army, but by so doing he lost a precious opportunity of following up the advantage he had gained at Abbassabad. Had he crossed the river and marched towards Khoi, where the Shah was then encamped, he would have thrown his majesty into the utmost state of consternation, and might have wrung from his fears an advantageous peace.
The Prince Abbass Meerza was now most desirous that a term should be put to the war, and he accordingly sent a confidential agent to Tiflis who was charged with a letter from the representative of the Indian Government to the Russian commander-in-chief on the subject of a negotiation for peace. In consequence of this step, M. Grebaiodoff, a gentleman whose subsequent melancholy fate made his name to be remembered, was deputed by General Paskiewitch to the Persian camp for the purpose of offering the following conditions of accommodation: namely, that there should be an armistice for five weeks; that Persia should cede to the Emperor in perpetuity all the countries now belonging to her to the south of the Araxes; and that the Shah should pay the sum of 700,000 tomans in compensation for the expenses of the war and the ravages committed by the Persian troops. The prince would not accede to these terms, and, as General Paskiewitch would not grant an armistice on any other basis, the negotiations were broken off, and Abbass Meerza, with the Sirdar Hassan Khan, marched towards Aberan, whilst the other Persian commanders were so placed as best to protect the extensive frontier from Karabagh to Taleesh. The prince and the sirdar now determined to attack the monastery of Etchmiadzeen; but in the neighbourhood of that place
