The possession of the Caucasus is undoubtedly most important to Russia. It enables her to make preparations for a march westward towards Scutari, and another southward in the direction of the Persian Gulf, without considering the possibility of her some day taking a fancy to the Bay of Iskenderoon.
Should Russia ever take possession of Armenia,[6] Persia would be at the mercy of the Tzar. The latter would command the highlands of Asia Minor. He could descend upon the valleys[7] of the Euphrates and Tigris.[8] Syria would be exposed to his attack. We should have to be on our guard lest he might wish to invade Egypt. It is quite true that England could easily defend Syria against all the Tzar's forces—but this would cost money. We should have to increase our military expenditure by several millions a year. This would not be agreeable to the British tax-payer.
People may argue that the Caucasus is far off from the points which I have mentioned; so it is; the Russian frontier town in Asia Minor, Gumri, is more than 1000 miles from Scutari. It is not likely that in one, two, or even three campaigns, the Tzar's troops would be able to reach that town. The policy of the Russian officials is a safe one. They do not attempt to swallow at one time more territory than they can easily digest.
This is what the possession of the Caucasus means to Russia. Should the fortune of war ever enable us once again to place our heel upon the throat of the Muscovite, we must not forget the Circassians. The people ought to be freed to act as a barrier between Russia and the Sultan's eastern dominions.
CHAPTER XI.
The European society in Erzeroum—The Russian Consul an energetic man—How to depopulate a country—Russian passports—Consul Taylor—The intrigues of the Russian Consul—The Armenian upper classes—How corrupt they are—The soldiers in Erzeroum—Discontent—Métallique—The military hospital—Recruits from the South—The head surgeon—The wards—A valuable medicine—A bad habit—Wasting ammunition.
There was not much European society at Erzeroum. It was made up of the English, French, and Russian Consuls and their families; no other European, so far as I could learn, being in the town. The Russian official was an energetic man. A short time previous he had discovered that some Circassians had the intention to leave the Caucasus, and enter Turkey. He had telegraphed the news in cypher to the Russian authorities. Troops had been sent to the Circassian villages. The inhabitants had been caught in the act of packing up their goods and chattels. Very strong measures had been taken. It was not likely that any similar attempt would be made by the inhabitants. There were now hardly any of them left.
An empty house is better than a bad tenant; this seems to be the policy of the Tzar's generals in the Caucasus. It is undoubtedly cheaper to hang a prisoner than to imprison him. The Russian officers have great ideas of economy in this respect. The Russian Consuls at Erzeroum had been engaged for some time past in intriguing with the Armenians. Many Christians belonging to the higher monied classes were in favour of Russian rule—almost all of them being supplied with Russian passports. The traffic in such documents carried on in the Erzeroum district was very great. No large town in Armenia is free from pseudo-Russians. Consul Taylor, writing from Erzeroum to the Earl of Clarendon on March the 19th, 1869, remarks about the Russian Consul, who was then in that city, as follows: "The exaggerated pretensions, overbearing conduct, and ostentatious display of the Russian Consul in his relations with the local authorities, in which it is needless to say other Consuls do not indulge, coupled with the unaccountable servility of the Turkish officials here in their intercourse with him, tend among an ignorant people to give a false value to his particular importance or rather to that of the country he serves—which by still further strengthening their belief (alluding to Armenians) that no other power than Russia is so able or willing to help them—makes them eager to apply to him in their differences, and to acquire DOCUMENTS that to them appear claims to the interference of a foreign power in their behalf. That the INTRIGUING, meddling conduct of the RUSSIAN CONSUL is approved, I may state that although in disfavour with the Embassy at Constantinople, he is SUPPORTED by the AUTHORITIES in the CAUCASUS, to whose diplomatic Chancery at Tiflis, he is directly subordinate. It is the POLICY of the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, and therefore of its AGENTS, to encourage such ideas—as also to exaggerate real existing evils, or trump up imaginary complaints, in order to keep up that CHRONIC DISAFFECTION so suitable to the line of conduct it has always pursued in the limits of Eastern countries."
I now learnt that a very large sum of money had been nominally spent in throwing up some earthworks round Erzeroum. They were said to have cost a million of liras, nobody seemed to know how the money had been spent. I had not as yet visited the fortifications. From what I could gather, the defences were in a very bad state. It was stated that they would be utterly untenable in the event of an attack.
One thing, seemed to be the unanimous opinion of all classes in Erzeroum—with the exception possibly of the Russian Consul, whose acquaintance I did not have the pleasure of making; this was, that should the Armenians ever get the upper hand in Anatolia, their government would be much more corrupt than the actual administration. It was corroborated by the Armenians themselves; the stories which they told me of several of the wealthier and more influential of their fellow-countrymen thoroughly bore out the idea.[9]