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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars, by Thomas
+De Quincey, Edited by William Edward Simonds
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars
+
+
+Author: Thomas De Quincey
+
+Editor: William Edward Simonds
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2005  [eBook #16026]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE
+TARTARS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia, Hemantkumar N. Garach, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE TARTARS
+
+Edited with Introduction and Notes
+
+by
+
+WILLIAM EDWARD SIMONDS, PH.D.
+Professor of the English Language and Literature in Knox College
+
+Boston, U.S.A.
+Ginn & Company, Publishers
+The Athenæum Press
+
+1899
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Thomas de Quincey.
+(After a drawing by ARCHER.)]
+
+     "In addition to the general impression of his
+     diminutiveness and fragility, one was struck with the
+     peculiar beauty of his head and forehead, rising
+     disproportionately high over his small wrinkly visage
+     and gentle deep-set eyes."
+                                DAVID MASSON.
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In editing an English classic for use in the secondary schools, there
+is always opportunity for the expression of personal convictions and
+personal taste; nevertheless, where one has predecessors in the task
+of preparing such a text, it is difficult always, occasionally
+impossible, to avoid treading on their heels. The present editor,
+therefore, hastens to acknowledge his indebtedness to the various
+school editions of the _Revolt of the Tartars_, already in existence.
+The notes by Masson are so authoritative and so essential that their
+quotation needs no comment. De Quincey's footnotes are retained in
+their original form and appear embodied in the text. The other
+annotations suggest the method which the editor would follow in
+class-room work upon this essay.
+
+The student's attention is called frequently to the _form_ of
+expression; the discriminating use of epithets, the employment of
+foreign phrases, the allusions to Milton and the Bible, the structure
+of paragraphs, the treatment of incident, the development of feeling,
+the impressiveness of a present personality; all this, however, is
+with the purpose, not of mechanic exercise, nor merely to illustrate
+"rhetoric," but to illuminate _De Quincey_. It is with this intention,
+presumably, that the text is prescribed. There is little
+attractiveness, after all, in the idea of a style so colorless and so
+impersonal that the individuality of its victim is lost in its own
+perfection; this was certainly not the Opium-Eater's mind concerning
+literary form, nor does it appear to have been the aim of any of our
+masters. Indeed, it may be well in passing to point out to pupils how
+fatal to success in writing is the attempt to imitate the style of any
+man, De Quincey included; it is always in order to emphasize the
+naturalness and spontaneity of the "grand style" wherever it is found.
+The teacher should not inculcate a blind admiration of all that De
+Quincey has said or done; there is opportunity, even in this brief
+essay, to exercise the pupil in applying the commonplace tests of
+criticism, although it should be seen to as well that a true
+appreciation is awakened for the real excellences of this little
+masterpiece.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                              PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION:
+
+  CRITICAL APPRECIATION                        vii
+
+  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH                            x
+
+  AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES                  xxii
+
+THE REVOLT OF THE TARTARS                        1
+
+APPENDED NOTES BY MASSON                        67
+
+  NOTES, EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL               74
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Thomas De Quincey is one of the eccentric figures in English
+literature. Popularly he is known as the English Opium-Eater and as
+the subject of numerous anecdotes which emphasize the oddities of his
+temperament and the unconventionality of his habits. That this man of
+distinguished genius was the victim--pitifully the victim--of opium is
+the lamentable fact; that he was morbidly shy and shunned intercourse
+with all except a few intimate, congenial friends; that he was
+comically indifferent to the fashion of his dress; that he was the
+most unpractical and childlike of men; that he was often betrayed,
+because of these peculiarities, into many ridiculous embarrassments,
+such as are described by Mr. Findlay, Mr. Hogg, and Mr. Burton,--of
+all this there can be no doubt; but these idiosyncrasies are, after
+all, of minor importance, the accidents, not the essentials in the
+life and personality of this remarkable man. The points that should
+attract our notice, the qualities that really give distinction to De
+Quincey, are the broad sweep of his knowledge, almost unlimited in its
+scope and singularly accurate in its details, a facility of phrasing
+and a word supply that transformed the mere power of discriminating
+expression into a fine art, and a style that, while it lapsed
+occasionally from the standard of its own excellence, was generally
+self-corrective and frequently forsook the levels of commonplace
+excellence for the highest reaches of impassioned prose. Nor is this
+all. His pages do not lack in humor--humor of the truest and most
+delicate type; and if De Quincey is at times impelled beyond the
+bounds of taste, even these excursions demonstrate his power, at least
+in handling the grotesque. His sympathies, however, are always
+genuine, and often are profound. The pages of his autobiographic
+essays reveal the strength of his affections, while in the
+interpretation of such a character as that of Joan of Arc, or in
+allusions like those to the pariahs,--defenceless outcasts from
+society, by whose wretched lot his heart was often wrung,--he writes
+in truest pathos.
+
+Now sympathy is own child of the imagination, whether expressed in the
+language of laughter or in the vernacular of tears; and the most
+distinctive quality in the mental make-up of De Quincey was, after
+all, this dominant imagination which was characteristic of the man
+from childhood to old age. The Opium-Eater once defined the _great
+scholar_ as "not one who depends simply on an infinite memory, but
+also on an infinite and electrical power of combination, bringing
+together from the four winds, like the angel of the resurrection, what
+else were dust from dead men's bones, into the unity of breathing
+life." Such was De Quincey himself. He was a scholar born, gifted with
+a mind apt for the subtleties of metaphysics, a memory well-nigh
+inexhaustible in the recovery of facts; in one respect, at least, he
+was a _great_ scholar, for his mind was dominated by an imagination as
+vigorous as that which created Macaulay's _England_, almost as
+sensitive to dramatic effect as that which painted Carlyle's _French
+Revolution_. Therefore when he wrote narrative, historical narrative,
+or reminiscence, he lived in the experiences he pictured, as great
+historians do; perhaps living over again the scenes of the past, or
+for the first time making real the details of occurrences with which
+he was only recently familiar.
+
+The _Revolt of the Tartars_ is a good illustration of his power.
+Attracted by the chance reading of an obscure French missionary and
+traveller to the dramatic possibilities of an episode in Russian
+history, De Quincey built from the bare notes thus discovered,
+supplemented by others drawn from a matter-of-fact German
+archæologist, a narrative which for vividness of detail and
+truthfulness of local color belongs among the best of those classics
+in which fancy helps to illuminate fact, and where the imagination is
+invoked to recreate what one feels intuitively must have been real.
+
+The _Revolt of the Tartars_, while not exhibiting the highest
+achievement of the author's power, nevertheless belongs in the group
+of writings wherein his peculiar excellences are fairly manifested.
+The obvious quality of its realism has been pointed out already; the
+masterly use of the principles of suspense and stimulated interest
+will hardly pass unnoticed. A negative excellence is the absence of
+that discursiveness in composition, that tendency to digress into
+superfluous comment, which is this author's one prevailing fault. De
+Quincey was gifted with a fine appreciation of harmonious sound, and
+in those passages where his spirit soars highest not the least of
+their beauties is found in the melodiousness of their tone and the
+rhythmic sweetness of their motion.
+
+It is as a master of rhetoric that De Quincey is distinguished among
+writers. Some hints of his ability are seen in the opening and closing
+passages of this essay, but to find him at his best one must turn to
+the _Confessions_ and to the other papers which describe his life,
+particularly those which recount his marvellous dreams. In these
+papers we find the passages where De Quincey's passion rises to the
+heights which few other writers have ever reached in prose, a
+loftiness and grandeur which is technically denominated as "sublime."
+In his _Essay on Style_, published in _Blackwood's_, 1840, he
+deprecates the usual indifference to form, on the part of English
+writers, "the tendency of the national mind to value the matter of a
+book not only as paramount to the manner, but even as distinct from it
+and as capable of a separate insulation." As one of the great masters
+of prose style in this century, De Quincey has so served the interests
+of art in this regard, that in his own case the charge is sometimes
+reversed: his own works are read rather to observe his manner than to
+absorb his thought. Yet when this is said, it is not to imply that the
+material is unworthy or the ideas unsound; on the contrary, his
+sentiment is true and his ideas are wholesome; but many of the topics
+treated lie outside the deeper interests of ordinary life, and fail to
+appeal to us so practically as do the writings of some lesser men. Of
+the "one hundred and fifty magazine articles" which comprise his
+works, there are many that will not claim the general interest, yet
+his writings as a whole will always be recognized by students of
+rhetoric as containing excellences which place their author among the
+English classics. Nor can De Quincey be accused of subordinating
+matter to manner; in spite of his taste for the theatrical and a
+tendency to extravagance, his expression is in keeping with his
+thought, and the material of those passages which contain his most
+splendid flights is appropriate to the treatment it receives. One
+effective reason, certainly, why we take pleasure in the mere style of
+De Quincey's work is because that work is so thoroughly inspired with
+the Opium-Eater's own genial personality, because it so unmistakably
+suggests that inevitable "smack of individuality" which gives to the
+productions of all great authors their truest distinction if not their
+greatest worth.
+
+Thomas De Quincey was born in Manchester, August 15, 1785. His father
+was a well-to-do merchant of literary taste, but of him the children
+of the household scarcely knew; he was an invalid, a prey to
+consumption, and during their childhood made his residence mostly in
+the milder climate of Lisbon or the West Indies. Thomas was seven
+years old when his father was brought home to die, and the lad, though
+sensitively impressed by the event, felt little of the significance of
+relationship between them. Mrs. De Quincey was a somewhat stately
+lady, rather strict in discipline and rigid in her views. There does
+not seem to have been the most complete sympathy between mother and
+son, yet De Quincey was always reverent in his attitude, and certainly
+entertained a genuine respect for her intelligence and character.
+There were eight children in the home, four sons and four daughters;
+Thomas was the fifth in age, and his relations to the other members of
+this little community are set forth most interestingly in the opening
+chapters of his _Autobiographic Sketches_.
+
+De Quincey's child life was spent in the country; first at a pretty
+rustic dwelling known as "The Farm," and after 1792 at a larger
+country house near Manchester, built by his father, and given by his
+mother the pleasantly suggestive name of "Greenhay," _hay_ meaning
+hedge, or hedgerow. The early boyhood of Thomas De Quincey is of more
+than ordinary interest, because of the clear light it throws upon the
+peculiar temperament and endowments of the man. Moreover, we have the
+best of authority in our study of this period, namely, the author
+himself, who in the _Sketches_ already mentioned, and in his most
+noted work, _The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, has told the
+story of these early years in considerable detail and with apparent
+sincerity. De Quincey was not a sturdy boy. Shy and dreamy,
+exquisitely sensitive to impressions of melancholy and mystery, he was
+endowed with an imagination abnormally active even for a child. It is
+customary to give prominence to De Quincey's pernicious habit of
+opium-eating, in attempting to explain the grotesque fancies and weird
+flights of his marvellous mind in later years; yet it is only fair to
+emphasize the fact that the later achievements of that strange
+creative faculty were clearly foreshadowed in youth. For example, the
+earliest incident in his life that he could afterwards recall, he
+describes as "a remarkable dream of terrific grandeur about a favorite
+nurse, which is interesting to myself for this reason--that it
+demonstrates my dreaming tendencies to have been constitutional, and
+not dependent upon laudanum."[1] Again he tells us how, when six years
+old, upon the death of a favorite sister three years older, he stole
+unobserved upstairs to the death chamber; unlocking the door and
+entering silently, he stood for a moment gazing through the open
+window toward the bright sunlight of a cloudless day, then turned to
+behold the angel face upon the pillow. Awed in the presence of death,
+the meaning of which he began vaguely to understand, he stood
+listening to a "solemn wind" that began to blow--"the saddest that ear
+ever heard." What followed should appear in De Quincey's own words: "A
+vault seemed to open in the zenith of the far blue sky, a shaft which
+ran up forever. I, in spirit, rose as if on billows that also ran up
+the shaft forever; and the billows seemed to pursue the throne of God;
+but _that_ also ran on before us and fled away continually. The flight
+and the pursuit seemed to go on forever and ever. Frost gathering
+frost, some sarsar wind of death, seemed to repel me; some mighty
+relation between God and death dimly struggled to evolve itself from
+the dreadful antagonism between them; shadowy meanings even yet
+continued to exercise and torment, in dreams, the deciphering oracle
+within me. I slept--for how long I cannot say: slowly I recovered my
+self-possession; and, when I woke, found myself standing as before,
+close to my sister's bed."[2] Somewhat similar in effect were the
+fancies that came to this dreamy boy on Sunday mornings during service
+in the fine old English church. Through the wide central field of
+uncolored glass, set in a rich framework of gorgeous color,--for the
+side panes of the great windows were pictured with the stories of
+saints and martyrs,--the lad saw "white fleecy clouds sailing over the
+azure depths of the sky." Straightway the picture changed in his
+imagination, and visions of young children, lying on white beds of
+sickness and of death, rose before his eyes, ascending slowly and
+softly into heaven, God's arms descending from the heavens that He
+might the sooner take them to Himself and grant release. Such are not
+infrequently the dreams of children. De Quincey's experience is not
+unique; but with him imagination, the imagination of childhood,
+remained unimpaired through life. It was not wholly opium that made
+him the great dreamer of our literature, any more than it was the
+effect of a drug that brought from his dying lips the cry of "Sister,
+sister, sister!"--an echo from this sacred chamber of death, where he
+had stood awed and entranced nearly seventy years before.
+
+Not all of De Quincey's boyhood, however, was passed under influences
+so serious and mystical as these. He was early compelled to undergo
+what he is pleased to call his "introduction to the world of strife."
+His brother William, five years the senior of Thomas, appears to have
+been endowed with an imagination as remarkable as his own. "His genius
+for mischief," says Thomas, "amounted to inspiration." Very amusing
+are the chronicles of the little autocracy thus despotized by William.
+The assumption of the young tyrant was magnificent. Along with the
+prerogatives and privileges of seniority, he took upon himself as well
+certain responsibilities more galling to his half-dozen uneasy
+subordinates, doubtless, than the undisputed hereditary rights of
+age. William constituted himself the educational guide of the nursery,
+proclaiming theories, delivering lectures, performing experiments,
+asserting opinions upon subjects diverse and erudite. Indeed, a
+vigorous spirit was housed in William's body, and but for his early
+death, this lad also might have brought lustre to the family name.
+
+A real introduction to the world of strife came with the development
+of a lively feud between the two brothers on the one side, and on the
+other a crowd of young belligerents employed in a cotton factory on
+the road between Greenhay and Manchester, where the boys now attended
+school. Active hostilities occurred daily when the two "aristocrats"
+passed the factory on their way home at the hour when its inmates
+emerged from their labor. The dread of this encounter hung like a
+cloud over Thomas, yet he followed William loyally, and served with
+all the spirit of a cadet of the house. Imagination played an
+important part in this campaign, and it is for that reason primarily
+that to this and the other incidents of De Quincey's childhood
+prominence is here given; in no better way can we come to an
+understanding of the real nature of this singular man.
+
+In 1796 the home at Greenhay was broken up. The irrepressible William
+was sent to London to study art; Mrs. De Quincey removed to Bath, and
+Thomas was placed in the grammar school of that town; a younger
+brother, Richard, in all respects a pleasing contrast to William, was
+a sympathetic comrade and schoolmate. For two years De Quincey
+remained in this school, achieving a great reputation in the study of
+Latin, and living a congenial, comfortable life. This was followed by
+a year in a private school at Winkfield, which was terminated by an
+invitation to travel in Ireland with young Lord Westport, a lad of De
+Quincey's own age, an intimacy having sprung up between them a year
+earlier at Bath. It was in 1800 that the trip was made, and the
+period of the visit extended over four or five months. After this
+long recess De Quincey was placed in the grammar school at Manchester,
+his guardians expecting that a three years' course in this school
+would bring him a scholarship at Oxford. However, the new environment
+proved wholly uncongenial, and the sensitive boy who, in spite of his
+shyness and his slender frame, possessed grit in abundance, and who
+was through life more or less a law to himself, made up his mind to
+run away. His flight was significant. Early on a July morning he
+slipped quietly off--in one pocket a copy of an English poet, a volume
+of Euripides in the other. His first move was toward Chester, the
+seventeen-year-old runaway deeming it proper that he should report at
+once to his mother, who was now living in that town. So he trudged
+overland forty miles and faced his astonished and indignant parent. At
+the suggestion of a kind-hearted uncle, just home from India, Thomas
+was let off easily; indeed, he was given an allowance of a guinea a
+week, with permission to go on a tramp through North Wales, a
+proposition which he hailed with delight. The next three months were
+spent in a rather pleasant ramble, although the weekly allowance was
+scarcely sufficient to supply all the comforts desired. The trip ended
+strangely. Some sudden fancy seizing him, the boy broke off all
+connection with his friends and went to London. Unknown, unprovided
+for, he buried himself in the vast life of the metropolis. He lived a
+precarious existence for several months, suffering from exposure,
+reduced to the verge of starvation, his whereabouts a mystery to his
+friends. The cloud of this experience hung darkly over his spirit,
+even in later manhood; perceptions of a true world of strife were
+vivid; impressions of these wretched months formed the material of his
+most sombre dreams.
+
+Rescued at last, providentially, De Quincey spent the next period of
+his life, covering the years 1803-7, in residence at Oxford. His
+career as a student at the university is obscure. He was a member of
+Worcester College, was known as a quiet, studious man, and lived an
+isolated if not a solitary life. With a German student, who taught him
+Hebrew, De Quincey seems to have had some intimacy, but his circle of
+acquaintance was small, and no contemporary has thrown much light on
+his stay. In 1807 he disappeared from Oxford, having taken the written
+tests for his degree, but failing to present himself for the necessary
+oral examination.
+
+The year of his departure from Oxford brought to De Quincey a
+long-coveted pleasure--acquaintance with two famous contemporaries
+whom he greatly admired, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Characteristic of
+De Quincey in many ways was his gift, anonymously made, of £300 to his
+hero, Coleridge. This was in 1807, when De Quincey was twenty-two, and
+was master of his inheritance. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy,
+and in 1809 the young man, himself gifted with talents which were to
+make him equally famous with these, took up his residence at Grasmere,
+in the Lake country, occupying for many years the cottage which
+Wordsworth had given up on his removal to ampler quarters at Rydal
+Mount. Here he spent much of his time in the society of the men who
+were then grouped in distinguished neighborhood; besides Wordsworth
+and Coleridge, the poet Southey was accessible, and a frequent visitor
+was John Wilson, later widely known as the "Christopher North" of
+_Blackwood's Magazine_. Nor was De Quincey idle; his habits of study
+were confirmed; indeed, he was already a philosopher at twenty-four.
+These were years of hard reading and industrious thought, wherein he
+accumulated much of that metaphysical wisdom which was afterward to
+win admiring recognition.
+
+In 1816 De Quincey married Margaret Simpson, a farmer's daughter
+living near. There is a pretty scene painted by the author
+himself,[3] in which he gives us a glimpse of his domestic life at
+this time. Therein he pictures the cottage, standing in a valley,
+eighteen miles from any town; no spacious valley, but about two miles
+long by three-quarters of a mile in average width. The mountains are
+real mountains, between 3000 and 4000 feet high, and the cottage a
+real cottage, white, embowered with flowering shrubs, so chosen as to
+unfold a succession of flowers upon the walls, and clustering around
+the windows, through all the months of spring, summer, and autumn,
+beginning, in fact, with May roses and ending with jasmine. It is in
+the winter season, however, that De Quincey paints his picture, and so
+he describes a room, seventeen feet by twelve, and not more than seven
+and one-half feet high. This is the drawing-room, although it might
+more justly be termed the library, for it happens that books are the
+one form of property in which the owner is wealthy. Of these he has
+about 5000, collected gradually since his eighteenth year. The room
+is, therefore, populous with books. There is a good fire on the
+hearth. The furniture is plain and modest, befitting the unpretending
+cottage of a scholar. Near the fire stands a tea table; there are only
+two cups and saucers on the tray. It is an "eternal" teapot that the
+artist would like us to imagine, for he usually drinks tea from eight
+o'clock at night to four in the morning. There is, of course, a
+companion at the tea table, and very lovingly does the husband suggest
+the pleasant personality of his young wife. One other important
+feature is included in the scene; upon the table there rests also a
+decanter, in which sparkles the ruby-colored laudanum.
+
+De Quincey's experience with opium had begun while he was a student at
+the university, in 1804. It was first taken to obtain relief from
+neuralgia, and his use of the drug did not at once become habitual.
+During the period of residence at Grasmere, however, De Quincey
+became confirmed in the habit, and so thoroughly was he its victim
+that for a season his intellectual powers were well-nigh paralyzed;
+his mind sank under such a cloud of depression and gloom that his
+condition was pitiful in the extreme. Just before his marriage, in
+1816, De Quincey, by a vigorous effort, partially regained his
+self-control and succeeded in materially reducing his daily allowance
+of the drug; but in the following year he fell more deeply than ever
+under its baneful power, until in 1818-19 his consumption of opium was
+something almost incredible. Thus he became truly enough the great
+English Opium-Eater, whose Confessions were later to fill a unique
+place in English literature. It was finally the absolute need of
+bettering his financial condition that compelled De Quincey to shake
+off the shackles of his vice; this he practically accomplished,
+although perhaps he was never entirely free from the habit. The event
+is coincident with the beginning of his career as a public writer. In
+1820 he became a man of letters.
+
+As a professional writer it is to be noted that De Quincey was
+throughout a contributor to the periodicals. With one or two
+exceptions all his works found their way to the public through the
+pages of the magazines, and he was associated as contributor with most
+of those that were prominent in his time. From 1821 to 1825 we find
+him residing for the most part in London, and here his public career
+began. It was De Quincey's most distinctive work which first appeared.
+The _London Magazine_, in its issue for September, 1821, contained the
+first paper of the _Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_. The
+novelty of the subject was sufficient to obtain for the new writer an
+interested hearing, and there was much discussion as to whether his
+apparent frankness was genuine or assumed. All united in applause of
+the masterly style which distinguished the essay, also of the
+profundity and value of the interesting material it contained. A
+second part was included in the magazine for October. Other articles
+by the Opium-Eater followed, in which the wide scholarship of the
+author was abundantly shown, although the topics were of less general
+interest.
+
+In 1826 De Quincey became an occasional contributor to _Blackwood's
+Magazine_, and this connection drew him to Edinburgh, where he
+remained, either in the city itself or in its vicinity, for the rest
+of his life. The grotesquely humorous _Essay on Murder Considered as
+One of the Fine Arts_ appeared in _Blackwood's_ in 1827. In 1832 he
+published a series of articles on Roman History, entitled _The
+Cæsars_. It was in July, 1837, that the _Revolt of the Tartars_
+appeared; in 1840 his critical paper upon _The Essenes_. Meanwhile De
+Quincey had begun contributions to _Tait's Magazine_, another
+Edinburgh publication, and it was in that periodical that the
+_Sketches of Life and Manners from the Autobiography of an English
+Opium-Eater_ began to appear in 1834, running on through several
+years. These sketches include the chapters on Wordsworth, Coleridge,
+Lamb, and Southey as well as those _Autobiographic Sketches_ which
+form such a charming and illuminating portion of his complete works.
+
+The family life was sadly broken in 1837 by the death of De Quincey's
+wife. He who was now left as guardian of the little household of six
+children, was himself so helpless in all practical matters that it
+seemed as though he were in their childish care rather than protector
+of them. Scores of anecdotes are related of his odd and unpractical
+behavior. One of his curious habits had been the multiplication of
+lodgings; as books and manuscripts accumulated about him so that there
+remained room for no more, he would turn the key upon his possessions
+and migrate elsewhere to repeat the performance later on. It is known
+that as many as four separate rents were at one and the same time
+being paid by this odd, shy little man, rather than allow the
+disturbance or contraction of his domain. Sometimes an anxious journey
+in search of a manuscript had to be made by author and publisher in
+conjunction before the missing paper could be located. The home life
+of this eccentric yet lovable man of genius seems to have been always
+affectionate and tender in spite even of his bondage to opium; it was
+especially beautiful and childlike in his latest years. His eldest
+daughter, Margaret, assumed quietly the place of headship, and with a
+discretion equal to her devotion she watched over her father's
+welfare. With reference to De Quincey's circumstances at this time,
+his biographer, Mr. Masson, says: "Very soon, if left to himself, he
+would have taken possession of every room in the house, one after
+another, and 'snowed up' each with his papers; but, that having been
+gently prevented, he had one room to work in all day and all night to
+his heart's content. The evenings, or the intervals between his daily
+working time and his nightly working time, or stroll, he generally
+spent in the drawing-room with his daughters, either alone or in
+company with any friends that chanced to be with him. At such times,
+we are told, he was unusually charming. 'The newspaper was brought
+out, and he, telling in his own delightful way, rather than reading,
+the news, would, on questions from this one or that one of the party,
+often including young friends of his children, neighbors, or visitors
+from distant places, illuminate the subject with such a wealth of
+memories, of old stories of past or present experiences, of humor, of
+suggestion, even of prophecy, as by its very wealth makes it
+impossible to give any taste of it.' The description is by one of his
+daughters; and she adds a touch which is inimitable in its fidelity
+and tenderness. 'He was not,' she says, 'a reassuring man for nervous
+people to live with, as those nights were exceptional on which he did
+not set something on fire, the commonest incident being for some one
+to look up from book or work, to say casually, _Papa, your hair is on
+fire_; of which a calm _Is it, my love?_ and a hand rubbing out the
+blaze was all the notice taken.'"[4]
+
+Of his personal appearance Professor Minto says:
+
+"He was a slender little man, with small, clearly chiselled features,
+a large head, and a remarkably high, square forehead. There was a
+peculiarly high and regular arch in the wrinkles of his brow, which
+was also slightly contracted. The lines of his countenance fell
+naturally into an expression of mild suffering, of endurance sweetened
+by benevolence, or, according to the fancy of the interpreter, of
+gentle, melancholy sweetness. All that met him seem to have been
+struck with the measured, silvery, yet somewhat hollow and unearthly
+tones of his voice, the more impressive that the flow of his talk was
+unhesitating and unbroken."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The literary labors were continuous. In 1845 the beautiful _Suspiria
+de Profundis_ (Sighs from the Depths) appeared in _Blackwood's_; _The
+English Mail Coach_ and _The Vision of Sudden Death_, in 1849. Among
+other papers contributed to _Tait's Magazine_, the _Joan of Arc_
+appeared in 1847. During the last ten years of his life, De Quincey
+was occupied chiefly in preparing for the publishers a complete
+edition of his works. Ticknor & Fields, of Boston, the most
+distinguished of our American publishing firms, had put forth,
+1851-55, the first edition of De Quincey's collected writings, in
+twenty volumes. The first British edition was undertaken by Mr. James
+Hogg, of Edinburgh, in 1853, with the co-operation of the author, and
+under his direction; the final volume of this edition was not issued
+until the year following De Quincey's death.
+
+In the autumn of 1859 the frail physique of the now famous
+Opium-Eater grew gradually feeble, although suffering from no definite
+disease. It became evident that his life was drawing to its end. On
+December 8, his two daughters standing by his side, he fell into a
+doze. His mind had been wandering amid the scenes of his childhood,
+and his last utterance was the cry, "Sister, sister, sister!" as if in
+recognition of one awaiting him, one who had been often in his dreams,
+the beloved Elizabeth, whose death had made so profound and lasting an
+impression on his imagination as a child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The authoritative edition of _De Quincey's Works_ is that edited by
+David Masson and published in fourteen volumes by Adam and Charles
+Black (Edinburgh). For American students the _Riverside Edition_, in
+twelve volumes (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston), will be found
+convenient. The most satisfactory _Life of De Quincey_ is the one by
+Masson in the _English Men of Letters_ series. Of a more anecdotal
+type are the _Life of De Quincey_, by H.A. Page, whose real name is
+Alexander H. Japp (2 vols., New York, 1877), and _De Quincey
+Memorials_ (New York, 1891), by the same author. Very interesting is
+the brief volume, _Recollections of Thomas De Quincey_, by John R.
+Findlay (Edinburgh, 1886), who also contributes the paper on _De
+Quincey_ to the _Encyclopædia Britannica_. _De Quincey and his
+Friends_, by James Hogg (London, 1895), is another volume of
+recollections, souvenirs, and anecdotes, which help to make real their
+subject's personality. Besides the editor, other writers contribute to
+this volume: Richard Woodhouse, John R. Findlay, and John Hill Burton,
+who has given under the name "Papaverius," a picturesque description
+of the Opium-Eater. The student should always remember that De
+Quincey's own chapters in the _Autobiographic Sketches_, and the
+_Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, which are among the most
+charming and important of his writings, are also the most
+authoritative and most valuable sources of our information concerning
+him. In reading about De Quincey, do not fail to read De Quincey
+himself.
+
+The best criticism of the Opium-Eater's work is found in William
+Minto's _Manual of English Prose Literature_ (Ginn & Co.). A shorter
+essay is contained in Saintsbury's _History of Nineteenth Century
+Literature_. A very valuable list of all De Quincey's writings, in
+chronological order, is given by Fred N. Scott, in his edition of De
+Quincey's essays on _Style, Rhetoric_, and _Language_ (Allyn & Bacon).
+Numerous magazine articles may be found by referring to Poole's Index.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Autobiographic Sketches_, Chap. I.
+
+[2] _Ibid._
+
+[3] _Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, Part II.
+
+[4] _De Quincey_ (_English Men of Letters_), David Masson, p. 110.
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO READ DE QUINCEY.
+
+     "De Quincey's sixteen volumes of magazine articles are
+     full of brain from beginning to end. At the rate of
+     about half a volume a day, they would serve for a
+     month's reading, and a month continuously might be
+     worse expended. There are few courses of reading from
+     which a young man of good natural intelligence would
+     come away more instructed, charmed, and stimulated, or,
+     to express the matter as definitely as possible, with
+     his mind more _stretched_. Good natural intelligence, a
+     certain fineness of fibre, and some amount of scholarly
+     education, have to be presupposed, indeed, in all
+     readers of De Quincey. But, even for the fittest
+     readers, a month's complete and continuous course of De
+     Quincey would be too much. Better have him on the
+     shelf, and take down a volume at intervals for one or
+     two of the articles to which there may be an immediate
+     attraction. An evening with De Quincey in this manner
+     will always be profitable."
+
+
+DAVID MASSON, _Life of De Quincey_, Chap. XI.
+
+
+
+
+REVOLT OF THE TARTARS;
+
+OR, FLIGHT OF THE KALMUCK KHAN AND HIS PEOPLE FROM THE RUSSIAN
+TERRITORIES TO THE FRONTIERS OF CHINA.
+
+
+ There is no great event in modern history, or, perhaps
+it may be said more broadly, none in all history, 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 quem_ 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 execution
+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 which recalls to the
+mind those almighty instincts that propel the migrations of
+the swallow and the leeming 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             20
+and the skirts of 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 rebellious host, and overtaking with volleying
+thunders those who believed themselves already
+within the security of darkness and of distance.
+
+I shall have occasion, farther on, to compare this event
+with other great national catastrophes as to the magnitude           5
+of the suffering. But it may also challenge a comparison
+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        10
+the enterprise, taken in connection with the 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 _conspiracy_, with as close a unity
+in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in             15
+the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as
+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,           20
+enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely
+prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the
+anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the
+subsequent retreat of the ten thousand, the Parthian
+expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus              25
+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 anabasis and katabasis of
+Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious _Exodus_, authorized
+by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia,             30
+--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 distinction of carrying
+along with them their entire families, women, children,
+slaves, their herd 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
+interest which we ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage         5
+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 beyond the scale of our modern representative       10
+powers, as often called into action in the theatres
+both of Paris and London; and the series of situations
+unfolded,--beginning with the general conflagration on
+the Wolga--passing thence to the disastrous scenes of
+the flight (as it _literally_ was in its commencement)--to          15
+the Tartar siege of the Russian 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
+private conspiracy at this point against the Khan--the              20
+long succession of running fights--the parting massacres
+at the Lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese--and,
+finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at
+the hunting lodge of the Chinese Emperor;--all these
+situations communicate a _scenical_ animation to the wild           25
+romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher and a
+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.                         30
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the 21st of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha
+assumed the sceptre 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 avowed support of the Russian Government.
+He was now about eighteen years of age, amiable in his
+personal character, and not without titles to respect in his         5
+public character as a sovereign prince. In times more
+peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized
+or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that
+he might have discharged his high duties with considerable
+distinction; but his lot was thrown upon stormy                     10
+times, and a most difficult crisis amongst tribes whose
+native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of
+superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated
+conceit of their own merit absolutely unparalleled; whilst
+the circumstances of their hard and trying position under           15
+the jealous _surveillance_ of an irresistible lord paramount,
+in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to
+the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, and
+irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless
+impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No                    20
+prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his subjects
+or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the
+case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler stood
+at present was of this nature: _wanting_ the support and
+sanction of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from               25
+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 any degree
+from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost
+in that extent an object of hatred at home and within the           30
+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
+object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already
+advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate
+purposes (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the
+Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck sceptre
+under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate
+circumstances of his position, it might have been                    5
+expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently
+an object of detestation; 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 favor of his own                10
+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 current of
+the national prejudices, and might have anticipated the             15
+most pointed hostility. But it was not so: such 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 kindness           20
+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             25
+the throne, and, perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions.
+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, whilst his personal              30
+qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical
+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 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       5
+dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which
+knew no touch of 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.                   10
+
+At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi
+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 on
+the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the              15
+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 ulterior
+purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to his            20
+interest that, for the present, all suspicions should be
+hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the
+course he took for opening his snares was this:--He
+raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from the
+plots of several Saissang (that is, Kalmuck nobles), who            25
+were leagued together under an oath to assassinate him;
+and immediately 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, by way of soliciting his cause more            30
+effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg.
+Once admitted to personal conferences with the cabinet,
+he found no difficulty in winning over the Russian councils
+to a concurrence with some of his political views,
+and thus covertly 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                  5
+political condition of the state 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      10
+to the Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial
+character of secretaries and assistants, but in 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               15
+Court to others more serious which might arise in future
+circumstances of war or other contingencies. It was
+resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward
+on a footing of perfect independence, and, therefore (as
+regarded responsibility), on a footing of equality with the         20
+Khan. Their independence, however, had respect only
+to 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 (300
+roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that               25
+day were more considerable than might be supposed,
+and had a further value as marks of honorary distinction
+emanating from a great empress. Thus far the purposes
+of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment:
+but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in              30
+the further development of his plots, this very dependency
+upon 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 President and Controller of the Sargatchi.
+The Russian Court had been aware of his high pretensions             5
+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.
+
+ Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of
+Russia, Zebek-Dorchi proceeded in his new character to              10
+fulfil his political mission with the Khan of the Kalmucks.
+So artfully did he prepare the road for his favorable
+reception at the court of this prince that he was at once
+and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The
+pensions of the councillors were so much additional wealth          15
+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 be the chief of these mercenary councillors was so
+far from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any             20
+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 keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who
+would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or             25
+friendship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness
+to the Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his
+new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the
+Court of Russia, by a romantic villainy not easily to be
+credited, for those very acts of interference with the              30
+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 vengeance was what he meditated:
+1, upon the Russian Cabinet, for having undervalued 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 perfidious character          5
+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 he venture to                 10
+assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate
+who counted three hundred languages around 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         15
+"barbaric East" on the other, with her unnumbered
+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                 20
+execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in
+the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged
+to be his enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from
+the Russian empire the whole Kalmuck nation and breaking
+up that system of intercourse which had thus far been               25
+beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which
+moved him but little. True it was that Russia 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          30
+part of his triumph, and the former might be more than
+compensated 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 accomplishment might furnish him with
+ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may
+be readily supposed, indeed, that he who could deliberately
+raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an antagonist              5
+in single duel with himself was not likely to feel much
+anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He
+took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably, to
+effect this astonishing translation of an ancient people
+across the pathless deserts of Central Asia, intersected
+continually by rapid rivers rarely furnished with bridges,          10
+and of which the fords were 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 winter), famine in their front, and the sabre, or         15
+even the artillery of an offended 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 distance from Russia,              20
+so as to make return even in that view 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              25
+Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was 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.          30
+
+Next came the question of time--_when_ should the
+flight 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
+preparations, it was evident that a very extensive confidence
+must 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           5
+migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved
+to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all
+events, to make no general communication on the subject
+until the time of departure should be definitely
+settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three                 10
+persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning
+prince, was almost necessarily one; but him, for his
+yielding and somewhat feeble character, he viewed rather
+in the light of a tool than as one of his active accomplices.
+Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved                15
+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 corresponding to              20
+the occasion as by his blind devotion to himself and
+his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his
+daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign
+prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this
+dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre,        25
+seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious
+rebels. 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                           30
+gloomy and terrific pride which marked the character of
+Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, accompanied
+by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural
+facility of dissimulation even more profound. It was by
+this man that the other question was settled as to the
+time for giving effect to their designs. His own pontifical
+character had suggested to him that, in order to
+strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded        5
+men whom they were to lead into a howling
+wilderness, after persuading them to lay desolate their
+own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they should
+be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction
+of God for their entire enterprise. This could only
+be done by addressing themselves to the great head of               10
+their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. 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            15
+_hare_. Now the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their
+years by attaching to each a denomination taken from one
+of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being
+absolutely fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course
+through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the             20
+approaching year of the _tiger_ were suffered to escape
+them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for
+twelve years more; within which period, even were no
+other unfavorable changes to arise, it was pretty well
+foreseen that the Russian Government would take most                25
+effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by
+a ring-fence of forts 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      30
+nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was solemnly
+determined that this 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 was thought so,
+that the different divisions of the nation, which pastured
+their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should have the             5
+means of effecting an instantaneous junction, because
+the danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the
+imperial armies was precisely the greatest at the outset.
+Now, from the want of bridges or sufficient river craft
+for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means              10
+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
+absolutely counted upon before the month of January.
+Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a                 15
+whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design
+had begun to circulate amongst those whom it most interested,
+before it was even suspected that any man's wishes
+pointed in that direction, had been definitely appointed
+for January of the year 1771. And almost up to the                  20
+Christmas of 1770 the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen
+and their families were going nightly to their peaceful
+beds without even dreaming that the _fiat_ had already
+gone forth from their rulers which consigned those quiet
+abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned           25
+within them, to a withering desolation, now close at
+hand.
+
+ Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia
+and the Sultan; and, until the time arrived for throwing
+off their vassalage, it was necessary that Oubacha should           30
+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
+unaccountable 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               5
+is that already, when as yet no syllable of the conspiracy
+had been breathed to any man whose very existence was
+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                   10
+very probable 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            15
+the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the jealousies
+of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the
+Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under
+their guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of
+the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the Russian                 20
+Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by
+unusual zeal to efface 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 35,000 cavalry, fully equipped: some                     25
+go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000; but the
+smaller 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 expectations;
+and these he more than realized. Having the                         30
+good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized and
+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 5000 men left upon
+the field.
+
+These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate
+in various ways against the impending revolt. Oubacha                5
+had now a strong motive, in the martial glory acquired,
+for continuing his connection with the empire in whose
+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;             10
+in China he would be nobody, or (worse than that) a mendicant
+alien, prostrate at the feet, and soliciting the precarious
+alms, of a prince with whom he had no connection.
+Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina,
+grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar           15
+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 sense to
+every man who stood neutral in the case. But they were              20
+disappointed. The Czarina knew her obligations to the
+Khan, but she did not acknowledge them. Wherefore?
+That is a mystery perhaps never to be explained. So it
+was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_
+ever proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even               25
+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 unfortunately seconded by those of           30
+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, 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                   5
+language, but, above all, the insolent contempt, or even
+outrages, which the Russian governors or great military
+commandants tolerated in their followers toward the barbarous
+religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck
+priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity               10
+of the Russian resentment, and 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               15
+Turks and Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian
+irritation. And it must have been 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            20
+at this critical period toward the Kalmuck Khan. That
+Czarina was no longer Elizabeth Petrowna; it was 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                    25
+repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it
+must have co-operated with the other motives previously
+acting upon Oubacha in sustaining his determination to
+revolt, and how powerfully it must have assisted the efforts
+of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds of their        30
+people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by
+arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian
+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 the Russian Cabinet
+throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis
+of hesitation in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such               5
+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 official
+vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most
+matters of doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption.             10
+
+ Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and
+even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the
+injustice or the impolicy of the imperial ministers, it is
+contended by many persons who have reviewed the affair
+with a command of all the documents bearing on the case,            15
+more especially the letters or minutes of council subsequently
+discovered in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi,
+and the important evidence of the Russian captive, Weseloff,
+who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight,
+that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any                 20
+purpose of impeding or even of delaying the revolt. He
+himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the
+most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise
+or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting
+the firmness of his resolution under any unusual                    25
+pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest
+stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's
+well-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      30
+in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck
+would have courage to violate. As far, therefore,
+as regarded 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 terrors to the prosecution
+of the conspiracy that no honors within the Czarina's
+gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion; and then,
+as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be
+sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier character,        5
+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 superstitious of old women in
+facing the frowns of a priest or under the vague anticipations      10
+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 the changes already
+effected in the state of their domestic politics amongst            15
+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 sceptre; all measures           20
+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 availing himself
+of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused amongst          25
+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             30
+to the 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 competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept
+that triumph from an alien power at the price of his independence,
+which he 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 perhaps in an equal                   5
+degree--by the criminal facility and good nature of
+Oubacha; finally (which is remarkable enough, as illustrating
+the character of the man), by that very new modelling
+of the Sarga, or Privy Council, which he had used
+as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation             10
+against the Russian Government, whilst, in reality, he
+first had suggested the alteration to the Empress, and
+he chiefly 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         15
+Sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst in effect they
+owed their appointments to his nomination, it may be
+easily supposed that, whatever power existed in the state
+capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga
+under its new organization, and this body being completely          20
+under his influence, the final result was to throw
+all the functions of the state, whether nominally in the
+prince or in the council, 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          25
+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.
+
+But the time was now rapidly approaching for the
+mighty experiment. The day was drawing near on which                30
+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
+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
+that year was fixed for the fatal day when the fortunes              5
+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
+make the revelation so urgently required. It was clear,             10
+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 adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should               15
+arrive in furious haste, one upon the heels of another,
+reporting a sudden inroad of the Kirghises and Bashkirs
+upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about 120
+miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, according to
+immemorial custom, were required to send a separate representative; 20
+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. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did                     25
+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 80,000; all saw, and many heard.
+They were told of the oppressions of Russia;                        30
+of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced toward them
+by a thousand 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 forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood;
+of the ulterior intentions she thus announced
+to circumscribe 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           5
+trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the free-born
+Tartar had always disdained. "Then again," said
+the subtle prince, "she increases her military levies upon
+our population every year. We pour out our blood as
+young men in her defence, or, more often, in support of             10
+her insolent aggressions; and, as old men, we reap nothing
+from our sufferings nor benefit by our survivorship
+where so many are sacrificed." At this point of his
+harangue Zebek produced several papers (forged, as it is
+generally believed, by himself and the Lama), containing            15
+projects of the Russian 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, "and there is an end of all
+useful resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we              20
+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 used to speak--holding
+us by such a chain, Russia would make a jest of
+our wishes, knowing full well that we should not dare to            25
+make any effectual movement."
+
+Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his
+vast audience, and having alarmed their fears by this
+pretended scheme against their firstborn (an artifice
+which was indispensable to his purpose, because it met              30
+beforehand _every_ form of amendment to his proposal
+coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not
+otherwise have failed to insist upon trying the effect of
+bold addresses 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 effectually intercept their march.            5
+It is remarkable, however, 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 he held out for the present             10
+was a rapid march to the Temba 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 a better chance            15
+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
+preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid and                 20
+energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree
+they became noticeable and manifest to the Russians who
+happened to be intermingled with the different hordes,
+either on commercial errands, or as agents officially from
+the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a            25
+diplomatic character.
+
+Among these last (indeed, at the head of them) was a
+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 Kichinskoi          30
+had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook
+the conduct of the Kalmucks. He was styled the
+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_,
+combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks,
+gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might
+have given him a far greater had not his outrageous
+self-conceit and his arrogant confidence in his own                  5
+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 their profoundest malice. He had
+publicly insulted the Khan; and, upon making a communication        10
+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 dare not attempt; I laugh at
+such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to the Empress;             15
+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 attendants who stayed
+behind to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded        20
+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 spoke no more
+than the truth in representing himself to have discredited          25
+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 that no rebellion
+could prosper when rebuked by his commanding presence.
+The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding       30
+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 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
+departure. These dispatches came from the Governor
+of Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to                 5
+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 resentment; and no sooner did he see that
+hated name attached to the dispatch than he felt himself            10
+confirmed in his former 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 of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not
+to be put down by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he              15
+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 Astrachan
+as a bore, and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors,
+when the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of January,           20
+which forever terminated the dispute and put a seal upon
+the earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered myriads.
+The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the news.
+Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant
+vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his              25
+sledge, and, at the rate of 300 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               30
+the Wolga, he received an 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 immeasurable vanity and the blinding
+self-delusions of a presumption that refused all warning.
+
+ The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful
+a prophet. Perhaps even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness         5
+with which the verification followed his reports.
+Precisely 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                   10
+squadrons and in the tumultuous movement of some great
+morning of battle. Tens of thousands 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                 15
+drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once--placed
+under suitable escorts, and continually 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                   20
+were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the
+tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder more
+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           25
+malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest
+of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself
+upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting off all
+infirm looking backward from the hardships of their
+march, had been thought so necessary a measure by all               30
+the chieftains that even Oubacha himself was the first to
+authorize the act by his own example. He seized a torch
+previously prepared with materials the most durable as
+well as combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers
+of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the 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 Tartar lances. This
+chapter in their memorable day's work being finished,                5
+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
+valedictory vengeance, and thus have left behind to the             10
+Czarina a dreadful commentary upon the main motives
+of their flight. It was the purpose of Zebek-Dorchi that
+all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of every
+description should be given up to pillage and destruction,
+and such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants           15
+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 provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was
+happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at             20
+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 possible) had been the impossibility of
+effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on          25
+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 country with women, children, and               30
+herds of cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet,
+after all, it was lost. The reason never has been explained
+satisfactorily, but the fact was such. Some have said
+that the signals were not properly concerted for marking
+the moment of absolute departure--that is, for signifying
+whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks
+might not have been suddenly interrupted by adverse
+intelligence. Others have supposed that the ice might
+not be equally strong on both sides of the river, and                5
+might even be generally insecure for the treading of
+heavy and heavily laden animals such as camels. But
+the prevailing notion is that some accidental movements
+on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops in the
+neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really                 10
+having no reference to them or their plans, had been construed
+into certain signs that all was discovered, and that
+the prudence of the Western chieftains, who, from situation,
+had never been exposed to those intrigues by which
+Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the Eastern            15
+tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin.
+Be the cause what it might, it is certain that the Western
+Kalmucks were in some way prevented from forming the
+intended junction with their brethren of the opposite
+bank; and the result was that at least one hundred                  20
+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 massacre and conflagration would assuredly
+have surprised them, to the utter extermination of their            25
+property, their houses, and themselves, had it not been
+for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did
+not dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren
+under the first impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so
+dreadful a tragedy; for, as they were well aware of too many        30
+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 events which marked its outset.
+
+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
+part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren         5
+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.                                                          10
+
+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                       15
+Tartars, may have inflicted misery as extensive; but there
+the misery and the desolation would be sudden, like the
+flight 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            20
+French 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              25
+that afterward 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 as many months? But the main feature of
+horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from            30
+the French, lies in the accompaniment of women[5] 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 concerned. The French, in short, were
+merely an army--a host of professional destroyers, whose
+regular trade was bloodshed, and whose regular element               5
+was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a nation
+carrying along with them more than two hundred and
+fifty thousand 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         10
+as to the accompaniment of their families; but
+they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a
+very early stage of their flight; and their subsequent residence
+in the Desert was not a march, but a continued halt
+and under a continued interposition of Heaven for their             15
+comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however comprehensive
+in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's
+duration. A much nearer approach made to the wide
+range and the long duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may
+have been in a pestilence such as that which visited                20
+Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign
+of Charles II. There, also, the martyrs were counted by
+myriads, and the 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               25
+alleviation to the _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 all--for breadth and depth of suffering,           30
+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 all, each case had circumstances
+of romantic misery peculiar to itself--circumstances      5
+without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled
+by Christianity), it may be confidently hoped, never
+to be repeated.
+
+The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose
+could be encouraged, was the River Jaik. This was not               10
+above 300 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;
+one summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was               15
+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, across these interminable solitudes, for seven months         20
+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 variety, however, there was, will be most            25
+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, under the real order of development, it is remarkable       30
+that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under
+the moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves
+almost with a scenical propriety. They seem combined
+as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery
+advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and
+the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages
+of the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which
+veils the great catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of
+anguish, towering upward by regular gradations as if constructed     5
+artificially for picturesque effect--a result which
+might not have been surprising had it been reasonable to
+anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an accelerated
+rate, as prevailing through the latter stages of the expedition.
+But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to                  10
+calculate upon a continual 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 extraordinary circumstance that the Russian
+armies did not begin to close in very fiercely upon                 15
+the Kalmucks until after they had accomplished a distance
+of full 2000 miles: 1000 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_ of the pursuers and the           20
+bloody desperation of the miserable fugitives had reached
+its uttermost 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.                           25
+
+ The first stage, we have already said, was from the
+Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about 300 miles; the time
+allowed seven days. For the first week, therefore, the
+rate of marching averaged about 43 English miles a day.
+The weather was cold, but bracing; and, at a more                   30
+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 children;
+the sheep perished by wholesale; and the children themselves
+were saved only by the innumerable camels.
+
+The Cossacks who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik
+were the first among the subjects of Russia to come into
+collision with the Kalmucks. Great was their surprise at             5
+the suddenness 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              10
+fled in crowds to the 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 circumstances in which the               15
+Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge,
+as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these
+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           20
+his anxiety was not long. On the fifth day of the siege
+he descried from the walls a succession 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.               25
+Great agitation appeared immediately to follow: orders
+were soon after dispatched in all directions; and it became
+speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck
+movement a bloody and exterminating battle had been
+fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the             30
+Khan's dependents, numbering not less than 9000 fighting
+men, had perished to the last man. This was the
+_ouloss_, or clan, called Feka-Zechorr, 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 to their own
+party hatreds, more especially as the present was likely             5
+to be their final opportunity for revenge if the Kalmuck
+evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated
+as large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances
+allowed, they attacked the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation
+which denied to it all means for communicating with                 10
+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 80 miles; and thus it was,
+and not from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely          15
+upon its own resources. These had proved insufficient:
+retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and
+camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances
+of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question:
+quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not                20
+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, who on that day's dawning had held and                25
+styled themselves an independent nation.
+
+Universal consternation was diffused through the wide
+borders of the Khan's encampment by this disastrous
+intelligence, not so much on account of the numbers
+slain, or the total extinction of a powerful ally, as because       30
+the position of the Cossack force was likely to put
+to hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at
+least to retard and hold them in check until the heavier
+columns of the Russian 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 again resounded through the
+tents--the signal for flight, and this time for a flight
+more rapid than ever. About 150 miles ahead of their                 5
+present position, there arose a tract of hilly country,
+forming a sort of margin to the vast, sealike expanse of
+champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy
+deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin
+both eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the                  10
+centre of this hilly range lay a narrow defile, through
+which passed the nearest and the most practicable route
+to the River Torgau (the farther bank of which river
+offered the next great station of security for a general
+halt). It was the more essential to gain this pass before           15
+the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the delay in
+forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing
+columns for combining their attacks and for bringing
+up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in
+pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held, by            20
+those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography
+of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one
+narrow strait amongst the hills would have the effect of
+throwing them (as their only alternative in a case where
+so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit           25
+of at least 500 miles extra; besides that, after all, this
+circuitous route would carry them to the Torgau at a point
+unfitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The
+defile in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and
+yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of light           30
+cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found
+preoccupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had
+suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with the
+defeated _ouloss_; but the excitement of victory, and the
+intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had
+again swelled their ranks, and would probably act with
+the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen
+from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of preoccupation
+was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching                    5
+upon an oblique line not above 50 miles longer than
+that which led to the same 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, burdened and "trashed"[6] as             10
+they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the
+Cossacks in seizing this important 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_)                    15
+was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests,
+or what would 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 suffering were impressed                  20
+not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons
+and the persons of their children; 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             25
+as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive,
+has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the
+women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent ropes.
+On the 5th of January all had been animation and the
+joyousness of indefinite expectation; now, on the contrary,         30
+a brief but bitter experience had taught them to
+take an amended calculation of what it was that lay
+before them.
+
+One whole day and far into the succeeding night had
+the renewed flight continued; the sufferings had been                5
+greater than before, for the cold had been more intense,
+and many perished out of the living creatures through
+every class except only the camels--whose powers of
+endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat.
+The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to              10
+the distress. Snow had begun to fall; and, though not
+deep at present, 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                 15
+check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the
+last interval of comfort 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;           20
+the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth expanse
+became firm enough to support the treading of the
+camels; and the flight was recommenced. But during
+the halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed; and,
+for the last time, universal plenty. The cows and oxen              25
+had perished in such vast numbers on the previous
+marches that an order was now issued to turn what
+remained to account by slaughtering the whole, and
+salting whatever part should be found to exceed the
+immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene                  30
+of general banqueting, and even of festivity amongst all
+who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by distress
+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 sabre. And the losses in reversion
+were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to
+arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom               5
+the Khan had dispatched to the rear and to each flank as
+well as in advance, that large masses of the imperial troops
+were converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords
+of the River Torgau, as the most convenient point for
+intercepting the flying tribes; and it was already well             10
+known 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 motives were thus daily arising for quickening the
+motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting                15
+those who were previously but too much exhausted.
+
+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 which they
+anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks.              20
+A pretty large 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                  25
+artillery which he had not 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            30
+appeared upon their rear with a body 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, availing themselves of the
+dry beds of the summer torrents and other inequalities of
+the ground to conceal their movement. Disorder and
+trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack files; the
+Khan, who had been waiting with the _élite_ of his heavy
+cavalry, charged furiously upon them. Total overthrow                5
+followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some
+measure avenged the recent bloody extermination 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 _cameleers_          10
+(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were,
+but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight;
+and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days
+to gain their present position had greatly diminished their
+powers for effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, _did_            15
+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.[7]
+
+The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as yet              20
+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 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            5
+same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of
+the Kalmucks--both exasperated to a point of madness
+by the bloody trophies which Oubacha and Momotbacha
+had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as
+served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild              10
+nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands
+by which it had been imposed; and accordingly, catching
+with eagerness at the present occasion offered to their
+vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their
+perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time             15
+a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant
+to execute them--viz. "that they would not trouble her
+Majesty with prisoners."
+
+Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race
+for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and             20
+concurrently with nations as fierce and semi-humanized
+as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold
+activity by the furies of mortified pride and military
+abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The
+forces, and more especially the artillery, of Russia were           25
+far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a regular
+opposition 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,          30
+and not 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. Sights such as these, with the many
+rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of
+infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned
+to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness--continued to              5
+track their course through a space of full two thousand
+miles; for so much at 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             10
+ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first
+seven weeks of this march their 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      15
+of their baggage wagons, or (as occasionally happened)
+from the forests which skirted the 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,            20
+all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads
+were left behind from pure exhaustion, of 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;             25
+the vast extent of the march at length brought them into
+more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the
+march was gradually bringing them into more genial
+seasons of the year. Two thousand miles had at least
+been traversed; February, March, April, were gone; the              30
+balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and
+sounds came from every side to comfort the heart-weary
+travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, crossing
+the Torgau, they took up a position where they hoped to
+find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort
+as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from
+the fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered
+forces to a condition for executing, with less of wreck
+and ruin, the large remainder of the journey.                        5
+
+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 fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and
+flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: ox,              10
+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 affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood--these
+only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern               15
+heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this
+long tempest of trial unscathed and hardly diminished.
+The Khan, knowing how much he was individually
+answerable for the misery which had been sustained,
+must have wept tears even more bitter than those of                 20
+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, the Khan resolved to make, by sacrifices to
+the general good of all personal regards; and, accordingly,         25
+even at this point of their advance, he once more deliberately
+brought under review the whole question of the
+revolt. The question was formally debated before the
+Council, whether, even at this point, they should untread
+their steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's            30
+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 fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment;
+for the unlimited and sacred power of the Khan, so well
+known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to
+attribute any separate responsibility to the people. Upon
+the Khan rested the guilt--upon the Khan would
+descend the imperial vengeance. This proposal was                    5
+applauded for its generosity, but was energetically opposed
+by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole
+journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to
+perish without fruit? True it was that they had yet
+reached only the halfway house; but, in that respect,               10
+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 wilderness,                   15
+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            20
+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                 25
+surely 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               30
+Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments;
+and for them 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 proposal; the pardon of their prince, they persuaded
+themselves, 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            5
+mercy; when suddenly all was defeated by the arrival of
+two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had reached
+the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the
+12th of April; thence he set forward toward Oriembourg,
+which he reached upon the 1st of June, having been                  10
+joined on his route at various times through the month
+of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand
+Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official
+offers to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory,
+holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or                15
+impunity, an exacting unconditional submission as the
+preliminary price of any cessation from military operations.
+The personal character of Traubenberg, which
+was anything but energetic, and the condition of his
+army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and             20
+severity of the march, made it probable that, with a little
+time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone 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.                                   25
+
+The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had
+reported to this officer that a distance of only ten days'
+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               30
+Russian general to advance without delay. Once having
+placed his cannon in position, so as to command the
+Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his
+people would be in his own hands, and they would
+themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however
+(_why_ 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             5
+chance of prevailing, and dreading above 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 dispersed              10
+for many a league in search of food or provender for
+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                  15
+accidents of ground) three or four blending into one;
+flight and pursuit, 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            20
+innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had
+been impossible for the most practised 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 imminent danger of being cut                  25
+down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a
+strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the
+camel corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to
+retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued
+to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed            30
+or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed
+as the advanced parties of Traubenberg'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 molestation, the whole
+summer through.
+
+It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness                    5
+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 could superadd to those of frost and winter.
+To this sequel of their story we shall immediately revert,          10
+after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred
+at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled
+cousin, Zebek-Dorchi.
+
+There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the
+Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court                15
+of the Khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought
+necessary to carry along with them as a captive. For
+some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in
+one or two instances cruel; but, as the increasing distance
+was continually diminishing the chances of escape,                  20
+and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually
+withdrew their attention from all minor interests to their
+own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody
+grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a
+petition to the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored            25
+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 for his journey to St.
+Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not               30
+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 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            5
+audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done
+him and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by
+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               10
+all participation in the affair, and went so far in
+proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to
+effect his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing
+it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr.
+Weseloff that he had just then received a message from              15
+the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview
+on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out. That
+interview was 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                20
+prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read
+treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by
+the Khan--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;               25
+but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to
+decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact
+was that three Kalmucks, who had strong motives for
+returning to their countrymen on the west bank of the
+Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered             30
+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 honor with Weseloff
+to conceal their intentions, and therefore 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 through many hundred miles with wild horses                 5
+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 provision against the coming           10
+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 fugitives repaired.
+They took a circuitous path, which drew them as little as           15
+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. The moon had
+now risen, the horses were unfastened; and they were                20
+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
+the communication made by that prince in the morning; and,          25
+requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in
+the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought
+him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four
+men contending with a party of at least nine or ten.
+Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of              30
+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 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                 5
+whole 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 Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were                10
+shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on
+stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize
+a well-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               15
+time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff
+was delicate and critical. To leave the Khan at this point
+was probably 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            20
+the other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the
+chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan, also, was
+apparently 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          25
+detain your companions, but it would ill become me to do
+so after the important service you have just rendered me.
+Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you see the
+watch fire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then
+safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for                  30
+the circumstances under which you will appear as my
+escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for
+the present. 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 mere accident had brought him to the spot
+at which he heard the uproar; but that, _having_ heard it,           5
+and connecting 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, unless in the expectation of finding
+the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after                10
+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 travelling. Each of them led
+six or seven horses besides the one he rode; and by                 15
+shifting from one to the other (like the ancient Desultors
+of the Roman circus), so as never to burden the same
+horse for more than half an hour at a time, they continued
+to advance at the rate of 200 miles in the twenty-four
+hours for three days consecutively. After that time,                20
+considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded
+less rapidly; though still with a velocity which staggered
+the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was,
+however, a man of high principle, and always adhered
+firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the             25
+circumstances there stated is that they continued to pursue
+the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for
+an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons
+and other memorials of their calamities. In particular,
+he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the                      30
+valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice.
+These heaps were found lying still untouched in
+the deserts. From these Weseloff and his companions
+took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this
+it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which they
+afterward sold at one of the Russian military settlements
+for about £15 apiece, which eventually enabled them to
+pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded
+Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe.        5
+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          10
+affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his
+mother's house without warning of his approach. He
+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                15
+the spot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck
+flight. 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             20
+even more monotonous than on the former half of the
+flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were
+excessive 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                25
+Kirghises.
+
+These people, "more fell than anguish, hunger, or
+the sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of
+enraged hornets. And very often, while _they_ were
+attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and
+30 flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people
+of the country which they were traversing; and with good
+reason, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged
+the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage
+wherever 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 hundred miles, in order to strike into a land              5
+rich in the comforts 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.          10
+Sometimes, 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               15
+plague of starvation, whether with or without this plague
+of hostility in front, whatever might be the "fierce varieties"
+of their misery in this respect, no rest ever came
+to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet atra cura_: it
+was a torment like the undying worm of conscience.                  20
+And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether
+unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and
+personal malignity is not unfrequently immortal; but rare
+indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in
+a nation. And what imbittered the interest was that the             25
+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 circumstances. The
+Bashkirs were ready to fight "from morn till dewy eve."
+The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to               30
+run. Was it _from_ their enemies as creatures whom they
+feared? No; but _towards_ their friends--towards that
+final haven of China--as what was hourly implored by
+the prayers of their wives and the tears of their children.
+But, though they fled unwillingly, too often they 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
+matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their                5
+advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged
+for hours, 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                 10
+deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks
+resolved to press forwards, 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 effectual remedy               15
+be applied to the case, even for each separate day, except
+by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarches
+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,         20
+and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by 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                         25
+frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both
+sides had assumed the appearance much more 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               30
+was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+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 country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich
+in woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of
+every description. In a central spot of this solitary                5
+region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting lodge,
+to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief
+from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of
+game, he had rambled to a distance of 200 miles or
+more from his lodge, followed at a little distance by a             10
+sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his
+tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived
+on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia.[8]
+Here he was standing by accident, at an opening of his
+pavilion, enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly              15
+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 of the heavens. By
+and by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken toward
+the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The             20
+Emperor's suite assembled from all quarters; the silver
+trumpets were sounded in the rear; and from all the
+glades and forest avenues began to trot forwards towards
+the pavilion the yagers--half cavalry, half huntsmen--who
+composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on                     25
+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 uncertain
+danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast
+troops of deer or other wild animals of the chase 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 forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from               5
+molestation. 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 spectators, though all calculations        10
+of distance were difficult, 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 freshened, the dusty vapor had developed
+itself far and wide into the appearance of huge                     15
+aërial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky
+to the earth; and at particular points, where the eddies
+of the breeze acted upon the pendulous skirts of these
+aërial curtains, rents were perceived, sometimes taking the
+form of regular arches, portals, and windows, through               20
+which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels "indorsed"[9]
+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 sometimes, as the wind slackened              25
+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, reported, in a language not                30
+to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the
+cloudy screen.
+
+It was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last
+extremities of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching
+to that final stage of privation and killing misery beyond
+which few or none could have lived, but also, happily for
+themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final         5
+stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet
+hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full protection
+from their enemies. These enemies, however, as
+yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever,
+though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous        10
+persecution. 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 preparations made in consequence to
+welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence.            15
+But as these couriers had been dispatched from
+the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and before
+the advance of Traubenberg had made it necessary
+for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the
+Emperor had not looked for their arrival on his frontiers           20
+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 of September. The
+subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long,               25
+left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation
+to be put upon this mighty apparition in the desert:
+but at length the savage clamors of hostile fury and
+clangor of weapons unveiled to the Emperor the true
+nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely      30
+precipitated the Kalmuck measure.
+
+Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor
+instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care
+for 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 of artillery, who always attended the Emperor's           5
+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. It soon appeared, however, to          10
+those who watched 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 45 degrees with
+that line in which the imperial _cortége_ had been standing,        15
+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 ordered up; and it was precisely           20
+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 expedition in all its parts            25
+ and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not
+personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see
+from too great a distance to discriminate its individual
+features; but he records in his written memorial the
+report made to him of this scene by some of his own                 30
+officers.
+
+The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi,
+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. From this pass, elevated about two thousand
+feet above the level of the water, they continued to                 5
+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 Kalmucks, reduced by this time from
+about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred and                 10
+sixty thousand, and after enduring for two months and a
+half the miseries we have previously described--outrageous
+heat, famine, and the destroying scimiter of the
+Kirghises and the Bashkirs--had for the last ten days
+been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were            15
+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 wilderness. On
+the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had              20
+been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus, for
+two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst
+had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this
+last morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest
+scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides               25
+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 the general rush
+forward to the lake, all discipline and command were lost--all      30
+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 shouts proclaimed
+the progress of the massacre; but none 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 was                5
+affected 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 effect of
+thirst), in both nations had become lunatic, and in this            10
+state, 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 rushed, and together
+continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment           15
+but of one almighty instinct. This absorption of the
+thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single
+half hour; 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            20
+party of savage 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                   25
+struggles, and 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                  30
+forced into a share in this carnival of murder by trampling
+down as many as they could strike prostrate with the
+lash of their fore-legs. Every 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 draughts of water,
+visibly contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered
+compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough
+to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there,          5
+for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly
+fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of death, and the
+fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--until
+the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a
+few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length         10
+averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed
+incapable of further addition, was, however, increased
+by an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to
+perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese
+cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently        15
+at leisure from the passions of the murderous
+scene--to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the
+governor of a small Chinese fort built upon an eminence
+above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside,
+which spread havoc among the Bashkir tribe. As often                20
+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 in his exterminating broadside; until at length
+the lake, at its lower end, became one vast seething                25
+caldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese
+cavalry had reached the foot of the hills; the Bashkirs,
+attentive to _their_ movements, had formed; skirmishes had
+ been fought; and, with a quick sense that the contest was
+henceforward rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs                30
+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 experience of the
+Asiatic deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched
+Bashkirs had to repeat that same experience a second
+time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by a
+retributary 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
+complete 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                 10
+Desert; for any subsequent marches which awaited them
+were neither long nor painful. Every possible alleviation
+and refreshment for their exhausted bodies had been
+already provided by Kien Long with the most princely
+munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately          15
+assigned to them in ample extent along the River Ily, not
+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               20
+missionaries: "La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_)
+ arriva à Ily, toute delabrée, n'ayant ni de quoi
+vivre, ni de quoi se vêtir. Je l'avais prévu; et j'avais
+ordonné de faire en tout genre les provisions nécessaires
+pour pouvoir les secourir promptement: c'est ce qui a été           25
+exécuté. On a fait la division des terres: et on a assigné
+à chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir
+à son entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant
+des bestiaux. On a donné à chaque particulier des étoffes
+pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir pendant l'éspace        30
+d'une année, des ustensiles pour le ménage et d'autres
+choses nécessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent,
+pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a
+designé des lieux particuliers, fertiles en pâturages; et on
+leur a donné des boeufs, moutons, etc., pour qu'ils pussent
+dans la suite travailler par eux-mêmes à leur entretien et
+à leur bien-être."
+
+These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking                 5
+in his own person of his own paternal cares; but another
+Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munificence
+of this prince in terms which proclaim still more
+forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and
+the delicate considerateness which conducted, this extensive        10
+bounty. He has been speaking of the Kalmucks,
+and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils arrivèrent sur nos
+frontières (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille,
+quoique la fatigue extrême, la faim, la soif, et toutes les
+autres incommodités inséparables d'une très-longue et               15
+très-pénible route en eussent fait périr presque autant),
+ils étaient réduits à la dernière misère; ils manquaient
+de tout. Il" (viz. l'empereur, Kien Long) "leur fit préparer
+des logemens conformes à leur manière de vivre;
+il leur fit distribuer des alimens et des habits; il leur fit       20
+donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour
+les mettre en état de former des troupeaux et de cultiver
+la terre, et tout cela à ses propres frais, qui se sont
+montés à des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent
+qu'il a donné à chaque chef-de-famille, pour pouvoir à la           25
+subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans."
+
+Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks
+were replaced in territorial possessions, and in
+comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which
+they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political             30
+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
+circumstances which obliged them to become essentially
+dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social
+rank that, by the natural course of their habits and the
+necessities of life, they were effectually reclaimed from
+roving and from the savage customs connected with a half             5
+nomadic life. They gained also in political privileges,
+chiefly through the immunity from military service which
+their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were
+circumstances of advantage and gain. But one great
+disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance all other              10
+possible gain: the chances were lost, or were removed to
+an incalculable distance, for their conversion to Christianity,
+without which 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           15
+concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this
+respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all
+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            20
+that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his
+caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing
+of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all his dissimulation
+could not hide. This had produced a feud, which,
+by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of               25
+Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more
+fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on the
+Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came under
+the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which
+all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting        30
+lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately
+of all the particulars connected with the transaction--of
+all the rights and 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 ambitious projects
+that, in conjunction with other chiefs, he had the presumption       5
+even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor
+himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled;
+counter-plots were constructed upon the same basis,
+and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered.
+Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge,            10
+together with all his accomplices; and, under the skilful
+management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's
+establishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar
+chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves, and the
+whole of them perished by assassination at a great imperial         15
+banquet. For the Chinese morality is exactly of
+that kind which approves in everything the _lex talionis_:
+
+  "... Lex nec justior ulla est [as _they_ think]
+   Quam necis artifices arte perire sua."
+
+So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of              20
+the great Tartar Exodus. Oubacha, meantime, and his
+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         25
+harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a
+happy 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            30
+the hills of this favored land, and even from the level
+grounds as they approach its western border, they still
+look out upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld
+a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of nearly half a
+million from amongst its numbers, and for the remainder
+a storm of misery so fierce that in the end (as happened
+also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different         5
+form of misery) very many lost their memory; all
+records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge--utterly
+erased and cancelled: and many others lost
+their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy,
+some in a more restless form of feverish delirium
+and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of             10
+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, with which all persons
+looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the               15
+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 their relief: two great
+monuments; one embodied in the religious solemnity,                 20
+enjoined by the Dalai-Lama, 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 from the afflictions of the
+Desert (this took place about six years after the arrival           25
+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 Emperor, Kien Long,
+near the banks of the Ily. These columns stand upon                 30
+the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but
+emphatic inscription[10] to the following effect:--
+
+                           By the Will of God,
+                  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,   5
+           Rested from their labors and from great afflictions
+                  Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall,
+       And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth,
+      The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars--      10
+              Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar,
+      Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire
+                            in the year 1616,
+        But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow,
+               Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd.                15
+                          Hallowed be the spot
+                                  and
+                 Hallowed be the day--September 8, 1771!
+                                 Amen.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] 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 affirms that there were "many"
+women in the Greek army--[Greek: pollai êsan etairai en tô
+strateumati]; and in a late stage of that trying expedition it is
+evident that women were amongst the survivors.
+
+[6] "Trashed." This is an expressive word used by Beaumont and
+Fletcher in their "Bonduca," etc., to describe the case of a person
+retarded or embarrassed in flight, or in pursuit, by some encumbrance,
+whether thing or person, too valuable to be left behind.
+
+[7] There was another _ouloss_ equally strong with that of
+Feka-Zechorr, viz. that of Erketunn 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 Governor of Astrachan, on the
+first outbreak of the insurrection, that their real wishes were for
+maintaining the old connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore,
+to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously
+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.
+
+[8] 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.
+
+[9] _Camels_ "_indorsed_" "and elephants indorsed with
+towers."--MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.
+
+[10] This inscription has been slightly altered in one or two phrases,
+and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the Emperor's
+expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China and the
+retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the designation
+adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon some
+confusion between him and the Byzantine Cæsars, as though the former,
+being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part the
+same longitudes, though in different latitudes), might be considered
+as his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of
+Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.
+
+
+[Illustration: ROUTE OF THE TARTARS IN THEIR FLIGHT.]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+THE ORIGINAL SOURCES.
+
+
+In Professor Masson's edition of De Quincey, Vol. VII, p. 8, is the
+following discussion of the author's original sources:
+
+"A word or two on De Quincey's authorities for his splendid sketch
+called _The Revolt of the Tartars_:--One authority was a famous
+Chinese state-paper purporting to have been composed by the Chinese
+Emperor, Kien Long himself (1735--1796), of which a French
+translation, with the title _Monument de la Transmigration des
+Tourgouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans l'Empire de la Chine_,
+had been published in 1776 by the French Jesuit missionaries of Pekin,
+in the first volume of their great collection of _Mémoires 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 population 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 fastened 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 to add 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 secretiveness in such matters; but since then an incidental
+reference of his own, in his _Homer and the Homeridæ_,[11] has given
+me the clue. 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 traveller,
+Benjamin Bergmann, whose _Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmüken
+in den Jahren 1802 und 1803_ came forth from a Riga press, in four
+parts or volumes, in 1804-1805. 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 Geschichte der
+Kalmükenflucht von der Wolga_ ("Essay on the History of the Flight 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 Kalmüks: Traduit de l'Allemand
+par M. Moris, Membre de la Société 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 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 historiographic summary or record, inasmuch as it would be
+most effectively treated, even for the purpose of real history, if
+thrown into the form of an epic or romance. Accordingly he takes
+liberties with his authorities, deviating from them now and then, and
+even once or twice introducing incidents not reconcilable with either
+of them, if not irreconcilable also with historical and geographical
+possibility. Hence one may doubt sometimes whether what one is reading
+is to be regarded as history or as invention. On this 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 the 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 version of
+any such historical episode in all Gibbon, and possibly nothing truer
+essentially, after all, to the substance of the facts as they actually
+happened."
+
+Professor Masson's Appended Editorial Note on the Chinese Accounts of
+the Migration (Vol. VII, pp. 422-6):
+
+"As has been mentioned in the Preface, these appeared, in translated
+form, in 1776, in Vol. I of the great collection of _Mémoires
+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 l'Empire 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 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
+(1661-1721); 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 annexation 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 re-settlement 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 several
+generations. With this explanation the following sentences from Kien
+Long's Memoir, containing all its historical substance, will be fully
+intelligible:
+
+"'All those who at present compose the nation of the Torgouths,
+unaffrighted 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 Torgouths 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 would be difficult to explain their
+common origin, respecting which indeed there is no very 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 subdued the others, and continued till the time of Kang Hi
+to exercise this usurped pre-eminence over them. Tsé-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 withdrawing himself
+forever from the domination of the Eleuths. He took secret measures
+for securing the 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].... Oubaché, the present Khan of the
+Torgouths, is the youngest grandson of Ayouki. The Russians never
+ceasing to require him to furnish soldiers for incorporation into
+their armies, and having at last carried off 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,
+Oubaché and his people at last determined 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 Palkaché-nor and the adjacent
+deserts; and, about the end of the sixth month of 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 refugees. Chouhédé, one of the councillors of the general, was at
+Ouché, 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 Chouhédé to raise
+small forts and redoubts at the most important points, and to cause
+all the passes to be carefully guarded; and I enjoined on him the duty
+of himself getting ready the necessary provisions of every kind inside
+these defences.... The Torgouths arrived, and on arriving found
+lodgings ready, means of sustenance, and all the conveniences they
+could have found in 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 Gé-hol. There I gave them a
+ceremonial banquet and made them the customary presents.... It was at
+this Gé-hol, in those charming parts where Kang Hi, my grandfather,
+made himself an abode to which he could 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
+beyond 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 separated itself from the
+trunk, those Torgouths who had voluntarily 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 Gé-hol, not far from the venerable spot
+where my grandfather's ashes repose, that I 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 at p.
+417. 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 monumental form. It is from this Chinese comment on the Imperial
+Memoir that there is the extract at p. 418 as to the miserable
+condition of the fugitives.
+
+"On a comparison of De Quincey's splendid paper with the Chinese
+documents, several discrepancies present themselves; the most
+important of which perhaps are these:--(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 expedition
+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, Chouhédé; 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 Gé-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 monument, are not
+in accord with the Chinese statements respecting 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 magnificent _miao_, in honor of the reunion of all the
+followers of Fo in one and the same worship; it had just been
+completed when Oubaché and the other princes of his nation arrived at
+Gé-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 opportunity 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 who have 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 Oubaché. 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 Oubaché, was Khan of the
+Torgouths, and induced them to part company with their overbearing
+kinsmen the Eleuths, and seek refuge within the Russian territories 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 than seventy years' in their Russian
+settlements when Oubaché brought them back. This would refer us to
+about 1700, or, at farthest, to between 1690 and 1700, for the
+secession under Ayouki.
+
+"The discrepancies are partly explained by the fact that De Quincey
+followed Bergmann's account,--which account differs avowedly in some
+particulars from that of the Chinese memoirs. In Bergmann I find the
+original secession of the ancestors of Oubaché's Kalmuck horde from
+China to Russia _is_ pushed back to 1616, just as in De Quincey. But,
+though De Quincey keeps by Bergmann 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 himself 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, however, is that he did nothing
+of the sort, but deputed any necessary increment of his Bergmann
+materials to his own lively imagination."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1 1. The first three paragraphs of the essay, comprising the formal
+introduction, are intentionally rather more picturesque and vivacious
+in style than the ordinary narrative that follows. If these paragraphs
+be read consecutively aloud, the student will surely feel the sweep
+and power of De Quincey's eloquence. Attention may well be directed to
+the author's own apparent interest in his subject because of its
+appeal to the _imagination_ (p. 1, l. 4), of the _romantic
+circumstances_ (p. 1, l. 11), of its _dramatic capabilities_ (p. 2, l.
+8), of its _scenical situations_ (p. 3, l. 8). Throughout the essay
+effort should be made to excite appreciation of the significance of
+words, and De Quincey's mastery in the use of words may be continually
+illustrated. In paragraph 1, note the fitness of the word _velocity_
+(l. 12) and the appropriateness of the epithets in _almighty
+instincts_ (l. 17), _life-withering marches_ (l. 18), _gloomy
+vengeance_ (l. 19), _volleying thunders_ (p. 2, l. 1).
+
+1 5. Tartar. Originally applied to certain tribes in Chinese
+Tartary, but here used for Mongolian. Look up etymology and trace
+relation of the word to _Turk_.--steppes. A Russian word indicating
+large areas more or less level and devoid of forests; these regions
+are often similar in character to the American prairie, and are used
+for pasturage.
+
+1 6,7. terminus a quo, terminus ad quem. The use of phrases quoted
+from classic sources is frequent in De Quincey's writings. Note such
+phrases as they occur, also foreign words. Is their use to be
+justified?
+
+1 18. leeming. The lemming, or leming. A rodent quadruped. "It is
+very prolific, and vast hordes periodically migrate down to the sea,
+destroying much vegetation in their path."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+1 22. Miltonic images. "Miltonic" here characterizes not only images
+used by Milton, but images suggestive of his as well. Yet compare:
+
+               Or from above
+  Should intermitted vengeance arm again
+  His red right hand to plague us?
+                              --_Paradise Lost_, II, 172-4.
+
+               Or, with solitary hand
+  Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow
+  Unaided could have finished thee.
+                              --_Paradise Lost_, VI, 139-41.
+
+2 12. sanctions. The word here means not permission, nor recognition
+merely, but the avowal of something as sacred, hence obligatory; a
+thing ordained.
+
+2 13, 14. a triple character. De Quincey is fond of thus analyzing
+the facts he has to state. Notice how this method of statement, marked
+by "1st," "2dly," "3dly," contributes to the clearness of the
+paragraph.
+
+2 17. "Venice Preserved." A tragedy by Thomas Otway, one of the
+Elizabethan dramatists (1682).--"Fiesco." A tragedy by the great
+German dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1783), the full title of which is
+_The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa_.
+
+2 22. Cambyses, the Third (529-522 B.C.). He was king of Persia and
+led an expedition into Ethiopia, which ended disastrously for him.
+
+2 23. anabasis. The word itself means "a march up" into the
+interior.--katabasis (l. 28) means "a march down,"--in this case the
+retreat of the Greeks. The _Anabasis_ of the Greek historian Xenophon
+is the account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against
+Artaxerxes, which ended with the death of Cyrus at the battle of
+Cunaxa (401 B.C.).
+
+2 25. Crassus. A Roman general who led an army into Parthia (or
+Persia) (54 B.C.). He was defeated and put to death by
+torture.--Julian (l. 26), the Apostate, lost his life while invading
+Persia (363 A.D.).
+
+2 28. the Russian anabasis, etc. The historic invasion of Russia by
+the armies of Napoleon in 1812, followed by the terrible retreat from
+Moscow.
+
+3 3. This triple character, etc. Note this method of making clear
+the connection between paragraphs. Make close study of these
+paragraphs; analyze their structure. Compare the manner of introducing
+subsequent paragraphs.
+
+3 14. Wolga. The German spelling. The Volga is the longest river in
+Europe. It is difficult to locate with certainty all the points here
+mentioned.
+
+3 16. Koulagina was a fort somewhere on the Ural river; perhaps to
+be identified with Kulaschinskaja, or Kologinskaia.
+
+3 17. Cossacks. A people of mixed origin, but of Russian rather than
+Tartar stock. There are two branches, the Ukraine and the Don
+Cossacks. This people is first heard of in the tenth century. The
+title of the leader was _Hetman_; the office was elective and the
+government was democratic. The Cossacks have been noted always as
+fierce fighters and are valuable subjects of the czar. The _Bashkirs_
+(l. 18) are Mongolians and nomadic in their habits.
+
+3 18. Ouchim was evidently a mountain pass in the Ural range
+(compare p. 37, l. 18).
+
+3 19. Torgau, spelled also _Torgai_ by De Quincey, though elsewhere
+_Turgai_, indicates a district east of the Ural mountains; it is also
+the name of the principal city of that district.
+
+3 20. Khan. A Tartar title meaning chief or governor.
+
+3 22. Lake of Tengis. Lake Balkash is meant. Compare p. 56, l. 18,
+and note thereon.
+
+3 23. Zebek-Dorchi. One of the principal characters in the following
+narrative.
+
+3 32. Kalmucks. A branch of the Mongolian family of peoples, divided
+into four tribes, and dwelling in the Chinese Empire, western Siberia,
+and southeastern Russia. They were nomads, adherents of a form of
+Buddhism, and number over 200,000.--_Century Cyclopedia of Names._
+
+4 12. exasperated. As an illustration of the discriminating use of
+words, explain the difference in meaning of _exasperated_ and
+_irritated_ (l. 19); also point out the fitness of the word _inflated_
+in the phrase (l. 13).
+
+5 23. rival. Why "_almost_ a competitor"? What is the meaning of
+each word?
+
+5 32. odius. Is there any gain in force by adding _repulsive_?
+
+6 5. Machiavelian. Destitute of political morality. A term derived
+from the name of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman and writer
+(1469-1527), who, in a treatise on government entitled "The Prince,"
+advocated, or was interpreted to advocate, the disregard of moral
+principle in the maintenance of authority. In this sentence
+discriminate between the apparent synonyms _dissimulation_,
+_hypocrisy_, _perfidy_.
+
+6 15. Elizabeth Petrowna. Daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine
+I. Empress of Russia 1741-1762.
+
+6 28. Tcherkask. An important city of the Cossacks, near the mouth
+of the Don.--tents. A common method of counting families among
+nomads. What figure of speech does this illustrate?
+
+7 25. roubles. A rouble is the Russian unit of value, worth
+seventy-seven cents. The word is etymologically connected with the
+Indian _rupee_.
+
+7 28. Thus far, etc. Notice the care with which De Quincey analyzes
+the situation.
+
+8 19. mercenary. Look up origin of the word. How is it appropriate
+here?
+
+8 29. romantic. What are the qualities indicated by this adjective?
+How did the word, derived from _Roman_, get its present significance?
+
+8 34. A triple vengeance. Compare with the similar analysis p. 2, l. 13.
+
+9 11. behemoth. A Hebrew word meaning "great beast." It was used
+probably of the hippopotamus. See _Job_, xl, 15-24. In the work by
+Bergmann, which furnished De Quincey with much of his material, the
+figure used is that of a giant and a dwarf.--Muscovy. An old name of
+Russia, derived from Moscow.
+
+9 13. "lion ramp." Quoted from Milton:
+
+        The bold Ascalonite
+  Fled from his lion ramp.
+             --_Samson Agonistes_, 139.
+
+"_Baptized and infidel_" and "_barbaric East_" are also borrowings
+from Milton.
+
+9 16. unnumbered numbers. Notice how effectively in this and the
+following sentences De Quincey utilizes _suggested_ words: _monstrous,
+monstrosity_; _hopelessness, hope_.
+
+9 22. fable. Here used for plot; the idea being that the story of
+the Revolt has all the compactness and unity of design to be found in
+the plot of a classic tragedy, which could admit the introduction of
+no external incidents or episodes to confuse the thread of the main
+action.
+
+10 8. translation. Note the etymology of this word, which is here
+used in its literal sense.
+
+10 17. But what, etc. See with what art, as well as with what
+evident interest, De Quincey catches the very spirit of the plot. How
+does the interrogation add strength?
+
+10 25, 26. Kien Long. "Emperor of China from 1735 to 1796, was the
+fourth Chinese emperor of the Mantchoo-Tartar dynasty, and a man of
+the highest reputation for ability and accomplishment."--MASSON.
+
+10 28. religion. Lamaism. "A corrupted form of Buddhism prevailing
+in Tibet and Mongolia, which combines the ethical and metaphysical
+ideas of Buddhism with an organized hierarchy under two semi-political
+sovereign pontiffs, an elaborate ritual, and the worship of a host of
+deities and saints."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+10 29. Chinese Wall. This famous wall was built for defence against
+the northern Mongols in the third century. It is 1400 miles in length
+and of varying height. In what sense is the phrase used figuratively?
+
+11 17. great Lama. "Lama, a celibate priest or ecclesiastic
+belonging to that variety of Buddhism known as Lamaism. There are
+several grades of lamas, both male and female. The dalai-lama and the
+tesho- or bogdo-lama are regarded as supreme pontiffs. They are of
+equal authority in their respective territories, but the former is
+much the more important, and is known to Europeans as the Grand
+Lama,"--_Century Dictionary._
+
+The Dalai-Lama (p. 12, l. 11) resides at Lassa in Tibet.
+
+12 34. With respect to the month. Notice the extreme care with which
+the author develops the following details, and the touch of sympathy
+with which this paragraph closes.
+
+13 28. war raged. "The war was begun in 1768 when Mustapha III. was
+Sultan of Turkey; and it was continued till 1774."--MASSON.
+
+13 33. Human experience, etc. It is a favorite device of this writer
+to develop a concrete fact into an abstraction of general application.
+Do you believe that this is true? Can you give any illustration?
+
+15 1. a pitched battle. "It will be difficult, I think, to find
+record, in the history of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768, of any battle
+answering to this."--MASSON.
+
+15 10. Paladins. A term used especially to designate the famous
+knightly champions who served the Frankish Charlemagne. Look up the
+etymology of the word and trace its present meaning.
+
+15 24. ukase. "An edict or order, legislative or administrative,
+emanating from the Russian government."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+16 9. mummeries. Find the original meaning of this word.
+
+16 22. Catharine II. "Elizabeth had been succeeded in 1762 by her
+nephew Peter III., who had reigned but a few months when he was
+dethroned by a conspiracy of Russian nobles headed by his German wife
+Catharine. She became Empress in his stead, and reigned from 1762 to
+1796 as Catharine II."--MASSON.
+
+17 10. doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. Note the
+additional force given to the nouns by the adjectives.
+
+17 18. Weseloff. This gentleman is referred to again at more length
+in pages 45-50.
+
+17 31. sanctions. Compare the note on p. 2, l. 12. The sense in
+which the word is used justifies the use of _violate_ in the next line.
+
+18 24. first of all. Again see how, by use of this phrase, followed
+later by _secondly_, _thirdly,_ etc., De Quincey gains greater
+clearness for his various points.
+
+19 29. But the time, etc. Here is the first general division point
+in the main narrative. The genesis of the plot has been described; now
+follow the active preliminaries to the flight.
+
+19 33. one vast conflagration. Compare the account, p. 25.
+
+20 12, 13. But where or how, etc. Note again the effective use of
+interrogation. How does it stimulate interest?
+
+20 17. Kirghises. The spelling _Kirghiz_ is more familiar. Like the
+Bashkirs, nomads of the Mongolian-Tartar race, perhaps the least
+civilized of those inhabiting the steppes.
+
+20 26. _rhetoric._ In what sense used here? Is this use correct?
+
+21 5. _Sarepta._ Locate this town; it is on a small river that empties
+into the Volga. "The point of the reference to this particular town is
+that it was a colony of industrious Germans, having been founded in
+1764 or 1765 by the Moravian Brothers."--BALDWIN.
+
+22 11. Temba. The Jemba.
+
+22 28. Kichinskoi. Notice the vividness of the character portrait
+that follows; compare it with the portraitures of Zebek and Oubacha
+previously given.
+
+23 1. surveillant. Here used for watchman or spy. What derivatives
+have we from this French expression?
+
+23 34. Christmas arrived. Another division point in the analysis.
+
+24 5. Astrachan. Also spelled _Astrakhan_. The name of a large and
+somewhat barren district comprising more than 90,000 square miles of
+territory in southeastern Europe; its capital city, having the same
+name, is situated on the Volga near its mouth.
+
+24 26. at the rate of 300 miles a day. By no means an incredible
+speed; in Russia such sledge flights are not uncommon. Compare what De
+Quincey has to say of the glory of motion in _The English
+Mail-Coach_,--"running at the least twelve miles an hour."
+
+25 26. malignant counsels. What is the full effect of this epithet?
+
+26 10. valedictory vengeance. Note again the force of the epithet.
+
+26 28. aggravate. What is the literal significance of this word? As
+synonymous with what words is it often incorrectly used?
+
+28 11. For now began to unroll. Does this paragraph constitute a
+digression, or is it a useful amplification of the narrative? Does De
+Quincey exaggerate when he terms these experiences of the Tartars "the
+most awful series of calamities anywhere recorded"?
+
+28 14. sudden inroads. "The inroads of the Huns into Europe extended
+from the third century into the fifth; those of the Avars from the
+sixth century to the eighth or ninth; the first great conquests of the
+Mongol Tartars were by Genghis-Khan, the founder of a Mongol empire
+which stretched, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, from
+China to Poland."--MASSON.
+
+28 18. volleying lightning. Compare p. 2, l. 1, where De Quincey uses
+a somewhat similar phrase. Why is the phrase varied, do you suppose?
+
+28 21. the French retreat. It would be interesting to compare the
+incidents and figures of this retreat, as furnished by biographers and
+historians. Sloane's _Life of Napoleon_ is a recent authority.
+
+28 26. vials of wrath. Compare _Revelation_, xv, 7, and xvi, 1. If
+De Quincey had used the Revised Version he would have written _bowls_
+instead of _vials_. Such borrowings of phrase or incident are called
+"allusions." Make a list of the scriptural allusions found in the
+essay,--of those suggested by Milton.
+
+29 16. Earthquakes. "De Quincey here refers to such destructive
+shocks as that which occurred at Sparta, 464 B.C., in which, according
+to Thirlwall, 20,000 persons perished; that which Gibbon speaks of
+during the reign of Valentinian, 365 A.D., in which 50,000 persons
+lost their lives at Alexandria alone; that in the reign of Justinian,
+526 A.D., in which 250,000 persons were crushed by falling walls;
+others in Jamaica, 1692 A.D.; at Lisbon, 1755 A.D., with loss of
+30,000 lives; and in Venezuela, 1812 A.D., when Caraccas was
+destroyed, and 20,000 souls perished."--WAUCHOPE.
+
+29 20. pestilence. Described by Thucydides; see also Grote's
+_History of Greece_, Chap. XLIX. Of the great plague of London (1665)
+the most realistic description is Defoe's _Journal of the Plague
+Year_.
+
+29 28. The siege of Jerusalem. Read Josephus, _The Jewish War_, Bks.
+V and VI.
+
+29 31. exasperation. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
+
+30 3, 4. even of maternal love. The reference is to an incident
+mentioned by Josephus (_The Jewish War_, Bk. VI, Chap. III), in which
+a mother is described as driven by the stress of famine to kill and
+devour her own child.
+
+30 5. romantic misery. How _romantic_? Compare this phrase with
+similar uses of the word _romantic_.
+
+30 10. River Jaik. The Ural.
+
+30 33. scenical propriety. Compare the statement with similar ones
+made by the author elsewhere.
+
+31 11. decrement. Compare with its positive correspondent, _increment_.
+
+31 20. acharnement. Fury.
+
+31 26. The first stage, etc. A time mark in the essay.
+
+32 10. liable. Another instance of a word often misused, correctly
+employed in the text. Compare note on _aggravate_, p. 26, l. 28.
+
+32 23. Bactrian camels. There are two species of camel, the
+dromedary, single humped, and the Bactrian, with two humps. The former
+is native to Arabia, the latter to central Asia. The dromedary is the
+swifter of the two. _Bactria_ is the ancient name of that district
+now called Balkh, in Afghanistan.
+
+33 7. evasion. Compare with its positive correspondent _invasion_;
+compare _decrement_, p. 31, l. 11.
+
+34 8. champaign savannas. Both words mean about the same, an open,
+treeless country, nearly level. What is the linguistic source of both
+words?
+
+37 19. hills of Moulgaldchares. Spurs of the Urals running southwest.
+
+38 10. Polish dragoons. "The adjective refers not to the
+nationality, but to the equipment of the cavalry. Thus there was at
+one time in the French army a corps called _Chasseurs d'Afrique_, and
+in both the French and that of the Northern troops in our own Civil
+War a corps of Zouaves. Similarly at p. 53, l. 24, De Quincey speaks
+of _yagers_ among the Chinese troops. Perhaps both Polish dragoon and
+yager were well-known military terms in 1837. At any rate there is no
+gain in scrutinizing them too closely, since the context in both cases
+seems to be pure invention."--BALDWIN.
+
+38 11. cuirassiers. From the French. Soldiers protected by a
+cuirass, or breastplate, and mounted.
+
+38 20. River Igritch. The Irgiz-koom.
+
+39 21. concurrently. Etymology?
+
+39 33. sad solitudes, etc. Notice this as one of the points in a
+very effective paragraph.
+
+40 3. aggravations. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
+
+40 5. howling wilderness. Why so called? Compare with a previous use
+of the same expression (p. 12, l. 5).
+
+40 18. spectacle. Compare with other references to the theatrical
+quality of the _Flight_.
+
+40 21. myriads. Is this literal? Notice the contrast in tone between
+this sentence and those which close the paragraph.
+
+41 12. adust. "Latin, _adustus_, burned. Looking as if burned or
+scorched."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+41 15. erected their speaking eyes. Study this expression until its
+forcefulness is felt. The camel is notorious for its unresponsive
+dullness; indeed its general apathy to its surroundings is all that
+accounts for its apparent docility. De Quincey, therefore, is speaking
+by the book when he describes these brutes as "without the affections
+or sensibilities of flesh and blood." Their very submissiveness is due
+to their stupidity.
+
+41 20. those of Xerxes. See Crete's _History of Greece_, Chap. XXXVIII.
+
+41 29. untread. A dictionary word, but uncommon. Recall similar
+words used by De Quincey which add picturesqueness in part because of
+their novelty.
+
+41 31. their old allegiance. 1616. See the close of this paragraph.
+
+41 33. scapegoat. _Leviticus_, xvi, 7-10; 20-22.
+
+42 32, 33. land of promise ... house, etc. _Deuteronomy_, viii, 14;
+ix, 28.
+
+43 8. Orsk. Upon the river Or.
+
+43 9. Oriembourg. A fort.
+
+43 23. sinister. Etymology?
+
+43 29. transpiring. Like _aggravate_ and _liable_, a word often
+misused. What does it mean?
+
+44 10. were dispersed. Note the variety of phrases in the following
+ten lines used to indicate separation.
+
+46 16. Hetman. Chief. Compare Germ. _Hauptmann_, Eng. _captain_, Fr.
+_chef_.
+
+47 1. evasion. See previous note on p. 33, l. 7.
+
+48 2. carabines. Old-fashioned spelling. Short rifles adapted to the
+use of mounted troops.
+
+49 13. without a parallel. As has been seen, De Quincey is fond of
+superlative statements. A writer may or may not be true in his claims;
+the habitual assumption, however, predisposes his reader to doubt his
+judgment.
+
+49 16. Desultors. This word is not in common use, but _desultory_
+is. Look up the derivation and note the metaphor concealed in the
+latter word.
+
+49 19. at the rate of 200 miles. Compare preceding note on p. 24, 1. 26.
+
+50 27. "more fell," etc. From the last speech in Shakespeare's
+Othello, addressed to Iago:
+
+                 O Spartan dog,
+  More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
+  Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
+  This is thy work.
+
+51 17. "fierce varieties." Misquoted. See _Paradise Lost_, II, 599;
+VII, 272.
+
+51 19. post equitem, etc.:
+
+  Behind the horseman sits black care.
+                    --Horace's _Odes_, III, 1, 40.
+
+51 20. undying worm. _Isaiah_, lxvi, 24.
+
+51 29. "from morn till dewy eve." Paradise Lost, I, 742.
+
+52 33. On a fine morning. Study this paragraph carefully with
+reference to the rhetorical effect. The entire scene is the product of
+De Quincey's imagination; do you consider it truthful?
+
+53 24. yagers. German _Jäger_; used of a huntsman or a forester,
+also in parts of Germany and Austria used to indicate light infantry
+or cavalry. Compare with _Polish dragoons_, p. 38, l. 10.
+
+54 21. indorsed. Look up the etymology. Has De Quincey, in his note,
+quoted Milton accurately? See _Paradise Regained_, III, 329.
+
+56 13. rather in a diagonal. This is another characteristic of De
+Quincey; he is sometimes tediously exact in his details; perhaps the
+minuteness is justifiable in this instance, as the statement increases
+the realistic effect of an imaginary scene.
+
+56 18. a large fresh-water lake. The Lake of Tengis here referred
+to, mentioned by name in the paragraph following this, is evidently
+Lake Balkash, into which flows the river Ily. It is one of the largest
+lakes in the steppes, but its water is really _salt_.
+
+59 21. globes and turms. Latinisms. Milton uses _globe_ in _Paradise
+Lost_, II, 512, and _turms_ in _Paradise Regained_, IV, 66.
+
+60 4. retributary. What more common form is used synonymously?
+
+60 21. "La nation des Torgotes," etc. "'The nation of the Torgouths
+(_to wit the Kalmucks_) arrived at Ily wholly shattered, having
+neither victuals to live on [_sic_] nor clothes to wear. I had
+foreseen this, and had given orders for making every kind of
+preparation necessary for their prompt relief; which was duly done.
+The distribution of lands was made; and there was assigned to each
+family a portion sufficient to serve for its support, whether by
+cultivating it or by feeding cattle on it [_sic_]. There were given to
+each individual materials for his clothing, corn for his sustenance
+for the space of one year, utensils for household purposes, and other
+things necessary; besides some ounces of silver wherewith to provide
+himself with anything that might have been forgotten. Particular
+places were marked out for them, fertile in pasture; and cattle and
+sheep, etc., were given them, that they might be able for the future
+to work for their own support and well-being.'--This is a note of Kien
+Long subjoined to his main narrative; and De Quincey, I find, took the
+above transcript of it from the French translation of Bergmann's book.
+That transcript, it is worth observing, is not quite exact to the
+original French text of the Pekin missionaries."--MASSON.
+
+61 12. "Lorsqu'ils arrivèrent," etc. "'When 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 distributed 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 subsistence 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."--MASSON.
+
+63 17. lex talionis. Law of retaliation.
+
+63 18. "lex nec justior," etc. "Nor is there any law more just than
+that the devisers of murder should perish by their own device."--OVID,
+_Ars Amatoria_, I, 655.
+
+63 25. lares. The minor deities of a Roman household.
+
+63 30. Arcadian beauty. Arcadian is synonymous with rural simplicity
+and beauty. Arcadia, the central province of Greece, was a pastoral
+district and lacked the vices--as well as some of the virtues--of the
+surrounding states.
+
+64 1. extirpation. Etymology?
+
+64 23. music. One who has listened to Mongolian attempts at harmony
+must suspect that De Quincey is again inspired by his imagination when
+he characterizes this part of the commemoration as "rich and solemn."
+
+64 28. columns of granite and brass. This feature of the narrative,
+as well as many other details of apparent fact, including the entire
+inscription said to have been placed upon the monument, are evidently
+the pure invention of De Quincey's fancy, no mention of these details
+being found in his historical sources.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] "Some years ago I published a paper on the Flight of the Kalmuck
+Tartars from Russia. Bergmann, the German from whom that account was
+chiefly drawn, resided a long time among the Kalmucks," etc.--Essay on
+_Homer and the Homeridæ._
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars, by Thomas
+De Quincey, Edited by William Edward Simonds</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars</p>
+<p>Author: Thomas De Quincey</p>
+<p>Editor: William Edward Simonds</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 8, 2005  [eBook #16026]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE TARTARS***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by David Garcia, Hemantkumar N. Garach,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (https://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><!-- Page i --><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"><span class="pagenum">Page i</span></a></p>
+
+<a name="Thomas_de_Quincey" id="Thomas_de_Quincey"></a>
+
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/front.jpg">
+<img border="0" width="50%" src="./images/front.jpg" alt="Thomas de Quincey"
+title="Thomas de Quincey" /></a></p>
+
+<h4>(After a drawing by <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Archer</span>.)</h4>
+
+<div style="margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;">
+     "In addition to the general impression of his
+     diminutiveness and fragility, one was struck with the
+     peculiar beauty of his head and forehead, rising
+     disproportionately high over his small wrinkly visage
+     and gentle deep-set eyes."
+<p style="text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps;">David Masson</p>.</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><!-- Page ii --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">Page ii</a></span></p>
+
+<a name="DE_QUINCEYS" id="DE_QUINCEYS"></a>
+<h1>
+DE QUINCEY'S </h1><h1><br />REVOLT OF THE TARTARS</h1>
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3>EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES</h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>BY</h4>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>WILLIAM EDWARD SIMONDS, PH.D. </h2>
+<h4 class="smcap">Professor Of The English Language And Literature In Knox College</h4>
+
+<p><!-- Page iii --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-21" id="Page_-21">Page iii</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h5>BOSTON, U.S.A.<br />
+GINN &amp; COMPANY, PUBLISHERS<br />
+The Athen&aelig;um Press<br />
+1899</h5>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p><!-- Page iv --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-20" id="Page_-20">Page iv</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In editing an English classic for use in the secondary schools, there
+is always opportunity for the expression of personal convictions and
+personal taste; nevertheless, where one has predecessors in the task
+of preparing such a text, it is difficult always, occasionally
+impossible, to avoid treading on their heels. The present editor,
+therefore, hastens to acknowledge his indebtedness to the various
+school editions of the <i>Revolt of the Tartars</i>, already in existence.
+The notes by Masson are so authoritative and so essential that their
+quotation needs no comment. De Quincey's footnotes are retained in
+their original form and appear embodied in the text. The other
+annotations suggest the method which the editor would follow in
+class-room work upon this essay.</p>
+
+<p>The student's attention is called frequently to the <i>form</i> of
+expression; the discriminating use of epithets, the employment of
+foreign phrases, the allusions to Milton and the Bible, the structure
+of paragraphs, the treatment of incident, the development of feeling,
+the impressiveness of a present personality; all this, however, is
+with the purpose, not of mechanic exercise, nor merely to illustrate
+"rhetoric," but to illuminate <i>De Quincey</i>. It is with this intention,
+presumably, that the text is prescribed. There is little
+attractiveness, after all, in the idea of a style so colorless and so
+impersonal that the individuality of its victim is lost in its own
+perfection; this was certainly not the Opium-Eater's mind concerning
+literary form, nor does it appear to have been the <!-- Page -19 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-19" id="Page_-19">Page v</a></span>aim of any of our
+masters. Indeed, it may be well in passing to point out to pupils how
+fatal to success in writing is the attempt to imitate the style of any
+man, De Quincey included; it is always in order to emphasize the
+naturalness and spontaneity of the "grand style" wherever it is found.
+The teacher should not inculcate a blind admiration of all that De
+Quincey has said or done; there is opportunity, even in this brief
+essay, to exercise the pupil in applying the commonplace tests of
+criticism, although it should be seen to as well that a true
+appreciation is awakened for the real excellences of this little
+masterpiece.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><!-- Page -18 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-18" id="Page_-18">Page vi</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="60%">
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>Portrait of Thomas de Quincey.</b></td>
+<td align='right'> (<a href="#Thomas_de_Quincey">i</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>INTRODUCTION.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>CRITICAL APPRECIATION.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#BIO">x</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#AUTH">xxii</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>REVOLT OF THE TARTARS.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#REVOLT_OF_THE_TARTARS">1</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>APPENDED NOTES BY MASSON.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#NOTES">67</a>)</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><b>NOTES, EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL.</b></td>
+<td align='right'>(<a href="#EXPLANATORY">74</a>)</td></tr>
+
+</table>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+<p><!-- Page -17 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-17" id="Page_-17">Page vii</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Thomas De Quincey is one of the eccentric figures in English
+literature. Popularly he is known as the English Opium-Eater and as
+the subject of numerous anecdotes which emphasize the oddities of his
+temperament and the unconventionality of his habits. That this man of
+distinguished genius was the victim&mdash;pitifully the victim&mdash;of opium is
+the lamentable fact; that he was morbidly shy and shunned intercourse
+with all except a few intimate, congenial friends; that he was
+comically indifferent to the fashion of his dress; that he was the
+most unpractical and childlike of men; that he was often betrayed,
+because of these peculiarities, into many ridiculous embarrassments,
+such as are described by Mr. Findlay, Mr. Hogg, and Mr. Burton,&mdash;of
+all this there can be no doubt; but these idiosyncrasies are, after
+all, of minor importance, the accidents, not the essentials in the
+life and personality of this remarkable man. The points that should
+attract our notice, the qualities that really give distinction to De
+Quincey, are the broad sweep of his knowledge, almost unlimited in its
+scope and singularly accurate in its details, a facility of phrasing
+and a word supply that transformed the mere power of discriminating
+expression into a fine art, and a style that, while it lapsed
+occasionally from the standard of its own excellence, was generally
+self-corrective and frequently forsook the levels of commonplace
+excellence for the highest reaches of impassioned prose. Nor is this
+all. His pages do not lack in humor&mdash;humor of the truest and most
+delicate type; and if De Quincey is at <!-- Page -16 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-16" id="Page_-16">Page viii</a></span>times impelled beyond the
+bounds of taste, even these excursions demonstrate his power, at least
+in handling the grotesque. His sympathies, however, are always
+genuine, and often are profound. The pages of his autobiographic
+essays reveal the strength of his affections, while in the
+interpretation of such a character as that of Joan of Arc, or in
+allusions like those to the pariahs,&mdash;defenceless outcasts from
+society, by whose wretched lot his heart was often wrung,&mdash;he writes
+in truest pathos.</p>
+
+<p>Now sympathy is own child of the imagination, whether expressed in the
+language of laughter or in the vernacular of tears; and the most
+distinctive quality in the mental make-up of De Quincey was, after
+all, this dominant imagination which was characteristic of the man
+from childhood to old age. The Opium-Eater once defined the <i>great
+scholar</i> as "not one who depends simply on an infinite memory, but
+also on an infinite and electrical power of combination, bringing
+together from the four winds, like the angel of the resurrection, what
+else were dust from dead men's bones, into the unity of breathing
+life." Such was De Quincey himself. He was a scholar born, gifted with
+a mind apt for the subtleties of metaphysics, a memory well-nigh
+inexhaustible in the recovery of facts; in one respect, at least, he
+was a <i>great</i> scholar, for his mind was dominated by an imagination as
+vigorous as that which created Macaulay's <i>England</i>, almost as
+sensitive to dramatic effect as that which painted Carlyle's <i>French
+Revolution</i>. Therefore when he wrote narrative, historical narrative,
+or reminiscence, he lived in the experiences he pictured, as great
+historians do; perhaps living over again the scenes of the past, or
+for the first time making real the details of occurrences with which
+he was only recently familiar.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Revolt of the Tartars</i> is a good illustration of his power.
+Attracted by the chance reading of an obscure
+<!-- Page -15 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-15" id="Page_-15">Page ix</a></span>
+French missionary and
+traveller to the dramatic possibilities of an episode in Russian
+history, De Quincey built from the bare notes thus discovered,
+supplemented by others drawn from a matter-of-fact German
+arch&aelig;ologist, a narrative which for vividness of detail and
+truthfulness of local color belongs among the best of those classics
+in which fancy helps to illuminate fact, and where the imagination is
+invoked to recreate what one feels intuitively must have been real.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Revolt of the Tartars</i>, while not exhibiting the highest
+achievement of the author's power, nevertheless belongs in the group
+of writings wherein his peculiar excellences are fairly manifested.
+The obvious quality of its realism has been pointed out already; the
+masterly use of the principles of suspense and stimulated interest
+will hardly pass unnoticed. A negative excellence is the absence of
+that discursiveness in composition, that tendency to digress into
+superfluous comment, which is this author's one prevailing fault. De
+Quincey was gifted with a fine appreciation of harmonious sound, and
+in those passages where his spirit soars highest not the least of
+their beauties is found in the melodiousness of their tone and the
+rhythmic sweetness of their motion.</p>
+
+<p>It is as a master of rhetoric that De Quincey is distinguished among
+writers. Some hints of his ability are seen in the opening and closing
+passages of this essay, but to find him at his best one must turn to
+the <i>Confessions</i> and to the other papers which describe his life,
+particularly those which recount his marvellous dreams. In these
+papers we find the passages where De Quincey's passion rises to the
+heights which few other writers have ever reached in prose, a
+loftiness and grandeur which is technically denominated as "sublime."
+In his <i>Essay on Style</i>, published in <i>Blackwood's</i>, 1840, he
+deprecates the usual indifference to form, on the part of English
+writers, "the tendency of the national <!-- Page -14 -->
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-14" id="Page_-14">Page x</a></span>mind to value the matter of a
+book not only as paramount to the manner, but even as distinct from it
+and as capable of a separate insulation." As one of the great masters
+of prose style in this century, De Quincey has so served the interests
+of art in this regard, that in his own case the charge is sometimes
+reversed: his own works are read rather to observe his manner than to
+absorb his thought. Yet when this is said, it is not to imply that the
+material is unworthy or the ideas unsound; on the contrary, his
+sentiment is true and his ideas are wholesome; but many of the topics
+treated lie outside the deeper interests of ordinary life, and fail to
+appeal to us so practically as do the writings of some lesser men. Of
+the "one hundred and fifty magazine articles" which comprise his
+works, there are many that will not claim the general interest, yet
+his writings as a whole will always be recognized by students of
+rhetoric as containing excellences which place their author among the
+English classics. Nor can De Quincey be accused of subordinating
+matter to manner; in spite of his taste for the theatrical and a
+tendency to extravagance, his expression is in keeping with his
+thought, and the material of those passages which contain his most
+splendid flights is appropriate to the treatment it receives. One
+effective reason, certainly, why we take pleasure in the mere style of
+De Quincey's work is because that work is so thoroughly inspired with
+the Opium-Eater's own genial personality, because it so unmistakably
+suggests that inevitable "smack of individuality" which gives to the
+productions of all great authors their truest distinction if not their
+greatest worth.</p><a name="BIO" id="BIO"></a>
+
+<p>Thomas De Quincey was born in Manchester, August 15, 1785. His father
+was a well-to-do merchant of literary taste, but of him the children
+of the household scarcely knew; he was an invalid, a prey to
+consumption, and during their <!-- Page -13 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-13" id="Page_-13">Page xi</a></span>childhood made his residence mostly in
+the milder climate of Lisbon or the West Indies. Thomas was seven
+years old when his father was brought home to die, and the lad, though
+sensitively impressed by the event, felt little of the significance of
+relationship between them. Mrs. De Quincey was a somewhat stately
+lady, rather strict in discipline and rigid in her views. There does
+not seem to have been the most complete sympathy between mother and
+son, yet De Quincey was always reverent in his attitude, and certainly
+entertained a genuine respect for her intelligence and character.
+There were eight children in the home, four sons and four daughters;
+Thomas was the fifth in age, and his relations to the other members of
+this little community are set forth most interestingly in the opening
+chapters of his <i>Autobiographic Sketches</i>.</p>
+
+<p>De Quincey's child life was spent in the country; first at a pretty
+rustic dwelling known as "The Farm," and after 1792 at a larger
+country house near Manchester, built by his father, and given by his
+mother the pleasantly suggestive name of "Greenhay," <i>hay</i> meaning
+hedge, or hedgerow. The early boyhood of Thomas De Quincey is of more
+than ordinary interest, because of the clear light it throws upon the
+peculiar temperament and endowments of the man. Moreover, we have the
+best of authority in our study of this period, namely, the author
+himself, who in the <i>Sketches</i> already mentioned, and in his most
+noted work, <i>The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</i>, has told the
+story of these early years in considerable detail and with apparent
+sincerity. De Quincey was not a sturdy boy. Shy and dreamy,
+exquisitely sensitive to impressions of melancholy and mystery, he was
+endowed with an imagination abnormally active even for a child. It is
+customary to give prominence to De Quincey's pernicious habit of
+opium-eating, in attempting to explain the grotesque fancies and weird
+flights of his <!-- Page -12 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-12" id="Page_-12">Page xii</a></span>marvellous mind in later years; yet it is only fair to
+emphasize the fact that the later achievements of that strange
+creative faculty were clearly foreshadowed in youth. For example, the
+earliest incident in his life that he could afterwards recall, he
+describes as "a remarkable dream of terrific grandeur about a favorite
+nurse, which is interesting to myself for this reason&mdash;that it
+demonstrates my dreaming tendencies to have been constitutional, and
+not dependent upon laudanum."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Again he tells us how, when six years
+old, upon the death of a favorite sister three years older, he stole
+unobserved upstairs to the death chamber; unlocking the door and
+entering silently, he stood for a moment gazing through the open
+window toward the bright sunlight of a cloudless day, then turned to
+behold the angel face upon the pillow. Awed in the presence of death,
+the meaning of which he began vaguely to understand, he stood
+listening to a "solemn wind" that began to blow&mdash;"the saddest that ear
+ever heard." What followed should appear in De Quincey's own words: "A
+vault seemed to open in the zenith of the far blue sky, a shaft which
+ran up forever. I, in spirit, rose as if on billows that also ran up
+the shaft forever; and the billows seemed to pursue the throne of God;
+but <i>that</i> also ran on before us and fled away continually. The flight
+and the pursuit seemed to go on forever and ever. Frost gathering
+frost, some sarsar wind of death, seemed to repel me; some mighty
+relation between God and death dimly struggled to evolve itself from
+the dreadful antagonism between them; shadowy meanings even yet
+continued to exercise and torment, in dreams, the deciphering oracle
+within me. I slept&mdash;for how long I cannot say: slowly I recovered my
+self-possession; and, when I woke, found myself standing as before,
+close to my sister's bed."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Somewhat
+<!-- Page -11 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-11" id="Page_-11">Page xiii</a></span>
+similar in effect were the
+fancies that came to this dreamy boy on Sunday mornings during service
+in the fine old English church. Through the wide central field of
+uncolored glass, set in a rich framework of gorgeous color,&mdash;for the
+side panes of the great windows were pictured with the stories of
+saints and martyrs,&mdash;the lad saw "white fleecy clouds sailing over the
+azure depths of the sky." Straightway the picture changed in his
+imagination, and visions of young children, lying on white beds of
+sickness and of death, rose before his eyes, ascending slowly and
+softly into heaven, God's arms descending from the heavens that He
+might the sooner take them to Himself and grant release. Such are not
+infrequently the dreams of children. De Quincey's experience is not
+unique; but with him imagination, the imagination of childhood,
+remained unimpaired through life. It was not wholly opium that made
+him the great dreamer of our literature, any more than it was the
+effect of a drug that brought from his dying lips the cry of "Sister,
+sister, sister!"&mdash;an echo from this sacred chamber of death, where he
+had stood awed and entranced nearly seventy years before.</p>
+
+<p>Not all of De Quincey's boyhood, however, was passed under influences
+so serious and mystical as these. He was early compelled to undergo
+what he is pleased to call his "introduction to the world of strife."
+His brother William, five years the senior of Thomas, appears to have
+been endowed with an imagination as remarkable as his own. "His genius
+for mischief," says Thomas, "amounted to inspiration." Very amusing
+are the chronicles of the little autocracy thus despotized by William.
+The assumption of the young tyrant was magnificent. Along with the
+prerogatives and privileges of seniority, he took upon himself as well
+certain responsibilities more galling to his half-dozen uneasy
+subordinates, doubtless, than the undisputed hereditary rights
+<!-- Page -10 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-10" id="Page_-10">Page xiv</a></span>of
+age. William constituted himself the educational guide of the nursery,
+proclaiming theories, delivering lectures, performing experiments,
+asserting opinions upon subjects diverse and erudite. Indeed, a
+vigorous spirit was housed in William's body, and but for his early
+death, this lad also might have brought lustre to the family name.</p>
+
+<p>A real introduction to the world of strife came with the development
+of a lively feud between the two brothers on the one side, and on the
+other a crowd of young belligerents employed in a cotton factory on
+the road between Greenhay and Manchester, where the boys now attended
+school. Active hostilities occurred daily when the two "aristocrats"
+passed the factory on their way home at the hour when its inmates
+emerged from their labor. The dread of this encounter hung like a
+cloud over Thomas, yet he followed William loyally, and served with
+all the spirit of a cadet of the house. Imagination played an
+important part in this campaign, and it is for that reason primarily
+that to this and the other incidents of De Quincey's childhood
+prominence is here given; in no better way can we come to an
+understanding of the real nature of this singular man.</p>
+
+<p>In 1796 the home at Greenhay was broken up. The irrepressible William
+was sent to London to study art; Mrs. De Quincey removed to Bath, and
+Thomas was placed in the grammar school of that town; a younger
+brother, Richard, in all respects a pleasing contrast to William, was
+a sympathetic comrade and schoolmate. For two years De Quincey
+remained in this school, achieving a great reputation in the study of
+Latin, and living a congenial, comfortable life. This was followed by
+a year in a private school at Winkfield, which was terminated by an
+invitation to travel in Ireland with young Lord Westport, a lad of De
+Quincey's own age, an intimacy having sprung up between them a year
+earlier at Bath. It was in 1800 that the trip was made, and the
+<!-- Page -9 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-9" id="Page_-9">Page xv</a></span>period of the visit extended over four or five months. After this
+long recess De Quincey was placed in the grammar school at Manchester,
+his guardians expecting that a three years' course in this school
+would bring him a scholarship at Oxford. However, the new environment
+proved wholly uncongenial, and the sensitive boy who, in spite of his
+shyness and his slender frame, possessed grit in abundance, and who
+was through life more or less a law to himself, made up his mind to
+run away. His flight was significant. Early on a July morning he
+slipped quietly off&mdash;in one pocket a copy of an English poet, a volume
+of Euripides in the other. His first move was toward Chester, the
+seventeen-year-old runaway deeming it proper that he should report at
+once to his mother, who was now living in that town. So he trudged
+overland forty miles and faced his astonished and indignant parent. At
+the suggestion of a kind-hearted uncle, just home from India, Thomas
+was let off easily; indeed, he was given an allowance of a guinea a
+week, with permission to go on a tramp through North Wales, a
+proposition which he hailed with delight. The next three months were
+spent in a rather pleasant ramble, although the weekly allowance was
+scarcely sufficient to supply all the comforts desired. The trip ended
+strangely. Some sudden fancy seizing him, the boy broke off all
+connection with his friends and went to London. Unknown, unprovided
+for, he buried himself in the vast life of the metropolis. He lived a
+precarious existence for several months, suffering from exposure,
+reduced to the verge of starvation, his whereabouts a mystery to his
+friends. The cloud of this experience hung darkly over his spirit,
+even in later manhood; perceptions of a true world of strife were
+vivid; impressions of these wretched months formed the material of his
+most sombre dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Rescued at last, providentially, De Quincey spent the next period of
+his life, covering the years 1803-7, in residence <!-- Page -8 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-8" id="Page_-8">Page xvi</a></span>at Oxford. His
+career as a student at the university is obscure. He was a member of
+Worcester College, was known as a quiet, studious man, and lived an
+isolated if not a solitary life. With a German student, who taught him
+Hebrew, De Quincey seems to have had some intimacy, but his circle of
+acquaintance was small, and no contemporary has thrown much light on
+his stay. In 1807 he disappeared from Oxford, having taken the written
+tests for his degree, but failing to present himself for the necessary
+oral examination.</p>
+
+<p>The year of his departure from Oxford brought to De Quincey a
+long-coveted pleasure&mdash;acquaintance with two famous contemporaries
+whom he greatly admired, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Characteristic of
+De Quincey in many ways was his gift, anonymously made, of &pound;300 to his
+hero, Coleridge. This was in 1807, when De Quincey was twenty-two, and
+was master of his inheritance. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy,
+and in 1809 the young man, himself gifted with talents which were to
+make him equally famous with these, took up his residence at Grasmere,
+in the Lake country, occupying for many years the cottage which
+Wordsworth had given up on his removal to ampler quarters at Rydal
+Mount. Here he spent much of his time in the society of the men who
+were then grouped in distinguished neighborhood; besides Wordsworth
+and Coleridge, the poet Southey was accessible, and a frequent visitor
+was John Wilson, later widely known as the "Christopher North" of
+<i>Blackwood's Magazine</i>. Nor was De Quincey idle; his habits of study
+were confirmed; indeed, he was already a philosopher at twenty-four.
+These were years of hard reading and industrious thought, wherein he
+accumulated much of that metaphysical wisdom which was afterward to
+win admiring recognition.</p>
+
+<p>In 1816 De Quincey married Margaret Simpson, a farmer's daughter
+living near. There is a pretty scene painted by <!-- Page -7 -->
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-7" id="Page_-7">Page xvii</a></span>the author
+himself,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> in which he gives us a glimpse of his domestic life at
+this time. Therein he pictures the cottage, standing in a valley,
+eighteen miles from any town; no spacious valley, but about two miles
+long by three-quarters of a mile in average width. The mountains are
+real mountains, between 3000 and 4000 feet high, and the cottage a
+real cottage, white, embowered with flowering shrubs, so chosen as to
+unfold a succession of flowers upon the walls, and clustering around
+the windows, through all the months of spring, summer, and autumn,
+beginning, in fact, with May roses and ending with jasmine. It is in
+the winter season, however, that De Quincey paints his picture, and so
+he describes a room, seventeen feet by twelve, and not more than seven
+and one-half feet high. This is the drawing-room, although it might
+more justly be termed the library, for it happens that books are the
+one form of property in which the owner is wealthy. Of these he has
+about 5000, collected gradually since his eighteenth year. The room
+is, therefore, populous with books. There is a good fire on the
+hearth. The furniture is plain and modest, befitting the unpretending
+cottage of a scholar. Near the fire stands a tea table; there are only
+two cups and saucers on the tray. It is an "eternal" teapot that the
+artist would like us to imagine, for he usually drinks tea from eight
+o'clock at night to four in the morning. There is, of course, a
+companion at the tea table, and very lovingly does the husband suggest
+the pleasant personality of his young wife. One other important
+feature is included in the scene; upon the table there rests also a
+decanter, in which sparkles the ruby-colored laudanum.</p>
+
+<p>De Quincey's experience with opium had begun while he was a student at
+the university, in 1804. It was first taken to obtain relief from
+neuralgia, and his use of the drug did not at once become habitual.
+During the period of residence <!-- Page -6 --><span class="pagenum">
+<a name="Page_-6" id="Page_-6">Page xviii</a></span>at Grasmere, however, De Quincey
+became confirmed in the habit, and so thoroughly was he its victim
+that for a season his intellectual powers were well-nigh paralyzed;
+his mind sank under such a cloud of depression and gloom that his
+condition was pitiful in the extreme. Just before his marriage, in
+1816, De Quincey, by a vigorous effort, partially regained his
+self-control and succeeded in materially reducing his daily allowance
+of the drug; but in the following year he fell more deeply than ever
+under its baneful power, until in 1818-19 his consumption of opium was
+something almost incredible. Thus he became truly enough the great
+English Opium-Eater, whose Confessions were later to fill a unique
+place in English literature. It was finally the absolute need of
+bettering his financial condition that compelled De Quincey to shake
+off the shackles of his vice; this he practically accomplished,
+although perhaps he was never entirely free from the habit. The event
+is coincident with the beginning of his career as a public writer. In
+1820 he became a man of letters.</p>
+
+<p>As a professional writer it is to be noted that De Quincey was
+throughout a contributor to the periodicals. With one or two
+exceptions all his works found their way to the public through the
+pages of the magazines, and he was associated as contributor with most
+of those that were prominent in his time. From 1821 to 1825 we find
+him residing for the most part in London, and here his public career
+began. It was De Quincey's most distinctive work which first appeared.
+The <i>London Magazine</i>, in its issue for September, 1821, contained the
+first paper of the <i>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</i>. The
+novelty of the subject was sufficient to obtain for the new writer an
+interested hearing, and there was much discussion as to whether his
+apparent frankness was genuine or assumed. All united in applause of
+the masterly style which distinguished the essay, also of the
+profundity and <!-- Page -5 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-5" id="Page_-5">Page xix</a></span>
+value of the interesting material it contained. A
+second part was included in the magazine for October. Other articles
+by the Opium-Eater followed, in which the wide scholarship of the
+author was abundantly shown, although the topics were of less general
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>In 1826 De Quincey became an occasional contributor to <i>Blackwood's
+Magazine</i>, and this connection drew him to Edinburgh, where he
+remained, either in the city itself or in its vicinity, for the rest
+of his life. The grotesquely humorous <i>Essay on Murder Considered as
+One of the Fine Arts</i> appeared in <i>Blackwood's</i> in 1827. In 1832 he
+published a series of articles on Roman History, entitled <i>The
+C&aelig;sars</i>. It was in July, 1837, that the <i>Revolt of the Tartars</i>
+appeared; in 1840 his critical paper upon <i>The Essenes</i>. Meanwhile De
+Quincey had begun contributions to <i>Tait's Magazine</i>, another
+Edinburgh publication, and it was in that periodical that the
+<i>Sketches of Life and Manners from the Autobiography of an English
+Opium-Eater</i> began to appear in 1834, running on through several
+years. These sketches include the chapters on Wordsworth, Coleridge,
+Lamb, and Southey as well as those <i>Autobiographic Sketches</i> which
+form such a charming and illuminating portion of his complete works.</p>
+
+<p>The family life was sadly broken in 1837 by the death of De Quincey's
+wife. He who was now left as guardian of the little household of six
+children, was himself so helpless in all practical matters that it
+seemed as though he were in their childish care rather than protector
+of them. Scores of anecdotes are related of his odd and unpractical
+behavior. One of his curious habits had been the multiplication of
+lodgings; as books and manuscripts accumulated about him so that there
+remained room for no more, he would turn the key upon his possessions
+and migrate elsewhere to repeat the performance later on. It is known
+that as many as four separate rents were at one and the same time
+being paid by <!-- Page -4 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-4" id="Page_-4">Page xx</a></span>
+this odd, shy little man, rather than allow the
+disturbance or contraction of his domain. Sometimes an anxious journey
+in search of a manuscript had to be made by author and publisher in
+conjunction before the missing paper could be located. The home life
+of this eccentric yet lovable man of genius seems to have been always
+affectionate and tender in spite even of his bondage to opium; it was
+especially beautiful and childlike in his latest years. His eldest
+daughter, Margaret, assumed quietly the place of headship, and with a
+discretion equal to her devotion she watched over her father's
+welfare. With reference to De Quincey's circumstances at this time,
+his biographer, Mr. Masson, says: "Very soon, if left to himself, he
+would have taken possession of every room in the house, one after
+another, and 'snowed up' each with his papers; but, that having been
+gently prevented, he had one room to work in all day and all night to
+his heart's content. The evenings, or the intervals between his daily
+working time and his nightly working time, or stroll, he generally
+spent in the drawing-room with his daughters, either alone or in
+company with any friends that chanced to be with him. At such times,
+we are told, he was unusually charming. 'The newspaper was brought
+out, and he, telling in his own delightful way, rather than reading,
+the news, would, on questions from this one or that one of the party,
+often including young friends of his children, neighbors, or visitors
+from distant places, illuminate the subject with such a wealth of
+memories, of old stories of past or present experiences, of humor, of
+suggestion, even of prophecy, as by its very wealth makes it
+impossible to give any taste of it.' The description is by one of his
+daughters; and she adds a touch which is inimitable in its fidelity
+and tenderness. 'He was not,' she says, 'a reassuring man for nervous
+people to live with, as those nights were exceptional on which he did
+not set something <!-- Page -3 --><span class="pagenum">
+<a name="Page_-3" id="Page_-3">Page xxi</a></span>on fire, the commonest incident being for some one
+to look up from book or work, to say casually, <i>Papa, your hair is on
+fire</i>; of which a calm <i>Is it, my love?</i> and a hand rubbing out the
+blaze was all the notice taken.'"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a>
+<a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<p>Of his personal appearance Professor Minto says:</p>
+
+<p>"He was a slender little man, with small, clearly chiselled features,
+a large head, and a remarkably high, square forehead. There was a
+peculiarly high and regular arch in the wrinkles of his brow, which
+was also slightly contracted. The lines of his countenance fell
+naturally into an expression of mild suffering, of endurance sweetened
+by benevolence, or, according to the fancy of the interpreter, of
+gentle, melancholy sweetness. All that met him seem to have been
+struck with the measured, silvery, yet somewhat hollow and unearthly
+tones of his voice, the more impressive that the flow of his talk was
+unhesitating and unbroken."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The literary labors were continuous. In 1845 the beautiful <i>Suspiria
+de Profundis</i> (Sighs from the Depths) appeared in <i>Blackwood's</i>; <i>The
+English Mail Coach</i> and <i>The Vision of Sudden Death</i>, in 1849. Among
+other papers contributed to <i>Tait's Magazine</i>, the <i>Joan of Arc</i>
+appeared in 1847. During the last ten years of his life, De Quincey
+was occupied chiefly in preparing for the publishers a complete
+edition of his works. Ticknor &amp; Fields, of Boston, the most
+distinguished of our American publishing firms, had put forth,
+1851-55, the first edition of De Quincey's collected writings, in
+twenty volumes. The first British edition was undertaken by Mr. James
+Hogg, of Edinburgh, in 1853, with the co-operation of the author, and
+under his direction; the final volume of this edition was not issued
+until the year following De Quincey's death.</p>
+
+<p>In the autumn of 1859 the frail physique of the now
+<!-- Page -2 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-2" id="Page_-2">Page xxii</a></span>famous
+Opium-Eater grew gradually feeble, although suffering from no definite
+disease. It became evident that his life was drawing to its end. On
+December 8, his two daughters standing by his side, he fell into a
+doze. His mind had been wandering amid the scenes of his childhood,
+and his last utterance was the cry, "Sister, sister, sister!" as if in
+recognition of one awaiting him, one who had been often in his dreams,
+the beloved Elizabeth, whose death had made so profound and lasting an
+impression on his imagination as a child.</p>
+
+<a name="AUTH" id="AUTH"></a><hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The authoritative edition of <i>De Quincey's Works</i> is that edited by
+David Masson and published in fourteen volumes by Adam and Charles
+Black (Edinburgh). For American students the <i>Riverside Edition</i>, in
+twelve volumes (Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co., Boston), will be found
+convenient. The most satisfactory <i>Life of De Quincey</i> is the one by
+Masson in the <i>English Men of Letters</i> series. Of a more anecdotal
+type are the <i>Life of De Quincey</i>, by H.A. Page, whose real name is
+Alexander H. Japp (2 vols., New York, 1877), and <i>De Quincey
+Memorials</i> (New York, 1891), by the same author. Very interesting is
+the brief volume, <i>Recollections of Thomas De Quincey</i>, by John R.
+Findlay (Edinburgh, 1886), who also contributes the paper on <i>De
+Quincey</i> to the <i>Encyclop&aelig;dia Britannica</i>. <i>De Quincey and his
+Friends</i>, by James Hogg (London, 1895), is another volume of
+recollections, souvenirs, and anecdotes, which help to make real their
+subject's personality. Besides the editor, other writers contribute to
+this volume: Richard Woodhouse, John R. Findlay, and John Hill Burton,
+who has given under the name "Papaverius," a picturesque description
+of the Opium-Eater. The student should always remember that De
+Quincey's own chapters in the <i>Autobiographic Sketches</i>, and the
+<i>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</i>, which are <!-- Page -1 --><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_-1" id="Page_-1">Page xxiii</a></span>among the most
+charming and important of his writings, are also the most
+authoritative and most valuable sources of our information concerning
+him. In reading about De Quincey, do not fail to read De Quincey
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>The best criticism of the Opium-Eater's work is found in William
+Minto's <i>Manual of English Prose Literature</i> (Ginn &amp; Co.). A shorter
+essay is contained in Saintsbury's <i>History of Nineteenth Century
+Literature</i>. A very valuable list of all De Quincey's writings, in
+chronological order, is given by Fred N. Scott, in his edition of De
+Quincey's essays on <i>Style, Rhetoric</i>, and <i>Language</i> (Allyn &amp; Bacon).
+Numerous magazine articles may be found by referring to Poole's Index.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0">Page xxiv</a></span></p>
+
+<br />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">
+<span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>Autobiographic Sketches</i>, Chap. I.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3">
+<span class="label">[3]</span></a><i>Confessions of an English Opium-Eater</i>, Part II.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>De Quincey</i>
+(<i>English Men of Letters</i>), David Masson, p. 110.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HOW_TO_READ_DE_QUINCEY" id="HOW_TO_READ_DE_QUINCEY"></a>HOW TO READ DE QUINCEY.</h2>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"De Quincey's sixteen volumes of magazine articles are
+     full of brain from beginning to end. At the rate of
+     about half a volume a day, they would serve for a
+     month's reading, and a month continuously might be
+     worse expended. There are few courses of reading from
+     which a young man of good natural intelligence would
+     come away more instructed, charmed, and stimulated, or,
+     to express the matter as definitely as possible, with
+     his mind more <i>stretched</i>. Good natural intelligence, a
+     certain fineness of fibre, and some amount of scholarly
+     education, have to be presupposed, indeed, in all
+     readers of De Quincey. But, even for the fittest
+     readers, a month's complete and continuous course of De
+     Quincey would be too much. Better have him on the
+     shelf, and take down a volume at intervals for one or
+     two of the articles to which there may be an immediate
+     attraction. An evening with De Quincey in this manner
+     will always be profitable."</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right;">DAVID MASSON, <i>Life of De Quincey</i>, Chap. XI.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+
+<span class="pagenum">Page 1</span><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>
+<h2><a name="REVOLT_OF_THE_TARTARS" id="REVOLT_OF_THE_TARTARS"></a>REVOLT OF THE TARTARS;</h2>
+
+
+<h3>OR, FLIGHT OF THE KALMUCK KHAN AND HIS PEOPLE<br /> FROM THE RUSSIAN
+TERRITORIES TO THE<br /> FRONTIERS OF CHINA.</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div style="margin-left: 15%;">
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There is no great event in modern history, or, perhaps</span><br />
+it may be said more broadly, none in all history, from its<br />
+earliest records, less generally known, or more striking to<br />
+the imagination, than the flight eastwards of a principal<br />
+Tartar nation across the boundless steppes of Asia in the           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+latter half of the last century. The <i>terminus a quo</i> of this<br />
+flight and the <i>terminus ad quem</i> are equally magnificent&mdash;the<br />
+mightiest of Christian thrones being the<br />
+one, the mightiest of pagan the other; and the grandeur of these<br />
+two terminal objects is harmoniously supported by the             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+romantic circumstances of the flight. In the abruptness<br />
+of its commencement and the fierce velocity of its execution<br />
+we read an expression of the wild, barbaric character<br />
+of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting this<br />
+myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+mark so remote, there is something which recalls to the<br />
+mind those almighty instincts that propel the migrations of<br />
+the swallow and the leeming or the life-withering marches<br />
+of the locust. Then, again, in the gloomy vengeance of<br />
+Russia and her vast artillery, which hung upon the rear           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+and the skirts of the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of<br />
+Miltonic images&mdash;such, for instance, as that of the solitary<br />
+hand pursuing through desert spaces and through<br />
+ancient chaos a rebellious host, and overtaking with volleying<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 2</span><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>
+thunders those who believed themselves already<br />
+within the security of darkness and of distance.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I shall have occasion, farther on, to compare this event</span><br />
+with other great national catastrophes as to the magnitude         <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+of the suffering. But it may also challenge a comparison<br />
+with similar events under another relation,&mdash;viz. as to its<br />
+dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance<br />
+or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the<br />
+<i>complexity</i> of its separate interests. The great outline of <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+the enterprise, taken in connection with the operative<br />
+motives, hidden or avowed, and the religious sanctions<br />
+under which it was pursued, give to the case a triple<br />
+character: 1st, That of a <i>conspiracy</i>, with as close a unity<br />
+in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as<br />
+belongs to "Venice Preserved" or to the "Fiesco" of<br />
+Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military expedition offering<br />
+the same romantic features of vast distances to be<br />
+traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes,         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely<br />
+prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses&mdash;the<br />
+anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the<br />
+subsequent retreat of the ten thousand, the Parthian<br />
+expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+and Julian&mdash;or (as more disastrous than any of them,<br />
+and, in point of space, as well as in amount of forces,<br />
+more extensive) the Russian anabasis and katabasis of<br />
+Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious <i>Exodus</i>, authorized<br />
+by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia,           <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+&mdash;an Exodus, therefore, in so far resembling the great<br />
+Scriptural Exodus of the Israelites, under Moses and<br />
+Joshua, as well as in the very peculiar distinction of carrying<br />
+along with them their entire families, women, children,<br />
+slaves, their herd of cattle and of sheep, their horses and<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 3</span><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>
+their camels.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">This triple character of the enterprise naturally invests</span><br />
+it with a more comprehensive interest; but the dramatic<br />
+interest which we ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+representation, depends partly upon the marked variety<br />
+and the strength of the personal agencies concerned, and<br />
+partly upon the succession of scenical situations. Even<br />
+the steppes, the camels, the tents, the snowy and the sandy<br />
+deserts are not beyond the scale of our modern representative     <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+powers, as often called into action in the theatres<br />
+both of Paris and London; and the series of situations<br />
+unfolded,&mdash;beginning with the general conflagration on<br />
+the Wolga&mdash;passing thence to the disastrous scenes of<br />
+the flight (as it <i>literally</i> was in its commencement)&mdash;to   <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Tartar siege of the Russian fortress Koulagina&mdash;the<br />
+bloody engagement with the Cossacks in the mountain<br />
+passes at Ouchim&mdash;the surprisal by the Bashkirs and<br />
+the advanced posts of the Russian army at Torgau&mdash;the<br />
+private conspiracy at this point against the Khan&mdash;the            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+long succession of running fights&mdash;the parting massacres<br />
+at the Lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese&mdash;and,<br />
+finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at<br />
+the hunting lodge of the Chinese Emperor;&mdash;all these<br />
+situations communicate a <i>scenical</i> animation to the wild    <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher and a<br />
+philosophic interest belongs to it as a case of authentic<br />
+history, commemorating a great revolution, for good and<br />
+for evil, in the fortunes of a whole people&mdash;a people semi-barbarous,<br />
+but simple-hearted, and of ancient descent.                       <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On the 21st of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha</span><br />
+assumed the sceptre of the Kalmucks upon the death<br />
+of his father. Some part of the power attached to this<br />
+dignity he had already wielded since his fourteenth year,<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 4</span><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>
+in quality of Vice-Khan, by the express appointment and<br />
+with the avowed support of the Russian Government.<br />
+He was now about eighteen years of age, amiable in his<br />
+personal character, and not without titles to respect in his       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+public character as a sovereign prince. In times more<br />
+peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized<br />
+or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that<br />
+he might have discharged his high duties with considerable<br />
+distinction; but his lot was thrown upon stormy                   <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+times, and a most difficult crisis amongst tribes whose<br />
+native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of<br />
+superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated<br />
+conceit of their own merit absolutely unparalleled; whilst<br />
+the circumstances of their hard and trying position under         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the jealous <i>surveillance</i> of an irresistible lord paramount,<br />
+in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to<br />
+the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, and<br />
+irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless<br />
+impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No                  <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his subjects<br />
+or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the<br />
+case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler stood<br />
+at present was of this nature: <i>wanting</i> the support and<br />
+sanction of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+without to command confidence from his subjects or<br />
+resistance to his competitors. On the other hand, <i>with</i><br />
+this kind of support, and deriving his title in any degree<br />
+from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost<br />
+in that extent an object of hatred at home and within the         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+whole compass of his own territory. He was at once an<br />
+object of hatred for the past, being a living monument of<br />
+national independence ignominiously surrendered; and an<br />
+object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already<br />
+advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 5</span><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>
+purposes (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the<br />
+Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck sceptre<br />
+under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate<br />
+circumstances of his position, it might have been                  <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently<br />
+an object of detestation; for, besides his known dependence<br />
+upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct line<br />
+of succession had been set aside, and the principle of<br />
+inheritance violently suspended, in favor of his own              <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+father, so recently as nineteen years before the era of his<br />
+own accession, consequently within the lively remembrance<br />
+of the existing generation. He, therefore, almost<br />
+equally with his father, stood within the full current of<br />
+the national prejudices, and might have anticipated the           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+most pointed hostility. But it was not so: such are the<br />
+caprices in human affairs that he was even, in a moderate<br />
+sense, popular&mdash;a benefit which wore the more cheering<br />
+aspect and the promises of permanence, inasmuch as he<br />
+owed it exclusively to his personal qualities of kindness         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+and affability, as well as to the beneficence of his government.<br />
+On the other hand, to balance this unlooked-for<br />
+prosperity at the outset of his reign, he met with a rival<br />
+in popular favor&mdash;almost a competitor&mdash;in the person of<br />
+Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the throne, and, perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions.<br />
+Zebek-Dorchi was a direct descendant of the<br />
+same royal house as himself, through a different branch.<br />
+On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing<br />
+equally good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical<br />
+observer most odious and repulsive, promised<br />
+the most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an intriguer<br />
+or a conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a popular<br />
+support precisely in those points where Oubacha was<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 6</span><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>
+most defective. He was much superior in external appearance<br />
+to his rival on the throne, and so far better<br />
+qualified to win the good opinion of a semi-barbarous<br />
+people; whilst his dark intellectual qualities of Machiavelian     <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which<br />
+knew no touch of remorse, were admirably calculated to<br />
+sustain any ground which he might win from the simple-hearted<br />
+people with whom he had to deal and from the<br />
+frank carelessness of his unconscious competitor.                 <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+<br />
+At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi<br />
+was sagacious enough to perceive that nothing<br />
+could be gained by open declaration of hostility to the<br />
+reigning prince: the choice had been a deliberate act on<br />
+the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the            <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+person to recall her own favors with levity or upon slight<br />
+grounds. Openly, therefore, to have declared his enmity<br />
+toward his relative on the throne, could have had no effect<br />
+but that of arming suspicions against his own ulterior<br />
+purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to his          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+interest that, for the present, all suspicions should be<br />
+hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the<br />
+course he took for opening his snares was this:&mdash;He<br />
+raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from the<br />
+plots of several Saissang (that is, Kalmuck nobles), who          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+were leagued together under an oath to assassinate him;<br />
+and immediately after, assuming a well-counterfeited alarm,<br />
+he fled to Tcherkask, followed by sixty-five tents.<br />
+From this place he kept up a correspondence with the<br />
+Imperial Court, and, by way of soliciting his cause more          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg.<br />
+Once admitted to personal conferences with the cabinet,<br />
+he found no difficulty in winning over the Russian councils<br />
+to a concurrence with some of his political views,<br />
+and thus covertly introducing the point of that wedge<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 7</span><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>
+which was finally to accomplish his purposes. In particular,<br />
+he persuaded the Russian Government to make a<br />
+very important alteration in the constitution of the Kalmuck<br />
+State Council which in effect reorganized the whole                <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+political condition of the state and disturbed the balance<br />
+of power as previously adjusted. Of this council&mdash;in<br />
+the Kalmuck language called Sarga&mdash;there were eight<br />
+members, called Sargatchi; and hitherto it had been the<br />
+custom that these eight members should be entirely subordinate    <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+to the Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial<br />
+character of secretaries and assistants, but in no respect<br />
+ranking as co-ordinate authorities. That had produced<br />
+some inconveniences in former reigns; and it was easy<br />
+for Zebek-Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Court to others more serious which might arise in future<br />
+circumstances of war or other contingencies. It was<br />
+resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward<br />
+on a footing of perfect independence, and, therefore (as<br />
+regarded responsibility), on a footing of equality with the       <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Khan. Their independence, however, had respect only<br />
+to their own sovereign; for toward Russia they were<br />
+placed in a new attitude of direct duty and accountability<br />
+by the creation in their favor of small pensions (300<br />
+roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+day were more considerable than might be supposed,<br />
+and had a further value as marks of honorary distinction<br />
+emanating from a great empress. Thus far the purposes<br />
+of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment:<br />
+but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the further development of his plots, this very dependency<br />
+upon Russian influence would be the most serious<br />
+obstacle in his way. There was, however, another point<br />
+carried, which outweighed all inferior considerations, as<br />
+it gave him a power of setting aside discretionally whatsoever<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 8</span><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>
+should arise to disturb his plots: he was himself<br />
+appointed President and Controller of the Sargatchi.<br />
+The Russian Court had been aware of his high pretensions           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy<br />
+the ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged<br />
+to be a reasonable passion for any man occupying his<br />
+situation.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of</span><br />
+Russia, Zebek-Dorchi proceeded in his new character to            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+fulfil his political mission with the Khan of the Kalmucks.<br />
+So artfully did he prepare the road for his favorable<br />
+reception at the court of this prince that he was at once<br />
+and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The<br />
+pensions of the councillors were so much additional wealth        <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+poured into the Tartar exchequer; as to the ties of dependency<br />
+thus created, experience had not yet enlightened<br />
+these simple tribes as to that result. And that he himself<br />
+should be the chief of these mercenary councillors was so<br />
+far from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+ground of suspicion, that his relative the Khan returned<br />
+him hearty thanks for his services, under the belief that<br />
+he could have accepted this appointment only with a view<br />
+to keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who<br />
+would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+friendship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness<br />
+to the Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his<br />
+new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the<br />
+Court of Russia, by a romantic villainy not easily to be<br />
+credited, for those very acts of interference with the            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+council which he himself had prompted. This was a<br />
+dangerous step: but it was indispensable to his farther<br />
+advance upon the gloomy path which he had traced out<br />
+for himself. A triple vengeance was what he meditated:<br />
+1, upon the Russian Cabinet, for having undervalued his<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 9</span><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>
+own pretensions to the throne; 2, upon his amiable rival,<br />
+for having supplanted him; and 3, upon all those of the<br />
+nobility who had manifested their sense of his weakness<br />
+by their neglect or their sense of his perfidious character        <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+by their suspicions. Here was a colossal outline of wickedness;<br />
+and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might<br />
+seem) for the accomplishment of its humblest parts, how<br />
+was the total edifice to be reared in its comprehensive<br />
+grandeur? He, a worm as he was, could he venture to               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate<br />
+who counted three hundred languages around the footsteps<br />
+of his throne, and from whose "lion ramp" recoiled<br />
+alike "baptized and infidel"&mdash;Christendom on the one<br />
+side, strong by her intellect and her organization, and the       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+"barbaric East" on the other, with her unnumbered<br />
+numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its<br />
+very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement&mdash;that<br />
+it could not be suspected. The very hopelessness<br />
+of the scheme grounded his hope; and he resolved to               <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in<br />
+the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged<br />
+to be his enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from<br />
+the Russian empire the whole Kalmuck nation and breaking<br />
+up that system of intercourse which had thus far been             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which<br />
+moved him but little. True it was that Russia to the<br />
+Kalmucks had secured lands and extensive pasturage;<br />
+true it was that the Kalmucks reciprocally to Russia had<br />
+furnished a powerful cavalry; but the latter loss would be        <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+part of his triumph, and the former might be more than<br />
+compensated in other climates, under other sovereigns.<br />
+Here was a scheme which, in its final accomplishment,<br />
+would avenge him bitterly on the Czarina, and in the<br />
+course of its accomplishment might furnish him with<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 10</span><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>
+ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may<br />
+be readily supposed, indeed, that he who could deliberately<br />
+raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an antagonist            <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+in single duel with himself was not likely to feel much<br />
+anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He<br />
+took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably, to<br />
+effect this astonishing translation of an ancient people<br />
+across the pathless deserts of Central Asia, intersected<br />
+continually by rapid rivers rarely furnished with bridges,        <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+and of which the fords were known only to those who<br />
+might think it for their interest to conceal them, through<br />
+many nations inhospitable or hostile: frost and snow<br />
+around them (from the necessity of commencing their<br />
+flight in winter), famine in their front, and the sabre, or       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+even the artillery of an offended and mighty empress<br />
+hanging upon their rear for thousands of miles. But what<br />
+was to be their final mark&mdash;the port of shelter after so<br />
+fearful a course of wandering? Two things were evident:<br />
+it must be some power at a great distance from Russia,            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+so as to make return even in that view hopeless, and it<br />
+must be a power of sufficient rank to insure them protection<br />
+from any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina<br />
+for reclaiming them or for chastising their revolt. Both<br />
+conditions were united obviously in the person of Kien            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was further<br />
+recommended to them by his respect for the head of<br />
+their religion. To China, therefore, and, as their first<br />
+rendezvous, to the shadow of the Great Chinese Wall, it<br />
+was settled by Zebek that they should direct their flight.        <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Next came the question of time&mdash;<i>when</i> should the</span><br />
+flight commence? and, finally, the more delicate question<br />
+as to the choice of accomplices. To extend the knowledge<br />
+of the conspiracy too far was to insure its betrayal<br />
+to the Russian Government. Yet, at some stage of the<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 11</span><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>
+preparations, it was evident that a very extensive confidence<br />
+must be made, because in no other way could the<br />
+mass of the Kalmuck population be persuaded to furnish<br />
+their families with the requisite equipments for so long a         <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved<br />
+to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all<br />
+events, to make no general communication on the subject<br />
+until the time of departure should be definitely<br />
+settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning<br />
+prince, was almost necessarily one; but him, for his<br />
+yielding and somewhat feeble character, he viewed rather<br />
+in the light of a tool than as one of his active accomplices.<br />
+Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved              <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+participation in his counsels were two only: the<br />
+great Lama among the Kalmucks, and his own father-in-law,<br />
+Erempel, a ruling prince of some tribe in the neighborhood<br />
+of the Caspian Sea, recommended to his favor<br />
+not so much by any strength of talent corresponding to            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+the occasion as by his blind devotion to himself and<br />
+his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his<br />
+daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign<br />
+prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this<br />
+dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre,      <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious<br />
+rebels. The other accomplice, whose name was<br />
+Loosang-Dchaltzan, and whose rank was that of Lama,<br />
+or Kalmuck pontiff, was a person of far more distinguished<br />
+pretensions; he had something of the same                         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+gloomy and terrific pride which marked the character of<br />
+Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, accompanied<br />
+by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural<br />
+facility of dissimulation even more profound. It was by<br />
+this man that the other question was settled as to the<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 12</span><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>
+time for giving effect to their designs. His own pontifical<br />
+character had suggested to him that, in order to<br />
+strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded      <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+men whom they were to lead into a howling<br />
+wilderness, after persuading them to lay desolate their<br />
+own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they should<br />
+be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction<br />
+of God for their entire enterprise. This could only<br />
+be done by addressing themselves to the great head of             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. Him they easily<br />
+persuaded to countenance their schemes: and an oracle<br />
+was delivered solemnly at Tibet, to the effect that no<br />
+ultimate prosperity would attend this great Exodus unless<br />
+it were pursued through the years of the <i>tiger</i> and the     <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+<i>hare</i>. Now the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their<br />
+years by attaching to each a denomination taken from one<br />
+of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being<br />
+absolutely fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course<br />
+through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+approaching year of the <i>tiger</i> were suffered to escape<br />
+them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for<br />
+twelve years more; within which period, even were no<br />
+other unfavorable changes to arise, it was pretty well<br />
+foreseen that the Russian Government would take most              <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by<br />
+a ring-fence of forts or military posts; to say nothing of<br />
+the still readier plan for securing their fidelity (a plan<br />
+already talked of in all quarters) by exacting a large body<br />
+of hostages selected from the families of the most influential    <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was solemnly<br />
+determined that this terrific experiment should be<br />
+made in the next year of the <i>tiger</i>, which happened to fall<br />
+upon the Christian year 1771. With respect to the<br />
+month, there was, unhappily for the Kalmucks, even less<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 13</span><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>
+latitude allowed to their choice than with respect to the<br />
+year. It was absolutely necessary, or it was thought so,<br />
+that the different divisions of the nation, which pastured<br />
+their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should have the           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+means of effecting an instantaneous junction, because<br />
+the danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the<br />
+imperial armies was precisely the greatest at the outset.<br />
+Now, from the want of bridges or sufficient river craft<br />
+for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+which could be depended upon (especially where so many<br />
+women, children, and camels were concerned) was <i>ice</i>;<br />
+and this, in a state of sufficient firmness, could not be<br />
+absolutely counted upon before the month of January.<br />
+Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a               <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design<br />
+had begun to circulate amongst those whom it most interested,<br />
+before it was even suspected that any man's wishes<br />
+pointed in that direction, had been definitely appointed<br />
+for January of the year 1771. And almost up to the                <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Christmas of 1770 the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen<br />
+and their families were going nightly to their peaceful<br />
+beds without even dreaming that the <i>fiat</i> had already<br />
+gone forth from their rulers which consigned those quiet<br />
+abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+within them, to a withering desolation, now close at<br />
+hand.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia</span><br />
+and the Sultan; and, until the time arrived for throwing<br />
+off their vassalage, it was necessary that Oubacha should         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+contribute his usual contingent of martial aid. Nay, it<br />
+had unfortunately become prudent that he should contribute<br />
+much more than his usual aid. Human experience<br />
+gives ample evidence that in some mysterious and<br />
+unaccountable way no great design is ever agitated, no<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 14</span><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>
+matter how few or how faithful may be the participators,<br />
+but that some presentiment&mdash;some dim misgiving&mdash;is<br />
+kindled amongst those whom it is chiefly important to<br />
+blind. And, however it might have happened, certain it             <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+is that already, when as yet no syllable of the conspiracy<br />
+had been breathed to any man whose very existence was<br />
+not staked upon its concealment, nevertheless some vague<br />
+and uneasy jealousy had arisen in the Russian Cabinet<br />
+as to the future schemes of the Kalmuck Khan: and                 <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+very probable it is that, but for the war then raging, and<br />
+the consequent prudence of conciliating a very important<br />
+vassal, or, at least, of abstaining from what would powerfully<br />
+alienate him, even at that moment such measures<br />
+would have been adopted as must forever have intercepted          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the jealousies<br />
+of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the<br />
+Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under<br />
+their guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of<br />
+the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the Russian               <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by<br />
+unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's unfavorable impressions.<br />
+He enlarged the scale of his contributions, and<br />
+<i>that</i> so prodigiously that he absolutely carried to headquarters<br />
+a force of 35,000 cavalry, fully equipped: some                   <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000; but the<br />
+smaller estimate is, at all events, <i>within</i> the truth.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well as</span><br />
+light, the Khan went into the field under great expectations;<br />
+and these he more than realized. Having the                       <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized and<br />
+disorderly a description of force as that which at all times<br />
+composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried victory<br />
+along with his banners; gained many partial successes;<br />
+and at last, in a pitched battle, overthrew the Turkish<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 15</span><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>
+force opposed to him, with a loss of 5000 men left upon<br />
+the field.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate</span><br />
+in various ways against the impending revolt. Oubacha              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+had now a strong motive, in the martial glory acquired,<br />
+for continuing his connection with the empire in whose<br />
+service he had won it, and by whom only it could be fully<br />
+appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a great<br />
+empire, one of the Paladins around the imperial throne;           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+in China he would be nobody, or (worse than that) a mendicant<br />
+alien, prostrate at the feet, and soliciting the precarious<br />
+alms, of a prince with whom he had no connection.<br />
+Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina,<br />
+grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+prince, would confer upon him such eminent rewards as<br />
+might be sufficient to anchor his hopes upon Russia, and<br />
+to wean him from every possible seduction. These were<br />
+the obvious suggestions of prudence and good sense to<br />
+every man who stood neutral in the case. But they were            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+disappointed. The Czarina knew her obligations to the<br />
+Khan, but she did not acknowledge them. Wherefore?<br />
+That is a mystery perhaps never to be explained. So it<br />
+was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no <i>ukase</i><br />
+ever proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+been abundantly recompensed by Russia, there were<br />
+others who would have defeated these tendencies to<br />
+reconciliation. Erempel, Zebek, and Loosang the Lama<br />
+were pledged life-deep to prevent any accommodation;<br />
+and their efforts were unfortunately seconded by those of         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+their deadliest enemies. In the Russian Court there were<br />
+at that time some great nobles preoccupied with feelings<br />
+of hatred and blind malice toward the Kalmucks quite as<br />
+strong as any which the Kalmucks could harbor toward<br />
+Russia, and not, perhaps, so well founded. Just as much<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 16</span><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>
+as the Kalmucks hated the Russian yoke, their galling<br />
+assumption of authority, the marked air of disdain, as<br />
+toward a nation of ugly, stupid, and filthy barbarians,<br />
+which too generally marked the Russian bearing and                 <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+language, but, above all, the insolent contempt, or even<br />
+outrages, which the Russian governors or great military<br />
+commandants tolerated in their followers toward the barbarous<br />
+religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck<br />
+priesthood&mdash;precisely in that extent did the ferocity             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+of the Russian resentment, and their wrath at seeing the<br />
+trampled worm turn or attempt a feeble retaliation, react<br />
+upon the unfortunate Kalmucks. At this crisis, it is probable<br />
+that envy and wounded pride, upon witnessing the<br />
+splendid victories of Oubacha and Momotbacha over the             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Turks and Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian<br />
+irritation. And it must have been through the intrigues<br />
+of those nobles about her person who chiefly smarted<br />
+under these feelings that the Czarina could ever have<br />
+lent herself to the unwise and ungrateful policy pursued          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+at this critical period toward the Kalmuck Khan. That<br />
+Czarina was no longer Elizabeth Petrowna; it was Catharine II.&mdash;a<br />
+princess who did not often err so injuriously<br />
+(injuriously for herself as much as for others) in the measures<br />
+of her government. She had soon ample reason for                  <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it<br />
+must have co-operated with the other motives previously<br />
+acting upon Oubacha in sustaining his determination to<br />
+revolt, and how powerfully it must have assisted the efforts<br />
+of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds of their      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by<br />
+arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian<br />
+Government, through the keenness of their sympathy<br />
+with the wrongs of their insulted prince, may be readily<br />
+imagined. It is a fact, and it has been confessed by<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 17</span><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>
+candid Russians themselves when treating of this great<br />
+dismemberment, that the conduct of the Russian Cabinet<br />
+throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis<br />
+of hesitation in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such             <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+as was most desirable for the purposes of the conspirators;<br />
+it was such, in fact, as to set the seal to all their<br />
+machinations, by supplying distinct evidences and official<br />
+vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most<br />
+matters of doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption.           <span class="linenum">10</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and</span><br />
+even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the<br />
+injustice or the impolicy of the imperial ministers, it is<br />
+contended by many persons who have reviewed the affair<br />
+with a command of all the documents bearing on the case,          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+more especially the letters or minutes of council subsequently<br />
+discovered in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi,<br />
+and the important evidence of the Russian captive, Weseloff,<br />
+who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight,<br />
+that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any               <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+purpose of impeding or even of delaying the revolt. He<br />
+himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the<br />
+most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise<br />
+or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting<br />
+the firmness of his resolution under any unusual                  <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest<br />
+stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's<br />
+well-known superstition, to engage him, by means of previous<br />
+concert with the priests and their head, the Lama,<br />
+in some dark and mysterious rites of consecration, terminating    <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck<br />
+would have courage to violate. As far, therefore,<br />
+as regarded the personal share of the Khan in what was<br />
+to come, Zebek was entirely at his ease; he knew him to<br />
+be so deeply pledged by religious terrors to the prosecution<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 18</span><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>
+of the conspiracy that no honors within the Czarina's<br />
+gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion; and then,<br />
+as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be<br />
+sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier character,      <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+and better adapted to his peculiar temperament. For<br />
+Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily enemies<br />
+or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and<br />
+timid as the most superstitious of old women in<br />
+facing the frowns of a priest or under the vague anticipations    <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+of ghostly retributions. But had it been otherwise,<br />
+and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady<br />
+demeanor on the part of this prince at the approach<br />
+of the critical moment, such were the changes already<br />
+effected in the state of their domestic politics amongst          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Tartars by the undermining arts of Zebek-Dorchi, and<br />
+his ally the Lama, that very little importance would have<br />
+attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually<br />
+lodged in the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true<br />
+and absolute wielder of the Kalmuck sceptre; all measures         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+of importance were submitted to his discretion, and<br />
+nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation.<br />
+This result he had brought about, in a year or two, by<br />
+means sufficiently simple: first of all, by availing himself<br />
+of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused amongst        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own title to the<br />
+throne in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from<br />
+Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans,<br />
+stood upon a better basis than that of Oubacha, who<br />
+derived from a collateral branch; secondly, with respect      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+to the sole advantage which Oubacha possessed above<br />
+himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this<br />
+difference between their situations to the disadvantage<br />
+of his competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept<br />
+that triumph from an alien power at the price of his independence,<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 19</span><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>
+which he himself (as he would have it understood)<br />
+disdained to court; thirdly, by his own talents<br />
+and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his<br />
+moral character; fourthly&mdash;and perhaps in an equal                 <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+degree&mdash;by the criminal facility and good nature of<br />
+Oubacha; finally (which is remarkable enough, as illustrating<br />
+the character of the man), by that very new modelling<br />
+of the Sarga, or Privy Council, which he had used<br />
+as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+against the Russian Government, whilst, in reality, he<br />
+first had suggested the alteration to the Empress, and<br />
+he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which it<br />
+was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the<br />
+chief of the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst in effect they<br />
+owed their appointments to his nomination, it may be<br />
+easily supposed that, whatever power existed in the state<br />
+capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga<br />
+under its new organization, and this body being completely        <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+under his influence, the final result was to throw<br />
+all the functions of the state, whether nominally in the<br />
+prince or in the council, substantially into the hands of<br />
+this one man; whilst, at the same time, from the strict<br />
+league which he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+of the spiritual power were always ready to come in<br />
+aid of the magistrate, or to supply his incapacity in cases<br />
+which he could not reach.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But the time was now rapidly approaching for the</span><br />
+mighty experiment. The day was drawing near on which              <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the signal was to be given for raising the standard of<br />
+revolt, and, by a combined movement on both sides of the<br />
+Wolga, for spreading the smoke of one vast conflagration<br />
+that should wrap in a common blaze their own huts and<br />
+the stately cities of their enemies over the breadth and<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 20</span><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>
+length of those great provinces in which their flocks were<br />
+dispersed. The year of the <i>tiger</i> was now within one<br />
+little month of its commencement; the fifth morning of<br />
+that year was fixed for the fatal day when the fortunes            <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+and happiness of a whole nation were to be put upon the<br />
+hazard of a dicer's throw; and as yet that nation was in<br />
+profound ignorance of the whole plan. The Khan, such<br />
+was the kindness of his nature, could not bring himself to<br />
+make the revelation so urgently required. It was clear,           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+however, that this could not be delayed; and Zebek-Dorchi<br />
+took the task willingly upon himself. But where<br />
+or how should this notification be made, so as to exclude<br />
+Russian hearers? After some deliberation the following<br />
+plan was adopted:&mdash;Couriers, it was contrived, should             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+arrive in furious haste, one upon the heels of another,<br />
+reporting a sudden inroad of the Kirghises and Bashkirs<br />
+upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about 120<br />
+miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, according to<br />
+immemorial custom, were required to send a separate representative;             <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+and there, accordingly, within three days, all<br />
+appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed<br />
+for the rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended<br />
+to make it almost certain that no Russian could be<br />
+present. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did                   <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+not waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an<br />
+immense sheet of parchment, visible from the outermost<br />
+distance at which any of this vast crowd could stand;<br />
+the total number amounted to 80,000; all saw, and many heard.<br />
+They were told of the oppressions of Russia;                      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced toward them<br />
+by a thousand acts; of her contempt for their religion;<br />
+of her determination to reduce them to absolute slavery;<br />
+of the preliminary measures she had already taken by<br />
+erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood;<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 21</span><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>
+of the ulterior intentions she thus announced<br />
+to circumscribe their pastoral lands, until they would all<br />
+be obliged to renounce their flocks, and to collect in<br />
+towns like Sarepta, there to pursue mechanical and servile         <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the free-born<br />
+Tartar had always disdained. "Then again," said<br />
+the subtle prince, "she increases her military levies upon<br />
+our population every year. We pour out our blood as<br />
+young men in her defence, or, more often, in support of           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+her insolent aggressions; and, as old men, we reap nothing<br />
+from our sufferings nor benefit by our survivorship<br />
+where so many are sacrificed." At this point of his<br />
+harangue Zebek produced several papers (forged, as it is<br />
+generally believed, by himself and the Lama), containing          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+projects of the Russian Court for a general transfer of<br />
+the eldest sons, taken <i>en masse</i> from the greatest Kalmuck<br />
+families, to the Imperial Court. "Now, let this be once<br />
+accomplished," he argued, "and there is an end of all<br />
+useful resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+might make, or even remonstrances; as men of words,<br />
+we might play a bold part; but for deeds; for that sort<br />
+of language by which our ancestors were used to speak&mdash;holding<br />
+us by such a chain, Russia would make a jest of<br />
+our wishes, knowing full well that we should not dare to          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+make any effectual movement."<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his</span><br />
+vast audience, and having alarmed their fears by this<br />
+pretended scheme against their firstborn (an artifice<br />
+which was indispensable to his purpose, because it met            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+beforehand <i>every</i> form of amendment to his proposal<br />
+coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not<br />
+otherwise have failed to insist upon trying the effect of<br />
+bold addresses to the Empress before resorting to any<br />
+desperate extremity), Zebek-Dorchi opened his scheme of<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 22</span><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>
+revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt; since any preparations<br />
+reported at St. Petersburg would be a signal for the<br />
+armies of Russia to cross into such positions from all<br />
+parts of Asia as would effectually intercept their march.          <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+It is remarkable, however, that with all his audacity and<br />
+his reliance upon the momentary excitement of the Kalmucks,<br />
+the subtle prince did not venture, at this stage of<br />
+his seduction, to make so startling a proposal as that of<br />
+a flight to China. All that he held out for the present           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+was a rapid march to the Temba or some other great<br />
+river, which they were to cross, and to take up a strong<br />
+position on the farther bank, from which, as from a post<br />
+of conscious security, they could hold a bolder language<br />
+to the Czarina, and one which would have a better chance          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+of winning a favorable audience.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These things, in the irritated condition of the simple</span><br />
+Tartars, passed by acclamation; and all returned homeward<br />
+to push forward with the most furious speed the<br />
+preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid and               <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree<br />
+they became noticeable and manifest to the Russians who<br />
+happened to be intermingled with the different hordes,<br />
+either on commercial errands, or as agents officially from<br />
+the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+diplomatic character.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Among these last (indeed, at the head of them) was a</span><br />
+Russian of some distinction, by name Kichinskoi&mdash;a man<br />
+memorable for his vanity, and memorable also as one of<br />
+the many victims to the Tartar revolution. This Kichinskoi        <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook<br />
+the conduct of the Kalmucks. He was styled the<br />
+Grand Pristaw, or Great Commissioner, and was universally<br />
+known amongst the Tartar tribes by this title. His<br />
+mixed character of ambassador and of political <i>surveillant</i>,<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 23</span><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>
+combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks,<br />
+gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might<br />
+have given him a far greater had not his outrageous<br />
+self-conceit and his arrogant confidence in his own                <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+authority, as due chiefly to his personal qualities for<br />
+command, led him into such harsh displays of power,<br />
+and menaces so odious to the Tartar pride, as very soon<br />
+made him an object of their profoundest malice. He had<br />
+publicly insulted the Khan; and, upon making a communication      <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+to him to the effect that some reports began to<br />
+circulate, and even to reach the Empress, of a design in<br />
+agitation to fly from the imperial dominions, he had ventured<br />
+to say, "But this you dare not attempt; I laugh at<br />
+such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to the Empress;           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+for you are a chained bear, and that you know." The<br />
+Khan turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and<br />
+the Pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter,<br />
+amongst those of the Khan's attendants who stayed<br />
+behind to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded      <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could<br />
+suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now<br />
+ascertained that suspicion <i>had</i> arisen; but, at the same<br />
+time, it was ascertained that the Pristaw spoke no more<br />
+than the truth in representing himself to have discredited        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+these suspicions. The fact was that the mere infatuation<br />
+of vanity made him believe that nothing could go on undetected<br />
+by his all-piercing sagacity, and that no rebellion<br />
+could prosper when rebuked by his commanding presence.<br />
+The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding     <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw as<br />
+in their perfect safeguard, and such it proved&mdash;to his<br />
+own ruin as well as that of myriads beside.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Christmas arrived; and, a little before that time, courier</span><br />
+upon courier came dropping in, one upon the very heels<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 24</span><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>
+of another, to St. Petersburg, assuring the Czarina that<br />
+beyond all doubt the Kalmucks were in the very crisis of<br />
+departure. These dispatches came from the Governor<br />
+of Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that between this governor&mdash;a<br />
+Russian named Beketoff&mdash;and the Pristaw<br />
+had been an ancient feud. The very name of Beketoff<br />
+inflamed his resentment; and no sooner did he see that<br />
+hated name attached to the dispatch than he felt himself          <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+confirmed in his former views with tenfold bigotry, and<br />
+wrote instantly, in terms of the most pointed ridicule,<br />
+against the new alarmist, pledging his own head upon the<br />
+visionariness of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not<br />
+to be put down by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he            <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+persisted in his statements; the Russian ministry were<br />
+confounded by the obstinacy of the disputants; and some<br />
+were beginning even to treat the Governor of Astrachan<br />
+as a bore, and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors,<br />
+when the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of January,         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+which forever terminated the dispute and put a seal upon<br />
+the earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered myriads.<br />
+The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the news.<br />
+Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant<br />
+vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+sledge, and, at the rate of 300 miles a day, pursued his<br />
+route to St. Petersburg&mdash;rushed into the Imperial presence&mdash;announced<br />
+the total realization of his worst predictions;<br />
+and, upon the confirmation of this intelligence<br />
+by subsequent dispatches from many different posts on             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the Wolga, he received an imperial commission to seize<br />
+the person of his deluded enemy and to keep him in strict<br />
+captivity. These orders were eagerly fulfilled; and the<br />
+unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired of grief<br />
+and mortification in the gloomy solitude of a dungeon&mdash;a<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 25</span><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>
+victim to his own immeasurable vanity and the blinding<br />
+self-delusions of a presumption that refused all warning.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful</span><br />
+a prophet. Perhaps even <i>he</i> was surprised at the suddenness  <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+with which the verification followed his reports.<br />
+Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so solemnly<br />
+appointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the<br />
+Kalmucks on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at<br />
+the earliest dawn of day assembling by troops and                 <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+squadrons and in the tumultuous movement of some great<br />
+morning of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving<br />
+off the ground at every half hour's interval. Women<br />
+and children, to the amount of two hundred thousand and<br />
+upward, were placed upon wagons or upon camels, and               <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once&mdash;placed<br />
+under suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers<br />
+by other outlying bodies of the horde,&mdash;who kept falling<br />
+in at various distances upon the first and second day's<br />
+march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those who                 <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the<br />
+tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder more<br />
+violent than prudence justified or the amiable character<br />
+of the Khan could be supposed to approve. But in this,<br />
+as in other instances, he was completely overruled by the         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest<br />
+of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself<br />
+upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting off all<br />
+infirm looking backward from the hardships of their<br />
+march, had been thought so necessary a measure by all             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the chieftains that even Oubacha himself was the first to<br />
+authorize the act by his own example. He seized a torch<br />
+previously prepared with materials the most durable as<br />
+well as combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers<br />
+of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the general<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 26</span><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>
+wreck except the portable part of the domestic utensils<br />
+and that part of the woodwork which could be applied<br />
+to the manufacture of the long Tartar lances. This<br />
+chapter in their memorable day's work being finished,              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+and the whole of their villages throughout a district of<br />
+ten thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the<br />
+Tartars waited for further orders.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These, it was intended, should have taken a character of</span><br />
+valedictory vengeance, and thus have left behind to the           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+Czarina a dreadful commentary upon the main motives<br />
+of their flight. It was the purpose of Zebek-Dorchi that<br />
+all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of every<br />
+description should be given up to pillage and destruction,<br />
+and such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+as might naturally be expected from a fierce people<br />
+already infuriated by the spectacle of their own outrages,<br />
+and by the bloody retaliations which they must necessarily<br />
+have provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was<br />
+happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+the very crisis of departure. It has been mentioned<br />
+already that the motive for selecting the depth of winter<br />
+as the season of flight (which otherwise was obviously<br />
+the very worst possible) had been the impossibility of<br />
+effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the west of the Wolga, in the absence of bridges, unless<br />
+by a natural bridge of ice. For this one advantage the<br />
+Kalmuck leaders had consented to aggravate by a thousand-fold<br />
+the calamities inevitable to a rapid flight over<br />
+boundless tracts of country with women, children, and             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+herds of cattle&mdash;for this one single advantage; and yet,<br />
+after all, it was lost. The reason never has been explained<br />
+satisfactorily, but the fact was such. Some have said<br />
+that the signals were not properly concerted for marking<br />
+the moment of absolute departure&mdash;that is, for signifying<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 27</span><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>
+whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks<br />
+might not have been suddenly interrupted by adverse<br />
+intelligence. Others have supposed that the ice might<br />
+not be equally strong on both sides of the river, and              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+might even be generally insecure for the treading of<br />
+heavy and heavily laden animals such as camels. But<br />
+the prevailing notion is that some accidental movements<br />
+on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops in the<br />
+neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+having no reference to them or their plans, had been construed<br />
+into certain signs that all was discovered, and that<br />
+the prudence of the Western chieftains, who, from situation,<br />
+had never been exposed to those intrigues by which<br />
+Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the Eastern          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin.<br />
+Be the cause what it might, it is certain that the Western<br />
+Kalmucks were in some way prevented from forming the<br />
+intended junction with their brethren of the opposite<br />
+bank; and the result was that at least one hundred                <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+thousand of these Tartars were left behind in Russia.<br />
+This accident it was which saved their Russian neighbors<br />
+universally from the desolation which else awaited them.<br />
+One general massacre and conflagration would assuredly<br />
+have surprised them, to the utter extermination of their          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+property, their houses, and themselves, had it not been<br />
+for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did<br />
+not dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren<br />
+under the first impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so<br />
+dreadful a tragedy; for, as they were well aware of too many      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+circumstances by which she might discover the concurrence<br />
+of the Western people in the general scheme of revolt,<br />
+they justly feared that she would thence infer their concurrence<br />
+also in the bloody events which marked its outset.<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 28</span><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>
+</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Little did the Western Kalmucks guess what reasons</span><br />
+they also had for gratitude, on account of an interposition<br />
+so unexpected, and which at the moment they so generally<br />
+deplored. Could they but have witnessed the thousandth<br />
+part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+in the first month of their sad flight, they would have<br />
+blessed Heaven for their own narrow escape; and yet<br />
+these sufferings of the first month were but a prelude or<br />
+foretaste comparatively slight of those which afterward<br />
+succeeded.                                                        <span class="linenum">10</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For now began to unroll the most awful series of</span><br />
+calamities, and the most extensive, which is anywhere<br />
+recorded to have visited the sons and daughters of men. It<br />
+is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying nations,<br />
+such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol                     <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Tartars, may have inflicted misery as extensive; but there<br />
+the misery and the desolation would be sudden, like the<br />
+flight of volleying lightning. Those who were spared at<br />
+first would generally be spared to the end; those who<br />
+perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+French retreat from Moscow may have made some nearer<br />
+approach to this calamity in duration, though still a feeble<br />
+and miniature approach; for the French sufferings did<br />
+not commence in good earnest until about one month<br />
+from the time of leaving Moscow; and though it is true            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+that afterward the vials of wrath were emptied upon the<br />
+devoted army for six or seven weeks in succession, yet<br />
+what is that to this Kalmuck tragedy, which lasted for<br />
+more than as many months? But the main feature of<br />
+horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the French, lies in the accompaniment of women<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and<br />
+children. There were both, it is true, with the French<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 29</span><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>
+army, but so few as to bear no visible proportion to the<br />
+total numbers concerned. The French, in short, were<br />
+merely an army&mdash;a host of professional destroyers, whose<br />
+regular trade was bloodshed, and whose regular element             <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a nation<br />
+carrying along with them more than two hundred and<br />
+fifty thousand women and children, utterly unequal, for<br />
+the most part, to any contest with the calamities before<br />
+them. The Children of Israel were in the same circumstances       <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+as to the accompaniment of their families; but<br />
+they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a<br />
+very early stage of their flight; and their subsequent residence<br />
+in the Desert was not a march, but a continued halt<br />
+and under a continued interposition of Heaven for their           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however comprehensive<br />
+in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's<br />
+duration. A much nearer approach made to the wide<br />
+range and the long duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may<br />
+have been in a pestilence such as that which visited              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign<br />
+of Charles II. There, also, the martyrs were counted by<br />
+myriads, and the period of the desolation was counted<br />
+by months. But, after all, the total amount of destruction<br />
+was on a smaller scale; and there was this feature of             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+alleviation to the <i>conscious</i> pressure of the calamity&mdash;that<br />
+the misery was withdrawn from public notice into private<br />
+chambers and hospitals. The siege of Jerusalem by<br />
+Vespasian and his son, taken in its entire circumstances,<br />
+comes nearest of all&mdash;for breadth and depth of suffering,         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+for duration, for the exasperation of the suffering from<br />
+without by internal feuds, and, finally, for that last most<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 30</span><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>
+appalling expression of the furnace heat of the anguish in<br />
+its power to extinguish the natural affections even of<br />
+maternal love. But, after all, each case had circumstances<br />
+of romantic misery peculiar to itself&mdash;circumstances    <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled<br />
+by Christianity), it may be confidently hoped, never<br />
+to be repeated.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose</span><br />
+could be encouraged, was the River Jaik. This was not             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+above 300 miles from the main point of departure on the<br />
+Wolga; and, if the march thither was to be a forced one<br />
+and a severe one, it was alleged, on the other hand, that<br />
+the suffering would be the more brief and transient;<br />
+one summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+achieved. Forced the march was, and severe beyond<br />
+example: there the forewarning proved correct; but the<br />
+promised rest proved a mere phantom of the wilderness&mdash;a<br />
+visionary rainbow, which fled before their hope-sick<br />
+eyes, across these interminable solitudes, for seven months       <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+of hardship and calamity, without a pause. These sufferings,<br />
+by their very nature and the circumstances under<br />
+which they arose, were (like the scenery of the steppes)<br />
+somewhat monotonous in their coloring and external<br />
+features; what variety, however, there was, will be most          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+naturally exhibited by tracing historically the successive<br />
+stages of the general misery exactly as it unfolded itself<br />
+under the double agency of weakness still increasing from<br />
+within and hostile pressure from without. Viewed in this<br />
+manner, under the real order of development, it is remarkable     <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under<br />
+the moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves<br />
+almost with a scenical propriety. They seem combined<br />
+as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery<br />
+advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 31</span><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>
+the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages<br />
+of the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which<br />
+veils the great catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of<br />
+anguish, towering upward by regular gradations as if constructed   <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+artificially for picturesque effect&mdash;a result which<br />
+might not have been surprising had it been reasonable to<br />
+anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an accelerated<br />
+rate, as prevailing through the latter stages of the expedition.<br />
+But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to                <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+calculate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion<br />
+according to the increasing distance from the headquarters<br />
+of the pursuing enemy. This calculation, however, was<br />
+defeated by the extraordinary circumstance that the Russian<br />
+armies did not begin to close in very fiercely upon               <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Kalmucks until after they had accomplished a distance<br />
+of full 2000 miles: 1000 miles farther on the assaults<br />
+became even more tumultuous and murderous: and already<br />
+the great shadows of the Chinese Wall were dimly descried,<br />
+when the frenzy and <i>acharnement</i> of the pursuers and the    <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+bloody desperation of the miserable fugitives had reached<br />
+its uttermost extremity. Let us briefly rehearse the main<br />
+stages of the misery and trace the ascending steps of the<br />
+tragedy, according to the great divisions of the route<br />
+marked out by the central rivers of Asia.                         <span class="linenum">25</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The first stage, we have already said, was from the</span><br />
+Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about 300 miles; the time<br />
+allowed seven days. For the first week, therefore, the<br />
+rate of marching averaged about 43 English miles a day.<br />
+The weather was cold, but bracing; and, at a more                 <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+moderate pace, this part of the journey might have been<br />
+accomplished without much distress by a people as hardy<br />
+as the Kalmucks: as it was, the cattle suffered greatly<br />
+from overdriving; milk began to fail even for the children;<br />
+the sheep perished by wholesale; and the children themselves<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 32</span><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>
+were saved only by the innumerable camels.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Cossacks who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik</span><br />
+were the first among the subjects of Russia to come into<br />
+collision with the Kalmucks. Great was their surprise at           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+the suddenness of the irruption, and great also their consternation;<br />
+for, according to their settled custom, by far<br />
+the greater part of their number was absent during the<br />
+winter months at the fisheries upon the Caspian. Some<br />
+who were liable to surprise at the most exposed points            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was<br />
+immediately invested and summoned by Oubacha. He<br />
+had, however, in his train only a few light pieces of<br />
+artillery; and the Russian commandant at Koulagina,<br />
+being aware of the hurried circumstances in which the             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge,<br />
+as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these<br />
+considerations to a more obstinate resistance than might<br />
+else have been advisable with an enemy so little disposed<br />
+to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The period of         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+his anxiety was not long. On the fifth day of the siege<br />
+he descried from the walls a succession of Tartar<br />
+couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, crossing<br />
+the vast plains around the fortress at a furious pace and<br />
+riding into the Kalmuck encampment at various points.             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+Great agitation appeared immediately to follow: orders<br />
+were soon after dispatched in all directions; and it became<br />
+speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck<br />
+movement a bloody and exterminating battle had been<br />
+fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the           <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+Khan's dependents, numbering not less than 9000 fighting<br />
+men, had perished to the last man. This was the<br />
+<i>ouloss</i>, or clan, called Feka-Zechorr, between whom and<br />
+the Cossacks there was a feud of ancient standing. In<br />
+selecting, therefore, the points of attack, on occasion of<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 33</span><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>
+the present hasty inroad, the Cossack chiefs were naturally<br />
+eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with<br />
+the service of the Empress some gratification to their own<br />
+party hatreds, more especially as the present was likely           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+to be their final opportunity for revenge if the Kalmuck<br />
+evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated<br />
+as large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances<br />
+allowed, they attacked the hostile <i>ouloss</i> with a precipitation<br />
+which denied to it all means for communicating with               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+Oubacha; for the necessity of commanding an ample range<br />
+of pasturage, to meet the necessities of their vast flocks<br />
+and herds, had separated this <i>ouloss</i> from the Khan's<br />
+headquarters by an interval of 80 miles; and thus it was,<br />
+and not from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely        <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+upon its own resources. These had proved insufficient:<br />
+retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and<br />
+camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances<br />
+of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question:<br />
+quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+have been granted on the other: and thus it had happened<br />
+that the setting sun of that one day (the thirteenth from<br />
+the first opening of the revolt) threw his parting rays upon<br />
+the final agonies of an ancient <i>ouloss</i>, stretched upon a<br />
+bloody field, who on that day's dawning had held and              <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+styled themselves an independent nation.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Universal consternation was diffused through the wide</span><br />
+borders of the Khan's encampment by this disastrous<br />
+intelligence, not so much on account of the numbers<br />
+slain, or the total extinction of a powerful ally, as because     <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the position of the Cossack force was likely to put<br />
+to hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at<br />
+least to retard and hold them in check until the heavier<br />
+columns of the Russian army should arrive upon their<br />
+flanks. The siege of Koulagina was instantly raised;<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 34</span><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>
+and that signal, so fatal to the happiness of the women<br />
+and their children, once again resounded through the<br />
+tents&mdash;the signal for flight, and this time for a flight<br />
+more rapid than ever. About 150 miles ahead of their               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+present position, there arose a tract of hilly country,<br />
+forming a sort of margin to the vast, sealike expanse of<br />
+champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy<br />
+deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin<br />
+both eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the                <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+centre of this hilly range lay a narrow defile, through<br />
+which passed the nearest and the most practicable route<br />
+to the River Torgau (the farther bank of which river<br />
+offered the next great station of security for a general<br />
+halt). It was the more essential to gain this pass before         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the delay in<br />
+forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing<br />
+columns for combining their attacks and for bringing<br />
+up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in<br />
+pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held, by          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography<br />
+of these pathless steppes&mdash;that the loss of this one<br />
+narrow strait amongst the hills would have the effect of<br />
+throwing them (as their only alternative in a case where<br />
+so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+of at least 500 miles extra; besides that, after all, this<br />
+circuitous route would carry them to the Torgau at a point<br />
+unfitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The<br />
+defile in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and<br />
+yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of light         <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found<br />
+preoccupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had<br />
+suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with the<br />
+defeated <i>ouloss</i>; but the excitement of victory, and the<br />
+intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 35</span><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>
+again swelled their ranks, and would probably act with<br />
+the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen<br />
+from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of preoccupation<br />
+was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching                  <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+upon an oblique line not above 50 miles longer than<br />
+that which led to the same point from the Kalmuck<br />
+headquarters before Koulagina; and therefore, without<br />
+the most furious haste on the part of the Kalmucks, there<br />
+was not a chance for them, burdened and "trashed"<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> as           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the<br />
+Cossacks in seizing this important pass.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hearing</span><br />
+this exposition of the case. For they easily understood<br />
+that too capital an interest (the <i>summa rerum</i>)             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests,<br />
+or what would be considered such in their present<br />
+circumstances. The dreadful week already passed&mdash;their<br />
+inauguration in misery&mdash;was yet fresh in their<br />
+remembrance. The scars of suffering were impressed                <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons<br />
+and the persons of their children; and they knew that,<br />
+where no speed had much chance of meeting the cravings<br />
+of the chieftains, no test would be accepted, short of<br />
+absolute exhaustion, that as much had been accomplished           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive,<br />
+has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the<br />
+women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent ropes.<br />
+On the 5th of January all had been animation and the<br />
+joyousness of indefinite expectation; now, on the contrary,       <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+a brief but bitter experience had taught them to<br />      <span class="pagenum">Page 36</span><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>
+take an amended calculation of what it was that lay<br />
+before them.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One whole day and far into the succeeding night had</span><br />
+the renewed flight continued; the sufferings had been              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+greater than before, for the cold had been more intense,<br />
+and many perished out of the living creatures through<br />
+every class except only the camels&mdash;whose powers of<br />
+endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat.<br />
+The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+the distress. Snow had begun to fall; and, though not<br />
+deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would<br />
+be so, and that, as a halt would in that case become<br />
+unavoidable, no plan could be better than that of staying<br />
+where they were, especially as the same cause would               <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the<br />
+last interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy<br />
+nation during their whole migration. For ten days the<br />
+snow continued to fall with little intermission. At the<br />
+end of that time, keen, bright, frosty weather succeeded;         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth expanse<br />
+became firm enough to support the treading of the<br />
+camels; and the flight was recommenced. But during<br />
+the halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed; and,<br />
+for the last time, universal plenty. The cows and oxen            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+had perished in such vast numbers on the previous<br />
+marches that an order was now issued to turn what<br />
+remained to account by slaughtering the whole, and<br />
+salting whatever part should be found to exceed the<br />
+immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene                <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+of general banqueting, and even of festivity amongst all<br />
+who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by distress<br />
+of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the<br />
+few last days, and by anxiety for the too gloomy future.<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 37</span><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>
+Seventy thousand persons of all ages had already perished,<br />
+exclusively of the many thousand allies who had been cut<br />
+down by the Cossack sabre. And the losses in reversion<br />
+were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to<br />
+arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom             <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+the Khan had dispatched to the rear and to each flank as<br />
+well as in advance, that large masses of the imperial troops<br />
+were converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords<br />
+of the River Torgau, as the most convenient point for<br />
+intercepting the flying tribes; and it was already well           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+known that a powerful division was close in their rear,<br />
+and was retarded only by the numerous artillery which<br />
+had been judged necessary to support their operations.<br />
+New motives were thus daily arising for quickening the<br />
+motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting              <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+those who were previously but too much exhausted.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It was not until the 2d day of February that the</span><br />
+Khan's advanced guard came in sight of Ouchim, the<br />
+defile among the hills of Moulgaldchares, in which they<br />
+anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks.            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+A pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact,<br />
+preoccupied the pass by some hours; but the Khan,<br />
+having two great advantages&mdash;namely, a strong body of<br />
+infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on<br />
+about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light    <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+artillery which he had not yet been forced to abandon&mdash;soon<br />
+began to make a serious impression upon this<br />
+unsupported detachment; and they would probably at any<br />
+rate have retired; but, at the very moment when they<br />
+were making some dispositions in that view, Zebek-Dorchi          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+appeared upon their rear with a body of trained riflemen,<br />
+who had distinguished themselves in the war with Turkey.<br />
+These men had contrived to crawl unobserved over the<br />
+cliffs which skirted the ravine, availing themselves of the<br />
+dry beds of the summer torrents and other inequalities of<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 38</span><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>
+the ground to conceal their movement. Disorder and<br />
+trepidation ensued instantly in the Cossack files; the<br />
+Khan, who had been waiting with the <i>&eacute;lite</i> of his heavy<br />
+cavalry, charged furiously upon them. Total overthrow              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some<br />
+measure avenged the recent bloody extermination of their<br />
+allies, the ancient <i>ouloss</i> of Feka-Zechorr. The slight<br />
+horses of the Cossacks were unable to support the weight<br />
+of heavy Polish dragoons and a body of trained <i>cameleers</i>   <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were,<br />
+but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight;<br />
+and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days<br />
+to gain their present position had greatly diminished their<br />
+powers for effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, <i>did</i>     <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+escape; and the bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable<br />
+among the Cossacks as that which, about twenty<br />
+days before, had signalized the complete annihilation of<br />
+the Feka-Zechorr.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as yet</span>            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+even far beyond it to the Torgau; but how long this<br />
+state of things would continue was every day more<br />
+doubtful. Certain intelligence was now received that a<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 39</span><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>
+large Russian army, well appointed in every arm, was<br />
+advancing upon the Torgau under the command of<br />
+General Traubenberg. This officer was to be joined on<br />
+his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the          <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+same amount of Kirghises&mdash;both hereditary enemies of<br />
+the Kalmucks&mdash;both exasperated to a point of madness<br />
+by the bloody trophies which Oubacha and Momotbacha<br />
+had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as<br />
+served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands<br />
+by which it had been imposed; and accordingly, catching<br />
+with eagerness at the present occasion offered to their<br />
+vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their<br />
+perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time           <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant<br />
+to execute them&mdash;viz. "that they would not trouble her<br />
+Majesty with prisoners."<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race</span><br />
+for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+concurrently with nations as fierce and semi-humanized<br />
+as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold<br />
+activity by the furies of mortified pride and military<br />
+abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The<br />
+forces, and more especially the artillery, of Russia were         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a regular<br />
+opposition in pitched battles, even with a less dilapidated<br />
+state of their resources than they could reasonably expect<br />
+at the period of their arrival on the Torgau. In their<br />
+speed lay their only hope&mdash;in strength of foot, as before,        <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+and not in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kalmucks<br />
+pressed, marking the lines of their wide-extending<br />
+march over the sad solitudes of the steppes by a never-ending<br />
+chain of corpses. The old and the young, the<br />
+sick man on his couch, the mother with her baby&mdash;all<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 40</span><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>
+were left behind. Sights such as these, with the many<br />
+rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of<br />
+infancy&mdash;of disease and of female weakness abandoned<br />
+to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness&mdash;continued to            <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+track their course through a space of full two thousand<br />
+miles; for so much at the least it was likely to prove,<br />
+including the circuits to which they were often compelled<br />
+by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of starting on<br />
+the Wolga until they could reach their destined halting           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first<br />
+seven weeks of this march their sufferings had been imbittered<br />
+by the excessive severity of the cold; and every<br />
+night&mdash;so long as wood was to be had for fires, either<br />
+from the lading of the camels, or from the desperate sacrifice    <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+of their baggage wagons, or (as occasionally happened)<br />
+from the forests which skirted the banks of the many<br />
+rivers which crossed their path&mdash;no spectacle was more<br />
+frequent than that of a circle, composed of men, women,<br />
+and children, gathered by hundreds round a central fire,          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads<br />
+were left behind from pure exhaustion, of whom none<br />
+had a chance, under the combined evils which beset<br />
+them, of surviving through the next twenty-four hours.<br />
+Frost, however, and snow at length ceased to persecute;           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the vast extent of the march at length brought them into<br />
+more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the<br />
+march was gradually bringing them into more genial<br />
+seasons of the year. Two thousand miles had at least<br />
+been traversed; February, March, April, were gone; the            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and<br />
+sounds came from every side to comfort the heart-weary<br />
+travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, crossing<br />
+the Torgau, they took up a position where they hoped to<br />
+find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 41</span><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>
+as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from<br />
+the fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered<br />
+forces to a condition for executing, with less of wreck<br />
+and ruin, the large remainder of the journey.                      <span class="linenum">5</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Yes; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering</span><br />
+had been completed, but in a period of nearly five<br />
+months, and with the terrific sacrifice of at least two hundred<br />
+and fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and<br />
+flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: ox,            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived&mdash;only<br />
+the camels. These arid and adust creatures, looking<br />
+like the mummies of some antediluvian animals, without<br />
+the affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood&mdash;these<br />
+only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this<br />
+long tempest of trial unscathed and hardly diminished.<br />
+The Khan, knowing how much he was individually<br />
+answerable for the misery which had been sustained,<br />
+must have wept tears even more bitter than those of               <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Xerxes when he threw his eyes over the myriads whom<br />
+he had assembled: for the tears of Xerxes were<br />
+unmingled with compunction. Whatever amends were in<br />
+his power, the Khan resolved to make, by sacrifices to<br />
+the general good of all personal regards; and, accordingly,       <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+even at this point of their advance, he once more deliberately<br />
+brought under review the whole question of the<br />
+revolt. The question was formally debated before the<br />
+Council, whether, even at this point, they should untread<br />
+their steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+mercy, return to their old allegiance. In that case,<br />
+Oubacha professed himself willing to become the scapegoat<br />
+for the general transgression. This, he argued, was<br />
+no fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment;<br />
+for the unlimited and sacred power of the Khan, so well<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 42</span><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>
+known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to<br />
+attribute any separate responsibility to the people. Upon<br />
+the Khan rested the guilt&mdash;upon the Khan would<br />
+descend the imperial vengeance. This proposal was                  <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+applauded for its generosity, but was energetically opposed<br />
+by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole<br />
+journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to<br />
+perish without fruit? True it was that they had yet<br />
+reached only the halfway house; but, in that respect,             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+the motives were evenly balanced for retreat or for<br />
+advance. Either way they would have pretty nearly<br />
+the same distance to traverse, but with this difference&mdash;that,<br />
+forwards, their route lay through lands comparatively<br />
+fertile; backwards, through a blasted wilderness,                 <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+rich only in memorials of their sorrow, and hideous to<br />
+Kalmuck eyes by the trophies of their calamity. Besides,<br />
+though the Empress might accept an excuse for the past,<br />
+would she the less forbear to suspect for the future?<br />
+The Czarina's <i>pardon</i> they might obtain, but could they     <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+ever hope to recover her <i>confidence</i>? Doubtless there<br />
+would now be a standing presumption against them, an<br />
+immortal ground of jealousy; and a jealous government<br />
+would be but another name for a harsh one. Finally,<br />
+whatever motives there ever had been for the revolt               <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+surely remained unimpaired by anything that had occurred.<br />
+In reality the revolt was, after all, no revolt,<br />
+but (strictly speaking) a return to their old allegiance;<br />
+since, not above one hundred and fifty years ago (viz. in<br />
+the year 1616), their ancestors had revolted from the             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments;<br />
+and for them China was the land of promise, and<br />
+Russia the house of bondage.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Spite, however, of all that Zebek could say or do, the</span><br />
+yearning of the people was strongly in behalf of the<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 43</span><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>
+Khan's proposal; the pardon of their prince, they persuaded<br />
+themselves, would be readily conceded by the<br />
+Empress: and there is little doubt that they would at<br />
+this time have thrown themselves gladly upon the imperial          <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+mercy; when suddenly all was defeated by the arrival of<br />
+two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had reached<br />
+the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the<br />
+12th of April; thence he set forward toward Oriembourg,<br />
+which he reached upon the 1st of June, having been                <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+joined on his route at various times through the month<br />
+of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand<br />
+Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official<br />
+offers to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory,<br />
+holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or              <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+impunity, an exacting unconditional submission as the<br />
+preliminary price of any cessation from military operations.<br />
+The personal character of Traubenberg, which<br />
+was anything but energetic, and the condition of his<br />
+army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+severity of the march, made it probable that, with a little<br />
+time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone would have<br />
+been assumed. But, unhappily for all parties, sinister<br />
+events occurred in the meantime such as effectually put<br />
+an end to every hope of the kind.                                 <span class="linenum">25</span><br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had</span><br />
+reported to this officer that a distance of only ten days'<br />
+march lay between his own headquarters and those of<br />
+the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the Kirghises, by<br />
+their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+Russian general to advance without delay. Once having<br />
+placed his cannon in position, so as to command the<br />
+Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his<br />
+people would be in his own hands, and they would<br />
+themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 44</span><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>
+(<i>why</i> has not been certainly explained), refused to<br />
+march; grounding his refusal upon the condition of his<br />
+army and their absolute need of refreshment. Long<br />
+and fierce was the altercation; but at length, seeing no           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other events<br />
+the escape of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bashkirs<br />
+went off in a body by forced marches. In six days<br />
+they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their<br />
+horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+for many a league in search of food or provender for<br />
+their camels. The first day's action was one vast succession<br />
+of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field<br />
+of thirty to forty miles in extent; one party often breaking<br />
+up into three or four, and again (according to the                <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+accidents of ground) three or four blending into one;<br />
+flight and pursuit, rescue and total overthrow, going on<br />
+simultaneously, under all varieties of form, in all<br />
+quarters of the plain. The Bashkirs had found themselves obliged,<br />
+by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up into          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had<br />
+been impossible for the most practised eye to collect the<br />
+general tendency of the day's fortune. Both the Khan<br />
+and Zebek-Dorchi were at one moment made prisoners,<br />
+and more than once in imminent danger of being cut                <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a<br />
+strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the<br />
+camel corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to<br />
+retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued<br />
+to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed<br />
+as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the<br />
+Kalmuck chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight;<br />
+and in this way it happened that a retreat, which had so<br />
+recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at the<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 45</span><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>
+very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipating<br />
+a deep repose, without further molestation, the whole<br />
+summer through.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness</span>                  <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+were predestined to the Kalmucks, and as if their sufferings<br />
+were incomplete unless they were rounded and<br />
+matured by all that the most dreadful agencies of summer's<br />
+heat could superadd to those of frost and winter.<br />
+To this sequel of their story we shall immediately revert,        <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred<br />
+at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled<br />
+cousin, Zebek-Dorchi.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the</span><br />
+Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court              <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+of the Khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought<br />
+necessary to carry along with them as a captive. For<br />
+some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in<br />
+one or two instances cruel; but, as the increasing distance<br />
+was continually diminishing the chances of escape,                <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually<br />
+withdrew their attention from all minor interests to their<br />
+own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody<br />
+grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a<br />
+petition to the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+to liberty; and it was understood that he might use his<br />
+liberty in whatever way he chose; even for returning<br />
+to Russia, if that should be his wish. Accordingly, he<br />
+was making active preparations for his journey to St.<br />
+Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+improbably, in some of the battles which were then anticipated<br />
+with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to<br />
+lose some prisoner of rank,&mdash;in which case the Russian<br />
+Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for negotiating<br />
+an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own severe affliction,<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 46</span><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>
+the Russian was detained until the further pleasure<br />
+of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used<br />
+through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little<br />
+concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private          <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done<br />
+him and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by<br />
+setting him at liberty, and, as it were, tempting him into<br />
+dreams of home and restored happiness only for the purpose<br />
+of blighting them, the good-natured prince disclaimed             <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+all participation in the affair, and went so far in<br />
+proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to<br />
+effect his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing<br />
+it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr.<br />
+Weseloff that he had just then received a message from             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview<br />
+on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out. That<br />
+interview was arranged for the coming night; and Mr.<br />
+Weseloff might go in the Khan's <i>suite</i>, which on either<br />
+side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff was a              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read<br />
+treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by<br />
+the Khan&mdash;treachery against the Khan's person. He<br />
+mused a little, and then communicated so much of his<br />
+suspicions to the Khan as might put him on his guard;             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to<br />
+decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact<br />
+was that three Kalmucks, who had strong motives for<br />
+returning to their countrymen on the west bank of the<br />
+Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered           <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+to join him in his escape. These men the Khan would<br />
+probably find himself obliged to countenance in their<br />
+project, so that it became a point of honor with Weseloff<br />
+to conceal their intentions, and therefore to accomplish<br />
+the evasion from the camp (of which the first steps only<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 47</span><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>
+would be hazardous) without risking the notice of the<br />
+Khan.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The district in which they were now encamped</span><br />
+abounded through many hundred miles with wild horses               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+of a docile and beautiful breed. Each of the four fugitives<br />
+had caught from seven to ten of these spirited<br />
+creatures in the course of the last few days. This<br />
+raised no suspicion, for the rest of the Kalmucks had<br />
+been making the same sort of provision against the coming         <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+toils of their remaining route to China. These horses<br />
+were secured by halters, and hidden about dusk in the<br />
+thickets which lined the margin of the river. To these<br />
+thickets, about ten at night, the four fugitives repaired.<br />
+They took a circuitous path, which drew them as little as         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+possible within danger of challenge from any of the outposts<br />
+or of the patrols which had been established on the<br />
+quarters where the Bashkirs lay; and in three-quarters of<br />
+an hour they reached the rendezvous. The moon had<br />
+now risen, the horses were unfastened; and they were              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the<br />
+woods was disturbed by a violent uproar and the clashing<br />
+of arms. Weseloff fancied that he heard the voice of<br />
+the Khan shouting for assistance. He remembered<br />
+the communication made by that prince in the morning; and,        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in<br />
+the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought<br />
+him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four<br />
+men contending with a party of at least nine or ten.<br />
+Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of            <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+Weseloff's arrival. One of these he recognized almost<br />
+certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand,<br />
+but at great disadvantage, with two of the adverse horsemen.<br />
+Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff fired<br />
+and brought down one of the two. His companions discharged<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 48</span><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>
+their carabines at the same moment; and then all<br />
+rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The<br />
+thundering sound of about thirty horses, all rushing at<br />
+once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assailants,<br />
+who accordingly wheeled about and fled with one<br />
+impulse. Weseloff advanced to the dismounted cavalier,<br />
+who, as he expected, proved to be the Khan. The man<br />
+whom Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were              <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on<br />
+stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize<br />
+a well-known confidential servant of Zebek-Dorchi.<br />
+Nothing was said by either party. The Khan rode off,<br />
+escorted by Weseloff and his companions; and for some             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff<br />
+was delicate and critical. To leave the Khan at this point<br />
+was probably to cancel their recent services; for he might<br />
+be again crossed on his path, and again attacked, by the<br />
+very party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+the other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the<br />
+chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan, also, was<br />
+apparently revolving all this in his mind; for at length he<br />
+broke silence and said: "I comprehend your situation;<br />
+and, under other circumstances, I might feel it my duty to        <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+detain your companions, but it would ill become me to do<br />
+so after the important service you have just rendered me.<br />
+Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you see the<br />
+watch fire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then<br />
+safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for                <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the circumstances under which you will appear as my<br />
+escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for<br />
+the present. I regret having no better means at my disposal<br />
+for testifying my gratitude. But tell me before we<br />
+part&mdash;was it accident only which led you to my rescue?<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 49</span><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>
+Or had you acquired any knowledge of the plot by which<br />
+I was decoyed into this snare?" Weseloff answered very<br />
+candidly that mere accident had brought him to the spot<br />
+at which he heard the uproar; but that, <i>having</i> heard it,    <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+and connecting it with the Khan's communication of the<br />
+morning, he had then designedly gone after the sound in<br />
+a way which he certainly should not have done, at so<br />
+critical a moment, unless in the expectation of finding<br />
+the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after              <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+they reached the outpost at which it became safe to<br />
+leave the Tartar chieftain; and immediately the four<br />
+fugitives commenced a flight which is, perhaps, without a<br />
+parallel in the annals of travelling. Each of them led<br />
+six or seven horses besides the one he rode; and by               <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+shifting from one to the other (like the ancient Desultors<br />
+of the Roman circus), so as never to burden the same<br />
+horse for more than half an hour at a time, they continued<br />
+to advance at the rate of 200 miles in the twenty-four<br />
+hours for three days consecutively. After that time,              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded<br />
+less rapidly; though still with a velocity which staggered<br />
+the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was,<br />
+however, a man of high principle, and always adhered<br />
+firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+circumstances there stated is that they continued to pursue<br />
+the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for<br />
+an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons<br />
+and other memorials of their calamities. In particular,<br />
+he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the                    <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice.<br />
+These heaps were found lying still untouched in<br />
+the deserts. From these Weseloff and his companions<br />
+took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this<br />
+it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which they<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 50</span><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>
+afterward sold at one of the Russian military settlements<br />
+for about &pound;15 apiece, which eventually enabled them to<br />
+pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded<br />
+Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe.      <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+He was at that time young and the only child<br />
+of a doting mother. Her affliction under the violent abduction<br />
+of her son had been excessive, and probably had<br />
+undermined her constitution. Still she had supported it.<br />
+Weseloff, giving way to the natural impulses of his filial        <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his<br />
+mother's house without warning of his approach. He<br />
+rushed precipitately into her presence; and she, who had<br />
+stood the shocks of sorrow, was found unequal to the<br />
+shock of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon              <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+the spot.<br /></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck</span><br />
+flight. These it would be useless to pursue circumstantially<br />
+through the whole two thousand miles of suffering<br />
+which remained; for the character of that suffering was           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+even more monotonous than on the former half of the<br />
+flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were<br />
+excessive heat, with the accompaniments of famine and<br />
+thirst, but aggravated at every step by the murderous<br />
+attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the              <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+Kirghises.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These people, "more fell than anguish, hunger, or</span><br />
+the sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of<br />
+enraged hornets. And very often, while <i>they</i> were<br />
+attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and          <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people<br />
+of the country which they were traversing; and with good<br />
+reason, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged<br />
+the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 51</span><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>
+wherever they passed. In this respect their condition<br />
+was a constant oscillation of wretchedness; for sometimes,<br />
+pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of<br />
+perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land            <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+rich in the comforts of life; but in such a land they were<br />
+sure to find a crowded population, of which every arm<br />
+was raised in unrelenting hostility, with all the advantages<br />
+of local knowledge, and with constant preoccupation of<br />
+all the defensible positions, mountain passes, or bridges.        <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+Sometimes, again, wearied out with this mode of suffering,<br />
+they took a circuit of perhaps a hundred miles, in<br />
+order to strike into a land with few or no inhabitants.<br />
+But in such a land they were sure to meet absolute<br />
+starvation. Then, again, whether with or without this             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+plague of starvation, whether with or without this plague<br />
+of hostility in front, whatever might be the "fierce varieties"<br />
+of their misery in this respect, no rest ever came<br />
+to their unhappy rear; <i>post equitem sedet atra cura</i>: it<br />
+was a torment like the undying worm of conscience.                <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether<br />
+unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and<br />
+personal malignity is not unfrequently immortal; but rare<br />
+indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in<br />
+a nation. And what imbittered the interest was that the           <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+malice was reciprocal. Thus far the parties met upon<br />
+equal terms; but that equality only sharpened the sense<br />
+of their dire inequality as to other circumstances. The<br />
+Bashkirs were ready to fight "from morn till dewy eve."<br />
+The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+run. Was it <i>from</i> their enemies as creatures whom they<br />
+feared? No; but <i>towards</i> their friends&mdash;towards that<br />
+final haven of China&mdash;as what was hourly implored by<br />
+the prayers of their wives and the tears of their children.<br />
+But, though they fled unwillingly, too often they fled in<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 52</span><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>
+vain&mdash;being unwillingly recalled. There lay the torment.<br />
+Every day the Bashkirs fell upon them; every<br />
+day the same unprofitable battle was renewed; as a<br />
+matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged<br />
+for hours, and uniformly with the same result. For, no<br />
+sooner did the Bashkirs find themselves too heavily<br />
+pressed, and that the Kalmuck march had been retarded<br />
+by some hours, than they retired into the boundless               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks<br />
+resolved to press forwards, regardless of their enemies&mdash;in<br />
+that case their attacks became so fierce and<br />
+overwhelming that the general safety seemed likely to be<br />
+brought into question; nor could any effectual remedy             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+be applied to the case, even for each separate day, except<br />
+by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarches<br />
+that, to men in their circumstances, were almost worse<br />
+than death. It will not be surprising that the irritation<br />
+of such a systematic persecution, superadded to a previous,       <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the<br />
+stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all<br />
+effectual vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the<br />
+Kalmuck animosity into the wildest expression of downright<br />
+madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before the                       <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both<br />
+sides had assumed the appearance much more of a<br />
+warfare amongst wild beasts than amongst creatures<br />
+acknowledging the restraints of reason or the claims of a<br />
+common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious; it             <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends.<br /></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771,</span><br />
+Kien Long, the Emperor of China, was pursuing his<br />
+amusements in a wild frontier district lying on the outside<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 53</span><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>
+of the Great Wall. For many hundred square<br />
+leagues the country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich<br />
+in woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of<br />
+every description. In a central spot of this solitary              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting lodge,<br />
+to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief<br />
+from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of<br />
+game, he had rambled to a distance of 200 miles or<br />
+more from his lodge, followed at a little distance by a           <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his<br />
+tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived<br />
+on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br />
+Here he was standing by accident, at an opening of his<br />
+pavilion, enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly            <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+to the westward there arose a vast, cloudy vapor, which<br />
+by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be slowly<br />
+diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By<br />
+and by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken toward<br />
+the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The           <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+Emperor's suite assembled from all quarters; the silver<br />
+trumpets were sounded in the rear; and from all the<br />
+glades and forest avenues began to trot forwards towards<br />
+the pavilion the yagers&mdash;half cavalry, half huntsmen&mdash;who<br />
+composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on                   <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon; and<br />
+the interest continually increased in proportion as simple<br />
+curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain<br />
+danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast<br />
+troops of deer or other wild animals of the chase had<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 54</span><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>
+been disturbed in their forest haunts by the Emperor's<br />
+movements, or possibly by wild beasts prowling for prey,<br />
+and might be fetching a compass by way of re-entering<br />
+the forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from             <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+molestation. But this conjecture was dissipated by the<br />
+slow increase of the cloud and the steadiness of its<br />
+motion. In the course of two hours the vast phenomenon<br />
+had advanced to a point which was judged to be<br />
+within five miles of the spectators, though all calculations      <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, when<br />
+applied to the endless expanses of the Tartar deserts.<br />
+Through the next hour, during which the gentle morning<br />
+breeze had a little freshened, the dusty vapor had developed<br />
+itself far and wide into the appearance of huge                   <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+a&euml;rial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky<br />
+to the earth; and at particular points, where the eddies<br />
+of the breeze acted upon the pendulous skirts of these<br />
+a&euml;rial curtains, rents were perceived, sometimes taking the<br />
+form of regular arches, portals, and windows, through             <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels "indorsed"<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a><br />
+with human beings, and at intervals the moving<br />
+of men and horses in tumultuous array, and then through<br />
+other openings, or vistas, at far-distant points, the flashing<br />
+of polished arms. But sometimes, as the wind slackened            <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+or died away, all those openings, of whatever form,<br />
+in the cloudy pall, would slowly close, and for a time the<br />
+whole pageant was shut up from view; although the<br />
+growing din, the clamors, the shrieks, and groans ascending<br />
+from infuriated myriads, reported, in a language not              <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the<br />
+cloudy screen.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">It was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last</span> <span class="pagenum">Page 55</span><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>
+extremities of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching<br />
+to that final stage of privation and killing misery beyond<br />
+which few or none could have lived, but also, happily for<br />
+themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet<br />
+hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full protection<br />
+from their enemies. These enemies, however, as<br />
+yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever,<br />
+though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous      <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sent forward<br />
+couriers with all the requisite statements and petitions,<br />
+addressed to the Emperor of China. These had been<br />
+duly received, and preparations made in consequence to<br />
+welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence.          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+But as these couriers had been dispatched from<br />
+the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and before<br />
+the advance of Traubenberg had made it necessary<br />
+for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the<br />
+Emperor had not looked for their arrival on his frontiers         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+until full three months after the present time. The Khan<br />
+had, indeed, expressly notified his intention to pass the<br />
+summer heats on the banks of the Torgau, and to recommence<br />
+his retreat about the beginning of September. The<br />
+subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long,             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation<br />
+to be put upon this mighty apparition in the desert:<br />
+but at length the savage clamors of hostile fury and<br />
+clangor of weapons unveiled to the Emperor the true<br />
+nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely    <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+precipitated the Kalmuck measure.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor</span><br />
+instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care<br />
+for these erring children (as he esteemed them), now<br />
+returning to their ancient obedience, must be&mdash;to deliver<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 56</span><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>
+them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult<br />
+than might have been supposed. Not many miles in the<br />
+rear was a body of well-appointed cavalry, with a strong<br />
+detachment of artillery, who always attended the Emperor's         <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+motions. These were hastily summoned. Meantime<br />
+it occurred to the train of courtiers that some danger<br />
+might arise to the Emperor's person from the proximity<br />
+of a lawless enemy, and accordingly he was induced to<br />
+retire a little to the rear. It soon appeared, however, to        <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+those who watched the vapory shroud in the desert, that<br />
+its motion was not such as would argue the direction of<br />
+the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, but rather in<br />
+a diagonal line, making an angle of full 45 degrees with<br />
+that line in which the imperial <i>cort&eacute;ge</i> had been standing, <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+and therefore with a distance continually increasing.<br />
+Those who knew the country judged that the Kalmucks<br />
+were making for a large fresh-water lake about seven or<br />
+eight miles distant. They were right; and to that point<br />
+the imperial cavalry was ordered up; and it was precisely         <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+in that spot, and about three hours after, and at noonday<br />
+on the 8th of September, that the great Exodus of the<br />
+Kalmuck Tartars was brought to a final close, and with a<br />
+scene of such memorable and hellish fury as formed an<br />
+appropriate winding up to an expedition in all its parts          <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not<br />
+personally present, or at least he saw whatever he <i>did</i> see<br />
+from too great a distance to discriminate its individual<br />
+features; but he records in his written memorial the<br />
+report made to him of this scene by some of his own               <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+officers.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi,</span><br />
+lay in a hollow amongst hills of a moderate height, ranging<br />
+generally from two to three thousand feet high. About<br />
+eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the Chinese cavalry<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 57</span><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>
+reached the summit of a road which led through a cradle-like<br />
+dip in the mountains right down upon the margin of<br />
+the lake. From this pass, elevated about two thousand<br />
+feet above the level of the water, they continued to               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an hour<br />
+and a half; and during the whole of this descent they were<br />
+compelled to be inactive spectators of the fiendish spectacle<br />
+below. The Kalmucks, reduced by this time from<br />
+about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred and               <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+sixty thousand, and after enduring for two months and a<br />
+half the miseries we have previously described&mdash;outrageous<br />
+heat, famine, and the destroying scimiter of the<br />
+Kirghises and the Bashkirs&mdash;had for the last ten days<br />
+been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were          <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+seen of vegetation, and no drop of water could be found.<br />
+Camels and men were already so overladen that it was a<br />
+mere impossibility that they should carry a tolerable sufficiency<br />
+for the passage of this frightful wilderness. On<br />
+the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had            <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus, for<br />
+two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst<br />
+had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this<br />
+last morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest<br />
+scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+the neighborhood of the Lake of Tengis, all the people<br />
+rushed along with maddening eagerness to the anticipated<br />
+solace. The day grew hotter and hotter, the people more<br />
+and more exhausted; and gradually, in the general rush<br />
+forward to the lake, all discipline and command were lost&mdash;all    <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+attempts to preserve a rear guard were neglected&mdash;the<br />
+wild Bashkirs rode on amongst the encumbered people<br />
+and slaughtered them by wholesale, and almost<br />
+without resistance. Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed<br />
+the progress of the massacre; but none heeded&mdash;none<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 58</span><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>
+halted; all alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush<br />
+on with maniacal haste to the waters&mdash;all with faces<br />
+blackened by the heat preying upon the liver and with<br />
+tongue drooping from the mouth. The cruel Bashkir was              <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+affected by the same misery, and manifested the same<br />
+symptoms of his misery, as the wretched Kalmuck; the<br />
+murderer was oftentimes in the same frantic misery as his<br />
+murdered victim&mdash;many, indeed (an ordinary effect of<br />
+thirst), in both nations had become lunatic, and in this         <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+state, whilst mere multitude and condensation of bodies<br />
+alone opposed any check to the destroying scimiter and<br />
+the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and to that<br />
+the whole vast body of enemies rushed, and together<br />
+continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment         <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+but of one almighty instinct. This absorption of the<br />
+thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single<br />
+half hour; but in the next arose the final scene of parting<br />
+vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake<br />
+were instantly dyed red with blood and gore: here rode a          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+party of savage Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the<br />
+swaths fall before the mower's scythe; there stood unarmed<br />
+Kalmucks in a death grapple with their detested foes,<br />
+both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking<br />
+together below the surface, from weakness or from                 <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did the<br />
+Bashkirs at any point collect into a cluster for the sake<br />
+of giving impetus to the assault? Thither were the camels<br />
+driven in fiercely by those who rode them, generally<br />
+women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were                <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+forced into a share in this carnival of murder by trampling<br />
+down as many as they could strike prostrate with the<br />
+lash of their fore-legs. Every moment the water grew<br />
+more polluted; and yet every moment fresh myriads came<br />
+up to the lake and rushed in, not able to resist their<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 59</span><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>
+frantic thirst, and swallowing large draughts of water,<br />
+visibly contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered<br />
+compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough<br />
+to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there,        <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly<br />
+fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of death, and the<br />
+fear of death&mdash;revenge, and the lunacy of revenge&mdash;until<br />
+the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a<br />
+few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length       <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed<br />
+incapable of further addition, was, however, increased<br />
+by an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to<br />
+perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese<br />
+cavalry, felt it prudent&mdash;wheresoever they were sufficiently      <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+at leisure from the passions of the murderous<br />
+scene&mdash;to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the<br />
+governor of a small Chinese fort built upon an eminence<br />
+above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside,<br />
+which spread havoc among the Bashkir tribe. As often              <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+as the Bashkirs collected into <i>globes</i> and <i>turms</i> as their<br />
+only means of meeting the long line of descending<br />
+Chinese cavalry, so often did the Chinese governor of the<br />
+fort pour in his exterminating broadside; until at length<br />
+the lake, at its lower end, became one vast seething              <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+caldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese<br />
+cavalry had reached the foot of the hills; the Bashkirs,<br />
+attentive to <i>their</i> movements, had formed; skirmishes had<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">been fought; and, with a quick sense that the contest was</span><br />
+henceforward rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs              <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+and Kirghises began to retire. The pursuit was not as<br />
+vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired.<br />
+But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could<br />
+not but find, in their own dreadful experience of the<br />
+Asiatic deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 60</span><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>
+Bashkirs had to repeat that same experience a second<br />
+time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by a<br />
+retributary Providence for their vindictive cruelty&mdash;not<br />
+the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflecting,       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+but found in all this a retaliatory chastisement more<br />
+complete and absolute than any which their swords and<br />
+lances could have obtained or human vengeance could<br />
+have devised.<br /></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the</span>              <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+Desert; for any subsequent marches which awaited them<br />
+were neither long nor painful. Every possible alleviation<br />
+and refreshment for their exhausted bodies had been<br />
+already provided by Kien Long with the most princely<br />
+munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately        <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+assigned to them in ample extent along the River Ily, not<br />
+very far from the point at which they had first emerged<br />
+from the wilderness of Kobi. But the beneficent attention<br />
+of the Chinese Emperor may be best stated in his own<br />
+words, as translated into French by one of the Jesuit             <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+missionaries: "La nation des Torgotes (<i>savoir les Kalmuques</i>)<br />
+arriva &agrave; Ily, toute delabr&eacute;e, n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi<br />
+se v&ecirc;tir. Je l'avais pr&eacute;vu; et j'avais<br />
+ordonn&eacute; de faire en tout genre les provisions n&eacute;cessaires<br />
+pour pouvoir les secourir promptement: c'est ce qui a &eacute;t&eacute;         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+ex&eacute;cut&eacute;. On a fait la division des terres: et on a assign&eacute;<br />
+&agrave; chaque famille une portion suffisante pour pouvoir servir<br />
+&agrave; son entretien, soit en la cultivant, soit en y nourissant<br />
+des bestiaux. On a donn&eacute; &agrave; chaque particulier des &eacute;toffes<br />
+pour l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir pendant l'&eacute;space      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+d'une ann&eacute;e, des ustensiles pour le m&eacute;nage et d'autres<br />
+choses n&eacute;cessaires: et outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent,<br />
+pour se pourvoir de ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a<br />
+design&eacute; des lieux particuliers, fertiles en p&acirc;turages; et on<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 61</span><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>
+leur a donn&eacute; des boeufs, moutons, etc., pour qu'ils pussent<br />
+dans la suite travailler par eux-m&ecirc;mes &agrave; leur entretien et<br />
+&agrave; leur bien-&ecirc;tre."<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking</span>               <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+in his own person of his own paternal cares; but another<br />
+Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munificence<br />
+of this prince in terms which proclaim still more<br />
+forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and<br />
+the delicate considerateness which conducted, this extensive      <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+bounty. He has been speaking of the Kalmucks,<br />
+and he goes on thus:&mdash;"Lorsqu'ils arriv&egrave;rent sur nos<br />
+fronti&egrave;res (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille,<br />
+quoique la fatigue extr&ecirc;me, la faim, la soif, et toutes les<br />
+autres incommodit&eacute;s ins&eacute;parables d'une tr&egrave;s-longue et             <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+tr&egrave;s-p&eacute;nible route en eussent fait p&eacute;rir presque autant),<br />
+ils &eacute;taient r&eacute;duits &agrave; la derni&egrave;re mis&egrave;re; ils manquaient<br />
+de tout. Il" (viz. l'empereur, Kien Long) "leur fit pr&eacute;parer<br />
+des logemens conformes &agrave; leur mani&egrave;re de vivre;<br />
+il leur fit distribuer des alimens et des habits; il leur fit     <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, pour<br />
+les mettre en &eacute;tat de former des troupeaux et de cultiver<br />
+la terre, et tout cela &agrave; ses propres frais, qui se sont<br />
+mont&eacute;s &agrave; des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent<br />
+qu'il a donn&eacute; &agrave; chaque chef-de-famille, pour pouvoir &agrave; la         <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans."<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks</span><br />
+were replaced in territorial possessions, and in<br />
+comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which<br />
+they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political           <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+advantages. But, if equal or superior, their condition<br />
+was no longer the same; if not in degree, their social<br />
+prosperity had altered in quality; for, instead of being a<br />
+purely pastoral and vagrant people, they were now in<br />
+circumstances which obliged them to become essentially<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 62</span><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>
+dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social<br />
+rank that, by the natural course of their habits and the<br />
+necessities of life, they were effectually reclaimed from<br />
+roving and from the savage customs connected with a half           <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+nomadic life. They gained also in political privileges,<br />
+chiefly through the immunity from military service which<br />
+their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were<br />
+circumstances of advantage and gain. But one great<br />
+disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance all other            <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+possible gain: the chances were lost, or were removed to<br />
+an incalculable distance, for their conversion to Christianity,<br />
+without which in these times there is no absolute<br />
+advance possible on the path of true civilization.<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">One word remains to be said upon the <i>personal</i> interests</span>    <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this<br />
+respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all<br />
+his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, had, since the<br />
+mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his<br />
+mind alienated from his cousin; he revolted from the man          <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his<br />
+caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing<br />
+of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all his dissimulation<br />
+could not hide. This had produced a feud, which,<br />
+by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of             <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more<br />
+fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on the<br />
+Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came under<br />
+the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which<br />
+all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting      <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately<br />
+of all the particulars connected with the transaction&mdash;of<br />
+all the rights and claims put forward&mdash;and of the<br />
+way in which they would severally affect the interests of<br />
+the Kalmuck people. The consequence was that he<br /><span class="pagenum">Page 63</span><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>
+adopted the cause of Oubacha, and repressed the pretensions<br />
+of Zebek-Dorchi, who, on his part, so deeply<br />
+resented this discountenance to his ambitious projects<br />
+that, in conjunction with other chiefs, he had the presumption     <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor<br />
+himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled;<br />
+counter-plots were constructed upon the same basis,<br />
+and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered.<br />
+Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge,          <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+together with all his accomplices; and, under the skilful<br />
+management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's<br />
+establishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar<br />
+chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves, and the<br />
+whole of them perished by assassination at a great imperial       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+banquet. For the Chinese morality is exactly of<br />
+that kind which approves in everything the <i>lex talionis</i>:<br /></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">"... Lex nec justior ulla est [as <i>they</i> think]</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Quam necis artifices arte perire sua."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of</span>       <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+the great Tartar Exodus. Oubacha, meantime, and his<br />
+people were gradually recovering from the effects of their<br />
+misery, and repairing their losses. Peace and prosperity,<br />
+under the gentle rule of a fatherly lord paramount,<br />
+redawned upon the tribes: their household <i>lares</i>, after so       <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a<br />
+happy reinstatement in what had, in fact, been their<br />
+primitive abodes: they found themselves settled in quiet<br />
+sylvan scenes, rich in all the luxuries of life, and endowed<br />
+with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from       <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the hills of this favored land, and even from the level<br />
+grounds as they approach its western border, they still<br />
+look out upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld <span class="pagenum">Page 64</span><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a><br />
+a nation in agony&mdash;the utter extirpation of nearly half a<br />
+million from amongst its numbers, and for the remainder<br />
+a storm of misery so fierce that in the end (as happened<br />
+also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+form of misery) very many lost their memory; all<br />
+records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge<br />
+&mdash;utterly erased and cancelled: and many others lost<br />
+their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy,<br />
+some in a more restless form of feverish delirium          <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of<br />
+tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy.<br />
+Two great commemorative monuments arose in after<br />
+years to mark the depth and permanence of the awe&mdash;<br />
+the sacred and reverential grief, with which all persons<br />
+looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+year of the tiger&mdash;all who had either personally shared<br />
+in those calamities and had themselves drunk from that<br />
+cup of sorrow, or who had effectually been made witnesses<br />
+to their results and associated with their relief: two great<br />
+monuments; one embodied in the religious solemnity,       <span class="linenum">20</span><br />
+enjoined by the Dalai-Lama, called in the Tartar language<br />
+a <i>Romanang</i>&mdash;that is, a national commemoration, with<br />
+music the most rich and solemn, of all the souls who<br />
+departed to the rest of Paradise from the afflictions of the<br />
+Desert (this took place about six years after the arrival       <span class="linenum">25</span><br />
+in China); secondly, another, more durable, and more<br />
+commensurate to the scale of the calamity and to the<br />
+grandeur of this national Exodus, in the mighty columns<br />
+of granite and brass erected by the Emperor, Kien Long,<br />
+near the banks of the Ily. These columns stand upon       <span class="linenum">30</span><br />
+the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but<br />
+emphatic inscription<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> to the following effect:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum">Page 65</span><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a></p>
+<div class="center" style="width: 75%; margin-right: 25%;">
+By the Will of God,<br />
+Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts,<br />
+Which from this point begin and stretch away,<br />
+Pathless, treeless, waterless,<br />
+For thousands of miles, and along the margins of many mighty       <span class="linenum">5</span><br />
+Nations,<br />
+Rested from their labors and from great afflictions<br />
+Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall,<br />
+And by the favor of <span class="smcap">Kien Long</span>, God's Lieutenant upon Earth,<br />
+The ancient Children of the Wilderness&mdash;the Torgote Tartars&mdash;       <span class="linenum">10</span><br />
+Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar,<br />
+Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire<br />
+in the year 1616,<br />
+But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow,<br />
+Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd.       <span class="linenum">15</span><br />
+Hallowed be the spot<br />
+and<br />
+Hallowed be the day&mdash;September 8, 1771!<br />
+Amen.<br />
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3><br />
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5">
+<span class="label">[5]</span></a>Singular it is, and not generally known, that
+Grecian women accompanied the <i>anabasis</i> of the younger
+Cyrus and the subsequent retreat of the Ten Thousand.
+Xenophon affirms that there were
+"many" women in the Greek army&mdash;pollai &ecirc;san etairai en t&ocirc;
+strateumati; and in a late stage of that trying expedition it is evident
+that women were amongst the survivors.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6">
+<span class="label">[6]</span></a> "Trashed." This is an expressive word used by Beaumont and
+Fletcher in their "Bonduca," etc., to describe the case of a person
+retarded or embarrassed in flight, or in pursuit, by some encumbrance,
+whether thing or person, too valuable to be left behind.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7">
+<span class="label">[7]</span></a> There was another <i>ouloss</i> equally strong with that
+of Feka-Zechorr, viz. that of Erketunn 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 Governor of Astrachan, on the
+first outbreak of the insurrection, that their real wishes were for
+maintaining the old connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore,
+to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had instructions to act
+cautiously 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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8">
+<span class="label">[8]</span></a> 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.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9">
+<span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Camels</i> "<i>indorsed</i>" "and elephants indorsed with towers."&mdash;MILTON
+in <i>Paradise Regained</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a>
+<a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+This inscription has been slightly altered in one or two
+phrases, and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the
+Emperor's expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China
+and the retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the
+designation adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon
+some confusion between him and the Byzantine C&aelig;sars, as though the
+former, being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in
+part the same longitudes, though in different latitudes), might be
+considered as his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the
+Greek form of Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and
+Church.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
+<span class="pagenum">Page 66</span><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>
+<p class="figcenter"><a href="./images/map.png"><img src="./images/map.png" width="100%" border="0" alt="ROUTE OF THE TARTARS IN THEIR FLIGHT"
+title="ROUTE OF THE TARTARS IN THEIR FLIGHT" /></a></p><p class="figcenter"><span class="smcap">Route Of The Tartars In Their Flight.
+</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a><hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="pagenum">Page 67</span><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>
+<h2>NOTES.</h2>
+
+<hr style='width: 5%;' />
+
+<h3>THE ORIGINAL SOURCES.</h3>
+
+<br />
+
+<p>In Professor Masson's edition of De Quincey, Vol. VII, p. 8, is the
+following discussion of the author's original sources:</p>
+
+<p>"A word or two on De Quincey's authorities for his splendid sketch
+called <i>The Revolt of the Tartars</i>:&mdash;One authority was a famous
+Chinese state-paper purporting to have been composed by the Chinese
+Emperor, Kien Long himself (1735&mdash;1796), of which a French
+translation, with the title <i>Monument de la Transmigration des
+Tourgouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans l'Empire de la Chine</i>,
+had been published in 1776 by the French Jesuit missionaries of Pekin,
+in the first volume of their great collection of <i>M&eacute;moires concernant
+les Chinois</i>. The account there given of so remarkable an event of
+recent Asiatic history as the migration from Russia to China of a
+whole population 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 fastened on the same document as
+supplying him with an admirable theme for literary treatment.
+Explaining this some time ago, while editing his <i>Revolt of the
+Tartars</i> for a set of Selections from his Writings, I had to add 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,&mdash;De Quincey having had a
+habit of secretiveness in such matters; but since then an incidental
+reference of his own, in his <i>Homer and the Homerid&aelig;</i>,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> has given
+me the clue. 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 traveller,
+Benjamin Bergmann, whose <i>Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalm&uuml;ken
+in den Jahren 1802 und 1803</i> came forth from a Riga press, in four
+parts or volumes, in 1804-1805. The book consists of a series of
+letters <span class="pagenum">Page 68</span><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>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,&mdash;one of
+these occupying 106 pages, and entitled <i>Versuch zur Geschichte der
+Kalm&uuml;kenflucht von der Wolga</i> ("Essay on the History of the Flight of
+the Kalmucks from the Volga"). A French translation of the Letters,
+with this particular Essay included, appeared in 1825 under the title
+<i>Voyage de Benjamin Bergmann chez les Kalm&uuml;ks: Traduit de l'Allemand
+par M. Moris, Membre de la Soci&eacute;t&eacute; Asiatique</i>. 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 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 historiographic summary or record, inasmuch as it would be
+most effectively treated, even for the purpose of real history, if
+thrown into the form of an epic or romance. Accordingly he takes
+liberties with his authorities, deviating from them now and then, and
+even once or twice introducing incidents not reconcilable with either
+of them, if not irreconcilable also with historical and geographical
+possibility. Hence one may doubt sometimes whether what one is reading
+is to be regarded as history or as invention. On this 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 the 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 version of
+any such historical episode in all Gibbon, and possibly nothing truer
+essentially, after all, to the substance of the facts as they actually
+happened."</p>
+
+<p>Professor Masson's Appended Editorial Note on the Chinese Accounts of
+the Migration (Vol. VII, pp. 422-6):</p>
+
+<p>"As has been mentioned in the Preface, these appeared, in translated
+form, in 1776, in Vol. I of the great collection of <i>M&eacute;moires
+concernant <span class="pagenum">Page 69</span><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>les Chinois</i>, published at Paris by the enterprise of the
+French Jesuit missionaries at Pekin. The most important of them, under
+the title <i>Monument de la Transmigration des Tourgouths des Bords de
+la Mer Caspienne dans l'Empire de la Chine</i>, 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 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
+(1661-1721); 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 annexation 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 re-settlement 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 several
+generations. With this explanation the following sentences from Kien
+Long's Memoir, containing all its historical substance, will be fully
+intelligible:</p>
+
+<p>"'All those who at present compose the nation of the Torgouths,
+unaffrighted 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
+<i>lys</i>, 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 Torgouths 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 would be difficult to explain their
+common origin, respecting which indeed there is no very 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 <span class="pagenum">Page 70</span><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>subdued the others, and continued till the time of Kang Hi
+to exercise this usurped pre-eminence over them. Ts&eacute;-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 withdrawing himself
+forever from the domination of the Eleuths. He took secret measures
+for securing the 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].... Oubach&eacute;, the present Khan of the
+Torgouths, is the youngest grandson of Ayouki. The Russians never
+ceasing to require him to furnish soldiers for incorporation into
+their armies, and having at last carried off 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,
+Oubach&eacute; and his people at last determined 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 Palkach&eacute;-nor and the adjacent
+deserts; and, about the end of the sixth month of this year [in
+August, 1771], after having passed over more than ten thousand <i>lys</i>
+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 refugees. Chouh&eacute;d&eacute;, one of the councillors of the general, was at
+Ouch&eacute;, 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 <span class="pagenum">Page 71</span><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>Chouh&eacute;d&eacute; to raise
+small forts and redoubts at the most important points, and to cause
+all the passes to be carefully guarded; and I enjoined on him the duty
+of himself getting ready the necessary provisions of every kind inside
+these defences.... The Torgouths arrived, and on arriving found
+lodgings ready, means of sustenance, and all the conveniences they
+could have found in 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 G&eacute;-hol. There I gave them a
+ceremonial banquet and made them the customary presents.... It was at
+this G&eacute;-hol, in those charming parts where Kang Hi, my grandfather,
+made himself an abode to which he could 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
+beyond 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&mdash;who could
+have predicted it?&mdash;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 separated itself from the
+trunk, those Torgouths who had voluntarily 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 G&eacute;-hol, not far from the venerable spot
+where my grandfather's ashes repose, that I have the opportunity,
+which I never sought, of admitting them solemnly into the number of my
+subjects.'</p>
+
+<p>"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 at p.
+417. 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
+<span class="pagenum">Page 72</span><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>the task of seeing the narrative properly preserved in four languages
+in a monumental form. It is from this Chinese comment on the Imperial
+Memoir that there is the extract at p. 418 as to the miserable
+condition of the fugitives.</p>
+
+<p>"On a comparison of De Quincey's splendid paper with the Chinese
+documents, several discrepancies present themselves; the most
+important of which perhaps are these:&mdash;(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 expedition
+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, Chouh&eacute;d&eacute;; 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 G&eacute;-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 monument, are not
+in accord with the Chinese statements respecting 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 magnificent <i>miao</i>, in honor of the reunion of all the
+followers of Fo in one and the same worship; it had just been
+completed when Oubach&eacute; and the other princes of his nation arrived at
+G&eacute;-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 <i>miao</i> a monument which should fix the epoch of the
+event and attest its authenticity; he himself composed the words for
+<span class="pagenum">Page 73</span><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>the monument and wrote the characters with his own hand. How small
+the number of persons that will have an opportunity 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 who have 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 Oubach&eacute;. 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 Oubach&eacute;, was Khan of the
+Torgouths, and induced them to part company with their overbearing
+kinsmen the Eleuths, and seek refuge within the Russian territories 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 than seventy years' in their Russian
+settlements when Oubach&eacute; brought them back. This would refer us to
+about 1700, or, at farthest, to between 1690 and 1700, for the
+secession under Ayouki.</p>
+
+<p>"The discrepancies are partly explained by the fact that De Quincey
+followed Bergmann's account,&mdash;which account differs avowedly in some
+particulars from that of the Chinese memoirs. In Bergmann I find the
+original secession of the ancestors of Oubach&eacute;'s Kalmuck horde from
+China to Russia <i>is</i> pushed back to 1616, just as in De Quincey. But,
+though De Quincey keeps by Bergmann 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,&mdash;the
+incident of their thirst-maddened rush into the waters of Lake Tengis,
+and their wallow there in bloody struggle with their Bashkir
+pursuers,&mdash;has no basis in Bergmann larger than a few slight and
+rather matter-of-fact sentences. As Bergmann himself 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, however, is that he did nothing
+<span class="pagenum">Page 74</span><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>of the sort, but deputed any necessary increment of his Bergmann
+materials to his own lively imagination."</p><a name="EXPLANATORY" id="EXPLANATORY"></a>
+
+<p>1 1. The first three paragraphs of the essay, comprising the formal
+introduction, are intentionally rather more picturesque and vivacious
+in style than the ordinary narrative that follows. If these paragraphs
+be read consecutively aloud, the student will surely feel the sweep
+and power of De Quincey's eloquence. Attention may well be directed to
+the author's own apparent interest in his subject because of its
+appeal to the <i>imagination</i> (p. 1, l. 4), of the <i>romantic
+circumstances</i> (p. 1, l. 11), of its <i>dramatic capabilities</i> (p. 2, l.
+8), of its <i>scenical situations</i> (p. 3, l. 8). Throughout the essay
+effort should be made to excite appreciation of the significance of
+words, and De Quincey's mastery in the use of words may be continually
+illustrated. In paragraph 1, note the fitness of the word <i>velocity</i>
+(l. 12) and the appropriateness of the epithets in <i>almighty
+instincts</i> (l. 17), <i>life-withering marches</i> (l. 18), <i>gloomy
+vengeance</i> (l. 19), <i>volleying thunders</i> (p. 2, l. 1).</p>
+
+<p>1 5. <b>Tartar.</b> Originally applied to certain tribes in Chinese
+Tartary, but here used for Mongolian. Look up etymology and trace
+relation of the word to <i>Turk</i>.&mdash;<b>steppes</b>. A Russian word indicating
+large areas more or less level and devoid of forests; these regions
+are often similar in character to the American prairie, and are used
+for pasturage.</p>
+
+<p>1 6,7. <b>terminus a quo, terminus ad quem.</b> The use of phrases quoted
+from classic sources is frequent in De Quincey's writings. Note such
+phrases as they occur, also foreign words. Is their use to be
+justified?</p>
+
+<p>1 18. <b>leeming.</b> The lemming, or leming. A rodent quadruped. "It is
+very prolific, and vast hordes periodically migrate down to the sea,
+destroying much vegetation in their path."&mdash;<i>Century Dictionary</i>.</p>
+
+<p>1 22. <b>Miltonic images.</b> "Miltonic" here characterizes not only images
+used by Milton, but images suggestive of his as well. Yet compare:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Or from above</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Should intermitted vengeance arm again</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">His red right hand to plague us?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">&mdash;<i>Paradise Lost</i>, II, 172-4.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Or, with solitary hand</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Unaided could have finished thee.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 14em;">&mdash;<i>Paradise Lost</i>, VI, 139-41.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>2 12. <b>sanctions.</b> The word here means not permission, nor recognition
+merely, but the avowal of something as sacred, hence obligatory; a
+thing ordained.</p>
+
+<p>2 13,14. <b>a triple character.</b> De Quincey is fond of thus analyzing <span class="pagenum">Page 75</span><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>
+the facts he has to state. Notice how this method of statement, marked
+by "1st," "2dly," "3dly," contributes to the clearness of the
+paragraph.</p>
+
+<p>2 17. <b>"Venice Preserved."</b> A tragedy by Thomas Otway, one of the
+Elizabethan dramatists (1682).&mdash;<b>"Fiesco."</b> A tragedy by the great
+German dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1783), the full title of which is
+<i>The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>2 22. <b>Cambyses,</b> the Third (529-522 B.C.). He was king of Persia and
+led an expedition into Ethiopia, which ended disastrously for him.</p>
+
+<p>2 23. <b>anabasis.</b> The word itself means "a march up" into the
+interior.&mdash;<b>katabasis</b> (l. 28) means "a march down,"&mdash;in this case the
+retreat of the Greeks. The <i>Anabasis</i> of the Greek historian Xenophon
+is the account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against
+Artaxerxes, which ended with the death of Cyrus at the battle of
+Cunaxa (401 B.C.).</p>
+
+<p>2 25. <b>Crassus.</b> A Roman general who led an army into Parthia (or
+Persia) (54 B.C.). He was defeated and put to death by
+torture.&mdash;<b>Julian</b> (l. 26), the Apostate, lost his life while invading
+Persia (363 A.D.).</p>
+
+<p>2 28. <b>the Russian anabasis,</b> etc. The historic invasion of Russia by
+the armies of Napoleon in 1812, followed by the terrible retreat from
+Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>3 3. <b>This triple character,</b> etc. Note this method of making clear
+the connection between paragraphs. Make close study of these
+paragraphs; analyze their structure. Compare the manner of introducing
+subsequent paragraphs.</p>
+
+<p>3 14. <b>Wolga.</b> The German spelling. The Volga is the longest river in
+Europe. It is difficult to locate with certainty all the points here
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>3 16. <b>Koulagina</b> was a fort somewhere on the Ural river; perhaps to
+be identified with Kulaschinskaja, or Kologinskaia.</p>
+
+<p>3 17. <b>Cossacks.</b> A people of mixed origin, but of Russian rather than
+Tartar stock. There are two branches, the Ukraine and the Don
+Cossacks. This people is first heard of in the tenth century. The
+title of the leader was <i>Hetman</i>; the office was elective and the
+government was democratic. The Cossacks have been noted always as
+fierce fighters and are valuable subjects of the czar. The <i>Bashkirs</i>
+(l. 18) are Mongolians and nomadic in their habits.</p>
+
+<p>3 18. <b>Ouchim</b> was evidently a mountain pass in the Ural range
+(compare p. 37, l. 18).</p>
+
+<p>3 19. <b>Torgau</b>, spelled also <i>Torgai</i> by De Quincey, though elsewhere <span class="pagenum">Page 76</span><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>
+<i>Turgai</i>, indicates a district east of the Ural mountains; it is also
+the name of the principal city of that district.</p>
+
+<p>3 20. <b>Khan.</b> A Tartar title meaning chief or governor.</p>
+
+<p>3 22. <b>Lake of Tengis.</b> Lake Balkash is meant. Compare p. 56, l. 18,
+and note thereon.</p>
+
+<p>3 23. <b>Zebek-Dorchi.</b> One of the principal characters in the following
+narrative.</p>
+
+<p>3 32. <b>Kalmucks.</b> A branch of the Mongolian family of peoples, divided
+into four tribes, and dwelling in the Chinese Empire, western Siberia,
+and southeastern Russia. They were nomads, adherents of a form of
+Buddhism, and number over 200,000.&mdash;<i>Century Cyclopedia of Names.</i></p>
+
+<p>4 12. <b>exasperated.</b> As an illustration of the discriminating use of
+words, explain the difference in meaning of <i>exasperated</i> and
+<i>irritated</i> (l. 19); also point out the fitness of the word <i>inflated</i>
+in the phrase (l. 13).</p>
+
+<p>5 23. <b>rival.</b> Why "<i>almost</i> a competitor"? What is the meaning of
+each word?</p>
+
+<p>5 32. <b>odius.</b> Is there any gain in force by adding <i>repulsive</i>?</p>
+
+<p>6 5. <b>Machiavelian.</b> Destitute of political morality. A term derived
+from the name of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman and writer
+(1469-1527), who, in a treatise on government entitled "The Prince,"
+advocated, or was interpreted to advocate, the disregard of moral
+principle in the maintenance of authority. In this sentence
+discriminate between the apparent synonyms <i>dissimulation</i>,
+<i>hypocrisy</i>, <i>perfidy</i>.</p>
+
+<p>6 15. <b>Elizabeth Petrowna.</b> Daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine
+I. Empress of Russia 1741-1762.</p>
+
+<p>6 28. <b>Tcherkask.</b> An important city of the Cossacks, near the mouth
+of the Don.&mdash;<b>tents.</b> A common method of counting families among
+nomads. What figure of speech does this illustrate?</p>
+
+<p>7 25. <b>roubles.</b> A rouble is the Russian unit of value, worth
+seventy-seven cents. The word is etymologically connected with the
+Indian <i>rupee</i>.</p>
+
+<p>7 28. <b>Thus far,</b> etc. Notice the care with which De Quincey analyzes
+the situation.</p>
+
+<p>8 19. <b>mercenary.</b> Look up origin of the word. How is it appropriate
+here?</p>
+
+<p>8 29. <b>romantic.</b> What are the qualities indicated by this adjective?
+How did the word, derived from <i>Roman</i>, get its present significance?</p>
+
+<p>8 34. <b>A triple vengeance.</b> Compare with the similar analysis p. 2, l.
+13.</p>
+
+<p>9 11. <b>behemoth</b>. A Hebrew word meaning "great beast." It was <span class="pagenum">Page 77</span><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>
+used probably of the hippopotamus. See <i>Job</i>, xl, 15-24. In the work
+by Bergmann, which furnished De Quincey with much of his material, the
+figure used is that of a giant and a dwarf.&mdash;Muscovy. An old name of
+Russia, derived from Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>9 13. <b>"lion ramp."</b> Quoted from Milton:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;">The bold Ascalonite</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Fled from his lion ramp.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">&mdash;<i>Samson Agonistes</i>, 139.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Baptized and infidel</i>" and "<i>barbaric East</i>" are also borrowings
+from Milton.</p>
+
+<p>9 16. <b>unnumbered numbers.</b> Notice how effectively in this and the
+following sentences De Quincey utilizes <i>suggested</i> words: <i>monstrous,
+monstrosity</i>; <i>hopelessness, hope</i>.</p>
+
+<p>9 22. <b>fable.</b> Here used for plot; the idea being that the story of
+the Revolt has all the compactness and unity of design to be found in
+the plot of a classic tragedy, which could admit the introduction of
+no external incidents or episodes to confuse the thread of the main
+action.</p>
+
+<p>10 8. <b>translation.</b> Note the etymology of this word, which is here
+used in its literal sense.</p>
+
+<p>10 17. <b>But what</b>, etc. See with what art, as well as with what
+evident interest, De Quincey catches the very spirit of the plot. How
+does the interrogation add strength?</p>
+
+<p>10 25, 26. <b>Kien Long.</b> "Emperor of China from 1735 to 1796, was the
+fourth Chinese emperor of the Mantchoo-Tartar dynasty, and a man of
+the highest reputation for ability and accomplishment."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>10 28. <b>religion.</b> Lamaism. "A corrupted form of Buddhism prevailing
+in Tibet and Mongolia, which combines the ethical and metaphysical
+ideas of Buddhism with an organized hierarchy under two semi-political
+sovereign pontiffs, an elaborate ritual, and the worship of a host of
+deities and saints."&mdash;<i>Century Dictionary</i>.</p>
+
+<p>10 29. <b>Chinese Wall.</b> This famous wall was built for defence against
+the northern Mongols in the third century. It is 1400 miles in length
+and of varying height. In what sense is the phrase used figuratively?</p>
+
+<p>11 17. <b>great Lama.</b> "Lama, a celibate priest or ecclesiastic
+belonging to that variety of Buddhism known as Lamaism. There are
+several grades of lamas, both male and female. The dalai-lama and the
+tesho-or bogdo-lama are regarded as supreme pontiffs. They are of
+equal <span class="pagenum">Page 78</span><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>authority in their respective territories, but the former is
+much the more important, and is known to Europeans as the Grand
+Lama,"&mdash;<i>Century Dictionary.</i></p>
+
+<p>The Dalai-Lama (p. 12, l. 11) resides at Lassa in Tibet.</p>
+
+<p>12 34. <b>With respect to the month.</b> Notice the extreme care with which
+the author develops the following details, and the touch of sympathy
+with which this paragraph closes.</p>
+
+<p>13 28. <b>war raged.</b> "The war was begun in 1768 when Mustapha III. was
+Sultan of Turkey; and it was continued till 1774."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>13 33. <b>Human experience</b>, etc. It is a favorite device of this writer
+to develop a concrete fact into an abstraction of general application.
+Do you believe that this is true? Can you give any illustration?</p>
+
+<p>15 1. <b>a pitched battle.</b> "It will be difficult, I think, to find
+record, in the history of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768, of any battle
+answering to this."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>15 10. <b>Paladins.</b> A term used especially to designate the famous
+knightly champions who served the Frankish Charlemagne. Look up the
+etymology of the word and trace its present meaning.</p>
+
+<p>15 24. <b>ukase.</b> "An edict or order, legislative or administrative,
+emanating from the Russian government."&mdash;<i>Century Dictionary</i>.</p>
+
+<p>16 9. <b>mummeries.</b> Find the original meaning of this word.</p>
+
+<p>16 22. <b>Catharine II.</b> "Elizabeth had been succeeded in 1762 by her
+nephew Peter III., who had reigned but a few months when he was
+dethroned by a conspiracy of Russian nobles headed by his German wife
+Catharine. She became Empress in his stead, and reigned from 1762 to
+1796 as Catharine II."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>17 10. <b>doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption.</b> Note the
+additional force given to the nouns by the adjectives.</p>
+
+<p>17 18. <b>Weseloff.</b> This gentleman is referred to again at more length
+in pages 45-50.</p>
+
+<p>17 31. <b>sanctions.</b> Compare the note on p. 2, l. 12. The sense in
+which the word is used justifies the use of <i>violate</i> in the next
+line.</p>
+
+<p>18 24. <b>first of all.</b> Again see how, by use of this phrase, followed
+later by <i>secondly</i>, <i>thirdly,</i> etc., De Quincey gains greater
+clearness for his various points.</p>
+
+<p>19 29. <b>But the time</b>, etc. Here is the first general division point
+in the main narrative. The genesis of the plot has been described; now
+follow the active preliminaries to the flight.</p>
+
+<p>19 33. <b>one vast conflagration.</b> Compare the account, p. 25.</p>
+
+<p>20 12, 13. <b>But where or how</b>, etc. Note again the effective use of
+interrogation. How does it stimulate interest?</p>
+
+<p>20 17. <b>Kirghises.</b> The spelling <i>Kirghiz</i> is more familiar. Like the
+  <span class="pagenum">Page 79</span><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>Bashkirs, nomads of
+the Mongolian-Tartar race, perhaps the least civilized of those
+inhabiting the steppes.</p>
+
+<p>20 26. <i>rhetoric.</i> In what sense used here? Is this use correct?</p>
+
+<p>21 5. <i>Sarepta.</i> Locate this town; it is on a small river that empties
+into the Volga. "The point of the reference to this particular town is
+that it was a colony of industrious Germans, having been founded in
+1764 or 1765 by the Moravian Brothers."&mdash;BALDWIN.</p>
+
+<p>22 11. <b>Temba.</b> The Jemba.</p>
+
+<p>22 28. <b>Kichinskoi.</b> Notice the vividness of the character portrait
+that follows; compare it with the portraitures of Zebek and Oubacha
+previously given.</p>
+
+<p>23 1. <b>surveillant.</b> Here used for watchman or spy. What derivatives
+have we from this French expression?</p>
+
+<p>23 34. <b>Christmas arrived.</b> Another division point in the analysis.</p>
+
+<p>24 5. <b>Astrachan.</b> Also spelled <i>Astrakhan</i>. The name of a large and
+somewhat barren district comprising more than 90,000 square miles of
+territory in southeastern Europe; its capital city, having the same
+name, is situated on the Volga near its mouth.</p>
+
+<p>24 26. <b>at the rate of 300 miles a day.</b> By no means an incredible
+speed; in Russia such sledge flights are not uncommon. Compare what De
+Quincey has to say of the glory of motion in <i>The English
+Mail-Coach</i>,&mdash;"running at the least twelve miles an hour."</p>
+
+<p>25 26. <b>malignant counsels.</b> What is the full effect of this epithet?</p>
+
+<p>26 10. <b>valedictory vengeance.</b> Note again the force of the epithet.</p>
+
+<p>26 28. <b>aggravate.</b> What is the literal significance of this word? As
+synonymous with what words is it often incorrectly used?</p>
+
+<p>28 11. <b>For now began to unroll.</b> Does this paragraph constitute a
+digression, or is it a useful amplification of the narrative? Does De
+Quincey exaggerate when he terms these experiences of the Tartars "the
+most awful series of calamities anywhere recorded"?</p>
+
+<p>28 14. <b>sudden inroads.</b> "The inroads of the Huns into Europe extended
+from the third century into the fifth; those of the Avars from the
+sixth century to the eighth or ninth; the first great conquests of the
+Mongol Tartars were by Genghis-Khan, the founder of a Mongol empire
+which stretched, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, from
+China to Poland."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>28 18. <b>volleying lightning.</b> Compare p. 2, l. 1, where De Quincey
+uses a somewhat similar phrase. Why is the phrase varied, do you
+suppose?</p>
+
+<p>28 21. <b>the French retreat.</b> It would be interesting to <span class="pagenum">Page 80</span><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>
+compare the incidents and figures of this retreat, as furnished by
+biographers and historians. Sloane's <i>Life of Napoleon</i> is a recent
+authority.</p>
+
+<p>28 26. <b>vials of wrath.</b> Compare <i>Revelation</i>, xv, 7, and xvi, 1. If
+De Quincey had used the Revised Version he would have written <i>bowls</i>
+instead of <i>vials</i>. Such borrowings of phrase or incident are called
+"allusions." Make a list of the scriptural allusions found in the
+essay,&mdash;of those suggested by Milton.</p>
+
+<p>29 16. <b>Earthquakes.</b> "De Quincey here refers to such destructive
+shocks as that which occurred at Sparta, 464 B.C., in which, according
+to Thirlwall, 20,000 persons perished; that which Gibbon speaks of
+during the reign of Valentinian, 365 A.D., in which 50,000 persons
+lost their lives at Alexandria alone; that in the reign of Justinian,
+526 A.D., in which 250,000 persons were crushed by falling walls;
+others in Jamaica, 1692 A.D.; at Lisbon, 1755 A.D., with loss of
+30,000 lives; and in Venezuela, 1812 A.D., when Caraccas was
+destroyed, and 20,000 souls perished."&mdash;WAUCHOPE.</p>
+
+<p>29 20. <b>pestilence.</b> Described by Thucydides; see also Grote's
+<i>History of Greece</i>, Chap. XLIX. Of the great plague of London (1665)
+the most realistic description is Defoe's <i>Journal of the Plague
+Year</i>.</p>
+
+<p>29 28. <b>The siege of Jerusalem.</b> Read Josephus, <i>The Jewish War</i>, Bks.
+V and VI.</p>
+
+<p>29 31. <b>exasperation.</b> Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.</p>
+
+<p>30 3, 4. <b>even of maternal love.</b> The reference is to an incident
+mentioned by Josephus (<i>The Jewish War</i>, Bk. VI, Chap. III), in which
+a mother is described as driven by the stress of famine to kill and
+devour her own child.</p>
+
+<p>30 5. <b>romantic misery.</b> How <i>romantic</i>? Compare this phrase with
+similar uses of the word <i>romantic</i>.</p>
+
+<p>30 10. <b>River Jaik.</b> The Ural.</p>
+
+<p>30 33. <b>scenical propriety.</b> Compare the statement with similar ones
+made by the author elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>31 11. <b>decrement.</b> Compare with its positive correspondent,
+<i>increment</i>.</p>
+
+<p>31 20. <b>acharnement.</b> Fury.</p>
+
+<p>31 26. <b>The first stage</b>, etc. A time mark in the essay.</p>
+
+<p>32 10. <b>liable.</b> Another instance of a word often misused, correctly
+employed in the text. Compare note on <i>aggravate</i>, p. 26, l. 28.</p>
+
+<p>32 23. <b>Bactrian camels.</b> There are two species of camel, the
+dromedary, single humped, and the Bactrian, with two humps. The former
+is native to Arabia, the latter to central Asia. The dromedary is the
+<span class="pagenum">Page 81</span><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>swifter of the two. <i>Bactria</i> is the ancient name of that district
+now called Balkh, in Afghanistan.</p>
+
+<p>33 7. <b>evasion.</b> Compare with its positive correspondent <i>invasion</i>;
+compare <i>decrement</i>, p. 31, l. 11.</p>
+
+<p>34 8. <b>champaign savannas.</b> Both words mean about the same, an open,
+treeless country, nearly level. What is the linguistic source of both
+words?</p>
+
+<p>37 19. <b>hills of Moulgaldchares.</b> Spurs of the Urals running
+southwest.</p>
+
+<p>38 10. <b>Polish dragoons.</b> "The adjective refers not to the
+nationality, but to the equipment of the cavalry. Thus there was at
+one time in the French army a corps called <i>Chasseurs d'Afrique</i>, and
+in both the French and that of the Northern troops in our own Civil
+War a corps of Zouaves. Similarly at p. 53, l. 24, De Quincey speaks
+of <i>yagers</i> among the Chinese troops. Perhaps both Polish dragoon and
+yager were well-known military terms in 1837. At any rate there is no
+gain in scrutinizing them too closely, since the context in both cases
+seems to be pure invention."&mdash;BALDWIN.</p>
+
+<p>38 11. <b>cuirassiers.</b> From the French. Soldiers protected by a
+cuirass, or breastplate, and mounted.</p>
+
+<p>38 20. <b>River Igritch.</b> The Irgiz-koom.</p>
+
+<p>39 21. <b>concurrently.</b> Etymology?</p>
+
+<p>39 33. <b>sad solitudes</b>, etc. Notice this as one of the points in a
+very effective paragraph.</p>
+
+<p>40 3. <b>aggravations.</b> Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.</p>
+
+<p>40 5. <b>howling wilderness.</b> Why so called? Compare with a previous use
+of the same expression (p. 12, l. 5).</p>
+
+<p>40 18. <b>spectacle.</b> Compare with other references to the theatrical
+quality of the <i>Flight</i>.</p>
+
+<p>40 21. <b>myriads.</b> Is this literal? Notice the contrast in tone between
+this sentence and those which close the paragraph.</p>
+
+<p>41 12. <b>adust.</b> "Latin, <i>adustus</i>, burned. Looking as if burned or
+scorched."&mdash;<i>Century Dictionary</i>.</p>
+
+<p>41 15. <b>erected their speaking eyes.</b> Study this expression until its
+forcefulness is felt. The camel is notorious for its unresponsive
+dullness; indeed its general apathy to its surroundings is all that
+accounts for its apparent docility. De Quincey, therefore, is speaking
+by the book when he describes these brutes as "without the affections
+or sensibilities of flesh and blood." Their very submissiveness is due
+to their stupidity.</p>
+
+<p>41 20. <b>those of Xerxes.</b> See Crete's <i>History of Greece</i>, Chap.
+XXXVIII.</p>
+
+<p>41 29. <b>untread.</b> A dictionary word, but uncommon. Recall
+<span class="pagenum">Page 82</span><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>
+similar words used by De Quincey which add picturesqueness in part
+because of their novelty.</p>
+
+<p>41 31. <b>their old allegiance.</b> 1616. See the close of this paragraph.</p>
+
+<p>41 33. <b>scapegoat.</b> <i>Leviticus</i>, xvi, 7-10; 20-22.</p>
+
+<p>42 32, 33. <b>land of promise ... house</b>, etc. <i>Deuteronomy</i>, viii, 14;
+ix, 28.</p>
+
+<p>43 8. <b>Orsk.</b> Upon the river Or.</p>
+
+<p>43 9. <b>Oriembourg.</b> A fort.</p>
+
+<p>43 23. <b>sinister.</b> Etymology?</p>
+
+<p>43 29. <b>transpiring.</b> Like <i>aggravate</i> and <i>liable</i>, a word often
+misused. What does it mean?</p>
+
+<p>44 10. <b>were dispersed.</b> Note the variety of phrases in the following
+ten lines used to indicate separation.</p>
+
+<p>46 16. <b>Hetman.</b> Chief. Compare Germ. <i>Hauptmann</i>, Eng. <i>captain</i>, Fr.
+<i>chef</i>.</p>
+
+<p>47 1. <b>evasion.</b> See previous note on p. 33, l. 7.</p>
+
+<p>48 2. <b>carabines.</b> Old-fashioned spelling. Short rifles adapted to the
+use of mounted troops.</p>
+
+<p>49 13. <b>without a parallel.</b> As has been seen, De Quincey is fond of
+superlative statements. A writer may or may not be true in his claims;
+the habitual assumption, however, predisposes his reader to doubt his
+judgment.</p>
+
+<p>49 16. <b>Desultors.</b> This word is not in common use, but <i>desultory</i>
+is. Look up the derivation and note the metaphor concealed in the
+latter word.</p>
+
+<p>49 19. <b>at the rate of 200 miles.</b> Compare preceding note on p. 24, 1.
+26.</p>
+
+<p>50 27. "<b>more fell</b>," etc. From the last speech in Shakespeare's
+Othello, addressed to Iago:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">O Spartan dog,</span><br />
+More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!<br />
+Look on the tragic loading of this bed;<br />
+This is thy work.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>51 17. <b>"fierce varieties."</b>. Misquoted. See <i>Paradise Lost</i>, II, 599;
+VII, 272.</p>
+
+<p>51 19. <b>post equitem</b>, etc.:</p>
+
+<p>
+Behind the horseman sits black care.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 10em;">&mdash;Horace's <i>Odes</i>, III, 1, 40.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>51 20. <b>undying worm.</b> <i>Isaiah</i>, lxvi, 24.</p>
+
+<p>51 29. <b>"from morn till dewy eve."</b> Paradise Lost, I, 742. <span class="pagenum">Page 83</span><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a></p>
+
+<p>52 33. <b>On a fine morning.</b> Study this paragraph carefully with
+reference to the rhetorical effect. The entire scene is the product of
+De Quincey's imagination; do you consider it truthful?</p>
+
+<p>53 24. <b>yagers.</b> German <i>J&auml;ger</i>; used of a huntsman or a forester,
+also in parts of Germany and Austria used to indicate light infantry
+or cavalry. Compare with <i>Polish dragoons</i>, p. 38, l. 10.</p>
+
+<p>54 21. <b>indorsed.</b> Look up the etymology. Has De Quincey, in his note,
+quoted Milton accurately? See <i>Paradise Regained</i>, III, 329.</p>
+
+<p>56 13. <b>rather in a diagonal.</b> This is another characteristic of De
+Quincey; he is sometimes tediously exact in his details; perhaps the
+minuteness is justifiable in this instance, as the statement increases
+the realistic effect of an imaginary scene.</p>
+
+<p>56 18. <b>a large fresh-water lake.</b> The Lake of Tengis here referred
+to, mentioned by name in the paragraph following this, is evidently
+Lake Balkash, into which flows the river Ily. It is one of the largest
+lakes in the steppes, but its water is really <i>salt</i>.</p>
+
+<p>59 21. <b>globes and turms.</b> Latinisms. Milton uses <i>globe</i> in <i>Paradise
+Lost</i>, II, 512, and <i>turms</i> in <i>Paradise Regained</i>, IV, 66.</p>
+
+<p>60 4. <b>retributary.</b> What more common form is used synonymously?</p>
+
+<p>60 21. <b>"La nation des Torgotes,"</b> etc. "'The nation of the Torgouths
+(<i>to wit the Kalmucks</i>) arrived at Ily wholly shattered, having
+neither victuals to live on [<i>sic</i>] nor clothes to wear. I had
+foreseen this, and had given orders for making every kind of
+preparation necessary for their prompt relief; which was duly done.
+The distribution of lands was made; and there was assigned to each
+family a portion sufficient to serve for its support, whether by
+cultivating it or by feeding cattle on it [<i>sic</i>]. There were given to
+each individual materials for his clothing, corn for his sustenance
+for the space of one year, utensils for household purposes, and other
+things necessary; besides some ounces of silver wherewith to provide
+himself with anything that might have been forgotten. Particular
+places were marked out for them, fertile in pasture; and cattle and
+sheep, etc., were given them, that they might be able for the future
+to work for their own support and well-being.'&mdash;This is a note of Kien
+Long subjoined to his main narrative; and De Quincey, I find, took the
+above transcript of it from the French translation of Bergmann's book.
+That transcript, it is worth observing, is not quite exact to the
+original French text of the Pekin missionaries."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>61 12. <b>"Lorsqu'ils arriv&egrave;rent,"</b> etc. "'When they arrived on our
+frontiers (to the number of some hundreds of thousands, although
+<span class="pagenum">Page 84</span><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>
+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 distributed 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 subsistence of his wife and children.'</p>
+
+<p>"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."&mdash;MASSON.</p>
+
+<p>63 17. <b>lex talionis.</b> Law of retaliation.</p>
+
+<p>63 18. <b>"lex nec justior,"</b> etc. "Nor is there any law more just than
+that the devisers of murder should perish by their own device."&mdash;OVID,
+<i>Ars Amatoria</i>, I, 655.</p>
+
+<p>63 25. <b>lares.</b> The minor deities of a Roman household.</p>
+
+<p>63 30. <b>Arcadian beauty.</b> Arcadian is synonymous with rural simplicity
+and beauty. Arcadia, the central province of Greece, was a pastoral
+district and lacked the vices&mdash;as well as some of the virtues&mdash;of the
+surrounding states.</p>
+
+<p>64 1. <b>extirpation.</b> Etymology?</p>
+
+<p>64 23. <b>music.</b> One who has listened to Mongolian attempts at harmony
+must suspect that De Quincey is again inspired by his imagination when
+he characterizes this part of the commemoration as "rich and solemn."</p>
+
+<p>64 28. <b>columns of granite and brass.</b> This feature of the narrative,
+as well as many other details of apparent fact, including the entire
+inscription said to have been placed upon the monument, are evidently
+the pure invention of De Quincey's fancy, no mention of these details
+being found in his historical sources.</p>
+
+<br />
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Some years ago I published a paper on the Flight of the
+Kalmuck Tartars from Russia. Bergmann, the German from whom that
+account was chiefly drawn, resided a long time among the Kalmucks,"
+etc.&mdash;Essay on <i>Homer and the Homerid&aelig;.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENTS" id="ADVERTISEMENTS"></a>ADVERTISEMENTS</h2><span class="pagenum">Page 87</span><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars, by Thomas
+De Quincey, Edited by William Edward Simonds
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: De Quincey's Revolt of the Tartars
+
+
+Author: Thomas De Quincey
+
+Editor: William Edward Simonds
+
+Release Date: June 8, 2005  [eBook #16026]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE
+TARTARS***
+
+
+E-text prepared by David Garcia, Hemantkumar N. Garach, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+DE QUINCEY'S REVOLT OF THE TARTARS
+
+Edited with Introduction and Notes
+
+by
+
+WILLIAM EDWARD SIMONDS, PH.D.
+Professor of the English Language and Literature in Knox College
+
+Boston, U.S.A.
+Ginn & Company, Publishers
+The Athenaeum Press
+
+1899
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Thomas de Quincey.
+(After a drawing by ARCHER.)]
+
+     "In addition to the general impression of his
+     diminutiveness and fragility, one was struck with the
+     peculiar beauty of his head and forehead, rising
+     disproportionately high over his small wrinkly visage
+     and gentle deep-set eyes."
+                                DAVID MASSON.
+
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+In editing an English classic for use in the secondary schools, there
+is always opportunity for the expression of personal convictions and
+personal taste; nevertheless, where one has predecessors in the task
+of preparing such a text, it is difficult always, occasionally
+impossible, to avoid treading on their heels. The present editor,
+therefore, hastens to acknowledge his indebtedness to the various
+school editions of the _Revolt of the Tartars_, already in existence.
+The notes by Masson are so authoritative and so essential that their
+quotation needs no comment. De Quincey's footnotes are retained in
+their original form and appear embodied in the text. The other
+annotations suggest the method which the editor would follow in
+class-room work upon this essay.
+
+The student's attention is called frequently to the _form_ of
+expression; the discriminating use of epithets, the employment of
+foreign phrases, the allusions to Milton and the Bible, the structure
+of paragraphs, the treatment of incident, the development of feeling,
+the impressiveness of a present personality; all this, however, is
+with the purpose, not of mechanic exercise, nor merely to illustrate
+"rhetoric," but to illuminate _De Quincey_. It is with this intention,
+presumably, that the text is prescribed. There is little
+attractiveness, after all, in the idea of a style so colorless and so
+impersonal that the individuality of its victim is lost in its own
+perfection; this was certainly not the Opium-Eater's mind concerning
+literary form, nor does it appear to have been the aim of any of our
+masters. Indeed, it may be well in passing to point out to pupils how
+fatal to success in writing is the attempt to imitate the style of any
+man, De Quincey included; it is always in order to emphasize the
+naturalness and spontaneity of the "grand style" wherever it is found.
+The teacher should not inculcate a blind admiration of all that De
+Quincey has said or done; there is opportunity, even in this brief
+essay, to exercise the pupil in applying the commonplace tests of
+criticism, although it should be seen to as well that a true
+appreciation is awakened for the real excellences of this little
+masterpiece.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                              PAGE
+
+INTRODUCTION:
+
+  CRITICAL APPRECIATION                        vii
+
+  BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH                            x
+
+  AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCES                  xxii
+
+THE REVOLT OF THE TARTARS                        1
+
+APPENDED NOTES BY MASSON                        67
+
+  NOTES, EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL               74
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+Thomas De Quincey is one of the eccentric figures in English
+literature. Popularly he is known as the English Opium-Eater and as
+the subject of numerous anecdotes which emphasize the oddities of his
+temperament and the unconventionality of his habits. That this man of
+distinguished genius was the victim--pitifully the victim--of opium is
+the lamentable fact; that he was morbidly shy and shunned intercourse
+with all except a few intimate, congenial friends; that he was
+comically indifferent to the fashion of his dress; that he was the
+most unpractical and childlike of men; that he was often betrayed,
+because of these peculiarities, into many ridiculous embarrassments,
+such as are described by Mr. Findlay, Mr. Hogg, and Mr. Burton,--of
+all this there can be no doubt; but these idiosyncrasies are, after
+all, of minor importance, the accidents, not the essentials in the
+life and personality of this remarkable man. The points that should
+attract our notice, the qualities that really give distinction to De
+Quincey, are the broad sweep of his knowledge, almost unlimited in its
+scope and singularly accurate in its details, a facility of phrasing
+and a word supply that transformed the mere power of discriminating
+expression into a fine art, and a style that, while it lapsed
+occasionally from the standard of its own excellence, was generally
+self-corrective and frequently forsook the levels of commonplace
+excellence for the highest reaches of impassioned prose. Nor is this
+all. His pages do not lack in humor--humor of the truest and most
+delicate type; and if De Quincey is at times impelled beyond the
+bounds of taste, even these excursions demonstrate his power, at least
+in handling the grotesque. His sympathies, however, are always
+genuine, and often are profound. The pages of his autobiographic
+essays reveal the strength of his affections, while in the
+interpretation of such a character as that of Joan of Arc, or in
+allusions like those to the pariahs,--defenceless outcasts from
+society, by whose wretched lot his heart was often wrung,--he writes
+in truest pathos.
+
+Now sympathy is own child of the imagination, whether expressed in the
+language of laughter or in the vernacular of tears; and the most
+distinctive quality in the mental make-up of De Quincey was, after
+all, this dominant imagination which was characteristic of the man
+from childhood to old age. The Opium-Eater once defined the _great
+scholar_ as "not one who depends simply on an infinite memory, but
+also on an infinite and electrical power of combination, bringing
+together from the four winds, like the angel of the resurrection, what
+else were dust from dead men's bones, into the unity of breathing
+life." Such was De Quincey himself. He was a scholar born, gifted with
+a mind apt for the subtleties of metaphysics, a memory well-nigh
+inexhaustible in the recovery of facts; in one respect, at least, he
+was a _great_ scholar, for his mind was dominated by an imagination as
+vigorous as that which created Macaulay's _England_, almost as
+sensitive to dramatic effect as that which painted Carlyle's _French
+Revolution_. Therefore when he wrote narrative, historical narrative,
+or reminiscence, he lived in the experiences he pictured, as great
+historians do; perhaps living over again the scenes of the past, or
+for the first time making real the details of occurrences with which
+he was only recently familiar.
+
+The _Revolt of the Tartars_ is a good illustration of his power.
+Attracted by the chance reading of an obscure French missionary and
+traveller to the dramatic possibilities of an episode in Russian
+history, De Quincey built from the bare notes thus discovered,
+supplemented by others drawn from a matter-of-fact German
+archaeologist, a narrative which for vividness of detail and
+truthfulness of local color belongs among the best of those classics
+in which fancy helps to illuminate fact, and where the imagination is
+invoked to recreate what one feels intuitively must have been real.
+
+The _Revolt of the Tartars_, while not exhibiting the highest
+achievement of the author's power, nevertheless belongs in the group
+of writings wherein his peculiar excellences are fairly manifested.
+The obvious quality of its realism has been pointed out already; the
+masterly use of the principles of suspense and stimulated interest
+will hardly pass unnoticed. A negative excellence is the absence of
+that discursiveness in composition, that tendency to digress into
+superfluous comment, which is this author's one prevailing fault. De
+Quincey was gifted with a fine appreciation of harmonious sound, and
+in those passages where his spirit soars highest not the least of
+their beauties is found in the melodiousness of their tone and the
+rhythmic sweetness of their motion.
+
+It is as a master of rhetoric that De Quincey is distinguished among
+writers. Some hints of his ability are seen in the opening and closing
+passages of this essay, but to find him at his best one must turn to
+the _Confessions_ and to the other papers which describe his life,
+particularly those which recount his marvellous dreams. In these
+papers we find the passages where De Quincey's passion rises to the
+heights which few other writers have ever reached in prose, a
+loftiness and grandeur which is technically denominated as "sublime."
+In his _Essay on Style_, published in _Blackwood's_, 1840, he
+deprecates the usual indifference to form, on the part of English
+writers, "the tendency of the national mind to value the matter of a
+book not only as paramount to the manner, but even as distinct from it
+and as capable of a separate insulation." As one of the great masters
+of prose style in this century, De Quincey has so served the interests
+of art in this regard, that in his own case the charge is sometimes
+reversed: his own works are read rather to observe his manner than to
+absorb his thought. Yet when this is said, it is not to imply that the
+material is unworthy or the ideas unsound; on the contrary, his
+sentiment is true and his ideas are wholesome; but many of the topics
+treated lie outside the deeper interests of ordinary life, and fail to
+appeal to us so practically as do the writings of some lesser men. Of
+the "one hundred and fifty magazine articles" which comprise his
+works, there are many that will not claim the general interest, yet
+his writings as a whole will always be recognized by students of
+rhetoric as containing excellences which place their author among the
+English classics. Nor can De Quincey be accused of subordinating
+matter to manner; in spite of his taste for the theatrical and a
+tendency to extravagance, his expression is in keeping with his
+thought, and the material of those passages which contain his most
+splendid flights is appropriate to the treatment it receives. One
+effective reason, certainly, why we take pleasure in the mere style of
+De Quincey's work is because that work is so thoroughly inspired with
+the Opium-Eater's own genial personality, because it so unmistakably
+suggests that inevitable "smack of individuality" which gives to the
+productions of all great authors their truest distinction if not their
+greatest worth.
+
+Thomas De Quincey was born in Manchester, August 15, 1785. His father
+was a well-to-do merchant of literary taste, but of him the children
+of the household scarcely knew; he was an invalid, a prey to
+consumption, and during their childhood made his residence mostly in
+the milder climate of Lisbon or the West Indies. Thomas was seven
+years old when his father was brought home to die, and the lad, though
+sensitively impressed by the event, felt little of the significance of
+relationship between them. Mrs. De Quincey was a somewhat stately
+lady, rather strict in discipline and rigid in her views. There does
+not seem to have been the most complete sympathy between mother and
+son, yet De Quincey was always reverent in his attitude, and certainly
+entertained a genuine respect for her intelligence and character.
+There were eight children in the home, four sons and four daughters;
+Thomas was the fifth in age, and his relations to the other members of
+this little community are set forth most interestingly in the opening
+chapters of his _Autobiographic Sketches_.
+
+De Quincey's child life was spent in the country; first at a pretty
+rustic dwelling known as "The Farm," and after 1792 at a larger
+country house near Manchester, built by his father, and given by his
+mother the pleasantly suggestive name of "Greenhay," _hay_ meaning
+hedge, or hedgerow. The early boyhood of Thomas De Quincey is of more
+than ordinary interest, because of the clear light it throws upon the
+peculiar temperament and endowments of the man. Moreover, we have the
+best of authority in our study of this period, namely, the author
+himself, who in the _Sketches_ already mentioned, and in his most
+noted work, _The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, has told the
+story of these early years in considerable detail and with apparent
+sincerity. De Quincey was not a sturdy boy. Shy and dreamy,
+exquisitely sensitive to impressions of melancholy and mystery, he was
+endowed with an imagination abnormally active even for a child. It is
+customary to give prominence to De Quincey's pernicious habit of
+opium-eating, in attempting to explain the grotesque fancies and weird
+flights of his marvellous mind in later years; yet it is only fair to
+emphasize the fact that the later achievements of that strange
+creative faculty were clearly foreshadowed in youth. For example, the
+earliest incident in his life that he could afterwards recall, he
+describes as "a remarkable dream of terrific grandeur about a favorite
+nurse, which is interesting to myself for this reason--that it
+demonstrates my dreaming tendencies to have been constitutional, and
+not dependent upon laudanum."[1] Again he tells us how, when six years
+old, upon the death of a favorite sister three years older, he stole
+unobserved upstairs to the death chamber; unlocking the door and
+entering silently, he stood for a moment gazing through the open
+window toward the bright sunlight of a cloudless day, then turned to
+behold the angel face upon the pillow. Awed in the presence of death,
+the meaning of which he began vaguely to understand, he stood
+listening to a "solemn wind" that began to blow--"the saddest that ear
+ever heard." What followed should appear in De Quincey's own words: "A
+vault seemed to open in the zenith of the far blue sky, a shaft which
+ran up forever. I, in spirit, rose as if on billows that also ran up
+the shaft forever; and the billows seemed to pursue the throne of God;
+but _that_ also ran on before us and fled away continually. The flight
+and the pursuit seemed to go on forever and ever. Frost gathering
+frost, some sarsar wind of death, seemed to repel me; some mighty
+relation between God and death dimly struggled to evolve itself from
+the dreadful antagonism between them; shadowy meanings even yet
+continued to exercise and torment, in dreams, the deciphering oracle
+within me. I slept--for how long I cannot say: slowly I recovered my
+self-possession; and, when I woke, found myself standing as before,
+close to my sister's bed."[2] Somewhat similar in effect were the
+fancies that came to this dreamy boy on Sunday mornings during service
+in the fine old English church. Through the wide central field of
+uncolored glass, set in a rich framework of gorgeous color,--for the
+side panes of the great windows were pictured with the stories of
+saints and martyrs,--the lad saw "white fleecy clouds sailing over the
+azure depths of the sky." Straightway the picture changed in his
+imagination, and visions of young children, lying on white beds of
+sickness and of death, rose before his eyes, ascending slowly and
+softly into heaven, God's arms descending from the heavens that He
+might the sooner take them to Himself and grant release. Such are not
+infrequently the dreams of children. De Quincey's experience is not
+unique; but with him imagination, the imagination of childhood,
+remained unimpaired through life. It was not wholly opium that made
+him the great dreamer of our literature, any more than it was the
+effect of a drug that brought from his dying lips the cry of "Sister,
+sister, sister!"--an echo from this sacred chamber of death, where he
+had stood awed and entranced nearly seventy years before.
+
+Not all of De Quincey's boyhood, however, was passed under influences
+so serious and mystical as these. He was early compelled to undergo
+what he is pleased to call his "introduction to the world of strife."
+His brother William, five years the senior of Thomas, appears to have
+been endowed with an imagination as remarkable as his own. "His genius
+for mischief," says Thomas, "amounted to inspiration." Very amusing
+are the chronicles of the little autocracy thus despotized by William.
+The assumption of the young tyrant was magnificent. Along with the
+prerogatives and privileges of seniority, he took upon himself as well
+certain responsibilities more galling to his half-dozen uneasy
+subordinates, doubtless, than the undisputed hereditary rights of
+age. William constituted himself the educational guide of the nursery,
+proclaiming theories, delivering lectures, performing experiments,
+asserting opinions upon subjects diverse and erudite. Indeed, a
+vigorous spirit was housed in William's body, and but for his early
+death, this lad also might have brought lustre to the family name.
+
+A real introduction to the world of strife came with the development
+of a lively feud between the two brothers on the one side, and on the
+other a crowd of young belligerents employed in a cotton factory on
+the road between Greenhay and Manchester, where the boys now attended
+school. Active hostilities occurred daily when the two "aristocrats"
+passed the factory on their way home at the hour when its inmates
+emerged from their labor. The dread of this encounter hung like a
+cloud over Thomas, yet he followed William loyally, and served with
+all the spirit of a cadet of the house. Imagination played an
+important part in this campaign, and it is for that reason primarily
+that to this and the other incidents of De Quincey's childhood
+prominence is here given; in no better way can we come to an
+understanding of the real nature of this singular man.
+
+In 1796 the home at Greenhay was broken up. The irrepressible William
+was sent to London to study art; Mrs. De Quincey removed to Bath, and
+Thomas was placed in the grammar school of that town; a younger
+brother, Richard, in all respects a pleasing contrast to William, was
+a sympathetic comrade and schoolmate. For two years De Quincey
+remained in this school, achieving a great reputation in the study of
+Latin, and living a congenial, comfortable life. This was followed by
+a year in a private school at Winkfield, which was terminated by an
+invitation to travel in Ireland with young Lord Westport, a lad of De
+Quincey's own age, an intimacy having sprung up between them a year
+earlier at Bath. It was in 1800 that the trip was made, and the
+period of the visit extended over four or five months. After this
+long recess De Quincey was placed in the grammar school at Manchester,
+his guardians expecting that a three years' course in this school
+would bring him a scholarship at Oxford. However, the new environment
+proved wholly uncongenial, and the sensitive boy who, in spite of his
+shyness and his slender frame, possessed grit in abundance, and who
+was through life more or less a law to himself, made up his mind to
+run away. His flight was significant. Early on a July morning he
+slipped quietly off--in one pocket a copy of an English poet, a volume
+of Euripides in the other. His first move was toward Chester, the
+seventeen-year-old runaway deeming it proper that he should report at
+once to his mother, who was now living in that town. So he trudged
+overland forty miles and faced his astonished and indignant parent. At
+the suggestion of a kind-hearted uncle, just home from India, Thomas
+was let off easily; indeed, he was given an allowance of a guinea a
+week, with permission to go on a tramp through North Wales, a
+proposition which he hailed with delight. The next three months were
+spent in a rather pleasant ramble, although the weekly allowance was
+scarcely sufficient to supply all the comforts desired. The trip ended
+strangely. Some sudden fancy seizing him, the boy broke off all
+connection with his friends and went to London. Unknown, unprovided
+for, he buried himself in the vast life of the metropolis. He lived a
+precarious existence for several months, suffering from exposure,
+reduced to the verge of starvation, his whereabouts a mystery to his
+friends. The cloud of this experience hung darkly over his spirit,
+even in later manhood; perceptions of a true world of strife were
+vivid; impressions of these wretched months formed the material of his
+most sombre dreams.
+
+Rescued at last, providentially, De Quincey spent the next period of
+his life, covering the years 1803-7, in residence at Oxford. His
+career as a student at the university is obscure. He was a member of
+Worcester College, was known as a quiet, studious man, and lived an
+isolated if not a solitary life. With a German student, who taught him
+Hebrew, De Quincey seems to have had some intimacy, but his circle of
+acquaintance was small, and no contemporary has thrown much light on
+his stay. In 1807 he disappeared from Oxford, having taken the written
+tests for his degree, but failing to present himself for the necessary
+oral examination.
+
+The year of his departure from Oxford brought to De Quincey a
+long-coveted pleasure--acquaintance with two famous contemporaries
+whom he greatly admired, Coleridge and Wordsworth. Characteristic of
+De Quincey in many ways was his gift, anonymously made, of L300 to his
+hero, Coleridge. This was in 1807, when De Quincey was twenty-two, and
+was master of his inheritance. The acquaintance ripened into intimacy,
+and in 1809 the young man, himself gifted with talents which were to
+make him equally famous with these, took up his residence at Grasmere,
+in the Lake country, occupying for many years the cottage which
+Wordsworth had given up on his removal to ampler quarters at Rydal
+Mount. Here he spent much of his time in the society of the men who
+were then grouped in distinguished neighborhood; besides Wordsworth
+and Coleridge, the poet Southey was accessible, and a frequent visitor
+was John Wilson, later widely known as the "Christopher North" of
+_Blackwood's Magazine_. Nor was De Quincey idle; his habits of study
+were confirmed; indeed, he was already a philosopher at twenty-four.
+These were years of hard reading and industrious thought, wherein he
+accumulated much of that metaphysical wisdom which was afterward to
+win admiring recognition.
+
+In 1816 De Quincey married Margaret Simpson, a farmer's daughter
+living near. There is a pretty scene painted by the author
+himself,[3] in which he gives us a glimpse of his domestic life at
+this time. Therein he pictures the cottage, standing in a valley,
+eighteen miles from any town; no spacious valley, but about two miles
+long by three-quarters of a mile in average width. The mountains are
+real mountains, between 3000 and 4000 feet high, and the cottage a
+real cottage, white, embowered with flowering shrubs, so chosen as to
+unfold a succession of flowers upon the walls, and clustering around
+the windows, through all the months of spring, summer, and autumn,
+beginning, in fact, with May roses and ending with jasmine. It is in
+the winter season, however, that De Quincey paints his picture, and so
+he describes a room, seventeen feet by twelve, and not more than seven
+and one-half feet high. This is the drawing-room, although it might
+more justly be termed the library, for it happens that books are the
+one form of property in which the owner is wealthy. Of these he has
+about 5000, collected gradually since his eighteenth year. The room
+is, therefore, populous with books. There is a good fire on the
+hearth. The furniture is plain and modest, befitting the unpretending
+cottage of a scholar. Near the fire stands a tea table; there are only
+two cups and saucers on the tray. It is an "eternal" teapot that the
+artist would like us to imagine, for he usually drinks tea from eight
+o'clock at night to four in the morning. There is, of course, a
+companion at the tea table, and very lovingly does the husband suggest
+the pleasant personality of his young wife. One other important
+feature is included in the scene; upon the table there rests also a
+decanter, in which sparkles the ruby-colored laudanum.
+
+De Quincey's experience with opium had begun while he was a student at
+the university, in 1804. It was first taken to obtain relief from
+neuralgia, and his use of the drug did not at once become habitual.
+During the period of residence at Grasmere, however, De Quincey
+became confirmed in the habit, and so thoroughly was he its victim
+that for a season his intellectual powers were well-nigh paralyzed;
+his mind sank under such a cloud of depression and gloom that his
+condition was pitiful in the extreme. Just before his marriage, in
+1816, De Quincey, by a vigorous effort, partially regained his
+self-control and succeeded in materially reducing his daily allowance
+of the drug; but in the following year he fell more deeply than ever
+under its baneful power, until in 1818-19 his consumption of opium was
+something almost incredible. Thus he became truly enough the great
+English Opium-Eater, whose Confessions were later to fill a unique
+place in English literature. It was finally the absolute need of
+bettering his financial condition that compelled De Quincey to shake
+off the shackles of his vice; this he practically accomplished,
+although perhaps he was never entirely free from the habit. The event
+is coincident with the beginning of his career as a public writer. In
+1820 he became a man of letters.
+
+As a professional writer it is to be noted that De Quincey was
+throughout a contributor to the periodicals. With one or two
+exceptions all his works found their way to the public through the
+pages of the magazines, and he was associated as contributor with most
+of those that were prominent in his time. From 1821 to 1825 we find
+him residing for the most part in London, and here his public career
+began. It was De Quincey's most distinctive work which first appeared.
+The _London Magazine_, in its issue for September, 1821, contained the
+first paper of the _Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_. The
+novelty of the subject was sufficient to obtain for the new writer an
+interested hearing, and there was much discussion as to whether his
+apparent frankness was genuine or assumed. All united in applause of
+the masterly style which distinguished the essay, also of the
+profundity and value of the interesting material it contained. A
+second part was included in the magazine for October. Other articles
+by the Opium-Eater followed, in which the wide scholarship of the
+author was abundantly shown, although the topics were of less general
+interest.
+
+In 1826 De Quincey became an occasional contributor to _Blackwood's
+Magazine_, and this connection drew him to Edinburgh, where he
+remained, either in the city itself or in its vicinity, for the rest
+of his life. The grotesquely humorous _Essay on Murder Considered as
+One of the Fine Arts_ appeared in _Blackwood's_ in 1827. In 1832 he
+published a series of articles on Roman History, entitled _The
+Caesars_. It was in July, 1837, that the _Revolt of the Tartars_
+appeared; in 1840 his critical paper upon _The Essenes_. Meanwhile De
+Quincey had begun contributions to _Tait's Magazine_, another
+Edinburgh publication, and it was in that periodical that the
+_Sketches of Life and Manners from the Autobiography of an English
+Opium-Eater_ began to appear in 1834, running on through several
+years. These sketches include the chapters on Wordsworth, Coleridge,
+Lamb, and Southey as well as those _Autobiographic Sketches_ which
+form such a charming and illuminating portion of his complete works.
+
+The family life was sadly broken in 1837 by the death of De Quincey's
+wife. He who was now left as guardian of the little household of six
+children, was himself so helpless in all practical matters that it
+seemed as though he were in their childish care rather than protector
+of them. Scores of anecdotes are related of his odd and unpractical
+behavior. One of his curious habits had been the multiplication of
+lodgings; as books and manuscripts accumulated about him so that there
+remained room for no more, he would turn the key upon his possessions
+and migrate elsewhere to repeat the performance later on. It is known
+that as many as four separate rents were at one and the same time
+being paid by this odd, shy little man, rather than allow the
+disturbance or contraction of his domain. Sometimes an anxious journey
+in search of a manuscript had to be made by author and publisher in
+conjunction before the missing paper could be located. The home life
+of this eccentric yet lovable man of genius seems to have been always
+affectionate and tender in spite even of his bondage to opium; it was
+especially beautiful and childlike in his latest years. His eldest
+daughter, Margaret, assumed quietly the place of headship, and with a
+discretion equal to her devotion she watched over her father's
+welfare. With reference to De Quincey's circumstances at this time,
+his biographer, Mr. Masson, says: "Very soon, if left to himself, he
+would have taken possession of every room in the house, one after
+another, and 'snowed up' each with his papers; but, that having been
+gently prevented, he had one room to work in all day and all night to
+his heart's content. The evenings, or the intervals between his daily
+working time and his nightly working time, or stroll, he generally
+spent in the drawing-room with his daughters, either alone or in
+company with any friends that chanced to be with him. At such times,
+we are told, he was unusually charming. 'The newspaper was brought
+out, and he, telling in his own delightful way, rather than reading,
+the news, would, on questions from this one or that one of the party,
+often including young friends of his children, neighbors, or visitors
+from distant places, illuminate the subject with such a wealth of
+memories, of old stories of past or present experiences, of humor, of
+suggestion, even of prophecy, as by its very wealth makes it
+impossible to give any taste of it.' The description is by one of his
+daughters; and she adds a touch which is inimitable in its fidelity
+and tenderness. 'He was not,' she says, 'a reassuring man for nervous
+people to live with, as those nights were exceptional on which he did
+not set something on fire, the commonest incident being for some one
+to look up from book or work, to say casually, _Papa, your hair is on
+fire_; of which a calm _Is it, my love?_ and a hand rubbing out the
+blaze was all the notice taken.'"[4]
+
+Of his personal appearance Professor Minto says:
+
+"He was a slender little man, with small, clearly chiselled features,
+a large head, and a remarkably high, square forehead. There was a
+peculiarly high and regular arch in the wrinkles of his brow, which
+was also slightly contracted. The lines of his countenance fell
+naturally into an expression of mild suffering, of endurance sweetened
+by benevolence, or, according to the fancy of the interpreter, of
+gentle, melancholy sweetness. All that met him seem to have been
+struck with the measured, silvery, yet somewhat hollow and unearthly
+tones of his voice, the more impressive that the flow of his talk was
+unhesitating and unbroken."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The literary labors were continuous. In 1845 the beautiful _Suspiria
+de Profundis_ (Sighs from the Depths) appeared in _Blackwood's_; _The
+English Mail Coach_ and _The Vision of Sudden Death_, in 1849. Among
+other papers contributed to _Tait's Magazine_, the _Joan of Arc_
+appeared in 1847. During the last ten years of his life, De Quincey
+was occupied chiefly in preparing for the publishers a complete
+edition of his works. Ticknor & Fields, of Boston, the most
+distinguished of our American publishing firms, had put forth,
+1851-55, the first edition of De Quincey's collected writings, in
+twenty volumes. The first British edition was undertaken by Mr. James
+Hogg, of Edinburgh, in 1853, with the co-operation of the author, and
+under his direction; the final volume of this edition was not issued
+until the year following De Quincey's death.
+
+In the autumn of 1859 the frail physique of the now famous
+Opium-Eater grew gradually feeble, although suffering from no definite
+disease. It became evident that his life was drawing to its end. On
+December 8, his two daughters standing by his side, he fell into a
+doze. His mind had been wandering amid the scenes of his childhood,
+and his last utterance was the cry, "Sister, sister, sister!" as if in
+recognition of one awaiting him, one who had been often in his dreams,
+the beloved Elizabeth, whose death had made so profound and lasting an
+impression on his imagination as a child.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The authoritative edition of _De Quincey's Works_ is that edited by
+David Masson and published in fourteen volumes by Adam and Charles
+Black (Edinburgh). For American students the _Riverside Edition_, in
+twelve volumes (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston), will be found
+convenient. The most satisfactory _Life of De Quincey_ is the one by
+Masson in the _English Men of Letters_ series. Of a more anecdotal
+type are the _Life of De Quincey_, by H.A. Page, whose real name is
+Alexander H. Japp (2 vols., New York, 1877), and _De Quincey
+Memorials_ (New York, 1891), by the same author. Very interesting is
+the brief volume, _Recollections of Thomas De Quincey_, by John R.
+Findlay (Edinburgh, 1886), who also contributes the paper on _De
+Quincey_ to the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. _De Quincey and his
+Friends_, by James Hogg (London, 1895), is another volume of
+recollections, souvenirs, and anecdotes, which help to make real their
+subject's personality. Besides the editor, other writers contribute to
+this volume: Richard Woodhouse, John R. Findlay, and John Hill Burton,
+who has given under the name "Papaverius," a picturesque description
+of the Opium-Eater. The student should always remember that De
+Quincey's own chapters in the _Autobiographic Sketches_, and the
+_Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, which are among the most
+charming and important of his writings, are also the most
+authoritative and most valuable sources of our information concerning
+him. In reading about De Quincey, do not fail to read De Quincey
+himself.
+
+The best criticism of the Opium-Eater's work is found in William
+Minto's _Manual of English Prose Literature_ (Ginn & Co.). A shorter
+essay is contained in Saintsbury's _History of Nineteenth Century
+Literature_. A very valuable list of all De Quincey's writings, in
+chronological order, is given by Fred N. Scott, in his edition of De
+Quincey's essays on _Style, Rhetoric_, and _Language_ (Allyn & Bacon).
+Numerous magazine articles may be found by referring to Poole's Index.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Autobiographic Sketches_, Chap. I.
+
+[2] _Ibid._
+
+[3] _Confessions of an English Opium-Eater_, Part II.
+
+[4] _De Quincey_ (_English Men of Letters_), David Masson, p. 110.
+
+
+
+
+HOW TO READ DE QUINCEY.
+
+     "De Quincey's sixteen volumes of magazine articles are
+     full of brain from beginning to end. At the rate of
+     about half a volume a day, they would serve for a
+     month's reading, and a month continuously might be
+     worse expended. There are few courses of reading from
+     which a young man of good natural intelligence would
+     come away more instructed, charmed, and stimulated, or,
+     to express the matter as definitely as possible, with
+     his mind more _stretched_. Good natural intelligence, a
+     certain fineness of fibre, and some amount of scholarly
+     education, have to be presupposed, indeed, in all
+     readers of De Quincey. But, even for the fittest
+     readers, a month's complete and continuous course of De
+     Quincey would be too much. Better have him on the
+     shelf, and take down a volume at intervals for one or
+     two of the articles to which there may be an immediate
+     attraction. An evening with De Quincey in this manner
+     will always be profitable."
+
+
+DAVID MASSON, _Life of De Quincey_, Chap. XI.
+
+
+
+
+REVOLT OF THE TARTARS;
+
+OR, FLIGHT OF THE KALMUCK KHAN AND HIS PEOPLE FROM THE RUSSIAN
+TERRITORIES TO THE FRONTIERS OF CHINA.
+
+
+ There is no great event in modern history, or, perhaps
+it may be said more broadly, none in all history, 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 quem_ 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 execution
+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 which recalls to the
+mind those almighty instincts that propel the migrations of
+the swallow and the leeming 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             20
+and the skirts of 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 rebellious host, and overtaking with volleying
+thunders those who believed themselves already
+within the security of darkness and of distance.
+
+I shall have occasion, farther on, to compare this event
+with other great national catastrophes as to the magnitude           5
+of the suffering. But it may also challenge a comparison
+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        10
+the enterprise, taken in connection with the 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 _conspiracy_, with as close a unity
+in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest in             15
+the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as
+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,           20
+enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely
+prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cambyses--the
+anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the
+subsequent retreat of the ten thousand, the Parthian
+expeditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus              25
+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 anabasis and katabasis of
+Napoleon. 3dly, That of a religious _Exodus_, authorized
+by an oracle venerated throughout many nations of Asia,             30
+--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 distinction of carrying
+along with them their entire families, women, children,
+slaves, their herd 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
+interest which we ascribed to it, or its fitness for a stage         5
+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 beyond the scale of our modern representative       10
+powers, as often called into action in the theatres
+both of Paris and London; and the series of situations
+unfolded,--beginning with the general conflagration on
+the Wolga--passing thence to the disastrous scenes of
+the flight (as it _literally_ was in its commencement)--to          15
+the Tartar siege of the Russian 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
+private conspiracy at this point against the Khan--the              20
+long succession of running fights--the parting massacres
+at the Lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese--and,
+finally, the tragical retribution to Zebek-Dorchi at
+the hunting lodge of the Chinese Emperor;--all these
+situations communicate a _scenical_ animation to the wild           25
+romance, if treated dramatically; whilst a higher and a
+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.                         30
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On the 21st of January, 1761, the young Prince Oubacha
+assumed the sceptre 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 avowed support of the Russian Government.
+He was now about eighteen years of age, amiable in his
+personal character, and not without titles to respect in his         5
+public character as a sovereign prince. In times more
+peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized
+or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that
+he might have discharged his high duties with considerable
+distinction; but his lot was thrown upon stormy                     10
+times, and a most difficult crisis amongst tribes whose
+native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of
+superstition, and by a nationality as well as an inflated
+conceit of their own merit absolutely unparalleled; whilst
+the circumstances of their hard and trying position under           15
+the jealous _surveillance_ of an irresistible lord paramount,
+in the person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to
+the natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, and
+irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the restless
+impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No                    20
+prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his subjects
+or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the
+case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler stood
+at present was of this nature: _wanting_ the support and
+sanction of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from               25
+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 any degree
+from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost
+in that extent an object of hatred at home and within the           30
+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
+object of jealousy for the future, as one who had already
+advertised himself to be a fitting tool for the ultimate
+purposes (whatsoever those might prove to be) of the
+Russian Court. Coming himself to the Kalmuck sceptre
+under the heaviest weight of prejudice from the unfortunate
+circumstances of his position, it might have been                    5
+expected that Oubacha would have been pre-eminently
+an object of detestation; 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 favor of his own                10
+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 current of
+the national prejudices, and might have anticipated the             15
+most pointed hostility. But it was not so: such 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 kindness           20
+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             25
+the throne, and, perhaps it might be said, with equal pretensions.
+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, whilst his personal              30
+qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philosophical
+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 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       5
+dissimulation, profound hypocrisy, and perfidy which
+knew no touch of 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.                   10
+
+At the very outset of his treacherous career, Zebek-Dorchi
+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 on
+the part of Russia, and Elizabeth Petrowna was not the              15
+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 ulterior
+purposes in a quarter where it was most essential to his            20
+interest that, for the present, all suspicions should be
+hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, the
+course he took for opening his snares was this:--He
+raised a rumor that his own life was in danger from the
+plots of several Saissang (that is, Kalmuck nobles), who            25
+were leagued together under an oath to assassinate him;
+and immediately 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, by way of soliciting his cause more            30
+effectually, he soon repaired in person to St. Petersburg.
+Once admitted to personal conferences with the cabinet,
+he found no difficulty in winning over the Russian councils
+to a concurrence with some of his political views,
+and thus covertly 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                  5
+political condition of the state 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      10
+to the Khan; holding, in fact, the ministerial
+character of secretaries and assistants, but in 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               15
+Court to others more serious which might arise in future
+circumstances of war or other contingencies. It was
+resolved, therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward
+on a footing of perfect independence, and, therefore (as
+regarded responsibility), on a footing of equality with the         20
+Khan. Their independence, however, had respect only
+to 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 (300
+roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that               25
+day were more considerable than might be supposed,
+and had a further value as marks of honorary distinction
+emanating from a great empress. Thus far the purposes
+of Zebek-Dorchi were served effectually for the moment:
+but, apparently, it was only for the moment; since, in              30
+the further development of his plots, this very dependency
+upon 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 President and Controller of the Sargatchi.
+The Russian Court had been aware of his high pretensions             5
+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.
+
+ Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of
+Russia, Zebek-Dorchi proceeded in his new character to              10
+fulfil his political mission with the Khan of the Kalmucks.
+So artfully did he prepare the road for his favorable
+reception at the court of this prince that he was at once
+and universally welcomed as a public benefactor. The
+pensions of the councillors were so much additional wealth          15
+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 be the chief of these mercenary councillors was so
+far from being charged upon Zebek as any offence or any             20
+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 keep out other and more unwelcome pretenders, who
+would not have had the same motives of consanguinity or             25
+friendship for executing its duties in a spirit of kindness
+to the Kalmucks. The first use which he made of his
+new functions about the Khan's person was to attack the
+Court of Russia, by a romantic villainy not easily to be
+credited, for those very acts of interference with the              30
+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 vengeance was what he meditated:
+1, upon the Russian Cabinet, for having undervalued 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 perfidious character          5
+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 he venture to                 10
+assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate
+who counted three hundred languages around 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         15
+"barbaric East" on the other, with her unnumbered
+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                 20
+execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in
+the unity of a well-laid tragic fable, all whom he judged
+to be his enemies. That vengeance lay in detaching from
+the Russian empire the whole Kalmuck nation and breaking
+up that system of intercourse which had thus far been               25
+beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which
+moved him but little. True it was that Russia 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          30
+part of his triumph, and the former might be more than
+compensated 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 accomplishment might furnish him with
+ample occasions for removing his other enemies. It may
+be readily supposed, indeed, that he who could deliberately
+raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an antagonist              5
+in single duel with himself was not likely to feel much
+anxiety about Kalmuck enemies of whatever rank. He
+took his resolution, therefore, sternly and irrevocably, to
+effect this astonishing translation of an ancient people
+across the pathless deserts of Central Asia, intersected
+continually by rapid rivers rarely furnished with bridges,          10
+and of which the fords were 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 winter), famine in their front, and the sabre, or         15
+even the artillery of an offended 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 distance from Russia,              20
+so as to make return even in that view 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              25
+Long, the reigning Emperor of China, who was 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.          30
+
+Next came the question of time--_when_ should the
+flight 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
+preparations, it was evident that a very extensive confidence
+must 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           5
+migration. This critical step, however, it was resolved
+to defer up to the latest possible moment, and, at all
+events, to make no general communication on the subject
+until the time of departure should be definitely
+settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three                 10
+persons to his confidence; of whom Oubacha, the reigning
+prince, was almost necessarily one; but him, for his
+yielding and somewhat feeble character, he viewed rather
+in the light of a tool than as one of his active accomplices.
+Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an unreserved                15
+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 corresponding to              20
+the occasion as by his blind devotion to himself and
+his passionate anxiety to promote the elevation of his
+daughter and his son-in-law to the throne of a sovereign
+prince. A titular prince Zebek already was: but this
+dignity, without the substantial accompaniment of a sceptre,        25
+seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambitious
+rebels. 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                           30
+gloomy and terrific pride which marked the character of
+Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, accompanied
+by the same unfaltering cruelty, and a natural
+facility of dissimulation even more profound. It was by
+this man that the other question was settled as to the
+time for giving effect to their designs. His own pontifical
+character had suggested to him that, in order to
+strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple-minded        5
+men whom they were to lead into a howling
+wilderness, after persuading them to lay desolate their
+own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they should
+be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sanction
+of God for their entire enterprise. This could only
+be done by addressing themselves to the great head of               10
+their religion, the Dalai-Lama of Tibet. 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            15
+_hare_. Now the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their
+years by attaching to each a denomination taken from one
+of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being
+absolutely fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course
+through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the             20
+approaching year of the _tiger_ were suffered to escape
+them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for
+twelve years more; within which period, even were no
+other unfavorable changes to arise, it was pretty well
+foreseen that the Russian Government would take most                25
+effectual means for bridling their vagrant propensities by
+a ring-fence of forts 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      30
+nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was solemnly
+determined that this 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 was thought so,
+that the different divisions of the nation, which pastured
+their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should have the             5
+means of effecting an instantaneous junction, because
+the danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the
+imperial armies was precisely the greatest at the outset.
+Now, from the want of bridges or sufficient river craft
+for transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means              10
+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
+absolutely counted upon before the month of January.
+Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a                 15
+whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design
+had begun to circulate amongst those whom it most interested,
+before it was even suspected that any man's wishes
+pointed in that direction, had been definitely appointed
+for January of the year 1771. And almost up to the                  20
+Christmas of 1770 the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen
+and their families were going nightly to their peaceful
+beds without even dreaming that the _fiat_ had already
+gone forth from their rulers which consigned those quiet
+abodes, together with the peace and comfort which reigned           25
+within them, to a withering desolation, now close at
+hand.
+
+ Meantime war raged on a great scale between Russia
+and the Sultan; and, until the time arrived for throwing
+off their vassalage, it was necessary that Oubacha should           30
+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
+unaccountable 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               5
+is that already, when as yet no syllable of the conspiracy
+had been breathed to any man whose very existence was
+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                   10
+very probable 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            15
+the Kalmuck schemes. Slight as were the jealousies
+of the Imperial Court, they had not escaped the
+Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the Lama. And under
+their guidance, Oubacha, bending to the circumstances of
+the moment, and meeting the jealousy of the Russian                 20
+Court with a policy corresponding to their own, strove by
+unusual zeal to efface 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 35,000 cavalry, fully equipped: some                     25
+go further, and rate the amount beyond 40,000; but the
+smaller 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 expectations;
+and these he more than realized. Having the                         30
+good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized and
+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 5000 men left upon
+the field.
+
+These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate
+in various ways against the impending revolt. Oubacha                5
+had now a strong motive, in the martial glory acquired,
+for continuing his connection with the empire in whose
+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;             10
+in China he would be nobody, or (worse than that) a mendicant
+alien, prostrate at the feet, and soliciting the precarious
+alms, of a prince with whom he had no connection.
+Besides, it might reasonably be expected that the Czarina,
+grateful for the really efficient aid given by the Tartar           15
+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 sense to
+every man who stood neutral in the case. But they were              20
+disappointed. The Czarina knew her obligations to the
+Khan, but she did not acknowledge them. Wherefore?
+That is a mystery perhaps never to be explained. So it
+was, however. The Khan went unhonored; no _ukase_
+ever proclaimed his merits; and, perhaps, had he even               25
+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 unfortunately seconded by those of           30
+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, 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                   5
+language, but, above all, the insolent contempt, or even
+outrages, which the Russian governors or great military
+commandants tolerated in their followers toward the barbarous
+religion and superstitious mummeries of the Kalmuck
+priesthood--precisely in that extent did the ferocity               10
+of the Russian resentment, and 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               15
+Turks and Bashkirs, contributed strength to the Russian
+irritation. And it must have been 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            20
+at this critical period toward the Kalmuck Khan. That
+Czarina was no longer Elizabeth Petrowna; it was 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                    25
+repenting of her false policy. Meantime, how much it
+must have co-operated with the other motives previously
+acting upon Oubacha in sustaining his determination to
+revolt, and how powerfully it must have assisted the efforts
+of all the Tartar chieftains in preparing the minds of their        30
+people to feel the necessity of this difficult enterprise, by
+arming their pride and their suspicions against the Russian
+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 the Russian Cabinet
+throughout the period of suspense, and during the crisis
+of hesitation in the Kalmuck Council, was exactly such               5
+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 official
+vouchers for what could otherwise have been at the most
+matters of doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption.             10
+
+ Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and
+even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the
+injustice or the impolicy of the imperial ministers, it is
+contended by many persons who have reviewed the affair
+with a command of all the documents bearing on the case,            15
+more especially the letters or minutes of council subsequently
+discovered in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi,
+and the important evidence of the Russian captive, Weseloff,
+who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight,
+that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any                 20
+purpose of impeding or even of delaying the revolt. He
+himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the
+most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise
+or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting
+the firmness of his resolution under any unusual                    25
+pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest
+stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's
+well-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      30
+in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck
+would have courage to violate. As far, therefore,
+as regarded 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 terrors to the prosecution
+of the conspiracy that no honors within the Czarina's
+gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion; and then,
+as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be
+sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier character,        5
+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 superstitious of old women in
+facing the frowns of a priest or under the vague anticipations      10
+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 the changes already
+effected in the state of their domestic politics amongst            15
+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 sceptre; all measures           20
+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 availing himself
+of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused amongst          25
+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             30
+to the 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 competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept
+that triumph from an alien power at the price of his independence,
+which he 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 perhaps in an equal                   5
+degree--by the criminal facility and good nature of
+Oubacha; finally (which is remarkable enough, as illustrating
+the character of the man), by that very new modelling
+of the Sarga, or Privy Council, which he had used
+as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation             10
+against the Russian Government, whilst, in reality, he
+first had suggested the alteration to the Empress, and
+he chiefly 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         15
+Sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst in effect they
+owed their appointments to his nomination, it may be
+easily supposed that, whatever power existed in the state
+capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga
+under its new organization, and this body being completely          20
+under his influence, the final result was to throw
+all the functions of the state, whether nominally in the
+prince or in the council, 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          25
+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.
+
+But the time was now rapidly approaching for the
+mighty experiment. The day was drawing near on which                30
+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
+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
+that year was fixed for the fatal day when the fortunes              5
+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
+make the revelation so urgently required. It was clear,             10
+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 adopted:--Couriers, it was contrived, should               15
+arrive in furious haste, one upon the heels of another,
+reporting a sudden inroad of the Kirghises and Bashkirs
+upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about 120
+miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, according to
+immemorial custom, were required to send a separate representative; 20
+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. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did                     25
+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 80,000; all saw, and many heard.
+They were told of the oppressions of Russia;                        30
+of her pride and haughty disdain, evidenced toward them
+by a thousand 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 forts upon many of the great rivers of their neighborhood;
+of the ulterior intentions she thus announced
+to circumscribe 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           5
+trades of shoemaker, tailor, and weaver, such as the free-born
+Tartar had always disdained. "Then again," said
+the subtle prince, "she increases her military levies upon
+our population every year. We pour out our blood as
+young men in her defence, or, more often, in support of             10
+her insolent aggressions; and, as old men, we reap nothing
+from our sufferings nor benefit by our survivorship
+where so many are sacrificed." At this point of his
+harangue Zebek produced several papers (forged, as it is
+generally believed, by himself and the Lama), containing            15
+projects of the Russian 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, "and there is an end of all
+useful resistance from that day forwards. Petitions we              20
+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 used to speak--holding
+us by such a chain, Russia would make a jest of
+our wishes, knowing full well that we should not dare to            25
+make any effectual movement."
+
+Having thus sufficiently roused the angry passions of his
+vast audience, and having alarmed their fears by this
+pretended scheme against their firstborn (an artifice
+which was indispensable to his purpose, because it met              30
+beforehand _every_ form of amendment to his proposal
+coming from the more moderate nobles, who would not
+otherwise have failed to insist upon trying the effect of
+bold addresses 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 effectually intercept their march.            5
+It is remarkable, however, 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 he held out for the present             10
+was a rapid march to the Temba 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 a better chance            15
+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
+preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid and                 20
+energetic these of necessity were; and in that degree
+they became noticeable and manifest to the Russians who
+happened to be intermingled with the different hordes,
+either on commercial errands, or as agents officially from
+the Russian Government, some in a financial, others in a            25
+diplomatic character.
+
+Among these last (indeed, at the head of them) was a
+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 Kichinskoi          30
+had been sent by the Empress as her envoy to overlook
+the conduct of the Kalmucks. He was styled the
+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_,
+combined with the dependent state of the Kalmucks,
+gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and might
+have given him a far greater had not his outrageous
+self-conceit and his arrogant confidence in his own                  5
+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 their profoundest malice. He had
+publicly insulted the Khan; and, upon making a communication        10
+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 dare not attempt; I laugh at
+such rumors; yes, Khan, I laugh at them to the Empress;             15
+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 attendants who stayed
+behind to catch his real sentiments in a moment of unguarded        20
+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 spoke no more
+than the truth in representing himself to have discredited          25
+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 that no rebellion
+could prosper when rebuked by his commanding presence.
+The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, confiding       30
+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 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
+departure. These dispatches came from the Governor
+of Astrachan, and copies were instantly forwarded to                 5
+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 resentment; and no sooner did he see that
+hated name attached to the dispatch than he felt himself            10
+confirmed in his former 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 of his alarms. Beketoff, however, was not
+to be put down by a few hard words, or by ridicule: he              15
+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 Astrachan
+as a bore, and as the dupe of his own nervous terrors,
+when the memorable day arrived, the fatal 5th of January,           20
+which forever terminated the dispute and put a seal upon
+the earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered myriads.
+The Governor of Astrachan was the first to hear the news.
+Stung by the mixed furies of jealousy, of triumphant
+vengeance, and of anxious ambition, he sprang into his              25
+sledge, and, at the rate of 300 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               30
+the Wolga, he received an 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 immeasurable vanity and the blinding
+self-delusions of a presumption that refused all warning.
+
+ The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful
+a prophet. Perhaps even _he_ was surprised at the suddenness         5
+with which the verification followed his reports.
+Precisely 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                   10
+squadrons and in the tumultuous movement of some great
+morning of battle. Tens of thousands 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                 15
+drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once--placed
+under suitable escorts, and continually 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                   20
+were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the
+tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder more
+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           25
+malignant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest
+of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself
+upon their own habitations. But this, as cutting off all
+infirm looking backward from the hardships of their
+march, had been thought so necessary a measure by all               30
+the chieftains that even Oubacha himself was the first to
+authorize the act by his own example. He seized a torch
+previously prepared with materials the most durable as
+well as combustible, and steadily applied it to the timbers
+of his own palace. Nothing was saved from the 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 Tartar lances. This
+chapter in their memorable day's work being finished,                5
+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
+valedictory vengeance, and thus have left behind to the             10
+Czarina a dreadful commentary upon the main motives
+of their flight. It was the purpose of Zebek-Dorchi that
+all the Russian towns, churches, and buildings of every
+description should be given up to pillage and destruction,
+and such treatment applied to the defenceless inhabitants           15
+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 provoked. This part of the tragedy, however, was
+happily intercepted by a providential disappointment at             20
+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 possible) had been the impossibility of
+effecting a junction sufficiently rapid with the tribes on          25
+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 country with women, children, and               30
+herds of cattle--for this one single advantage; and yet,
+after all, it was lost. The reason never has been explained
+satisfactorily, but the fact was such. Some have said
+that the signals were not properly concerted for marking
+the moment of absolute departure--that is, for signifying
+whether the settled intention of the Eastern Kalmucks
+might not have been suddenly interrupted by adverse
+intelligence. Others have supposed that the ice might
+not be equally strong on both sides of the river, and                5
+might even be generally insecure for the treading of
+heavy and heavily laden animals such as camels. But
+the prevailing notion is that some accidental movements
+on the 3d and 4th of January of Russian troops in the
+neighborhood of the Western Kalmucks, though really                 10
+having no reference to them or their plans, had been construed
+into certain signs that all was discovered, and that
+the prudence of the Western chieftains, who, from situation,
+had never been exposed to those intrigues by which
+Zebek-Dorchi had practised upon the pride of the Eastern            15
+tribes, now stepped in to save their people from ruin.
+Be the cause what it might, it is certain that the Western
+Kalmucks were in some way prevented from forming the
+intended junction with their brethren of the opposite
+bank; and the result was that at least one hundred                  20
+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 massacre and conflagration would assuredly
+have surprised them, to the utter extermination of their            25
+property, their houses, and themselves, had it not been
+for this disappointment. But the Eastern chieftains did
+not dare to put to hazard the safety of their brethren
+under the first impulse of the Czarina's vengeance for so
+dreadful a tragedy; for, as they were well aware of too many        30
+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 events which marked its outset.
+
+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
+part of the sufferings which overtook their Eastern brethren         5
+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.                                                          10
+
+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                       15
+Tartars, may have inflicted misery as extensive; but there
+the misery and the desolation would be sudden, like the
+flight 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            20
+French 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              25
+that afterward 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 as many months? But the main feature of
+horror, by which the Tartar march was distinguished from            30
+the French, lies in the accompaniment of women[5] 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 concerned. The French, in short, were
+merely an army--a host of professional destroyers, whose
+regular trade was bloodshed, and whose regular element               5
+was danger and suffering. But the Tartars were a nation
+carrying along with them more than two hundred and
+fifty thousand 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         10
+as to the accompaniment of their families; but
+they were released from the pursuit of their enemies in a
+very early stage of their flight; and their subsequent residence
+in the Desert was not a march, but a continued halt
+and under a continued interposition of Heaven for their             15
+comfortable support. Earthquakes, again, however comprehensive
+in their ravages, are shocks of a moment's
+duration. A much nearer approach made to the wide
+range and the long duration of the Kalmuck tragedy may
+have been in a pestilence such as that which visited                20
+Athens in the Peloponnesian war, or London in the reign
+of Charles II. There, also, the martyrs were counted by
+myriads, and the 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               25
+alleviation to the _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 all--for breadth and depth of suffering,           30
+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 all, each case had circumstances
+of romantic misery peculiar to itself--circumstances      5
+without precedent, and (wherever human nature is ennobled
+by Christianity), it may be confidently hoped, never
+to be repeated.
+
+The first point to be reached, before any hope of repose
+could be encouraged, was the River Jaik. This was not               10
+above 300 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;
+one summary exertion, not to be repeated, and all was               15
+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, across these interminable solitudes, for seven months         20
+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 variety, however, there was, will be most            25
+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, under the real order of development, it is remarkable       30
+that these sufferings of the Tartars, though under
+the moulding hands of accident, arrange themselves
+almost with a scenical propriety. They seem combined
+as with the skill of an artist; the intensity of the misery
+advancing regularly with the advances of the march, and
+the stages of the calamity corresponding to the stages
+of the route; so that, upon raising the curtain which
+veils the great catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of
+anguish, towering upward by regular gradations as if constructed     5
+artificially for picturesque effect--a result which
+might not have been surprising had it been reasonable to
+anticipate the same rate of speed, and even an accelerated
+rate, as prevailing through the latter stages of the expedition.
+But it seemed, on the contrary, most reasonable to                  10
+calculate upon a continual 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 extraordinary circumstance that the Russian
+armies did not begin to close in very fiercely upon                 15
+the Kalmucks until after they had accomplished a distance
+of full 2000 miles: 1000 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_ of the pursuers and the           20
+bloody desperation of the miserable fugitives had reached
+its uttermost 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.                           25
+
+ The first stage, we have already said, was from the
+Wolga to the Jaik; the distance about 300 miles; the time
+allowed seven days. For the first week, therefore, the
+rate of marching averaged about 43 English miles a day.
+The weather was cold, but bracing; and, at a more                   30
+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 children;
+the sheep perished by wholesale; and the children themselves
+were saved only by the innumerable camels.
+
+The Cossacks who dwelt upon the banks of the Jaik
+were the first among the subjects of Russia to come into
+collision with the Kalmucks. Great was their surprise at             5
+the suddenness 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              10
+fled in crowds to the 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 circumstances in which the               15
+Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge,
+as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these
+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           20
+his anxiety was not long. On the fifth day of the siege
+he descried from the walls a succession 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.               25
+Great agitation appeared immediately to follow: orders
+were soon after dispatched in all directions; and it became
+speedily known that upon a distant flank of the Kalmuck
+movement a bloody and exterminating battle had been
+fought the day before, in which one entire tribe of the             30
+Khan's dependents, numbering not less than 9000 fighting
+men, had perished to the last man. This was the
+_ouloss_, or clan, called Feka-Zechorr, 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 to their own
+party hatreds, more especially as the present was likely             5
+to be their final opportunity for revenge if the Kalmuck
+evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, concentrated
+as large a body of Cossack cavalry as circumstances
+allowed, they attacked the hostile _ouloss_ with a precipitation
+which denied to it all means for communicating with                 10
+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 80 miles; and thus it was,
+and not from oversight, that it came to be thrown entirely          15
+upon its own resources. These had proved insufficient:
+retreat, from the exhausted state of their horses and
+camels, no less than from the prodigious encumbrances
+of their live stock, was absolutely out of the question:
+quarter was disdained on the one side, and would not                20
+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, who on that day's dawning had held and                25
+styled themselves an independent nation.
+
+Universal consternation was diffused through the wide
+borders of the Khan's encampment by this disastrous
+intelligence, not so much on account of the numbers
+slain, or the total extinction of a powerful ally, as because       30
+the position of the Cossack force was likely to put
+to hazard the future advances of the Kalmucks, or at
+least to retard and hold them in check until the heavier
+columns of the Russian 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 again resounded through the
+tents--the signal for flight, and this time for a flight
+more rapid than ever. About 150 miles ahead of their                 5
+present position, there arose a tract of hilly country,
+forming a sort of margin to the vast, sealike expanse of
+champaign savannas, steppes, and occasionally of sandy
+deserts, which stretched away on each side of this margin
+both eastwards and westwards. Pretty nearly in the                  10
+centre of this hilly range lay a narrow defile, through
+which passed the nearest and the most practicable route
+to the River Torgau (the farther bank of which river
+offered the next great station of security for a general
+halt). It was the more essential to gain this pass before           15
+the Cossacks, inasmuch as not only would the delay in
+forcing the pass give time to the Russian pursuing
+columns for combining their attacks and for bringing
+up their artillery, but also because (even if all enemies in
+pursuit were thrown out of the question) it was held, by            20
+those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geography
+of these pathless steppes--that the loss of this one
+narrow strait amongst the hills would have the effect of
+throwing them (as their only alternative in a case where
+so wide a sweep of pasturage was required) upon a circuit           25
+of at least 500 miles extra; besides that, after all, this
+circuitous route would carry them to the Torgau at a point
+unfitted for the passage of their heavy baggage. The
+defile in the hills, therefore, it was resolved to gain; and
+yet, unless they moved upon it with the velocity of light           30
+cavalry, there was little chance but it would be found
+preoccupied by the Cossacks. They, it is true, had
+suffered greatly in the recent sanguinary action with the
+defeated _ouloss_; but the excitement of victory, and the
+intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had
+again swelled their ranks, and would probably act with
+the force of a vortex to draw in their simple countrymen
+from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of preoccupation
+was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were marching                    5
+upon an oblique line not above 50 miles longer than
+that which led to the same 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, burdened and "trashed"[6] as             10
+they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the
+Cossacks in seizing this important 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_)                    15
+was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor interests,
+or what would 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 suffering were impressed                  20
+not only upon their memories, but upon their very persons
+and the persons of their children; 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             25
+as could be accomplished. Weseloff, the Russian captive,
+has recorded the silent wretchedness with which the
+women and elder boys assisted in drawing the tent ropes.
+On the 5th of January all had been animation and the
+joyousness of indefinite expectation; now, on the contrary,         30
+a brief but bitter experience had taught them to
+take an amended calculation of what it was that lay
+before them.
+
+One whole day and far into the succeeding night had
+the renewed flight continued; the sufferings had been                5
+greater than before, for the cold had been more intense,
+and many perished out of the living creatures through
+every class except only the camels--whose powers of
+endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat.
+The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to              10
+the distress. Snow had begun to fall; and, though not
+deep at present, 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                 15
+check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the
+last interval of comfort 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;           20
+the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth expanse
+became firm enough to support the treading of the
+camels; and the flight was recommenced. But during
+the halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed; and,
+for the last time, universal plenty. The cows and oxen              25
+had perished in such vast numbers on the previous
+marches that an order was now issued to turn what
+remained to account by slaughtering the whole, and
+salting whatever part should be found to exceed the
+immediate consumption. This measure led to a scene                  30
+of general banqueting, and even of festivity amongst all
+who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by distress
+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 sabre. And the losses in reversion
+were likely to be many more. For rumors began now to
+arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom               5
+the Khan had dispatched to the rear and to each flank as
+well as in advance, that large masses of the imperial troops
+were converging from all parts of Central Asia to the fords
+of the River Torgau, as the most convenient point for
+intercepting the flying tribes; and it was already well             10
+known 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 motives were thus daily arising for quickening the
+motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhausting                15
+those who were previously but too much exhausted.
+
+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 which they
+anticipated so bloody an opposition from the Cossacks.              20
+A pretty large 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                  25
+artillery which he had not 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            30
+appeared upon their rear with a body 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, availing themselves of the
+dry beds of the summer torrents and other inequalities of
+the ground to conceal their movement. 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                5
+followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter such as in some
+measure avenged the recent bloody extermination 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 _cameleers_          10
+(that is, cuirassiers mounted on camels); hardy they were,
+but not strong, nor a match for their antagonists in weight;
+and their extraordinary efforts through the last few days
+to gain their present position had greatly diminished their
+powers for effecting an escape. Very few, in fact, _did_            15
+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.[7]
+
+The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as yet              20
+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 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            5
+same amount of Kirghises--both hereditary enemies of
+the Kalmucks--both exasperated to a point of madness
+by the bloody trophies which Oubacha and Momotbacha
+had, in late years, won from such of their compatriots as
+served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild              10
+nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands
+by which it had been imposed; and accordingly, catching
+with eagerness at the present occasion offered to their
+vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina of their
+perfect obedience to her commands, and at the same time             15
+a message significantly declaring in what spirit they meant
+to execute them--viz. "that they would not trouble her
+Majesty with prisoners."
+
+Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race
+for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and             20
+concurrently with nations as fierce and semi-humanized
+as themselves, besides that they were stung into threefold
+activity by the furies of mortified pride and military
+abasement, under the eyes of the Turkish Sultan. The
+forces, and more especially the artillery, of Russia were           25
+far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a regular
+opposition 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,          30
+and not 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. Sights such as these, with the many
+rueful aggravations incident to the helpless condition of
+infancy--of disease and of female weakness abandoned
+to the wolves amidst a howling wilderness--continued to              5
+track their course through a space of full two thousand
+miles; for so much at 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             10
+ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the first
+seven weeks of this march their 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      15
+of their baggage wagons, or (as occasionally happened)
+from the forests which skirted the 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,            20
+all dead and stiff at the return of morning light. Myriads
+were left behind from pure exhaustion, of 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;             25
+the vast extent of the march at length brought them into
+more genial latitudes, and the unusual duration of the
+march was gradually bringing them into more genial
+seasons of the year. Two thousand miles had at least
+been traversed; February, March, April, were gone; the              30
+balmy month of May had opened; vernal sights and
+sounds came from every side to comfort the heart-weary
+travellers; and at last, in the latter end of May, crossing
+the Torgau, they took up a position where they hoped to
+find liberty to repose themselves for many weeks in comfort
+as well as in security, and to draw such supplies from
+the fertile neighborhood as might restore their shattered
+forces to a condition for executing, with less of wreck
+and ruin, the large remainder of the journey.                        5
+
+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 fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and
+flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished: ox,              10
+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 affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood--these
+only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern               15
+heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this
+long tempest of trial unscathed and hardly diminished.
+The Khan, knowing how much he was individually
+answerable for the misery which had been sustained,
+must have wept tears even more bitter than those of                 20
+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, the Khan resolved to make, by sacrifices to
+the general good of all personal regards; and, accordingly,         25
+even at this point of their advance, he once more deliberately
+brought under review the whole question of the
+revolt. The question was formally debated before the
+Council, whether, even at this point, they should untread
+their steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's            30
+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 fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomplishment;
+for the unlimited and sacred power of the Khan, so well
+known to the Empress, made it absolutely iniquitous to
+attribute any separate responsibility to the people. Upon
+the Khan rested the guilt--upon the Khan would
+descend the imperial vengeance. This proposal was                    5
+applauded for its generosity, but was energetically opposed
+by Zebek-Dorchi. Were they to lose the whole
+journey of two thousand miles? Was their misery to
+perish without fruit? True it was that they had yet
+reached only the halfway house; but, in that respect,               10
+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 wilderness,                   15
+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            20
+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                 25
+surely 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               30
+Emperor of China. They had now tried both governments;
+and for them 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 proposal; the pardon of their prince, they persuaded
+themselves, 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            5
+mercy; when suddenly all was defeated by the arrival of
+two envoys from Traubenberg. This general had reached
+the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful march, on the
+12th of April; thence he set forward toward Oriembourg,
+which he reached upon the 1st of June, having been                  10
+joined on his route at various times through the month
+of May by the Kirghises and a corps of ten thousand
+Bashkirs. From Oriembourg he sent forward his official
+offers to the Khan, which were harsh and peremptory,
+holding out no specific stipulations as to pardon or                15
+impunity, an exacting unconditional submission as the
+preliminary price of any cessation from military operations.
+The personal character of Traubenberg, which
+was anything but energetic, and the condition of his
+army, disorganized in a great measure by the length and             20
+severity of the march, made it probable that, with a little
+time for negotiation, a more conciliatory tone 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.                                   25
+
+The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had
+reported to this officer that a distance of only ten days'
+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               30
+Russian general to advance without delay. Once having
+placed his cannon in position, so as to command the
+Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his
+people would be in his own hands, and they would
+themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, however
+(_why_ 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             5
+chance of prevailing, and dreading above 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 dispersed              10
+for many a league in search of food or provender for
+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                  15
+accidents of ground) three or four blending into one;
+flight and pursuit, 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            20
+innumerable sections; and thus, for some hours, it had
+been impossible for the most practised 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 imminent danger of being cut                  25
+down; but at length Zebek succeeded in rallying a
+strong column of infantry, which, with the support of the
+camel corps on each flank, compelled the Bashkirs to
+retreat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued
+to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed            30
+or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed
+as the advanced parties of Traubenberg'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 molestation, the whole
+summer through.
+
+It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness                    5
+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 could superadd to those of frost and winter.
+To this sequel of their story we shall immediately revert,          10
+after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred
+at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled
+cousin, Zebek-Dorchi.
+
+There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the
+Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court                15
+of the Khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought
+necessary to carry along with them as a captive. For
+some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in
+one or two instances cruel; but, as the increasing distance
+was continually diminishing the chances of escape,                  20
+and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually
+withdrew their attention from all minor interests to their
+own personal sufferings, the vigilance of the custody
+grew more and more relaxed; until at length, upon a
+petition to the Khan, Mr. Weseloff was formally restored            25
+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 for his journey to St.
+Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not               30
+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 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            5
+audience humbly remonstrated upon the injustice done
+him and the cruelty of thus sporting with his feelings by
+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               10
+all participation in the affair, and went so far in
+proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to
+effect his escape; and, as a ready means of commencing
+it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to Mr.
+Weseloff that he had just then received a message from              15
+the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private interview
+on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed out. That
+interview was 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                20
+prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he read
+treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as stated by
+the Khan--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;               25
+but, upon further consideration, he begged leave to
+decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. The fact
+was that three Kalmucks, who had strong motives for
+returning to their countrymen on the west bank of the
+Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, had offered             30
+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 honor with Weseloff
+to conceal their intentions, and therefore 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 through many hundred miles with wild horses                 5
+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 provision against the coming           10
+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 fugitives repaired.
+They took a circuitous path, which drew them as little as           15
+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. The moon had
+now risen, the horses were unfastened; and they were                20
+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
+the communication made by that prince in the morning; and,          25
+requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in
+the direction of the sound. A very short distance brought
+him to an open glade in the wood, where he beheld four
+men contending with a party of at least nine or ten.
+Two of the four were dismounted at the very instant of              30
+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 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                 5
+whole 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 Weseloff had shot was lying dead; and both were                10
+shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on
+stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize
+a well-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               15
+time a dead silence prevailed. The situation of Weseloff
+was delicate and critical. To leave the Khan at this point
+was probably 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            20
+the other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the
+chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan, also, was
+apparently 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          25
+detain your companions, but it would ill become me to do
+so after the important service you have just rendered me.
+Let us turn a little to the left. There, where you see the
+watch fire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then
+safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise; for                  30
+the circumstances under which you will appear as my
+escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for
+the present. 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 mere accident had brought him to the spot
+at which he heard the uproar; but that, _having_ heard it,           5
+and connecting 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, unless in the expectation of finding
+the Khan assaulted by assassins. A few minutes after                10
+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 travelling. Each of them led
+six or seven horses besides the one he rode; and by                 15
+shifting from one to the other (like the ancient Desultors
+of the Roman circus), so as never to burden the same
+horse for more than half an hour at a time, they continued
+to advance at the rate of 200 miles in the twenty-four
+hours for three days consecutively. After that time,                20
+considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded
+less rapidly; though still with a velocity which staggered
+the belief of Weseloff's friends in after years. He was,
+however, a man of high principle, and always adhered
+firmly to the details of his printed report. One of the             25
+circumstances there stated is that they continued to pursue
+the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for
+an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skeletons
+and other memorials of their calamities. In particular,
+he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the                      30
+valuable property which it had been necessary to sacrifice.
+These heaps were found lying still untouched in
+the deserts. From these Weseloff and his companions
+took as much as they could conveniently carry; and this
+it was, with the price of their beautiful horses, which they
+afterward sold at one of the Russian military settlements
+for about L15 apiece, which eventually enabled them to
+pursue their journey in Russia. This journey, as regarded
+Weseloff in particular, was closed by a tragical catastrophe.        5
+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          10
+affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his
+mother's house without warning of his approach. He
+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                15
+the spot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck
+flight. 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             20
+even more monotonous than on the former half of the
+flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were
+excessive 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                25
+Kirghises.
+
+These people, "more fell than anguish, hunger, or
+the sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of
+enraged hornets. And very often, while _they_ were
+attacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and
+30 flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people
+of the country which they were traversing; and with good
+reason, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged
+the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage
+wherever 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 hundred miles, in order to strike into a land              5
+rich in the comforts 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.          10
+Sometimes, 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               15
+plague of starvation, whether with or without this plague
+of hostility in front, whatever might be the "fierce varieties"
+of their misery in this respect, no rest ever came
+to their unhappy rear; _post equitem sedet atra cura_: it
+was a torment like the undying worm of conscience.                  20
+And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether
+unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and
+personal malignity is not unfrequently immortal; but rare
+indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in
+a nation. And what imbittered the interest was that the             25
+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 circumstances. The
+Bashkirs were ready to fight "from morn till dewy eve."
+The Kalmucks, on the contrary, were always obliged to               30
+run. Was it _from_ their enemies as creatures whom they
+feared? No; but _towards_ their friends--towards that
+final haven of China--as what was hourly implored by
+the prayers of their wives and the tears of their children.
+But, though they fled unwillingly, too often they 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
+matter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their                5
+advanced guard to fight them; every day the battle raged
+for hours, 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                 10
+deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. But if the Kalmucks
+resolved to press forwards, 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 effectual remedy               15
+be applied to the case, even for each separate day, except
+by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarches
+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,         20
+and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by 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                         25
+frontiers of China were approached, the hostility of both
+sides had assumed the appearance much more 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               30
+was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of fiends.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+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 country was desolate of inhabitants, but rich
+in woods of ancient growth, and overrun with game of
+every description. In a central spot of this solitary                5
+region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunting lodge,
+to which he resorted annually for recreation and relief
+from the cares of government. Led onwards in pursuit of
+game, he had rambled to a distance of 200 miles or
+more from his lodge, followed at a little distance by a             10
+sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his
+tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived
+on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia.[8]
+Here he was standing by accident, at an opening of his
+pavilion, enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly              15
+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 of the heavens. By
+and by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken toward
+the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The             20
+Emperor's suite assembled from all quarters; the silver
+trumpets were sounded in the rear; and from all the
+glades and forest avenues began to trot forwards towards
+the pavilion the yagers--half cavalry, half huntsmen--who
+composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on                     25
+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 uncertain
+danger. At first it had been imagined that some vast
+troops of deer or other wild animals of the chase 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 forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from               5
+molestation. 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 spectators, though all calculations        10
+of distance were difficult, 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 freshened, the dusty vapor had developed
+itself far and wide into the appearance of huge                     15
+aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes from the sky
+to the earth; and at particular points, where the eddies
+of the breeze acted upon the pendulous skirts of these
+aerial curtains, rents were perceived, sometimes taking the
+form of regular arches, portals, and windows, through               20
+which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels "indorsed"[9]
+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 sometimes, as the wind slackened              25
+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, reported, in a language not                30
+to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the
+cloudy screen.
+
+It was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last
+extremities of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching
+to that final stage of privation and killing misery beyond
+which few or none could have lived, but also, happily for
+themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final         5
+stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet
+hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full protection
+from their enemies. These enemies, however, as
+yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever,
+though this day was destined to be the last of their hideous        10
+persecution. 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 preparations made in consequence to
+welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal benevolence.            15
+But as these couriers had been dispatched from
+the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and before
+the advance of Traubenberg had made it necessary
+for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, the
+Emperor had not looked for their arrival on his frontiers           20
+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 of September. The
+subsequent change of plan being unknown to Kien Long,               25
+left him for some time in doubt as to the true interpretation
+to be put upon this mighty apparition in the desert:
+but at length the savage clamors of hostile fury and
+clangor of weapons unveiled to the Emperor the true
+nature of those unexpected calamities which had so prematurely      30
+precipitated the Kalmuck measure.
+
+Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor
+instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care
+for 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 of artillery, who always attended the Emperor's           5
+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. It soon appeared, however, to          10
+those who watched 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 45 degrees with
+that line in which the imperial _cortege_ had been standing,        15
+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 ordered up; and it was precisely           20
+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 expedition in all its parts            25
+ and details so awfully disastrous. The Emperor was not
+personally present, or at least he saw whatever he _did_ see
+from too great a distance to discriminate its individual
+features; but he records in his written memorial the
+report made to him of this scene by some of his own                 30
+officers.
+
+The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi,
+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. From this pass, elevated about two thousand
+feet above the level of the water, they continued to                 5
+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 Kalmucks, reduced by this time from
+about six hundred thousand souls to two hundred and                 10
+sixty thousand, and after enduring for two months and a
+half the miseries we have previously described--outrageous
+heat, famine, and the destroying scimiter of the
+Kirghises and the Bashkirs--had for the last ten days
+been traversing a hideous desert, where no vestiges were            15
+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 wilderness. On
+the eighth day the wretched daily allowance, which had              20
+been continually diminishing, failed entirely; and thus, for
+two days of insupportable fatigue, the horrors of thirst
+had been carried to the fiercest extremity. Upon this
+last morning, at the sight of the hills and the forest
+scenery, which announced to those who acted as guides               25
+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 the general rush
+forward to the lake, all discipline and command were lost--all      30
+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 shouts proclaimed
+the progress of the massacre; but none 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 was                5
+affected 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 effect of
+thirst), in both nations had become lunatic, and in this            10
+state, 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 rushed, and together
+continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment           15
+but of one almighty instinct. This absorption of the
+thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single
+half hour; 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            20
+party of savage 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                   25
+struggles, and 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                  30
+forced into a share in this carnival of murder by trampling
+down as many as they could strike prostrate with the
+lash of their fore-legs. Every 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 draughts of water,
+visibly contaminated with the blood of their slaughtered
+compatriots. Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough
+to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there,          5
+for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly
+fear, of agonizing struggle, of spasm, of death, and the
+fear of death--revenge, and the lunacy of revenge--until
+the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a
+few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length         10
+averted their eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed
+incapable of further addition, was, however, increased
+by an unexpected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to
+perceive here and there the approach of the Chinese
+cavalry, felt it prudent--wheresoever they were sufficiently        15
+at leisure from the passions of the murderous
+scene--to gather into bodies. This was noticed by the
+governor of a small Chinese fort built upon an eminence
+above the lake; and immediately he threw in a broadside,
+which spread havoc among the Bashkir tribe. As often                20
+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 in his exterminating broadside; until at length
+the lake, at its lower end, became one vast seething                25
+caldron of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese
+cavalry had reached the foot of the hills; the Bashkirs,
+attentive to _their_ movements, had formed; skirmishes had
+ been fought; and, with a quick sense that the contest was
+henceforward rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs                30
+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 experience of the
+Asiatic deserts, and in the certainty that these wretched
+Bashkirs had to repeat that same experience a second
+time, for thousands of miles, as the price exacted by a
+retributary 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
+complete 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                 10
+Desert; for any subsequent marches which awaited them
+were neither long nor painful. Every possible alleviation
+and refreshment for their exhausted bodies had been
+already provided by Kien Long with the most princely
+munificence; and lands of great fertility were immediately          15
+assigned to them in ample extent along the River Ily, not
+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               20
+missionaries: "La nation des Torgotes (_savoir les Kalmuques_)
+ arriva a Ily, toute delabree, n'ayant ni de quoi
+vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. Je l'avais prevu; et j'avais
+ordonne de faire en tout genre les provisions necessaires
+pour pouvoir les secourir promptement: c'est ce qui a ete           25
+execute. On a fait la division des terres: et on a assigne
+a chaque famille une portion suffisante 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 l'habiller, des grains pour se nourrir pendant l'espace        30
+d'une annee, des ustensiles pour le menage et d'autres
+choses necessaires: 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, moutons, etc., pour qu'ils pussent
+dans la suite travailler par eux-memes a leur entretien et
+a leur bien-etre."
+
+These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking                 5
+in his own person of his own paternal cares; but another
+Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munificence
+of this prince in terms which proclaim still more
+forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and
+the delicate considerateness which conducted, this extensive        10
+bounty. He has been speaking of the Kalmucks,
+and he goes on thus:--"Lorsqu'ils arriverent sur nos
+frontieres (au nombre de plusieurs centaines de mille,
+quoique la fatigue extreme, la faim, la soif, et toutes les
+autres incommodites inseparables d'une tres-longue et               15
+tres-penible route en eussent fait perir presque autant),
+ils etaient reduits a la derniere misere; ils manquaient
+de tout. Il" (viz. l'empereur, Kien Long) "leur fit preparer
+des logemens conformes a leur maniere de vivre;
+il leur fit distribuer des alimens et des habits; il leur fit       20
+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 propres frais, qui se sont
+montes a des sommes immenses, sans compter l'argent
+qu'il a donne a chaque chef-de-famille, pour pouvoir a la           25
+subsistance de sa femme et de ses enfans."
+
+Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kalmucks
+were replaced in territorial possessions, and in
+comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which
+they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political             30
+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
+circumstances which obliged them to become essentially
+dependent upon agriculture; and thus far raised in social
+rank that, by the natural course of their habits and the
+necessities of life, they were effectually reclaimed from
+roving and from the savage customs connected with a half             5
+nomadic life. They gained also in political privileges,
+chiefly through the immunity from military service which
+their new relations enabled them to obtain. These were
+circumstances of advantage and gain. But one great
+disadvantage there was, amply to overbalance all other              10
+possible gain: the chances were lost, or were removed to
+an incalculable distance, for their conversion to Christianity,
+without which 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           15
+concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this
+respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all
+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            20
+that would have murdered him; and he had displayed his
+caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing
+of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all his dissimulation
+could not hide. This had produced a feud, which,
+by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of               25
+Oubacha; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more
+fatal than his open enmity. After the settlement on the
+Ily this feud continued to advance, until it came under
+the notice of the Emperor, on occasion of a visit which
+all the Tartar chieftains made to his Majesty at his hunting        30
+lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accurately
+of all the particulars connected with the transaction--of
+all the rights and 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 ambitious projects
+that, in conjunction with other chiefs, he had the presumption       5
+even to weave nets of treason against the Emperor
+himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled;
+counter-plots were constructed upon the same basis,
+and with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered.
+Finally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge,            10
+together with all his accomplices; and, under the skilful
+management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's
+establishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar
+chieftains were made to recoil upon themselves, and the
+whole of them perished by assassination at a great imperial         15
+banquet. For the Chinese morality is exactly of
+that kind which approves in everything the _lex talionis_:
+
+  "... Lex nec justior ulla est [as _they_ think]
+   Quam necis artifices arte perire sua."
+
+So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of              20
+the great Tartar Exodus. Oubacha, meantime, and his
+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         25
+harsh a translation to distant climates, found again a
+happy 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            30
+the hills of this favored land, and even from the level
+grounds as they approach its western border, they still
+look out upon that fearful wilderness which once beheld
+a nation in agony--the utter extirpation of nearly half a
+million from amongst its numbers, and for the remainder
+a storm of misery so fierce that in the end (as happened
+also at Athens during the Peloponnesian war from a different         5
+form of misery) very many lost their memory; all
+records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge--utterly
+erased and cancelled: and many others lost
+their reason; some in a gentle form of pensive melancholy,
+some in a more restless form of feverish delirium
+and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of             10
+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, with which all persons
+looked back upon the dread calamities attached to the               15
+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 their relief: two great
+monuments; one embodied in the religious solemnity,                 20
+enjoined by the Dalai-Lama, 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 from the afflictions of the
+Desert (this took place about six years after the arrival           25
+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 Emperor, Kien Long,
+near the banks of the Ily. These columns stand upon                 30
+the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but
+emphatic inscription[10] to the following effect:--
+
+                           By the Will of God,
+                  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,   5
+           Rested from their labors and from great afflictions
+                  Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall,
+       And by the favor of KIEN LONG, God's Lieutenant upon Earth,
+      The ancient Children of the Wilderness--the Torgote Tartars--      10
+              Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar,
+      Wandering Sheep who had strayed away from the Celestial Empire
+                            in the year 1616,
+        But are now mercifully gathered again, after infinite sorrow,
+               Into the fold of their forgiving Shepherd.                15
+                          Hallowed be the spot
+                                  and
+                 Hallowed be the day--September 8, 1771!
+                                 Amen.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] 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 affirms that there were "many"
+women in the Greek army--[Greek: pollai esan etairai en to
+strateumati]; and in a late stage of that trying expedition it is
+evident that women were amongst the survivors.
+
+[6] "Trashed." This is an expressive word used by Beaumont and
+Fletcher in their "Bonduca," etc., to describe the case of a person
+retarded or embarrassed in flight, or in pursuit, by some encumbrance,
+whether thing or person, too valuable to be left behind.
+
+[7] There was another _ouloss_ equally strong with that of
+Feka-Zechorr, viz. that of Erketunn 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 Governor of Astrachan, on the
+first outbreak of the insurrection, that their real wishes were for
+maintaining the old connection with Russia. The Cossacks, therefore,
+to whom the pursuit was intrusted, had instructions to act cautiously
+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.
+
+[8] 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.
+
+[9] _Camels_ "_indorsed_" "and elephants indorsed with
+towers."--MILTON in _Paradise Regained_.
+
+[10] This inscription has been slightly altered in one or two phrases,
+and particularly in adapting to the Christian era the Emperor's
+expressions for the year of the original Exodus from China and the
+retrogressive Exodus from Russia. With respect to the designation
+adopted for the Russian Emperor, either it is built upon some
+confusion between him and the Byzantine Caesars, as though the former,
+being of the same religion with the latter (and occupying in part the
+same longitudes, though in different latitudes), might be considered
+as his modern successor; or else it refers simply to the Greek form of
+Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church.
+
+
+[Illustration: ROUTE OF THE TARTARS IN THEIR FLIGHT.]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+THE ORIGINAL SOURCES.
+
+
+In Professor Masson's edition of De Quincey, Vol. VII, p. 8, is the
+following discussion of the author's original sources:
+
+"A word or two on De Quincey's authorities for his splendid sketch
+called _The Revolt of the Tartars_:--One authority was a famous
+Chinese state-paper purporting to have been composed by the Chinese
+Emperor, Kien Long himself (1735--1796), of which a French
+translation, with the title _Monument de la Transmigration des
+Tourgouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans l'Empire de la Chine_,
+had been published in 1776 by the French Jesuit missionaries 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 population 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 fastened 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 to add 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 secretiveness in such matters; but since then an incidental
+reference of his own, in his _Homer and the Homeridae_,[11] has given
+me the clue. 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 traveller,
+Benjamin Bergmann, whose _Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmueken
+in den Jahren 1802 und 1803_ came forth from a Riga press, in four
+parts or volumes, in 1804-1805. 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 Geschichte der
+Kalmuekenflucht von der Wolga_ ("Essay on the History of the Flight 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 Kalmueks: Traduit de l'Allemand
+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 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 historiographic summary or record, inasmuch as it would be
+most effectively treated, even for the purpose of real history, if
+thrown into the form of an epic or romance. Accordingly he takes
+liberties with his authorities, deviating from them now and then, and
+even once or twice introducing incidents not reconcilable with either
+of them, if not irreconcilable also with historical and geographical
+possibility. Hence one may doubt sometimes whether what one is reading
+is to be regarded as history or as invention. On this 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 the 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 version of
+any such historical episode in all Gibbon, and possibly nothing truer
+essentially, after all, to the substance of the facts as they actually
+happened."
+
+Professor Masson's Appended Editorial Note on the Chinese Accounts of
+the Migration (Vol. VII, pp. 422-6):
+
+"As has been mentioned in the Preface, these appeared, in translated
+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 l'Empire 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 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
+(1661-1721); 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 annexation 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 re-settlement 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 several
+generations. With this explanation the following sentences from Kien
+Long's Memoir, containing all its historical substance, will be fully
+intelligible:
+
+"'All those who at present compose the nation of the Torgouths,
+unaffrighted 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 Torgouths 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 would be difficult to explain their
+common origin, respecting which indeed there is no very 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 subdued 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 withdrawing himself
+forever from the domination of the Eleuths. He took secret measures
+for securing the 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 grandson of Ayouki. The Russians never
+ceasing to require him to furnish soldiers for incorporation into
+their armies, and having at last carried off 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 determined 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 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 refugees. Chouhede, one of the councillors 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 enjoined on him the duty
+of himself getting ready the necessary provisions of every kind inside
+these defences.... The Torgouths arrived, and on arriving found
+lodgings ready, means of sustenance, and all the conveniences they
+could have found in 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 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
+beyond 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 separated itself from the
+trunk, those Torgouths who had voluntarily 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 I 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 at p.
+417. 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 monumental form. It is from this Chinese comment on the Imperial
+Memoir that there is the extract at p. 418 as to the miserable
+condition of the fugitives.
+
+"On a comparison of De Quincey's splendid paper with the Chinese
+documents, several discrepancies present themselves; the most
+important of which perhaps are these:--(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 expedition
+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, Chouhede; 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 monument, are not
+in accord with the Chinese statements respecting 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 magnificent _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 opportunity 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 who have 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
+kinsmen the Eleuths, and seek refuge within the Russian territories 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 than seventy years' in their Russian
+settlements when Oubache brought them back. This would refer us to
+about 1700, or, at farthest, to between 1690 and 1700, for the
+secession under Ayouki.
+
+"The discrepancies are partly explained by the fact that De Quincey
+followed Bergmann's account,--which account differs avowedly in some
+particulars from that of the Chinese memoirs. In Bergmann I find the
+original secession 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 Bergmann 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 himself 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, however, is that he did nothing
+of the sort, but deputed any necessary increment of his Bergmann
+materials to his own lively imagination."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+1 1. The first three paragraphs of the essay, comprising the formal
+introduction, are intentionally rather more picturesque and vivacious
+in style than the ordinary narrative that follows. If these paragraphs
+be read consecutively aloud, the student will surely feel the sweep
+and power of De Quincey's eloquence. Attention may well be directed to
+the author's own apparent interest in his subject because of its
+appeal to the _imagination_ (p. 1, l. 4), of the _romantic
+circumstances_ (p. 1, l. 11), of its _dramatic capabilities_ (p. 2, l.
+8), of its _scenical situations_ (p. 3, l. 8). Throughout the essay
+effort should be made to excite appreciation of the significance of
+words, and De Quincey's mastery in the use of words may be continually
+illustrated. In paragraph 1, note the fitness of the word _velocity_
+(l. 12) and the appropriateness of the epithets in _almighty
+instincts_ (l. 17), _life-withering marches_ (l. 18), _gloomy
+vengeance_ (l. 19), _volleying thunders_ (p. 2, l. 1).
+
+1 5. Tartar. Originally applied to certain tribes in Chinese
+Tartary, but here used for Mongolian. Look up etymology and trace
+relation of the word to _Turk_.--steppes. A Russian word indicating
+large areas more or less level and devoid of forests; these regions
+are often similar in character to the American prairie, and are used
+for pasturage.
+
+1 6,7. terminus a quo, terminus ad quem. The use of phrases quoted
+from classic sources is frequent in De Quincey's writings. Note such
+phrases as they occur, also foreign words. Is their use to be
+justified?
+
+1 18. leeming. The lemming, or leming. A rodent quadruped. "It is
+very prolific, and vast hordes periodically migrate down to the sea,
+destroying much vegetation in their path."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+1 22. Miltonic images. "Miltonic" here characterizes not only images
+used by Milton, but images suggestive of his as well. Yet compare:
+
+               Or from above
+  Should intermitted vengeance arm again
+  His red right hand to plague us?
+                              --_Paradise Lost_, II, 172-4.
+
+               Or, with solitary hand
+  Reaching beyond all limit, at one blow
+  Unaided could have finished thee.
+                              --_Paradise Lost_, VI, 139-41.
+
+2 12. sanctions. The word here means not permission, nor recognition
+merely, but the avowal of something as sacred, hence obligatory; a
+thing ordained.
+
+2 13, 14. a triple character. De Quincey is fond of thus analyzing
+the facts he has to state. Notice how this method of statement, marked
+by "1st," "2dly," "3dly," contributes to the clearness of the
+paragraph.
+
+2 17. "Venice Preserved." A tragedy by Thomas Otway, one of the
+Elizabethan dramatists (1682).--"Fiesco." A tragedy by the great
+German dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1783), the full title of which is
+_The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa_.
+
+2 22. Cambyses, the Third (529-522 B.C.). He was king of Persia and
+led an expedition into Ethiopia, which ended disastrously for him.
+
+2 23. anabasis. The word itself means "a march up" into the
+interior.--katabasis (l. 28) means "a march down,"--in this case the
+retreat of the Greeks. The _Anabasis_ of the Greek historian Xenophon
+is the account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against
+Artaxerxes, which ended with the death of Cyrus at the battle of
+Cunaxa (401 B.C.).
+
+2 25. Crassus. A Roman general who led an army into Parthia (or
+Persia) (54 B.C.). He was defeated and put to death by
+torture.--Julian (l. 26), the Apostate, lost his life while invading
+Persia (363 A.D.).
+
+2 28. the Russian anabasis, etc. The historic invasion of Russia by
+the armies of Napoleon in 1812, followed by the terrible retreat from
+Moscow.
+
+3 3. This triple character, etc. Note this method of making clear
+the connection between paragraphs. Make close study of these
+paragraphs; analyze their structure. Compare the manner of introducing
+subsequent paragraphs.
+
+3 14. Wolga. The German spelling. The Volga is the longest river in
+Europe. It is difficult to locate with certainty all the points here
+mentioned.
+
+3 16. Koulagina was a fort somewhere on the Ural river; perhaps to
+be identified with Kulaschinskaja, or Kologinskaia.
+
+3 17. Cossacks. A people of mixed origin, but of Russian rather than
+Tartar stock. There are two branches, the Ukraine and the Don
+Cossacks. This people is first heard of in the tenth century. The
+title of the leader was _Hetman_; the office was elective and the
+government was democratic. The Cossacks have been noted always as
+fierce fighters and are valuable subjects of the czar. The _Bashkirs_
+(l. 18) are Mongolians and nomadic in their habits.
+
+3 18. Ouchim was evidently a mountain pass in the Ural range
+(compare p. 37, l. 18).
+
+3 19. Torgau, spelled also _Torgai_ by De Quincey, though elsewhere
+_Turgai_, indicates a district east of the Ural mountains; it is also
+the name of the principal city of that district.
+
+3 20. Khan. A Tartar title meaning chief or governor.
+
+3 22. Lake of Tengis. Lake Balkash is meant. Compare p. 56, l. 18,
+and note thereon.
+
+3 23. Zebek-Dorchi. One of the principal characters in the following
+narrative.
+
+3 32. Kalmucks. A branch of the Mongolian family of peoples, divided
+into four tribes, and dwelling in the Chinese Empire, western Siberia,
+and southeastern Russia. They were nomads, adherents of a form of
+Buddhism, and number over 200,000.--_Century Cyclopedia of Names._
+
+4 12. exasperated. As an illustration of the discriminating use of
+words, explain the difference in meaning of _exasperated_ and
+_irritated_ (l. 19); also point out the fitness of the word _inflated_
+in the phrase (l. 13).
+
+5 23. rival. Why "_almost_ a competitor"? What is the meaning of
+each word?
+
+5 32. odius. Is there any gain in force by adding _repulsive_?
+
+6 5. Machiavelian. Destitute of political morality. A term derived
+from the name of Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman and writer
+(1469-1527), who, in a treatise on government entitled "The Prince,"
+advocated, or was interpreted to advocate, the disregard of moral
+principle in the maintenance of authority. In this sentence
+discriminate between the apparent synonyms _dissimulation_,
+_hypocrisy_, _perfidy_.
+
+6 15. Elizabeth Petrowna. Daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine
+I. Empress of Russia 1741-1762.
+
+6 28. Tcherkask. An important city of the Cossacks, near the mouth
+of the Don.--tents. A common method of counting families among
+nomads. What figure of speech does this illustrate?
+
+7 25. roubles. A rouble is the Russian unit of value, worth
+seventy-seven cents. The word is etymologically connected with the
+Indian _rupee_.
+
+7 28. Thus far, etc. Notice the care with which De Quincey analyzes
+the situation.
+
+8 19. mercenary. Look up origin of the word. How is it appropriate
+here?
+
+8 29. romantic. What are the qualities indicated by this adjective?
+How did the word, derived from _Roman_, get its present significance?
+
+8 34. A triple vengeance. Compare with the similar analysis p. 2, l. 13.
+
+9 11. behemoth. A Hebrew word meaning "great beast." It was used
+probably of the hippopotamus. See _Job_, xl, 15-24. In the work by
+Bergmann, which furnished De Quincey with much of his material, the
+figure used is that of a giant and a dwarf.--Muscovy. An old name of
+Russia, derived from Moscow.
+
+9 13. "lion ramp." Quoted from Milton:
+
+        The bold Ascalonite
+  Fled from his lion ramp.
+             --_Samson Agonistes_, 139.
+
+"_Baptized and infidel_" and "_barbaric East_" are also borrowings
+from Milton.
+
+9 16. unnumbered numbers. Notice how effectively in this and the
+following sentences De Quincey utilizes _suggested_ words: _monstrous,
+monstrosity_; _hopelessness, hope_.
+
+9 22. fable. Here used for plot; the idea being that the story of
+the Revolt has all the compactness and unity of design to be found in
+the plot of a classic tragedy, which could admit the introduction of
+no external incidents or episodes to confuse the thread of the main
+action.
+
+10 8. translation. Note the etymology of this word, which is here
+used in its literal sense.
+
+10 17. But what, etc. See with what art, as well as with what
+evident interest, De Quincey catches the very spirit of the plot. How
+does the interrogation add strength?
+
+10 25, 26. Kien Long. "Emperor of China from 1735 to 1796, was the
+fourth Chinese emperor of the Mantchoo-Tartar dynasty, and a man of
+the highest reputation for ability and accomplishment."--MASSON.
+
+10 28. religion. Lamaism. "A corrupted form of Buddhism prevailing
+in Tibet and Mongolia, which combines the ethical and metaphysical
+ideas of Buddhism with an organized hierarchy under two semi-political
+sovereign pontiffs, an elaborate ritual, and the worship of a host of
+deities and saints."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+10 29. Chinese Wall. This famous wall was built for defence against
+the northern Mongols in the third century. It is 1400 miles in length
+and of varying height. In what sense is the phrase used figuratively?
+
+11 17. great Lama. "Lama, a celibate priest or ecclesiastic
+belonging to that variety of Buddhism known as Lamaism. There are
+several grades of lamas, both male and female. The dalai-lama and the
+tesho- or bogdo-lama are regarded as supreme pontiffs. They are of
+equal authority in their respective territories, but the former is
+much the more important, and is known to Europeans as the Grand
+Lama,"--_Century Dictionary._
+
+The Dalai-Lama (p. 12, l. 11) resides at Lassa in Tibet.
+
+12 34. With respect to the month. Notice the extreme care with which
+the author develops the following details, and the touch of sympathy
+with which this paragraph closes.
+
+13 28. war raged. "The war was begun in 1768 when Mustapha III. was
+Sultan of Turkey; and it was continued till 1774."--MASSON.
+
+13 33. Human experience, etc. It is a favorite device of this writer
+to develop a concrete fact into an abstraction of general application.
+Do you believe that this is true? Can you give any illustration?
+
+15 1. a pitched battle. "It will be difficult, I think, to find
+record, in the history of the Russo-Turkish war of 1768, of any battle
+answering to this."--MASSON.
+
+15 10. Paladins. A term used especially to designate the famous
+knightly champions who served the Frankish Charlemagne. Look up the
+etymology of the word and trace its present meaning.
+
+15 24. ukase. "An edict or order, legislative or administrative,
+emanating from the Russian government."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+16 9. mummeries. Find the original meaning of this word.
+
+16 22. Catharine II. "Elizabeth had been succeeded in 1762 by her
+nephew Peter III., who had reigned but a few months when he was
+dethroned by a conspiracy of Russian nobles headed by his German wife
+Catharine. She became Empress in his stead, and reigned from 1762 to
+1796 as Catharine II."--MASSON.
+
+17 10. doubtful suspicion and indirect presumption. Note the
+additional force given to the nouns by the adjectives.
+
+17 18. Weseloff. This gentleman is referred to again at more length
+in pages 45-50.
+
+17 31. sanctions. Compare the note on p. 2, l. 12. The sense in
+which the word is used justifies the use of _violate_ in the next line.
+
+18 24. first of all. Again see how, by use of this phrase, followed
+later by _secondly_, _thirdly,_ etc., De Quincey gains greater
+clearness for his various points.
+
+19 29. But the time, etc. Here is the first general division point
+in the main narrative. The genesis of the plot has been described; now
+follow the active preliminaries to the flight.
+
+19 33. one vast conflagration. Compare the account, p. 25.
+
+20 12, 13. But where or how, etc. Note again the effective use of
+interrogation. How does it stimulate interest?
+
+20 17. Kirghises. The spelling _Kirghiz_ is more familiar. Like the
+Bashkirs, nomads of the Mongolian-Tartar race, perhaps the least
+civilized of those inhabiting the steppes.
+
+20 26. _rhetoric._ In what sense used here? Is this use correct?
+
+21 5. _Sarepta._ Locate this town; it is on a small river that empties
+into the Volga. "The point of the reference to this particular town is
+that it was a colony of industrious Germans, having been founded in
+1764 or 1765 by the Moravian Brothers."--BALDWIN.
+
+22 11. Temba. The Jemba.
+
+22 28. Kichinskoi. Notice the vividness of the character portrait
+that follows; compare it with the portraitures of Zebek and Oubacha
+previously given.
+
+23 1. surveillant. Here used for watchman or spy. What derivatives
+have we from this French expression?
+
+23 34. Christmas arrived. Another division point in the analysis.
+
+24 5. Astrachan. Also spelled _Astrakhan_. The name of a large and
+somewhat barren district comprising more than 90,000 square miles of
+territory in southeastern Europe; its capital city, having the same
+name, is situated on the Volga near its mouth.
+
+24 26. at the rate of 300 miles a day. By no means an incredible
+speed; in Russia such sledge flights are not uncommon. Compare what De
+Quincey has to say of the glory of motion in _The English
+Mail-Coach_,--"running at the least twelve miles an hour."
+
+25 26. malignant counsels. What is the full effect of this epithet?
+
+26 10. valedictory vengeance. Note again the force of the epithet.
+
+26 28. aggravate. What is the literal significance of this word? As
+synonymous with what words is it often incorrectly used?
+
+28 11. For now began to unroll. Does this paragraph constitute a
+digression, or is it a useful amplification of the narrative? Does De
+Quincey exaggerate when he terms these experiences of the Tartars "the
+most awful series of calamities anywhere recorded"?
+
+28 14. sudden inroads. "The inroads of the Huns into Europe extended
+from the third century into the fifth; those of the Avars from the
+sixth century to the eighth or ninth; the first great conquests of the
+Mongol Tartars were by Genghis-Khan, the founder of a Mongol empire
+which stretched, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, from
+China to Poland."--MASSON.
+
+28 18. volleying lightning. Compare p. 2, l. 1, where De Quincey uses
+a somewhat similar phrase. Why is the phrase varied, do you suppose?
+
+28 21. the French retreat. It would be interesting to compare the
+incidents and figures of this retreat, as furnished by biographers and
+historians. Sloane's _Life of Napoleon_ is a recent authority.
+
+28 26. vials of wrath. Compare _Revelation_, xv, 7, and xvi, 1. If
+De Quincey had used the Revised Version he would have written _bowls_
+instead of _vials_. Such borrowings of phrase or incident are called
+"allusions." Make a list of the scriptural allusions found in the
+essay,--of those suggested by Milton.
+
+29 16. Earthquakes. "De Quincey here refers to such destructive
+shocks as that which occurred at Sparta, 464 B.C., in which, according
+to Thirlwall, 20,000 persons perished; that which Gibbon speaks of
+during the reign of Valentinian, 365 A.D., in which 50,000 persons
+lost their lives at Alexandria alone; that in the reign of Justinian,
+526 A.D., in which 250,000 persons were crushed by falling walls;
+others in Jamaica, 1692 A.D.; at Lisbon, 1755 A.D., with loss of
+30,000 lives; and in Venezuela, 1812 A.D., when Caraccas was
+destroyed, and 20,000 souls perished."--WAUCHOPE.
+
+29 20. pestilence. Described by Thucydides; see also Grote's
+_History of Greece_, Chap. XLIX. Of the great plague of London (1665)
+the most realistic description is Defoe's _Journal of the Plague
+Year_.
+
+29 28. The siege of Jerusalem. Read Josephus, _The Jewish War_, Bks.
+V and VI.
+
+29 31. exasperation. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
+
+30 3, 4. even of maternal love. The reference is to an incident
+mentioned by Josephus (_The Jewish War_, Bk. VI, Chap. III), in which
+a mother is described as driven by the stress of famine to kill and
+devour her own child.
+
+30 5. romantic misery. How _romantic_? Compare this phrase with
+similar uses of the word _romantic_.
+
+30 10. River Jaik. The Ural.
+
+30 33. scenical propriety. Compare the statement with similar ones
+made by the author elsewhere.
+
+31 11. decrement. Compare with its positive correspondent, _increment_.
+
+31 20. acharnement. Fury.
+
+31 26. The first stage, etc. A time mark in the essay.
+
+32 10. liable. Another instance of a word often misused, correctly
+employed in the text. Compare note on _aggravate_, p. 26, l. 28.
+
+32 23. Bactrian camels. There are two species of camel, the
+dromedary, single humped, and the Bactrian, with two humps. The former
+is native to Arabia, the latter to central Asia. The dromedary is the
+swifter of the two. _Bactria_ is the ancient name of that district
+now called Balkh, in Afghanistan.
+
+33 7. evasion. Compare with its positive correspondent _invasion_;
+compare _decrement_, p. 31, l. 11.
+
+34 8. champaign savannas. Both words mean about the same, an open,
+treeless country, nearly level. What is the linguistic source of both
+words?
+
+37 19. hills of Moulgaldchares. Spurs of the Urals running southwest.
+
+38 10. Polish dragoons. "The adjective refers not to the
+nationality, but to the equipment of the cavalry. Thus there was at
+one time in the French army a corps called _Chasseurs d'Afrique_, and
+in both the French and that of the Northern troops in our own Civil
+War a corps of Zouaves. Similarly at p. 53, l. 24, De Quincey speaks
+of _yagers_ among the Chinese troops. Perhaps both Polish dragoon and
+yager were well-known military terms in 1837. At any rate there is no
+gain in scrutinizing them too closely, since the context in both cases
+seems to be pure invention."--BALDWIN.
+
+38 11. cuirassiers. From the French. Soldiers protected by a
+cuirass, or breastplate, and mounted.
+
+38 20. River Igritch. The Irgiz-koom.
+
+39 21. concurrently. Etymology?
+
+39 33. sad solitudes, etc. Notice this as one of the points in a
+very effective paragraph.
+
+40 3. aggravations. Compare note on p. 26, l. 28.
+
+40 5. howling wilderness. Why so called? Compare with a previous use
+of the same expression (p. 12, l. 5).
+
+40 18. spectacle. Compare with other references to the theatrical
+quality of the _Flight_.
+
+40 21. myriads. Is this literal? Notice the contrast in tone between
+this sentence and those which close the paragraph.
+
+41 12. adust. "Latin, _adustus_, burned. Looking as if burned or
+scorched."--_Century Dictionary_.
+
+41 15. erected their speaking eyes. Study this expression until its
+forcefulness is felt. The camel is notorious for its unresponsive
+dullness; indeed its general apathy to its surroundings is all that
+accounts for its apparent docility. De Quincey, therefore, is speaking
+by the book when he describes these brutes as "without the affections
+or sensibilities of flesh and blood." Their very submissiveness is due
+to their stupidity.
+
+41 20. those of Xerxes. See Crete's _History of Greece_, Chap. XXXVIII.
+
+41 29. untread. A dictionary word, but uncommon. Recall similar
+words used by De Quincey which add picturesqueness in part because of
+their novelty.
+
+41 31. their old allegiance. 1616. See the close of this paragraph.
+
+41 33. scapegoat. _Leviticus_, xvi, 7-10; 20-22.
+
+42 32, 33. land of promise ... house, etc. _Deuteronomy_, viii, 14;
+ix, 28.
+
+43 8. Orsk. Upon the river Or.
+
+43 9. Oriembourg. A fort.
+
+43 23. sinister. Etymology?
+
+43 29. transpiring. Like _aggravate_ and _liable_, a word often
+misused. What does it mean?
+
+44 10. were dispersed. Note the variety of phrases in the following
+ten lines used to indicate separation.
+
+46 16. Hetman. Chief. Compare Germ. _Hauptmann_, Eng. _captain_, Fr.
+_chef_.
+
+47 1. evasion. See previous note on p. 33, l. 7.
+
+48 2. carabines. Old-fashioned spelling. Short rifles adapted to the
+use of mounted troops.
+
+49 13. without a parallel. As has been seen, De Quincey is fond of
+superlative statements. A writer may or may not be true in his claims;
+the habitual assumption, however, predisposes his reader to doubt his
+judgment.
+
+49 16. Desultors. This word is not in common use, but _desultory_
+is. Look up the derivation and note the metaphor concealed in the
+latter word.
+
+49 19. at the rate of 200 miles. Compare preceding note on p. 24, 1. 26.
+
+50 27. "more fell," etc. From the last speech in Shakespeare's
+Othello, addressed to Iago:
+
+                 O Spartan dog,
+  More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
+  Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
+  This is thy work.
+
+51 17. "fierce varieties." Misquoted. See _Paradise Lost_, II, 599;
+VII, 272.
+
+51 19. post equitem, etc.:
+
+  Behind the horseman sits black care.
+                    --Horace's _Odes_, III, 1, 40.
+
+51 20. undying worm. _Isaiah_, lxvi, 24.
+
+51 29. "from morn till dewy eve." Paradise Lost, I, 742.
+
+52 33. On a fine morning. Study this paragraph carefully with
+reference to the rhetorical effect. The entire scene is the product of
+De Quincey's imagination; do you consider it truthful?
+
+53 24. yagers. German _Jaeger_; used of a huntsman or a forester,
+also in parts of Germany and Austria used to indicate light infantry
+or cavalry. Compare with _Polish dragoons_, p. 38, l. 10.
+
+54 21. indorsed. Look up the etymology. Has De Quincey, in his note,
+quoted Milton accurately? See _Paradise Regained_, III, 329.
+
+56 13. rather in a diagonal. This is another characteristic of De
+Quincey; he is sometimes tediously exact in his details; perhaps the
+minuteness is justifiable in this instance, as the statement increases
+the realistic effect of an imaginary scene.
+
+56 18. a large fresh-water lake. The Lake of Tengis here referred
+to, mentioned by name in the paragraph following this, is evidently
+Lake Balkash, into which flows the river Ily. It is one of the largest
+lakes in the steppes, but its water is really _salt_.
+
+59 21. globes and turms. Latinisms. Milton uses _globe_ in _Paradise
+Lost_, II, 512, and _turms_ in _Paradise Regained_, IV, 66.
+
+60 4. retributary. What more common form is used synonymously?
+
+60 21. "La nation des Torgotes," etc. "'The nation of the Torgouths
+(_to wit the Kalmucks_) arrived at Ily wholly shattered, having
+neither victuals to live on [_sic_] nor clothes to wear. I had
+foreseen this, and had given orders for making every kind of
+preparation necessary for their prompt relief; which was duly done.
+The distribution of lands was made; and there was assigned to each
+family a portion sufficient to serve for its support, whether by
+cultivating it or by feeding cattle on it [_sic_]. There were given to
+each individual materials for his clothing, corn for his sustenance
+for the space of one year, utensils for household purposes, and other
+things necessary; besides some ounces of silver wherewith to provide
+himself with anything that might have been forgotten. Particular
+places were marked out for them, fertile in pasture; and cattle and
+sheep, etc., were given them, that they might be able for the future
+to work for their own support and well-being.'--This is a note of Kien
+Long subjoined to his main narrative; and De Quincey, I find, took the
+above transcript of it from the French translation of Bergmann's book.
+That transcript, it is worth observing, is not quite exact to the
+original French text of the Pekin missionaries."--MASSON.
+
+61 12. "Lorsqu'ils arriverent," etc. "'When 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 distributed 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 subsistence 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."--MASSON.
+
+63 17. lex talionis. Law of retaliation.
+
+63 18. "lex nec justior," etc. "Nor is there any law more just than
+that the devisers of murder should perish by their own device."--OVID,
+_Ars Amatoria_, I, 655.
+
+63 25. lares. The minor deities of a Roman household.
+
+63 30. Arcadian beauty. Arcadian is synonymous with rural simplicity
+and beauty. Arcadia, the central province of Greece, was a pastoral
+district and lacked the vices--as well as some of the virtues--of the
+surrounding states.
+
+64 1. extirpation. Etymology?
+
+64 23. music. One who has listened to Mongolian attempts at harmony
+must suspect that De Quincey is again inspired by his imagination when
+he characterizes this part of the commemoration as "rich and solemn."
+
+64 28. columns of granite and brass. This feature of the narrative,
+as well as many other details of apparent fact, including the entire
+inscription said to have been placed upon the monument, are evidently
+the pure invention of De Quincey's fancy, no mention of these details
+being found in his historical sources.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] "Some years ago I published a paper on the Flight of the Kalmuck
+Tartars from Russia. Bergmann, the German from whom that account was
+chiefly drawn, resided a long time among the Kalmucks," etc.--Essay on
+_Homer and the Homeridae._
+
+
+
+
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