pickets in the direction of the enemy was neglected by the infatuated Persian commander, and it was only at half-past four o'clock on the morning of the 1st of November, that Captain Christie received permission to take his men to any position he might think proper, whilst Lieutenant Lindsay was peremptorily ordered to bring his guns to the base of the hill-fort, into the ditch and the holes round which eleven of thirteen guns soon fell. At that very hour the Russian troops were in the Persian camp, and, meeting with no resistance, they carried all before them. The Persians on the hill, in their senseless confusion, fired upon their comrades below, and the returning fire from the Russian artillery kindled the thatched roofs of the fort. The flames at once spread, and three hundred men were consumed by fire. Captain Christie was shot through the neck, and as he was seated helpless on the ground, we are told, the Russian commander[1] ordered two men to advance and put him to death. The prince's army was totally annihilated, all his guns were lost, and he himself retreated to Tabreez.
After this defeat a year elapsed, and the opposing forces still remained in arms, ready to resume hostile operations. We may well believe that at that memorable epoch Russia had too much to attend to in Europe to admit of her following up adequately the advantage she had gained in her struggle with Persia. Nevertheless, tried as she was by the invasion of Napoleon, she found means to prosecute her advance along the shore of the Caspian. Lankoran[2] was now the object of her
