conquests; and it is well known that Field-Marshal Paskevich employed with great success, particularly against the Turks, the Mohammedan regiments he had raised in the conquered provinces. Russia will therefore have no difficulty in composing an auxiliary force from the native tribes of Central Asia, which will give her additional facilities for conquering and retaining, not only Khiva and Bokhara, but all the adjacent countries, and exercising, by that means, a paramount influence over Persia and Afghanistan*.

Before we entirely dismiss the subject of Russian projects upon Central Asia, we shall say a few words about the expedition which, simultaneously with that of Becovich, was sent from Siberia, in order to conquer Yarkund,-a circumstance almost unknown to the European public.

We have already said, that a report sent by the governor of Siberia to Peter the Great about the golden sand, and accompanied by a bag filled with the same, determined that monarch to make the conquest of the new Eldorado. He consequently gave an order to the governor of Siberia to send an expedition of about 2500 men, partly composed of Swedish prisoners, in order to erect a fort on the upper parts of the river Irtysh, and to proceed next spring farther to the south; establishing, in convenient places, redoubts for ensuring an easy communication. The object of the expedition was expressed in the following pious words, contained in the instructions written by Peter himself: "And when God has assisted you to arrive at Yarkund, you will try to take it; and when, "with the assistance of God, you have taken that town, you

*The last European traveller who visited Bokhara is M. Demaison, now professor of the Persian and Turkish languages in the Oriental Institute at St. Petersburg. He left Orenburg towards the end of 1834, and arrived in December of the same year at Bokhara, where he remained till July 1835. M. Demaison travelled under the assumed name of Giaffar, and gave himself out for a Faktor Moollah. His great knowledge of the oriental languages and manners, as well as of the rites of Islamism, enabled him to play his dangerous part so admirably, that he obtained free access to all the mosques and medrusses (i. e. colleges). He had many learned disputations with the moollahs of Bokhara, and made acquaintance with the principal people of that place. No European traveller who has ever visited Central Asia, enjoyed such favourable circumstances for making observations as M. Demaison; and such are the individuals whom the Russian government employs on its missions! The travels of M. Demaison have not yet been published, and will certainly throw a new light on the present condition of Bokhara and many other parts of Central Asia.

"must fortify it, and gather information from the inhabitants "in what manner they obtain gold."

The command of the projected expedition was entrusted to Lieut.-Col. Buchholz, but it was not ready to start from Tobolsk till July 1715. It consisted of about 3000 men, who, as well as a great quantity of stores and ammunition, were embarked on boats, and carried upwards by the Irtysh. Buchholz chose a favourable place in the territory of the Calmooks, who were at that time still independent; and having built a fort, despatched a report to Peter of what he had done, requesting such assistance as might afford him means to encounter the Calmooks, who would resist the invasion of their territory. The report was received by Peter on board of a ship off Copenhagen, in August 1716, and he sent immediate orders to the governor of Siberia to give every possible assistance to the expedition. Meanwhile the Calmooks surrounded the fortress, and attacked it with great vigour; but being repulsed by the superiority of European discipline and arms, they strictly blockaded it. They represented, at the same time, to the Russian commander, that its construction was a breach of the amicable relations which existed between the Calmooks and Russia, offered the garrison a free retreat, and threatened them with destruction in case of refusal. The protestations of the Russians, that they had erected a fort not with any hostile intentions, but only in order to promote trade, were rejected by the Calmooks, who continued to blockade the Russians, until, reduced by disease to 700 men, they left the fortress, and returned to Siberia without being molested by the Calmooks, who, on the contrary, assisted them in various ways. Similar expeditions were tried in the years 1717, 1718 and 1719, the last of which, commanded by General Likhacheff, penetrated beyond the Lake Sayssan Nor, and approached within twelve days' march of the sources of the Irtysh*; but it was obliged to retrace its steps by a superior Calmook force.

*The Irtysh wanders a great way on the plateau of the Calmook country, crosses the great lake Sayssan Nor, and runs 220 miles before it enters the Russian territory, navigable from Sayssan Nor; its breadth varies from 200 to 400 yards. Vide Maltebrun's Geography.

Since that time no attempts have been made to conquer Yarkund, which now belongs to China.

We shall conclude this article with a few observations relating to the Armenian provinces which Russia has acquired from Persia by the treaty of Turkmanschay, and which, by rendering her master of Echmiadzin, the Rome of the Armenians, ensure to her advantages far superior to those she might have gained by the possession of a large tract of land,—we mean the moral power which Russia has obtained over the Armenian population, by placing under her exclusive influence the patriarch or catholicos of Echmiadzin.

After the capture of Leo the Sixth, last monarch of Armenia, by the soldan of Egypt in 1375, that country never recovered its independence; but although the Armenians lost their political existence, they continued to preserve their nationality, displaying everywhere a strong attachment to the religion, language, and literature of their ancestors. In this respect, as well as in their dispersion over the world and their commercial habits, they bear a great resemblance to the Jews. The Armenians are to be found trading over all Persia, Turkey, the ports of the Mediterranean, India, and many parts of Europe.

The relations of the Armenians with Russia date from the middle ages, and many of them came to that country during its subjection to the Mongols, 1240-1470. The czars of Moscow constantly favoured the Armenians; and in the reign of Alexis a formal treaty was concluded, in 1667, with the Armenian company of Julfa. Peter the Great conferred many privileges on such Armenians as would settle in Russia; and those privileges, confirmed and increased by subsequent monarchs, attracted great numbers to that country. They now inhabit the capitals, many towns of the interior, and all the principal places of the Transcaucasian provinces, besides a town exclusively peopled by them, founded in 1781 on the shores of the Sea of Azof, and called New Nakhinchevan.

It would be foreign to our subject to enter into a description of the tenets and rites of the Armenian religion; and we shall only mention, that, like the Greek, it is divided into two churches, of which one acknowledges the supremacy of

the Pope, whilst the other, rejecting the authority of Rome, recognizes as its head the Patriarch of Echmiadzin, who takes the title of the Catholicos of the Armenian churches. This catholicos, on whom all the other Armenian patriarchs depend, and from whom they receive their ordination, is elected by the synod of Echmiadzin, and was confirmed by the shahs of Persia and the sultans of Turkey. Peter the Great in 1724, Catharine I. in 1726, Catharine II. in 1766, and Paul I. in 1798, gave diplomas to the patriarchs of Echmiadzin, confirming their spiritual authority over the Armenian churches of Russia. This was a very natural and lawful proceeding; but in 1800 the Emperor Paul granted to Prince Argootinski a diploma confirming him in the dignity of the patriarch of Echmiadzin, although Russia could not establish any claim to the sovereignty of that see, either de jure or de facto. The Emperor Alexander also gave, and with no better right, a similar confirmation; but since the treaty of Turkmanschay, Russia possesses an undoubted right to the exercise of this power, and she certainly will take good care to turn it to the best advantage; for the great influence which the patriarch of Echmiadzin exercises over all the Armenians dispersed throughout Asia, converts them at once into the most useful agents of Russia.

We now leave our readers to conclude, from all that we have said, whether Russia possesses sufficient materials for establishing her dominion, or at least an extensive influence, over the fairest portions of Asia; and whether our interests in those quarters are exposed to some danger or not; and we more especially recommend these data to our Foreign Minister. He has now the book which we have received, in his own office, to read: let us hope that he will know how to profit by its revelations.

ARTICLE II.

Religious Persecution in Germany.

PRUSSIA, the classical soil of learning, has been made the scene of a very curious controversy. The thesis was the following: "If a Protestant marries a Catholic, and vice versa, what is to be the religion of the child which may spring from such marriage?" The king of Prussia said, "The child shall follow the religion of the father;" and the archbishop of Cologne said, "The children shall all be Catholics." The two antagonists being equally convinced of the indisputable truth of their respective responsa, it was difficult to foresee an end to the controversy, till the archbishop practically decided it in his own favour, by forbidding all priests under his jurisdiction to bestow the blessing of the church upon all couples that would not pledge themselves to bring up the children in the Catholic faith. The king then issued orders to his own priests, commanding a regiment of dragoons and a detachment of artillery, to go to Cologne, to seize the archbishop, and to bring him to Minden. As the king said, so was it done. Two non-commissioned officers received the archbishop at Minden; and the king ordered further, that the archbishop should neither read nor write letters without their passing through the hands of the authorities, and being examined by them; and that no man, clerical or lay, without distinction of rank, should be allowed to see him, unless provided with a ticket from the president, Von Bodelschwing. Thus as the archbishop had no one to speak or write to with respect to the point in dispute, and the censorship, on the other hand, took the same view of the question as the king, it might be supposed that the controversy ended here.

Such, however, was not the case; it was now that the controversy really began. Three of his majesty's ministers, Von Altenstein, Von Kamptz and Von Rochow, sent a long article of four columns, signed with their names, to the official gazette of Berlin; in which it was proved that the king was