the advance of a force from Tabreez to Tehran; but to have pushed forward the small body of troops at his disposal[1] 400 miles further from his base of operations, would have been a proceeding of so hazardous a nature, that nothing but the assurance of his being unopposed by the Persians could have justified it in the eyes of European tacticians. But in the same way the advance by Prince Aristoff on Tabreez a city of 200,000 warlike inhabitants with only 4,000 men, may be characterized as rash. Rashness is sometimes the most prudent course in war with irresolute Oriental enemies; and it is probable that had General Paskiewitch carried into execution his threat of marching on into the interior of the country, he would have obtained possession of the Persian capital.
The demands of the Russian plenipotentiaries at the conferences which now took place between them and Abbass Meerza at Dehraghan were that, in addition to Erivan and Nakhtchivan, the district of Makoo, on the south of the Araxes, and the province of Taleesh, should be given up to the Czar, together with the enormous sum of fifteen crores of tomans, or nearly 4,000,000£. sterling. The negotiations were protracted from the middle of November, 1827, until the end of the month of February of the following year, owing to the almost insuperable reluctance of the Shah to part with a portion of the treasure which it had been the task of a long reign to amass. Judging of European faith by his experience of the absence of truthfulness in the Persian character, Fetteh Ali Shah did not scruple
- ↑ The Russian force at this time in Tabreez amounted to 15,000 infantry and cavalry with fifty guns.
