Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/171

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ASSASSINATION OF GENERAL SEESEEANOFF.
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removed to Tabreez. General Seeseeanoff subsequently marched on Sheeshah, which fortress was made over to him by Ibraheem Khaleel Khan. From there he proceeded to Genja. The governors of Koobeh and Derbend, and of Bakoo, and the chief of the Lesghis, having sent to ask assistance from the Shah, a Persian force was sent to their aid. The Russian squadron had steered from Enzelli to Bakoo, where it was attacked by the guns of the governor, whereupon the Russians landed before the fortress and inflicted severe damage by their artillery. The governor, however, was reinforced by an army from the Lesghi mountains and from Derbend, and the Russian commander was compelled to re-embark and steer for the coast of Taleesh. General Seeseeanoff marched to attack the chief of Sheervan, who professed to yield to his wishes. The Russian commander-in-chief then proceeded to Bakoo, to which place the squadron returned from Taleesh. The crown-prince in the meantime threatened the Russian general with an attack on his rear, from the direction of Ardabeel; and Seeseeanoff, fearing lest he should be hemmed in, proceeded to open a negotiation with the chief of Bakoo for the surrender of that fortress. That chief resolved to meet the Governor-General of the Caucasus with an act of treachery as flagrant as that to the commission of which he was invited. Pretending to listen to his arguments, he sent to the Muscovite camp to inform the General that he wished to have a personal interview with his Excellency for the purpose of settling the precise terms upon which Bakoo was to be given up. Seeseeanoff fell into the snare which the unscrupulous Persian had thus prepared, and whilst he was occupied in conversing with the Khan beneath the walls of Bakoo,