ABSTRACT
Meantime the force of circumstances soon compelled Paul to turn his most serious attention to the affairs of that province. In the summer of 1800 King George XII., who had succeeded to the throne on the death of Irakli II. in 1798, received letters from the Shah, Feth Ali, couched in violent terms, demanding that his eldest son be sent to Teheran as a hostage, and threatening invasion in the event of refusal.1 At the same time a Persian army began to assemble· on the frontier. The king, encouraged by the Russian envoy, Kovalensky, firmly refused compli ance, and Paul I., on learning what was taking place, ordered General Knorring, commanding the troops in the northern Caucasus, to prepare at once an expeditionary force of 15 squadrons and 9 infantry battalions together with artillery, and cross the mountains into Georgia the moment he became convinced that the threatened invasion of that country was really imminent. Meantime he was to inform King George of the Emperor’s determination to protect him.2
