Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/271

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
MURDER OP THE RUSSIAN MISSION.
251

that had been spilt. The envoy made every effort to appease the infuriated mob, so long as peaceful measures seemed likely to be attended with success: he even caused his treasure to be thrown amongst the crowd; but this only quickened the desire for plunder, and when the eunuch Yakoob was torn to pieces, the Cossacks of the envoy's guard were ordered to fire upon the murderous rabble. The resistance offered by M. Grebaiodoff and the members of his mission prevented the Persians from entering the room they occupied; but with ill-timed ingenuity it occurred to the assailants to remove a portion of the roof of the apartment, and by throwing down sticks and stones and clods of earth from above, they forced the Russian gentlemen to seek safety in the courtyard, where they were soon overpowered, and despatched by the daggers of the infuriated throng. All that the house contained was then carried off, and on one of the populace crying out that the horses of the Russian Mission were in the stable of the British Legation, a simultaneous rush was directed towards the English palace. The gates withstood the efforts that were made to burst them open; but the cupidity of the mob was not thus to be thwarted, and an entrance to the stableyard was effected from the adjoining house, the wall of which was scaled. It is remarkable that any traces of moderation should at that moment have been discernible in the conduct of the Persian rioters; but they drew a fine distinction between what in their opinion was, and what was not, their lawful prey. Whilst they possessed themselves of all the horses and all the horse-clothing belonging to the Russian Mission, they inflicted not the slightest injury upon a single article of British property.