MONTEITH'S EARS AND EEZE]LOOM. * Fnow 1810 to 1829 the present
General Monteith was engaged an the Diplomatic Staff in Persia' and, among other business, WAS appointed Commissioner to General Paskiewitch for the payment of the 2,000,000/. in which Persia was mulcted by the peace of 1828
for the expenses of the war. His situation made hini well ac-
quainted with the events and characters of the persons engaged in the Transcaucasian and Persian history of twenty years, arid, so far as men were concerned, for some time before; the frequent wars and the endless political disturbanees having driven several Georgian and other chiefs into Persia as exiles. In the history of Russian aggression and the conquest of the country South of the Caucacus from the time of the Emperor Peter's first interfe- rence in 1721, till the author's time, he of course has to rely upon sources of information not original, though his knowledge of the country and. the people are of use to him in giving Certainty to his narrative. Beyond a firm distinctness in mark- ing traits of personal character, the author's practical knowledge is not of much advantage to the reader, from the formal historical style he has adopted. Neither, to say the truth, is the subject of great attraction, or well adapted for regular historical narrative. The Transcancasia.n provinces must be the very paradise of ethno- logists, for almost every district would seem to have a distinct tribe : but these numerous clans—this absence of nationality—is fatal to historical interest, or even to intelligibility, without more attention than readers in general will give to a remote subject, whose interest is suspended by the negotiations for peace. Mg%Two points come out in the story,—the degradation of the ruling Oriental races, whether Turks or Persians; and the comparative ill swam of the Russians during the present war. With some gleams of energy on the part of the Turkish Seraskier, the of the Turks and Persians from 1810 to 1829 is a counter- part of the late conduct of the Ottomans in Asia. Incapacity, pigheadedness, sloth, dilatoriness, venality, and peculation occa- sionally treason, figure more or less in the pages of peculation, • ran and Brzeroum, with the Campaigns of Prince Paskiewitch in 1828 and 1829; and an Account of the aniquests orguasia beyond the Caucasus, from the Zme of Peter the Great to the D-ealy of 7'arcoman Mk and Adrianople. .By Lieut.- General W. .Monteith, 49. Published by Longaume.
Monteith ; while the few men of character or ability are of little use from being overpowered by the habits of their country. Li, short, the energy, watchfulness and. daring, which characterize vigorous barbarism, seem to be extinct, and only its ignorance and vices left.
Whether from the presence of European officers in the Turkish army of Kars, (for Hungarians were there from the beginning,) or that the army- itself, bad as it might be, was really better than during its transition in 1828-'29—or that the Anglo-French alli- ance, with its fleets and armies so close at hand, imposed ggreateri caution on the Russians—or that Mouravieff was not equal n mi- litary genius to Paskiewitch—the present successes of the Rus- sians in Armenia in three years do not make an approach to those of Paskiewitch gained in almost as many months. Besides con- tinual " affairs " in which he was generally successful, Paskie- witch simultaneously defeated two Turkish armies so closely posted as to be almost one. In addition to the capture of numer- ous towns and strongholds, he took Erivan, Kars, Erzeroum, and was feeling his way towards Trebizond when arrested. by the treaty of Adrianople. But the genius of the soldier was greatly aided by the abilities of the administrator and the virtues of the civil governor. "General Paskiewitch fortunately possessed an instinctive knowledge of character, and he completely trusted those whom he employed. In his at- tention to the civil administration he was indefatigable, and he put a stop to the abuses which had so long disgraced and ruined the Russian affairs. Men of every rank and class had free access to him ; they might bring their own interpreter, and be sure of having justice quickly administered. fliz loss was deeply felt in Georgia' which he was rapidly getting into order ; and he had nearly succeeded in bringing the tribes of the Caucasus into pa- cific relations with the Russian Government, by employing a pertion of their troops and not interfering with their internal government,—the only system of policy, as I often heard from his own lips, that he thought likely to succeed. A commencement was made by forming a Circassian body- guard at St. Petersburg, with high pay and Feat advantages privates ranking as officers. The four Mahomedan regiments raised by bun still form part of the Russian army ; and had the Polish war not summoned away the Prince, the native troops would have been augmented to 25,000 men.
"In his outward deportment Prince Paskiewitch was hasty and sometimes even violent ; which appears to be a fashionable piece of affectation among the Russian officers—perhaps from a desire of imitating the eccentricities of Suwaroff ; but in his actions Paskiewitch was as remarkable for his cool de- liberation as for the rapid execution of whatever ho had decided upon. It has been said of him (reversing the epigram on Charles II.) that he seldom said a wise thing and never did a foolish one. I had myself a great deal of communication with him regarding the payment of the contribution levied on Persia, which I had been appointed to superintend, and always experi- enced great kindness and consideration from him, having access to lum at all hours when any difficulty arose about the payment,—an annoyance that was constantly taking place from the caprice or insolence of the inferior agents."
There are many passages descriptive of the picturesque or sani- tary nature of the country, and many sketches of the individual or national character of the peoples that inhabit it. They do not, however, well bear separation from the context: the book, indeed, is as much a contribution to the materials of history as a history in itself.
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