which lies to the left of the beautiful lake of the same name, and between it and Erivan. The other two districts in dispute were those of Guni and Balakloo. The lands of Kapan were also made a subject of contention.
Agents were sent from the Governor-General of the Caucasus to Tabreez, and from the Crown-Prince to Tiflis, and on two occasions the points in dispute seemed to be in the way of being satisfactorily settled. On the first, however, the provisional agreement entered into by the Russian chargé d'affaires at Tabreez was not ratified by General Yermeloff at Tiflis, and on the second, the engagement drawn up by the Persian agent at the latter city was not ratified by the Shah. With a view to obtain the royal consent to this treaty, the Russian chargé d'affaires, who by the King's wish resided at the Court of the Crown-Prince, visited the Shah's camp in the summer of 1825, and on his efforts for the above- mentioned end proving unsuccessful, the Government of Georgia occupied with a military force the district of Gokcheh.
This step is said[1] to have convinced the court of Persia that Russia was determined to make use, in the settlement of the frontier question, of the convincing argument that might makes right, and the remonstrances which the Shah at once addressed at Tiflis against this seizure, were met by the reply that Gokcheh would be given up, provided that, on the other hand, the lands of Kapan, to which Russia advanced a claim, were given up by Persia.[2] In the meantime, a very strong feeling against Russia had been arising throughout the
Shah's dominions, which owed its origin to more than
- ↑ Rauzat-es-Sefa.
- ↑ Blackwood's Magazine, vol. xxi.
