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Last year the Georgian people celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of the annexation of its country to the dominion of the Great White Tsar. These past one hundred years have been an era of uninterrupted and prosperous development of this nation of chivalry and heroism as well as loyalty and devotion to a great and good cause. In the third century AD, the Georgians were converted to Christianity by Saint Nina. Ever since they have been a mighty fortress of christendom amidst wild and fanatic Mahometan tribes. Many a time their loyalty to their faith was sorely tried by the unparalleled cruelty of the Turks and Persians. Their capital was destroyed again and again, their churches ransacked and they commanded to tread upon the holy images which they venerated from childhood upwards. But even in such a terrible moment the Georgians showed themselves worthy of their all glorious traditions and thousands found their death in the River Koura at Tiflis, their chosen capital. For centuries this little nation of heroes battled with the Infidels and great was their distress, almost overcome by the gigantic forces of savage enemies, when a protector appeared in the north and re-established law and order, confidence and happiness. Seeing that it was essential to assure a permanent security, the ruler of Georgia asked in the name of his people to be annexed to the Motherhood of Orthodox Nations.

I here reproduce a translation from the Russian of the reply of Alexander I. Parlovitch, Emperor of all the Russias (1801):

“Not to increase our forces, not for the gain and extension of ours, the mightiest empire in the world, do we take upon ourselves the burden of the administration of the Georgian kingdom. Worthiness, honor, and humanity alone place on us the holy duty to establish in Georgia a government which may found righteousness, safety, and give every one protection of the law.”

Those are the noble terms of one of Russia’s noblest rulers, and upon them is based the policy of the administration in regard to the Georgians. The Georgians, being of the same faith as the Russians, sympathize with the latter and are nowadays both a bulwark of the orthodox church and of the true Russian conservative governmental spirit. In the wars of 1853–56 and 1877–78 they fully proved their perfect fidelity and chivalrous readiness to assist their great deliverers against the Turks. The men of Georgia are renowned for their heroism, while the women of that country are the most beautiful in the world. The chief occupations of the Georgians are: pasturing, farming, jewelry work, silk-manufacturing, and wine-growing. The Georgians, taken as a whole, receive a considerable amount of education, and their newspapers, several of which are published at Tiflis, are very good. The leading paper is the “Iveria” (i.e., Georgia). Tiflis, the traditional capital of Georgia, is a city of 180,000 inhabitants, among whom are 33,000 Georgians proper. A number of other tribes or nationalities such as the Imeretians, Gourians, Mingrelians, Wanetes, Khevsoures, etc., also belong to what is called the Georgian family of nations. The greatest poet of Georgia is Prince Kazbek. Among the grand old families we find the Orbelians, who trace their ancestry back to an emperor of China, the Chavchavadzes, the Growzinskys, Bgaration-Moukranskys, Amilakvaris, Tsitsianovs, and many others, all of whom have rendered their native land incomparable services and deserve the highest praise. The author of the legends which I have attempted to translate, is a native Georgian, Mr. A. Goulbat, now living in Central Russia and leading a literary life. He is filled with enthusiasm for his native land and its valiant inhabitants. I have tried as well as I knew how to translate the legends in the same spirit as the author wrote them in the original, which was Russian.

Sergei de Wesselitsky-Bojidarovitch.