A History of Persia/Chapter 4

by Robert Grant Watson

CHAPTER IV.

Relations between the Shahs of Persia and the Czars of Georgia—Interference of Russia in Affairs of the Caucasus—Campaign of Peter the Great in Daghestan—Taking of Bakoo and Derbend—Southern Coast of the Caspian Sea—Early Condition of Georgia—Mingrelia—Intolerance of the Georgians—Tiflis—Expedition of Aga Mahomed into Georgia—Fortress of Erivan—Annexation of Khorassan to Persia—Death of Shahrukh Meerza—Mission to Persia from the French Republic—Murder of Aga Mahomed—His Character.

No sooner did Aga Mahomed Khan find himself absolute master of the Persian empire than he set about the task of re-establishing the relations which had formerly subsisted between the Czars of Georgia and the Shahs of Persia. When the latter were sufficiently powerful, they had always exacted tribute from the former: Abbass the Great received this contribution punctually during the whole of his reign. It consists of a certain number of children of both sexes, who became household slaves.^[1] During the long period that Persia was torn to pieces by domestic wars after the death of Nadir, the sovereign of Georgia was not called upon to acknowledge the suzerainty of any of the chiefs of his Mahomedan neighbours; but, in the meantime, the countries lying between the Caucasus and Persia were fast falling under the ascendancy of another government, whose grasp they found it impossible to shake off. As the rise and spread of the Russian power in Georgia has exercised a permanent influence over the destinies of Persia, it may be useful here to trace the connection between the two countries from its commencement. It was after Russia had finally triumphed over Sweden that the arms of the Czar Peter were, for the first time, turned against Persia.

In the city of Shumakhi, which, at that time, formed part of the Persian empire, a Russian mercantile company was established under the protection of the Shah.^[2] The neighbouring mountaineers surprised and sacked the town, and caused a heavy loss to these Russian subjects.^[3] This occurred during the siege of Ispahan by the Affghans, when Shah Hussein was powerless to render justice, and when Mahmoud, the invader, was in no humour to attend to the reclamations of a sovereign of whom he had, probably, never heard the name. Tahmasp, the son of Hussein, who was sent by his father to endeavour to raise an army at Kasveen, the native seat of the Sefaveeans, besought from thence the armed assistance of the Czar of Russia for ridding Persia of the Affghans. The proposal suited the views of Peter, whose capacious mind was already occupied with the scheme of making the Caspian Sea a Russian lake, and of endeavouring to attract to that country the transport of the commodities sent to Europe from Asia. He had already caused soundings to be made of the Caspian Sea, and charts to be drawn up of its coasts, and in the month of May, 1722, he set out in person for the Shah's dominions, accompanied by the Empress Catherine. They descended the Volga to Astrakan, from which place the Czar moved his army of 40,000 men southwards to Daghestan, partly by land, but chiefly by sea. The chain of the Caucasus terminates to the eastward at a place called Derbend, a word meaning a gate in a pass. It is so named because there existed at that spot a natural opening in which there was a gate in the famous wall which was built from sea to sea to prevent the ingress of the Scythian horsemen. This sea-washed fortress, which lies on the side of a beautiful hill that rises from the shore, might have been defended against all the power of the Czar; but the governor preferred, by a timely submission, to secure the protection of so redoubtable an enemy. Thus ended the first Persian campaign of Peter the Great, who returned in triumph to Moscow.

Mahmoud, the Affghan, fearing lest Shah Hussein should find in Peter a supporter capable of restoring the Shah's fallen power, endeavoured to induce the Ottoman Porte to declare war against Russia. In the last campaign in which the armies of these two nations had been pitted against each other, the advantage had remained with the troops of the Sultan. It was the campaign of the Pruth, in which the army of Peter had only been saved from utter destruction by the tact and coolness of Catherine. Turkey, in turn with Persia, claimed obedience and tribute from the petty kings who ruled the country lying between the Caucasus and the dominions of the two great Mussulman powers, and Mahmoud strove to excite the jealousy of the Porte at the interference of the Czar in the affairs of that region,—an interference which was justified by the expressed desire of Shah Hussein. The Turks saw the armies of Peter already in Daghestan, and, naturally fearing lest they should advance into Georgia, the Porte determined to declare war against Russia. From this design the Turks were, however, diverted by the advice of the ambassadors of Germany and of France. The emperor declared that if Russia were attacked Germany would defend her,^[4] and the French representative pointed out that it was not for the interests of Turkey to encourage a successful rebel such as Mahmoud.

In the meantime the Russian army in Daghestan received reinforcements and prepared to advance to the southward. At the extremity of the peninsula of Absharon, which juts out from the western shore of the Caspian Sea, stands the fortress of Badkooba, or Bakoo, a place celebrated chiefly on account of the everburning fires of naphtha in its vicinity, which attracted the adoration of the fire-worshippers of old, and which are to this day constantly tended by a succession of priests from India. Bakoo yielded to the Russian general Matufkin, and immediately after its capture a treaty was concluded at St. Peters-burg between the Czar Peter and the ambassador of Tahmasp (who acted for himself, as his father Hussein was a captive), by which the former engaged to take up arms for the restoration of the Sefaveeans, on condition of the cession to him in perpetuity by the latter not only of Derbend and Bakoo, which were already in his possession, but also of the three provinces of Gilan, Mazenderan, and Astrabad. This treaty met with the approval both of Tahmasp and the Ottoman Porte,^[5] and until after the death of Peter the southern coast of the Caspian Sea remained nominally in the possession of Russia; the native Khans continuing, however, to rule in their respective states. The Caspian provinces of Persia were restored to that power in the time of Nadir,^[6] and they still remain a portion of the Persian empire; but the idea of Peter the Great of making the Caspian Sea a Russian lake has never been abandoned, and much has been done by his successors towards its realization.^[7] Nadir obtained the submission of the ruler of Georgia, and he not only recovered the whole of the Persian possessions to the west of the Caspian Sea, including Derbend and Bakoo, but he also undertook an expedition against the Lesghis of Daghestan, and made some impression on those hardy and intractable mountaineers. While the eastern portion of the country which lies between the lofty range of the Caucasus and the mountains of Lazistan and Eastern Armenia passed, as we have seen, from the possession of Persia to that of Russia, and as again recovered by the former power, the central and western districts of that portion of the globe remained under the sway of several petty princes, who owned allegiance at different times to one or other of their powerful neighbours. The country extending from the eastern shore of the Black Sea to the borders of Persia on the one hand, and from the frontier of Turkey to the foot of the mountains of Circassia on the other, is one of the very fairest portions of the earth. It contains the famous realms of Ea and the classic Phasis, of which we early read in the voyage of

The wonder'd Argo, which, in vent'rous peece,

First through the Euxine seas bore all the flowr of Greece.

It was divided into several principalities, three of the most considerable of which bore respectively the names of Mingrelia, Imeretia and Georgia. These countries were inhabited by races of people whose rare beauty is proverbial over the world. Their children, who for ages have been brought in large numbers into Persia and into Turkey, have, by their intermarriages with the people of those lands, been the means of changing tribes, at first remarkable for their ugliness, into handsome and pleasing-looking people; and at the present day the Georgians and Mingrelians are to a great extent doing for the Russian nation what their ancestors did for the followers of AlpAlsran and of Timur.

This fair country and its fairer inhabitants were for hundreds of years a prey to all the evils that spring from and follow a system of weak and barbarous government.^[8] There was no security for life or for property, and no check was placed upon conduct which was at variance with the plainest dictates of religion and of humanity. The people of the country were as deficient in every pleasing moral quality, as they were abundantly endowed with physical excellences. They were barbarous,^[9] ignorant, superstitious, debauched and debased, also idle and devoid of good faith.

The country of Mingrelia, the ancient Colchis, was in a great part covered with wood, which spread so fast as to threaten to engross the whole face of the land. Rain fell almost constantly, and in summer the hot sun acting on the moist earth, produced fevers and other diseases, which reduced the number of the population and cut short the duration of the life of man. In order to counteract, in some degree, the evil influence of such a climate, the Mingrelians spent a great portion of their time in taking open air exercise; the nobles occupied themselves chiefly in hunting. There were no towns, nor anything similar, in the country, with the exception of two villages on the sea coast. The houses, which were built on posts driven into the ground, were scattered in twos and threes all over the principality, and in case of civil war or invasion from without, the people retired into one or other of ten castles, placed in the midst of a forest so dense that it could only be penetrated by those who possessed the clue and who were unopposed from within.

Georgia is furnished by nature with everything that can contribute to render a population prosperous and happy. The climate is dry and very cold in winter, and if for a part of the summer the heat is excessive, a refuge from it may be found in the neighbouring mountains. The ground has to be artificially watered; but this element is abundantly supplied by the river Kur, the stream which gave his name to Cyrus, the conqueror of Persia. The earth when watered produces grain in abundance, and excellent fruit of almost every kind. Cattle and game abound in the country, and the river Kur and the Caspian Sea supply fish of fresh water and of the ocean. The vineyards of Khakheti yield the best wine of Asia, and at a price so moderate as to bring it within the reach of the poorest people. Such a country might well excite the cupidity of its powerful neighbours, and accordingly we find it passing under the protection of one of these after another. Shah Ismail of Persia compelled the Czar of Georgia to pay him tribute and to send him hostages. This tribute was continued to his son, Tahmasp; but after his death, the Georgians threw off the Persian yoke:^[10] which, however, was soon again re-established, and was confirmed by Abbass the Great, who marched to Tiflis, and sent the Czar of Georgia a prisoner to

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1. Chardin: Voyage en Perse. Vol. i. p. 332.
2. Histoire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, par Voltaire, p. 510.
3. "Trois cents marchands Russes avaient été assassinés a Chemakha, et le commerce avait éprouvé une perte de 4,000,000 de roubles d'argent."—La Russie dans l’Asie Mineure, p. 83.
4. Histoire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, p. 514.
5. "Les conquêtes (de Pierre) sont reconnues de la Perse et de la Turquie par les traités de 1723 et de 1724."—La Russie dans l'Asie Mineure, p. 85.
   "Pierre-le-Grand a reconnu que la difficulté de 1'occupation serait aussi grande, à cause de la perfidie du climat et du défaut de communications, que les victoires avaient été promptes et peu disputées. Aussi se borne-t-il à jeter des garnisons dans quelques places fortes; I'administration du pays est conservée, les différens Khans restent souverains dans leurs états. Sa sollicitude est seulement eveillee par la situation de la Géorgie qu'il veut soustraire défmitivement au joug Turc. ... Ses successeurs, justement effrayés par la consommation d'hommes qu'entraiînait 1'occupation, évacuèrent successivement les pays conquis."—La Russie dans l’Asie Mineure, p. 85.
   "La Russie, par les traités de Rechte et de Gandja (1732 et 1735), retrograda d'abord jusqu'à Baku, et ensuite se retira derrière la ligne du Térék."—La Russie dans l’Asie Mineure, p. 86.
6. "A treaty to this effect was concluded in the year 1735. Mazenderan and Astrabad had been already restored to Persia by a treaty concluded at Resht." [The Treaty of Resht was made in the year 1732.] Blackwood's Magazine. Vol. xxi.
7. "Dominer donc la mer Caspienne, c'était ouvrir à la Russie le commerce de toutes ses côtes, et rétablir, à son profit, cette ancienne route commerciale de l’Inde, que nous avons vue exploitée tour à tour par les Grecs et les Remains."—La Russie dans l’Asie Mineure, p. 82.

   "IX. Approcher le plus près possible de Constantinople et des Indes. Celui qui y regnera sera le vrai souverain du monde. En conséquence, susciter des guerres continuelles, tantôt au Turc tantôt à la Perse; établir des chantiers sur la mer Noire, s'emparer peu à peu de cette mer, ainsi que de la Baltique, ce qui est un double point nécessaire à la réussite du projet; hâter la décadence de la Perse; pénétrer jusqu'au golfe Persique; rétablir, si c'est possible, par la Syrie, l'ancien commerce du Levant, et avancer jusqu'aux Indes, qui sont l'entrepôt du monde."—Extract from the document known as the Political Testament of Peter the Great, Czar of Russia.

8. "Les gentilshommes du pays ont pouvoir sur la vie et sur les biens de leurs sujets, ils en font ce qu'ils veulent. Ils les prennent, soit femme, soit enfant. Ils les vendent, ou ils en font autre chose, comme il leur plait." Voyage du, Chevalier Chardin. Vol. i. p. 172.

   "Quand les seigneurs sont eux-mêmes en differend, la force en decide: celui qui est le plus fort gagne la cause. Voici comment ils s'y prennent: ils fondent à main armée sur les bestiaux de leur ennemi, sur ses vassaux, sur ses maisons, sur ses terres, pillant, brûlant, abattant tout; et enfin, lorsqu'ils ne savent plus à quoi s'en prendre, ils arrachent les vignes, les mûriers et les arbres aussi utiles; que si les parties viennent à se rencontrer durant ces actes d'hostilités, ils se combattent d'une maniére sanglante. Le plus foible et le plus maltraité ne manque jamais de recourir au prince, qui sans cela ne prendrait point connoissance de la querelle."—Idem. Vol. i. p. 174.

   "La Mingrélie est aujourd'hui fort peu peuplée, elle n'a pas plus de vingt mille habitans. Il n'y a trente ans qu'elle en avait quatre vingt mille. La cause de cette diminution vient de ses guerres avec ses voisins, et de la quantité de gens de tout sexe, que les gentilshommes ont vendus ces dernières années. Depuis longtemps on a tiré tous les ans, par achat ou par troc, douze mille personnes de Mingrelie."—Idem. Vol. i. p. 183. "C'est une chose qui n'est pas croyable que l'inhumanité des Mingréliens, et cette cruauté denaturée qu'ils ont tous pour leurs compatriotes, et que quelques uns ont pour leur propre sang. Ils ne cherchent que l'occasion de s'emporter centre leurs vassaux, pour avoir quelque prétexte de les vendre avec leurs femmes et leurs enfans. Ils enlèvent les enfans de leurs voisins et en font la même chose; ils vendent même leurs propres enfans, leurs femmes et leurs mères, et cela non par provocation ou motif de vengeance, mais uniquement par l'impulsion de leur naturel dépravé. On m'a montré plusieurs gentilshommes qui ont été dénaturés jusqu'à ce point. Un d'eux vendit un jour douze prêtres . . Ce gentilhomme devint amoureux d'une demoiselle; il résolut de l'épouser, quoiqu'il eut déjà une femme. . . Le gentilhomme ne savoit où prendre ce qu'il avait promis pour obtenir sa maîtresse, et ce qui lui fallait pour la noce, qu'en vendant des gens. Ses sujets qui apprirent son dessein, s'enfuirent et emmenèrent leurs femmes et leurs enfans. Reduit au désespoir, il s'avisa de cette perfidie tout à fait outrée. Il invita douze prêtres à venir chez lui dire une messe solennelle et faire un sacrifice. Les prêtres y allèrent bonnement. Ils n'avaient garde de penser qu'on les voulût vendre aux Turcs, ne s'étant jamais rien vu pareil en Mingrélie. Le gentilhomme les reçut bien, leurs fit dire la messe, leur fit immoler un bœuf, et les en traita ensuite. Quand il les eut bien fait boire, il les fit prendre par ses gens, les fit enchainer, leurs fit raser la tête et le visage, et la nuit suivante il les mena à un vaisseau Turc, où il les vendit pour des meubles et des hardes; mais ce qu'il en tira ne suffisant pas encore pour payer sa maîtresse et pour faire sa noce, ce tigre prit sa femme et l'alla vendre au même vaisseau."—Idem, p. 184. "Lorsque je passai à Akalziké, on disait que les Turcs voulaient se mettre en possession de ces pays là et y mettre un pacha, ne sachant point d'autre moyen de rémedier aux guerres continuelles qui les detruisent et les dépeuplent notablement."—Idem, p. 330. "Les Géorgiens ont naturellement beaucoup d'esprit; l’on en ferait des gens savans et de grands maîtres si on les élevait dans les sciences et dans les arts; mais l'éducation qu'on leur donne étant fort méchante, et n'ayant que de mauvais exemples, ils deviennent trés ignorants et tres vicieux. Ils sont fourbes, fripons, perfides, traîtres, ingrats, superbes.... Ils sont irréconciliables dans leurs haînes et ils ne pardonnent jamais.... Les gens d'église, comme les autres, s'enivrent et tiennent chez eux de belles esclaves, dont ils font des concubines. Personne n'en est scandalisé, parceque la coutume en est générale et même autorisée."—Idem. Vol. ii. p. 41.

9. "Elles (the women of Mingrelia) sont civiles, pleines de cérémonies et de complimens, mais du reste, les plus méchantes femmes de la terre; fiéres, superbes, perfides, fourbes, cruelles, impudiques. II n'y a point de méchanceté qu'elles ne mettent pas en ceuvre pour se faire des amans, pour les conserver et pour les perdre.   "Les hommes ont toutes ces mauvaises qualités encore plus que les femmes. II n'y a point de malignité à quoi leur esprit ne se porte; ils sont tous élevés au larcin; ils 1'étudient, ils en font leur emploi, leur plaisir, et leur honneur. Ils content avec une satisfaction extrême les vols qu'ils ont faits; ils en sont loués; ils en tirent leur plus grande gloire. L'assassinat, le meurtre, le mensonge, c'est ce qu'ils appellent les belles actions. Le concubinage, 1'adultére, la bigamie, l'inceste, et semblables vices, sont des vertus, en Mingrélie. L'on s'y enlève les femmes les uns aux autres. On y prend sans scrupule en mariage, sa tante, sa nièce, la sœur de sa femme. Qui veut avoir deux femmes à la fois, les épouse; beaucoup de gens en épousent trois. Chacun entretient autant de concubines qu'il veut; les femmes et les maris sont réciproquement fort commodes là dessus. Il y a entre eux trés peu de jalousie. Quand un homme prend sa femme sur le fait avec son galant, il a droit de la contraindre à payer un cochon, et d'ordinaire il ne prend pas d'autre vengeance. Le cochon se mange entr'eux trois. Ce qui est surpreiiant, est que cette méchante nation soutient que c'est bien fait d'avoir plusieurs femmes et plusieurs concubines, parcequ'on engendre, disent-ils, beaucoup d'enfans qu'on vend argent comptant, ou qu'on échange pour les hardes et pour les vivres. Cela n'est rien toutefois au prix d'un sentiment tout á fait inhumain qu'ils ont, que c'est charité de tuer les enfans nouveaux nés, quand on n'a pas le moyen ou la commodité de les nourrir, et ceux qui sont malades quand on ne les saurait guérir."—Voyage du Chevalier Chardin. Vol. i. p. 170.

   "Les Mingréliens et leurs voisins sont de très grands ivrognes." Idem, p. 179.

   "Ces peuples sont paresseux et lâches au-delà de I'imagination." Idem. Vol. i. p. 160.

   "Presque tous les Mingréliens, hommes et femmes, même les plus grands et les plus riches, n'ont jamais qu'une chemise et qu'un caleçon à la fois. Cela leur dure au moins un an. Pendant ce temps, ils ne les lavent que trois fois."—Idem, p. 177.

   "Je m'arrête aussi longtemps à la peinture des avantages physiques des Géorgiens et de leurs princes, parcequ'il n'y a malheureusement pas grand éloge à faire de leurs avantages intellectuels."—Les Peuples du Caucase. Par J. Bodenstedt.

   "Sono anchè, a dire il vero, le più belle donne di tutta l'Asia; sono le Giorgiane gigantesse di statura: hanno quasi tutte capelli neri e occhi pur neri, grandi e belli; carnagion bianca, e coloritissima, mercè, come io credo, il liquor di Bacco, che a loro è molto familiare."—Viaggi di Pietro dell valle. Vol. ii. p. 15. Roman edition.

10. Chardin. Vol. ii. p. 49.