a favorable audience. These things, in the irritated condition of the simple Tartars, passed by acclamation ; and all returned homeward to push forward with the most furious speed the prepara- tions for their awful undertaking. Rapid and energetic 35 these of necessity were ; and in that degree they became noticeable and manifest to the Russians who happened to FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 43 be intermingled with the different hordes, either on com- mercial errands or as agents officially from the Russian Grovern men t— some in a financial, others in a diplomatic character. Among these last (indeed, at the head of them) was a 5 Russian of some distinction, by name Kichinskoi— a man memorable for his vanity, and memorable also as one of the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This Kich- inskoi had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook the conduct of the Kalmucks. He was styled the 10 grand pristaw, or great commissioner, and was universally known amongst the Tartar tribes by this title. His mixed character of ambassador and of political surveillant, com- bined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks, gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might have given 15 him a far greater had not his outrageous self-conceit and his arrogant confidence in his own authority, as due chiefly to his personal qualities for command, led him into such harsh displays of power, and menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon made him an object of 20 their profoundest malice. He had publicly insulted the khan; and, upon making a communication to him to the effect that some reports began to circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in agitation to fly from the imperial dominions, he had ventured to say, " But this you 25 dare not attempt. I laugh at such rumors; yes, khan, I laugh at them to the Empress ; for you are a chained bear, and that you know." The khan turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and the pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter, amongst those of the khan's 30 attendants who stayed behind to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now ascertained that suspicion had arisen ; but, at the same time, it was ascertained that the pristaw 35 13 Surveillant. French for " overseer." 44 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE spoke no more than the truth in representing himself to have discredited these suspicions. The fact was that the mere infatuation of vanity made him believe that nothing- could go on undetected by his all-piercing sagacity, and 5 that no rebellion could prosper when rebuked by his com- manding presence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding in the obstinate blindness of the grand pristaw as in their perfect safeguard. And such it proved, to his own ruin as well as that of myriads 10 beside. Christmas arrived ; and a little before that time courier upon courier came dropping in, one upon the very heels of another, to St. Petersburg, assuring the Czarina that beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the very crisis of depar- 15 ture. These dispatches came from the governor of Astra- khan, and copies were instantly forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that between this governor— a Russian named Beketoff — and the pristaw had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff inflamed his resent- 2oment; and no sooner did he see that hated name attached to the dispatch than he felt himself confirmed in his for- mer views with tenfold bigotry, and wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed ridicule, against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the visionariness 25 of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not to be put down by a few hard words or by ridicule. He persisted in his statements. The Russian ministry were confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and some were beginning even to treat the governor of Astrakhan as a bore, and as 30 the dupe of his own nervous terrors, when the memorable day ari'ived, the fatal 5tli of January, which forever ter- minated the dispute and put a seal upon the earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered myriads. The governor of Astrakhan was the first to hear the news. Stung by the 35 mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his sledge, and, at the FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 45 rate of three hundred miles a day, pursued his route to St. Petersburg, rushed into the imperial presence, announced the total realization of his worst predictions, and, upon the confirmation of this intelligence by subsequent dispatches from many different posts on the Wolga, he received an 5 imperial commission to seize the person of his deluded enemy and to keep him in strict captivity. These orders were eagerly fulfilled; and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired of grief and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon — a victim to his own irameas- 10 urable vanity and the blinding self-delusions of a presump- tion that refused all warning. The governor of Astrakhan had been but too faithful a prophet. Perhaps even he was surprised at the suddenness with which the verification followed his reports. Precisely 15 on the 5th of January, the day so solemnly appointed under religious sanctions by the lama, the Kalmucks on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the earliest dawn of day assembling by troops and squadrons and in the tumultuous movement of some great morning of battle. Tens of thou- 20 sands continued moving off the ground at every half hour's interval. Women and children, to the amount of two hundred thousand and upward, were placed upon wagons or upon camels, and drew off by masses of twenty thou- sand at once, placed under suitable escorts, and continually 25 swelled in numbers by other outlying bodies of the horde, who kept falling in at various distances upon the first and second day's march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those who were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder more 30 violent than prudence justified or the amiable character of the khan could be supposed to approve. But in this, as in other instances, he was completely overruled by the malig- nant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself upon their 35 own habitations. But this, as cutting off all infirm looking 46 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE backward from the hardships of then- march, had been thought so necessary a measure by all the chieftains that even Oubacha himself was the first to authorize the act by his own example. He seized a torch, previously prepared 5 with materials the most durable as well as combustible and steadily applied it to the timbers of his own palace. Noth- ing was saved from tlie general wreck except the portable part of the domestic utensils and that part of the woodwork which could be applied to the manufacture of the long 10 Tartar lances. This chapter in their memorable day's work being finished, and the whole of their villages throughout a district of ten thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the Tartars waited for further orders These, it was intended, should have taken a character of 15 valedictory vengeance, and thus have left beliind to the Czarina a dreadful commentary upon the main motives of their flight. It was the purpose of Zebek-Dorclii that all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of every description should be given up to pillage and destruction 20 and such treatment applied to the defenseless inhabitants as might naturally be expected from a fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle of their own outrages and by the bloody retaliations which they must necessarily have pro- voked. This part of the tragedy, however, was happily 25 intercepted by a providential disappointment at the very crisis of departure. It has been mentioned already that the motive for selecting the depth of winter as the season of flight (which otherwise was obviously the very worst pos- sible) had been the impossibility of eff'ecting a junction 30 sufficiently rapid with the tribes on the west of the Wolga in the absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of ice For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had consented to aggravate by a thousand fold the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight over boundless tracts of counti-y with women 35 children, and herds of cattle-for this one single advan- tage; and yet, after all, it was lost. The reason never has FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 47 been explained satisfactorily: but the fact was such. Some have said that the signals were not properly con- certed for marking the moment of absolute departure; that is, for signifying whether the settled intention of the eastern Kalmucks might not have been suddenly inter- 5 rupted by adverse intelligence. Others have supposed that the ice might not be equally strong on both sides of the river, and might even be generally insecure for the tread- ing of heavy and heavily laden animals such as camels. But the prevailing notion is that some accidental move- 10 ments on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops in the neighborhood of the western Kalmucks, though really having no reference to them or their plans, had been con- strued into certain signs that all was discovered, and that the prudence of the western chieftains, who, from situa- 15 tion, had never been exposed to those intrigues by which Zebek-Dorchi had practiced upon the pride of the eastern tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin. Be the cause what it might, it is certain that the western Kal- mucks were in some way prevented from forming the 20 intended junction with their brethren of the opposite bank; and the result was that at least one hundred thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia. This accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors universally from the desolation which else awaited them. One general 25 massacre and conflagration would assuredly have surprised them, to the utter extermination of their property, their houses, and themselves, had it not been for this diappoint- ment. But the eastern chieftains did not dare to put to hazard tlie safety of their brethren under the first impulse 30 of the Czarina's vengeance for so dreadful a tragedy ; for, as they were well aware of too many circumstances by which she might discover the concurrence of the western people in the general scheme of revolt, they justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence also in the bloody 35 events which marked its outset. 48 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE Little did the western Kalmucks guess what reasons they also had for gratitude on account of an interposition so unexpected, and which, at the moment, they so generally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the thousandth 5 part of the sufferings which overtook their eastern brethren in the first month of their sad flight, they would have blessed Heaven for their own narrow escape; and yet these sufferings of the first month were but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those which afterward succeeded. lo For now began to unroll the most awful series of calamities, and the most extensive, which is anywhere recorded to have visited the sons and daughters of men. It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying nations, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tartars, 15 may have inflicted misery as extensive; but there the misery and the desolation would be sudden, like the fliglit of volleying lightning. Those who were spared at first would generally be spared to the end; those who perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the French 20 retreat from Moscow may have made some nearer approach to this calamity in duration, though still a feeble and miniature approach; for the French sufferings did not commence in good earnest until about one month from the time of leaving Moscow; and though it is true that after- 25 ward the vials of wrath were emptied upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in succession, yet what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for more than 13 Destroying nations. From the third to the thirteenth centuries Euro- pean history is marked by the conquering migrations of barbaric hordes. The inroads of the Huns, a Mongolian race, began in 375, when they crossed the Volga and fell upon the Goths, forcing them across the Danube. Later, under their great leader, Attila, they threatened Rome itself. The incursions of the Avars extended from the sixth century to the end of the eighth, when they were subdued by Charlemagne. The great conquests of the Mongol Tartars were under the leadership of Genghis Khan (1160-1227), who conquered and founded a Mongolian empire which extended from Poland to China. 83 Vials of wrath. Revelation xvi. 1. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 49 as many months? But the main feature of horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from the French, lies in the accompaniment of women (i) and children. There were both, it is true, with the French army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the total numbers con- 5 cerned. The French, in short, were merely an army — a host of professional destroyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed and whose regular element was danger and suffering; but the Tartars were a nation carrying along with them more than two hundred and fifty thousand 10 women and children, utterly unequal, for-the most part, to any contest with the calamities before them. The children of Israel were in the same circumstances as to the accom- paniment of their families; but they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a very early stage of their 15 flight ; and their subsequent residence in the desert was not a march, bnt a continued halt, and under a continued interposition of Heaven for their comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however comprehensive in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's duration. A much 20 nearer approach made to the wide range and the long duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may have been in a pestilence such as that whicli visited Athens in the Peloponnesian war or London in the reign of Charles II. There, also, the martyrs were counted by myriads, and the 25 period of the desolation was counted by months. But, after all, the total amount of destruction was on a smaller scale; and there was this feature of alleviation to the 23 Pestilence. These were among the greatest pestilences that have ever visited mankind. That at Athens broke out in 430 B. c, caused largely by the crowded condition of the city during the war. Thousands perished, and among them Pericles, Athens' most honored citizen. The famous plague of London in 1665 has been most graphically described by Daniel Defoe, the author of " Robinson Crusoe." Defoe pretends to have been present in London during the course of the plague, but this has been proved to be fictitious, in view of the fact that he was only four years old at the time. The mor- tality during this pestilence was fearful, almost forty thousand dying during the month of September alone, according to Defoe's account. 50 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE conscious pressure of the calamity — that the misery was withdrawn from public notice into private chambers and hospitals. The siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire circumstances, comes nearest of 5 all, for breadth and depth of suffering, for duration, for the exasperation of the suffering from without by internal feuds, and, finally, for that last most appalling expression of the furnace heat of the anguish in its power to extinguish the natural affections even of maternal love. But, after 10 all, each case had circumstances of romantic misery peculiar to itself — circumstances without precedent, and, (wherever human nature is ennobled by Cliristianity,) it may be confidently hoped, never to be repeated. Tlie first point to be reached, before any hope of repose 15 could be encouraged, was the River Jaik. This was not above three hundred miles from the main point of departure on the Wolga; and, if the march thither was to be a forced one and a severe one, it was alleged, on the other hand, that the suffering would be the more brief and transient ; 20 one summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was achieved. Forced the march was, and severe beyond example — there the forewarning proved correct; but the promised rest proved a mere phantom of the wilderness — a visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick eyes, 25 across these interminable solitudes, for seven months of hardship and calamity, without a pause. These sufferings, by their very nature and the circumstances under which they arose, were (like the scenery of the steppes) somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external features; what 30 variety, however, there was, will be most naturally exhibited by tracing historically the successive stages of the general misery exactly as it unfolded itself under the double agency of weakness still increasing from within and hostile pressure from without. Viewed in this manner, » Maternal love. Josephus relates that it was not uncommon for a mother to kill her own babe for food. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 51 under the real order of development, it is remarkable that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under the molding hands of accident, arrange themselves almost with a sceiii- cal propriety. They seem combined as with the skill of an artist, the intensity of the misery advancing regularly with 5 the advances of the march, and the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages of the route; so that, upon rais- ing the curtain which veils the great catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of anguish, towering upward by regular gradations as if constructed artificially for pictur- 10 esque effect — a result which might not have been surpris- ing had it been reasonable to anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an accelerated rate, as prevailing through the later stages of the expedition. But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to calculate upon a continual 15 decrement in the rate of motion according to the increasing distance from the headquarters of the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was defeated by the extraordi- nary circumstance that the Russian armies did not begin to close in very fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they 20 had accomplished a distance of full two thousand miles. One thousand miles farther on the assaults became even more tumultuous and murderous; and already the great shadows of . the Chinese Wall were dimly descried, when the frenzy and acharnement oi the pursuers and the bloody 25 desperation of the miserable fugitives had reached its utter- most extremity. Let us briefly rehearse the main stages of the misery and trace the ascending steps of the tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route marked out by the central rivers of Asia. 30 The first stage, we have already said, was from the Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about three hundred miles; the time allowed seven days. For the first week, therefore, the rate of marching averaged about forty-three English miles a day. The weather was cold, but bracing; and, at 35 25 Acharnement. Fierce rage (French), 52 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE a more moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy as the Kalmucks. As it was, the cattle suffered greatly from overdriving; milk began to fail even for the 5 children ; the sheep perished by wholesale ; and the children themselves were saved only by the innumerable camels. The Cossacks who d welt upon the banks of the Jaik were the first among the subjects of Russia to come into collision with the Kalnmcks. Great was their surprise at the sudden- loness of the irruption, and great also their consternation; for, according to their settled custom, by far the greater part of their number was absent during the winter months at the fisheries upon the Caspian. Some who were liable to surprise at the most exposed points fled in crowds to the 15 fortress of Koulagina, which was immediately invested and summoned by Oubacha. He had, however, in his train only a few light pieces of artillery; and the Russian commandant at Koulagina, being aware of the hurried cir- cumstances in which tlie khan was placed, and that he 20 stood upon the very edge, as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by tiiese considerations to a more obstinate resistance than might else have been advisable with an enemy so little disposed to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The period of his anxiety was not long. On the 25 fifth day of the siege he descried from the walls a succes- sion of Tartar couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, crossing the vast plains around the fortress at a furious pace and riding into the Kalmuck encampment at various points. Great agitation appeared immediately to 30 follow. Orders were soon after dispatched in all direc- tions; and it became speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminat- ing battle had been fought tlie day before, in which one entire tribe of the khan's dependents, numbering not less 35 than nine thousand fighting men, had perished to the last man. This was the ouloss, or clan, called Feka-Zechorr, FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 53 between whom and the Cossacks there was a feud of ancient standing. In selecting-, therefore, the points of attack, on occasion of the present hasty inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with the service of the Empress some gratification 5 to their own party hatreds, more especially as the present was likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if the Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, con- centrated as large a body of Cossack cavalry as circum- stances allowed, they attacked the hostile ouloss with a 10 precipitation which denied to it all means fbr communicat- ing with Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding an ample range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast flocks and herds, had separated this ouloss from the khan's headquarters by an interval of eighty miles; and 15 thus it was, and not from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely upon its own resources. These had proved insuflScient. Retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and camels, no less than from the prodigious encum- brances of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question. 20 Quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not have been granted on the other; and thus it had happened that the setting sun of that one day (the thirteenth from the first opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays upon the final agonies of an ancient ouloss, stretched upon a bloody field, 25 who on that day's dawning had held and styled themselves an independent nation. Universal consternation was diffused through the wide borders of the khan's encampment by this disastrous intel- ligence, not so much on account of the numbers slain, or 30 the total extinction of a powerful ally, as because the posi- tion of the Cossack force was likely to put to hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at least to retard and 8 Evasion. De Quincey's close adherence to etymological meanings is well shown in this word, which he uses in the uniu^nal translated meaning of "a walking-out," as invasion means a walking in (by the use of force). 54 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE hold them in check until the heavier columns of the Rus- sian army should arrive upon their flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised ; and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women and their children, once 5 again resounded through the tents— the signal for flight, and this time for a flight more rapid than ever. About one hundred and fifty miles ahead of their present position there arose a tract of hilly country, forming a sort of mar- gin to the vast, sealike expanse of champaign savannas, ID steppes, and occasionally of sandy deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin both eastwards and west- wards. Pretty nearly in tlie center of this hilly range lay a narrow defile, through which passed the nearest and the most practicable route to tlie River Torgau (the farther 15 bank of which river offered the next great station of secu- rity for a general halt). It was the more essential to gain this pass before the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only vrould the delay in forcing the pass give time to the Russian pur- suing columns for combining their attacks and for bringing 20 up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held, by those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geog- raphy of these pathless steppes, that the loss of this one narrow strait amongst the hills would have the effect of 25 throwing them (as their only alternative in a case where so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit of at least five hundred miles extra ; besides tliat, after all, this circuitous route would carry them to the Torgau at a point unfitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The 30 defile in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain, and yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of light cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found pre- occupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with their enemies; 35 but the excitement of victory, and the intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had again swelled their FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 55 ranks, and would probably act with the force of a vortex to draw up their simple countrymen from the Caspian. Tlte question, therefore, of preoccupation was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching upon an oblique line not above fifty miles longer than that which led to the same 5 point from the Kalmuck headquarters before Koulagina ; and therefore, without the most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there was not a chance for them, bur- dened and "trashed " (2) as they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the Cossacks in seizing this important 10 pass. Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing this exposition of the case ; for they easily understood that too capital an interest (the summa rerum) was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests, or what would 15 be considered such in their present circumstances. The dreadful week already passed — their inauguration in misery — was yet fresh in their remembrance. The scars of suffer- ing were impressed not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons and the persons of their children; 20 and they knew that, where no speed had much chance of meeting the cravings of the chieftains, no test would be accepted, short of absolute exhaustion, that as much had been accomplished as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive, has recorded the silent wretchedness 25 with which the women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent ropes. On the 5th of January all had been anima- tion and the joyousness of indefinite expectation ; now, on the contrary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to take an amended calculation of what it was that lay 30 before them. One whole day and far into the succeeding night had the renewed flight continued ; the sufferings had been greater than before, for tlie cold had been more intense, and many perished out of the living creatures through every 35 1"* Summa rerum. In Latin, " The most important of things," 66 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE class except only the camels, whose powers of endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat. The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to the distress. Snow had begun to fall; and, though not deep at present, 5 it was easily foreseen that it soon would be so, and that, as a halt would in that case become unavoidable, no plan could be better than that of staying where they were, especially as the same cause would check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the last interval of comfort ID which gleamed upon the unhappy nation during their whole migration. For ten days the snow continued to fall with little intermission. At the end of that time, keen, bright, frosty weather succeeded ; the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth expanse became firm enough to 15 support the treading of the camels, and the flight was recommenced. But during the halt much domestic com- fort had been enjo^^ed, and, for the last time, universal plenty. The cows and oxen had perished in such vast numbers on the previous marches that an order was now 20 issued to turn what remained to account by slaughtering the whole, and salting whatever part should be found to exceed the immediate consumption. Tliis measure led to a scene of general banqueting, and even of festivity, amongst all who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by dis- 25 tress of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future. Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished, exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut down by the Cossack saber; and the losses in reversion 30 were likely to be many more ; for rumors began now to arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom the khan had dispatched to the rear and to each flank as w^ell as in adv^ance, that large masses of the imperial troops were converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords 35 of the Eiver Torgau, as the most convenient point for inter- cepting the flying tribes; and it was already well known FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 5 7 that a powerful division was close in their rear, and was retarded only by the numerous artillery which had been judged necessary to support their operations. New moti ves were thus daily arising for quickening the motions of the wretched Kalmucks and for exhausting those who were 5 previously but too much exliausted. It was not until the 2d day of February that the khan's advanced guard came in sight of Ouchim, the defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, in Avhich they anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks. A pretty large 10 body of these light cavalry had, in fact, preoccupied the pass by some hours; but the khan having two great advantages — namely, a strong body of infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light artillery which he had not 15 yet been forced to abandon — soon began to make a serious impression upon this unsupported detachment; and they would probably at any rate have retired ; but, at the very moment when they were making some dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi appeared upon their rear with a body 20 of trained riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the cliffs which skirted the ravine, avail- ing themselves of the dry beds of the summer torrents and other inequalities of the ground to conceal their movement. 25 Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack files. The khan, who had been waiting with the elite of his heavy cavalry, charged furiously upon them. Total overthrow followed to tlie Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some measure avenged the recent bloody extermina- 30 tion of their allies, the ancient ouloss of Feka-Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were unable to support the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained 9 Moulgaldchares. The Mugodschar mountains. 27 Elite of his heavy cavalry. The flower (the choicest part) of his heavy cavahy. 58 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE cameleers (that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels). Hardy they were, but not strong, nor a match for their antago- nists in weight ; and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days to gain their present position had greatly 5 diminished their powers for effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, did escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable among the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days before, had signalized the complete annihilation of the Feka-Zechorr. (3) 10 The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as yet even far beyond it to the Torgau; but how long this state of things would continue was every day more doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was advancing upon 15 the Torgau under the command of General Traubenberg. This officer was to be joined on his route by ten thousand Bashkirs and pretty nearly the same amount of Kirghises — both hereditary enemies of the Kalmucks — both exasper- ated to a point of madness by the bloody trophies which 2oOubacha and Momotbacha had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands by which it had been imposed ; and accordingly, catching with eagerness at the present 25 occasion offered to their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant to execute them — viz., " that they would not trouble her majesty with prisoners." 30 Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and con- currently with nations as fi.erce and semihumanized as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold activity by the furies of mortified pride and military abase- 35 ment under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The forces, and more especially the artillery, of Russia, were far too FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 59 overwhelming- to permit the thought of a regular opposi- tion in pitched battles, even with a less dilapidated state of their resources than they could reasonably expect at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their speed lay their only hope — in strength of foot, as before, and not 5 in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks pressed, marking the lines of their wide-extending march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a never-ending chain of corpses. The old and the young, the sick man on his couch, the mother with her baby — all were left behind. 10 Sights such as these, with the many rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of infancy — of disease land of female weakness abandoned to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness — continued to track their course through a space of full two thousand miles; for so much at 15 the least it was likely to prove, including the circuits to which they were often compelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on the Wolga until they could reach their destined halting ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first seven weeks of this march their 20 sufferings had been imbittered by the excessive severity of the cold; and every night — so long as wood was to be had for fires, either from the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice of their baggage wagons, or (as occa- sionally happened) from the forests which skirted the 25 banks of the many rivers which crossed their path — no spectacle was more frequent than that of a circle, composed of men, women, and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire, all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads were left behind from pure exhaustion, of 30 whom none had a chance, under the combined evils which beset them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours. ' Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute; the vast extent of the march at length brought them into more genial latitudes; and the unusual duration 35 of the march was gradually bringing them into the more CO FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE genial seasons of the year. Two thousand miles had at least been traversed; February, March, April were gone; the balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the heart- weary 5 travelers; and at last, in the latter end of May, they crossed the Torgau, and took up a position where they hoped to find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in com- fort as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from the fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered 10 forces to a condition for executing, with less of wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the journey. Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering had been completed, but in a period of nearly five months, and with the terrific sacrifice of at least two hundred and 15 fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished— ox, cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat; not one survived— only the camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking like the mummies of some antediluvian animals, without the 20 affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood— these only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this long tempest of trial unscathed and unharmed. The khan, knowing how much he was individually answerable for the misery which 25 had been sustained, nmst have w^ept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes when he threw his eyes over the myriads whom he had assembled : for the tears of Xerxes were unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in his power he resolved to make by sacrifices, to the 30 general good, of all personal regards; and accordingly, even at this point of their advance, he once more deliber- ately brpught under review the whole question of the revolt. The question was formally debated before the 18 Adust. From the Latin ad-{-urere, to burn ; hence burned up, scorched. 26 Xerxes wept at the thouglit that of all the great host spread out under his eyes not one would be alive in a hundred years. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 61 council, whetlier, even at this point, they should untread their steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's mercy, return to their old allegiance. In that case, Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat for the general transgression. This, he argued, was no 5 fantastic sclieme, but even easy of accomplishment; for the unlimited and sacred power of the khan, so well know^i to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to attribute any separate responsibility to the people. Upon the khan rested the guilt— upon tlie klian would descend the 10 imperial vengeance. This proposal was applauded for its generosity, but was energetically opposed by Zebek- Dorclii. Were they to lose the whole journey of two thou- sand miles? Was their misery to perish without fruit? True it was that they had yet reached only the halfway 15 house; but, in that respect, the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. Either way they would have pretty nearly the same distance to traverse, but with this difference — that, forwards, their route lay through lands comparatively fertile ; backwards, through a blasted 20 wilderness, rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the trophies of their calamity. Besides, though the Empress might accept an excuse for the past, would she the less forbear to suspect for the future? The Czarina's pardon they might obtain ; but could they 25 ever hope to recover her confidence^ Doubtless there would now be a standing presumption against them, an immortal ground of jealousy; and a jealous government would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally, whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt surely 30 remained unimpaired by anything that had occurred. In reality, the revolt was, after all, no revolt, but (strictly speaking) a return to their old allegiance; since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz., in the year 1616), their ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China. 35 They had now tried both governments; and for them 62 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE China was the land of promise, and Russia the house of bondage. Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the yearning of the people was strongly in behalf of the khan's 5 proposal; the pardon of their prince, they persuaded them- selves, would be readily conceded by the Empress; and there is little doubt that they would at this time have thrown themselves gladly upon the imperial mercy; when suddenly all was defeated by the arrival of two envoys 10 from Traubenberg. This general had reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the 12tli of April ; thence he set forward toward Oriembourg, which he reached upon the 1st of June, having been joined on his route at various times through the month of May by the 15 Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official offers to the khan, which were harsh and peremptorj^, holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or impunity, and exacting uncon- ditional submission as the preliminary price of any cessation 20 from military operations. The personal character of Trau- benberg, which was anything but energetic, and the con- dition of his army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and severity of the march, made it probable that, with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone 25 would have been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister events occurred in the meantime such as effectually put an end to every hope of the kind. The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had reported to this officer that a distance of only ten days' 30 march lay between his own headquarters and those of the khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the Kirghises, by their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the Russian general to advance without delay. Once having placed his cannon in position, so as to command the Kalmuck camp, 35 the fate of the rebel khan and his people would be in his own hands, and they would themselves form his advanced FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 63 guard. Traubenberg, however— lo/ii/ has not been certainly explained — refused to march ; grounding his refusal upon the condition of his army and their absolute need of refreshment. Long and fierce was the altercation ; but at length, seeing no chance of prevailing, and dreading above 5 all other events the escape of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs went off in a body by forced marches. In six days they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dis- persed for many a league in search of food or provender for 10 their camels. The first day's action was one vast succession of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking up into three or four, and again (according to the accidents of ground) three or four blending into one; flight and pursuit, 15 rescue and total overthrow, going on simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged, by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up into innumerable sec- tions; and thus, for some hours, it had been impossible for 20 the most practiced eye to collect the general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the khan and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners, and more than once in immi- nent danger of being cut down ; but at length Zebek suc- ceeded in rallying a strong column of infantry, which, 25 with the support of the camel corps on each flank, com- pelled the Bashkirs to retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed as the advanced parties of Trauben- 30 berg's army, the Kalmuck chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight; and in this way it happened that a retreat, which had so recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at the very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipating a deep repose, without further molesta- 35 tion, the whole summer through. 64 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness were predestined to the Kalmucks, and as if their sufferings were incomplete unless they were rounded and matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of summer's heat 5 could superadd to those of frost and winter. To this seqnel of their story we shall immediately revert, after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled cousin Zebek- Dorchi. lo There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court of the khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought neces- sary to carry along with them as a captive. For some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in one or 15 two instances cruel; but, as the increasing distance was continually diminishing the chances of escape, and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually withdrew their attention from all minor interests to tlieir own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody grew more and 20 more relaxed ; until at length, upon a petition to the khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored to liberty; and it was understood that he might use his liberty in whatever way he chose; even for returning to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he was making active preparations 25 for his journey to St. Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not improbably", in some of the battles which were then anticipated with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to lose some prisoner of rank, in which case the Russian Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands 30 for negotiating an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction, the Russian was detained until the further pleasure of the khan. The khan's name, indeed, was used through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private 35 audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done him and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 65 setting him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into dreams of home and restored happiness only for the purpose of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed all participation in the affair, and went so far in proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to effect his 5 escape ; and, as a ready means of commencing it without raising suspicion, the khan mentioned to Mr. Weseloff tliat he had just then received a message from the hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out. Tliat interview was 10 arranged for the coming night; and Mr. 'Weseloff might go in the khan's suite, which on either side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by the khan — 15 treachery against the khan's person. He mused a little, and then communicated so much of his suspicions to the khan as might put him on his guard; but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to decline the honor of accompanying the khan. The fact was that three Kalmucks, 20 who had strong motives for returning to their countr^-men on the west bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered to join him in his escape. These men the khan would probably find himself obliged to countenance in their project, so that it became a point of 25 honor with Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and there- fore to accomplish the evasion from the camp (of which the first steps only would be hazardous) without risking the notice of the khan. The district in which they were now encamped abounded 30 thi^ugh many hundred miles with wild horses of a docile and beautiful breed. Each of the four fugitives had caught from seven to ten of these spirited creatures in the course of the last few days. This raised no suspicion, for the rest of the Kalmucks had been making the same sort of pro- 35 8 Hetman. The chief. 66 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE vision against the coming toils of their remaining route to China. These horses were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the thickets which lined the margin of the river. To these thickets, about ten at night, the four fugi- 5 tives repaired. They took a circuitous path, which drew them as little as possible within danger of challenge from any of the outposts or of the patrols which had been established on the quarters where the Bashkirs lay, and in three-quarters of an hour they reached the rendezvous. ID The moon had now risen, the horses were unfastened; and they were in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the woods was disturbed by a violent uproar and the clashing of arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice of the khan shouting for assistance. He remembered 15 the communication made by that prince in the morning; and, requesting his companions to support him, he rode ofiP in the direction of the sound. A \qyj short distance brought him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four men contending with a party of at least nine 20 or ten. Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of Weseloff's arrival. One of these he recognized almost certainly as the khan, who was fighting hand to hand, but at great disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff 25 fired and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged their carabines at the same moment; and then all rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The thundering sound of about thirty horses, all rushing at once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a whole 30 troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants, who accordingly wheeled about and fled with one impulse. Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier, who, as he expected, proved to be the khan. The man whom Wesel- off had shot was lying dead; and both were shocked, 35 though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize a well- FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE tJ7 known confidential servant of Zebek-Dorchi. Nothing was said by either party. The khan rode off, escorted by Weseloff and his companions; and for some time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff was delicate and critical. To leave the khan at this point was probably 5 to cancel their recent services; for he might be again crossed on his path, and again attacked, by the very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the chances of accomplishing the escape. The khan, also, was appar- 10 ently revolving all this in his mind; for at length he broke silence and said, "I comprehend your situation; and, under other circumstances, I might feel it my duty to detain your companions, but it would ill become me to do so after the important service yo\x have just rendered me. 15 Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you see the watchfire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for the circumstances under which you will appear as my escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for the pres- 20 ent. I regret having no better means at my disposal for testifying my gratitude. But, tell me, before we part, was it accident only which led you to my rescue? or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which I was decoyed into this snare?" Weseloff answered very candidly that 25 mere accident had brought him to the spot at which he heard the uproar; but that, having heard it, and connect- ing it with the khan's communication of the morning, he had then designedly gone after the sound in a way which he certainly should not have done, at so critical a moment, 30 unless in the expectation of finding the khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after they reached the outpost at which it became safe to leave the Tartar chieftain ; and immediately the four fugitives commenced a flight which is, perhaps, without a parallel in the annals of traveling. 35 Each of them led six or seven horses besides the one he C8 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE rode; and by shifting from one to the other (like the ancient desultors of the Roman circus), so as never to burden the same horse for more tlian half an hour at a time, they continued to advance at the rate of two hundred 5 miles in the twenty-four hours for three days consecutively. After that time, considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded less rapidly, though still with a velocity which staggered the belief of WeselofP's friends in after years. He was, however, a man of high principle, and 10 always adhered firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the circumstances there stated is that they con- tinued to pursue the route by \vhich the Kalmucks had fled, never for an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons and other memorials of their calamities. 15 In particular, he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice. These heaps were found lying still untouched in the deserts. From these WeselofiP and his companions took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this 20 it was, with* the price of their beautiful horses, whicii they afterward sold at one of the Russian military settlements for about fifteen pounds apiece, which eventually enabled them to pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical 25 catastroplie. He was at that time young, and the only child of a doting mother. Her affliction under the violent abduction of her son had been excessive, and probably had undermined her constitution. Still she had supported it. Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial 30 affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his mother's house without warning of his approach. He 2 Desultors. While the ability to ride two or more horses at the same time was in general merely a feat of horsemanship among the Romans, in other nations the practice was applied to the nses of war, and Livy mentions a troop of Numidian cavalry in which each soldier was supplied with two horses, and in the heat of battle and in heavy armor would leap from the wearied to the fresh horse with the greatest dexterity. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 69 ■ ' rushed precipitately into her presence ; and she, who had stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot. We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck flight. 5 These it would be useless to pursue circumstantially through the whole two thousand miles of suffering which remained; for the character of that suffering was even more monotonous than on the former half of the flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were excessive 10 heat, with the accompaniments of famine 'and thirst, but aggravated at every step by the murderous attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the Kirghises. These people, "more fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of 15 enraged hornets ; and very often, wliile they were attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people of the country which they were traversing; and with good rea- son, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged the 20 fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage wher- ever they passed. In this respect their condition was a constant oscillation of wretchedness ; for sometimes, pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of perhaps a hun- dred miles, in order to strike into a land rich in the com- 25 forts of life. But in such a land they were sure to find a crowded population, of which every arm was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of all the defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges. Some- 30 times, again, wearied out with this mode of suffering, they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land with few or no inhabitants ; but in such a land they were sure to meet absolute starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this plague of starvation, whether 35 14 " More fell," etc. " Othello," V. 2. 70 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE with or without this plague of hostility in front, what- ever might be the "fierce varieties" of their miserj^ in this respect, no rest ever came to their unhappy rear; post equitem sedet atra cura ; it was a torment like the undy- 5 ing worm of conscience ; and, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and personal malignity is not unfre- quently immortal; but rare indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in a nation. And what imbittered lo the interest was that the malice was reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon equal terms ; but that equality only sharpened the sense of their dire inequality as to other cir- cumstances. The Bashkirs were ready to fight "from morn till dewy eve." The Kalmucks, on the contrary, 15 were always obliged to run; was it from their enemies as creatures whom they feared? No ; but toicard their friends— toward that final haven of China — as what was hourly implored by their wives and the tears of their chil- dren. But, though they fled unwillingly, too often they 20 fled in vain — being unwillingly recalled. There lay the torment. Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every day the same unprofitable battle was renewed. As a mat- ter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their advanced guard to fight them. Every day the battle raged for hours, 25 and uniformly with the same result; for, no sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily pressed, and that the Kalmuck march had been retarded by some hours, than they retired into the boundless deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks resolved to press for- 30 wards, regardless of their enemies — in that case their attacks became so fierce and overwhelming that the general safety seemed likely to be brought into question; nor could any efl^ectual remedy be applied to the case, even for each sep- 3 " Post equitem," etc. A familiar quotation from Horace's Third Ode: " Behind the horseman sits black care." >3 " From morn to dewy eve." " Paradise Lost," I. 743. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE /I arate day, except by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarclies that, to men in their circumstances, were almost worse than death. It will not be surprising that the irritation of such a systematic persecution, superadded to a previous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by 5 the stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all effectual vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the Kalmuck animosity into the wildest expression of downright madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before the frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both 10 sides had assumed the appearance much mere of a warfare amongst wild beasts than amongst creatures acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims of a common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious ; it was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends. 1 5 On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771, Kien Long, the Emperor of China, was pursuing his amusements in a wild frontier district lying on the outside of the Great Wall. For many hundred square leagues the 20 country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich in woods of ancient growth and overrun with game of every descrip- tion. In a central spot of this solitary region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting lodge, to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief from the care's of gov- 25 ernment. Led onwards in pursuit of game, he had rambled to a distance of two hundred miles or more from this lodge, followed at a little distance by a sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived on the verj'- margin of the 30 vast central deserts of Asia. (4) Here he was standing, by accident, at an opening of his pavilion, enjoying the morn- ing sunshine, when suddenly to the westward there arose a vast, cloudy vapor, which by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be slowly diffusing itself over the whole face 35 of the heavens. By and by this vast sheet of mist began to 72 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE thicken toward the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The Emperor's suite assembled from all quar- ters; the silver trumpets were sounded in the rear; and from all the glades and forest avenues began to trot for- 5 wards towards the pavilion the yagers — half cavalry, half huntsmen — who composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon ; and the interest continually increased in proportion as simple curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of 10 uncertain danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast troops of deer or other wild animals of the cliase had been disturbed in their forest haunts by the Emperor's movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey, and might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering the 15 forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from molesta- tion. But this conjecture was dissipated by the slow increase of the cloud and the steadiness of its motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon had advanced to a point which was judged to be within five miles of the 20 spectators ; though all calculations of distance were diffi- cult, and often fallacious, when applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts. Through the next hour, during which the gentle morning breeze had a little fresh- ened, the dusty vapor had developed itself far and wide 25 into the appearance of huge aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky to the earth; and at particu- lar points, where the eddies of the breeze acted upon the pendulous skirts of these aerial curtains, rents were per- ceived, sometimes taking the form of regular arches, por- 3otals, and windows, through which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels "indorsed " (5) with human beings, and at intervals the moving of men and horses in tumultuous array, and then through other openings, or vistas, at far- distant points, the flashing of polished arms. But some- '■> Yagers. Derived from the German '' Jdger,"' a liuiitsman. The light infantry of the Austrian army to-day are called >jfge?s. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE V3 times, as the wind slackened or died away, all those openings, of whatever form, in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and for a time the whole pageant was shut up from view; although the growing din, the clamors, the shrieks and groans ascending from infuriated myriads, 5 reported, in a language not to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the cloudy screen. It "was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last ex- tremities' of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching to that final stage of privation and intense misery beyond 10 which few or none could have lived, but also, happily for themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full pro- tection from their enemies. These enemies, however, as 15 yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever, though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous perse'cution. The khan had, in fact, sent forward couriers with all the requisite statements and petitions, addressed to the Emperor of China. These had been duly received, and 20 preparations made in consequence to welcome the Kal- mucks with the most paternal benevolence. But as these couriers had been dispatched from the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and before the advance of Trau- benberg had made it necessary for the khan to order a 25 hasty i^newal of the flight, the Emperor had not looked for their arrival on his frontiers until full three months after the present time. The khan had, indeed, expressly notified his intention to pass the summer heats on the banks of the Torgau, and to recommence his retreat about the beginning 30 of September. The subsequent change of plan being un- known to Kien Long, left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation to be put upon this mighty appari- tion in the desert; but at length the savage clamors of hostile fury and the clangor of weapons unveiled to the 35 Emperor the true nature of those unexpected calamities 74 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE which liad so prematurely precipitated the Kalmuck measure. Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care for 5 these erring children (as he esteemed them), now returning to their ancient obedience, must be to deliver them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult than might have been supposed. Not many miles in the rear was a body of well-appointed cavalry, with a strong detachment 10 of artillery, who always attended the Emperor's motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime it occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger might arise to the Emperor's person from the proximity of a lawless enemy, and accordingly he was induced to retire a little to the rear. 15 It soon appeared, however, to those who w^atched the vapory shroud in the desert, that its motion was not such as would argue the direction of the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in a diagonal line, making an angle of full forty-five degrees with that line in which the 20 imperial cortege had been standing, and therefore with a distance continually increasing. Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks were making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or eight miles distant. They were right; and to that point the imperial cavalry was 25 ordered up; and it was precisely in that spot, and about three hours after, and at noonday, on the 8th of September, that the great exodus of the Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a scene of such memorable and hellish fury as formed an appropriate winding up to an 30 expedition in all its parts and details so awfully disastrous. Tlie Emperor was not personally present, or at least he saw whatever he did see from too great a distance to discrimin- ate its individual features; but he records in his written memorial the report made to him of this scene by some of 35 his own oflBcers. The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi, FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE V5 lay in a hollow amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging generally from two to three thousand feet high. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon the Chinese cavalry reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like dip in the mountains right down upon the margin of the lake. 5 From this pass, elevated about two thousand feet above the level of the water, they continued to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were compelled to be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle below. The 10 Kalmucks, reduced by this time from about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred thousand, and after endur- ing for two months and a half the miseries we have pre- viously described— outrageous heat, famine, and the destroying scimiter of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs— had 15 for the last ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were seen of vegetation and no drop of water could be found. Camels and men were already so overladen that it was a mere impossibility that they should carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this frightful 20 wilderness. On the eighth day, the wretched daily allow- ance, which had been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus, for two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst had been carried to the fiercest ex- tremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the hills 25 and the forest scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides the neighborhood of the Lake of Tengis, all the people rushed along with maddening eagerness to the anticipated solace. The day grew hotter and hotter, the people more and more exhausted ; and gradually, in 30 the general rush forward to the lake, all discipline and command were lost— all attempts to preserve a rear guard were neglected. The wild Bashkirs rode on amongst the encumbered people and slaughtered them by wholesale, and almost without resistance ; screams and tumultuous 35 shouts proclaimed the progress of the massacre ; but none VG FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE heeded, none halted — all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with maniacal haste to the waters — all with faces blackened by the heat preying upon the liver and with tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir 5 was aifected by the same misery, and manifested the same symptoms of his misery, as the wretched Kalmuck. The murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic misery as his murdered victim. Many, indeed (an ordinary etfect of thirst), in both nations, had become lunatic; and in this restate, whilst mere multitude and condensation of bodies alone opposed any check to the destroying scimiter and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and to that the whole vast body of enemies I'ushed, and together continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one 15 almighty instinct. This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single minute; but in the next arose the final scene of parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were instantly dyed red with blood and gore. Here rode a party of savage 20 Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swaths fall before the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death grapple with their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking together below the surface, from weakness or from struggles, and 25 perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the assault, thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode them, generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into a share in this carni- 30 val of murder by trampling down as many as they could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore legs. Everj^ moment the water grew more polluted; and yet every moment fresh myriads came up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their frantic thirst, and swallowing large 35 draughts of water, visibly contamintated with the blood of their slaughtered compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE '?V shallow enough to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there, for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasms, of convulsions, of mortal conflict — death, and the fear of death — revenge, and the lunacy of revenge — hatred, and 5 the frenzy of hatred ; until the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of further addition, was, however, increased by an unexpected incident. The Bash- 10 kirs, beginning to perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese cavalry, felt it prudent— wheresoever they were sufficiently at leisure from the passions of the murder- ous scene— to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the governor of a small Cliinese fort built upon an eminence 15 above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside, which spread havoc among the Bashkir tribe. As often as the Bashkirs collected into globes and turms as their only means of meeting the long line of descending Chinese cavalry, so often did the Chinese governor of the fort pour 20 in his exterminating broadside; until at length the lake, at the lower end, became one vast seething caldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry had reached the foot of the hills; the Bashkirs, attentive to their move- ments, had formed; skirmishes had been fought; and, with 25 a quick sense that the contest was henceforward rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs and Kirghises began to retire. The pursuit was not as vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired ; but, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could not but find, in their own dreadful 30 experience of the Asiatic deserts, and in the certainty that 16 Globes and turms. The first is from the Latin globus, a ball, a body of troops drawn up in a circle. Of. Milton's "Him round A globe of fiery seraphim enclosed." A turm is a troop or company, and is derived from the Latin turma. It is also used by Milton. 7S ' FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE these wretched Bashkirs had to repeat that same experience a second time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by aretributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty — not the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting-, 5 but found in all this a retaliatory chastisement more com- plete and absolute than any which their swords and lances could have obtained or human vengeance could have devised. Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the desert; for any subsequent marches which awaited them 10 were neither long nor painful. Every possible alleviation and refreshment for their exiiausted bodies had been already provided by Kien Long with the most princely munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately assigned to them in ample extent along the River Ily, not 15 very far from the point at which they had first emerged from the wilderness of Kobi. But the beneficent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his own words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit missionaries* "La nation des Torgotes (savoir les Kal- 20 miiqiies) arriva a Ily, toute delabree, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. Je Tavais prevu; et j'avais ordonne de faire en tout genre les provisions necessaires pour pou voir les secourir promptement; c'est ce qui a ete 19 "La nation des Torgotes," etc. " The nation of tlie Tourgouths (that is, the Kalmucks) arrived at the Ily utterly shattered, and with notliing on which to live or with which to clothe themselves. I had foreseen that this would be the case, and had ordered all sorts of supplies to be made ready, so as to render them prompt assistance ; which had been done. A division of lands was made, and enough assigned to each family for its support, either by farm- ing or by the raising of cattle. There was given to each individual material for clothing, enough grain to keep him a year, household utensils and other neces- «arles ; and, besides this, several ounces of silver, to provide such things as had been forgotten. Special places rich in pasturage were marked out for them, and cattle, sheep, etc., were given them, so that they might in the future labor for their own support and comfort." Professor Masson says of the above : " This is a note of Kien Long subjoined to his main narrative ; and DeQuincey. I find, took the above transcript of it from the French translation of Berg- manu's book."' FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 79 execute. On a fait la division des terres ; et on a assign^ a cliaque famille une portion sufiisante pour pouvoir servir a son entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On a donne a chaque particulier des etoffes pour riiabiller, des grains pour se nourrir pendant Tespace 5 d'une annee, des ustensiles pour le menage et d'autres clioses necessaries: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent, pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a designe des lieux particuliers, fertiles en paturages; et on leur a donne des boeufs, raoutons, etc., pour quUls pussent 10 dans la suite travailler par eux-memes a leur entretien et a leur bienetre. ' These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking in his own person of his own paternal cares; but another Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munificence 15 of this prince in terms which proclaim still more forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and the delicate considerateness wliich conducted, this extensive bounty. He has been speaking of the Kalmucks, and he goes on thus: "Lorsqu'ils arriverent sur nos fronti^res, 20 (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille,) quoique la fatigue extreme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les autres incommodites inseparables d'une tr^s-longue et tres-penible 20 "Lorsqu'ils arriverent," etc. " Wlien they arrived on our frontiers (to the number of some hundreds of thousands, although nearly as many more had perished by the extreme fatigue, the hunger, the thirst, and all the other hardships inseparable from a very long and very toilsome march) they were reduced to the last misery, they were in want of everything. The Emperor supplied them with everything. He caused habitations to be prepared for them suitable for their manner of living ; he caused food and clothing to be distrib- uted among them; he had cattle and sheep given them, and implements to put them in a condition for forming herds and cultivating the earth ; and all this at his own proper charges, which mounted to immense sums, without counting the money which he gave to each head of a family to provide for the subsist- ence of his wife and children. "—This is from a eulogistic abstract of Kien Long's own narrative by one of his Chinese ministers, named Yu-min-tchoung, a translation of which was sent to Paris by the Jesuit missionary, P. Amiot, together with the translation of the imperial narrative itself. The transcript is again by the French translator of Bergmann, and is again rather inaccurate. — Masso7i. }J\ 80 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE route en pussent fait perir presque autant, ils 6taient reduits a la derniere mis^re; ils manquaient de tout. II" (viz. Tempereur, Kien Long-) "leur fit preparer des logemeiis coiiformes a leur mani^re de vivre; il leur fit distribuer des 5 alimens et des habits; il leur fit donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour les mettre en etat de former des troupeaux et de cultiver la terre, et tout cela a ses x>ropres frais, qui se sont montes a des sommes irnmenses, sans compter I'argent qu'il a donn6 a cliaque ioc>>^ef-de-famille, pour pourvoir a la subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans." Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kal- mucks were replaced in territorial possessions, and in comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which 15 they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition was no longer the same; if not in degree, their social prosperity had altered in quality; for, instead of being a purely pastoral and vagrant people, they were now in circum- 20 stances which obliged them to become essentially depend- ent upon agriculture,- and thus far raised in social rank that, by the natural course of their habits and the neces- sities of life, they were effectually reclaimed from roving and from the savage customs connected with so unsettled 25 a life. They gained also in political privileges, chiefly through the immunity from military service which their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were circum- stances of advantage and gain. But one great disadvan- tage there was, amply to overbalance all other possible 30 gain — the chances were lost, or were removed to an inculculable distance, for their conversion to Christianity, without w^hich in these times there is no absolute advance possible on the path of true civilization. One word remains to be said upon the personal interests 35 concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with alf FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 81 his goodness and incapacity of suspecting", had, since the mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his mind alienated from his cousin. He revolted from the man that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing 5 of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all iiis dissimula- tion could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of Oubacha ; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on the Ily this fe; 1 10 continued to advance, until it came under the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which all the Tartar chief- tains made to his majesty at his hunting lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately of all the partic- ulars connected with the transaction, of all the rights and 15 claims put forward, and of the way in which they would severally affect the interests of the Kalmuck people. The consequence was that he adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply resented this discountenance to his 20 ambitious projects that, in conjunction with other chiefs, he had the presumption even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled; counterplots were constructed upon the same basis, and with the benefit of the opportunities 25 thus offered. Finally Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, together with all his accomplices; and, under the skillful management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's estab- lishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar chieftains 30 were made to recoil upon themselves; and the whole of them perished by assassination at a great imperial banquet; for the Chinese morality is exactly of that kind which approves in everything the lex talionis: 34 Lex talionis. The law of retaliation, by which the punishment is of the same character aa the crime. 82 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE "... Lex nee jnstior ulla est [as they think] Quam necis artifices arte perire sua." So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of the great Tartar exodus. Oubacha, meantime, and his 5 people were gradually recovering from the effects of their misery and repairing their losses. Peace and prosperity, under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount, redawned upon the tribes; their household lares, after so harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a happy lo reinstatement in what had, in fact, been their primitive abodes; they found themselves settled in quiet sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and endowed with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from the hills of this favored land, and even from the level grounds 15 as they approach its western border, they still look on upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld a nation in agony — the utter extirpation of nearly lialf a million from amongst its numbers, and for the remainder a storm of misery so fierce that in the end (as happened also at 20 Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different form of misery) very many lost their memory; all records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge — utterly erased and canceled ; and many others lost their reason — some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy, some in a more 25 restless form of feverish delirium and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. Two great commemorative monuments arose in after years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe, the sacred and reverential grief, 1 "Lex nee," etc. "No law ie juster than that devisers of minder should perish by their own art." — Ovid, "Ars Amatoria," . 655. 8 Lares. Household gods. A graceful feature of the Roman religion was the worship of the Lares and Penates, the household deities who watched over the interests of the family. Lares is here used to denote the valued belongings of the family. 13 Arcadian. Arcadia was a pastoral country in the Peloponnesus, the home of all country delights, in the imagination of the classic poets. FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 83 with which all persons looked back upon the dread calami- ties attached to the year of the tiger— all who had either personally shared in those calamities and had themselves drunk from that cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses to their results and associated with 5 their relief. Two great monuments, we say: first of all, one in the religious solemnity, enjoined by tfie Dalai Lamai called in the Tartar language a Romanang, that is, a national commemoration, with music the most rich and solemn, of all the souls who departed to the rest of paradise ic from the afflictions of the desert. This took place about six years after the arrival in China. Secondly, another, more durable, and more commensurate to the scale of the calamity and to the grandeur of this national exodus, in the mighty columns of granite and brass erected by the 15 Emperor, Kien Long, near the banks of the II y. These columns stand upon the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but emphatic inscription to the following effect: By the will of God, 20 Here, upon the brink of these deserts, Which from this point begin and stretch away, Pathless, treeless, waterless, For thousands of miles, and along the margins of many mighty nations, Rested from their labors and from great afflictions. ' 25 Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall, And by the favor of Kiex Long, God's Lieutenant upon Earth, The ancient Children of the Wilderness -the Torgote Tartars- Flying before the Wrath of the Grecian Czar ; Wandering sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire in 30 the year 1616, But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow, Into the fold of their forgiving shepherd. Hallowed be the spot forever, and 2S Hallowed be the day— September 8, 1771. Amen. NOTES BY DE QUINCEY 1. Singular it is, and not generally known, that Grecian women accompanied the anabasis of the younger Cyrus and the subsequent Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Xenophon afllrms that there were " many " women in the Greek army — n-oAAai rjo-av kralpai kv tw aTparev /Aari — and in a late Stage of that try- ing expedition it is evident that women were amongst the survivors. 2. " Trashed''''— Th'ia is an expressive word used by Beaumont and Fletcher in their " Bouduca," etc., to describe the case of a person retarded and em- barrassed in flight, or in pursuit, by some encumbrance, whether thing or person, too valuable to be left behind. 3. There was another ouloss equally strong with that of Feka-Zechorr, viz., that of Enketunn under the government of Assarcho and Machi, whom some obligations of treaty or other hidden motives drew into the general conspiracy of revolt. But fortunately the two chieftains found means to assure the Gov- ernor of Astrakhan, on the first outbreak of the insurrection, that their real wishes were for maintaining the old connection with Russia. The Coesacks, therefore, to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had instructions to act cau- tiously and according to circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through the prudent management of Assarcho, that the clan, without compromising their pride or independence, made such moderate submissions as satisfied the Cossacks ; and eventually both chiefs and people received from the Czarina the rewards and honors of exemplary fidelity. 4. All the circumstances are learned from a long state paper on the subject of this Kalmuck migration drawn up in the Chinese language by the Emperor himself. Parts of this paper have been translated by the Jesuit missionaries. The Emperor states the whole motives of his conduct and the chief incidents at great length. 5. Camels " indorsed "— " And elephants indorsed with towers."— Milton in " Paradise Regained " (III. 329). 84 Maynard's French Texts A Series of French School Texts This Series of French Texts is intended principally for begin- ners, although It will contain some volumes suitable for students who have attained some proficiency in reading. Each volume is carefully edited by an experienced teacher with notes or vocab- ulary or both, as the case may be. The type is large and clear and the volumes are tastefully bound in cloth. Specimen copies sent by mail on receipt of the price No. I. La Belle au Bois Dormant. Le Chat Botte. Elementary. 24 pages text, 29 pages vocabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. No. 2. Mele-toi dc ton Metier, by Mile. L. Bruneau. Elementary. 18 pages text, 34 pages vocabulary. Cloth. price 20 cents. No. 3. Huit Contes, by Mile. Marie Minssen. Elementary. 25 pages text, 36 pages vocabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. No. 4. Historiettes. From the English. Elementary, 24 pages text, 35 pages vocabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. No. 5. Ce qu'on voit, by Mile. E. de Pomp6ry. Elementary. 23 pages text, 36 pages vocabulary. Cloth price 20 cents. ' No. 6. Petites Histoires Enfantines, by Mile E de Pomp^ry Elementary. 22 pages text, 37 pages vo- cabulary. Cloth, price 20 cents. -^^ f s No. 7. 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Six lessons have been added, giving subjects for com- position ; containing some of the principal idioms in the language. This work is the most complete text-book of French published in this country. A Key to the English Exercises in the Analytical and Practical French Grammar. For Teachers only. 60 cents. IV. A Collegiate Course in the French Language: Comprising a Complete Grammar in Two Parts. 550 pages, i2mo, attractively bound. Price for introduction, 11.50. 4 FRENCH rUBLICATIONS Part First. — A Treatise on French Pronunciation ; Rules of Gender; Etymology ; Exercises for Translation; the Latin elements common to both French and English, Part Second, — Syntax; a Collection of Idioms; Exer- cises for Translation, and Vocabulary. This work, as its title indicates, is designed for colleges and collegiate institutions. A Key to the English Exercises in the Col- legiate Course. For Teachers only. 60 cents. V. 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