THE CIRCASSIAN TRIBES AND SCHAMYL. of the Circassian damsels were regularly sold and shipped to Constantinople for purposes which modesty shrinks from 10 great is the number of books which describing-further contributed so much SO great is the number of books which 66 those mountain tribes of the Caucasus who have so long withstood the assaults of successive Russian generals and armies, and so perplexing the variety of opinions and commentaries propounded in these works, that while few persons possess patience and opportunity to peruse them, fewer still, unless habituated to deal with scattered and discordant literary materials, would be enabled to arrive at any definite impressions, amid the great obscure of conflicting and inconsistent description. We have, therefore, considered that we should perform no unacceptable service by condensing the essence of some of the most accredited works which have come under our notice, and placing the result before our readers, accompanied by such comments of our own as may appear calculated to render the narrative intelligible, and to dispel illusion and misconception respecting a people and a leader, whose deeds of daring and valor have secured an imperishable renown. A narrow strip of mountain land, running obliquely and irregularly across the country which intervenes between the Euxine and Caspian, affords shelter, in its inaccessible retreats, to several hardy tribes of warriors and freebooters, who have for ages been the terror of each other and of the neighboring districts. Between tribes, families, and individuals, the doctrine of blood for blood was formerly carried out in its most sanguinary meaning; so that the death of a member of one tribe by the hand of a member of an adjoining one placed all the surviving members in a state of war; murder retaliated by murder was not only the theory but the practice; and while maintaining a running flight of rapine and plunder with their neighbors to the north and south, the Circassian tribes were further engaged in perennial warfare among themselves. It is no wonder if, under these circumstances, combined with the general sterility of the mountain districts, (only partially compensated by the exuberant fertility of isolated spots,) population did not augment rapidly. The hideous slave-trade, so long carried on between the Turks and the Circassians-a traffic in which the fairest to thin the number of the Circassians, that it seems rather matter of surprise that the population nearly approaches 1,000,000, than that it does not far exceed that estimate. Though exhibiting more or less of the same general traits-valiant but treacherrous, hospitable but greedy,. patriotic but still more factious-the characteristics of the western and eastern tribes have been so much modified by position and circumstances, that very great differences exist between the two; and these differences were much wider until the overruling genius of Schamyl suppressed, if it did not destroy, many of the ancient local distinctions. The eastern tribes, toward the Caspian, are probably descendants of the Arabs, who eight hundred years ago converted the country to Mohammedanism by fire and sword, almost extirpating the original inhabitants. The descendants of the conquerors have, through the long vista of subsequent ages, been remarkable for the intensity of their attachment to the doctrines of Islamism. That attachment has been, in fact, a fanaticism of the most fierce and sanguinary kind; and most travelers concur in thinking that among the followers of Mohammed there are no people who would more willingly carry out the motto of "Death to the infidel." Within the last half-century, the ancient Mohammedanism has, under successive "prophets," become modified into a species of mysticism, on which the dreams and superstitions of many oriental nations are ingrafted. The company of Murids, who form a species of body-guard to the prophet, and claim the title of his privileged and special disciples, have on divers occasions proved, by the eagerness with which they have courted death in his service, that their faith in his mission and inspiration is sincere; but some few writers have maintained (in opposition to the majority) that the great mass of the mountaineers, including the priests of the old school, would willingly see an end of the new system of asceticism and mystery. The western Caucasians are a very different people. For almost as many generations as their brethren toward the Caspian have been rigid Mohammedans, those of the western mountains were regarded as “fast and loose" in their notions of religion. At one time they were halfChristianized, in the sense that they had lost all they had ever possessed of Mohammedanism, and afterward became Mohammedanized to the extent of forgetting all that they had heard about Christianity. The close of the last century found them nominal Mohammedans, with no particular regard for any creed or religion whatever. They differed, moreover, from the eastern tribes in the kind of feudalism which prevailed among them, and which has been compared to that of western Europe in the middle ages, though it more nearly resembled that which, until 1745, flourished among the Highland clans of Scotland. The western Circassians were in fact divided into clans; and the clansman was devotedly attached to his chief, sacrificing life, property, and family, at his bidding. The clans were incessantly engaged in wars of pillage, retaliation, and revenge. The villages or aouls were (as they are still) perched on the tops of the steepest and highest hills where existence was possible, and from these Alpine heights the stream of war rushed down, leaving devastation in its track over the plains. There is no record of a period when Circassia enjoyed peace externally and internally. Capital horsemen, (a rare ac- | complishment among mountaineers,) and possessing a strong and hardy breed of horses, they were forever engaged in expeditions against each other, or, in combination, against the Lowland Cossacks, by whom they were dreaded more than ever was Highland riever by cozy Scottish grazing farmer. The sultan was, as our readers no doubt know, long the nominal sovereign of Circassia; but his actual authority was little greater than that which he may be supposed to have wielded in Egypt during Mohammed Ali's life. It was, in fact, nil. The Circassians carried on their wars among themselves and against their neighbors, without awaiting or receiving any opinions from Constantinople. When the Russians pushed their conquests as far as the banks of the Kuban, they found themselves in the neighborhood of the Circassians. Between the designs and ambition of one side and the habits and predilections of the other, collision was inevitable, and | it soon occurred. For upward of seventy years a war has been going on, sometimes languishing, sometimes active, but always marked by the cruelty and intrepidity with which both parties conducted their operations. It would form a very dull chapter, filled with uncouth names, and narratives of barbarous scenes of massacre, plunder, and perfidy, to enter into a detail of the hostilities which have been waged between the Russians and the Circassian tribes for a period of nearly three quarters of a century. The preachings of a celebrated dervish in the first instance aroused to decided action the piety and patriotism of the mountaineers. To him succeeded other holy men, all pretending to inspiration, and all, no doubt, inspired more or less by an earnest fanaticism. Under the Russian general, Yermoloff, great advantages were gained against the Circassians; his government lasted twenty-three years, and he had brought the mountaineers so low that, but for his recall in 1826, it is highly probable that they would have been compelled to succumb. After this, Khasi Mollah, the Circassian leader and prophet, gained many victories; but at length, in 1832, was destroyed by Van Rosen, the Russian general. Khasi Mollah and all his immediate followers were killed, with a single exception. But that exception was a momentous one. It was SCHAMYL, whose body was found pierced by two bullet wounds, and by one wound from a saber. When the victors retired, they left behind what they imagined to be the mutilated corpse of some obscure Circassian. Schamyl, however, recovered ;— how, the world has never known, for secrecy and mystery are part of this remarkable man's character, and are perhaps necessary to the maintenance of his position. The Turkish empire was, at this period, at its lowest stage of debasement, debility, and humiliation. The sultan had, some time before, resigned to Russia his nominal sovereignty over the Caucasus. The Circassians objected to being thus made ove. to an enemy whom they detested, and against whom they had fought gallantly for so many years. They determined to have a sultan of their own. The celebrated Mollah Mohammed consecrated Hameed Beg, as sultan and imaum. But many disorders ensued. Dissensions broke out among the chiefs, a faction of whom set fire to the castle in which Hameed Beg and his followers had taken up their quarters, and the only one who escaped was again Schamyl, and again, too, by some extraordinary chance which has never been explained. Schamyl had before this been distinguished among his fellow-warriors for daring, extraordinary even among the Circassians for austerity of devotion, gravity, and abstemiousness, wisdom in council, and skill, not less than courage, in the field. He was precisely the man to become marked and influențial; to "rule the whirlwind and direct the storm," at a period when less robust spirits craved some strong head and bold heart to lean on. Toward him most men looked, as the one on whom the mantle of inspiration had fallen, and he succeeded to the titles of Hameed Beg. But he had to struggle before he could confirm his power. The Russians, with subtile policy, attempted to create a diversion against the man whom they regarded as their most formidable enemy, by pretending to support a more "legitimate" competitor. Affairs were looking threatening; but Schamyl proved himself equal to them. He confided certain commands to some of his most trustworthy Murids, who solved the difficulty in true Oriental fashion; and Schamyl's enemy was soon removed by assassination. This trouble over, the open struggle recommenced; Schamyl fought bravely, skillfully, desperately, but he was driven to straits, and a convention was agreed on, at which he swore fealty to the Czar on condition that the Russians should retire to a certain distance. Neither party observed, or intended to observe, the promises. The moment Schamyl found himself safe, he issued a fierce proclamation against the Muscovites and their Czar, while the imperial army pushed forward strenuously in its ever-foiled attempt to subdue the country. In one of the expeditions headed by the Russian general, Grabbe, the latter had very nearly accomplished a practical illustration of the vulgar meaning attached to the pronunciation of his name in our English vernacular. The Circassian hero was all but caught, but escaped through the devotion of some of his followers. Schamyl, and a few others, were hiding in a cave by a river side-a party of Russians were approaching-detection was inevitable-when his disciples rushed out of the cave, and seizing a boat, rowed away in ostentatious haste, calculating rightly that the Russians, supposing that Schamyl was on board, would pursue and direct their fire upon them. So it turned out. The pursuers set out in chase after the boat; every one of the devoted Murids was killed, as they had expected; while the prize swam quietly off and regained the mountains. He was now reduced to such extremities as to be forced to treat seriously for terms of submission. But the conditions offered by General Grabbe included the surrender of Schamyl's two sons as hostages; and they were of course refused, the probable object of the Circassian chief being merely to gain time until he could recruit his exhausted forces. Hostilities having recommenced, Grabbe penetrated to the Circassian head-quarters, but had to beat a hasty retreat after sustaining a heavy loss. Prince Woronzow, the present governor, succeeded Grabbe in 1845, and in the following year Schamyl effected his memorable invasion of the Russian territory-when, after doing the enemy infinite damage in loss of life, property, and arms—ravaging the country in every direction, and obtaining a rich booty—he retired with a meteoric rapidity which left the imperial generals in a state of extreme bewilderment as to how to deal with an enemy who was nowhere but everywhere; scarcely to be seen, but most unmistakably and unpleasantly to be felt. From this time, however, the fortunes of Schamyl have not been in the ascendant. He has sometimes been reduced so low as to have appeared on the brink of ruin. But his genius and recuperative energy seem inexhaustible; and now that he is likely to receive, directly and extensively, the aid which hitherto could only be conveyed to him surreptitiously and in insignificant fragments, he will— the past furnishes every reason to hopebe able to deal heavy and effectual blows against the arrogant power which has set itself up as the common enemy of his country and of the peace of the world. At the age of fifty-seven, with mental and physical energies undiminished, he has still, probably, many years of active exertion before him, and an ample field for such exertion seems to be opening. He has, so far, displayed great powers of governmental organization; and one single instance of the influence of a master mind is the success of his efforts in suppressing the old local feuds and distinctions among the mountain tribes, and in inspiring even the somewhat skeptical inhabitants of the western districts with much of the religious enthusiasm of the eastern tribes. Would his government be a theocracy? Possibly, to some extent. To his dreams and visions- -to his periodical annual "retreats" for consultation with his celestial inspirers-he owes much of his predominant sway over the minds of his followers. In some of these particulars, he seems to have closely imitated the example of Mohammed. No doubt, when left to organize his system peaceably in his own way, and to mature his plans for the future, he would see the expediency of laying aside some of the more transcendental portions of his pretensions; for though by no means possessed of so fine an order of mind as the Emir Abd-el Kader, he is a man of keen intelligence, and of unquestionable patriotism. The ancient system of raids and forays would also, beyond all doubt, be discontinued; while, with respect to the " export trade" in women, it may be hoped and believed that in "Young Turkey" regenerated, and in Circassia under the rule of a man of wisdom and experience, that infamy would be at an end forever. Although part of his proclaimed creed has been to hold no faith with infidels, it is evident that this applies only to his dealings with his enemies the Muscovites; and the government of Circassia, organized wisely, and recognized in its sovereign independence, would probably be as faithful and respectable as any other Oriental monarchy. It is well that the Circassians and their able and prudent chief should receive a full meed of admiration for their long and gallant resistance to a gigantic assailant. Russian blood has flowed in torrents in those wild and remote regions; and though a rigid calculation of probabilities leaves it scarcely possible to doubt that, but for the total change which recent events have created in the position of Russia, the mountaineers would, in the course of a few years more, be conquered by sheer process of exhaustion, the wars in the Caucasus would, under any circumstances, occupy a conspicuous page in the annals of resolute struggles against superior force. Of the policy of the Russians it may in truth be said, setting aside the ruthless barbarity with which the war has been conducted, that their principal crime consists in the antecedent crimes which rendered the invasion necessary. It is impossible for them to hold or consolidate their unjustly-acquired territory in the neighborhood, without obtaining possession of the mountain country. The wrong done to the latter is inextricably interwoven with the fraud and violence committed against the former; and the Circassian war is only one link in a prolonged concatenation of injustice. [For the National Magazine.] THE DEAD BABY. BY MRS. H. C. GARDNER. Ан, beautiful one! Thou hast pass'd away like the morning flower, Like the rainbow's blush in the summer shower, And thy smile of love and thy glance of light Have paled like the stars on the brow of night When their course is run. When the sunset glows, Thou wilt steal no more to thy gentle rest, Or, nestling, cling to thy mother's breast, While the angels come in thy dreams to bless With heavenly music or light caress, Thy sweet repose. With the roseate day Thou wilt spring no more, in thy blameless glee, Yet thou, evermore, In the still, still night, When the ether-arch wears its softest hue, And the stars shine out from their haunts of blue, Will the mourners turn in their yearning love From thy little grave to thy home above In the Eden bright. O friends, can ye weep? Where the blight and the mildew may not come, Is the fair young rose in its delicate bloom; O'er the little form that is sleeping near, Doth the guardian love that was round it here, Its vigils keep. Ah, cherub immortal! There is not a shade on thy sinless brow! There is not an ill that can harm thee now! So early thou 'rt call'd to the' kind Father's side, So safely thou 'rt housed where the blessed abide, Beyond the grave's portal! STITCH! STITCH! STITCH! AN ANTI-HOOD VIEW OF THE MATTER. WHO HO has not wept over the Song of the Shirt? Who has not sympathized with the tenant of the garret In poverty, hunger, and dirt until the very names, "needle-work" and "needle-women," become associated with poor half-starved creatures, doomed by their employers to sit in foul atmospheres, chained to their seam by the constantlyplied needle and thread, like galley-slaves to the oar? And yet this continual ringing the changes on Seam, and gusset, and band, is not such a scarecrow to all-is not always so fatal in its consequences; and, though it may be the exception which proves the rule, in an instance we are about to mention, this stitch! stitch! stitch! was preferred-nay, as enthusiastically followed as any branch of high art-as absorbingly as a passion for music, or a love of painting. Annie Linton was the best sewer in Mrs. Roy's school; and the mistress declared, on inspecting the first shirt she made for her father, "that the Duke of Buccleuch himself might wear it!" This was high praise for little Annie, who was only eleven years of age; and she never forgot it. Her work was the neatest and the cleanest ever seen. Then she did it so quickly, her mother could not keep pace with her daily demand for " thing to sew." some Three weeks after: "Annie's learning to be a scholar," said Mrs. Linton; "no more demands for sewing." That afternoon Annie came bounding into the house from school, sat upon her father's knee, opened her work-bag, which hung over her arm, and putting a screwed-up paper into his hand, said; "There's the mowing." Her father undid the paper, and found four half-crowns. "Annie," questioned her father, "where did this come from?" "From the sewing," answered Annie, laughing delightedly at his surprise, as she escaped from his knee, and ran out of the of the riddle. room, to delay a little longer the solution "Wife," said John Linton, "it is impossible that Annie could earn all this by the sort of child's play girls call work; and whom did she earn it from? I'm afraid there's something wrong." And, to tell the truth, Annie Linton was practicing a little disguise; nor had she given her father all the money she had earned. The sum originally was twelve shillings. This was all designed for her father alone; but a prior claim had come in the way. It was cold winter weather, and the children of the school brought the forms, in a sort of square, round Mrs. Roy's fire. Annie, who was a favorite of the mistress, always occupied a warm corner close to her own big chair. On the day in question, Mrs. Roy happening to be out of the room "I'll change seats with you, Jessie Wilson, if you're cold," said Annie, addressing a little girl, a very book-worm, who, clad in a threadbare printed cottongown, sat shivering over her lesson. Jessie, thus invited, came a little nearer. "You should put on a woolen frock, like mine, and warm yourself well at your mother's fire before you come to school these winter-days," said Annie, scrutinizing the poverty-struck appearance of the girl. "Mother says," replied Jessie, "that she'd rather do without a fire than my schooling, and she can't pay for both." "Has your mother no fire at home this cold weather?" asked Annie in amazement. "No," said Jessie; "I wish I dared bring her with me here-it's warmer than at home. And I know mother is ill, though she won't tell me." "Sit there," said Annie, placing Jessie |