was apparently freely accorded him, as regards material assistance he must rely on his own resources. Nevertheless, his word was pledged, his prestige, and perhaps his life, were at stake, and hence there followed the war of 1828. Time alone can show how far the parallel will hold good to the end.

CHAPTER I.

THE EARLIER WARS UP TO 1828.

Treaty of Carlowitz in 1699-War of 1709-Treaty of Pruth-Peace of Passarowitch-War of 1735-Siege of Azoph-Details of warContinuance of war in 1738 and 1739-Defeat of Count Wallis at Belgrade-Success of armies of Czarina-Thirty years' peace-War of 1769-Successor of Romanzoff-Continuation of war-Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardgi-War of 1787-Siege of Ismail-Continuation of war-Peace of Jassy-War of 1806-Exploit of Admiral Duckworth-Peace of Tilsit-War of 1810-11-Siege of RustchukDefeat of Turks-Conclusion of peace between Alexander I. and the Porte-Events from peace of 1815 to 1828.

It would be difficult to trace out separately, or even to summarise, all the various wars in which from time to time the Turks have been engaged since they entered Europe. In point of fact they were for centuries more or less at war, which was carried on vigorously or not according to the means they happened to have for waging it. Their neighbours were their enemies, and all Christendom combined against them as against a common foe. Russia did not appear as their separate and definite antagonist until the commencement of the eighteenth century, but since then the contest between these two nations has been continually renewed at short intervals.

About the year 1694 there occurred the last great united alliance against Turkey, in which all the Eastern Powers of Christendom joined; the war lasted more or less for about five years, and was at last brought to a close by a treaty of peace, which was concluded between the Sultan and the Czar, then Peter the Great, in 1699, at Carlowitz; at that time, through the intervention of England, an armistice for thirty years was agreed on between the belligerents, and Turkey, having had the worst of the conflict, ceded Transylvania and Hungary to Austria, and portions of what is now the south of Russia, including Azoph, to Peter the Great.

This may be termed the first serious commencement of the decay and fall of the Turkish empire, as it will be chronicled in the pages of some future Gibbon. Notwithstanding this formal treaty and solemn armistice, we find a few years later, in 1709, another war breaking out between Russia and Turkey. This time the armies of the Czar were defeated, and in the hour of his need Prussia and his other allies deserted him; he had thus to accept the best terms he could get, and to renounce all the advantages he had gained in 1699. In 1711 the treaty of Pruth was signed and matters remained in statu quo until 1720, when we find the Muscovite and Ottoman empires, strange to say, allied together against Persia. In the meantime it may be remarked that the Turks had been engaged in a desperate conflict with the Venetians and Austrians, and had been signally defeated.

In 1711 they besieged Corfu, but were repulsed with loss; in the same year they lost Belgrade, which was then termed the key of the Turkish Empire on the western frontier. Prince Eugene, in command of a large force of Austrians, besieged the fortress and defeated an army of 180,000 men which hastened to its relief. The result was the peace of Passarowitz between the German Empire and the Porte, signed in the following year.

As before stated, in 1720 Russia and Turkey were allied together against Persia; this alliance, however, was not of long duration. Turkey became alarmed by the progress of Russian arms, and was with difficulty restrained by Austria and France from declaring war. In 1722 peace was proclaimed between Russia, Turkey, and Persia, and a convention signed, in which many advantages were conceded to the Czar. This peace likewise did not last long, for in 1735 the Empress Anne, seeing, as she thought, a favourable opportunity for recovering some of the advantages given up by the treaty of Pruth, discovered a pretext for declaring war with the Porte, and induced Austria to join her in hopes of a share in the spoil. This war was of such great duration and of so serious a character that it merits more than a passing notice. The actual and formal rupture between the Porte and Russia did not take place till the spring of 1736, although in the previous year every preparation had been made for war. At first the Emperor of Austria attempted mediation between the Czarina and the Sultan; but finding his efforts vain he

preferred to join the Russians and to aid in the dismemberment of his Mussulman neighbour.

6

The campaign commenced with the siege of Azoph, some details of which are narrated as follows by Sir Edward Cust in his Annals of the Wars': 'Marshal Münnich, who had been appointed to the command of the Russian army, commenced operations in the month of March, having assembled six regiments of infantry, and three of cavalry, together with 3,000 Cossacks of the Don, at St. Anne, about eighty leagues from Azoph. On the 27th Münnich passed the Don and began his march with so much precaution and silence that he arrived near Azoph without having been perceived by the enemy; and he immediately attacked and carried by storm two castles on the river-side without the loss of a single man. On April 3rd, the Russians carried the fort of Lutick with little loss. He now gave over to Count Lacy the care of blockading and taking the town, and left the camp for the grand army that was formed on the Dnieper, where he arrived on the 18th, and found himself at the head of from 50,000 to 54,000 men.

On May 19th, Münnich sent off five detachments, each composed of 400 dragoons and 150 Cossacks; and as the steppe-land was one vast unbroken plain, they had orders to march within sight of each other, so as to unite whenever the force of the opposing army should make it necessary. They had marched only about two leagues when they came up with a body of Nogay Tartars, whom they

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