CAPITAL OF THE CRIMEA. 173 
Completely erased, that, without a guide to 
the spot, no one can discover even where it — 
stood. Of the rest of the city not above one 
third now remains. If we were to detail half 
the cruelties, the extortions, the rapine, and 
the barbarity practised by the Russians upon 
the devoted inhabitants of the Crimea, and 
their deluded Khan, the narrative would exceed 
belief. We have the authority of one of their 
commanders, whom we shall not name, for 
the following statement. When the Mullas, or 
Tahtar priests, ascended the minarets at mid- 
day, to proclaim the hour of noon, according 
to their usual custom, the Russian soldiers 
amused themselves by firing at them with 
muskets ; and in one of these instances a priest 
was killed. The repugnancy of every English 
reader to credit such enormities may lead him 
to doubt the veracity of the representation, 
although it be given, as it was received, trom 
an eye-witness of the fact. 
The capture of the Crimea excited the atten- Causes 
tionof all Europe; but the circumstances which tothede- 
caused the deposition and death of the Khan are death 
not so generally known. They have been art- 
fully concealed by the Russians ; and the bril- 
liancy of the conquest of the Crimea, dazzling 
the imagination, has prevented a due inquiry 
