a life they will enjoy under the protection of the beneficent laws of Russia.

4. I authorize you and the officers under your command to assure the Christians, in the name of the Government, that those who are occupied in commerce may be allowed, after emigrating into our territory, to settle in the towns, and that they will enjoy there the same rights as the merchants residing there. To the peasants will be assigned sufficient good land: moreover, they will be exempt, during six years, from state taxes, and three years from all provincial imposts.

5. Of the families and villages which express the decided wish to emigrate, lists must be made out according to the accompanying form, in which those families shall be specially mentioned, which, from their utter destitution, are in need of assistance to emigrate. These lists are to be delivered over to me, and in the event of my absence from Azerbijan, to the Commander-in-Chief,* who will remain here.

6. In the districts which our troops will shortly abandon, especially in Maraga and its environs, you must seek to persuade the Armenians to begin to emigrate at once, or at least to make such arrangements as to enable them to follow the troops; for, after the departure of the Russians, they will not only have to endure oppression and insult from the Persians, but they might even be detained altogether under different pretexts.

7. In the chanats of Ormi and Khoi, which, according to

• By obtaining these lists, the Russian diplomatists acquired the means of securing the emigration, because they had only to threaten the unfortunate victims of their arts with exposing their names to the Persian government, to render it dangerous, if not impossible, for them to remain in their native country, after they had been committed to a renunciation of their allegiance to their legitimate Sovereign. According to the late conscription, they must enlist in the Russian army, to serve against their native country. men!-ED.

the convention, remain as a pledge for the payment of one crore and a-half, the Christians must be summoned gradually to emigrate towards the end of May: but you and the functionaries under you will, in this matter, be guided entirely according to circumstances.

8. To those families, or entire villages, which are ready to emigrate, you will have to give letters of security for the march, and letters of protection from imposts, according to the forms herewith annexed.

9. They will have a right to leave, in every village, an agent to superintend the sale of the property belonging to the emigrating Christians, within the term appointed by the treaty. These agents are to be furnished with suitable proofs, drawn up according to the annexed forms, and are moreover to be recommended to the Commissioner residing with Abbas Mirza, or to the diplomatic agent at Tabreez, who will afford these agents all necessary protection and assistance.

10. In order to alleviate the care, and especially to meet the danger of a want of food, the emigrants shall be divided into parties, or as you may find most convenient, in such a manner as that each division shall consist of 150 to 300 families.

11. These divisions are to be conducted into our territories on different routes, in order that the one may not fall in with the other.

12. Each family will be allowed to emigrate by itself; but under these circumstances we can offer no pledge for their safety.

13. You must especially move the Christians to emigrate into the territories of Nakshivan and Erivan, where we are particularly anxious most to increase the population of the Christians. It must, however, be allowed to the inhabitants of the village of Usumtschi, and the three Ar

menian villages in the neighbourhood, to go to Karabaglı, as this province is nearer to them.

14. You will order one of the officers attached to you to accompany each division, and you will ask for this purpose from the Commander-in-Chief such officers as are acquainted with the Armenian language. To each division must also be attached from two to five Cossacks.

15. As soon as in any district a division of emigrants breaks up from their home, either you, or one of your associate officers, will immediately inform the temporary government of Erivan thereof. You have to indicate exactly the number of the families, the family of the superintendent, the spot on the frontier where the division will arrive; the period about which this will take place; what places the emigrants inhabited as their home; whether hot, mountainous, or cold situations; what trades or mode of life they pursued; and with how many cattle they were furnished.

16. For the support of utterly destitute families, and for unexpected expenses, you will receive, from the provisional General Intendant Councillor of State Schukowski, the sum of 25,000 silver roubles, of which, according to your judgment, you will give to each officer sent to a particular district a portion. Nevertheless, the distribution of the support, which must not exceed ten silver roubles* for a family, must each time be accompanied by a receipt from the receiver, attested by the oldest man and the priest of the village to which the poor belong. You will have to give an exact account of the expenditure of this sum, as well as of that which may be spent by the officers under you.

17. Your duties, and those of the functionaries attached to you, with the exception of those who only serve to accom

* About £2.

VOL. IV.NO. XXX.

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pany the single division, will continue until the emigrants shall have arrived within the limits of our province. In order to fix on the spots which are to be assigned to the emigrants, for the furnishing of all possible aid and cooperation in the settlement, a Special Committee will be established, with the Provisional Government of Erivan, under whose guidance each division of the Armenians who have emigrated will be placed immediately on reaching our territories. From this Committee expresses will be sent to each division, who will accompany the wanderers, with the overseer attached to it, to the place of its destination. In Karabagh this will be entrusted to the care of the Superintendent of the district, Abchasow.

18. When you shall have entirely terminated your duties, you will be pleased to send in a detailed report of your proceedings, and especially an account of the sums which will be expended by yourself and your officers.

PASKEWITSCH.

PROCLAMATION OF COLONEL LAZAREW

ΤΟ

THE ARMENIANS.

(In the Armenian Language.)

CHRISTIANS !

Ir has come to my knowledge, that evil disposed persons endeavour not only to spread false and unfounded news, but even to inspire with great alarm those who wish to emigrate to the blessed Russia, thereby attempting to deter you from accomplishing the fond wish of your hearts.

In order to put an end to all this, I hereby declare, as well in virtue of the commission entrusted to me by the General, as on account of the attachment I bear to my countrymen, that the magnanimous autocrat of all the Russias will grant to those who desire to emigrate tranquil, peaceful, and happy dwellings in his extensive empire.

In the districts of Erivan, Nakshivan, and Karabagh, which you will choose for your settlement, you will be furnished with rich and fruitful fields, which are already in part sown; and of the produce of which you will only have to give the tenth to the Government. For six years you will moreover be exempt from all imposts; and those who are very needy shall even be supported.

Those who, after having settled their families, may have left behind them in Persia their fields and other immoveable goods, may, according to the stipulations of the Peace of

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