the Russian officer who had been sent to treat with him for the cession of Erivan, that he had nothing farther to say to his master. General Seeseeanoff was exasperated at this breach of faith, and he determined to execute a sudden movement which might have the effect of establishing Russian prestige. The Persian army had followed him to the neighbourhood of Erivan, and on the morning of the sixth of Rebbi-es-Sani, 1219,[1] he surprised the Shah's forces in their camp. The Persians were unable to make head against the impetuous attack of the disciplined Russian infantry, and they fled in confusion, notwithstanding all the efforts of the prince to stop them. The Russian general then besieged Erivan and opened a fresh negotiation with Mahomed Khan, the governor. The Persian prince collected the remnants of his army at Derek, forty miles from the field of battle, where he resolved to await the instructions of the Shah. Reinforcements were at once sent to him, and the king prepared to follow in person. On reaching the river Araxes, the Shah, foremost of all, forced his horse into the current, and the brave example of their monarch inspired all ranks to follow his example. On reaching Nakhtchivan the king conceived it to be a good omen that he was met by an officer bearing the heads of several Russians, which, according to the barbarous custom of the Persians, had been severed from the bodies of some soldiers who had fallen in a night attack on the invader's camp. The Shah on joining the crown-prince became convinced that his irregular troops could not successfully encounter disciplined infantry in the open field, and he therefore gave orders for a night attack upon the Russians in their
- ↑ A.D. 1804.
