my undertaking, I borrowed three thousand ducats of General Pankratieff, and from other persons I borrowed about two thousand ducats, which I repaid with the money received from your Highness.

On the 20th the Russian troops evacuated Ormi. The families who were still obliged to remain there suffered much oppression from the Persian Government, and made their complaints to me. This circumstance obliged me to despatch the Armenians from the Chanats of Salmas and Choi as expeditiously as possible, that they might not encounter the same persecutions: and thus I hastened the emigration. One division followed another, and the population of the province Azerbijan diminished sensibly. Already had more than five thousand families approached the Araxes, when I received the first report of the provisional province of the Armenian Government, wherein they de-. clared that from utter destitution they were not in a condition to afford to the expected emigrants the necessary assistance; they, therefore, begged me to detain them till harvest. time. Soon after, viz. on the 8th of May, I received orders from your Highness of the 24th of April, the purport of which was that I should persuade the greatest part of the emigrants, and especially the poorest, to go to Karabach, where they would be provided for, to detain others in their homes, and not to allow those to emigrate who had no means of their own. These orders were fulfilled by me in such a manner, that those who expressed a wish to emigrate, but who were, however, poor, received no more assistance in money. On the 9th of May I left the fortress of Dilman, and arrived on the 10th at Choi.

At the same time, Major-General Pankratieff announced to me the determination of your Highness to leave four staff officers, or other trustworthy officers, in the Chanats of Ormi, Salinas, and Choi, for the defence of the Armenians. I immediately announced this favour of your Highness to all

the emigrant Armenians, and to those who would still emigrate; and commanded the Lieutenant-Colonel Prince Argutinski Dolgoruky not to hasten the departure of the remaining divisions of the Armenians; on the contrary, to endeavour to detain them until harvest time.

I immediately afterwards received intelligence from the Chanat of Nakshivan that the Armenians who had arrived remained encamped, and were in want of every necessary of life. I determined to try if I could not lessen their distress by my personal presence there. I left Choi, therefore, on the 17th of May, and came on the 19th to Nakshivan. As soon as I had visited the Armenian camp, I despatched the College Assessor, Hamason, to Erivan; and entreated the Armenian Government of the circle to send the Armenian wanderers to their allotted place, and to afford them help as soon as possible. As there was a want of crown lands in the Chanat of Nakshivan, I endeavoured to persuade many Armenians to settle in the Chanats of Erivan and Karabach. As I saw, however, that the division in the Chanat of Erivan was destitute of all means to make this longer journey, I divided among them two thousand more ducats.

On the 21st I left Nakshivan, and returned on the 22nd to Choi. Fulfilling, as far as possible, the directions of your Highness, I deferred the emigration of many Armenians till the entire withdrawal of the Russian troops. As I saw the end of my labours approaching, I wished to speak of some details in person to your Highness. I, therefore, gave the charge of the divisions of Armenians remaining in their homes to the confidential officer, Prince Argutinski Dolgoruki. I left Choi on the 29th, and took the road to Erivan and Nakshivan. Here I found my last orders, and joined on the 18th of June the division of the army in active service at Kars, which made the campaign against Turkey. After the taking of the fortress Achalzik, your Highness

ordered me to return to Erivan, in order to make a circumstantial report of my labours, and of the employment of the sums delivered to me. In spite of indisposition, I started immediately to fulfil the commands of your Highness; but when I arrived at Teflis I was attacked by a violent illness, from which I have scarcely yet recovered. In the meantime I received the report of Prince Argutinski Dolgoruki. Although the annexed documents did not contain all the accounts and references to enable me to draw up a circumstantial report, I still made out this statement, in order to fulfil your Excellency's orders without delay from the papers and information which I had myself collected. I ordered the Prince to send me, as soon as possible, the rest of his intelligence, which I shall hasten to have the honour of laying before your Excellency.

My labours began on the 26th of February, 1828, and ended on the 11th of June of the same year, when I was obliged, however, to leave one thousand five hundred families who wished to emigrate behind in their homes. During the whole time I received from your Excellency fourteen thousand ducats, and four hundred silver roubles (together about 70007.), and with these means I settled eight thousand two hundred and forty-nine Christian families. The division of the emigrants in the Chanat of Nakshivan received alone more than two thousand ducats. These sums, which were entrusted entirely to my responsibility, I gave over to Captain Derubenka. The extraordinary zeal, punctuality, and method of this officer, deserve your Excellency's particular attention.

From the annexed papers, your Excellency will perceive how many families were established by each of the officers associated with me, and the sums distributed for their support; as also the table money and postage accounts of the officers, and the extraordinary disbursements made according to your Excellency's directions.

Whilst submitting to your Excellency a detailed report of the whole of my proceedings, I venture to add, that whilst you have peopled the newly acquired provinces with more than eight thousand families of an industrious hardworking population, you have opened a new source of riches for the empire. One may anticipate, with certainty, that however great may be the sums which were expended on the emigrants, they will still be very quickly repaid to the Government with a considerable return. Instead of the deserts which are now to be found in the old, extensive Armenia, rich villages, and perhaps even towns, will spring up inhabited by industrious and productive inhabitants devoted to their Monarch.

As I was a witness of the various sacrifices, and the devo tion of the Armenians to the Russian throne, I take the liberty of entreating your Excellency, as the founder of their newly acquired happiness, to extend your particular care towards them, and not to omit to petition His Imperial Majesty that the condition of the wanderers may be alleviated, and that their new habitations may be built in a durable manner, not only for the sake of humanity, as on account of the special advantage of the Empire.

Whilst I state that the execution of the flattering commission entrusted to me by your Excellency makes an epoch in my life, I conceive it to be my duty to add, that I shall esteem myself peculiarly happy if your Excellency will graciously recommend to the favour of His Imperial Majesty the staff officers attached to me for some reward for their unexampled zeal in accomplishing a task often attended with the risk of their lives. I entreat the same in favour of the superior clergy, and those inhabitants who zealously supported me during the emigration; and that some of them may be reinstated in the rights which they so long enjoyed in Persia.

Tefflis, 24th December, 1829.

[The following Despatch was written a very short time after the Cabinet of St. Petersburg had learnt the departure of the British expedition for Portugal, and had felt, as a natural consequence, the sudden prostration of all its influence in the Peninsula.

Those of our readers who watched the astonishing effects produced on the diplomatic body at the different Courts of Europe, by the speech of Mr. Canning, will not be at a loss to understand the altered tone of Russia in the present instructions.

Her object was, by appearing to range herself on the side of England in the Peninsula, to conciliate Mr. Canning, in order the more securely to gain his support in the affairs of Greece; but the tact with which, after sustaining so signal a defeat in Spain, she recovers her ground, and appears to stand forward as the most faithful and disinterested adviser of King Ferdinand, after having for so many years guided his policy to the most destructive ends, is truly admirable. In the Correspondence, inserted in this Number, the reader will perceive that the same intrigues which convulsed the Peninsula in 1826 are about to be reacted in 1836.]