Shah of Persia

“ But under all this lies the inherent rottenness of Persian administration, an abyss of official corruption and infamy without a bottom or a shore, a corruption of heredity and tradition, unchecked by public opinion or the teachings of even an elementary education in morals and the rudiments of justice. There are few men pure enough to judge their fellows or to lift clean hands to Heaven, and power and place are valued for their opportunities for plunder.
In no part of Persia did I hear any complaint of the tribute levied by the Shah. It is regarded as legitimate. ”

“ The Shah's ambassador had been well chosen. At the audience which Kosroo Meerza obtained of Nicholas, the Persian presented the handle of his scimitar to the Czar, and declared himself willing to give his life for the life which had been taken from the Czar's representative in Persia. The Emperor was contented with a more moderate reparation; namely, that the persons mainly concerned in the murder of the members of the Mission should be punished; that the priest who had given the fetwah, or order for taking the Armenian women from the house of M. Grebaïodoff, should be exiled ”

“ Now that the narrative of Persian kings has been brought up to the period of the consolidation of the Kajar dynasty and commencement of the 19th century, there remains but to summarize the principal events in the reigns of Fath ʽAli Shah and his immediate successors, Mahommed Shah and Naṣru ’d-Din Shah.
Fath ʽAli Shah came to the throne at about thirty-two years of age, and died at sixty-eight, after a reign of thirty-six years. Persia’s great aim was to recover in the north-west, as in the north-east of her empire, the geographical limits obtained for her by the Safawid kings ”

“ Beyond this again, and approached by an avenue of poplar trees, lit by electric light, is the palace of the Shah, with nothing to indicate the presence in town of the sovereign but a guard of ragged-looking, unkempt Persians in Russian uniform lounging about the principal gateway.
The Persian soldier is not a credit to his country. Although drilled and commanded by European officers, he is a slouching, awkward fellow, badly paid, ill fed, and not renowned for bravery. ”

“ Of them the eldest male is chosen to be the reigning prince, but in Persia the selection of the heir-apparent depends upon the free-will of the sovereign on the throne. Mahomed Ali Meerza, however, by no means acquiesced in the choice which his father had made. On one occasion the Shah ordered that at the public reception which he was to hold on the following day no one of the princes excepting Abbass Meerza was to appear before him wearing a sword. ”

“ At the age of fourteen or fifteen he is married to a wife, of whom, the chances are, he soon grows tired. He then marries another, and then a third, and his anderoon goes on increasing. Up to the present time no prince royal of Persia has ever had the good fortune to travel abroad. Were the king or the heir-apparent to do so, many of the arts of civilization might, to some extent, no doubt, be introduced into Persia on his return ; but the risk of finding his throne threatened by others is at all times too great to admit of the Shah venturing to leave Persia. ”

“ At all times to be the bearer of ill news is a duty most repugnant to the feelings of a Persian, but on this occasion the news to be conveyed were of so peculiarly mournful a nature, that it was feared the Shah in the first outburst of his grief would order the bearer of the evil tidings to be put to death. During two whole days no one could be persuaded to undertake the task, and at the end of that time the king's two youngest sons were together sent to lisp to their aged father the tale of the demise of the heir to his throne. ”

“ Men may praise the doctors of Europe and of India, but where is science to be found, if it be not in Persia?—Who shall dare to claim a superiority, as long as the land of Persia is enlightened by the presence of its Shah without compare?'
'That's all true,' said the king. 'Persia is the country which, from the beginning of the world to the present day, has always been famous for the genius of its inhabitants, and the wisdom and splendour of its monarchs. From Kaiumars, the first king of the world, to me who am the present Shah, what list is so perfect, so glorious? ”

“ On Friday, May 1, this sanctuary was the scene of one of the saddest events which has ever happened in Persia—the murder within its sacred precincts of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, a monarch who was about to celebrate the jubilee of a reign which will always be remembered, not only for its remarkable length, but also for its peaceful character and general popularity. The proof of this popularity is that Nasr-ed-Din Shah was able to leave his country on three occasions for visits to Europe, and returned each time to receive a welcome from his subjects. ”

“ If they excited discontent amongst the people of the districts ravaged by the insurgents or invaders, they in turn afforded to an unpaid army the opportunity of enriching itself by plunder. There had been but one war in which Persia, since the accession of the Kajars, had been obliged to cede any territory, and the Shah was therefore only careful to avoid giving occasion for another struggle with the powerful neighbour whose might he had so sorely felt. ”

“ The King of Persia is constantly attended by a set of gentlemen who are denominated peishkhidmets, or waiters in the presence. They correspond in rank and title to the lords and gentlemen in waiting at the courts of Europe. They are not only contented, like them, to assume the denomination of household servants, but they perform the actual duties of domestic retainers. The Shah's dishes at breakfast and at dinner are placed upon the tablecloth by men holding a high position in the country, some of them being the sons of his ministers, and others being themselves governors of provinces. ”

“ No one probably saw more clearly than the Shah that the system of farming out the administration of the provinces from year to year is bad, both for the Treasury and the people; but he knew well that reform, to be sure and certain, must be slow and gradual, for change in Persia, with its ancient traditions and old memories, cannot be effected at one stroke. ”

“ That chief seems never to have fully relinquished the dream of obtaining the supreme power in Persia, and he held back until the army should have quitted Tehran. One of his followers conveyed to the Shah the intelligence that it was the chiefs intention then to proclaim himself king. The royal clemency had been already stretched to the utmost limit in favour of this general, who was strongly suspected of having instigated the murder of Aga Mahomed Khan, and who had undoubtedly afforded protection to the actual assassins ”

“ The Persian army had followed him to the neighbourhood of Erivan, and on the morning of the sixth of Rebbi-es-Sani, 1219, [2] he surprised the Shah's forces in their camp. The Persians were unable to make head against the impetuous attack of the disciplined Russian infantry, and they fled in confusion, notwithstanding all the efforts of the prince to stop them. The Russian general then besieged Erivan and opened a fresh negotiation with Mahomed Khan, the governor. ”

“ It was the fortune of Persia to be delivered from the Afghan yoke at a time when, under a feeble and corrupt ruler, the national life had been almost crushed out by foreign tyranny. This deliverance was wrought by a man who raised himself from the lowest condition to the head of the kingdom which he restored. Besides this achievement for Persia, Nadir Shah performed deeds of conquest which placed his name among those who have won lasting celebrity by the subjugation of empires. ”

“ The singular preservation of the regalia and Crown jewels of Persia from plunder while they were in the hands of rebels after the death of Agha Mohamed Shah, and again on the death of Fatch Ali Shah, is most remarkable. A superstitious feeling of fear and respect appears to have kept them from being lost from the Crown, or it may be that, on the principle of 'safety in numbers,' every one, with a prospective share of the plunder in view, was a check on his neighbour against theft of that which they thought belonged to all. ”

“ Since Feth Ali Shah has filled the throne, he has had no opportunity for the display of military qualities: the Persians would probably hold him in higher estimation, had he spilled more blood. His expeditions have been confined to a few excursions into Khorasan, rather with a view to keep up the good opinion of his subjects respecting his bravery, and to inure his troops to the fatigues of war, than to subdue that province. ”

“ It is beyond question that Russia, in occupying the district of Gokcheh, had no thoughts of making war upon Persia, and there can be no doubt also that no war would have occurred but for the religious outcry which was raised in the Shah's dominions. ”

“ The late Shah had three breeding establishments: one in the vicinity of Tehran, another near Hamadan, and the third at Maragha, in Azerbaijan, where the pasture is good. In each of these there are said to be about one thousand mares and foals. There is no part of the establishment of a monarch of Persia to which more attention is paid than his horses. They are always placed under the care of an officer of high rank, who is styled Mir Akhor. ”

“ During the reign of Shah Abbas this chief was generally in prison, except when his services were required against the enemies of his country. This had gained for him the name of the Lion of Persia, as men said that he was always chained except when wanted to fight.
The Shah can raise whomsoever he chooses from the lowest to the highest position or post, except in the most powerful of the nomad tribes, where the nomination to chieftainship is confined to the elders of the leading families, who generally represent two lines from one head, one being in the opposition when the other is in power. ”

“ He wrote to the Shah, requesting large reinforcements for the realization of his brilliant plans; but the king, while approving of the resolution to add Herat to his dominions, and while sending the required forces to Khorassan, directed that they should be led by Mahomed Meerza, and that the crown-prince should return to Tehran. He doubtless felt that his own days were numbered, and was therefore unwilling to risk the occurrence of the confusion which he knew would ensue in Persia in the event of his dying while the heirapparent should be far away in Affghanistan. ”

“ His treason to Lutf'ali Khan was now to be avenged by the heir of Aga Mahomed. But Haji Ibraheem was too powerful to be openly attacked. Nearly the half of Persia was governed by his sons or other relatives, who would at his command have at once raised the standard of revolt against the Shah. An order was therefore issued that, on a given day, the prime minister and all his kindred should be seized or put to death. Two of his youngest children were brought from Sheeraz to Tehran, to share the fate which had overtaken the other members of their family. ”

“ With the spring of the year 1827, both sides prepared to resume hostilities, and the regularly-drilled regiments of Abbass Meerza were employed in garrisoning the forts, and protecting the passes along the line of the Araxes, a duty which might have been equally well performed by irregular Persian troops, had the Shah placed such at the disposal of the prince. So shortsighted a line of conduct is altogether inexcusable on the part of the Persian king, who was at that moment master of an available force of eighty thousand men, exclusive of the contingents of Fars, Kerman, and Azerbaeejan. ”

“ No one realises this better than the well-to-do Persian, and nothing would be more welcome to him than radical reform on the part of the Shah, and the establishment of the land of Iran on unshakable foundations. With a national debt so ridiculously small as Persia has at present, there is no reason why, with less maladministration, with her industries pushed, with her army reorganised and placed on a serviceable footing, she should not rank as one of the first and most powerful among Asiatic independent nations. ”

“ The imperial armies had sustained reverses on the Danube, and it was feared that Persia, [2] if pushed too far, might unite her force to that of Turkey, for the purpose of driving back the troops of the North from the plains of Armenia and the borders of the Euxine. The Emperor, therefore, was prepared to accept the assurance of the Shah's representative that the Persian government had been neither actively nor passively in any way concerned in the late lamentable occurrence at Tehran, which, his Royal Highness said, they looked upon with the utmost regret and horror. ”

“ Persia, once a great and flourishing empire, has likewise sunk under the flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion, and to-day, under its ruling Shah, is one of the most inert of nations, steeped in the self-satisfied barbarism that has succeeded its old civilization. Such was the Asia upon which the nineteenth century dawned, and such it remains to-day except in one remote section of its area, in which alone modern civilization has gained a firm foothold. ”

“ She who threw herself out of your windows into my arms was my wife before she was your slave. We are both the Shah's rayats, and it is best known to yourself if you can enslave them or no. We are Armenians, 'tis true, but we have the feelings of men. It is well known to all Persia, that our illustrious Shah has never forced the harem of even the meanest of his subjects; and, secure in that feeling, how could I ever suppose, most noble serdar, that we should not receive the same protection under your government? ”