shelter with her brother (the khan of Yerevan), wrote to Tsitsianov to
assuage the general's wrath and explain her husband's predicament.
Tsitsianov knew she was telling the truth (and soon after informed the
tsar about the siege), but he told the wife that she was a liar and her
husband a traitor, adding a nasty remark about the Persian treachery
of her brother. He closed the letter with a reproof for her temerity:
"Moreover, according to European custom, women do not meddle in
men's business and if there is such a custom in Asia, it seems to me to
be undignified and base."^16
As these examples show, Tsitsianov's militant Europeansim was
closely associated with his loathing for all things "Asian" and "Per-
sian" (terms that he often used synonymously). His numerous ful-
minations against Asian ways were often used to persuade his superiors
and all others that his tactic of intimidating, humiliating, and crushing
anyone who opposed his will was the only suitable course of action.
His letters abound in phrases such as "Persian scum" and "Asian treach-
ery." His notion of "Asian treachery" makes clear the extent to which
he followed a double standard of morality. On one occasion, he de-
vised a strategy for the overthrow of Sheikh 'Ali Khan of Derbent-
Qobbeh. The plan called for lulling the khan's suspicions by conspiring
with him to overthow his old rival, Mostafa Khan of Shirvan, and by
having a Russian official negotiate with Sheikh 'Ali's representative to
St. Petersburg. In recommending this strategy to the tsar, Tsitsianov
observed that "Persian" khans could never be trusted because "not a
single nation exceeds the Persian in cunning and their inherent faith-
lessness."^17
Alexander's confidence in the irresistible superiority of Russian
civilization to "Persian" led him to suggest that new vassals from the
Causasus deliver their tribute payments to St. Petersburg in person so
that exposure to life in the capital could win them over to Russian
values. Tsitsianov opposed the plan on the grounds that such expo-
sure would be pointless because of the profound gaps between Mus-
lim and Russian mores. This argument served a double purpose. First,
it strengthened the image of the "Persian" as an immoral being and,
consequently, justified the general's harsh methods. Second, he did
not want local rulers to meet people in St. Petersburg to whom they
could complain about him. Some members of the Georgian royal fami-
ly were already doing that, much to Tsitsianov's distress. Therefore, he
attempted to persuade the tsar that "Persians" were too barbaric to
benefit from exposure to life in Russia. According to Tsitsianov, the
only reason Caucasian Muslims submitted to Russia was that demon-
strations of its military might led them to seek its protection against
Russia's Conquest of the Eastern Caucasus 75