Charles Gordon, 11th Marquess of Huntly (1847 – 1937) was a Scottish Liberal politician. In 1870 he was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in the first administration of Prime Minister William Gladstone, and later served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms in Gladstone's second administration. Huntly was also Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen between 1890 and 1896.
The Marquess of Huntly traveled through the Ottoman Empire in the summer of 1880, just two years after the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-1878. In mid-July 1880, he crossed the Black Sea to visit the Crimean peninsula in the Russian Empire and then sailed to Batumi in Georgia.
WHEN the Treaty of Berlin was being framed, people were startled to hear of Batoum, that it was to be ceded to Russia, but made a free port; a triumph of Lord Beaconsfield's [British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli] policy! Curiosity to see the place took us thither, over 300 miles nearly due south from Theodosia. We shipped in the S.S. Poushkin, a splendid new vessel, with marble-sided saloons and beautiful fittings, built at Newcastle for the Russian Company, leaving Theodosia at 7.30 in the morning, arriving at our destination at 4 p.m. the next day.
In the south-easternmost corner of the Black Sea, on a projecting tongue of low land, formed perhaps by debris from the River Tchoruk, which flows into the sea a few miles to the southward, is the little town of Batoum. The land stretches towards the north-east from the foot of hills a mile distant. It suddenly terminates, and the bay dips round to the east till the cliffs are reached. The entrance round the head of the point is easy; the water is deep close into the shore. The largest ships can enter in all weathers and at all seasons; an important matter, as nearly all the Euxine ports except this one and Sevastopol are closed by ice in winter. The westerly gales are the only ones feared on this coast, and from them the harbour is completely protected. The anchorage is good, and ships can lie within a cable's length of the shore. But Lord Beaconsfield was right when he said there was room for only a limited number of ships. By dredging the bay on the south-east side, however, equally good harbour accommodation to an unlimited extent can be got, and a channel inland could be made for docks by the natural cut of an old river bed with great ease, and at little cost. The orders sent to the Russian forces in the district just before the peace, were to take Batoum at all hazards. Three days before the
conclusion of the war, the attempt was made, but failed. Three thousand five hundred Russians were buried opposite to the point (visible a few miles up the coast) after that assault, and although the numbers have never transpired, it is said thirty thousand perished altogether in the various attacks on Batoum. Through a river of blood, backed by admirable diplomacy, they have gained the only port the only position worth having, on this side of the Black Sea. What will they do with it ?
The first act, of course, with the Russians has been to arm it. A large fort commanding the entrance at the point of the headland, which was made for the Turks by French engineers in 1863, has been put into thorough order, only requiring guns (ready at the artillery stores just outside the cordon, not a mile away) to be placed in position. The barracks inside the fort are filled with soldiers; the hills, commanding completely the harbour and town, are being entrenched with parks of artillery; a railway to join the line from Batoum to Poti and Tiflis is nearly finished; and large quantities of military stores are collected at a depot a few miles up the coast.
The town itself is situated on a dry shingly beach. Between it and the hills is a dull, dreary swamp; and the flat inside the cordon, which is marked by a track circling the foot of the hills, contains about a thousand acres. Everything is allowed free into the town; but what a difference on going out ! The minutest inspection of baggage is insisted upon at the port, or in passing the cordon, and very heavy dues are charged. The fact is Batoum is nothing more than a large "bonded store," and the practical usefulness of its "free port" is of no account. When the natives first heard of the free port they flocked into the town, found articles cheap, but were charged such taxes on reaching the cordon as made the prices higher than before. They did not modify their anathemas on the Russians! Ships should always be allowed free into the port, but there appears to be no advantage to any one (except the Russian Government) in the present regulations. Granted that articles are cheaper to people residing in Batoum, who would or will live there ? It is difficult to drain, excessively dirty, and noted as one of the worst spots for fever in all these regions celebrated for that pestilence. With the hills so close a better site for the town will surely be found, and then it will be outside the free port !
Batoum is a rainy place, and the country in the vicinity very fertile. The climate is healthy in the hills, but cannot be worse in the town itself. The first thing we met in the streets was a funeral, and the hospitals are full to overflowing. This is not surprising after seeing the Russian soldiers in the town, mere boys, badly clad and worse fed. A citizen in the military employ of the Tsar only gets coarse brown bread at eleven in the morning, and greasy vegetable broth, with brown bread again, for his dinner. The most ordinary precautions are not taken to prevent him from catching fever; he is allowed to sleep (often outside his tent) on the damp ground, and he starts for parade in the morning without any food or stimulant. It is no wonder that the mortality here amongst the soldiers has been frightful.
There are some quaint old Turkish houses, mostly deserted and ruinous, in the town, and a picturesque octagon-shaped mosque with an uncommonly good minaret in the open square behind the fort. This mosque was built by the Sultana Valideh, the mother of the Sultan Abdul Mejid, called by the Turks " The Great Sultan." The Russians have a curious law that the municipality of any place may take your land for any improvement, streets, etc., provided you have not erected buildings upon it. When Batoum became Russian the bazaars which came down to the sea-shore in the centre of the fort were objected to; but the difficulty was how to get rid of them with this law in existence. A fire
occurred not accidentally it is said and no attempt was made to put it out until two-thirds of the bazaars were demolished! The blackened ruins only are to be seen, and a new street is being made, the Government having claimed the ground!
The country of Lazistan, or Lazica, was peopled by a race of Mussulmans; it extended originally from the south of Trebizond considerably to the north of Poti, joining there the district of Apcasia. [Abkhazia]. The Lazes will have to remain as Russian subjects or migrate to Turkish dominions perhaps out of the frying-pan into the fire, as I heard of cases where the Turks were trying to raise the State taxes (their system of collecting rents, as all are tenants under the Crown) five years in advance. But still, with the prospect of ill-usage there, the natives are only waiting to harvest and dispose of their crops of maize to depart to Turkey. If Russia had given the natives ten years, with exemption from military service, to remain, or meanwhile to part with their holdings, and at the end of that time,
if stopping, to become Russian subjects, they would, with this option, have probably all continued in the country ; but, alas ! a different course of action has been followed. The three years given by the Treaty of Berlin for the Turks either to remove from the territory acquired by Russia or to become subjects of the Tsar expire in February next. The authorities have checkmated the wretched people, and they are in an awkward position for themselves. They loathe the idea of becoming Russian subjects, liable for enlistment in the army, and will certainly leave the country ; but every difficulty is placed in their way of disposing of their farms and property. Strangers are not allowed to buy land from them, and although some people have purchased houses in Batoum, even Russian subjects are now prevented from buying land in the vicinity outside the cordon. Count S., whose farm I visited, has purchased two or three places, but the Government refuse to ratify the bargains, and he will not be able to retain the property. It really seems as if the Russians desire to force the people to go without getting payment for their land, or to remain as their subjects and tenants under the Government, which it is impossible to think they will do.
The case of the Apcasians is very hard. Some sixteen or seventeen years ago a number of them, after a revolt in their country to the northward of Poti, left Russian territory and migrated to Turkish. They were given land in the valleys near Batoum, on the condition that if they farmed the places allotted (subject to certain dues) they would become their absolute property at the end of twenty years. The Russians will not recognize this agreement, and tell these settlers to shift again, or if they remain, they must pay rent at valuation for their holdings. The Apcasians and Lazes had deputed one man at each of their settlements to negotiate with a purchaser, and dispose of their places in one lot, if possible; buyers would have been found in abundance, but the transactions are stopped by the refusal
of the Russian powers to recognise the sales. This seems to be straining with unusual severity the fortune of war against these poor people. Why has a different plan been adopted here to that pursued in the Crimea in the last century ? Was Catherine the Great a more lenient monarch than the present Tsar ? Is Russia less of a civilizing power now than she was a hundred years ago ? It is openly said that these districts will be parcelled off and allotted to various officials by the Government; but where will the labourers, the tillers of the soil, be ? Already forty thousand Lazes and Apcasians have left this part of the country, and thousands are now preparing to go. Who will replace them ? The Russian is a ridiculous colonist, and if ever so good a one, he will not come here. He has plenty of land and occupation at home. There is, however, an exception. A sect of dissenters from the orthodox church are called the Molokans. They object to the display of pictures and "tawdry" in the churches, and decline to use the liturgy. In fact, they resemble the Presbyterians. They hold peculiar views on marriage vows, and practise divorce from the matrimonial state, which, however, rarely occurs. They are scrupulously clean and sober in their habits, and are very religious and quiet people. Banished from Russia proper, the Government gave them places in various parts near the Caspian Sea to settle at, whence a small colony migrated lately to a swamp just outside the town of Batoum. Their wooden huts, raised about three feet from the ground on piles, are placed in a most unhealthy situation, but everything about them looks neat and tidy. They are employed mostly as labourers, no land having been given to them yet. If you meet one he is instantly recognised from his superior appearance to the ordinary Russ. The Molokans were turned out of Russia in the reign of Alexander I., and may now return if they like; they make good settlers, and it is a pity they are not more numerous. How lamentable the policy of Russia is ! She forces away the labouring population without the prospect of replacing it. Instead of conciliating and retaining the races under her government, she widens the differences between them and embitters the hatred of the Mussulmans. The blight of a military despotism follows her, and falls on the luckless land she governs !
The friend I expected to meet in Batoum had been unfortunately called away, but he left an excellent substitute in Mr. K., who was most energetic in showing a brother Englishman everything he could. The only carriage to be found was a clumsy "tarantass," very like an Irish car, but longer, and placed on four small wheels. In appearance a double sofa; its only good quality the difficulty of upsetting it. This machine, the property of the General (who was out on a holiday), Mr. K. borrowed from the aide-de-camp. We started, a party of four, following the so-called road (an earthen track abounding in mud-pockets, in which we repeatedly stuck), which forms the boundary of the free port of Batoum. A mile from the town are some newly-built barracks, empty and useless, the ground-floors being under
water. The soldiers had been removed from them, and are now under canvas and twig huts in the port at Batoum. It seems impossible to understand why such deliberate waste in building dwelling-places in such a position should have been permitted. Crossing a small river, which is the eastern boundary of the flat, the foot of the hills is reached. Large barracks and artillery stores have been built here, and more are in the course of erection ; a branch railway from the main line to Tiflis runs through the cantonments, bisecting them and the artillery sheds. We walked up a side valley about a mile, to call on an Apcasian farmer known to Mr. K., the path leading us through thickets of tropical shrubs, rhododendrons, and azaleas, trees entwined with clematis and other creepers, patches of maize of great height here and there, showing the fertility of the soil, and not a habitation within sight till, after ascending a steep " brae-side," we suddenly came upon the hut, the farmer and his servant standing in the verandah ready to receive us. They had seen us coming, though concealed from our view. After shaking hands all round, we were invited to seat ourselves on a couch in the verandah, and then could see what a good look-out the place had, though apparently completely screened by foliage. Snug little huts appeared peeping out among fields of maize on the opposite hillside, the owners calling to one another announcing our arrival, and soon several men came up to see "the English." The farmer, a tall, well-built man of middle age, sent his servant to fetch water from a spring close by, and presented each of us with a cucumber. He entered into a lively conversation, which, however, on being interpreted, was largely an interchange of compliments. The two ladies of our party were invited inside the house to see his wife, and after formal salaams, we were conducted by another more direct path to the foot of the hill where the
Apcasian bade us good-bye, expressing himself highly honoured by our call. None of the natives we saw here were armed, but all those met with away from their homes were indeed fully provided with weapons for any emergency; a Lazi regularly carries two daggers in his girdle, often a revolver hung in a sheath by his right side, and always a rifle slung across his shoulders, his hand grasping the butt as if ready for immediate action. Their independent gait accords well with the reputation these tribes have for fearlessness and independence, perhaps in many instances for lawlessness, but Mr. K. declares that no prospect of plunder would induce them knowingly to attack an Englishman. Rejoining our "tarantass " we drove by the roughest of bullock roads up another valley called "Gordak," as far as we could get, nearly two miles, and then walked another mile to a farm lately bought by Count S., and lunched with appetite, the air being oppressively "muggy" and tiring. This farm keeps numbers of bees. We inspected the hives, which are made out of a block of wood three to four feet long and eighteen inches in diameter; a log of this size is cut from a tree and sawn in half, then both sides are scooped out leaving one base, the two halves are joined together, a board with a few holes for the bees is nailed to the front, and the hive is complete.
On the second morning of our visit to Batoum we had arranged another drive into the country with Mr. K. He arrived at the time appointed with a message from the " chef de police " that he could be in no way responsible for our safety, and that it was very dangerous to make expeditions into the interior. After a good laugh at this, I went to call on the Governor. He received me most courteously, and talked about the future of Batoum, and what improvements were to be made. I ventured to express an earnest hope that the Russians would carry out their designs, so as to develop so fine a country which was blessed with such a harbour. I may here remark that our visit had caused great excitement amongst the authorities at Batoum; Mr. K. had been inundated with questions as to our reasons for coming, what we intended to do, etc. ? I did my best to calm the Governor's susceptibility; every Russian official on the frontiers seems to think you have some object inimical to his country when an Englishman visits it. Undismayed by the policeman's warnings, and preferring to be guided by Mr. K.'s judgment, we started at twelve in our "tarantass " as before, but with another pair of ponies and a worse coachman, who seemed to delight in tormenting and ill-treating the beasts he drove, while he jolted us over every rough place we came to, until violent expostulation made him more merciful to them and to us.
Passing through the town, we traversed the road to the north-east, skirting the bay, alongside of the railway, which is being made to join the Poti and Tiflis line. The beautifully wooded hills are close to the shore, and seem to form an impenetrable jungle, but here and there the glimpse of the eave of a Lazi's hut is caught amidst a mass of green. On our right we passed a prominent hillock with some ruins on the top, said to be one of the many burying places of the Georgian Queen Thamar, and now surmounted by a rude structure for containing dynamite; nearly opposite to it is an old earthwork fortification of the Turks ; after driving about four miles we reached the foot of a narrow valley, where we descended, and walked through a field of magnificent maize to a spring noted, said our cicerone, for its coolness. We found two natives reclining by its side under the shade of the alder trees around, but they shifted to give us room, and we were soon enjoying our luncheon in this delightfully shady spot, for the sun had been most oppressive. We were seated barely a quarter of an hour when four Lazes, fully armed and accoutred, arrived. The leading one advanced quickly and placed a large
handkerchief full of pears on the ground between Mr. K. and myself. Then they all seated themselves behind us. Mr. K. did not at first recognise the donor, but, on looking round again, saluted the man, who was delighted to see him. The Lazi was a small farmer some distance up the valley, and it was most curious how he could have learned that we were there.
Although we passed several natives on the road, we had not stopped on the way, and no one knew of our intended visit. Our companion Mr. K. declared that the natives knew the movements of every one, and again expressed his belief in the safety of any Englishman, if known to be such, in these districts. We ate some of the pears, and gave some bread and the remnants of our luncheon to our neighbours, who wrapped them carefully away. They took immense interest in the packing of our "Barrett's" lunch basket, uttering exclamations of wonder from time to time. I was then introduced as an Englishman, at which they nodded and smiled. We examined their arms ; one had a loaded gun, the barrel illuminated with " London" in gilt capital letters; and another had the Turkish Crimean medal, which, he explained, was given to him for services rendered in the commissariat department; he had not been in the regular army, but was at Sevastopol. At the mention of this word there was a twinkle in every eye, as if each would have liked to play a part in another such sad drama.
We took leave of our friends after the exchange of grave and courtly salutations, it being evident our visit had given them pleasure, and returning to Batoum, called on Admiral and Mrs. G., who threw a damper on our hopes of leaving for Poti the next morning, prophesying wind and storm, the least amount of which pre- vents even flat-bottomed steamers from crossing the bar at Poti. The admiral is in command of the seaport of Batoum, and evidently, with his geniality and good sense, is the right man in the right place. He showed us over the general's gardens (that functionary being absent on leave). All sorts of our hothouse plants were growing in profusion, and while extolling the botanical
beauties, the admiral heartily abused Batoum, its bad houses, and bad sanitary arrangements. But there are treasures in the little town. Two Frenchmen (brothers) keep the small Hotel de France, where we stopped. Unpretending, but clean, everything is nicely done throughout the house, and what a pleasure it is to eat a French dish after the greasy Russian messes ! Long may Messrs. C. maintain their establishment and excellent cuisine ! This is the wish of all residents in, and visitors to Batoum.
Having gone on board the steamer at 8.30 p.m., supposed to start at midnight, we found the ship full of people; porters bringing baggage on board, men singing, children screaming, and the rain pattering down, made sleep impossible.
We did not start from Batoum until 6 a.m., and arrived off Poti about 9 a.m., the majority of the passengers on board wet through, and the decks of the miserable steamer, the Rion, crowded with wretched mortals, Turks, Georgians, Armenians, Greeks, and Russians, in the same plight. Thanks to the generous courtesy of a gentleman (who expressed a confident opinion that if he had been in England we should have done the same thing for him), we had the only cabin on board, which he had secured. Poti is at the mouth of the River Rion, and barely four feet of water covers the bar ; the least roughness of the sea prevents vessels from crossing. The weather was calm, but there was a considerable " swell " on, so we had to wait outside for a smaller steamer. She came at last, sticking for a minute or two on the bar, but soon got off, and the swell being too great for the steamers to transfer their cargo and passengers in the open roadstead, both had to steam about a mile northwards to the new harbour of Poti. The vexation of the delay was compensated by the sight of this work, on which several hundred thousand pounds have already been thrown away. The design is simply two large semicircular breakwaters starting a quarter of a mile apart, at right angles from the straight shore, nearly three-quarters of a mile in length, and leaving an entrance about 200 yards wide. The breakwaters are formed of large con- crete blocks, the foundations being wooden piles. The sides are bulged and appear to be in a dangerous condition. A Russian gentleman naively remarked to me that bad wood had been used at first ! I think no one but a Russian engineer or contractor would have dreamt of using wood at all. Another person observed that some one had made plenty of money out of Poti harbour, and I could agree with him ! Now the engineers are trying to break the force of the sea by tipping blocks of concrete over the sides of the breakwaters, both ends of which are washed away. If they succeed in securing the sea walls, the harbour will have to be dredged out, at present there being only ten or twelve feet of water at the entrance, and the way the harbour is set, right in the channel, almost designed to catch the silt from the River Rion, will make it most difficult to keep open. However, the place answered our purpose, for we were able, in calm water, to pack ourselves and baggage like sandwiches on the smaller steamer, which took us safely over the bar, after several hitches and sticks, into the river.
After seeing Poti and the impossibilities of the port, one cannot wonder at the desire of the Russians to obtain Batoum. Poti is situated about a mile up the river, a far-stretching alluvial swamp surrounding it ; most people give the place a bad name for fever, but, luckily, there are some who defend its reputation. Our consul, Mr. Gardner, to whose kind attention we were much indebted, will not hear it depreciated, but scouts the charge of unhealthiness, believes the harbour will yet be made a good one, nor dreads the rivalry of Batoum. That the mouth of the Rion was at one time easy of access is undoubted ; some think the retrogression of the waters of the Black Sea has altered the harbour, and certainly their level has fallen considerably in the course of many centuries. These changes may be due to comparatively recent volcanic disturbances in the Crimean peninsula, which is supposed by geologists to have been raised by igneous action; possibly to those earthquakes, which occurred in the neighbourhood of the Euxine four hundred years ago, simultaneously with the eruptions at Alupka and elsewhere, and destroyed Yalta and other towns in the district.
For it must have been different wnen Jason and his companions in the Argo entered the river, the celebrated Phasis of those ages, in search of the Golden Fleece. Many Persian monarchs, notably Chosroes, formed fleets of ships on the Phasis wherewith to harry the trade of the Euxine ; in the second century Arrian relates that the mouth was strongly fortified " for the protection of all who sailed on the river ; " as late as the sixteenth century the Turks appear to have found the harbour easy of access, and largely used it. Notwithstanding the present drawbacks the trade of Poti is considerable, the railway connecting it with Kutais and Tiflis having done much to develop it, while the river floats down the products of the Caucasian forests, principally box, walnut, and holly, which trees flourish on the western slopes, and are largely exported to Marseilles and other ports for upholstery work.
About seven hours' steam to the northward of Poti is the town and harbour of Soukhum-Kaleh, the chief place in the country of Abhase (more often called Apcasia). The tribes residing in the vicinity have given the Russians much trouble, retreating to their mountain fastnesses whenever attacked, and maintaining, until lately, a constant warfare. They are a wild and treacherous race, ready to take any one's life for the plunder of a few roubles. The country is rich with luxuriant vegetation, its exports of box and walnut wood being very considerable. Soukhum is the site of the ancient city of Dioscurias, named after the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, by Amphitus and Telchius, their charioteers, who are supposed to have founded it. It is said that Dioscurias was the common market for the nations living in the eastern countries beyond the Euxine, and that seventy nations, all speaking different languages from living dispersed without intercourse, assembled here for the purpose of buying salt imported from Southern Russia. Here, too, in later ages, the Genoese did a thriving but cruel trade, bartering salt for Circassian slaves to be delivered in the Turkish and Egyptian markets. In the recent war between Turkey and Russia the Turks sent an expedition against Soukhum- Kaleh, and took it ; their object being to raise the tribes in the rear of the Russian forces. They spread reports that sons of Schamyl (the great Circassian leader) were with them, and though they effected a landing, giving their antagonists much trouble, the undertaking, if well planned, seems to have been badly carried out, and failed. The sensation it caused, and the seeming readiness on the part of the tribes to rise all over the Caucasus, appear (from their manner of referring to the subject) to have made a deep impression on the Russian authorities.
Some splendid timber trees of beech, Spanish chestnut, and walnut filled this valley, and each farm was surrounded by fruit (apple, pear, peach, quince, and fig) trees, showing the capabilities of the soil. Another jolting ride on the " tarantass " brought us back to Batoum by sundown.
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