Excerpt from The Eternal Struggle: A Word Picture of Armenia's Fight for Freedom Then followed Tavit Bey (david Bey) who at first, atthe head of a large army, prepared to assist the Russians against the Persians. But when the Russians retreated with out accomplishing their purpose, Tavit Bey continued alone fighting the enemy. Four years he struggled hard until he captured his native province and established an independent principality. Unfortunately, his life was cut short and once more the Armenian population of the district went under the yoke of their persecutors. The Mohammedan rule was especially irritating to our higher clergy. A number of them openly encouraged the te bellious spirit of men at arms. Archbishop Nerses of Ashtar ak was the soul of the uprising of 1826-1828. He personally presided over the enlistment of volunteers and helped to draw up a plan of campaign. He sent circular letters all over the country, stimulating the benumbed patriotism of his flock. Remember, he said, the glorious achievements of your fore fathers. You are their descendants, the same blood runs in your veins. How they fought for God and the Church and for the Homeland. How they sacrificed their lives for freedom. The time has come to show that we are worthy to bear the name of our ancestors. Be brave. Fear not. Let us all unite and together possess the land bequeathed to us by them. Do not spare the last drop of your blood if need be. May the grace of God crown your efforts with success. And he, the Arch bishop himself, holding in one hand the cross, and the flag in the other, rushed into the battlefield. It would be a long story to tell all the vicissitudes of the war which followed. Enthusiasm was general. Victory was assured. Once more the major part of Armenia was released from slavery. But, as in former times, it was a short lived in dependence. Russia played false. Malicious and slanderous re ports against the Archbishop arrived at the Imperial head quarters and he was banished from his native land to spend the rest of his life in obscurity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.