more philanthropic, power in Asia, namely, free and independent England? "The Armenians," says an English Journal in India, according to the words of an Armenian priest, Isaac Calar, "the Armenians hate the Russians more than the Mussulmans, and it is the universal wish of the Christian inhabitants of Armenia that England should take them under her beneficent protection."

"The Russians," according to the same priest, "in the last war, during the struggle with Abbas Mirza, had proposed to the Christian Armenians to emigrate from Persia and to settle themselves on the left side of the Caspian Sea. The Armenians were forced to emigrate in the rear of the Russian army, and they were promised remuneration for every thing they had left, for their houses, fields, and their moveable goods. The poor Armenians, hereupon, abandoned house and home, and were quartered in the towns on the western bank of the Caspian Sea, until appropriate settlements could be found for them. In vain they tarried here for two years; nothing was done for them. The hapless wanderers were obliged, after this period had elapsed, to return again to their homes in Persia, where they found their houses pillaged and their fields converted into deserts."

Colonel Lazarew, who superintended the emigration, is a descendant of the family of Lazarew, which is highly esteemed by the whole Armenian nation. It is to this family that the Armenian people are indebted for one of the first and most efficient institutions for education in order to spread European civilization amongst the ignorant inhabitants of Armenia who have so long grown wild under the rule of the Persians and Turks. The episcopal college at Calcutta, the institution for education of St. Lazarus at Venice, and the Armenian institution for Oriental languages at Moscow, may be considered as the three high schools of learning for the Armenian nation. The Armenian institution at Moscow

was founded by the Councillor of State, John Lazarew, his brother Joachim and their heirs, in the year 1816. Its existence is secured for ever by a capital, invested in a bank, by many buildings and other necessary establishments. It received its appellation in the year 1828, from the commission established by a special order of the emperor for regulating the public institutions for education.

Next to the general object of the education of youth and of forming pupils for the civil and military service, this institution has also in view-inasmuch as here in the Oriental languages practical instruction is united with a theoretical instruction to form, first, interpreters for Russia who may be enabled to render her important services in her political and commercial relations with the powers of Asia. Second, to form teachers and priests for the schools and churches established in Russia. This object is, indeed, already in a great measure attained; a considerable number of pupils, after finishing their course of studies in the institute, have gone to the university of Moscow, where they have received various academic degrees. Some have devoted themselves to the military service; others have entered the civil service, and have become the ornaments of the Armenian schools in which they have been appointed teachers. Since the foundation of the institution until the the beginning of the year 1831, three hundred and nine pupils have left it, who, we are assured, have for the most part answered the expectations of the founders, as well by their good conduct as by their exertions to spread more and more amongst their countrymen those useful acquirements which they themselves had been able to attain by the care of the founders of the institution.

Like many other establishments for education in the Russian Empire, this institution has also been placed, since the year 1802, under the ministry of public instruction; but

General Benkendorf was appointed by the Emperor Nicholas the immediate chief of it. The duties of Curator are performed by the eldest member of the family of Lazarew; at present by the Councillor of State and Chevalier John von Lazarew; his brother the councillor and Chevalier Christopher Lazarew has assumed the post of director. The number of the teachers now amounts to two-and-twenty. They are all of them either immediately attached to the university or to other public institutions at Moscow. The care of the pupils is entrusted to many overseers from various countries.

The number of the pupils, as well Armenians as Russians, who are received gratis, amounts at present to forty-six. The selection and acceptance depends on the Curator. The remaining pupils are partly boarders, who pay annually seven hundred and fifty roubles, partly half boarders, who are received in the institution for four hundred and fifty roubles, and, finally, such young people as come there merely for education, and for whom the terms are fixed at two hundred and fifty roubles. In order to be received into the institution, the pupils must have passed their tenth year, and be able to read and write Russian at least. The plan, according to which the Oriental languages are here taught, was drawn up by Privy Councillor von Storch and the celebrated orientalist, Frähn. The institution, moreover, possesses a printing press with Oriental and European types, in which all the school books necessary for the establishment are printed; we have received many works of this kind printed at Moscow in the Lazarewish Institution for Oriental languages. It is to be hoped that soon some of the greater and more important works of the historians of Armenia, which are not yet printed, such as those of Mathaus of Edessa and Wartan, may be published by the exertions of the noble patrons and founders of the institution.

INSTRUCTIONS

OF

GENERAL PASKEWITCH ERIVANSKI TO COLONEL

LAZAREW;

FEBRUARY 26, 1828;

Respecting the Superintendance of the Emigration of the Christian Inhabitants from the Persian Province of Azerbijan into the newly acquired Russian Territories of Nakshivan and Erivan.

You are aware that almost all the Armenians residing in the different chanates of Azerbijan, and all the Greeks in the neighbourhood of the town of Ormi, a short time after our troops had occupied Tabreez, proclaimed their willingness to emigrate; that they therefore, during my stay at Deichagan, sent thither deputies, in order to receive permission to this effect. In order to confirm them in this proposal, the Bishop Stephen, and the Archimandrite Nikolai, were sent by the Armenian Archbishop Nerses, who received from me orders to all the military authorities to assist them in this affair in every possible manner. Up to this hour, however, we have not heard whether they have made any progress in their undertaking or not; or, indeed, any thing about them.

One may conclude, that the severe cold, and perhaps, also, the hope that the whole of Azerbijan would belong to us for ever, may have caused the Christians dwelling there to make no preparations for emigrating. But now that it is known that our troops, according to the treaty of peace,

must soon evacuate Azerbijan, with the exception of Khoi, Ormi, and Maraga, which remain in our hands as a pledge for the payment of one crore and a half of the eight crores now owing to us from the Persian Government; and, as on the approach of spring, the emigration is attended with no peculiar difficulties, there can be no doubt that the greater part of the Christians will leave Azerbijan. In order, therefore, that this emigration may take place, and that the Christians may suffer, on this occasion, no oppression from the Persians, and that they may finally receive the requisite assistance in all cases of difficulty, I have drawn up particular fixed instructions, and I commission you to be guided according to them, and to act as follows:

1. You are to select, as your associates in the fulfilment of this service, two promising officers of the staff, and some officers of high rank, whom you will present to me for my approval. You are to send them, without delay, to the districts most inhabited by Armenians and Christians of other sects; but first, to the district of Maraga, whence our troops will not withdraw later than the 8th of May, in order to require from the General Pankratief, who commands there, and to whom you will show these instructions, the necessary assistance, and a company of Cossacks, with an officer of superior rank; I shall issue special instructions for this purpose to General Pankratief.

2. On your arrival at your destination, you and the officers attached to you are required to ascertain the real opinions of the Christians, and to convince yourself whether, in reality, they wish to emigrate into our territories.

3. The emigration must not be effected by special compulsory measures; the arts of persuasion must alone be employed. You must represent to them the advantage which they will derive as subjects of a Christian prince, the most powerful monarch in Europe, and how peaceful and happy