A Truthful History

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PRINCE ERISTOV'S ATTACK UPON TABRIZ

When Abbas Mirza stopped at Evoghli near Khoy, he learned thatPrince Eristov had passed by Abasabad and was heading across Marand towards Tabriz. This was the Commander-in-Chief's order. So the prince [Abbas Mirza] made forMarand, stopped at Harzand, to attract [Eristov's] attention. The prince arrived atHarzand with his guard and found out that Prince Paskevich had already left it appointingsoldiers to defend it. Again [Abbas Mirza] was back to Evoghli. Meanwhile, therumors reached to them that the Commander-in-Chief had completed his engagement inSardarabad and Erevan and set out for Khoy.

One evening a cloud of dust was seen from the other side of the Arax. The alarmed Qizilbash soldiers thought that it was risen by the Commander-in-Chief'sarmy, which had crossed the river and was riding in their direction. All of them tooktheir belongings and took to flight towards Khoy. When the scouts found out that it wasthe dust raised by a flock, which had come to the river to drink, (147a) Abbas Mirzawas upset. He said, "Its stupid enough to war against Russians with an army, thattakes to flight scared from the dust raised by a flock".

Then he added: "I'm one of the most unfortunate kings, because every king had an enemy equal to him and could either win a victory or escape andsave his life. But my enemy is not equal to me. It's a powerful rival like theRussians. I can neither overcome nor escape from it".

Afterwards, [Abbas Mirza] hurried to Tabriz through Guney andTasudj to get there before the Russians' arrival. He aimed at starting peacefulnegotiations with them. However, before he arrived at a manzel distance fromTabriz, he was informed that Prince Eristov had entered the town accompanied by NazarAli Khan of Marand's sons. The detailed account of the events is as follows: Prince Eristov, by order of Paskevich was assigned to take the troops, cross the Arax andmarch to Tabriz. Thus, Prince Eristov crossed the Arax with the troops being at hisdisposal and came to Marand. There the sons of Nazar Ali Khan of Marand, who grievedfor their father's suffocation, had stepped aside from Abbas Mirza and soughtan opportunity to avenge, rendered obedience and swore loyalty to the Prince [Eristov]. The Prince, on his behalf, reassured and quietened them. A few days later they incited andpersuaded the prince to move to Tabriz. So, (147b) after some preparations H. Ex. PrinceEristov moved from Marand towards Tabriz guided and led by them.

As soon as Russian troops arrived at the neighborhood of Tabriz, itspeople opened the gates. They, with the keys of the gates and some bread and salt, anevidence of their obedience, welcomed the Prince's arrival accompanied by high-rankofficials, noblemen, Fath Ali beglarbeg and Aqa Mir Fateh mojtahed. Still, before they met the prince a cannon fired from the gate. The Prince thought thatthey had the intention to fight, but soon he was explained that it was a fire ofsalutation. Thus, everybody was honored with the prince's reception, and the latterwas taken to town with great respect.

On hearing of the unfortunate events, Abbas Mirza heldconsultation with his retainers and khans in the same night, where he expressed fears:

- I can't go to my father and brothers any more. To expectareas from their districts is worse than death for me. I'd rather go and kneel beforethe Russian Emperor. He is powerful and gracious. There are many kings and princes underhis rule. Sure, he will consider me one of them or his generals and will give a piece ofbread, so that I could stay in peace.

Therefore, he decided to go to the Russian Emperor with five hundredpersons of his men. In the same night he wrote a letter about the matter and hisintentions, sent it with Bejan Khan sanduqdar to H. Ex. Commander-in-ChiefPaskevich, who had stopped at Marand with his army. The Commander-in-Chief wrote inanswer: "Let's put this problem aside now (148a) until I arrive in Tabriz thesedays. We can have a meeting there and decide what to do".

Abbas Mirza ashamed and having lost the majority of his subjectsand troops, left for Dehkharqan with a few of them.

The Commander-in-Chief Paskevich arrived in Tabriz through Salmas andMaraqa, and was engaged in settling the affairs in the district. Every governor andofficial was given a suitable job, rank, and, thus, calmed down. Some of the generals weresent to occupy the important towns. Major General Laptev (Lafetovin) took Urmia, MajorGeneral Pankratev (Banqrativ) captured the town of Maraqa and Lieutenant General CountSukhtelen (Sukhdelin)- Ardebil.

Soon afterwards, [Paskevich] and Abbas Mirza met at Dehkharqanand started their negotiations. H. Ex. Commander-in-Chief made efforts to exalt him[Abbas Mirza] and treat him with respect, not ignoring a detail of esteem. Negotiations lasted for a time, consolidating friendly ties and peaceful relations betweenthem. The Commander spoke of the damages to be paid [by the Qizilbashs]. At first FathAli Shah drag out and refused to agree. Some time later the Commander-in-Chiefentered Tabriz while Abbas Mirza returned to his districts. Still, friendlyrelations between them were strong and the Commander-in-Chief was sure that the cause ofall the controversies and disagreements was H. M. Shah. Apart from His Royal Majestynobody could hinder and disregard the peace treaty. Therefore, the Commander-in-Chiefdecided to fight once more and issued an order (148b) to every district to prepare for aninvasion of Tehran and Araq. [He] spread a rumor that he would march on Tehran and capturethe capital. At the meantime, Abbas Mirza informed his father that soon theCommander-in-Chief Paskevich's visit would be like a sudden disaster. Just then FathAli Shah was forced to sign the peace treaty. The rival sides met at Turkoman-chay, carried on the negotiations and consolidated peace and friendly ties. The rivals gaveguarantees and concluded a treaty. It was arranged to consider the Arax River as boundaryof the two states. Iran was claimed seven korurs' damages, a sum of money (one korur was equal to five hundred thousand toman-e Babakhani, one toman was less than four units of Russian currency, it was thirteen million). They signed apeace treaty of several paragraphs. The district of Khoy was left as a deposit until thewhole damage was paid. This peace was signed in February of 1828/1244, and after receivingthe rest of the indemnity, the town Dar-al-Safa of Khoy was given to the governmentof Iran. H. Ex. General Count Paskevich Erevani took his army and made for Dar-al-Sorur Tiflis.

The description of some events, which happened before or after thepeace treaty, would be given in the other book dedicated to the history of Daghestan, because most of the events took place there and, hence, there was no fight withQizilbashs.

May God be our guardian and help!

Abbreviated Titles

M. M. Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran of Erevan.
A. C. M Archive of the Catholicosate of Matenadaran.
AKAK Berzhe, A. p. et al., eds. Akty sobrannye Kavkazskoiu
Arkheograficheskoiu Kommissieiu
. (Acts Collected by the
Caucasian Archeographic Commission).
12 vols. Tiflis 1866-1904.
P. B. H. Patma-banasirakan handes (Historical-Philological Quarterly).

Erevan, 1958-1999.