Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/251

 BAKUNIN BALAKLAVA 231 saffron. There are no factories. Baku existed in the 4th century. It fell into the hands of the Saracens, and after the downfall of the caliphate it passed into the power of the princes of Shirvan. In 1509 it was annexed to the Persian monarchy, and later was taken by the Turks, but recaptured by Shah Abbas I. In 1723 the city capitulated to the Russians under Matushkin, but was returned to the Per- sians at the peace of 1735. Later it was taken by the inhabitants of the Caucasus, and in 1806 it was again taken by the Russians under Gen. Bulkhakoff and finally annexed to Russia. I. tkl M V Mikhail, a Russian revolutionist, born at Torzhok, Tver, in 1814. He belongs to an old family, left the military service for the study of philosophy, and became conspicuous by his affiliations with revolutionary French- men, Germans, and Poles, and as a resolute and reckless agitator. He resided after 1841, when he left Russia, in Germany, France, and Switzerland ; and, declining to return to Rus- sia, his estates were confiscated. In 1847 he was expelled from France at the request of the czar for having made an inflammatory speech in favor of a Polish-Rnssian alliance for the overthrow of Russian despotism. After the revolution of 1848 he was prominent at the Slavic congress in Prague and in the ensuing conflict, after which he fled to Berlin. Ex- pelled from Prussia, he appeared in May, 1849, as a member of the revolutionary government and as the most daring leader of the outbreak in Dresden. Captured at Chemnitz after the suppression of the insurrection, he was incar- cerated for eight months in a Saxon fortress. His sentence to death in May, 1850, being commuted to perpetual imprisonment, he was surrendered to the Austrian government, which likewise condemned him to death and com- muted the sentence, and which in its turn gave him up to Russia, where he was confined in St. Petersburg and in Schlusselburg till after the Crimean war, when he was sent to Siberia. He availed himself of a permission to settle in the Amoor Country for escaping to Japan, and reached the United States early in 1861, after which he returned to Europe, lately residing chiefly in Switzerland, still engaged more or less in revolutionary and journalistic enterprises. He is the author of Hussische Zu- stdnde (Leipsic, 1847), and of other publications. BALAAM (Heb. Bil'arri), a soothsayer and di- viner of Pethor, on "the river" (Euphrates), whom Balak, king of Moab, alarmed at the discomfiture of his neighbors the Amorites by the Hebrews, sent for to pronounce a curse upon the invaders. Balaam refused, saying that he could not curse the people whom God had blessed ; but upon being further urged, he agreed to say only what should be commanded by God. He set out, riding upon an ass ; but on the way he was met by the angel of the Lord, visible to the ass, but not to the rider. The ass refused to pass the opposing angel, and three times turned out of the way, being each time beaten by Balaam. At last the ass spoke in a human voice, asking why he had been beaten. Then Balaam's eyes were opened, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing with a drawn sword to bar his way. The angel told him to go on to Balak, but he must only say what should be commanded to him. Balaam went to Balak, and after due sacrifices deliv- ered his message, which proved to be a bless- ing upon the Hebrews, instead of the desired curse. This was repeated four times, with the same result ; and on the last occasion Balaam predicted that the Israelites should overthrow Moab, Edom, Amalek, and other neighboring tribes. Some Biblical critics consider the story of Balaam (Numbers xxii.-xxiv.) as an inter- polation; other expounders have interpreted the speaking of the ass as a vision or trance in which the diviner thought he saw an angel, and fancied that he heard the ass speaking. BALAKLAVA, a small seaport town of Russia, in the government of Taurida, on the S. W. coast of the Crimea and a small bay of the Black sea, about 8 m. 8. S. E. of Sebastopol; pop. about 750. Known in antiquity as Symbolon Portus, the bay of Balaklava was called in the middle ages Cembalo and Bella Chiava, being a possession of the Genoese, who built a fortress on the heights above the harbor. Catharine II. sent to Balaklava 2,000 Greek and Arme- nian soldiers as guards of the coast, and their descendants formed from 1795 to 1859 the so-called Balaklava-Greek battalion. In the Crimean war, the British troops under Lord Raglan, a few days after their landing in the peninsula, compelled the small Russian garri- son to surrender, Sept. 26, 1854, and estab- lished their naval headquarters there, building fortifications and a railway to Sebastopol, and laying a submarine cable to Varna. Balaklava was attacked on Oct. 25 by the Russians, who stormed four redoubts, feebly defended bj Turkish troops, and captured 11 guns; but after the repulse of their cavalry by the High- landers and their defeat by the English heavy brigade, they made no further efforts to ad- vance. The earl of Cardigan, upon an order alleged to have been given by Lord Lucan for the capture of certain Russian guns, led the charge of his light brigade, composed only of about 600 horsemen, against the formidable array of the enemy, his men cutting their way through and back again under the play of the Russian batteries. The survivors of this bril- liant but useless exploit did not exceed 150. The first who fell was Capt. Nolan, the officer who conveyed the disputed order from Lord Lucan. The English evacuated the place in June, 1856. Owing to the narrowness of the entrance, the harbor is now used only for the coasting trade with other Crimean ports. On an elevated rock, about 4 m. W. of the town, is the old monastery of St. George, with a new Greek church, and a maritime convent, the in- mates of which officiate as priests for sailors. Either the monastery or a neighboring locality