"The chief chosen by each body during war is implicitly obeyed, and our princes and our elders govern according to the custom of each place with greater authority than in the great states around us." Now it appears to me probable, that Ephraim and a portion of the Ten Tribes may be found among this people. That Ephraim is in some country north of Judea, and a country of mountains, appears to be certain from the language of Jeremiah, Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return thou backsliding Israel;-they shall come together out of the land of the north.-Behold I will bring them from the north country. Jer. iii. 12, 18; xxxi. 8. It is also said, For there shall be a day that the watchman upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God. The land of the north is a description exactly suiting to the countries between the Euxine and the Caspian, which are nearly due north of Judea, but by no means the regions to the east of the Caspian. Moreover, I am led to expect that, in this text, mount Ephraim does not mean the mountain of that name in the land of Canaan, which was given to Ephraim, but some mountainous country where Ephraim now dwells; for immediately after these words the prophet proceeds to predict their return into the land of their fathers. The region of Caucasus is the immediate vicinity of the ancient Colchis or Colchos of the Greeks, which seems to be the n, properly Calach, of 2 Kings xvii. 6. and an Chabor is perhaps the Iberia of the Greeks which adjoined Colchos. The river Gozan may be the Phasis which traverses Colchos. In some of the modern maps it bears the name of the Fasz or Kioni. It is rather more than a year since I first communicated these ideas to some of my friends, and since that time the Circassian tribes have been rising in importance in the public mind, and have been repeatedly mentioned in parliament. I shall just add, that what is now stated is offered simply as a conjecture, in order to direct the attention of those who are observing the signs of the times to that quarter. From what is said in the declaration of independence of the Circassians, they appear to be Mahomedans; but as they also admit that they are divided into many tribes, languages and creeds, some among them may, as it is said of Ephraim, be joined to their idols. The account given of these tribes in the Encyclopædia is, that they are Pagans, but use circumcision. I shall further observe, that it is apparent from Deut. xxxiii. 17, that the military prowess of Ephraim and Manasseh is to act a conspicuous part in the events of the last times; and if there be any truth in the conjecture now offered, I have no doubt but events will soon speak with an unequivocal voice." |