Muhammed Emin, in his capacity as the representative of the Abzehs, had first met with the Governor General of Caucasia, and then had gone to St. Petersburg, where he concluded a peace agreement with the commanders of the Right Flank Russian Armies, who represented the Czar.

            Similarly the Natuhays also had sued for peace. 

            In the aftermath of the abortive peace overture in Taman between the Czar and the Adiğe delegation, the Russian monarch regarded the previous peace agreements as non-existent.  For he ordered that conquest of Caucasia be relentlessly pursued,  crushing all forms of resistance without  any compromise.

            There was no denying that Russia has been implementing the same strategy for the last one hundred years.  She gained time by making false promises of peace, and disrupt unity among the various tribes in Caucasia. 

 Czar Alexander II was magnanimous enough to abolish slavery.  He, however, directed the freed Russian slaves to swarm into Caucasia, and usurp the Caucasian soil as means of their sustenance. 

            To the fanatic General Yevdemikof it was an edict potent enough to implement his own long-standing ambition.  So he immediately resumed work, where he had recessed. 

            Yevdemikof’s plan was based on   disrupting   any attempt on the part of the tribal peoples to unite.  He instructed his Divisional Commanders accordingly. 

            Brigadier General Tisoski marched his forces on the Bjeduğ and the Mehoş tribes, who had been dormant for quite a long time.  General Graskoff, on the other hand, launched operations in the direction of the highlands upstream of the river Shagoşe. 

            The Russian forces crushed   resistance in the neighborhood of Maykop, and attacked Dahğe.  The Abzehs were incensed over the development. 

            The Abzehs, who  had been meticulously abiding by the terms of the peace agreement, lost their patience over the recent developments.  Disenchanted with the prospect of preservation of peace, they launched a counter offensive.

            They marched in the general direction of the Cossack villages newly set up in the downstream basin of the river Shagoşe, including Subskaya, Bagoffskaya and  Barakayeffskaya.  Having pillaged the said Russian settlements, the  Abzehs set on fire the Cossack village of Psementkaya, and routed a Russian force which attempted to intercept them at Deknako.

            The most significant incident that the Adiğe people regretted  was the defection to the side of the enemy of certain Caucasian leaders and tribes. 

            There were Kaberdey regiments in the Russian army.  They fought against the Adiğes in the fore front, as if in a show of bravery.

            In January 1862 Col. Heiman mounted an offensive along the river Shagoşe.  His force included, in addition to the Russian and Cossack units, an infantry regiment and a battalion of snipers composed of the Kaberdey tribesmen.  The snipers formed the advance guards. 

            Abzeh Daruk and Meretiko Alimet  assessed the situation.  They established liaison with the Kaberdeys at night time to dissuade the Kaberdey element in the Russian force from involving in fratricide. “Aren’t you Adiğe?  For God’s sake do not come upon us!  Don’t compel us to shed brothers’ blood!”  said the message they communicated to the Kaberdeys.  The Kaberdey nobles in command turned down the suggestion.

            Nevertheless the Kaberdey elements paid dearly for their treachery.  The Abehzs mounted a night attack at the enemy camp, mainly targeting the Kaberdey elements, who were routed after suffering  a very heavily casualty. 

            The Abzeh leaders met with yet another treachery; a more serious one.  Vork Aytekiyiko, who had thus far been fighting on the Abzeh side, this time collaborated with the Russians.  He served as the guide to the Kaberdey Regiment.  The Abzeh leaders were in difficulty to find out why?

            The Kaberdey region had been under enemy occupation since 1825.  The area had been restructured in terms of administration;  judicial and educational institutions had been set up; and the younger generations were imbued with the Russian way of life.  Their absorption into the Russian armed forces was understandable to some degree.   The alignment of Vorke Aytekiyiko with the Russians, however, was incomprehensible to the Abzehs. 

            At the earliest encounter,  the Abzehs targeted Vork Aytekiyiko to a concentrated attack.  The betrayer survived the assault, badly wounded, his right leg being chopped off. 

            The Russians had fortified the Dahğe village to serve as a an operational base  with a strong garrison stationed there. The military activities in the highlands were directed from there. 

            General Yevdemikov was gradually nearing his target.  He designed to crush the Abzehs, and severe their link with the Şapsığs and Ubihs.

            A major offensive was launched towards the middle of November 1862.  The cavalry units were supported by artillery batteries.  The target area in this instance was the Hanapsifhabl village. 

            Muhammed Emin had used the place as his headquarters for a long time. 

            The Abzehs offered a fierce resistance.  They thwarted the Russian force.  Chods Zabl Efendi fell martyr at this battle. 

            Zabl Efendi was a devoted disciple of Muhammed Emin.  He had taken up arms under the impact of the recently escalated Russian pressure.  He had become a nightmare to the enemy. 

            The Russian commanders celebrated   his death by throwing a drinking party.

            The year 1862 passed in fierce battles.  The Caucasians successfully resisted the Russian onslaught at all fronts.  The ones who had yielded to the Russian peace terms earlier too were overwhelmed with the passion of patriotism, and took up arms.  The women and children were the worst victims in the process.  They had to run after their husbands and parents from one place to the other according to the location of the front line. They had to abandon their home, and were condemned to live a miserable life in the open, always shedding sweat and tear. 

            The females, like the males, experienced the war both physically and spiritually.  They were tempered in distress. Most of the time the younger females fought shoulder to shoulder with the males.  Many a women were acclaimed in songs and poems for their exemplary heroism. 

            Nevertheless a shadow of despair gradually began darkening  their soul.  Many of the females had a premonition of the impending sad end. 

                                                               O0O

            In Caucasia, besides those physically involved in the war, there were men of thought who considered the possibility of checking the Russian conquest by political means rather than bloodshed.  Hacı Hayden Hasan was a forerunner of this opinion.

            While the bloody fighting went on during the mid-summer of 1862,  Hacı Hasan was in pursuit of a different solution to the problem of Russian conquest of Caucasia.  He sought supporters to his opinion.  He did find individuals sympathetic to his ideas. 

            Hayden Hasan was far from being a visionary.  He analyzed the political situation in the light of his own logic. 

            Russia had invaded Southern Caucasia sixty years ago, and had settled there for good.  Hence Russia could not be expected to relinquish the Northern Caucasia, the land mass laying between Russia and the South.  It seemed inevitable for the Adigey to be reduced to a Province of Russia, after the pattern of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Daghistan.

            The Ottoman Empire was in sickbed, too weak to safeguard its frontiers.  Hence it was out of place to expect any appreciable help for Caucasia from that quarter.  The recent events had made it  amply clear. 

            According to Hacı Hasan the European Big Powers could be the only place to look for help.  It would be wrong to expect military aid from them.  They could at best provide diplomatic support.  And that was exactly what he had in mind.

            Hayden Hasan wouldn’t mind if Adigey became a Province of Russia.  He advocated,

            -  Let us lay down the arms and make peace.  The Adiğes are a people with specific culture and traditions of their own.  An autonomous status, with due regard to the people’s culture and traditions could be acceptable by both sides. 

            This was the outline of the solution that had occurred to him.

            Kustoruko Ismail and others from all the regions endorsed the idea.  They decided to send a deputation to Europe to communicate Hayden Hasan’s theses. 

            A deputation of twelve members was elected.  Hacı Hayden Hasan and Kustaruko Ismail were to jointly preside over the deputation. 
            The delegation set out from Abhazya to Istanbul via Trabzon late in summer.

            İn Istanbul they held talks with the Ottoman statesmen.  They remembered what had happened to Zanıko Sefer Bey and Muhammed Emin years ago.  Hence they were cautious  enough to avert similar mishaps. 

            They called on the British Ambassador in Istanbul, and informed him of the purpose of their trip.  They  sought British good offices in search of a peaceful solution to the Caucasian problem.

            The British Ambassador was an expert in the conduct of the British policy in the Ottoman Empire and Caucasia.  He was a personal friend of David Urquhart and James Longworth, the ardent supporters of the Circassian cause whose writings had strongly stirred the British public opinion.

            The Ambassador was interested in the Adiğe delegation also because recently a prominent friend of the Caucasians, Lord Russell, had been appointed British Foreign Secretary. 

            He dispatched a memorandum to the Foreign Office relevant to the Adiğe mission.  Besides, he handed to Hacı Hayden Hasan a letter of introduction addressed Urquhart and Longworth. 

            Incidentally at the Istanbul harbor there was a British commercial vessel ready to depart for England.  The Ambassador personally introduced the Adiğe delegation to the Captain of the ship as the guests of the British Government, and requested him to take good care of them.  He also asked the Captain to see to it that the members of the delegation were not in any inconvenience in London.  He gave him the addresses of Urquhart and Longworth.

            The voyage went well. David Urquhart had been engaged in publicizing the Caucasian cause  for nearly a quarter of a century through The Portfolio, a periodical printed in English and French, and The Free Press newspaper and other publications. 

            Thanks to the efforts of Urquhart that many a British statesmen, including Earl Russell, lent support for the Caucasian cause.

            Earl Russell had been on the British Cabinet more than once either as a Cabinet Minister or the Prime Minister during the last two decades.  He was among the British statesmen who advocated British support for Caucasia. 

            Urquhart and Longworth publicized the arrival in Britain of the Adiğe delegation, prior to its being received by the Government authorities.  They organized a public meeting in the  Hyde Park on the first Sunday following the arrival of the Adiğe delegation in London. The colorful indigenous outfits of the Caucasians attracted great attention.  A large crowd gathered around the speaker’s platform.

            Hacı Hayden Hasan delivered a speech in Adiğe language.  Longworth interpreted him as best as he could. 

            Longworth had been in Caucasia twice.  In his first visit he had stayed there for over a year. His next visit was during the Crimean War.  Notwithstanding the long intervening period, he still remembered a good deal of Adiğe vocabulary. 

            During the subsequent days the British friends, Urquhart and Longworth, drafted a memorandum to be signed by the delegation, mostly reflecting the contention of its writers. It was intended to be submitted to the Government authorities as a petition, and to be circulated for the information of British intellectuals. 

            The memorandum was submitted to Queen Victoria, the Prime Minister, and to the Speaker of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.  Subsequently it was released to the press. 

            David Urquhart and James Longworth, being widely informed on the Caucasian affairs, had drafted the memorandum considerably in detail. 

            It presented a synopsis of the history of Caucasia, and a summery background of the recent developments there.  The Caucasian contribution in the Crimean War was also recalled in some detail, which concluded in the following words:

            “Let us recollect, what we (the Caucasians) actually gained out of the Crimean War?  To the Allied Powers the War ended seven years ago.  But it is still going on with all its horrors in Caucasia, as far as we are concerned. 

            “What the Crimeans have been provided with by the Allied Forces?  Did they get back their country?  No! You let Russia occupy it again.  What did the Turks gain out of the War in the form of reparation?  You didn’t make the Russians pay a dime., you have rendered Turkey weak, though a victors in the War.  You deployed the Poles in Crimea. What did they gain in return?

            “As far the Caucasian contribution to the Allied war efforts in Crimea; we kept a hundred-thousand strong force ready for action, which pinned down a corresponding Russian force, otherwise deployable on the Crimean front.  Russia has emerged from the Crimean War more powerful then she had been in the course of the past decades of war against us, to keep up its conquest of Caucasia.  Had we not resisted the Russian invasion, to exist in freedom, the hundred-thousand strong Adiğe military potential could have slipped to the Russians.  Had we not defended our homeland, the Russian frontiers would have moved further south and south-east from Batum. 

            “Why does Russia relentlessly presses forward in the Caucasus?  Russia means to force open the doors of Istanbul and India.  If you mean to wait and see what would happen, then it would be too late to challenge her, and too late to avail the help you would expect us to render.  In the absence of a favorable response from you, we shall let our people know that Britain, in  pursuance of her selfish interests,  connived at Russian invasion of our homeland. 

            “We urge you to find out the facts.  Should you be not interested to investigate the situation, that would mean that you are apathetic towards the fate of the downtrodden Caucasian victims of  Russian aggrandizement. 

            “Should we be inspired with a bit of hope as to the presence of sense of reality and justice in Great Britain, we would visit you again.” (Dated November 5, 1862. Signed by Hacı Hayden Hasan and Kustaruko Ismail) 

            “The Friends of Caucasia”  formed a part of the  political opposition in Britain.  They had been sharpened in the context of the decades long debates on the Polish and Caucasian problems.  That would explain the ill-advised language of the Hayden-Kustaruko memorandum. In part it sounded threatening.

            The official quarters strongly reacted as to the language of the memorandum.  The Queen and the Prime Minister both declared that Britain would not interfere in the situation in Caucasia. 

            Prime Minister Palmerston had served as the Foreign Secretary for many years.  He had been following a  policy of masterly inactivity  towards Russia.  His negative stance in the context of the Adiğe representation did not surprise anybody. 

            The Foreign Secretary of the time, Earl Russell, deeply regretted Queen Victoria’s remark to the effect that the British Crown didn’t “want to spoil relations with the Czar and his Government for the sake of a handful of bandits”.  For many years the Russian Ambassadors in London had been engaged in distorting the image of the Caucasian people and their cause in the eyes of the Queen and the British statesmen.  The Circassians had been tarnished as a handful of uncivilized bandits, who had revolted against the Czar.  On that score   the Russian Ambassadors had covered a considerable ground. 

            Lord Russell didn’t convey to the Adiğe delegation   the highly negative response of the Queen, in full. Instead he used a more diplomatic language so as not offend the Caucasians.  He assured the delegation that Britain would always be with the people of Caucasia. 

            The friends of Caucasia, who had drafted the memorandum for  Hasan Hayden, had sought full independence for Adigey; plus a series of measures, including British military intervention, to the same end. 

            The Friends of Caucasia were highly remorseful because of the picture that had emerged.  There was, however mot much that they could do to correct the situation.  They were not in a position to coup with the Russophiles then dominant in the British government. 

            Notwithstanding the frustrating circumstances, the Friends of Caucasia held a meeting to discuss the future line of action to be adopted. 

            The British friends assessed that once Russian conquest of Caucasia was complete, the Adiğes would be thrown out of their homeland.  For there were ample indications suggesting such a contingency.  The Russians had evacuated the indigenous population of the areas they had occupied, and had been forcing them to move to the banks of the river Kuban and to the Kıpçak Steppes.

            The Friends of Caucasia had deemed it necessary to devise action plans to reduce to minimum the possible suffering of the people feared to be subjected to a forced migration; and to persuade the British and European political authorities, including the Ottoman statesmen, to do the needful in the context of the contingency. 

            When David Urquhart and Longworth finished confiding their own views to the Adiğe mission, there was a long suspense.  Hayden Hasan momentarily attempted to smile in regret.  The other members of the delegation were extremely tense. 

            The Relief Committee arranged for the passage of the delegation to Istanbul on board of a British commercial vessel. The passengers were supposed to take care of themselves  for the rest of the journey. 

            The delegation contacted the Ottoman authorities  only to inform them of the situation and to find out their views. 

            The Ottoman authorities also had begun taking steps to coup with the impending exodus.  The were calculating the problems to be braced once the mass migrations commenced. Allocation of areas to rehabilitate the refugees was being debated. 

            The limited number of refugees arriving by sea  and overland, in small groups, had forced the Istanbul Government to  take up the impending mass migration seriously. 

            Hacı Hayden Hasan and his associates had undertaken the mission with great enthusiasm.  Now they were returning home empty handed. 

            During their absence, the  over all situation in Caucasia had deteriorated.  Moral and material collapse had aggravated. 

                                                               O0O

            The Adiğe Delegation  witnessed the early manifestations of the debacle while they were yet in Istanbul as  they sighted the Tophane Harbor packed up with Caucasian refugees fleeing from their home. 

            Hayden Hasan was bewildered at the sight of the crowds of the destitute refugees.  “That means the real tragedy has commenced”. he murmured by himself. 

            They boarded the earliest available vessel that would take them to  eastern Black Sea coast.  Every harbor at which their ship anchored there were crowds of refugees.  They met with similar pathetic sights in Sinop, Samson and Trabzon.  People wondering which way to go, desperately looked around, hoping to find someone who would show them  the way. 

            Members of the delegation were told by the refugees that the war had turned to an outright massacre.  Every one of them, therefore, were anxious about the fate of their own families, their wife and children.

            They hired a boat and sailed to Vaye close to the shore, sheltering in the quays in daylight to escape  being spotted by the Russian ships. 

            They disembarked at Vaye; for the captain of the boat, a Laz,  excused himself from negotiating the shore any further. The delegation broke up here, and in groups of two or three, set out for their respective homes.

            Hacı Hayden Hasan and Kustaruko Ismail took the trails together along the shore to the Ubih region.  They intended to call a meeting there to consider what to do next. 

            The Ubih leaders listened to Hayden and Kustaruko, quiescent but bemused, occasionally asking questions as to certain particulars of detail. 

            Hayden Hasan seemed to have forgotten all about what had transpired in London.  He narrated, at the meeting with the Ubih leaders, the awful condition of the groups of Adiğe refugees he had sighted in Istanbul and in the harbors along the Black Sea shore.  He advocated that migration would not solve the problem, rather it woul further aggravate it. 

            “Let us search a way out of the present dilemma!”, Hayden concluded his statement. 

            The Ubih leaders were determined to sustain resistance, no matter how frustrating the situation was.  They declared that they would neither sue for peace nor  move out. 

            Hacı Berzeg Grandük was highly incensed by those who had departed the homeland untimely.  He expressed his rage, when the subject was broached, by angrily remarking, 

            -  Some wretched fellows of our own community also have set out without consulting any one of us!  We had to have discussed and decide together on what ought to be done. 

            Hayden Hasan believed that it was not the end of everything; and that the disintegration could be stopped, provided immediate measures were taken.  Then he set out for Tsemez;  for he was anxious as to the situation there,  Adigey’s most important outlet to the world. 

            As he reached the heights overlooking the Bay of Tsemez, he confronted with the similar scenes that horrified him most.  Groups of people preparing to quit the homeland, had clustered everywhere on the heights. The refugees in panic had pitched tents or erected timber shelters, waiting for transportation across the Sea.  All of them were in distressing condition, already in the grip of misery. 

            In Kutak, Hacı Hayden Hasan was hosted by Bastiko Osman.  Though exhausted as he was, Hayden narrated to Bastiko Osman in details all what had transpired during his trip abroad in the last four months.  He also mentioned the pathetic condition of the Adiğe refugees in Istanbul and elsewhere.  He concluded that mass migration would lead to a catastrophe.

            He was sitting over the sofa, resting on his knees.  He gazed at the audience one by one,  turned to Osman, and implored,

            -  O Basti! for God’s sake, let us do something!  Let us stop this blind race! 

            Bastiko Osman was at a loss what to say.  For the last one year he had been vacillating between moving out or staying home.  He was in suspense.  Now, the most esteemed person in Adigey was virtually begging him, “Let us not quit the homeland!”

            The next day Hayden and Osman surveyed the refugee camps.  the former talked to dissuade the refugees till his   mouth dried up. He repeated the same message to each group:

            -  Do you know where you are headed to?  You would be miserable there.  You would repent having left the homeland! 

            In one of the refugee groups he came across an aged person.  His wife, their daughter-in-laws, and their children stood immediately behind him.  In response to Hayden’s appeal he said,

            -  My dear Thamete, you are telling me ‘go back to your home!  What home you are talking about?  The village is gone, what to speak of  home.  I have lost my boys and my youthful grandsons. I am prepared to go to the unknown world rather than co-exist with the Russians, who have killed my children and have ruined my home. 

            These last words of the old man disarmed Hayden Hasan’s argument.  He talked no more.  He proceeded, gazing at the displaced persons in dismay.

            Hayden stayed at Osman’s house for one day more.  He didn’t want to let the adversity crush his hopes.  Geriyikos Şeretluk and Shanaş, together with a number of persons from the neighborhood came to see Hayden Hasan. 

            He had virtually stopped thinking about the  Russian invasion, and  about independence.  To him the mass migration loomed high as the greatest disaster.  He has been trying make this point clearly evident.  He argued,

            - Since the Creation men have quarreled, and nations have fought; but never the vanquished abandon his homeland so easily. He has searched other ways and means of survival. 

            Hayden Hasan paused, pondered for a while, and resumed speaking in a  shaky voice,

            -  Do you assume the places you would be going as being a paradise?  Do not deceive yourselves. The world stands divided by span, and all parts have been apportioned.  The places you would be allowed to settle down would either be the barren lands up over the highlands or  the marshes infested with sickening mosquitoes. 

            He painfully smiled, and continued,

            -  This thing (migration) is going to end up in disaster.  Our would be divided to a hundred-thousand pieces. Even if they managed to survive, they would forget their language and traditions, and would vanish in due course. 

            Hacı Hayden Hasan stayed in the Adegum region with his family for a very short time.  He hit the road once again.  He toured the regions where the Abzehs and Şapsığs lived, without being detected by the Russian military.  But he couldn’t find anyone who would listen to him.  The established order had been disrupted beyond the scope of his imagination. The people seemed to have lost sense.  While some sustained the bloody resistance, some were quiting their thousands of years old homeland, cursing their bad luck. The ones who had prefered migration, were as much charged with anger and rancor as those who persisted in fighting.