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Page 13
Nevertheless, in the face of all these arguments, and
even allowing their weight so far as not at all to deny the
injustice or the impolicy of the imperial ministers, it is
contended by many persons who have reviewed the affair
with a command of all the documents bearing on the case, 15
more especially the letters or minutes of council subsequently
discovered in the handwriting of Zebek-Dorchi,
and the important evidence of the Russian captive, Weseloff,
who was carried off by the Kalmucks in their flight,
that beyond all doubt Oubacha was powerless for any 20
purpose of impeding or even of delaying the revolt. He
himself, indeed, was under religious obligations of the
most terrific solemnity never to flinch from the enterprise
or even to slacken in his zeal; for Zebek-Dorchi, distrusting
the firmness of his resolution under any unusual 25
pressure of alarm or difficulty, had, in the very earliest
stage of the conspiracy, availed himself of the Khan's
well-known superstition, to engage him, by means of previous
concert with the priests and their head, the Lama,
in some dark and mysterious rites of consecration, terminating 30
in oaths under such terrific sanctions as no Kalmuck
would have courage to violate. As far, therefore,
as regarded the personal share of the Khan in what was
to come, Zebek was entirely at his ease; he knew him to
be so deeply pledged by religious terrors to the prosecution
of the conspiracy that no honors within the Czarina's
gift could have possibly shaken his adhesion; and then,
as to threats from the same quarter, he knew him to be
sealed against those fears by others of a gloomier character, 5
and better adapted to his peculiar temperament. For
Oubacha was a brave man, as respected all bodily enemies
or the dangers of human warfare, but was as sensitive and
timid as the most superstitious of old women in
facing the frowns of a priest or under the vague anticipations 10
of ghostly retributions. But had it been otherwise,
and had there been any reason to apprehend an unsteady
demeanor on the part of this prince at the approach
of the critical moment, such were the changes already
effected in the state of their domestic politics amongst 15
the Tartars by the undermining arts of Zebek-Dorchi, and
his ally the Lama, that very little importance would have
attached to that doubt. All power was now effectually
lodged in the hands of Zebek-Dorchi. He was the true
and absolute wielder of the Kalmuck sceptre; all measures 20
of importance were submitted to his discretion, and
nothing was finally resolved but under his dictation.
This result he had brought about, in a year or two, by
means sufficiently simple: first of all, by availing himself
of the prejudice in his favor, so largely diffused amongst 25
the lowest of the Kalmucks, that his own title to the
throne in quality of great-grandson in a direct line from
Ajouka, the most illustrious of all the Kalmuck Khans,
stood upon a better basis than that of Oubacha, who
derived from a collateral branch; secondly, with respect 30
to the sole advantage which Oubacha possessed above
himself in the ratification of his title, by improving this
difference between their situations to the disadvantage
of his competitor, as one who had not scrupled to accept
that triumph from an alien power at the price of his independence,
which he himself (as he would have it understood)
disdained to court; thirdly, by his own talents
and address, coupled with the ferocious energy of his
moral character; fourthly--and perhaps in an equal 5
degree--by the criminal facility and good nature of
Oubacha; finally (which is remarkable enough, as illustrating
the character of the man), by that very new modelling
of the Sarga, or Privy Council, which he had used
as a principal topic of abuse and malicious insinuation 10
against the Russian Government, whilst, in reality, he
first had suggested the alteration to the Empress, and
he chiefly appropriated the political advantages which it
was fitted to yield. For, as he was himself appointed the
chief of the Sargatchi, and as the pensions of the inferior 15
Sargatchi passed through his hands, whilst in effect they
owed their appointments to his nomination, it may be
easily supposed that, whatever power existed in the state
capable of controlling the Khan, being held by the Sarga
under its new organization, and this body being completely 20
under his influence, the final result was to throw
all the functions of the state, whether nominally in the
prince or in the council, substantially into the hands of
this one man; whilst, at the same time, from the strict
league which he maintained with the Lama, all the thunders 25
of the spiritual power were always ready to come in
aid of the magistrate, or to supply his incapacity in cases
which he could not reach.
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