LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap. Copyright No. 
 
 Shelf.'._'!S.'t:. 
 
 f-^Tc^ 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
C?fatl)'g C];ngli0l) Classics 
 
 DE QUINCEY'S 
 
 FLIGHT OF A TARTAR TRIBE 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE ARMSTRONG WAUCHOPE, M.A., Ph.D. 
 
 Professor of English in the University of Iowa 
 
 Soi>s^ e ^ V 
 
 BOSTON, U.S.A. 
 
 D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 
 
 1897 
 

 Copyright, 1897, 
 By GEORGE ARMSTRONG WAUCHOPE. 
 
 IZ~ 2/^Z'f 
 
 TYrOGIlAl'llY BY J. S. CUSIIINO & Co., NORWOOD, MASS. 
 
MY FATHER 
 
 A LIFELONG LOVER OF DE QUINCEY 
 
 AND 
 
 MY FIRST GUIDE IN LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface 
 
 Introduction 
 
 Critical Opinions .... 
 Biographical and Critical References 
 The P'light of a Tartar Tkibe 
 Masson's Estimate 
 From the " Atlantic Monthly " 
 De Quincey's Authorities . 
 
 Notes 
 
 Chinese Accounts of the Migration 
 
 IX 
 
 xvii 
 
 xix 
 
 I 
 
 73 
 73 
 74 
 76 
 
 85 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the preparation of the present edition of De Ouincey's 
 FligJit of a Tartar Tribe I have had in mind, from personal 
 experience, the needs of teachers and students in secondary 
 schools. 
 
 In the introduction I have tried to give in suggestive form 
 such biographical and critical material as will be needed by 
 boys and girls in beginning the study of the author. 
 
 The mind of the student should, first of all. be stimulated 
 to a healthy enjoyment of the essay, and for this purpose the 
 selection has peculiar merits. Witliout this appreciation the 
 most important aim of literary study is defeated. 
 
 The student''s interest having been gained, the essay should 
 be made the means for training in the principles of criticism. 
 The student should make his own analysis of the narrative, 
 showing its artistic structure. He should then be led to 
 discover the qualities of De Ouincey's marvellous style, and to 
 use this knowledge as a basis of comparison with other prose 
 writers. By this process his estimate of prose values will 
 become more accurate. 
 
 The notes have been made literary rather than philological, 
 the object again being to arouse interest with its resulting 
 investigation and further reading. I have determined to help 
 the student over only real difficulties. 
 
 De Ouincey is now one of our English classics, and there 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 was great unanimit}' shown in selecting certain of bis master- 
 pieces for high school study. There can be no question as 
 to the propriety of introducing our great masters of prose in 
 the course as early as possible, and the committee acted 
 wisely in choosing for special study such notable stylists as 
 Addison, Goldsmith, Irving, De Quincey, Hawthorne, Thack- 
 eray, and George Eliot. To this list I should like to see 
 added some of Ruskin's lectures, and prose selections from 
 Poe, Steven.son, and Kipling. 
 
 The wide-awake teacher will keep constantly in view the 
 fact that the study of English, in addition to its intellectual 
 value, is a powerful means of spiritual culture. If an author 
 has not spoken to the soul of the student, stimulated his 
 sympathies, and awakened his love of the good and beautiful, 
 the teacher has to a great extent missed his opportunity, and 
 failed in the highest purpose of education. The appeal to 
 the reason is good ; the appeal to the feelings is belter. 
 The object of training is not to make encyclopaedias, but 
 character; not bookworms, but men of action and women of 
 influence. 
 
 DeOuincey is always inspiring. The richness of his style, 
 his stately pageantry, the splendor of his imagery, his love of 
 adventure, his broad sympathies, his dreamy romanticism, — 
 all appeal powerfully to the noisiest intuitions of youth. 
 
 In studying the essay, I would suggest that the student be 
 asked, after the first rapid reading (in which he should give 
 himself up to the simple enjoyment of the work), to prepare 
 in his note-book an analysis, or table of contents. He 
 should then read a second time, with a view to writing a 
 theme or expressing an opinion on topics such as the follow- 
 ing : Considered as a work of art, how does the essay appeal 
 to the fancy and the emotions? How does the autlior ex- 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 press character, with examples of heroism, cruelty, and the 
 display of the virtues and vices in action? As an historical 
 work, is it accurate, or has the author idealized and spiritual- 
 ized the various scenes? Illustrate De Ouincey's distinction 
 between '"the literature of knowledge" and "the literature of 
 power/' Where does the author strike notes characteristic 
 of all nineteenth century literature, such as mystery, ro- 
 mance, sympathy, altruism, liberty, and love of nature? 
 Where does he show his vast range of knowledge, especially 
 in literature and history? What influence do you find of 
 the Bible, Milton, Jeremy Taylor, and other English writers 
 earlier and contemporary, also of foreign writers? Where 
 does he show his fondness for psychological problems and 
 his analytical bent of mind? What ethical teachings per- 
 vade the entire essay? 
 
 Other points of view will, of course, suggest themselves ; 
 in fact, any field of literary art, when once opened up, will 
 present an embarrassment of riches. After the study of a 
 single essay in this way, the student will be well prepared to 
 continue the study of De Ouincey in his autobiographical 
 and philosophical works. 
 
 G. A. W. 
 
 lovvA CiTV, May 29, 1897. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The life of a man of letters is nearly always common- 
 place. With the exception of a rich spiritual experience, 
 his productive period is, in the nature of the case, apt to 
 be uneventful. The literary craft is one not of action but 
 of reflection. Occasionally we find exceptional men like 
 Addison, Macaulay, Burke, and Lowell, who take ■ part in 
 political life. Writers must, however, have a capital of 
 thought and experience upon which to draw, and this they 
 accumulate by study, observation, and intercourse with men. 
 
 The career of De Quincey is unique in literature, both in 
 its extraordinary incidents and in its vital relation to his 
 writings. We owe, for example, his most famous work, 
 the Confessions, much of his Autobiograp/iic Sketches, as well 
 as his soubriquet of "The English Opium-Eater," to his 
 terrible experience with the opium habit. His life may be 
 divided roughly into two periods, taking the year 1821 as 
 the central point. 
 
 From 1785 to 1820 may be called his period of prepara- 
 tion; from 1821 to 1859 that of his literary productiveness. 
 As the student will wish to read the author's own account 
 of his life, a narrative full of pathos, beauty, and romantic 
 interest, a brief summary of the leading events will suffice here. 
 
 Thomas De Quincey was born on August 15, 1785, near 
 the city of Manchester, where his father, a wealthv and 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cultivated wine mercliant of Norman descent, resided. As 
 a child lie was precocious, imaginati\'e, and given to dreamy 
 introspection. The severe discipline of the masters of the 
 grammar school which he attended, and the petty persecu- 
 tions of the boys, proved so intolerable to his sensitive 
 temperament that he ran away in 1802. 
 
 After wandering for a short time through the mountains 
 of Wales, he went down to London with little money and 
 no definite plans except to see something of life. He spent 
 his money, was unable to get work even as a proof-reader 
 of Greek, of which he was a master, shared the company of 
 beggars and outcasts, and endured almost incredible perils 
 and hardships. '"'For I now sutTered," he says, ''for upwards 
 of si.xteen weeks, the physical anguish of hunger in various 
 degrees of intensity ; but as bitter, perhaps, as ever any 
 human being can have suffered who has survived it." 
 
 He was prevailed upon, the next year, to enter Oxford, 
 and remained there on a small allowance until 1808. His 
 university life was very unsatisfactory, as he neglected routine 
 duties, refused to take the oral examinations, and became a 
 recluse. He continued, however, his study of Greek, came 
 under the influence of German philosophy, and, most im- 
 portant of all, felt for the first time the exceeding power 
 and beauty of our own literature. He left Oxford declaring, 
 " I owe thee nothing! Of thy vast riches I took not a shil- 
 ling, though living among multitudes who owed to thee 
 their daily bread." 
 
 De Quincey was meanwhile gradually acquiring the opium 
 habit, which grew on him until the culmination in 18 13, 
 when he was taking the appalling amount of eight thousand 
 drops of laudanum or seven wineglassfuls a day. His Con- 
 fessions appeared in The London Magazine for September, 
 
INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 1 82 1, producing a sensation in the world of letters and 
 establishing the reputation of the author. 
 
 The year 1808 is considered the most important in De 
 Ouincey's formative period, not only on account of his opium 
 eating but also for the acquaintanceships which he made, 
 during pilgrimages to London and the Lakes, with Lamb, 
 Coleridge, Hazlitt, Southey, Wordsworth, and Wilson. 
 
 In 1809 he took the cottage formerly occupied by Words- 
 worth, at Grasmere, in the beautiful Lake District. This 
 was his home for twenty years, although from 1821 to 1825 
 he spent most of his time in London. He married, in 1816, 
 
 Margaret Simpson, the lovely M of the Confessions, who 
 
 proved his guardian angel in his struggle with opium. For 
 several years after this he seems to have been in easy finan- 
 cial circumstances. 
 
 De Ouincey's serious literary work began with his con- 
 tributions to The London Magazine in 1821. Keats and 
 a host of other famous writers had contributed to it, and 
 Lamb was soon to publish in its columns his famous Essays 
 of Elia. This was, in fact, pre-eminently the age of peri- 
 odical literature with brilliant editors and slashing critics, 
 and the influence of the great magazines on the national 
 literature was powerful and on the whole salutary. Many 
 an English masterpiece could hardly have seen the light 
 had it not been for the helpful guineas and the open pages 
 of the periodicals. 
 
 De Ouincey is himself one of the best examples of the 
 paid contributor to periodicals. " He has," writes Professor 
 Masson, " taken his place in our literature as the author of 
 about one hundred and fifty magazine articles." "The neces- 
 sities of finishing for the press," says Mr. Brimley Johnson, 
 "and satisfying magazine editors restrained the excess of 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 elaboration and ' wiredrawing ' to which he was naturally 
 addicted." 
 
 He spent the year 1830 at the home of Professor Wilson, 
 the leading spirit of Blackivood^s Edinburgh Magazine. 
 Their comradesliip was very beautiful, and pleasant is the 
 account of the pedestrian tours of the little "Opium-Eater" 
 and the majestic " Christopher North." De Ouincey finally, 
 in 1843, removed with his daughters to Lasswade, a little vil- 
 lage near Edinburgh, where he died August 8, 1859. 
 
 De Quincey was slender in figure, with refined, clear-cut 
 features and a noble, intellectual head. His constitution was 
 feeble, yet he could endure a considerable amount of fatigue 
 with loss of food and sleep. His face was pale and careworn ; 
 his eyes sometimes lustreless, sometimes marvellously bright ; 
 and his voice silvery, but so modulated as to sound hollow and 
 unearthly. His manner was hurried and hesitating, his tem- 
 perament a compound of shyness and sociability, prejudice 
 and benevolence, humor and melancholy, irritability and 
 sweet cheerfulness. 
 
 Like Richardson, Jane Austen, George Eliot, Du Maurier, 
 and others, De Ouincey entered the field of letters at a 
 mature age, but splendidly equipped with ripe scholarship and 
 knowledge of life. We have seen how he attained distinction 
 at a single stride with his Confessions of an Opium-Eater, 
 being an Extract from t/ie Life of a Scholar. From this time, ■ 
 until his death, he continued to be a writer of articles on a 
 vast range of subjects. The principal repositories of his es- 
 says are : The London Magazine, 1821-24, Blackwood'' s Edin- 
 burgh Magazifie, 1826-49, Taits Edinbjirgh Magazitie, 1834- 
 51, and the Encyclopcedia Britannica, 1827-42. Besides these 
 he has contributions in TJie North British Review, 1848, 
 Knight's (Jnartcrly Magazine, 1823-24, ffogtfs Weekly In- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 stn/ctor, 1850-54, and T/te EdinbiirgJi Literary Gazette, 
 1829-30. 
 
 The first collective edition of his works was published in 
 twenty-two volumes by Messrs. Ticknor and Fields, of Boston, 
 in 185 1, but Mr. James Hogg of Edinburgh brought out an 
 edition in fourteen volumes edited by. the author, 1853-60. 
 The authoritative collection of De Ouincey's works is that 
 edited in fourteen volumes by Professor David Masson, and 
 published by Messrs. Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh. 
 
 De Ouincey is probably the most versatile of all our prose 
 writers. So encyclopaedic was his mind that his range of suId- 
 jects was almost without limit. Dr. Johnson's famous epitaph 
 on Goldsmith, the best all-round man of letters of his age, is 
 equally true of De Ouincey: "He left almost no kind of writ- 
 ing untouched, and touched nothing that he did not adorn." 
 Much of his time was spent unfortunately in mere honest 
 journey-work to meet the demands of the periodicals and a 
 depleted purse. This again makes his literary output very 
 unequal in interest and merit, and was, no doubt, partly re- 
 sponsible for his chief limitations, which were a too great fond- 
 ness for digressions and labored trifling, and a frequent lack of 
 unity and coherence in construction. 
 
 Following Professor Masson's classification, his writings 
 may be arranged under three groups as follows : 
 
 r. Writings of Reminiscence. This includes his Aiito- 
 biograp/ik Sketches and his Confessions ; biographic sketches, 
 such as his Co/erido'e. Wordswort/t. and Soicthey. Shakespeare 
 a.nd.Goet/ie ; and historical papers like The Caesars and 7'he 
 Revolt of the Tartars. 
 
 2. Speculative, Didactic, and Critical. Here may 
 be mentioned such philosophical papers as Kant in his 
 Miscellaneous Essays and Plato's Republic ; articles on 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 theology like Piotestantisin and Miracles as Subjects of 
 Testii/iony ; political papers such as A Tory'^s Account of 
 Toryism and W'liiggism and Radicalistn, and a book, the 
 Logic of Political Economy ; also his essays on RJictoric and 
 Style ; On the Knocking at tJie Gate in Macbeth, On II 'ords- 
 'worth''s Poetry, and Alexander Pope. 
 
 3. Imaginative Writings and Prose Poetry Under 
 this may be mentioned his Micrder Considered as One of 
 the Fine Arts, The Spanish Military JVnn, and Joan of 
 Arc ; his romances KlosterJieim and TJie Avenger ; and 
 such prose phantasies as The English Mail Coach and the 
 Snspiria de Profundis. 
 
 A complete list of tlie author's writings arranged in 
 chronological order is given in Professor Scott's edition of 
 the essays on Rlictoric-, Style, and Language. 
 
 In point of style De Ouincey is a rhetorician. '' His merits 
 were such," says Professor Saintsbury, "as to give him no 
 superior in his own manner among the essayists, and hardly 
 any among the prose writers of the century." He represents 
 the reaction from the polish, reserve, and coldness of the 
 eighteenth century to the warmth and glow of the seven- 
 teenth century, — the golden period of English prose. His 
 masters are Milton, Jeremy Taylor, Fuller, and Browne, 
 whose eloquence, rich coloring, and elaborate ornamenta- 
 tion he inherits. To these qualities he has added the finish 
 and elegance of the eighteenth century writers, and the free- 
 dom, deep feeling, and lofty spiritual tone of our own age. 
 
 In fineness of texture and in beauty of coloring he is 
 unequalled save by Ruskin, whom he surpasses in form and 
 general pictorial and sound effects. He is rarely guilty of 
 bad taste or bathos, and when at his best is a supreme 
 master of tlic -grand style." With an imagination as great 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 as Carlyle's, his style is more chastened, rhythmical, and 
 exquisite, though not showing so much moral earnestness 
 or industry. He has a trner rhetorical and critical faculty 
 than Rlacaulay, and is more stately and vivacious than 
 Landor. 
 
 De'Ouincey's unique power lies in his imagination, which 
 is extraordinary. In his best passages there is a poetic 
 loftiness, a phantasmagoric charm, and a spectacular gor- 
 geousness which seizes and holds the mind of the reader 
 with its subtile power. Even when we cannot accept the 
 soundness of his conclusions on philosophical questions or 
 the accuracy of his statements in the historical and bio- 
 graphical essays, we delight in surrendering ourselves to 
 his wonderful fancy. When he has on his magic robes, 
 few can mount so high. 
 
 He is the immortal dreamer of literature. Of course his 
 work diiTers from such poetical phantasies as Coleridge's 
 Kiibla KaJin by all the diiTerence between prose and poetry. 
 But De Ouincey has created what may be called a prose poetry 
 of his own which is unapproachable. It is winged, ethereal, 
 mysterious, fiery, awful by turns, and defies analysis. We 
 can only wonder at his divine faculty of expression, and the 
 magic- transformation by sleep of the waking thoughts and 
 sensations of this man 
 
 " Dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before." 
 
 De Quincey was by temperainent artistic rather than didac- 
 tic. In his ethical teachings, however, he is in perfect accord 
 with all the great poets, essayists, and novelists of the century. 
 He brings to every subject not only a highly trained critical 
 faculty, but a broad humanitarianism. His sympathies are 
 democratic. 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Althoiigli lie counted many noblemen among his friends, 
 he was not ashamed on occasion to associate with the lowly 
 and outcast. He had, in fact, like Goldsmith, an instinct for 
 an irregular or Bohemian life. He himself drank deeply of 
 the cup of suffering, and contact with many phases of char- 
 acter during an almost unexampled experience matured his 
 judgment and broadened his sympathies. 
 
 He everywhere teaches the great doctrine of charity or love, 
 the brotherhood of man, sympathy with nature in all her 
 forms, and the necessity of spiritual development for the 
 happiness of the individual. Especially was his interest 
 shown in the young, the noble, and the unfortunate. 
 
 The quality of his humor is even more original than his 
 pathos. In a peculiar weirdness and grotesqueness it has 
 seldom been surpassed. It is by turns broad, subtle, quaint, 
 and bizarre. '' Beneath this vigorous intellectuality," says 
 Mr. Brimley Johnson, '"lurks a curiously deliberate and 'dae- 
 monic ' kind of hiunor, wliich largely consists in the sudden 
 introduction of an unexpected point of view, the use of digni- 
 fied language for the discussion of trivialities, and the appli- 
 cation of artistic or professional terms to records of crime 
 and passion." 
 
 De Quincey was one of our first critics in the modern sense. 
 He was a co-worker with Lamb, Hazlitt, Southey, and Landor 
 in the attempt to establish a school of literary criticism and to 
 bring about a wider diffusion of culture. He had an emi- 
 nently analytical mind. His power of thought, his vast learn- 
 ing, and his genius for speculation make him an inspiring 
 and brilliant, though sometimes prejudiced, critic. 
 
ADDITIONAL CRITICAL 
 OPINIONS. 
 
 My life has been on the whole the life of a philosopher; 
 from my birth I was made an intellectual creature, and intel- 
 lectual in the highest sense my pursuits and pleasures have 
 been. 
 
 THOMAS DE QUINCEY. 
 
 Although his chief excellences may not be fully perceptible, 
 except to mature tastes, he is especially attractive to the 
 young. Probably more boys have in the last forty years been 
 brought to a love of literature proper by De Quincey than by 
 any other writer whatever. 
 
 GEORGE SAINTSBURY. 
 
 De Quincey, one of the Edinburgh School, is, owing to the 
 overlapping and involved melody of his style, one of our best, 
 as he is one of our most various miscellaneous writers. 
 
 STOPFORD A. BROOKE. 
 
 It is in virtue of this remarkable combination [of stateli- 
 ness and vivacity], of his compass of style, ranging from the 
 purely analytic to the humorous and sublime, and of his dis- 
 tinction of literary manner, that he takes rank as the greatest 
 prose artist in the language. 
 
 WILLTAM RENTON. 
 
xviii CRITICAL OPINIONS. 
 
 De Ouincey takes rank with Milton as one of our greatest 
 masters of stately cadence, as well as of sublime composition. 
 If one may trust one's ear for a general impression, Milton's 
 melody is sweeter and more varied ; but for magnificent 
 effects, at least in prose, the palm must probably be assigned 
 to De Ouincey. In some of De Quincey's grandest passages 
 the language can be compared only to the swell and crash of 
 an orchestra. 
 
 WILLIAM MINTO. 
 
 His finest passages are distinguished by the crowded 
 richness of fancy, the greater range and arbitrariness of 
 combination, which are the peculiar attributes of poetry. 
 
 R. BRLMLEY JOHNSON. 
 
 To the appreciation of De Ouincey, the reader must bring 
 an imaginative faculty somewhat akin to his own, a certain 
 general culture, and large knowledge of books and men and 
 things. Otherwise much of that slight and delicate allusion 
 that gives point and color and charm to his writings will be 
 missed ; and on this account the full enjoyment and com- 
 prehension of De Quincey must always remain a luxury of 
 the literary and intellectual. But his skill in narration, his 
 rare pathos, his wide sympathies, the pomp of his dream 
 descriptions, the exquisite playfulness of his lighter disserta- 
 tions, and his abounding though delicate and subtle humor, 
 
 commend him to a larger class. 
 
 J. R. FINDLAY. 
 
A FEW REFERENCES IN BIOG- 
 RAPHY AND CRITICISM. 
 
 The best edition of the author's works is TJie Collected 
 W^'iiings of Thomas De Qitiiicey, edited by David Masson, 
 Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black. It is published in 
 fourteen volumes with a good index. 
 
 Dr. A. H. Japp\s [H. A. Page] Life of De Quincey is the 
 best for biography. Masson's Life of De Qiiincey in English 
 Men of Letters Series is very good for both biography and 
 criticism. Articles on De Quincey will be found also by 
 J. R. Findlay in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and by Leslie 
 Stephen in the Dictionary of English Biography . An inter- 
 esting monograph is Findlay's Per sonal Recollections of Thomas 
 De Quincey. Many of the author's letters will be found in 
 Japp's De Quincey ALemorials. More interesting than any of 
 the above are De Ouincey's own Autobiographic Sketches, Lon- 
 don Reminiscences, and the Confessions of an English Opium- 
 Eater, the trio constituting a spiritual autobiography of in- 
 estimable value and interest. 
 
 The best short criticisms of his style and writings are found 
 in Saintsbury's History of Nineteenth Century Literature, 
 Chapter IV, p. 194, perhaps the most satisfactory critical 
 estimate of De Quincey ; Stephen's Hours in a Library, 
 first series, p. 349, reprint from Fortnightly, v. 15, p. 310; 
 Craik's English Prose, v. 5, p. 259, article by R. Brimley 
 
XX BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM. 
 
 Johnson ; Minto's Majiual of English Prose Literature, p. 31, 
 an elaborate analysis of his style ; Nicoirs Landmarks of 
 English Literature, p. 360 ; Mrs. Oliphant's Literary History 
 of England, v. 1, p. 18; Hodgson's Outcast Essays, p. i ; 
 Saintsbury's Essays in English Literature, p. 304; the intro- 
 duction in William Sharp's edition of the Confessions in 
 "The Scott Library"; William Mathews' Hours with Men 
 and Books, pp. 1-49, containing some good things, but on the 
 whole unreliable ; and Professor Fred N. Scott's introduction 
 to his edition of the essays on Style, Rhetoric, and Language. 
 The following magazine articles will be found of more or 
 less merit: Harper''s,\ . i, p, 145, a reprint from the London 
 Eclectic Review; also v. 2, pp. 156, 302; iVorth American 
 Reviezv, v. 18, p. 90, by Willard Phillips ; v. 74, p. 425, by S. 
 G. Brown ; v. 88, p. 113, by G. S. Phillips ; Atlantic Monthly, 
 V. 12, p. 345, a delightful biographical sketch by Henry M. 
 Alden ; v. 40, p. 569, a review by George Parsons Lathrop of 
 Houghton, Mifflin & Co.'s complete edition of De Quincey; 
 Appleton's, v. 18, p. id6; Black7UOod's,\ . 122, p. 717; JVest- 
 minster Review, v. 61, p. 519, by Henry Bright, very adverse 
 and prejudiced; and the British Quarterly Review, v. 20, 
 p. 163 ; V. 36, p. I ; and v. 66. p. 415. 
 
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 execu- 
 tion we read an expression of the wild, barbaric character 
 of the agents. In the unity of purpose connecting this 
 myriad of wills, and in the blind but unerring aim at a 15 
 mark so remote, there is something which recalls to the 
 mind those almighty instincts that propel the migrations 
 of the swallow, or the life- withering marches of the locust. 
 Then, again, in the gloomy vengeance of Russia and her 
 vast artillery, which hung upon the rear and the skirts of 20 
 
 B I 
 
2 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 the fugitive vassals, we are reminded of Miltonic images 
 — such, for instance, as that of the soUtary hand pursuing 
 through desert spaces and through ancient chaos a rebel- 
 Hous host, and overtaking with volleying thunders those 
 5 who believed themselves already within the security of 
 darkness and of distance. 
 
 I shall have occasion, f^irther on, to compare this event 
 with other great national catastrophes as to the magnitude 
 of the suffering. But it may also challenge a comparison 
 
 lo with similar events under another relation, — viz. as to its 
 dramatic capabilities. Few cases, perhaps, in romance 
 or history, can sustain a close collation with this as to the 
 complexity of its separate interests. The great outline 
 of the enterprise, taken in connection with the operative 
 
 15 motives, hidden or avowed, and the religious sanctions 
 under which it was pursued, give to the case a triple 
 character: ist, That of a conspiracy, with as close a 
 unity in the incidents, and as much of a personal interest 
 in the moving characters, with fine dramatic contrasts, as 
 
 20 belongs to " Venice Preserved" or to the " Fiesco " of 
 Schiller. 2dly, That of a great military expedition offer- 
 ing the same romantic features of vast distances to be 
 traversed, vast reverses to be sustained, untried routes, 
 enemies obscurely ascertained, and hardships too vaguely 
 
 25 prefigured, which mark the Egyptian expedition of Cam- 
 byses — the anabasis of the younger Cyrus, and the sub- 
 sequent retreat of the ten thousand, the Parthian ex- 
 peditions of the Romans, especially those of Crassus and 
 Julian — or (as more disastrous than any of them, and, in 
 
 30 point of space, as well as in amount of forces, more ex- 
 tensive) the Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 3 
 
 3(lly, That of a religious Exodus, authorized by an oracle 
 venerated throughout many nations of Asia, — an Exodus, 
 therefore, in so far resembling the great Scriptural Exodus 
 of the Israelites, under Moses and Joshua, as well as in 
 the very peculiar distinction of carrying along with them s 
 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 10 
 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 represen- 15 
 tative 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) — 20 
 to 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 25 
 long succession of running fights — the parting massacres 
 at the Lake of Tengis under the eyes of the Chinese — 
 arid, 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 30 
 romance, if treated dramatically ; whilst a higher and a 
 
4 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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. 
 
 S On the 2ist of January, 1761, the young Prince Ouba- 
 cha 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 
 
 10 with the avowed support of the Russian Government. ' He 
 was now about eighteen years of age, amiable in his per- 
 sonal character, and not without titles to respect in his 
 public character as a sovereign prince. In times more 
 peaceable, and amongst a people more entirely civilized 
 
 IS or more humanized by religion, it is even probable that 
 he might have discharged his high duties with consider- 
 able distinction ; but his lot was thrown upon stormy 
 times, and a most difficult crisis amongst tribes whose 
 native ferocity was exasperated by debasing forms of super- 
 
 20 stition, 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 the 
 jealous surveillance of an irresistible lord paramount, in 
 the person of the Russian Czar, gave a fiercer edge to the 
 
 25 natural unamiableness of the Kalmuck disposition, and 
 irritated its gloomier qualities into action under the rest- 
 less impulses of suspicion and permanent distrust. No 
 prince could hope for a cordial allegiance from his sub- 
 jects or a peaceful reign under the circumstances of the 
 
 30 case; for the dilemma in which a Kalmuck ruler stood 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 5 
 
 at present was of this nature: ivaniing the support and 
 sanction of the Czar, he was inevitably too weak from 
 without to command confidence from his subjects or 
 resistance to his competitors. On the other hand, with 
 this kind of support, and deriving his title in any degree 5 
 from the favor of the Imperial Court, he became almost 
 in that extent an object of hatred at home and within the 
 whole compass of his own territory. He was at once an 
 object of hatred for the past, being a hving monument of 
 national independence ignominiously surrendered ; and lo 
 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 15 
 unfortunate circumstances of his position, it might have 
 been expected that Oubacha would have been pre-emi- 
 nently an object of detestation ; for, besides his known de- 
 pendence upon the Cabinet of St. Petersburg, the direct 
 line of succession had been set aside, and the principle 20 
 of inheritance violently suspended, in favor of his own 
 father, so recently as nineteen years before the era of his 
 own accession, consequently within the lively remem- 
 brance of the existing generation. He, therefore, almost 
 equally with his father, stood within the full current of the 25 
 national prejudices, and might have anticipated the most 
 pointed hostility. But it was not so : such are the ca- 
 prices 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 3° 
 owed it exclusively to his personal qualities of kindness 
 
6 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 and affability, as well as to the beneficence of his govern- 
 ment. 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 
 
 5 Zebek-Dorchi, a prince with considerable pretensions to 
 the throne, and, perhaps it might be said, with equal pre- 
 tensions. Zebek-Dorchi was a direct descendant of the 
 same royal house as himself, through a different branch. 
 On public grounds, his claim stood, perhaps, on a footing 
 
 lo equally good with that of Oubacha, whilst his personal 
 qualities, even in those aspects which seemed to a philo- 
 sophical observer most odious and repulsive, promised the 
 most effectual aid to the dark purposes of an intriguer 
 or a conspirator, and were generally fitted to win a 
 
 IS 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 Machiave- 
 
 20 lian 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. 
 
 25 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 Petrovvna was not 
 
 30 the person to recall her own favors with levity or ui)on 
 slight grounds. Openly, therefore, to have declared his 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 7 
 
 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 interest that, for the present, all suspicions should 
 be hoodwinked. Accordingly, after much meditation, s 
 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 were leagued together under an oath to assassinate 
 him ; and immediately after, assuming a well-counter- 10 
 feited 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 effectually, he soon repaired in person to 
 St. Petersburg. Once admitted to personal conferences 15 
 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 pur- 
 poses. In particular, he persuaded the Russian Gov- 20 
 ernment to make a very important alteration in the 
 constitution of the Kalmuck State Council which in 
 effect reorganized the whole political condition of the 
 state and disturbed the balance of power as previously 
 adjusted. Of this council — in the Kalmuck language 25 
 called Sarga — there were eight members, called Sar- 
 gatchi ; and hitherto it had been the custom that these 
 eigiit members should be entirely subordinate to the 
 Khan ; holding, in fact, the ministerial character of 
 secretaries and assistants, but in no respect ranking as 30 
 co-ordinate authorities. That had produced some incon- 
 
8 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 veniences in former reigns ; and it was easy for Zebek- 
 Dorchi to point the jealousy of the Russian Court to 
 others more serious which might arise in future circum- 
 stances of war or other contingencies. It was resolved, 
 
 5 therefore, to place the Sargatchi henceforward on a foot- 
 ing of perfect independence, and, therefore (as regarded 
 responsibility), on a footing of equality with the Khan. 
 Their independence, however, had respect only to their 
 own sovereign ; for toward Russia they were placed 
 
 lo in a new attitude of direct duty and accountability 
 by the creation in their flivor of small pensions (300 
 roubles a year), which, however, to a Kalmuck of that 
 day were more considerable than might be supposed, 
 and had a further value as marks of honorary distinction 
 
 15 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 
 the further development of his plots, this very depend- 
 ency upon Russian influence would be the most serious 
 
 20 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 what- 
 soever should arise to disturb his plots : he was himself 
 appointed President and Controller of the Sargatchi. 
 
 25 The Russian Court had been aware of his high preten- 
 sions by birth, and hoped by this promotion to satisfy 
 the ambition which, in some degree, was acknowledged 
 to be a reasonable passion for any man occupying his 
 situation. 
 
 30 Having thus completely blindfolded the Cabinet of 
 Russia, Zebek-Dorchi proceeded in his new character to 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 9 
 
 fulfil his political mission with the Khan of the Kalmucks. 
 So artfully did he prepare the road for his favorable recep- 
 tion at the court of this prince that he was at once and uni- 
 versally welcomed as a public benefactor. The pensions 
 of the councillors were so much additional wealth poured s 
 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 ofience or any lo 
 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 consanguinit}' or 15 
 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 20 
 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 : 
 I, upon the Russian Cabinet, for having undervalued his 25 
 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 
 by their suspicions. Here was a colossal outline of wick- 30 
 edness ; and by one in his situation, feeble (as it might 
 
10 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 assail the mighty behemoth of Muscovy, the potentate 
 5 who counted three hundred languages around the foot- 
 steps of his throne, and from whose "lion ramp" recoiled 
 alike "baptized and infidel" — Christendom on the one 
 side, strong by her intellect and her organization, and the 
 "barbaric East" on the other, with her unnumbered 
 
 lo numbers? The match was a monstrous one; but in its 
 very monstrosity there lay this germ of encouragement — 
 that it could not be suspected. The very hopelessness 
 of the scheme grounded his hope ; and he resolved to 
 execute a vengeance which should involve as it were, in 
 
 15 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 break- 
 ing up that system of intercourse which had thus far been 
 beneficial to both. This last was a consideration which 
 
 20 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 
 part of his triumph, and the former might be more than 
 
 25 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 
 
 30 be readily supposed, indeed, that he who could deliber- 
 ately raise his eyes to the Russian autocrat as an antago- 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. ii 
 
 nist 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 5 
 continually by rapid rivers rarely furnished with bridges, 
 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 10 
 flight in winter), famine in their front, and the sabre, or 
 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 : 15 
 it must be some power at a great distance from Russia, 
 so as to make return even in that view hopeless, and it 
 must be a power of sufficient rank to insure them protec- 
 tion from any hostile efforts on the part of the Czarina 
 for reclaiming them or for chastising their revolt. Both 20 
 conditions were united obviously in the person of Kien 
 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 25 
 was settled by Zebek that they should direct their flight. 
 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 knowl- 
 edge of the conspiracy too far was to insure its betrayal 30 
 to the Russian (jovernment. Yet, at some stage of the 
 
12 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 preparations, it was evident that a very extensive confi- 
 dence must be made, because in no otlier way could tlie 
 mass of the Kahnuck 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 sub- 
 ject until the time of departure should be definitely 
 settled. In the meantime, Zebek admitted only three 
 
 lo persons to his confidence ; of whom Oubacha, the reign- 
 ing 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 accom- 
 plices. Those whom (if anybody) he admitted to an un- 
 
 15 reserved 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 neigh- 
 borhood 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 scep- 
 
 25 tre, seemed but an empty sound to both of these ambi- 
 tious 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 distin- 
 guished pretensions ; he had something of the same 
 
 30 gloomy and terrific pride which marked the character of 
 Zebek himself, manifesting also the same energy, accom- 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 13 
 
 panied 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 pontifi- 
 cal character had suggested to him that, in order to 5 
 strengthen their influence with the vast mob of simple- 
 minded men whom they were to lead into a howling 
 wilderness, after persuading them to lay desolate their 
 own ancient hearths, it was indispensable that they should 
 be able, in cases of extremity, to plead the express sane- 10 
 lion of God for their entire enterprise. This could only 
 be done by addressing themselves to the great head 
 of 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 15 
 no ultimate prosperity would attend this great Exodus 
 unless it were pursued through the years of the tiger and 
 the hare. Now the Kalmuck custom is to distinguish their 
 years by attaching to each a denomination taken from one 
 of twelve animals, the exact order of succession being 20 
 absolutely fixed, so that the cycle revolves of course 
 through a period of a dozen years. Consequently, if the 
 approaching year of the tiger were suffered to escape 
 them, in that case the expedition must be delayed for 
 twelve years more ; within which period, even were no 25 
 other unfavorable changes to arise, it was pretty well 
 foreseen that the Russian Government would take most 
 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 30 
 already talked of in all quarters) by exacting a large body 
 
14 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 of hostages selected from the famiUes of the most influen- 
 tial nobles. On these cogent considerations, it was sol- 
 emnly determined that this terrific experiment should be 
 made in the next year of the tiger, which happened to 
 
 5 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 
 
 10 their flocks on both banks of the Wolga, should have the 
 means of effecting an instantaneous junction, because the 
 danger of being intercepted by flying columns of the im- 
 perial armies was precisely the greatest at the outset. 
 Now, from the want of bridges or sufficient river craft for 
 
 15 transporting so vast a body of men, the sole means which 
 could be depended upon (especially where so many 
 women, children, and camels were concerned) was ice ; 
 and this, in a state of sufficient firmness, could not be 
 absolutely counted upon before the month of January. 
 
 20 Hence it happened that this astonishing Exodus of a 
 whole nation, before so much as a whisper of the design 
 had begun to circulate amongst those whom it most in- 
 terested, before it was even suspected that any man's 
 wishes pointed in that direction, had been definitely 
 
 25 appointed for January of the year 1771. And almost 
 up to the Christmas of 1770 the poor simple Kalmuck 
 herdsmen and their families were going nightly to their 
 peaceful beds without even dreaming that the fiat had 
 already gone forth from their rulers which consigned 
 
 30 those quiet abodes, together with the peace and comfort 
 which reigned within them, to a withering desolation, 
 now close at hand. 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 15 
 
 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 
 contribute his usual contingent of martial aid. Nay, it 
 had unfortunately become prudent that he should con- 5 
 tribute much more than his usual- aid. Human expe- 
 rience 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 partici- 
 pators, but that some presentiment — some dim mis- 10 
 giving — is kindled amongst those whom it is chiefly 
 important to blind. And, however it might have hap- 
 pened, certain it 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, 15 
 nevertheless some vague and uneasy jealousy had arisen 
 in the Russian Cabinet as to the future schemes of the 
 Kalmuck Khan : and very probable it is that, but for the 
 war then raging, and the consequent prudence of con- 
 ciliating a very important vassal, or, at least, of abstaining 20 
 from what would powerfully alienate him, even at that 
 moment such measures would have been adopted as 
 must forever have intercepted the Kalmuck schemes. 
 Slight as were the jealousies of the Imperial Court, they 
 had not escaped the Machiavelian eyes of Zebek and the 25 
 Lama. And under their guidance, Oubacha, bending to 
 the circumstances of the moment, and meeting the jeal- 
 ousy of the Russian Court with a poUcy corresponding to 
 their own, strove by unusual zeal to efface the Czarina's 
 unfavorable impressions. He enlarged the scale of his 30 
 contributions, and that so prodigiously tliat he absolutely 
 
i6 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 carried to headquarters a force of 35,000 cavalry, fully 
 equipped : some go further, and rate the amount beyond 
 40,000 ; but the smaller estimate is, at all events, ivithin 
 the truth. 
 
 S With this magnificent array of cavalry, heavy as well 
 as light, the Khan went into the field under great expec- 
 tations ; and these he more than realised. Having the 
 good fortune to be concerned with so ill-organized and 
 disorderly a description of force as that which at all 
 
 10 times composed the bulk of a Turkish army, he carried 
 victory along with his banners ; gained many partial suc- 
 cesses ; and at last, in a pitched battle, overthrew the 
 Turkish force opposed to him, with a loss of 5000 men 
 left upon the field. 
 
 15 These splendid achievements seemed likely to operate 
 in various ways against the impending revolt. Oubacha 
 had now a strong motive, in the martial glory acquired, 
 for continuing his connection with the empire in whose 
 service he had won it, and by whom only it could be 
 
 20 fully appreciated. He was now a great marshal of a 
 great empire, one of the Paladins around the imperial 
 throne ; in China he would be nobody, or (worse than 
 that) a mendicant alien, prostrate at the feet, and solicit- 
 ing the precarious alms, of a prince with whom he had 
 
 25 no connection. Besides, it might reasonably be expected 
 that the Czarina, grateful for the really efficient aid given 
 by the Tartar prince, v/ould confer upon him such emi- 
 nent rewards as might be sufficient to anchor his hopes 
 upon Russia, and to wean him from every possible sediic- 
 
 30 tion. These were the obvious suggestions of prudence 
 and s;ood sense to cverv man who stood neutral in the 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 17 
 
 case. But they were disappointed. The Czarina knew 
 her obh'gations to the Khan, but she did not acknowl- 
 edge 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 ; 5 
 and, perhaps, had he even been abundantly recompensed 
 by Russia, there were others who would have defeated 
 these tendencies to reconciliation. Erempei, Zebek, and 
 Loosang the Lama were pledged life-deep to prevent any 
 accommodation; and their efforts were unfortunately 10 
 seconded by those of their deadliest enemies. In the 
 Russian Court there were at that time some great nobles 
 preoccupied with feelings of hatred and blind malice 
 toward the Kalmucks quite as strong as any which the 
 Kalmucks could harbor toward Russia, and not, perhaps, 15 
 so well founded. Just as much as the Kalmucks hated 
 the Russian yoke, their galling assumption of authority, 
 the marked air of disdain, as toward a nation of ugly, 
 stupid, and filthy barbarians, which too generally marked 
 the Russian bearing and language, but, above all, the 20 
 insolent contempt, or even outrages, which the Russian 
 governors or great military commandants tolerated in 
 tlieir followers toward the barbarous religion and supersti- 
 tious mummeries of the Kalmuck priesthood — precisely 
 in that extent did the ferocity of the Russian resentment, 25 
 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 Turks and Bashkirs, 30 
 contributed strength to tlie Russian irritation. And it 
 c 
 
i8 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 must have been through the intrigues of those nobles 
 about her person who chiefly smarted under these feel- 
 ings that the Czarina could ever have lent herself to the 
 unwise and ungrateful policy pursued at this critical 
 5 period toward the Kalmuck Khan. That Czarina was 
 rto 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 repenting 
 
 lo 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 
 
 15 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 sym- 
 pathy with the wrongs of their insulted prince, may be 
 readily imagined. It is a fact, and it has been confessed 
 
 20 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 tlie Kalmuck Council, was 
 exactly such as was most desirable for the purposes of 
 
 25 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. 
 
 30 Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and 
 even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 19 
 
 injustice or tlie 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, 
 more especially the letters or minutes of council subse- 
 quently discovered, in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi, 5 
 and the important evidence of the Russian captive Wesel- 
 off, who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight, 
 that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any 
 purpose of impeding or even of delaying the revolt. He 
 himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the 10 
 most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise 
 or even to slacken in his zeal : for Zebek-Dorchi, dis- 
 trusting the firmness of his resolution under any unusual 
 pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest 
 stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's 15 
 well-known superstition, to engage him, by means of pre- 
 vious concert with the priests and their head the Lama, 
 in some dark and mysterious rites of consecration, termi- 
 nating in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kal- 
 muck would have courage to violate. As far, therefore, 20 
 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 prosecu- 
 tion of the conspiracy that no honors within the Cza- 
 rina's gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion : and 25 
 then, as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him 
 to be sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier 
 character, and better adapted to his peculiar tempera- 
 ment. For Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all 
 bodily enemies or the dangers of human warfare, but was 30 
 as sensitive and timid as the most superstitious of old 
 
20 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 women in facing the frowns of a priest or under the 
 vague anticipations of ghostly retributions. But had it 
 been otherwise, and had there been any reason to appre- 
 hend an unsteady demeanor on the part of this prince 
 5 at the approach of the critical moment, such were the 
 changes already effected in the state of their domestic 
 politics amongst the Tartars by the undermining arts of 
 Zebek-Dorchi, and his ally the Lama, that very little im- 
 portance would have attached to that doubt. All power 
 
 lo was not effectually lodged in the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. 
 He was the true and absolute wielder of the Kalmuck 
 sceptre ; all measures of importance were submitted to 
 his discretion, and nothing was finally resolved but under 
 his dictation. This result he had brought about, in a 
 
 IS year or two, by means sufficiently simple : first of all, by 
 availing himself of the prejudice in his favor, so largely 
 diffused amongst the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his 
 own title to the throne, in quality of great-grandson in a 
 direct line from Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the 
 
 20 Kalmuck Khans, stood upon a better basis than that of 
 Oubacha, who derived from a collateral branch ; secondly, 
 with respect to the sole advantage which Oubacha pos- 
 sessed above himself in the ratification of his title, by 
 improving this difference between their situations to the 
 
 25 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 fero- 
 
 3ocious energy of his moral character ; fourthly — and per- 
 haps in an equal degree — by the criminal facility and 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 21 
 
 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 against the Russian Government, whilst, in s 
 reality, he first had suggested the alteration to the Em- 
 press, and he chiefly appropriated the political advan- 
 tages which it was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself 
 appointed the chief of the Sargatchi, and as the pensions 
 of the inferior Sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst 10 
 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 under his influence, the final result was to 15 
 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 of the spiritual power were always ready to 20 
 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 
 the signal was to be given for raising the standard of re- 25 
 volt, 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 30 
 dispersed. The year of the tiger was now within one 
 
22 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 little month of its commencement ; the fifth morning of 
 that year was fixed for the fatal day when the fortunes 
 and happiness of a whole nation were to be put upon the 
 hazard of a dicer's throw ; and as yet that nation was in 
 5 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, 
 however, that this could not be delayed ; and Zebek- 
 Dorchi took the task willingly upon himself. But where 
 
 lo 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 
 arrive in furious haste, one upon the heels of another, re- 
 porting a sudden inroad of the Kirghises and Bashkirs 
 
 15 upon the Kalmuck lands, at a point distant about 1 20 
 miles. Thither all the Kalmuck families, according to 
 immemorial custom, were required to send a separate rep- 
 resentative ; and there, accordingly, within three days, all 
 appeared. The distance, the solitary ground appointed 
 
 20 for the rendezvous, the rapidity of the march, all tended 
 to make it almost certain that no Russian could be pres- 
 ent. Zebek-Dorchi then came forward. He did not 
 waste many words upon rhetoric. He unfurled an im- 
 mense sheet of parchment, visible from the outermost 
 
 25 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 ; 
 of her pvide and haughty disdain, evidenced toward 
 them by a thousand acts ; of her contempt for their 
 
 30 religion; of her determination to reduce them to abso- 
 lute slavery ; of the ])reliminnry measures she had already 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 23 
 
 taken by erecting forts upon many of the great rivers of 
 their neighborhood ; of the ulterior intentions she thui 
 announced to circumscribe their pastoral lands, until 
 they would all be obhged to renounce their flocks, and to 
 collect in towns like Sarepta, tliere to pursue mechanical 5 
 and servile 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 10 
 support of her insolent aggressions ; and, as old men, we 
 reap nothing from our sufferings nor benefit by our surviv- 
 orship 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), con- 15 
 taining projects of the Russian Court for a general trans- 
 fer 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 20 
 we might make, or even remonstrances ; as men of 
 words, we might play a bold part ; but for deeds ; for 
 that sort of language by which our ancestors were used to 
 speak — holding us by such a chain, Russia would make 
 a jest of our wishes, knowing full well that we should not 25 
 dare to 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 ez'e/y form of amendment to his proposal 
 
24 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 5 of revolt, and, if so, of instant revolt ; since any prepara- 
 tions 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. 
 It is remarkable, however, that with all his audacity and 
 
 lo his reliance u])on the momentary excitement of the Kal- 
 mucks, 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 
 was a rapid march to the Temba or some other great 
 
 IS 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 
 of winning a favorable audience. 
 
 20 These things, in the irritated condition of the simple 
 Tartars, passed by acclamation ; and all returned home- 
 ward to push forward with the most furious speed the 
 preparations for their awful undertaking. Rapid and 
 energetic these of necessity were ; and in that degree 
 
 25 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 
 diplomatic character. 
 
 30 Among these last (indeed, at the head of them) was a 
 Russian of some distinction, by name Kichinskoi — a man 
 
REV^OLT OF THE TARTARS. 25 
 
 memorable for his vanity, and memorable also as one of the 
 many victims to the Tartar revolution. This Kichinskoi 
 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. Hi'^ 
 mixed character of ambassador and of political siirveil- 
 lant, combined with the dependent state of the Kal- 
 mucks, gave him a real weight in the Tartar councils, and 
 might have given him a far greater had not his outra- 10 
 geous self-conceit and his arrogant confidence in his own 
 authority, as due chiefly to his personal qualities for com- 
 mand, 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 15 
 publicly insulted the Khan ; and, upon making a commu- 
 nication 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 vent- 
 ured to say, " But this you dare not attempt ; I laugh at 20 
 such rumors ; yes. Khan, I laugh at them to the Empress ; 
 for you are a chained bear, and that you know." The 
 Khan turned away on his heel with marked disdain; and 
 the Pristaw, foaming at the mouth, continued to utter, 
 amongst those of the Khan's attendants who stayed be- 25 
 hind to catch his real sentiments in a moment of un- 
 guarded passion, all that the blindest frenzy of rage could 
 suggest to the most presumptuous of fools. It was now 
 ascertained that suspicion luid arisen ; but, at the same 
 time, it was ascertained that the Pristaw spoke no more 30 
 than the truth in representing himself to have discredited 
 
26 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 these suspicions. The fact was that the mere infatuation 
 of vanity macie him beheve that nothing could go on un- 
 detected by his all-piercing sagacity, and that no rebellion 
 could prosper when rebuked by his commanding pres- 
 5 ence. The Tartars, therefore, pursued their preparations, 
 confiding in the obstinate blindness of the Grand Pristaw 
 as in their perfect safeguard; and such it proved — to 
 his own ruin as well as that of myriails beside. 
 
 Christmas arrived ; and, a little before that time, 
 
 lo 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 
 
 15 forwarded to Kichinskoi. Now, it happened that be- 
 tween this governor — a Russian named Beketofif — 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 
 
 20 felt himself 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 ridi- 
 
 25 cule : he persisted in his statements ; the Russian minis- 
 try 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 
 
 30 January, which forever terminated the dispute and put a 
 seal upon the earthly hopes and fortunes of unnumbered 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 27 
 
 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 sledge, and, at the rate of 300 miles a-day, 
 pursued his route to St. Petersburg — rushed into the 5 
 Imperial presence — announced the. total realization of 
 his worst predictions ; and, upon the confirmation of this 
 intelligence by subsequent dispatches from many different 
 posts on the Wolga, he received an imperial commission 
 to seize the person of his deluded enemy and to keep him 10 
 in strict captivity. These orders were eagerly fulfilled ; 
 and the unfortunate Kichinskoi soon afterwards expired 
 of grief and mortification m the gloomy solitude of a 
 dungeon — a victim to his own immeasurable vanity and 
 the blinding self-delusions of a presumption that refused 15 
 all warning. 
 
 The Governor of Astrachan had been but too faithful a 
 prophet. Perhaps even he was surprised at the sudden- 
 ness with which the verification followed his reports. 
 Precisely on the 5th of January, the day so solemnly ap- 20 
 pointed under religious sanctions by the Lama, the Kal- 
 mucks on the east bank of the Wolga were seen at the 
 earliest dawn of day assembling by troops and squadrons 
 and in the tumultuous movement of some great morn- 
 ing of battle. Tens of thousands continued moving off 25 
 the ground at every half hour's interval. Women and 
 children, to the amount of two hundred thousand and up- 
 ward, were placed upon wagons or upon camels, and 
 drew off by masses of twenty thousand at once — placed 
 under suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers 30 
 by other outlying bodies of the horde, who kept falling in 
 
28 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 at various distances upon the first and second day's 
 march. From sixty to eighty thousand of those who 
 were the best mounted stayed behind the rest of the 
 tribes, with purposes of devastation and plunder more 
 5 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 
 maUgnant counsels of Zebek-Dorchi. The first tempest 
 of the desolating fury of the Tartars discharged itself 
 
 10 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 
 the chieftains that even Oubacha himself was the first to 
 authorize the act by his own example. He seized a torch 
 
 15 previously prepared with materials the most durable as 
 well as combustible, and steadily api)lied 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 
 
 20 to the manufacture of the long Tartar lances. This 
 chapter in their memorable day's work being finished, 
 and the whole of their villages throughout a district of 
 ten thousand square miles in one simultaneous blaze, the 
 Tartars waited for further orders. 
 
 25 These, it was intended, should have taken a character 
 of valedictory vengeance, and thus have left behind 
 to the 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 build- 
 
 3oings of every description should be given up to jnllage 
 and destruction, and such treatment applied to the de- 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 29 
 
 fenceless inhabitants as might naturally be expected from 
 a fierce people already infuriated by the spectacle of 
 their own outrages, and by the bloody retaliations which 
 they must necessarily have provoked. This part of the 
 tragedy, however, was happily intercepted by a provi- 5 
 dential disappointment at the very_ crisis of departure. 
 It has been mentioned already that the motive for select- 
 ing the depth of winter as the season of flight (which 
 otherwise was obviously the very worst possible) had 
 been the impossibiUty of effecting a junction sufficiently 10 
 rapid with the tribes on the west of the Wolga, in the 
 absence of bridges, unless by a natural bridge of ice. 
 For this one advantage the Kalmuck leaders had con- 
 sented to aggravate by a thousand fold the calamities 
 inevitable to a rapid flight over boundless tracts of 15 
 country with women, children, and herds of catde — for 
 this one single advantage ; and ^et, 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 20 
 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 might even be 25 
 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 having no reference to 30 
 them or their plans, had been construed into certain 
 
30 REVOLT OP^ THE TARTARS. 
 
 signs that all was discovered, and that the i)rudence 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 tribes, now 
 
 5 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 thousand of these 
 
 10 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 mas- 
 sacre and conflagration would assuredly have surprised 
 them, to the utter extermination of their property, their 
 
 15 houses, and themselves, had it not been for this disap- 
 pointment. But the Eastern chieftains did not dare to 
 put to Iiazard 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 cir- 
 
 zocumstances 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 con- 
 currence also in the bloody events which marked its 
 outset. 
 
 25 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 gen- 
 erally deplored. Could they but have witnessed the 
 thousandth part of the sufferings which overtook their 
 
 30 Eastern brethren in the first month of their sad flight, 
 they would have blessed Heaven for their own narrow 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 31 
 
 escape ; and yet these sufferings of the first month were 
 but a prelude or foretaste comparatively slight of those 
 which afterward succeeded. 
 
 For now began to unroll the most awful series of ca- 
 lamities, and the most extensive, which is anywhere re- S 
 corded to have visited the sons and daughters of men. 
 It is possible that the sudden inroads of destroying na- 
 tions, such as the Huns, or the Avars, or the Mongol Tar- 
 tars, may have inflicted misery as extensive ; but there 
 the misery and the desolation would be sudden, like the 10 
 flight of volleying hghtning. Those who were spared 
 at first would generally be spared to the end ; those who 
 perished would perish instantly. It is possible that the 
 French retreat from Moscow may have made some 
 nearer approach to this calamity in duration, though still 15 
 a feeble and miniature approach ; for the French suffer- 
 ings did not commence in good earnest until about one 
 month from the time of leaving Moscow ; and though it 
 is true that afterward the vials of wrath were emptied 
 upon the devoted army for six or seven weeks in succes- 20 
 sion, 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 distin- 
 guished from the P'rench, lies in the accompaniment of 
 women and children. There were both, it is true, with 25 
 the French army, but so few as to bear no visible propor- 
 tion to the total numbers concerned. The French, in 
 short, were merely an army — a host of professional des- 
 troyers, whose regular trade was bloodshed and whose 
 regular element was danger and suffering. But the Tar- 30 
 tars were a nation carrying along with them more than 
 
32 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 as to the accompaniment of 
 5 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 comfortable support. 
 
 10 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 Athens in the Pelo- 
 
 is ponnesian war or London in the reign of Charles II. 
 There, also, the martyrs were counted l)y m)'ria(is, 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 alleviation 
 
 2o 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 suffer- 
 
 25 ing, 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, eacli case had cir- 
 
 30 cumstances of romantic misery peculiar to itself — cir- 
 cumstances without precedent, and, (wherever human 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 33 
 
 nature is ennobled by Christianity,) it may be confi- 
 dently hoped, never to be repeated. 
 
 The first point to be reached, before any hope of re- 
 pose could be encouraged, was the River Jaik. This 
 was not above 300 miles from the main point of depart- S 
 ure 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 achieved. Forced the march was, and 10 
 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 soli- 
 tudes, for seven months of hardship and calamity, with- 15 
 out 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 naturally exhibited by tracing 20 
 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 press- 
 ure from without. Viewed in this manner, under the 
 real order of development, it is remarkable that these 25 
 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 3° 
 of the calamity corresponding to the stages of the route ; 
 
34 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 so that, upon raising the curtain which veils the great 
 catastrophe, we behold one vast climax of anguish, tower- 
 ing upward by regular gradations as if constructed arti- 
 ficially for picturesque effect — a result which might not 
 S 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 cal- 
 culate upon a continual decrement in the rate of motion 
 
 lo according to the increasing distance from the head- 
 quarters of the pursuing enemy. This calculation, how- 
 ever, was defeated by the extraordinary circumstance 
 that the Russian armies did not begin to close in very 
 fiercely upon the Kalmucks until after they had accom- 
 
 15 plished a distance of full 2000 miles : 1000 miles farther 
 on the assaults became even more tumultuous and mur- 
 derous : and already the great shadows of the Chinese 
 Wall were dimly descried, when the frenzy and acharne- 
 ment of the pursuers and the bloody desperation of the 
 
 20 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 
 
 30 more moderate pace, this part of the journey might liave 
 been accomplished without much distress by a people as 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 35 
 
 hardy as the Kahnucks : 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. 5 
 
 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 
 the suddenness of the irruption, and great also their con- 
 sternation ; for, according to their settled custom, by far 10 
 the greater part of their number was absent during the 
 winter months at the fisheries upon the Caspian. Some 
 who were liable to surprise at the most exposed points 
 fled in crowds to the fortress of Koulagina, which was 
 immediately invested and summoned by Oubacha. He 15 
 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 
 Khan was placed, and that he stood upon the very edge, 
 as it were, of a renewed flight, felt encouraged by these 20 
 considerations to a more obstinate resistance than might 
 else have been advisable with an enemy so little disposed 
 to observe the usages of civilized warfare. The period 
 of his anxiety was not long. On the fifth day of the 
 siege he descried from the walls a succession of Tartar 25 
 couriers, mounted upon fleet Bactrian camels, crossing 
 the vast plains around the fortress at a furious pace and 
 riding in-to the Kalmuck encampment at various points. 
 Great agitation appeared immediately to follow : orders 
 were soon after dispatched in all directions ; and it be- 30 
 came speedily known that upon a distant flank of the 
 
36 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 Kalmuck movement a bloody and exterminating battle 
 had been fought the day before, in which one entire tribe 
 of the Khan's dependents, numbering not less than 9000 
 fighting men, had perished to the last man. This was the 
 
 5 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 natu- 
 rally eager so to direct their efforts as to combine with 
 
 10 the service of the Empress some gratification to their 
 own party hatreds, more especially as the present was 
 likely to be their final opportunity for revenge if the 
 Kalmuck evasion should prosper. Having, therefore, 
 concentrated as large a body of Cossack cavalry as cir- 
 
 15 cumstances allowed, they attacked the hostile ouloss with 
 a precipitation which denied to it all means for communi- 
 cating with Oubacha ; for the necessity of commanding 
 an ample range of pasturage, to meet the necessities of 
 their vast flocks and herds, had separated this ouloss from 
 
 20 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 upon its own resources. These had 
 proved insufficient : retreat, from the exhausted state of 
 their horses and camels, no less than from the prodigious 
 
 25 encumbrances of their live stock, was absolutely out of 
 the question : quarter was disdained on the one side, 
 and would not have been granted on the other : and 
 thus it had happened that the setting sun of that one day 
 (the tliirteenth from the first opening of the revolt) 
 
 30 threw his parting rays upon the final agonies of an 
 ancient ouloss, stretched upon a bloody field, who on 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 2>7 
 
 that day's dawning had held and styled themselves an 
 independent nation. 
 
 Universal consternation was diffused through the wide 
 borders of the Khan's encampment by this disastrous 
 intelligence, not so much on account of the numbers 5 
 slain, or the total extinction of a .powerful all}^ as be- 
 cause 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 10 
 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 15 
 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 20 
 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 25 
 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 30 
 those best acquainted with the difficult and obscure geog- 
 
38 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 raphy 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 
 5 of at least 500 miles extra ; besides that, after all, this cir- 
 cuitous 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 
 
 10 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 oiiloss ; but the excitement of victory, and the 
 intense sympathy with their unexampled triumph, had 
 
 15 again swelled their ranks, and would probably act with 
 the force of a vortex to draw in their simple country- 
 men from the Caspian. The question, therefore, of pre- 
 occupation was reduced to a race. The Cossacks were 
 marching upon an oblique line not above 50 miles longer 
 
 20 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 Kalmiicks, there 
 was not a chance for them, burdened and " trashed " as 
 they were, to anticipate so agile a light cavalry as the 
 
 25 Cossacks in seizing this important pass. 
 
 Dreadful were the feelings of the poor women on hear- 
 ing this exposition of the case. For they easily under- 
 stood that too capital an interest (the summa renting 
 was now at stake to allow of any regard to minor inter- 
 
 30 ests, or what would be considered such in their present 
 circumstances. The dreadful week already passed — 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 39 
 
 their inauguration in misery — was yet fresh in their re- 
 membrance. The scars of suffering were impressed 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 5 
 of the chieftains, no test would be accepted, short of ab- 
 solute exhaustion, that as much had been accomplished 
 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. 10 
 On the sth of January all had been animation and the 
 joyousness of indefinite expectation ; now, on the con- 
 trary, a brief but bitter experience had taught them to 
 take an amended calculation of what it was that lay 
 before them. 15 
 
 One whole day and far into the succeeding night had 
 the renewed flight continued ; the sufferings had been 
 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 20 
 endurance seemed equally adapted to cold and heat. 
 The second morning, however, brought an alleviation to 
 the distress. Snow had begun to fall ; and, though not 
 deep at present, it was easily foreseen that it soon would 
 be so, and that, as a halt would in that case become un- 25 
 avoidable, no plan could be better than that of staying 
 where they were, especially as the same cause would 
 check the advance of the Cossacks. Here, then, was the 
 last interval of comfort which gleamed upon the unhappy 
 nation during their whole migration. For ten days the 30 
 snow continued to fall with little intermission. At the 
 
40 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 end of tliat time, keen, bright, frosty weather succeeded ; 
 the drifting had ceased. In three days the smooth ex- 
 panse became firm enough to support the treading of the 
 camels ; and the flight was recommenced. But during 
 5 the halt much domestic comfort had been enjoyed ; and, 
 for the last time, universal plenty. I'he cows and oxen 
 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 
 
 lo saUing whatever part should be found to exceed the im- 
 mediate consumption. This measure led to a scene of 
 general banqueting, and even of festivity, amongst all 
 who were not incapacitated for joyous emotions by dis- 
 tress of mind, by grief for the unhappy experience of the 
 
 15 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 
 
 20 to arrive from all quarters, by the mounted couriers whom 
 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 
 
 25 point for intercepting the flying tribes ; and it was al- 
 ready well 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 opera- 
 tions. New motives were thus daily arising for quickening 
 
 30 the motions of the wretched Kalmucks, and for exhaust- 
 ing those who were previously but too much exhausted. 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 41 
 
 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. 
 A pretty large body of these light cavalry had, in fact, S 
 preoccupied the pass by some hours ; but the Khan 
 having two great advantages — namely, a strong body of 
 infantry, who had been conveyed by sections of five on 
 about two hundred camels, and some pieces of light 
 artillery which he had not yet been forced to abandon — ^° 
 soon began to make a serious impression upon this un- 
 supported detachment ; and they would probably at any 
 rate have retired ; but, at the very moment when they 
 were making some dispositions in that view, Zebek- 
 Dorchi appeared upon their rear with a body of trained 15 
 riflemen, who had distinguished themselves in the war 
 with Turkey. These men had contrived to crawl un- 
 observed over the cliffs which skirted the ravine, avaiUng 
 themselves of the dry beds of the summer torrents and 
 other inequalities of the ground to conceal their move- 20 
 ment. Disorder and trepidation ensued instantly in the 
 Cossack files ; the Khan, who had been waiting with the 
 <?///<? of his heavy cavalry, charged furiously upon them. 
 Total overthrow followed to the Cossacks, and a slaughter 
 such as in some measure avenged the recent bloody ex- 25 
 termination of their allies, the ancient oiiloss of Feka- 
 Zechorr. The slight horses of the Cossacks were unable 
 td support the weight of heavy Polish dragoons and a 
 body of trained cameleers (that is, cuirassiers mounted 
 on camels) ; hardy they were, but not strong, nor a 3° 
 rnatch for their antagonists in weight ; and their ex- 
 
42 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 traordinary 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 escape ; and 
 the bloody day of Ouchim became as memorable among 
 S the Cossacks as that which, about twenty days before, 
 had signalized the complete annihilation of the Feka- 
 Zechorr. 
 
 The road was now open to the River Igritch, and as 
 yet even far beyond it to the Torgau ; but how long 
 
 10 this state of things would condnue 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 
 
 15 his route by ten thousand Bashkirs, and pretty nearly the 
 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 
 
 20 served under the Sultan. The Czarina's yoke these wild 
 nations bore with submissive patience, but not the hands 
 by which it had been imposed ; and accordingly, catch- 
 ing with eagerness at the present occasion offered to 
 their vengeance, they sent an assurance to the Czarina 
 
 25 of their perfect obedience to her commands, and at the 
 same time a message significantly declaring in what spirit 
 they meant to execute them — viz. " that they would not 
 trouble lier Majesty with prisoners." 
 
 Here then arose, as before with the Cossacks, a race 
 
 30 for the Kalmucks with the regular armies of Russia, and 
 concurrently with nations as fierce and semi-humanized 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 43 
 
 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 
 far too overwhelming to permit the thought of a regular 5 
 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, 
 and not in strength of arm. Onward, therefore, the Kal- lo 
 mucks 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 15 
 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 
 track their course through a space of full two thousand 
 miles ; for so much at the least it was hkely to prove, 20 
 including the circuits to which they were often com- 
 pelled by rivers or hostile tribes, from the point of start- 
 ing on the Wolga until they could reach their destined 
 halting ground on the east bank of the Torgau. For the 
 first seven weeks of this march their sufferings had been 25 
 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 desper- 
 ate sacrifice of their baggage wagons, or (as occasionally 
 happened) from the forests which skirted the banks of 30 
 the many rivers which crossed their path — no spectacle 
 
44 REV^OLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 was more frequent than that of a circle, composed of 
 men, women, and children, gathered by hundreds round 
 a central fire, all dead and stiff at the return of morning 
 light. Myriads were left behind from pure exhaustion, 
 5 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 ; the vast extent of the march at length 
 brought them into more genial latitudes, and the unusual 
 
 lo 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 balmy month of May had opened ; vernal 
 sights and sounds came from every side to comfort the 
 
 15 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 
 
 20 their shattered forces to a condition for executing, with 
 less of wreck and ruin, the large remainder of the 
 journey. 
 
 Yes ; it was true that two thousand miles of wandering 
 had been completed, but in a period of nearly five 
 
 25 months, and with the terrific sacrifice of at least two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand souls, to say nothing of herds and 
 flocks past all reckoning. These had all perished : ox, 
 cow, horse, mule, ass, sheep, or goat, not one survived — 
 only the camels. These arid and adust creatures, look- 
 
 30 ing like the mummies of some antediluvian animals, with- 
 out the affections or sensibilities of flesh and blood — ■ 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 45 
 
 these only still erected their speaking eyes to the eastern 
 heavens, and had to all appearance come out from this 
 long tempest of trial unscathed and hardly diminished. 
 The Khan, knowing how much he was individually an- 
 swerable for the misery which had been sustained, must 5 
 have wept tears even more bitter than those of Xerxes 
 when he threw his eyes over the myriads whom he had 
 assembled : for the tears of Xerxes were unmingled with 
 compunction. Whatever amends were in his power the 
 Khan resolved to make, by sacrifices to the general good 10 
 of all personal regards ; and, accordingly, 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 15 
 steps, and, throwing themselves upon the Czarina's 
 mercy, return to their old allegiance. In that case, 
 Oubacha professed himself wilhng to become the scape- 
 goat for the general transgression. This, he argued, was 
 no fantastic scheme, but even easy of accomphshment ; 20 
 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 des- 
 scend the imperial vengeance. This proposal was ap- 25 
 plauded 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 with- 
 out fruit? True it was that they had yet reached only 
 the half-way house; but, in that respect, the motives 30 
 were evenly balanced for retreat or for advance. Either 
 
46 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 way they would have pretty nearly the same distance to 
 traverse, but with this difference — that, forwards, their 
 route lay through lands comparatively fertile ; backwarils, 
 through a blasted wilderness, rich only in memorials of 
 5 their sorrow, and hideous to Kalmuck eyes by the tro- 
 phies 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 /rt:r^<;';/ 
 they might obtain, but could they ever hope to recover 
 
 lo her confiilence ? Doubtless there would now be a stand- 
 ing presumption against them, an immortal ground of 
 jealousy; and a jealous government would be but an- 
 other name for a harsh one. Finally, whatever motives 
 there ever had been for the revolt surely remained unim- 
 
 15 paired 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 16 16), 
 their ancestors had revolted from the Emperor of China. 
 
 20 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 
 
 25 Khan's proposal; the pardon of their prince, they per- 
 suaded 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 im- 
 perial mercy ; when suddenly all was defeated by the 
 
 30 arrival of two envoys from Traubenberg. This general 
 had reached the fortress of Orsk, after a very painful 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 47 
 
 march, on the 12th of April ; thence he set forward tow- 
 ard Oriembourg, which he reached upon the ist of 
 June, having been joined on his route at various times 
 through the month of May by the Kirghises and a corps 
 of ten thousand Bashlcirs. From Oriembourg he sent S 
 forward his official offers to the Khan, which were harsh 
 and peremptory, holding out no specific stipulations as 
 to pardon or impunity, an exacting unconditional sub- 
 mission as the preliminary price of any cessation from 
 military operations. The personal character of Trauben- 10 
 berg, which was anything but energetic, and the con- 
 dition of his army, disorganized in a great measure by the 
 length and severity of the march, made it probable that, 
 with a little time for negotiation, a more conciliatory 
 tone would have been assumed. But, vmhappily for all 15 
 parties, sinister events occurred in the meantime such as 
 effectually put an end to every hope of the kind. 
 
 The two envoys sent forward by Traubenberg had re- 
 ported to this officer that a distance of only ten days' 
 march lay between his own headquarters and those of 20 
 the Khan. Upon this fact transpiring, the Kirghises, by 
 their prince Nourali, and the Bashkirs, entreated the 
 Russian general to advance without delay. Once having 
 placed his cannon in position, so as to command the 
 Kalmuck camp, the fate of the rebel Khan and his 25 
 people would be in his own hands, and they would 
 themselves form his advanced guard. Traubenberg, how- 
 ever {7vhy has not been certainly explained), refused to 
 march ; grounding his refusal upon the condition of his 
 army and their absolute need of refreshment. Long 30 
 and fierce was the altercation ; but at length, seeing no 
 
48 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 chance of prevailing, and dreading above all other events 
 the escape of their detested enemy, the ferocious Bash- 
 kirs went off in a body by forced marches. In six days 
 they reached the Torgau, crossed by swimming their 
 5 horses, and fell upon the Kalmucks, who were dispersed 
 for many a league in search of food or provender for 
 their camels. The first day's action was one vast suc- 
 cession of independent skirmishes, diffused over a field 
 of thirty to forty miles in extent ; one party often break- 
 
 lo ing up into three or four, and again (according to the 
 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, 
 
 15 by the scattered state of the Kalmucks, to split up into 
 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, 
 
 20 and more than once in imminent danger of being cut 
 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 re- 
 treat. Clouds, however, of these wild cavalry continued 
 
 25 to arrive through the next two days and nights, followed 
 or accompanied by the Kirghises. These being viewed 
 as the advanced parties of Traubenberg's army, the Kal- 
 muck chieftains saw no hope of safety but in flight ; and 
 in this way it happened that a retreat, which had so 
 
 30 recently been brought to a pause, was resumed at the 
 very moment when the unhappy fugitives were anticipat- 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTyVRS. 49 
 
 ing a deep repose, without further molestation, the whole 
 summer through. 
 
 It seemed as though every variety of wretchedness 
 were predestined to the Kalmucks, and as if their suffer- 
 ings were incomplete unless they were rounded and ma- 5 
 tured 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 w'e shall immediately revert, 
 after first noticing a little romantic episode which occurred 
 at this point between Oubacha and his unprincipled 10 
 cousin Zebek-Dorchi. 
 
 There was, at the time of the Kalmuck flight from the 
 Wolga, a Russian gentleman of some rank at the court 
 of the Khan, whom, for political reasons, it was thought 
 necessary to carry along with them as a captive. For 15 
 some weeks his confinement had been very strict, and in 
 one or two instances cruel ; but, as the increasing dis- 
 tance was continually diminishing the chances of escape, 
 and perhaps, also, as the misery of the guards gradually 
 withdrew their attention from all minor interests to their 20 
 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 
 to liberty ; and it was understood that he might use his 
 liberty in wliatever way he chose; even for returning 25 
 to Russia, if that should be his w'ish. Accordingly, he 
 was making active preparations for his journey to St. 
 Petersburg, when it occurred to Zebek-Dorchi that not 
 improbably, in some of the battles which were then antici- 
 pated with Traubenberg, it might happen to them to 30 
 lose some prisoner of rank, — in which case the Russian 
 
 E 
 
50 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 Weseloff would be a pledge in their hands for negotiating 
 an exchange. Upon this plea, to his own severe afflic- 
 tion, the Russian was detained luitil the farther pleasure 
 of the Khan. The Khan's name, indeed, was used 
 5 through the whole affair, but, as it seemed, with so little 
 concurrence on his part, that, when Weseloff in a private 
 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 
 
 lo dreams of home and restored happiness only for the pur- 
 pose of blighting them, the good-natured prince dis- 
 claimed all participation in the affliir, and went so far in 
 proving his sincerity as even to give him permission to 
 effect his escape ; and, as a ready means of commenc- 
 
 15 ing it without raising suspicion, the Khan mentioned to 
 Mr. Weseloff that he had just then received a message 
 from the Hetman of the Bashkirs, soliciting a private 
 interview on the banks of the Torgau at a spot pointed 
 out. That interview was arranged for the coming night ; 
 
 20 and Mr. Weseloff might go in the Khan's suite, which on 
 either side was not to exceed three persons. Weseloff 
 was a prudent man, acquainted with the world, and he 
 read treachery in the very outline of this scheme, as 
 stated by the Khan — treachery against the Khan's per- 
 
 25 son. He mused a little, and then communicated so 
 much of his suspicions to the Khan as might put him on 
 his guard ; but, upon further consideration, he begged 
 leave to decline the honor of accompanying the Khan. 
 The fact was that three Kalmucks, who had strong 
 
 30 motives for returning to their countrymen on the west 
 bank of the Wolga, guessing the intentions of Weseloff, 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 51 
 
 had offered to join him in his escape. These men the 
 Khan would probably find himself obliged to countenance 
 in their project, so that it became a point of honor with 
 Weseloff to conceal their intentions, and therefore to 
 accomplish the evasion from the camp (of which the 5 
 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 
 of a docile and beautiful breed. Each of the four fugi- 10 
 tives 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 com- 
 ing toils of their remaining route to China. These horses 15 
 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 
 possible within danger of challenge from any of the out- 20 
 posts 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 
 in the act of mounting, when the deep silence of the 25 
 woods was disturbed by a violent uproar and the clash- 
 ing 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, 
 requesting his companions to support him, he rode off in 30 
 the direction of the sound. A very short distance brouglit 
 
52 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 Weseloff's arrival. One of these he recognized almost 
 
 5 certainly as the Khan, who was fighting hand to hand, 
 but at great disadvantage, with two of the adverse horse- 
 men. Seeing that no time was to be lost, Weseloff fired 
 and brought down one of the two. His companions dis- 
 charged their carabines at the same moment ; and then 
 
 loall rushed simultaneously into the little open area. The 
 thundering sound of about thirty horses, all rushing at 
 once into a narrow space, gave the impression that a 
 whole troop of cavalry was coming down upon the assail- 
 ants ; who accordingly wheeled about and fled with one 
 
 IS 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 
 shocked, though Weseloff at least was not surprised, on 
 stooping down and scrutinizing his features, to recognize 
 
 20 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 
 time a dead silence })revailed. The situation of Weseloff 
 was delicate and critical. To leave the Khan at this point 
 
 25 was probably to cancel their recent services ; for he might 
 be again crossed on hie path, and again attacked, by the very 
 party from whom he had just been delivered. Yet, on the 
 other hand, to return to the camp was to endanger the 
 chances of accomplishing the escape. The Khan, also, was 
 
 30 apparently revolving all this in his mind ; for at length he 
 broke silence and said, " I comprehend your situation ; and, 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 53 
 
 under other circumstances, I might feel it my duty to de- 
 tain 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 
 watchfire, is an outpost. Attend me so far. I am then 5 
 safe. You may turn and pursue your enterprise ; for 
 the circumstances under which you will appear as my 
 escort are sufficient to shield you from all suspicion for 
 the present. I regret having no better means at my dis- 
 posal for testifying my gratitude. But tell me before we 10 
 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, 15 
 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 20 
 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 l)y 25 
 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 con- 
 tinued to advance at the rate of 200 miles in the twenty- 
 four hours for three days consecutively. After that time, 30 
 considering themselves beyond pursuit, they proceeded 
 
54 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 S circumstances there stated is that they continued to pur- 
 sue the route by which the Kalmucks had fled, never for 
 an instant finding any difficulty in tracing it by the skele- 
 tons and other memorials of their calamities. In par- 
 ticular, he mentions vast heaps of money as part of the 
 
 lo valuable property which it had been necessary to sacri- 
 fice. 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 
 
 15 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 catas- 
 trophe. He was at that time young and the only child 
 
 20 of a doting mother. Her affliction under the violent ab- 
 duction 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 
 affection, had imprudently posted through Russia to his 
 
 25 mother's house without warning of his approach. He 
 rushed precipitately into her presence ; and she, who had 
 stood the shocks of sorrow, wns found unequal to the shock 
 of joy too sudden and too acute. She died upon the spot. 
 
 We now revert to the final scenes of the Kalmuck 
 30 flight. These it would be useless to i)ursue circumstan- 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 55 
 
 tially through the whole two thousand miles of suffering 
 which remained ; for the character of that suffering was 
 even more monotonous than on the former half of the 
 flight, but also more severe. Its main elements were' 
 excessive heat, with the accompaniments of famine and 5 
 thirst, but aggravated at every step by the murderous 
 attacks of their cruel enemies, the Bashkirs and the 
 Kirghises. 
 
 These people, " more fell than anguish, hunger, or the 
 sea," stuck to the unhappy Kalmucks like a swarm of 10 
 enraged hornets. And very often, while they were at- 
 tacking them in the rear, their advanced parties and 
 flanks were attacked with almost equal fury by the people 
 of the country which they were traversing ; and with good 
 reason, since the law of self-preservation had now obliged 15 
 the fugitive Tartars to plunder provisions and to forage 
 wherever they passed. In this respect their condition 
 was a constant oscillation of wretchedness ; for some- 
 times, pressed by grinding famine, they took a circuit of 
 perhaps a hundred miles, in order to strike into a land 20 
 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. 25 
 Sometimes, again, wearied out with this mode of suffer- 
 ing, 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 3° 
 plague of starvation, whether with or without this plague 
 
56 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 of hostility in front, whatever might be the " fierce va- 
 rieties " of their misery in this respect, no rest ever came 
 to their unhappy rear ; post equitem sedet atra cum : it 
 was a torment like the undying worm of conscience. 
 S And, upon the whole, it presented a spectacle altogether 
 unprecedented in the history of mankind. Private and 
 personal malignity is not unfretpiently immortal ; but rare 
 indeed is it to find the same pertinacity of malice in 
 a nation. And what imbittered the interest was that the 
 
 lo 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 
 
 15 run. Was it/roiit their enemies as creatures whom they 
 feared ? No ; but toivards 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 fi^d unwillingly, too often they fled in 
 
 20 vain — being unwillingly recalled. There lay the tor- 
 ment. Eivery day the Bashkirs fell upon them ; every 
 day the same unprofitable battle was renewed ; as a mat- 
 ter of course, the Kalmucks recalled part of their ad- 
 vanced guard to fight them ; every day the battle raged 
 
 25 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 
 deserts, where all pursuit was hopeless. 15ut if the Kal- 
 
 30 mucks resolved to press forwards, regardless of their ene- 
 mies — in that case their attacks became so fierce and 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 57 
 
 overwhelming that the general safety seemed likely to be 
 brought into question ; nor could any effectual remedy 
 be applied to the case, even for each separate day, ex- 
 cept by a most embarrassing halt and by countermarches 
 that, to men in their circumstances, were almost worse 5 
 than death. It will not be surprising that the irritation 
 of such a systematic persecution, superadded to a previ- 
 ous and hereditary hatred, and accompanied by the 
 stinging consciousness of utter impotence as regarded all 
 effectual vengeance, should gradually have inflamed the 10 
 Kalmuck animosity into the wihiest expression of down- 
 right madness and frenzy. Indeed, long before the 
 frontiers of China were approached, the hostihty of both 
 sides had assumed the appearance much more of a 
 warfare amongst wild beasts than amongst creatures ac- 15 
 knowledging the restraints of reason or the claims of a 
 common nature. The spectacle became too atrocious ; 
 it was that of a host of lunatics pursued by a host of 
 fiends. 
 
 On a fine morning in early autumn of the year 1771,20 
 Kien Long, the Emperor of China, was pursuing his 
 amusements in a wild frontier district lying on the out- 
 side 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 25 
 game of every description. In a central spot of this 
 solitary region the Emperor had built a gorgeous hunt- 
 ing 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 20030 
 
58 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 miles or more from his lodge, followed at a little distance 
 by a sufficient military escort, and every night pitching his 
 tent in a different situation, until at length he had arrived 
 on the very margin of the vast central deserts of Asia. 
 5 Here he was standing, by accident, at an opening of his 
 pavilion, enjoying the morning sunshine, when suddenly 
 to the westward there arose a vast, cloudy vapor, which 
 by degrees expanded, mounted, and seemed to be slowly 
 diffusing itself over the whole face of the heavens. By 
 
 lo and by this vast sheet of mist began to thicken toward 
 the horizon and to roll forward in billowy volumes. The 
 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 
 
 15 the pavilion the yagers — half cavalry, half huntsmen — 
 who composed the imperial escort. Conjecture was on 
 the stretch to divine the cause of this phenomenon ; and 
 the interest continually increased in proportion as simple 
 curiosity gradually deepened into the anxiety of uncertain 
 
 20 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 
 
 25 the forest grounds at some remoter points, secure from 
 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 phenome- 
 non had advanced to a point which was judged to be 
 
 30 within five miles of the spectators, though all calcula- 
 tions of distance were difficult, and often fallacious, 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 59 
 
 when .ipplied to the endless expanses of the Tartar 
 deserts. Through the ne.xt hour, during which the 
 gentle morning breeze had a little freshened, the dusty 
 vapor had developed itself far and wide into the appear- 
 ance of huge aerial draperies, hanging in mighty volumes 5 
 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 which began dimly to gleam the heads of camels 10 
 "indorsed" with human beings, and at intervals the mov- 
 ing 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 or died away, all those openings, of what- 15 
 ever 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 as- 
 cending from infuriated myriads, reported, in a language 
 not to be misunderstood, what was going on behind the 20 
 cloudy screen. 
 
 It was, in fact, the Kalmuck host, now in the last ex- 
 tremities of their exhaustion, and very fast approaching 
 to that final stage of privation and killing misery beyond 
 which few or none could have lived, but also,, happily for 25 
 themselves, fast approaching (in a literal sense) that final 
 stage of their long pilgrimage at which they would meet 
 hospitality on a scale of royal magnificence and full pro- 
 tection from their enemies. These enemies, however, as 
 yet, still were hanging on their rear as fiercely as ever, 30 
 though this day was destined to be the last of their 
 
6o REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 hideous persecution. The Khan had, in fact, sfut for- 
 ward couriers with all the requisite statements and peti- 
 tions, addressed to the Emperor of China. These had 
 been duly received, and preparations made in conse- 
 5 quence to welcome the Kalmucks with the most paternal 
 benevolence. But as these couriers had been dispatched 
 from the Torgau at the moment of arrival thither, and 
 before the advance of Traubenberg had made it neces- 
 sary for the Khan to order a hasty renewal of the flight, 
 
 lo the Emjjcror had not lo(jked for tlieir arrival on his 
 frontiers until full three months after the present time. 
 The Khan had, indeed, expressly notified his intention to 
 pass the summer heats on the banks of the Torgau, and 
 to recommence his retreat about the beginning of Sep- 
 
 15 tember. The subsequent change of plan being unknown 
 to Kien Long, left him for some time in douljt 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 
 
 20 true nature of those unexpected calamities which had so 
 prematurely precipitated the Kalmuck measure. 
 
 Apprehending the real state of affairs, the Emperor 
 instantly perceived that the first act of his fatherly care 
 for these erring children (as he esteemed them), now re- 
 
 25 turning to their ancient obedience, must be - to deliver 
 them from their pursuers. And this was less difficult 
 than miglit 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 Empe- 
 
 30 ror's motions. These were hastily summoned. Mean- 
 time it occurred to the train of courtiers that some 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 6i 
 
 danger might arise to the Emperor's person from the 
 proximity of a lawless enemy, and accordingly he was in- 
 duced to retire a Httle to the rear. It soon appeared, 
 however, to those who watched the vapory shroud in the 
 desert, that its motion was not such as would argue the 5 
 direction of the march to be exactly upon the pavilion, 
 but rather in a diagonal hne, making an angle of full 45 
 degrees with that line in which the imperial cortege had 
 been standing, and therefore \/\\\\ a distance continually 
 increasing. Those who knew the country judged that 10 
 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 in that spot, and about three hours 
 after, and at noonday, on the 8th of September, that the 15 
 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 and details so awfully dis- 
 astrous. The Emperor was not personally present, or at 20 
 least he saw whatever he did ?,qq 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 officers. 
 
 The Lake of Tengis, near the frightful Desert of Kobi, 25 
 lay in a hollow amongst hills of a moderate height, rang- 
 ing 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 30 
 margin of the lake. From this pass, elevated about two 
 
62 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 thousand feet above the level of the water, they continued 
 to descend, by a very winding and difficult road, for an 
 hour and a half; and during the whole of this descent 
 they were compelled to be inactive spectators of the 
 5 fiendish spectacle below. The Kalmucks, reduced by 
 this time from about six hundred tliousand souls to two 
 hundred and sixty thousand, and after enduring for two 
 months and a half the miseries we have previously de- 
 scribed — outrageous heat, flimine, and the destroving 
 
 loscimiter of the Kirghises and the Bashkirs — had for tlie 
 last ten days been traversing a hideous desert, where no 
 vestiges were seen of vegetation and no drop of water 
 could be found. Camels and men were already so over- 
 laden that it was a mere impossibility that they should 
 
 15 carry a tolerable sufficiency for the passage of this fright- 
 ful wilderness. On the eighth day, the wretched daily 
 allowance, which had been continually diminishing, failed 
 entirely ; and thus, for two days of insupportable fatigue, 
 the horrors of thirst had been carried to the fiercest ex- 
 
 2otremity. Upon this last morning, at the sight of the 
 hills and the forest scenery, which announced to those 
 who acted as guides the neighborhood of the Lake of 
 Tengis, all the people rushed along with maddening 
 eagerness to the anticipated solace. 'J'he day grew 
 
 25 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 attempts to pre- 
 serve a rear guard were neglected — the wild Bashkirs 
 rode oil amongst the encumbered people and slaughtered 
 30 theui by wholesale, and almost without resistance. 
 Screams and tumultuous shouts proclaimed the progress 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 63 
 
 of the massacre ; but none heeded — none halted ; all 
 alike, pauper or noble, continued to rush on with mania- 
 cal 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 affected by the 5 
 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 state, 10 
 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 contin- 
 ued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of 15 
 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 party of sav- 20 
 age Bashkirs, hewing off heads as fast as the swaths fall be- 
 fore the mower's scythe ; there stood unarmed Kalmucks 
 in a death grapple with their detested foes, both up to 
 the middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking together 
 below the surface, from weakness or from struggles, and 25 
 perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at 
 any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving im- 
 petus to the assault? Thither were the camels driven in 
 fiercely by those who rode them, generally women or 
 boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into a 3° 
 share in this carnival of murder by trampling down as 
 
64 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 5 swallowing large draughts of water, visibly contaminated 
 with the blood of their slaughtered compatriots. Where- 
 soever the lake was shallow enough to allow of men rais- 
 ing their heads above the water, there, for scores of 
 acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of ago- 
 
 10 nizing struggle, of s]3asm, 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 descend- 
 ing the eastern side of the lake, at length averted their 
 eyes in horror. This horror, which seemed incapable of 
 
 15 further addition, was, however, increased by an unex- 
 pected incident. The Bashkirs, beginning to perceive 
 here and there the approach of the Chinese cavalry, felt 
 it prudent — wheresoever they were sufificiently at leisure 
 from the passions of the murderous scene — to gather 
 
 20 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 as the 
 Bashkirs collected into globes and fiiniis as their only 
 
 25 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 caldron 
 of human bloodshed and carnage. The Chinese cavalry 
 
 30 had reached the foot of the hills ; the Bashkirs, attentive 
 to f/ieir movements, had formed ; skirmishes had been 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 65 
 
 fought : and, with a quick sense that the contest was 
 hencetbrwards rapidly becoming hopeless, the Bashkirs 
 and Kirghises began to retire. The pursuit was not as 
 vigorous as the Kalmuck hatred would have desired. 
 But, at the same time, the very gloomiest hatred could S 
 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 10 
 the very gloomiest of the Kalmucks, or the least reflect- 
 ing, 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. 15 
 
 Here ends the tale of the Kalmuck wanderings in the 
 Desert ; for any subsequent marches which av/aited 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 20 
 munificence ; and lands of great fertility were immedi- 
 ately 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 benefi- 
 cent attention of the Chinese Emperor may be best 25 
 stated in his own words, as translated into French by one 
 of the Jesuit missionaries : — "La nation des Torgotes 
 {savoir les Kalmiu/i/es) arriva a Ily, toute delabree, 
 n'ayant ni de quoi vivre, ni de quoi se vetir. Je I'avais 
 pr^vu ; et j'avais ordonn(§ de faire en tout genre les pro- 3° 
 
 F 
 
66 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 visions necessaires pour pouvoir les secourir prompte- 
 ment : c'est ce qui a et^ 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 
 
 S cultivant, soit en y nourissant des bestiaux. On a donne 
 a chaque particulier des etoffes pour I'habiller, des grains 
 pour se nourrir pendant I'espace d'une annee, des usten- 
 siles pour le menage et d'autres choses necessaires : et 
 outre cela plusieurs onces d'argent, pour se pourvoir de 
 
 lo ce qu'on aurait pu oublier. On a designe des lieux par- 
 ticuliers, fertiles en paturages ; et on leur a donn^ des 
 bceufs, moutons, etc., pour qu'ils pussent dans la suite 
 travailler par eux-memes a leur entretien et a leur 
 bien-etre." 
 
 IS These are the words of the Emperor himself, speaking 
 in his own person of his own paternal cares ; but another 
 Chinese, treating the same subject, records the munifi- 
 cence of this prince in terms which proclaim still more 
 forcibly the disinterested generosity which prompted, and 
 
 20 the delicate considerateness which conducted, this exten- 
 sive 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 
 
 25 autres incommodit^s inseparables d'une tres-Iongue et 
 tres-penible route en eussent fait p^rir presque au- 
 tant), ils etaient r^duits a la derniere misere; ils man- 
 quaient de tout. II " (viz. I'empereur, Kien Long) " leur 
 fit preparer des logemens conformes a leur manifere de 
 
 3ovivre; il leur fit distribuer des alimens et des habits; il 
 leur fit donner des boeufs, des moutons, et des ustensiles, 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. (i^ 
 
 pour les mettre en 6tat de former des troupeaux et de 
 CLiltiver la terre, et tout cela a ses propres frais, qui se 
 sont mont(§s a des sommes immenses, sans compter 
 I'argent qu'il a donn6 a chaque chef-de-famille, pour 
 pourvoir a la subsistance de sa femme et de ses S 
 enfans." 
 
 Thus, after their memorable year of misery, the Kal- 
 mucks were replaced in territorial possessions, and in 
 comfort equal, perhaps, or even superior, to that which 
 they had enjoyed in Russia, and with superior political lo 
 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 15 
 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 nomadic hfe. They gained also in political privileges, 20 
 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 dis- 
 advantage there was, amply to overbalance all other pos- 
 sible gain : the chances were lost, or were removed to an 25 
 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 \\\q personal interests 
 concerned in this great drama. The catastrophe in this 30 
 respect was remarkable and complete. Oubacha, with all 
 
68 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 his goodness and incapacity of suspecting, had, since the 
 mysterious affair on the banks of the Torgau, felt his mind 
 alienated from his cousin ; he revolted from the man that 
 would have murdered him ; and he had displayed his 
 
 5 caution so visibly as to provoke a reaction in the bearing 
 of Zebek-Dorchi and a displeasure which all his dissimula- 
 tion could not hide. This had produced a feud, which, 
 by keeping them aloof, had probably saved the life of 
 Oubacha ; for the friendship of Zebek-Dorchi was more 
 
 lo 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 
 lodge in 1772. The Emperor informed himself accu- 
 
 15 rately of all the particulars connected with the transac- 
 tion — 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 pre- 
 
 20 tensions 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 pre- 
 sumption even to weave nets of treason against the Empe- 
 ror himself. Plots were laid, were detected, were baffled ; 
 
 25 counter-plots were constructed upon the same basis, and 
 with the benefit of the opportunities thus offered. Fi- 
 nally, Zebek-Dorchi was invited to the imperial lodge, 
 together with all his accomplices ; and, under the skilful 
 management of the Chinese nobles in the Emperor's es- 
 
 sotablishment, the murderous artifices of these Tartar chief- 
 tains were made to recoil upon themselves, and the whole 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 69 
 
 of them perished by assassination at a great imperial ban- 
 quet. For the Chinese moraUty is exactly of that kind 
 which approves in everything the lex talionis : 
 
 "... Lex nee justior ulla est [as ///;■!' think] 
 Quam necis artifices arte perire sua." S 
 
 So perished Zebek-Dorchi, the author and originator of 
 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, re- 10 
 dawned upon the tribes : their household lares, after so 
 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 15 
 with the perfect loveliness of Arcadian beauty. But from 
 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 20 
 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 dif- 
 ferent form of misery) very many lost their memory ; all 
 records of their past life were wiped out as with a sponge 25 
 — utterly erased and cancelled: and many others lost 
 their reason ; some in a gentle form of pensive melan- 
 choly, some in a more restless form of feverish delirium 
 and nervous agitation, and others in the fixed forms of 
 tempestuous mania, raving frenzy, or moping idiocy. 3° 
 
70 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 
 
 5 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, 
 
 10 enjoined by the Dalai Lama, called in the Tartar language 
 a Romanaug — 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 
 
 15 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 
 
 20 the very margin of the steppes, and they bear a short but 
 emphatic inscription to the following effect : — 
 
 By the Will of God, 
 Here, upon the Brink of these Deserts, 
 Which from this Point begin and stretch away, 
 25 Pathless, treeless, waterless, 
 
 For thousands of miles, and along the margins of many mighty 
 
 Nations, 
 
 Rested from tlicir labors and from great afflictions, 
 
 Under the shadow of the Chinese Wall, 
 
 30 And by the favor of KiEN Long, God's Lieutenant upon Hirth, 
 
 The ancient Children of the Wilderness — the Torgote Tartars — 
 
 Flying before the wrath of the Grecian Czar, 
 
REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 71 
 
 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. 
 
 Hallowed be the spot forever, S 
 
 and 
 Hallowed be the day — -September 8, 1771 ! 
 Amen. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 The Flight of a Tartar Tribe was first jniblished in Black- 
 xvood's Miigaziiie (Edinburgh), July, 1837, under the title "Revolt 
 of the Tartars; or, Flight of the Kalmuck Khan and His People 
 from the Russian Territories to the Frontiers of China." De 
 Quincey republished it with a slight revision, in 1854, in the fourth 
 volume of his collective works. 
 
 " When we pass to the papers of historical description," says 
 Professor Masson, " it is hardly a surprise to find that it is De 
 Quincey's tendency in such papers to run to disputed or momentous 
 'points' and concentrate the attention on tiiose. A magazine 
 paper did not afford breadth of can\as enough for complete histori- 
 cal representation under such titles as he generally chose. No 
 exception of the kind, indeed, can be taken to his Revolt of the 
 Tartars, which is a noble effort of historical painting, done with a 
 sweep and breadth of poetic imagination entitling it, though a 
 history, to rank also among his prose-phantasies." 
 
 In the Atlantic Monthly for July, 1850 (v. i, p. 149), is the 
 following reference to the essay : " Or have they ever read his 
 chapter in Blackzvood {ox July, 1837, "^"^ '^^^ 'Retreat of a Tartar 
 Tril)e'? a chapter certainly containing the most powerful historical 
 painting we ever read, and recording a section of adventurous and 
 romantic story not equalled, he says, ' since the retreat of the fallen 
 angels.' " 
 
 In Professor Masson's edition of De Quincey, v. 7, 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 
 
 n 
 
74 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 I'rench translation, with the title Monument tie la TransDiigration 
 des Tow'gouths des Bords de la Mer Caspienne dans V Empire de 
 la Chine, had been published in 1776 by the P'rench Jesuit mission- 
 aries of Pekin, in the first volume of their great collection of 
 Alemoires 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 I'artars 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 refer- 
 ence of his own, in his Homer and the Homeridic, 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 narra- 
 tive, was, it appears from that reference, the German traveller, 
 Benjamin Bergmann, whose Noinadische Streifereien unter den 
 Kalmilken in den Jahren 1802 und i8oj 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 Verstich 
 zur Geschichte der Kalniiikenjiucht von der Wolga (" Essay on the 
 Flistory of the Flight of the Kalmucks from the Volga"). A 
 French translation of the Letters, with this particular Essay in- 
 cluded, appeared in 1825 under the title \"oyage de Benjamin 
 Berg?nann chez les Kalmiiks : Traduit de V Allemand par M. 
 Moris, Membre de la Societe Asiatiqiie. Both works arc now very 
 scarce; but having seen copies of both (the only copies, I think, in 
 
NOTES. 75 
 
 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 Trans- 
 migration of 1 771 which was already accessible for him in the 
 Narrative of the Chinese Emperor, Kien Long, and in other 
 Chinese State Papers, as these had heen 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 purposes 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 intro- 
 ducing incidents not reconcilable with either of them, if not irrec- 
 oncilable 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 enshroud- 
 ing 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." 
 
 In the three introductory paragraphs the author arouses the 
 interest of the reader by exalting his subject to a high dramatic 
 plane, by appealing to the mind through images of the vast, the 
 powerful, and the mysterious, and by comparing this movement 
 with other great catastrophes of history. Trace out these and other 
 characteristics in detail. 
 
76 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 Page I, line 5. A principal Tartar nation. More properly 
 Mongolian. See Century Cyclopedia of A'anws, under " Moguls" 
 and "Tartars." 
 
 P. I, 1. 5. steppes of Asia. What are steppes? Look up 
 in an atlas all the geographical references. 
 
 P. I, 11. 6, 7. terminus a quo, terminus ad quern. Find 
 equivalents for these Latinisms in idiomatic English. De Quincey 
 was fond of classical quotations and allusions. 
 
 P. I, 11. 8, 9. Notice the nice balance of phrase and the 
 avoidance of the names Russia and China. The sentence like the 
 whole opening is an example of the heightened significance De 
 Quincey often secures by quasi-abstract statement of fact. 
 
 P. I, 1. 18. and the leeming. Not found in the original essay 
 but added in the reprint of 1S54, after the word "swallow." 
 
 P. 2, 1. I. Miltonic images. Paradise Lost, i. 40-50; 169- 
 178; ii. 77, 165, 990-998; vi. 824-877. Find other examples of 
 the influence of Milton. 
 
 P. 2, 1. 20. " Venice Preserved ; or, A Plot Discovered.'" 
 A powerful tragedy by Thomas Otway, written and acted in 1682, 
 soon after the terror of the alleged Popish Plot. It was founded on 
 Saint-Real's historical novel Conjuration des Espagnoh contra la 
 Venise en 161S. Hallam said that, next to Shakespeare's, it was 
 the most popular tragedy seen on the stage. He was affected by 
 it almost to agony. The play may be found in the Mermaid .Series. 
 
 P. 2, 1. 20. "Fiesco." A tragedy written in 1783 by Fried- 
 rich Schiller, the great German poet. The scene is laid at Genoa 
 under the brutal tyranny of Gianettino Doria, and the plot is a 
 romantic one of love, intrigue, and conspiracy. The author was, 
 at the time of writing it, influenced by the stirring events of the 
 American and French revolutions. See Scherer's History of Ger- 
 man Literature. 
 
 P. 2, 1. 25. Cambyses the Third (529-522 b.c), son of Cyrus 
 the Great, king of Persia, and leader of an unfortunate expedition 
 against Ammon and Ethiopia. While devastating Egypt, he was 
 recalled to Persia by a conspiracy, but died on the way from a self- 
 inflicted wound. 
 
NOTES. ^^^ 
 
 p. 2, 1. 26. anabasis, a maich up into the interior. Xeno- 
 phon's Anabasis is an account of the expedition of Cyrus the 
 Younger against Artaxerxes II., cuhiiinating with the death of Cyrus 
 at the battle of Cunaxa, 401 n.C, and the Katabasis, or retreat to 
 the Black Sea of the ten thousand Greeks. 
 
 P. 2, 11. 28, 29. Crassus, a Roman general and statesman, 
 defeated by the Parthians at Carrhffi in 53 B.C. Julian, the Apos- 
 tate, a Roman emperor, who was mortally wounded by a javelin 
 during his expedition against Persia in 363 A.n. See Liddell's 
 History of Rome and The Sindenfs Gibbon for interesting accounts 
 of these respective wars. 
 
 P. 2, 1. 31. Napoleon. Read an account, in some good Life of 
 Napoleon or History of France, of the French invasion of Russia 
 in 1812. The retreat in winter of the "Grand Army" is unsur- 
 passed in all history for its accumulation of horrors. 
 
 P. 3, 1. ig. the Wolga, the Volga, the chief river in Russia 
 and longest in Europe. Trace it on the map. Can you find the 
 other places mentioned in this paragraph? 
 
 P. 3, 11. 17-29. Notice in this paragraph De Quincey's skilful 
 summary of the whole story. 
 
 P. 4, 1. 5. Prince Oubacha. A good example of De Quincey's 
 genius for analysis of character. 
 
 P. 4, 1. 6. 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. 
 
 P. 4, 1. g. Vice-Khan. Khan is a Persian and Tartar title 
 for king, chief, or governor. 
 
 P. 6, 11. ig, 20. Machiavelian dissimulation. Niccolo Machi- 
 avelli (1469-1527), a famous Italian author and statesman, was 
 secretary of the Florentine Republic, and engaged in many diplo- 
 matic missions. His name is a synonym for duplicity and perfidy, 
 but in reality he was not half so bad as he is painted. 
 
 P. 6, 1. 29. Elizabeth Petrowna (1709-1762), daughter of 
 Peter the Great and Catharine I., and Empress of Russia 1741-1762. 
 
78 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 P. 8, 1. 12. roubles. A rouble is equal to about seventy-rtve 
 cents. 
 
 P. lo, 1. 4. behemoth, the great beast, a Hebrew word mean- 
 ing probably the hippopotamus. See Job xl. 15-24. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 4. Muscovy. A name often given formerly to Russia. 
 " Why look you pale? Sea-sick, I think, coming from Muscovy." 
 Shakespeare's Love's Labor Lost, v. 2, 393. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 6. "lion ramp," lion's leap, Milton's .Sawjo^ .^fo-owz'.r- 
 tes, 1. 139. Cf. Shakespeare's Cy?>ibeline, i. 6, 134: 
 
 " Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps." 
 
 Cf. also the heraldic term " rampant." 
 
 P. 10, 1. 7. "baptized and infidel.'' See ^IWion's Paradise 
 Lost, i. 582. 
 
 P. 10, 1. 9. "barbaric East." Cf. Spenser's Faerie Queene, 
 iii. 4, 23, Paradise Lost, ii. 3, 4, and Vergil's Aeneid, ii. 504. 
 
 P. II, 1. 4. translation. Note the use of the word with its 
 original meaning. Milton often does this. Cf. also the Authorized 
 Version of the Bible. 
 
 P. II, 1. 21. 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. 
 
 P. II, 1. 25. the great Chinese Wall was built in the third 
 century B.C., as a defence against the northern Mongols. It is 1400 
 miles in length and from fifteen to thirty feet in height. 
 
 P. 12, 11. i5, 17. the great Lama. A priest of a form of 
 Buddhism called Eamaism. The word means in the Tibetan lan- 
 guage "spiritual lord." The supreme head of the Lamaist religion 
 is called the Dalai-Lama, or ocean-priest, who resides at Potala, 
 near Lassa, in Tibet. 
 
 P. 14, 1. 26. the poor simple Kalmuck herdsmen, etc. 
 A good example of the humanitarian note in De Quincey. All the 
 great nineteenth century writers show a deep sympathy with the 
 poor and lowlv. This democratic sj)irit is an important element in 
 the Romantic Movement. 
 
NOTES. 79 
 
 P. 15, 1. I. v/ar . . . between Russia and the Sultan. 
 
 The war here referred to began in 1768, Mustapha III. being 
 sultan of Turkey and Catharine czarina of Russia, and continued 
 until 1774. 
 
 P. 15, 1. 6. The delight in mystery is another noteworthy 
 mark of the Romantic Movement. 
 
 P. 16, 1. 10. Turkish army. Does the Turkish army at the 
 present time bear this reputation? 
 
 P. 16, 1. 13. with a loss of 5000 men. It will be difficult, 
 I think, to find record, in the history of the Russo-Turkish war 
 begun in 1768, of any battle answering to this. — Masson. 
 
 P. 16, 1. 21. Paladins. Look up the history and use of this word. 
 
 P. 17, 1. 5. ukase. A Russian proclamation, or imperial order, 
 having the force of law. 
 
 P. 17, 1. 30. Bashkirs. A tribe of mixed Finnish and Tartar 
 race, subjugated in the eighteenth century, and inhabiting the 
 southern provinces of Russia. 
 
 P. 18, 1. 6. Catharine II. Elizabeth had been succeeded in 
 1762 l^y 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. One 
 of jLandor's finest Iniagiitary Conversations is based on the murder 
 of Peter. 
 
 P. 22, 1. 14. Kirghises. A nomadic people of Mongolian- 
 Tartar race, dwelling in Turkestan. 
 
 P. 23, 1. 5. Sarepta. Find this town on the map ; it is situ- 
 ated on the Volga. 
 
 P. 23, 1. 17. en masse, Fr. in a body. 
 
 P. 24, 1. 20. These things, etc. How exquisitely De Quincey 
 adapts the language to the thought in this paragraph. Find other 
 examples. 
 
 P. 25, 1. 7. surveillant, Fr. overseer. 
 
 P. 24, 1. 31. Kichinskoi. This and the following paragraph 
 contain another admirable piece of character-drawing. It would 
 be diffirult to find a Hner picture of vanity and bhnd self-delusion. 
 
8o REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 4. For now began to unroll, etc. De Quincey in 
 this paragraph adds tragic importance to his story by comparing it 
 with several of the most awful catastrophes of the nations. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 7. destroying nations. The inroads of the Huns 
 into Europe extended from the third century into the fifth ; those 
 of \hQ 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 begin- 
 ning of the thirteenth century, from Cliina to roland. — AIasson. 
 See Gibbon's vivid narrative of the migrations of these barljaric 
 hordes in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (student's 
 edition). 
 
 P. 31, 1. 14. the French retreat from Moscow. Professor 
 .Sloane's Life of N'apoleon contains an intensely interesting account 
 of this disastrous retreat. The emperor invaded Russia with over 
 400,000 men and 1200 guns, Init when tlie Grand Army recrossed 
 the Beresina on the 27th of November, 1812, it numbered scarcely 
 25,000 fit for service. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 19. vials of wrath. See Rev. xvi. i. De Quincey 
 makes frequent use of biblical phraseology, which is merely the 
 English of the seventeentli century. 
 
 P. 31, 1. 24. the accompaniment of women. 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 — iroWal tiaav iraipai iv rip crrpaTevfiaTi; and 
 in a late stage of that tr)ing expedition it is evident that women 
 were amongst the survivors. — De QuiNCiiV. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 3. The Children of Israel. See Exod. xiv., xvi. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 10. 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. i>.; at Lisbon, 
 
NOTES. 8i 
 
 1755 A.D., with loss of 30,000 lives; and in Venezuela, 1812 a.d., 
 when Caraccas was destroyed, and 20,000 souls perished. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 14. pestilence. An account of the terrible plague 
 which visited Athens in 430 B.C. is given in Thucydides' Pelopon- 
 nesian War, book ii. During the great plague in 1665, 100,000 
 Londoners perished in six months. It is most realistically described 
 in Defoe's semi-historical yowrwrt/ of the Plague Year. 
 
 P. 32, 1. 16. martyrs. Is this a mere synonym for victims, 
 or does it intentionally express more ? 
 
 P. 32, 1. 22. The siege of Jerusalem. For a detailed account 
 of this dreadful siege, read Flavius Josephus' Wars of the Jews, 
 books v. and vi. 
 
 P. 33, 1. 28. with a scenical propriety. The author gives 
 here some phases of the subject which attracted him toward it as 
 one peculiarly suitable for imaginative treatment. Examine the 
 structure, movement, and sound of the magnificent sentence which 
 follows. 
 
 P. 34, 1. 18. acharnement, a very strong French word meaning 
 fierce and implacable animosity. 
 
 P. 35, 1. 6. The Cossacks. A military people, said to be of 
 Tartar origin, inhabiting the steppes of Russia. They have long 
 furnished the finest cavalry in the Russian army. 
 
 P. 35, 1. 26. Bactrian camels. Bactria, in ancient geography, 
 was a country in Asia nearly corresponding to the modern district 
 of Balkh in Afghanistan. 
 
 P. 36, 1. 13. evasion. What is indicated by the use of this 
 word? 
 
 P. 37, 1. I. held and styled. Point out the utiHty of emph)y- 
 ing both verbs. See other examples in the Book of Comfnoti Prayer. 
 What do you observe in this whole paragraph indicating the height- 
 ened or impassioned style ? 
 
 P. 38, 1. 23. " 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. — De Quincey. 
 
82 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 P. 38, 1. 28. summa rerum, Lat. things of the highest impor- 
 tance. Cf. suintnum bonuni. 
 
 P. 41, 1. 23. elite, Fr. the choicest part. 
 
 P. 42, 1. 6. annihilation of the Feka-Zechorr. 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, tliat 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 accoriiing 
 to circumstances on coming up with them. The result was, through 
 the prudent management of Assarcho, that the clan, without com- 
 promising their pride or independence, made such moderate sub- 
 missions as satisfied the Cossacks; and eventually both chiefs and 
 people received from the Czarina the rewards and honors of exem- 
 plary fidelity. — De Quincey. 
 
 P. 44, 1. 29. adust. Looking as if burnt or scorched, with the 
 obsolete meaning of sallow, gloomy. Cf. Milton : 
 
 "I'he Libyan air adust; " 
 
 also Scott: "A tall, thin man, of an aihist complexion." 
 
 P. 45, 1. 8. the tears of Xerxes. When he reviewed his 
 millions from a stately throne in the plains of Asia, he suddenly 
 shed a torrent of tears on the recollection that the multitude of men 
 he saw before his eyes, in one hundred years should be no more. 
 
 — LEMPRlfeRE. 
 
 P. 45, 1. 18. the scapegoat. See Leviticus xvi. 20. 
 
 P. 50, i. 17. the Hetman. The chief. 
 
 P. 55. 1. 9. more fell than anguish, etc. Othello, the Moor 
 of I'eiiiie, act v. scene 2, 1. 363. Sai<l of the villain lago. 
 
 P. 56, 1.3. "post equitem sedet atra cura." Behind the 
 horseman sits black care. Horace's Odes, iii. 40. 
 
 p. 56, I. 13. "from morn to dewy eve." Paradise Lost, i. 
 742-743. Uf whom was this said? See also Homer's Iliad, i. 593. 
 
NOTES. 83 
 
 P. 57, 1. 18. a host of friends. The play of emotion arising 
 from imaginative awe of the terrible spectacle lends a poetic touch 
 to this whole passage. 
 
 P. 57, 1. 20. On a fine morning, etc. What an exquisite 
 contrast between this hunting scene with its gorgeous Oriental leisure 
 and the climax of horror at the bloody lake. It is as delightful as 
 passing from the painful sights and sounds of a madhouse into the 
 pure sweet air of an autumn morning. De Quincey shows himself 
 everywhere a master of the artistic principles of parallelism, con- 
 trast, and gradation. 
 
 P. 58, 1. 15. yagers. German yrt_^if;-, a huntsman, also a military 
 term. 
 
 P. 59, 1. 2. 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. — De Quincey. 
 
 P. 59, 1. II. "indorsed." See Milton's Paradise Regained, 
 iii. 329 : 
 
 "And elephants indorsed with towers." 
 
 Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of elephants in the Persian army, 1. 24. 
 Pliny mentions them bearing towers with sixty soldiers on them, 
 iurriti cum sexagenis propiigtiatoribus, viii. 7. — Dunster. 
 
 Cf. De Quincey's use of the word evasion on p. 36, 1. 13. 
 
 P. 64, 1. 24. globes. Troops drawn up in a circle, a formation 
 used by the Romans. Cf. Milton : 
 
 " Him round 
 A globe of fiery seraphim enclosed." 
 
 P. 64, 1. 24. turms. A troop or company. Cf. Milton: 
 
 " Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings." 
 
 P. 65, 1. 28. " La nation des Torgotes," etc. "The nation of 
 the Torgouths (/o zvi( the Kalmucks) arrived at lly wholly shattered. 
 
84 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 having neither victuals to live on [sic-] nor clothes to wear. I had 
 foreseen this, and had given orders for making every kind of prep- 
 aration 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 culti- 
 vating it or by feeding cattle on it [.f?V]. 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, 
 
 P. 66, 1. 22, "Lorsqu'ils arriverent," etc. "When they 
 arrived on our frontiers (to the number of some hundreds of thou- 
 sands, although nearly as many more had perished by the extreme 
 fatigue, the hunger, the thirst, and all the other hardships insepa- 
 rable 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 haljitations to be pre- 
 pared 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 proviilc for 
 the subsistence of his wife and children." 
 
 This is from a eulogistic abstract of Kien-lung'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, to- 
 gether with the translation of the imperial narrative itself. The 
 
NOTES. 85 
 
 transcript is again by the French translator of Bergmann, and is 
 again rather inaccurate. — Masson. 
 
 P. 69, 1. 3. lex talionis. The law of retaliation, an eye for an 
 eye, etc. 
 
 P. 69, 1. 4. Lex nee justior, etc. Ovid's Ars Amatoria, Liber 
 I, 655, 656. " Neither is there any juster law than that devisers of 
 murder should perish by their own act." Line 655 reads in the 
 Corpus: neque eiiiin lex aequior ulla. In quoting, De Quincey 
 often relied on his memory. 
 
 P. 69, 1. II. lares. Gods of inferior power at Rome, who pre- 
 sided over houses and families. 
 
 P. 69, 1. 16. Arcadian beauty. Where was the ancient country 
 of Arcadia, and how is the adjective used in literature ? 
 
 P. 70, 1. 22. By the Will of God, etc. 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 Cassars, 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 (keek form of 
 Christianity professed by the Russian Emperor and Church. 
 
 — Masson. 
 
 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 trans- 
 lated form, in 1776, in Vol. I. of the great collection of Mhnoires 
 • concernant les Chinois, published at Paris by the enterprise of the 
 French Jesuit missionaries at Pekin. The most important of them, 
 under the title Mo7iument de la Transmigration des Tourgouths des 
 Bards de la Mer Caspienne dans P Empire de la Chine, occupies 
 twenty-seven pages of the volume, and purports In be a translation 
 of a (Chinese document drawn up by the Emperor Kien-long him- 
 
86 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 self. This Emperor, described by the missionaries as " the best- 
 lettered man in his Empire," had special reasons for so commemo- 
 rating as one of the most interesting events of his reign the sudden 
 self-transference in 1 771 of so large a Tartar liorde 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 1 771, 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 I'artar population which had been astray, and under untit 
 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 cour- 
 age 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 
 
NOTES. 87 
 
 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 SeaJ. . . . 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 oft 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 oft a 
 yoke which was becoming daily more and more insupportable. 
 After having secretly deliberated among themselves, they con- 
 cluded 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 I'oad, with their wives, their chil- 
 dren, 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, 
 1 771], 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 
 
88 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 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 theire. 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 him- 
 self 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 con- 
 quered 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 remem- 
 brance 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 
 
NOTES. 89 
 
 the Eleuths which hrst separated itself from the trunk, those Tor- 
 gouths who had voluntarily expatriated themselves to go and live 
 under a foreign and distant dominion, these same Torgoutlis 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 [65]. 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 [66] as to the miserable condi- 
 tion 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 : — (i) 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 
 
90 REVOLT OF THE TARTARS. 
 
 to his trusted officer Chouliede; aiul his first sight i>f 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 enter- 
 tained, 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 tine 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 lly " is De Quincey's 
 description of the monument. The account given of the aflair by 
 the mandarin Yu-min-tchoung, in his comment on the Emperor's 
 Memoir, is very different. "The year of the arrival of the Tor- 
 gouths," 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 tliis happy day his Majesty 
 had built on the mountain which shelters from the heat (Pi-chou- 
 chan) a vast and magnificent viiao, 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 7niao 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 i6i6 " 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 
 
NOTES. 91 
 
 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. — D. M. 
 
American Literature. 
 
 An Elementary Text- Book for use 
 in High Schools and Colleges. 
 
 By JULIAN HAWTHORNE aad LEONARD LEMMON. 
 
 THE purpose has been to make this book au organic, living struc- 
 ture; to have the authors treated appear to the pupils as living 
 persons; to enable pupils to comprehend not only the nature of 
 the mind-and genius of authors, but also what they tried to accom- 
 plish and how near they came to accomplishing it. An effort is 
 made to keep the pupils reminded, concurrently, of the general his- 
 torical situation during the various literary periods, and how the 
 literature was affected thereby; and of the political or other refer- 
 ences that served to give bias and tone to literary productions. The 
 book does not follow any of the hackneyed methods; it aims to 
 stimulate the pupil's thought rather than tax his memnry. 
 
 It is thought that, upon two fundamental points of its plan, it will 
 fully meet the requiremenls of teachers ; it is rich in material and 
 exercises for the study of literature itself; it is believed that it will be 
 found a safe guide in its literary record and judgments. 
 
 CONTENTS. Introduction : I. Colonial Literature. II. Benjamin Frank- 
 lin. III. The Revolutionary Period. IV. Pioneer Period. Selections. 
 V. Some Statesmen and Historians. VI. Poets of the First Half Century. 
 Select!o?is and Exercises. VII. Religious and Social Reformers. Selec- 
 tions and Exercises. VII. Nalhaniel Hawthorne. IX. From Hawthorne 
 to Bret Harte. Selections and Exercises. X. The Innovators. XI. 
 Writers of To-day : i. Tke Imaginative Group. 2. Analytic Novelists. 
 3. Roniaidic Novelists. 4. Dialect Novelists. 5. Naturalists. 6. Es- 
 sayists and Historiajts. 7. Humorists. 
 
 Cloth. 350 pages. Illustrated. Introduction price, $1.12. 
 
 D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 Study of English Fiction. 
 
 By WILLIAM EDWARD SIMONDS, Ph.D. 
 
 Professor of English Literature, Knox College. 
 
 ENGLISH fiction is eminently worthy of the attention of the stu- 
 dent of literature, and the history of its development is a sub- 
 ject not unsuited to the methods of the class-room. The purpose 
 of this volume is to provide material for a comparative study of our 
 notion in its successive epochs, and for an intelligent estimate of the 
 characteristics and merits of our story-tellers in the various stages of 
 their art. The book is inductive in plan. A Inief historical outline 
 is presented in five introductory chapters which bear the following 
 titles: L Old English Story Tellers. IT. The Romance at the 
 Court of Ehzabeth. III. The Rise of the Novel. IV. The Per- 
 fection of the Novel. V. Tendencies of To-day. VI. Books for 
 Reference and Reading. These chapters are followed by twelve 
 texts illustrative of the different periods described. These selections 
 are: i. Beowulf. II. King Horn. III. Arcadia. IV. Forbonius 
 and Prisceria (entire). V. Doron's Wooing. VI. Shepherds' 
 Wives' Song. VII. Jack Wilton. VIII. Euphuism (from " A 
 Margarite of America"'). IX. Mull Flanders. X. Pamela. XI. 
 Tom Jones. XII. Tristram Shandy. 
 
 F. J. Furnival, The Shakespearian^ Loudon, England: I'm glad you've 
 written on fictii n. It is the greatest power in literature now, and has been the 
 .'east studied scientifically. You've done the right thing. 
 
 R. Q. Moulton, Professor of Literature in English, University of Chicago: 
 You are rendering a great service to literary education in recognizing fiction as a 
 field for inductive treatment. The arrangement of the work will greatly increase 
 its practical usefulness. 
 
 C. F. Richardson, Professor of English, Dartmouth College : The book 
 seems to me an honest and original piece of work, well tl\ought out, and of dis- 
 tinct utility in promoting the comparative study of English fiction. 
 
 Cloth. 240 pages. $1.00. 
 
 D, C. HEATH & CO., Publishers 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
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