was terminated.

But the gates of the temple of Janus were not yet to be closed.
Foreign war now commenced, and raged with unusual ferocity. Six
hundred miles east of Moscow, was the country of Bulgaria. It
comprehended the present Russian province of Orenburg, and was bounded
on the east by the Ural mountains, and on the west by the Volga. A
population of nearly a million and a half inhabited this mountainous
realm. Commerce and arts flourished, and the people were enriched by
their commerce with the Grecian empire. They were, however,
barbarians, and as even in the nineteenth century the slave trade is
urged as a means of evangelizing the heathen of Africa, war was urged
with all its carnage and woe, as the agent of disseminating
Christianity through pagan Bulgaria. The motive assigned for the war,
was to serve Christ, by the conversion of the infidel. The motives
which influenced, were ambition, love of conquest and the desire to
add to the opulence and the power of Russia.

Vsevelod made grand preparations for this enterprise. Conferring with
the warlike Sviatoslaf and other ambitious princes, a large army was
collected at the head waters of the Volga. They floated down the wild
stream, in capacious flat-bottomed barges, till they came to the mouth
of the Kama. Thus far their expedition had been like the jaunt of a
gala day. Summer warmth and sunny skies had cheered them as they
floated down the romantic stream, through forests, between mountains
and along flowery savannas, with pennants floating gayly in the air,
and music swelling from their martial bands. War has always its
commencement of pomp and pageantry, followed by its terminations of
woe and despair.

Vsevelod in person led the army. Near the mouth of the Kama they
abandoned their flotilla, which could not be employed in ascending the
rapid stream. Continuing their march by land, they pushed boldly into
the country of the Bulgarians, and laid siege to their capital, which
was called "The Great City." For six days the battle raged, and the
city was taken. It proved, however, to be but a barren conquest. An
arrow from the walls pierced the side of a beloved nephew of Vsevelod.
The young man, in excruciating agony, died in the arms of the monarch.
Vsevelod was so much affected by the sufferings which he was thus
called to witness, that, dejected and disheartened, he made the best
terms he could, soothing his pride by extorting from the vanquished a
vague