HISTORY OF PERSIA FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY TO THE YEAR 1858, WITH A REVIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KAJAE DYNASTY. EGBERT GEANT WATSON, l> FORMERLY ATTACHED TO HER MAJESTr'S LEGATION AT THE COURT OF PERSIA. *Et taueil y %nH it MBfalttot., an* ebTl il k fit roMr traia wt fwtM pts %Wt* ^ pel a ri*too*K!ter. qm rt nil U YtipOTlftnteir. On l*rr^ iJore tot * fiwt L* n>i \\.\U WITH Ki'SSIA. 211 lllllS eomilliitr.l to0d| Will! 111.' rn i unit, the Khan lont no time in rousing the people ..!' the province In lake up sinus against the infidels, and Hi 111. .iinr Hllir lie SUit tn ask the support of the Shah iii mi nmlu-tjikiii;:, the sole nhject nf which, he declared, 1'aleesli tn tile iVr-iail U'n\VD. A rrp Q| tui thousand inui wns accordingly sent to his aid, with which hody he was uiahlrd tn lay siege to the Russian st.-itinn .f !,:inknrjni. That place was abandoned, and tin i tnnk r< fii;:< in the adjacent island of Sari, thus 1< MVIII;; the wlml< nf the mainland of Taleesh in the limnls nf the r eiOM tin- Araxes, and the crown prince lost no time in l.rin^in^ up the n-infnreunent 1 -; un.hr ln^ orders. The Miis sinus were fnimd to be altogether unprepared f<>r so sinldeii :i h -jMiniiii^ nf war, and at first the iinpetiion ; I', i irrief iu the name of the Shah, and Ahh.-iss Meuv.M niMle n-jnlv tn Advance on the important tortr. B8 <>f She-sh;ih iu Karabagh. He did not, however, upon this place so rapidly as not to allow the nflicer who enmmanded there to have sufficient time to call in some detachments from the neighbour- hn<. 1826. 14 * 212 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. demand for the evacuation of the territory of Gokcheh. The language used by the representative of Kussia should have heen based upon a firmer state of prepara- tion to resist the force of Persia. Taken as they were by surprise, the Russian officers, with the exception of the colonel commanding at Sheeshah,* had no choice but to quit their posts and fall back upon places of safety. A Persian division marching into Karabagh under the command of the Shah's son, Ismail Meerza, encountered at Khunzerukh a Eussian detachment which was making its way towards Sheeshah. The weather was extremely hot, and the Russians were parched with thirst, and to these circumstances their colonel after- wards attributed the fact of his regiment surrendering to the Persians. Four hundred soldiers were killed or wounded, and the rest of the battalion, as well as two guns, fell into the power of the prince, who sent his prisoners to the Shah's camp. There half of the private soldiers thus taken soon enlisted themselves in the Persian service. After this, the Russian general who commanded the district bordering on Erivan, retired to Lori, a strong position on the Tabeda river, from which Hassan Khan, the brother of the hereditary Sirdar of Erivan, found it impossible to dislodge him. The Persian troops, however, were for the present unopposed in the open field, and they carried terror and destruction up to the Russian outposts the Sirdar penetrating in one raid to the immediate vicinity of Tin 1 is. The Russian officer in command at Genja, having marched across country to the assistance of the general com- manding at Lori, the Mahomedans of Genja rose upon, * Colonel Keut. DEFEAT OF THE RUSSIANS. 213 and massacred, the garrison that had been left in the place, and at the same time exterminated the Armenian inhabitants of the town. They then sent to entreat Abbass Meerza to advance to their support, and the prince responded to this appeal by despatching his eldest son, together with Ameer Khan, chief of the upper branch of the Kajar tribe, to the assistance of the men of Genja. His Highness at the same time sent forward the hereditary chief of the place, but he himself remained before the fortress of Sheeshah. The rising throughout the whole of the provinces inhabited by Mahomedans continued to spread. The hereditary chiefs of Sheerwan, of Sheki, and of Bakoo returned to their respective governments from their places of exile, and were soon employed actively in cooperating with the officer in command of the Shah's troops in Taleesh ; whilst at the same time the wild mountaineers of Daghestan did not lose the opportunity of adding to the confusion prevailing by descending to the plains, and plundering Kussians and Persians with utter impartiality. In the course of three weeks, Eussia had lost for the time nearly all the territory that had been ceded to her by the treaty of Gulistan. Sheerwan, Sheki, Taleesh, and Genja were evacuated, and the few remaining Eussians to the east of Tiflis were forced to seek shelter in the forts of Bakoo, Derbend, and Kooba. The only advanced post which the troops of the Governor- General now held was the fortress of Sheeshah, which continued to defy the power of Abbass Meerza.* The prince remained before that place for six weeks, the effect which his guns produced upon the walls being concealed from him by canvas stretched behind them. * September, 1826. 214 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. In the meantime a large force was being concentrated at Tiflis ; and the foremost Kussian division, consisting of 9,000 men of all arms, was pushed forward to Shamkar, a village in the vicinity of Genja. The young prince, Mahomed Meerza,* who now commanded in that place, moved out at the head of about 10,000 men to engage the advancing Russians. A battle was fought on the banks of the Zezam, a small stream of which the con- tending armies occupied the opposite sides. The Russian force, about a third of which was cavalry, was drawn up in one line, its left resting on the stream, and the whole of the cavalry being placed on the right, and separated by the guns from the infantry. Half of the Persian force consisted of cavalry, which was placed behind the line in which the infantry was drawn up. The Persian horse moved to the flank, with the intention of attacking the Russian cavalry ; but it was kept in check, and soon forced to retire, by the well-directed fire of the Russian artillery. Upon this the cavalry advanced and pursued the Persians along the whole line of their infantry and to the rear of that body. General Madadoff, the Russian commander, upon this ordered his infantry to advance, which had the effect of enclosing the Persians between two fires. They thereupon broke and retired in confusion, leaving their field-pieces in the hands of the enemy. Of the two Persian commanders, Ameer Khan was shot by a Cossack when in the act of endeavouring to rally his troops ; and Mahomed Meerza, the future king of Persia, had actually fallen into the hands of the Cossacks, when he was rescued by a Shahsevend chief, who carried him off behind him on his horse. This was the turning-point * He was afterwards Shah of Persia. DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS ON THE ZEZAM. 215 of the war. From that day the Eussians began to roll back the tide of victory upon their foes. General Mada- doff now recovered Genja without a struggle, and con- nected the town and citadel with a strong line of communication. Fresh reinforcements were ordered up from Tiflis, and the command of the army in the field was conferred upon General Paskievitch, who advanced to a position some miles to the south of Genja, where he determined to await the approach of Abbass Meerza. The crown-prince hastened to repair the disaster which had happened to his son, and on the 26th of September the hostile armies met each other. The force commanded by the prince now numbered about 30,000 men, and the siege of Sheeshah was carried on by another division. It cannot be doubted that it was a mistake on the part of the Persian commander-in-chief to risk a general engagement with the Eussian troops. The latter would have been far more readily overcome had the Persians contented themselves with laying waste the country over which extended the route of the enemy. As it was, every advantage was voluntarily given by the prince to the Eussian commander, who was allowed to choose his own fighting ground ; and when the Persian troops came within a short distance of the enemy they were kept under arms during the succeeding night, in order to avoid the risk of a surprise. On the following morning the prince left his camp at an early hour, and, after a march of about ten miles, found the enemy drawn up in squares on the level plain to the east of the fort and suburb of Genja, which covered their rear. The Eussian army consisted of about 10,000 or 12,000 infantry, a regiment of dragoons, about 2,000 Cossacks, 3,000 216 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. irregular troops of the Caucasus, and twenty pieces of cannon. The cavalry were placed on the flanks and the artillery in the centre. To oppose this force the Persian commander had under his orders ahout 30,000 men, of which 16,000 were infantry, and the remainder irregular cavalry, with some artillerymen. He had also twenty-two light field-pieces, directed by an Englishman in his service. The infantry regiments were drawn up in one long line, having fourteen guns to their right and eight to their left, while the cavalry covered the flanks and rear. The battle commenced by a cannonade from both sides ; the Russian artillery being so ill-served that the shot for the most part went over the heads of the Persians, doing little or no execution ; while the fire of some of the Persian guns was so well directed as to compel one of the Russian divisions to retire and abandon its cannon. Two battalions, composed of the men of Karadagh, charged the retiring square, and had the remaining Persian infantry made a corresponding move- ment in advance at that critical moment, it is probable that victory would have crowned their effort. The great body of the troops, however, remained stationary; and the two Karadagh battalions, being unable to maintain their position without support, fell back in confusion. It is said that at this juncture Prince Abbass Meerza was so ill-advised as to send a message to his sons to withdraw themselves from the thick of the fight. The messenger either misunderstood the order which he was to convey, or he was himself misunderstood in the midst of the noise and confusion of the battle. The result was that the young princes conceived the notion that their father wished them to withdraw the troops under their com- THE PERSIANS DEFEATED AT GEtfJA. 217 mand, and accordingly the line gave way and a general rout ensued. The regiments of infantry, composed of men from Irak, broke without having fired a shot, and retired in the utmost confusion. The loss of the Persians upon this occasion would have been greater had not their retreat been covered by some artillery, which, assisted by the prince's guards, kept the pursuers in check. One battalion of Kussian light infantry, together with the dragoons and the irregular horse, followed the Persians for about eight miles ; but the pursuers were not able to effect much injury. Abbass Meerza endeavoured in vain to rally his broken army, and remained with his guns till the last shot had been fired. He then withdrew towards Ooslandooz, accompanied by a small body of infantry and nearly 5,000 horsemen. The remainder of the army dispersed in various directions, and made for the banks of the Araxes. At the beginning of the action the Kussian cavalry had been charged by the Persian horse, and driven back amongst the trees and ruined suburbs of Grenja ; but this partial success was rendered unavailing by the defeat of the infantry, and the horse- men followed their retreating comrades. The actual loss of the Persians on this day did not exceed 1,500 men, but the survivors were dispirited, and all organization was for the time being gone. Only one piece of artillery was captured by the Kussians, and its loss was owing to three of the horses attached to it having been killed. But disastrous as was this day to Persia, it might have proved an useful one to that country, had her rulers been possessed of sufficient wisdom and energy to profit by the lessons it taught. The Persian army had at one time been on the point of-* driving the 218 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. enemy from the field, and the temporary success was to be attributed to the disciplined courage of two regi- ments from Karadagh, and to the fire of the prince's artillery. These battalions, as well as the artillerymen, had been trained by competent and zealous foreign instructors, and had the whole army been equally well drilled, there can be no doubt that the fate which befell the Persians would that day have befallen their enemies. Could the Shah have convinced himself of the fact that in his hardy and obedient subjects he possessed the material for an army capable at any time of defending his dominions against invaders, provided that his troops should be properly drilled, the lesson would have been cheaply paid for by the disaster of Genja ; but the rulers of Persia have not grown wiser by the experience of the past, and to this day the Shah's army is only half-drilled, and is in reality less effective, either for the purposes of defence or of offence, than if it were not drilled after the fashion of European armies at all. At Genja the command of the Persian troops was shared by the crown-prince with the Asef-ed-Dowleh a proud nobleman who occupied the post of prime minister to the Shah. The Asef-ed-Dowleh quitted the field at the first alarm of danger, and, accompanied by a slender retinue of well-mounted horsemen, pressed his flight with such unwearied diligence that he reached the Araxes, a distance of a hundred and fifty miles from Genja, on the night of the day after the action. On the following evening the crown-prince rejoined him, when mutual recriminations took place between them. Each accused the other of being the author of the catastrophe which had occurred, and they parted in hostility, each DIVISIONS IN THE PERSIAN CAMP. 219 taking the route towards the camp of the Shah. The roads were now covered with fugitives proceeding to their homes, and many of those who were intercepted and brought into the royal camp, were found not to have tasted food for several days. After the battle of Genja, the Eussian general lost no time in sending on reinforcements to the garrison of Sheeshah, the siege of which place was now discontinued. The Shah on his part proceeded to Tabreez, and took immediate steps for the assembling of a fresh army, the command of which was to be entrusted to the luckless crown-prince. Abbass Meerza was not deficient in courage, but he had not the qualities required by the leader of an army, and his self-possession invariably deserted him in the hour of battle. The prince, too, was on such bad terms with more than one of his brothers, that, even at the present critical juncture, they refused to serve under him. It was found necessary to give to Ismail Meerza a separate command ; and Abdullah Meerza, the governor of Zinjan, in bringing up his contingent, stipulated with the Shah that he should not be called upon to act under the orders of his brother, the crown-prince. The Zinjan troops were accordingly sent to the Erivan frontier, to cooperate with those of the Sirdar of that city. It had been the Shah's policy throughout his reign to humble the hereditary nobles of the country, and now at each chief city of the kingdom one of the numerous members of the royal family presided. With the exception of some of the princes and the Sirdar of Erivan and his brother, the Shah now possessed no general capable of handling troops in the field. The ablest soldier in Persia was undoubtedly Hassan Ali 220 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Meerza, the governor-general of Khorassan. That prince offered his services in the prosecution of the war against Russia ; but it was considered by the government that at such a crisis it would be unsafe to remove the check which his presence in Khorassan imposed upon the turbulent chiefs of that province. Some of the Khorassan squadrons of cavalry were, how- ever, directed to march to Azerbaeejan ; and the prince of Kermanshah received orders" to bring up the whole disposable force of his province and a body of horsemen from Looristan, making together a corps of twelve thousand men. The ruling weakness of Fetteh Ali Shah was an extreme unwillingness to part with money. This avariciousness increased with his years, and it was peculiarly disagreeable to him to be forced now by cir- cumstances to disburse to his army one year's pay in advance, besides having to expend the sum of fifty thou- sand tomans in refurnishing the arsenal at Tabreez. On the Kussian side, General Sewadzamidzoff quitted his position at Lori, and marched by the route of Gumri upon the fortress of Erivan ; but he was so much harassed by the troops of Hassan Khan, that, after having ap- proached to within a short distance of the city, he was forced to retire with the loss of four hundred men and a portion of his baggage. The Russian force thus discomfited was composed of about five thousand men, and was scarcely inferior in point of numbers to that under the Sirdar of Erivan. But an occasional display of activity and bravery on the part of some of the Shah's troops was not sufficient to counteract the influence of the disciplined organization of the Russian army. Through the most shameful malversation on the part THE PERSIAN COUNCIL DIVIDED. 221 of some Persian officials at Tabreez, the arsenal at that place was quite unfit to supply the troops with the most necessary articles for carrying on a campaign. Not more than two thousand shot were to he found, and of these the half were either too large or too small for the calibres of the guns for which they had been cast ; and the whole city of Tabreez could not supply lead for musket bullets, nor even paper for the construction of cartridges. The Shah declared that he was tired of drill, and he threatened to gather a body of a hundred thousand horsemen, and to overrun and lay waste the Caucasian provinces of Eussia. But at the same time that he uttered this threat he was inwardly pining for the return of peace, and his ministers were instructed to discuss with each other, and with the representative of the Government of India, the terms upon which an end might honourably be put to the war. The council of the king was divided into two factions, one of which was in favour of a continuance of war, while the other voted for concessions and peace. To the first party belonged the Asef-ed-Dowleh, who was the most powerful nobleman in the kingdom, and allied to the Shah by marriage, and he was seconded in his policy by the Kaim-Makam, a vizeer of great capacity. To the opposite party belonged the minister for foreign affairs, and the Moetemed-ed-Dowleh, who were backed by the personal influence of the Shah, and by that of his confidential Georgian eunuch. It was at length determined to send an envoy to Tifiis with instructions to endeavour to pave the way for the restoration of peace, and he was the bearer of letters from the Shah's minister to Count Nesselrode, expressive of the regret 222 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. with which they would view a continuance of the war. This envoy, however, could not at first proceed further than Tabreez, in consequence of the vicinity of a Rus- sian force to that city. The Governor- General of the Caucasus had been reinforced by the arrival of ten thousand men at Tin 1 is, while the division of Astrakan came up to Kooba and Derbend, and compelled the Shah's troops in that direction to retire. It seems then to have occurred to General Yernieloif to make imme- diate use of the additional force of which he was now master, and accordingly two Russian divisions moved into the enemy's country in the heart of winter. One of these bodies of men, consisting of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, crossed the Araxes at a point from which it might have marched either on Ardabeel or on Tabreez. Both of these cities were undefended, the Persian troops having been dismissed to their homes for the winter. Notwithstanding this circumstance, it would have been an act of rashness on the part of the Russian officer who commanded the invaders to have attacked Tabreez with so slender a force as that which he had under his orders, but it was open to him to march upon the city of Ardabeel. Indeed it is difficult to con- ceive what object other than the hope of capturing this city could have induced the Russian military authorities to expose their troops to the dangers and privations of a winter campaign in a country so trying as that bordering on the river Araxes. The possession of Ardabeel by the Russians would have been a standing threat both to Tabreez and to Tehran, whilst from that commanding position the Russian leaders would have exercised a para- mount influence over the warlike tribes of the vast plains NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. 223 of Moghan. But these considerations seem to have exercised no influence on the conduct of the Kussian commander of the force which now invaded Persia ; for, after having exposed his men to all the trials of a winter march through a hilly country destitute of roads and covered with snow, he retired as he had come, and allowed the Persians to recover from the consternation into which his approach had plunged them. The only fruit of his expedition was the seizure of some stores of wheat and rice, the property of Abbass Meerza. After the retreat of this predatory expedition, the Persian envoy found his opportunity of proceeding to Tiflis, and as a peace-offering, he took with him some hundred of Kussian prisoners whom the Shah released without ransom. But at Tiflis he learned little which it would give satisfaction to the Shah to hear. The Kussian authorities gave it to be understood that in order to secure peace, Persia must be prepared to relinquish the possession of the provinces of Erivan and Nakhtchivan, which lay between her former frontier and the Araxes, and further to defray the charges of the war. The envoy was then permitted to return to Tabreez with the assu- rance that the reply of Count Nesselrode to the letters from the Persian ministers, would be forwarded to Tehran. That reply, when received, was found to be couched in haughty terms, which showed that Kussia did not as yet share the wishes of the Shah for the resto- ration of peace. The Persian monarch at this juncture,* which was one of the greatest importance as regarded the future destiny of his kingdom, did not act in such a manner * AD. 1827. 224 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. as to show his subjects that he was worthy of being the absolute director of the policy of Persia. He wished for peace, but so great was his pride, that it had required all the efforts of the representative of the Indian Government to induce him to consent to the mission of an envoy to Tiflis ; while, on the other hand, he could , not be persuaded to devote a sufficient portion of his ample treasure for the purpose of equipping an army in such a manner as to enable his son to carry on the war with effect. His parsimonious disposition made it harder for him to part with his gold than to see his armies vanquished, and his territory invaded by the enemy. The following anecdote gives proof of the extent to which the unprincely vice of avarice had by this time gained possession of the mind of the Shah. Some boxes con- taining mirrors and lamps had been left in the royal camp by Prince Menchikoff, and Fetteh Ali caused them to be seized on the flimsy pretence that the Russian envoy had intimated that they were intended to be given as a present to the Persian monarch. It was feared by the peace party of his court, that if this act of spoliation should be repeated to the Russian authorities it would be likely to raise a personal feeling against the Shah, and so to retard the conclusion of peace. But the king fiercely refused to relinquish his prey, and at length Abbass Meerza had to purchase the mirrors and lamps from his father in order that they might be restored to Prince Menchikoff. In the same spirit the Shah insisted on throwing the expense and burden of the war upon the single province of Azerbaeejan, the revenues of which belonged to the crown-prince. "With the spring of the year 1827, both sides pre- THE RUSSIANS CHECKED ON THE ARAXES. 2*25 pared to resume hostilities, and the regularly- drilled regiments of Abbass Meerza were employed in garrison- ing 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 short- sighted 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 Azer- baeejan. On the 25th of April, the Russian division, commanded by Prince Sewadzemizoff, broke up from its camp at Lori, and marched to the Armenian con- vent of Etchmiadzeen, twelve miles distant from Erivan, and from there reconnoitred the fortress of Sirdarabad ; in performing which service it encountered opposition from the Persians, and met with some loss. In Karadagh, the Eussian division under General Madadoff approached the Araxes near the bridge of Khoda- Afereen. On the morning of the 4th of May, the engineers endeavoured to construct a floating bridge of rafts, but they were prevented from doing so by the Persians, who kept up a very heavy fire of musketry from behind the rocks that at that point stretch almost to the water's edge. Many of the Muscovite soldiers engaged in the work were killed, and some were forced to seek safety in the river, in the rapid currents of which, however, they only found a watery grave. Two Persian field-pieces, which had been brought up during the preceding night, now opened fire on the Eussian camp near the stream, and the whole corps then retired with precipitation, leaving some tents on the ground, as well 15 226 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. as the timber with which they had intended to construct the raft and repair the bridge. The troops who thus retreated, are said to have numbered ten thousand men, while the Persians were less numerous. The result of this action was to be attributed to the nature of the ground where it took place, in which the Russian artil- lery was of no service whatever. The position of Etchmiadzeen was well calculated as a base for further operations. From Tiflis the Russian general had brought with him Archbishop Narses, to act as patriarch of the Armenian church, and under such auspices it was easy to obtain the good wishes and active cooperation of the Christian inhabitants of that portion of Armenia. To the strongly-walled village of Etchmiadzeen the Russian commander brought up from Lori stores of all kinds, which were deposited in the ample rooms of the monas- tery. At this juncture General Yermaloff, who had arranged the plan of a summer campaign, was suddenly recalled from his government, in which he was suc- ceeded by General Paskiewitch. The latter officer now took the field in person, to command a disposable force of about twenty thousand men. The object of the Rus- sian Governor- General was to obtain possession of the important city and fortress of Erivan. It was attempted on the part of a Russian agent, to win over the Sirdar Hassan Khan ; but that chief and his aged brother remained true to the interests of the Shah. On the 6th of May the siege of Erivan was com- menced, and two days later the investment of that place was complete. Hassan Khan attempted to annoy the besiegers from without, but his horsemen were driven off, and the city continued for several weeks to be beleaguered. SIEGE OF ERIVAST RAISED. 227 On the morning of the 8th of June, a Kussian column, consisting of two thousand infantry, and an equal number of cavalry, with six pieces of artillery, crossed the Araxes, near which stream the guns and infantry were posted, whilst the cavalry advanced to attack Hassan Khan, who, with a similar number of irregular horseman, and two regiments of infantry, had taken up his position on the slope of a hill, called Koh-i-zoor. Some Polish lancers charged the Persians, and broke through their ranks ; but Hassan Khan, taking the supporting Cossacks in flank, drove them before him, and forced them to make the circuit of the plain in order to rejoin their reserve. An officer of the Affshar horse, fancying that he recog- nized in the colonel of one of the regiments of Cossacks the same person who in a previous affair had slain his brother, was fired with an ungovernable desire to perform what to a Persian is the sacred duty of avenging a rela- tive's blood. Singling out his adversary, he followed him throughout the circuitous pursuit, and having cut him down between two Eussian guns, succeeded in effecting his own escape. In the meantime the siege of Erivan was still prosecuted. On the arrival before that place of General Paskiewitch on or about the 25th of June, the garrison was called upon to surrender, with the offer of being allowed to retire with the honours of war. But Hassan Khan replied that it would ill become him to close his long life by an act of treachery to his king, and the Eussian approaches were thereupon pushed onwards near to the city. New batteries poured for four or five successive days a heavy but fruitless fire into the place, and not a single man suffered from its effects. At length, on the 1st of July, after the investment of the fortress had 152 228 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. lasted for eight weeks, the Imperial army broke up from before Erivan, and General Paskiewitch, leaving that stronghold behind him, marched on Nakhtchivan, after having sent his sick and wounded men to the Monastery of Etchmiadzeen. Thus for the third time the troops of the Czar failed in their efforts to take the fortress of Erivan. On the 12th of July the Kussian moveable force, con- sisting of 18,000 men and thirty pieces of ordnance, marched from Nakhtchivan to Abbassabad, a fortress on the northern bank of the Araxes, a little lower on the stream. This place was held by 3,000 men and was well supplied with provisions. Abbassabad had been fortified by a French engineer and was capable of presenting considerable obstacles to the besieging army. But treachery lurked within its battlements, over which the Eussian eagles were destined soon to wave their wings. The chief of the tribe of Kangerloo had been won over to the cause of the Kussians, and he only awaited a fitting opportunity for delivering up the place into their hands. On the night of the 14th of July an attempt was made to carry Abbassabad by escalade, but the assailants were repulsed with heavy loss. The fort was then closely invested by the Eussians, who were in turn watched by the troops of Abbass Meerza ; by those of Hassan Khan ; and by those of the Asef-ed-Dowleh ; the last-mentioned person being put to flight in an affair which took place on the 16th of July. On that occasion Hassan Khan crossed the Araxes with his cavalry and attacked the Eussian outposts, but he was driven back by the infantry and pursued by the cavalry and by a number of foot- soldiers who were conveyed over the stream at the backs of their mounted comrades, each ABBASSABAD TAKEN BY PASKIEWITCH. 229 horse carrying two men. The Persian guns opened on this body so soon as it had formed on the right bank of the Araxes. The Russians thereupon, finding the ford impassable, threw ropes from one bank to the other higher up the stream, in order to prevent their men from being swept away by the current, and by these means they transported three thousand infantry to the right bank. Hassan Khan was unable to interrupt this move- ment, and as his men and their horses were exhausted with fatigue, he sent a message to Abbass Meerza requesting that the Asef-ed-Dowleh might be ordered to attack with his cavalry the half- formed battalions of the enemy. This suggestion was not complied with, but on the other hand the Russians turned their guns upon the Persian horse, as they stood crowded together in a ravine, and drove them in confusion from the field. The troops under the immediate command of the crown- prince were withdrawn in good order, and those of Hassan Khan held their ground, whilst the Russians recrossed to the left bank of the Araxes. But the flight of the troops of the Asef-ed-Dowleh afforded to the base chief of the tribe of Kangerloo the opportunity which he waited for, of delivering up Abbassabad to the foe. The garrison for the most part made terms with General Paskiewitch, with the exception of a regiment of Bakhtiari that crossed to the right of the stream before the fall of the fort. But no sufficient attempt was made to follow up this success, and the Russian commander-in-chief, after having left a suitable force in Abbassabad, retired by Nakhtchivan to the frontier with the intention of allowing to his troops some time for repose. It may have been necessary for General Paskiewitch to spare his 230 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. army, but by so doing he lost a precious opportunity of following up the advantage he had gained at Abbassa- bad. Had he crossed the river and marched towards Khoi, where the Shah was then encamped, he would have thrown his majesty into the utmost state of conster- nation, and might have wrung from his fears an advan- tageous peace. The Prince Abbass Meerza was now most desirous that a term should be put to the war, and he accord- ingly sent a confidential agent to Tiflis who was charged with a letter from the representative of the Indian Government to the Eussian commander-in-chief on the subject of a negotiation for peace. In consequence of this step, M. Grebaiodoff, a gentleman whose subse- quent melancholy fate made his name to be remembered, was deputed by General Paskiewitch to the Persian camp for the purpose of offering the following conditions of accommodation : namely, that there should be an armistice for five weeks ; that Persia should cede to the Emperor in perpetuity all the countries now belonging to her to the south of the Araxes ; and that the Shah should pay the sum of 700,000 tomans in compensation for the expenses of the war and the ravages committed by the Persian troops. The prince would not accede to these terms, and, as General Paskiewitch would not grant an armistice on any other basis, the negotiations were broken off, and Abbass Meerza, with the Sirdar Hassan Khan, marched towards Aberan, whilst the other Persian commanders were so placed as best to protect the extensive frontier from Karabagh to Taleesh. The prince and the sirdar now determined to attack the monastery of Etchmiadzeen ; but in the neighbourhood of that place DEFEAT OF A RUSSIAN FORCE. 231 they encountered a Russian force which had been brought up from Aberan by General Karkoffski on his hearing a cannonade in the direction of the three churches. The Persians here numbered about five thousand infantry, and as many cavalry, with twenty-eight guns, while the Russians had the same number of infantry, but only one thousand cavalry and twelve guns. At evening, General Karkoffski arrived at Asterick, a village about six miles distant from Etchmiadzeen, and having rested there for the night, he resumed his march on the following morn- ing. At a short distance from the village he passed a division of the Persian army, which was posted on some heights near the road, and a little further on he came abreast of a second column, under the command of the Sirdar of Erivan. Here the action commenced with a fire from the Persian artillery, so destructive that the Russians could not proceed, but were forced to endeavour to fall back upon Asterick. Their retreat was inter- cepted by the advance of a division led by Prince Abbass Meerza, and from that moment the battle became general throughout the line. The repeated charges of the Persian infantry, who, anxious to wipe off the disgrace of Genja, advanced in excellent order and with great intre- pidity on the Russian squares, succeeded in throwing the latter into disorder. The fire of the prince's guns had the effect of preventing the Russian soldiers from re- forming, and changed the well- organized battalions into a tumultuous throng. The Muscovite general was borne away from the field wounded ; his brother, a lieutenant- colonel, was killed ; and most of the officers of the division received wounds or death, after having made brave but fruitless efforts to rally their men. Some of 232 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. them fell alive into the hands of the Persians, and these gentlemen, while estimating the loss on their side at nearly three thousand men, affirmed that, had their opponents evinced more moderation and less barbarity in the moment of victory, not one of the Kussians would have escaped. The eagerness of the Persians to cut off the heads of their slain or wounded enemies gave time for many hard-pressed men to effect their escape ; and many who had thrown aside their arms with the intention of surrendering, took courage on viewing the fate of their comrades, and fought with desperation their way towards the friendly walls of Etchmiadzeen. It is but just to the memory of Abbass Meerza to state that he did his best to discourage amongst his soldiers the practice of de- capitating their slain enemies : he gave no reward for the heads which were brought to him after the battle of Asterick, but the sum of eleven tomans for each living prisoner. About one thousand of the Persians were killed or wounded in this action, in which it was fairly proved that the battalions of Azerbaeejan, which had been disciplined by a Major Hart and other English officers, were a match in the open field for nearly a similar number of Kussian infantry. Abbass Meerza, however, sensible that unless he should be supported by the whole power of Persia, he would not be able long to cope with the resources of Kussia, addressed to his father a note setting forth the unvarnished truth, on the receipt of which the Shah fell into so ungovernable a fit of rage, that he sentenced the Yizeer who delivered the note, to pay a fine of six hundred tomans, and could not be approached for hours afterwards. On coming to his senses, after having CAPTURE OF ERIVAN BY PASKIEWITCH. 233 consigned his son a hundred times to perdition, the king determined to send his Yizeer of Foreign Affairs to London, to press the British ministers to use their influence with Kussia for the reestablishment of an honourable peace ; but the mission of the Vizeer was postponed, pending the reply to some communications which had been already addressed to his Britannic Majesty's Ministers. General Paskie witch, in the mean- time, relieved the garrison of Etchmiadzeen, and the Persian commander retired to the south of the Araxes. Towards the close of the September, the fort of Sir- darabad, near Mount Ararat, was deserted by its garrison, and fell into the hands of the Eussians, and as General Paskiewitch was strengthened by the arrival of five thousand fresh troops, as well as by that of a siege-train, he now once more undertook the siege of Erivan. By the fall of Abbassabad and Sirdarabad, Erivan was now isolated, and it was the only post wanting to secure to the Kussians the possession of the portion of Persia which lay to the south of the river Araxes. Up to this point of he campaign, the Kussian commanders had owed their successes more to the supineness of the Shah and to the discontent of some of his subjects, than to any military talen; or any remarkable energy displayed by themselves. Bat for the treachery of the garrisons of the above-mentioned two fortresses, it is probable that the campaign of 1827 would have left the belligerents in the same position relatively to each other in which it had found them at its opening. But fortune favoured General Paskiewitch, and the utterly infatuated conduct of the Shah rendered it only needful for the Imperial officers to come and see and conquer. When the heats 234 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of summer had subsided, Fetteh All Shah retired to Tehran, having positively refused to dole out any more money for the purpose of enabling his son to carry on the war. The resources of Tabreez were now exhausted, and the prince, therefore, with much reluctance dis- missed the greater part of his troops to their homes for the winter, thus leaving the capital of Azerbaeejan un- defended. Of this state of things General Paskiewitch was early made aware through the Armenians who corresponded with Archbishop Narses, and a corps of his army was accordingly pushed forward to Marend on the south of the Araxes, a town forty miles distant from Tabreez. The gloomy aspect of affairs seems at length to have broken the firmness of Hassan Khan, for we read that only eight days after the opening of the trenches before his city for the last time by the Russians, the hero of a hundred fights surrendered himself, and his brother's fortress, to General Paskiewitch, who thus earned the title of Count of Erivan. A greater calamity was in reserve to punish the avarice and supineness of the Shah. Sensible when too late of the terrible consequences that were likely to follow the dismissal of his forces for the winter, the crown-prince made many fruitless attempts to reassemble his soldiers, and was on his way from Khoi to Tabreez with the few troops remaining to him, when, at the distance of one day's march from the place, he learned to his horror that its gates had been thrown open to Prince Aristoff, who with a force of 5,000 men had advanced from Marend. The dismay of the prince on receiving . this intelligence may be more easily conceived than described. His wives and children had been left in Tabreez, and FALL OF TABREEZ. 235 that city contained his palace, his artillery, and his military stores. He dismounted from his horse, and at once entreated Sir John Macdonald, the British envoy, to send one of his officers to arrange for an interview between his Royal Highness and General Paskiewitch. At the same time, as he was seated disconsolate under the shade of a willow-tree, he implored the envoy to lend him 3,000 tomans, to defray his current expenses. The British officer forthwith ordered that the sum spe- cified should be handed over to the prince. But the Eussian commander was not so courteous towards the royal personage in distress. Probably possessed by a feeling of secret satisfaction at being able to humble so exalted a personage, General Paskiewitch declined for the present the interview proffered by his Royal Highness. The prince had no resource but to brook this insult, and he retreated with the Sirdar Hussein Khan to Salmas, to await the pleasure of the con- queror. The immediate cause of the fall of Tabreez may be stated to have been the disaffection of the chiefs of Marend, whose father had been put to death by Abbass Meerza, for having in the previous year deserted his post at the fortress of Genja. These young men, intent on revenge, were made aware of the discontent with which the people of the city endured the rule of the Asef-ed- Dowleh ; and they accordingly assured Prince Aristoff that he would meet with no opposition in marching on the capital of Azerbaeejan. Nevertheless, the Asef-ed- Dowleh discharged with his own hand some shots pointed on the advancing Russian columns, and thus caused Prince Aristoff to suspect the truthfulness of the chiefs 236 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of Marend. Bat at the close of that day the high-priest of Tabreez, backed by many of the chief citizens, took the keys of the city from the gate-keepers, whom the party threw down from the top of the city wall. They then proceeded to the Kussian camp, and invited the general to take possession of the place. On the receipt of this intelligence, General Paskiewitch brought up the bulk of his army, and on his arrival he omitted no means of soothing the inhabitants of Tabreez. The standard of revolt was now raised by several of the discontented chiefs of Azerbaeejan, who, deprived by the policy of the Shah of much of their hereditary in- fluence, thought to regain it under the sway of the Czar. Amongst these were the lords of Maragha, who liberated the Eussian prisoners confided to their care, and proffered their own allegiance to the Emperor. Another insurgent was Jehangeer Khan, chief of the great tribe of Shekaki, and the son of the celebrated Sadek Khan, who had dis- puted the possession of the Persian throne with Fetteh Ali Shah, and who had perished so miserably at Tehran. This chieftain was now appointed to be governor of Ardabeel, in the name and on the behalf of the Emperor of Kussia. Two of the best regiments in the Shah's service belonged to the tribe of Shekaki, and at the word of their chief they at once dispersed, and carried to their homes their arms and accoutrements. In short, the parsimonious- ness and neglect of the Shah had brought about a state of things when his empire was fast crumbling to pieces ; and, to crown all, the Kussian commander-in-chief declared his intention of marching on Tehran, unless his demands should be instantly complied with. There existed indeed but one obstacle, namely, the pass of the Kaflankoh, to . NEGOTIATIONS WITH RUSSIA. 237 the advance of a force from Tabreez to Tehran ; but to have pushed forward the small body of troops at his disposal * 400 miles further from his base of operations, would have been a proceeding of so hazardous a nature, that nothing but the assurance of his being unopposed by the Persians could have justified it in the eyes of European tacticians. But in the same way the advance by Prince Aristoff on Tabreez a city of 200,000 warlike inhabitants with only 4,000 men, may be characterized as rash. Kashness is sometimes the most prudent course in war with irresolute Oriental enemies ; and it is probable that had General Paskiewitch carried into execution his threat of marching on into the interior of the country, he would have obtained possession of the Persian capital. The demands of the Russian plenipotentiaries at the conferences which now took place between them and Abbass Meerza at Dehraghan were that, in addition to Erivan and Nakhtchivan, the district of Makoo, on the south of the Araxes, and the province of Taleesh, should be given up to the Czar, together with the enormous sum of fifteen crores of tomans, or nearly 4,000,OOOL sterling. The negotiations were protracted from the middle of November, 1827, until the end of the month of February of the following year, owing to the almost insuperable reluctance of the Shah to part with a portion of the treasure which it had been the task of a long reign to amass. Judging of European faith by his experience of the absence of truthfulness in the Persian character, Fetteh Ali Shah did not scruple * The Russian force at this time in Tabreez amounted to 15,000 infantry and cavalry with fifty guns. 238 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. to express his apprehensions lest General Paskiewitch should accept the Persian gold and then expend it in the prosecution of the war. It was fortunate that there yet remained one person to whose word the Shah expressed himself willing to trust. This was Sir John Macdonald, the British envoy ; and Fetteh Ali positively refused to pay any portion of the sum asked by Russia unless the English representative would guarantee that General Paskiewitch would fulfil the conditions of the contract. This pledge, at the request of the Eussian general, was readily given by Sir John Macdonald, and the negotia- tions were accordingly proceeded with. But it required the utmost pressure to induce the aged Shah to agree to the sum to which the Russian plenipotentiaries consented to reduce their demand, and it was to the personal influ- ence exerted over his majesty by Mr. McNeill, of the British Mission, that the conclusion of peace was in a great measure to be ascribed. A treaty was at length agreed to on the 21st of February, 1828, by the pleni- potentiaries assembled at Turkomanchai, a village a few miles to the west of the pass of Kaflankoh. The Shah's consent had not been given too soon, for the rebellious chiefs of Azerbaeejan had offered to the Russian general the assistance of 15,000 horsemen in the march to Tehran ; and his Excellency, tired of delay and mis- trustful of the honesty of the Shah, was preparing to move on the capital. ( 239 ) CHAPTEE IX. Provisions of the Treaty of Turkomanchai Alteration of the Treaty between England and Persia General Confusion in Persia Supine- ness of the Shah's Government M. Grebaiodoff Murder of the Members of his Mission Terror of the Shah Embassy to Petersburg of Prince Kosroo Severe Earthquakes in Persia Campaign of the Crown-Prince in Khorassan Fall of Ameerabad and of Khabooshan Assault on Serrekhs Origin of the Affghan War Death of Abbass Meerza The Kaim-Makam Last Days of Fetteh All Shah His Character Burial-place of the Persian Kings. As the provisions contained in the treaty of peace concluded between the plenipotentiaries of Russia and Persia respectively, at Turkomanchai, now form the basis of the intercourse between Persia and the nations of Europe, it is desirable to examine this treaty with some care. By the fourth article the following line of frontier is laid down as that which was thenceforward to separate the territories of Eussia and of Persia. From the frontier of the Ottoman dominions nearest in a straight line to the summit of the lesser Ararat a line was to be drawn from that mountain to the source of the lower Karasou, which runs from the southern slope of the lesser Ararat, and it was to follow its course as far as to its junction with the Araxes opposite to Cheeroor. Having reached that point, the line was to follow the bed of the Araxes to the fortress of Abbassabad, round the outer works of which a line of three versts was to be traced, and all the ground enclosed in this line was to belong to Eussia. 240 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. From the place where the eastern extremity of this line should have rejoined the Araxes the frontier was to continue to follow the bed of that river as far as to the ford of Yediboulak, from which the Persian territory was to extend along the Araxes for the distance of twenty-one versts. From there the frontier was to lie on the right of the plain of Moghan to the river Bolgarou, to twenty one versts below the confluence of the Adina-bazar, and the Lava Kamysche. From there the line was to follow the left bank to the junction of these two streams, and to stretch along the right bank of the eastern Adina-bazar to its source, and thence to the summit of the heights of Jikoir, so that all the waters that flowed towards the Caspian should belong to Russia, whilst those that flowed in the other direction should belong to Persia. As the watershed of the mountains marked the limit of the dominions of the two states, it was agreed that all the northern slope should belong to Eussia, whilst all the southern slope should belong to Persia. From the crest of the heights of Jikoir, the line of frontier was to extend to the summit of Karakonia, the mountain which sepa- rates Taleesh from the district of Archa. Here also the crest of the mountain was to mark the division as far as to the source of the river of Astera, which was to com- plete the line of demarcation. By the sixth article of the treaty the Shah of Persia engaged to pay to Russia as an indemnity a sum of twenty millions of roubles, or five millions of tomans. By the seventh article Abbass Meerza was designated as the heir to the Persian monarchy, and Eussia agreed to recognize him as Shah from the date of his accession to the throne. By the eighth article the Eussians were secured in the right of freely navigating TREATY OF TURKOMANCHAI. 241 the Caspian sea and landing on its coasts. As to vessels of war, as those of Kussia had from of yore enjoyed the exclusive privilege of traversing the waters of the Caspian, the same privilege was to be continued to them. By the tenth article it was stipulated that Russia should possess the right to name consuls or commercial agents wherever the demands of commerce should require them, and that each of these consuls was not to have a suite of more than ten persons. By the thirteenth article of the treaty it was agreed that all the prisoners of war made on either side, as well as the subjects of either power in captivity, should be liberated within the term of four months. The two governments reserved to themselves the right of at any time claiming prisoners of war or subjects of either power respectively, who might, from some accidental reason, not be restored within the specified time. By the fifteenth article the Shah granted an amnesty to the chiefs of Azerbaeejan, who were given the term of one year to remove to the Russian dominions, without any hindrance, should they decide upon doing so. By the second article of a protocol to the same treaty, it was regulated that three crores, or a million and a half, of tomans should be paid by Persia in the course of the first eight days succeeding the conclusion of the treaty, and that two crores of tomans should be paid fifteen days later ; three crores by the 13th of April of that year, and that the two crores which should remain still due to Russia, should be liquidated by the 13th of January of the year 1830. By the third article of the same protocol it was determined that in the case in which the sums due by Persia should not be paid to Russia on or before the 15th of August of 1828, the whole province of Azerbaeejan 16 242 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. should for ever be separated from the kingdom of Persia, and either added to the Eussian dominions, or erected into a separate Khanate. Khoiwas to remain in the pos- session of the Bussians after they should have quitted the rest of Azerbaeejan, as a material guarantee for the pay- ment of the portion still to be paid of the indemnity. By another protocol it was agreed between the con- tracting parties that so soon as the Persian Minister should receive notice of the arrival at Tiflis of a Kussian ambassador, he should make choice of an individual of a rank corresponding to that of the ambassador, and send him to meet the envoy at the frontier, and act as his Mehmandar, becoming responsible for his safety in his journey to the court, and also being responsible for the rendering of all the honours due to his rank. By the same protocol it was arranged that the ambassador was to be received at each station by an istikball, or deputation, composed of the chief man of the place ; of the dignitaries, and a suitable suite. In the case of the ambassador passing through a city of which one of the Shah's sons should be governor, his vizeer was to be sent to meet the envoy. On the day following that of his arrival at the capital, the Shah's Ministers were to call on the ambassador, who on the next day was to have an audience of the Shah. In the case of the arrival of a minister plenipotentiary, or of a charge d'affaires, the same ceremonial was to be observed, with the exception that the Shah's chief Minister was not to pay the first visit. By the commercial treaty of Turkomanchai, concluded on the same date, it was fixed that Eussian traders should enjoy in Persia all the privileges accorded to the TREATY OF TURKOMANCHAI. 243 subjects of the most favoured nation. Goods passing from one country to the other were to be subjected to one sole duty of five per cent.,* levied at the frontier. Russian subjects were to have the right to acquire en toute propriete habitable houses and magazines into which the employes of the Persian government should not have the right of penetrating by force, except by the sanction of the Russian Minister or Consul. The representatives of Russia, with the gentlemen attached to them, and the consuls of the same nation, were to have the privilege of being allowed to import, free from duty, all kinds of articles which should be intended solely for their own use, and Persians employed by the Russian officials were to enjoy Russian protection in the same manner as Russian subjects. The settlement of all disputes between Russian subjects in Persia was to be entirely confided to the Minister or Consul of his Imperial Majesty ; the treatment of them to be according to the laws of Russia. Disputes between subjects of the two governments were to be settled by the two courts of religious law and of equity, but a Russian employe was to be present during the hearing of each case. Such were the provisions of the Treaty of Turko- manchai, concluded between General Paskiewitch and Monsieur Obrescoff on the part of Russia, and Prince Abbass Meerza on that of Persia, and signed in the presence of the Asef-ed-Dowleh and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs. The chief difficulty in carrying the provisions of this treaty into effect lay in the extreme unwillingness of the Shah to part with his treasure. His Majesty consented to give six crores of tomans, * Cinq pour cent. 162 244 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. and the British envoy on the part of his Govern- ment consented to give 200,000 tomans, with the pro- vision that on the one hand the Persian territory should be at once abandoned, and that on the other the third and fourth articles of the then . existing definitive treaty with England should be expunged from that document, and the stipulations therein contained be thenceforward deemed null and void. The Eussian general at length agreed to evacuate the province of Azerbaeejan, with the exception of Khoi, on the receipt of six and a half crores of tomans, or 3,250,000/., and the 50,000 tomans wanted to complete this sum were supplied by Prince Abbass Meerza. The Persian Government held that the original occu- pation by Russia of the district of Gokcheh constituted an act of aggression, and that, therefore, Persia was entitled to receive from Great Britain a subsidy for the whole period of the war. This claim, however, was not admitted by the English Government, who held that Persia by invading Russia had been the real aggressor in the war. It is beyond question that Russia, in occupying the dis- trict 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 decision, therefore, of the British Government was in conformity with justice ; but at the same time they saw the delicacy of the situation in which they would have been placed had Russia in reality commenced the war, as in such a case, they would have been in the position of supplying Persia with a subsidy for the purpose of carrying on war with a Power in friendly alliance with England. It was FRESH TROUBLES. 245 a signal service on the part of Sir John Macdonald to extricate his Government from such an obligation, and the necessities of Persia made the receipt of 200,000 tomans of peculiar value to her at that crisis. But for the payment of that sum, General Paskiewitch would have continued to hold Azerbaeejan. In the meantime troubles arose in several parts of Persia. The Turkomans, as might have been anticipated, rose in rebellion. The people of Yezd drove the Shah's son, their governor, from that city, and took possession of his effects. The inhabitants of Ispahan refused the payment of the revenue due by them, and the great province of Kerman presented a scene of open revolt ; to crush which the Prince Hassan Ali Meerza was now sent at the head of an army. The crown-prince at this time intended to proceed in the autumn of the same year upon an embassy to Eussia ; and in the month of May he visited Tehran, to consult personally with the Shah, over whom he regained all that influence which had been dormant for a time in consequence of the events of the late war. The king now conferred upon him the governments of Kermanshah and Hamadan, in addition to that of Azer- baeejan, which he had up to this time held, and he triumphed over his late colleague Allah-yar Khan, the Asef-ed-Dowieh, who was dismissed from the post of prime minister and publicly degraded by receiving the punishment of the bastinado. It was the Shah's com- mand that the prince should superintend the infliction of this chastisement, and it is illustrative of the anger with which the recollection of the ex-Vizeer's pusillanimity filled him, that the prince inflicted with his own hand several blows on the feet of the prostrate man. 246 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. The court of Persia was now occupied in speculating on the probable results of the war between Russia and Turkey. The Shah was besought by both sides to take a part in the contest. There was little fear of his again provoking the anger of Eussia, but his son desired that in the event of the downfall of the Ottoman empire, the frontier of Persia might be extended to Erzeroum and to the Tigris. It was determined to remain neutral for the present, but to be prepared to take advantage of any events that might occur. In the meantime the Shah, whose thoughts dwelt on the advantages he might gain by the downfall of the Sultan, was on the point of forfeiting the most valuable of his own provinces. By the treaty of Turkomanchai it was stipulated that in the event of the third instalment of the pecuniary indemnity due by Persia not being paid to the Russian agents by the 27th of August of the year 1828, the whole of Azerbaeejan should for ever be separated from Persia. Notwithstanding this clause, the Shah's government, with a recklessness entirely characteristic of Persians, took no thought up to the last moment as to the manner in which the required money was to be raised ; indeed, the Vizeer of Azerbaeejan was unaware of the obligation into which the Shah had entered, until the specified passage of the treaty was brought to his notice by Sir John Macdonald. At the eleventh hour the required sum was gathered together the British envoy becom- ing security for the payment of 100,000 tomans and the district of Khoi was evacuated by the Russian troops. In another direction the aspect of affairs was such as to lead the Shah to the reflection that it became him to MISSION FROM THE CZAR OF RUSSIA. 247 attend to the conservation of the dominions he already possessed, rather than to seek to extend them on the ruins of the empire of the Sultan. The sons of Hassan Ali Meerza, who were left in charge of Khorassan, appeared in arms against each other, and this was the signal for several of the turbulent chiefs, amongst them those of Boojnoord, Koochan, Kelat, and Turhat, all inveterate enemies of the Kajars, to raise the standard of revolt. One of these entered the city of Meshed in August 1828, and got possession of the citadel and of the person of the governor. The venerable Sirdar, formerly of Erivan, a warrior of ninety years of age, was despatched to Khorassan ; but his military talents had not the effect of reducing the unruly chiefs to order. Persia was still in a troubled and disordered condition when an event occurred which might have furnished a pretext for the forcible dismemberment of the monarchy and the overthrow of the Kajar dynasty. Monsieur Grebaiodoff, a Kussian gentleman related by marriage to the count of Erivan, had been selected as envoy extra- ordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the Czar to the court of Persia. He arrived at Tabreez in the month of October, 1828, and there leaving Madame Grebaiodoff and a part of his splendid suite, he proceeded to Tehran, with the purpose of presenting his letters of credence to the Shah, and of shortly returning to Azer- baeejan. The imperial mission was received with the utmost distinction by the king, who commanded his nobles to do their best in order to render the stay of the strangers at the Persian capital as agreeable as it might be made. The Order of the Lion and Sun was 248 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. conferred on the gentlemen of the embassy; and the limited resources of Tehran were employed to the utmost extent in order to increase the good-humour of the representative of the Czar. That representative was a gentleman of an honour- able and upright disposition, and he was fully determined to uphold the dignity of, and to exact the rights due to, his imperial master. He was, perhaps, of too unbending a character to have qualified him for being a suitable representative to such a court as that of Persia ; but if this were a fault with which he might have been charged, he paid a heavy penalty for his firmness. It is said that the fact of his Cossacks being often seen in a state of intoxication in the streets of Tehran, raised a feeling of disgust against the Russians in the minds of the people of the Persian capital, and that this was increased by the refusal of the Minister to grant redress in the case of some complaints against the conduct of his followers which were brought to his notice. But any discontent which may have existed was not permitted to display itself openly ; and the Minister had obtained from the Shah his audience of leave, and was on the point of setting out on his return to Tabreez, when Yakoob Khan, the second chief eunuch of the royal harem, came to the house of the Imperial Mission, and claimed protection, on the plea of his being a native of Erivan. By the treaty of Turkomanchai, he had the right to return to his native place within a specified period, which had not then expired ; but M. Grebaiodoff used all the arguments that occurred to him for the purpose of persuading him to relinquish his intention of returning to his native place, pointing out that he had been long estranged DEMANDS OF M. GREBAIODOFF. 249 from the habits in which he had been brought up, and that he would find himself in an altered position should he return. But the eunuch, fired with spite against his recent masters, insisted on the enjoyment of the privilege to which the treaty entitled him, and he at length obtained shelter in the Eussian Mission. This most unfortunate occurrence placed the Imperial Legation in direct opposition to the household of the Shah, and caused much ill-feeling ; but it was of small importance compared to another event to which it led. The shelter afforded to Yakoob Khan induced the Shah's Ministers to press certain claims on the Russian representative, and the annoyances to which he was sub- jected roused his haughty spirit to desire to enforce the claims which he, on the part of his own Government, was legally entitled to advance. Two days after the flight of the eunuch from the Shah's harem apartments, M. Grebaiodoff advanced a demand that two Armenian women from the ceded provinces, and who were now Mahomedans and inmates of the house of the Asef-ed- Dowleh, should be delivered up to the Russian Mission. An attempt was at first made by the Persian Govern- ment to evade this requisition ; but on its being pressed, Allah-yar Khan was ordered to give up the women, who were accordingly taken to the house occupied by M. Grebaiodoff, and committed to the care of the eunuch Yakoob Khan. The Asef-ed-Dowleh had all along been the inveterate foe of the Russians, and it is probable that he did his utmost to fan the flame which now burst forth. It is probable also that the knowledge possessed by M. Grebaiodoff of the sentiments of Allah- yar Khan had led him to press a request so humbling to 250 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the pride of that nobleman as the demand for the delivery of two of the ladies of his harem. The case was referred by the roused populace to the decision of the priests ; and the chief mujtehed gave a fetwah, or statement of his opinion, that it was lawful to rescue from the hands of infidels two women professing the faith of Mahomed, and who belonged to the household of a true believer. On being informed of the rising tumult, the Shah directed the Minister for Foreign Affairs to entreat the envoy to enter into some arrangement which might have the effect of calming the excited populace. M. Gre- baiodoff agreed to do so on the following day ; but this delay proved fatal to himself, and was the cause of an indelible disgrace befalling the people of the capital of Persia. Between eight and nine o'clock on the morning of the llth of February, 1829, the bazaars of Tehran were closed, and the inhabitants flocked in wild confusion toward the residence of the Kussian envoy, with the intention of taking the law into their own hands, re- leasing the disputed women, and seizing the eunuch Yakoob. No sooner had the crowd succeeded in forcing its way into the court of the house of the Russian Lega- tion than the envoy's stern resolution at length gave way, and he ordered that the ladies should be restored to their lord. But a contest ensuing between some of his followers and the foremost of the crowd, who were dragging the eunuch towards them, a fatal shot was fired, by which a citizen of Tehran was killed. His body was forthwith conveyed to the neighbouring mosque, and there the bigoted priests proclaimed the disgrace that would follow the omission of exacting blood for the blood MURDER OP THE RUSSIAN MISSION. 251 that had been spilt. The envoy made every effort to appease the infuriated mob, so long as peaceful measures seemed likely to be attended with success : he even caused his treasure to be thrown amongst the crowd ; but this only quickened the desire for plunder, and when the eunuch Yakoob was torn to pieces, the Cossacks of the envoy's guard were ordered to fire upon the murderous rabble. The resistance offered by M. Grebaiodoff and the members of his mission prevented the Persians from entering the room they occupied ; but with ill-timed ingenuity it occurred to the assailants to remove a por- tion of the roof of the apartment, and by throwing down sticks and stones and clods of earth from above, they forced the Kussian gentlemen to seek safety in the court- yard, where they were soon overpowered, and despatched by the daggers of the infuriated throng. All that the house contained was then carried off, and on one of the populace crying out that the horses of the Eussian Mission were in the stable of the British Legation, a simultaneous rush was directed towards the English palace. The gates withstood the efforts that were made to burst them open ; but the cupidity of the mob was not thus to be thwarted, and an entrance to the stable- yard was effected from the adjoining house, the wall of which was scaled. It is remarkable that any traces of moderation should at that moment have been discernible in the conduct of the Persian rioters ; but they drew a fine distinction between what in their opinion was, and what was not, their lawful prey. Whilst they possessed themselves of all the horses and all the horse-clothing belonging to the Eussian Mission, they inflicted not the slightest injury upon a single article of British property. 252 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Having put to death a Georgian groom and two Cossacks, they led out the horses, and, departing to their homes, the tumult suddenly subsided. On the first news of this outbreak reaching him, the Shah instantly ordered the governor of Tehran and the commander of the forces to do their utmost to quell it; but it appeared that the authority of these princes was utterly set at defiance, since, after having received personal insults, they retired to the citadel, the gates of which were shut under the apprehension lest the rising should extend itself even to the precincts of the abode of the Shah. The king overwhelmed with shame and dismay upon learning what had taken place, hastened to protect the person of M. Malzoff, the first secretary to the Kussian Mission, and the only survivor of the party. That gentleman had been lodged with the Persian in charge of the Mission, in a house, or rather a suite of rooms, adjoining the scene where the catastrophe occurred. From his windows, according to his own statement, he saw the crowd pour into the court of the Minister's house, and the gathering at once became so dense as to deprive him of the means of proceeding to join his comrades. Seeing the extremities to which the multitude resorted, he retired with his servants to an upper room, where he might more easily defend himself if attacked, and there he distributed the sum of two hundred ducats amongst the Mahomedan guards attached to him. These men and his servants now ranged themselves in front of the room where he had taken refuge, and told some inquiring Persians that the apartment was occupied only by Mahomedans. The number of Kussian subjects DISMAY OF THE SHAH AND THE CROWN-PRINCE. 253 massacred is stated to have been thirty-five, including M. Grebaiodoff, M. Adelung his second secretary, the physician of the mission, the Persian secretary, a Geor- gian prince attached to the mission, an officer in the Kussian service, eleven Cossacks, an European servant, and several Armenians and Georgians. The body of the murdered envoy was handed over to the care of the Armenian clergy, and it was subsequently transported to Tiflis. The fate of this talented gentleman was the more melancholy from the reflection that but a few months before he had wedded a Georgian princess of remarkable beauty, who was thus early doomed to bemoan his untimely death. M. Grebaiodoff was a poet of consider- able celebrity, and his works are still perused widely throughout the Czar's dominions. It may have been to this circumstance that he owed, as he is said to have done, the dislike of his Imperial master, who looked upon the pursuit of literature as being a mere waste of time, and unworthy of a soldier or a statesman. Nothing could exceed the dismay into which the in- telligence of this deplorable occurrence threw the crown - prince, Abbass Meerza, who was at the time at Tabreez. In the middle of the night a servant of the harem was despatched for the British envoy, to whom the prince, after many exclamations expressive of despair, declared that a deed had been done at Tehran, the stain of which all the waters of the Euphrates could not efface. The prince could find a grain of consolation only in the fact that the Mehmandar attached to the late Kussian Minister had been severely wounded in his defence, whilst several of his Persian guards had been killed in the act of attempting to resist the rabble. The Shah and his 254 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. government spared no effort to convince the Czar of their entire innocence of the slightest participation in the recent occurrences which had terminated so fatally at Tehran. M. Malzoff was able to testify to the same purport, and the British envoy was entreated to request the Minister of his Government at the court of Eussia to add his assurances to those of the persons mentioned. In addition to this, it was determined to send an ambas- sador charged with full powers to offer any reparation that might be demanded by the Czar. But this embassy was looked upon as a service of the greatest danger. The Persians believed that the Czar would very probably exact life for life, and none of them at first cared to act the part of Curtius on the occasion. At length Kosroo Meerza, a son of the crown -prince, was selected for filling the post of the Shah's representative, and he accordingly proceeded to Petersburg. The demands of the Czar were regulated by the exigencies of the situation in which Kussia was then placed, rather than by the enor- mity of the crime which had been committed at Tehran. The imperial armies had sustained reverses on the Danube, and it was feared that Persia,* if pushed too * M. Fonton states, at page 404 of La Russie dans I'Asie Mineure: " Les embarras du moment s'aggraverent encore par une demarche precipitee du consul de Russie a Tebriz : cedant aux insinuations des Anglais, il avait quitte son poste sans en avoir requ 1'ordre." It would be more in accordance with facts if he had said that, " yielding to his own fears, M. Ambourger had quitted his post." The same author goes on to state that, on the receipt of the news by Abbass Meerza of the defeat of the Turks by the Russians at Akhaltsikh, the Persian prince assumed a more humble tone towards General PasMewitch. " II fit repandre le bruit qu'au cas ou les intrigues de ses freres ameneraient une collision, il chercherait avec les siens refuge et protection aupres du general-en-chef Russe. Tout sa cour prit en meme temps le deuil a 1'occasion de 1'assassinat de Teheran. Cette demonstration fut bientot suivie d'une demarche plus significative encore. Ali Yusbachi, 1'un des confidens d' Abbass Mirza, vint a Tiflis ; il exprima, au nom de son EMBASSY TO ST. PETERSBURG. 255 far, might unite her force to that of Turkey, for the pur- pose 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 con- cerned in the late lamentable occurrence at Tehran, which, his Koyal Highness said, they looked upon with the utmost regret and horror. The Shah's ambassador had been well chosen. At maitre, les regrets que lui avaient fait eprouver les mesintelligences sur- venties entre les deux pays, protesta du devoiiment de 1'heritier presomptif du trone, et se dit charge de recueillir de la bouche du Comte Paskevitch les conseils de son experience dans la situation difficile oii il se trouvait." The following is the reply of the Count of Erivan : " Votre Altesse me demande, comment elle doit agir dans les circonstances difficiles qu'a amenees pour elle la rupture des relations amicales avec la Perse ? . . . Le tres puissant Schakh, votre pere, veut commencer la guerre. Supposons qu'obeissant a ses ordres, et cedant aux intrigues de vos freres, vous com- menciez les operations ; vous ne rassemblerez dans le royaume que soixante mille combattans au plus. Nos provinces limitrophes n'ont pour defense, il est vrai, que les troupes qui occupent les forteresses. Vous pourrez, done, penetrer dans le pays ouvert; vous pourrez le ravager, mais vous ne prendrez pas les places fortes. " De mon cote. . . . je me porte par Bai'azeth et Khoi sur Tebriz. . . Je fais la conquete de ce pays, pour ne plus jamais vous le rendre. Tout espoir de monter un jour sur le trone de votre pere sera des-lors perdu pour vous. II ne se passera pas un an que la dynastie des Kadjares aura cesse de regner. Ce qui a eu lieu dans la derniere guerre aura lieu encore a present. Ne comptez ni sur les promesses des Anglais, ni sur les assertions des Turcs. . . . Les Anglais ne vous defendront pas ; leur politique n'a eu vue que les interets de leurs possessions dans les Indes. Nous pouvons, en Asie, conquerir un royaume, et personne ne s'en inquietera. En Europe chaque pouce de terrain peut donner lieu a des guerres sanglantes: la Turquie est uecessaire a 1'equilibre Europeen ; mais les puissances de 1'Europe ne regardent pas qui gouverne la Perse. Votre independance politique est entre nos mains. . . . TL n'est qu'un moyen d'effacer le souvenir de Tattentat qu'elle deplore, c'est de solliciter le pardon de notre grand monarque, pour la perfide trahison de la populace de Teheran. Vous pouvez atteindre ce but en m'adressant un de vos freres, ou un de vos fils, a Tiflis, d'ou je 1'expedierai en ainbassade a St. Petersbourg. Je prends BUT moi de faire agreer cette demarche a notre souverain. 256 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. 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 represen- tative 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 I given the fetwah, or order for taking the Armenian women from the house of M. Greba'iodoff, should be exiled; and that the plundered property should be restored. Compliance with these demands was readily promised, and Kosroo Meerza returned to his country after having obtained from the Czar the relinquishment of his claim for one of the two crores of tomans, which, under the terms of the treaty of Turkomanchai, were still due by Persia to Kussia. By this act the Emperor wiped away a stain which till then had adhered to the good faith of a Russian officer. At the time of the con- ferences which preceded the signing of the treaty of Turkomanchai, General Paskiewitch had requested the British envoy to tell the king that in the event of the due and regular payment by Persia of the amount of the indemnity owing to Russia, he would take it upon him- self to make the Shah a present of 100,000 tomans. But so great had been the need of ready money on account of the Turkish war, that the performance of this promise was evaded by the Russian agents. However, the Czar now made ample amends for any shortcomings on the part of the Governor- General of Georgia, since he relinquished his claim for 500,000 tomans.* At the * About 250,0002. sterling. RECONCILIATION OF RUSSIA AND PERSIA. 257 same time, it must be borne in mind that Russia had already received from Persia about two millions of pounds sterling a sum which exceeded the losses and expenses that her subjects and her government had incurred during the Persian war. Prince Dolgorouki was now sent as Minister to Persia, and on his declaring himself in the name of the Emperor to be satisfied with what had been done by the Shah in atonement for the mas- sacre of the members of the Imperial Mission, the troops in garrison at Tabreez were paraded in the presence of the Minister and of the Crown-Prince, when a royal salute of twenty- one guns from the artillery, and a feu de joie from the infantry, announced the reconciliation of the two governments. The year 1830 was marked in Persia by the occur- rence of a series of shocks of earthquake. In the month of April the town of Demavend suffered severely ; not less than five hundred persons are said to have been buried under the ruins of the houses which were overthrown. The towns of Semnan and Damghan, and the villages in their neighbourhood, likewise sustained great injury; and in all seventy towns and villages are said to have been partially destroyed. The Shah at this time undertook a journey to Ispahan and the south of Persia, and the crown-prince was entrusted with the government of Khorassan, in addition to those he already held. He was summoned from Azerbaeejan to Tehran with a view to his being sent thence to the eastwards for the purpose of arranging the affairs of his new province. On his arrival at the capital, however, it was deemed expedient that he should proceed in the first instance to Yezd, at which place the habitual energy of Hassan Ali Meerza 17 258 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. had not been attended with the result of a restoration of public tranquillity. Abbass Meerza proceeded thither, and the chief people of the town came out to meet him, and tendered the declaration of their submission to his will. His brother upon this proceeded with his troops to Kerman, to which place he was followed by the crown - prince. The latter had received instructions to send Hassan Ali to the presence of the Shah, and a regiment of infantry was ordered to accompany his Highness, nominally as an escort, but in reality to prevent his evading the orders of his sovereign so jealous is des- potism, and so forgetful of past services, provided that at the present time one's evil star be in the ascendant ! The crown-prince was welcomed by the citizens of Ker- man, and after having established some sort of govern- ment and public confidence in that place, he returned to Ispahan, to which city the Shah had again repaired, and where his Majesty issued orders to the prince to proceed forthwith to Khorassan, and to do his best to reduce the refractory chiefs of that province to obedience. On his way to Meshed, the prince succeeded in taking two forts which were held by rebel chiefs. The young Kosroo Meerza had led his father's army from Kerman across the desert to Toon and Tubbaz an undertaking which was attended with great difficulty, and the successful accomplishment of which bears testimony to the patient endurance of the troops, and to the capa- city of their youthful general. The Persian army on this occasion had to cany with it for long distances even a supply of water. The instructions given to Abbass Meerza were to reestablish the Shah's authority up to the river Oxus, which had been fixed by Nadir as the SUCCESSES OF KOSROO MEERZA. 259 boundary of Persia. With this view his Highness wrote to the Khan of Khiva, or Kharesm, demanding that he should renounce all pretension to that portion of territory which was claimed hy the Shah. The envoy, however, who was the bearer of this note, could proceed no further than Kelat, where he was detained by illness. In the meantime prince Kosroo Meerza undertook the siege of the fortress of Tursheez, by the reduction of which an effective blow was struck at the powerful combination of the Khorassan leaders, who now sought to make terms with the representative of the Shah. The most powerful of the chiefs of Khorassan was the Eelkhani of the Kurdish tribes of that province. Seeing that the prince had been able to win over some of the more considerable of the other chieftains, this Khan entered upon a negotiation for becoming reconciled to the governor ; but failing to come to terms the latter marched to the fortress of Ameerabad, which belonged to the former, and took it by assault. On this occasion the commandant of the prince's artillery was killed, and this occurrence served to add to the fury with which the Per- sian soldiers were inspired. Launching themselves upon the unhappy inhabitants of the fort, they slew all whom they encountered, notwithstanding the orders of the prince to cease from slaughtering. The carnage was only at length put a stop to by Abbass Meerza entering the place and purchasing from his infuriated soldiers the lives of the surviving inhabitants for the sum of twenty thousand tomans. The Khan of Khiva had advanced by this time to Serrekhs, and Mahomed Meerza was de- tached with a force to encounter him but the news of the fall of Ameerabad had the effect of frightening the 172 260 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Khivan ruler, and he retreated without having risked the result of an action with the Persians. But the Eelkhani still held out, and Abhass Meerza advanced to besiege his last stronghold, the fort of Khabooshan. The forces of the Eelkhani and of the prince were nearly equal, each army consisting of twelve thousand men ; but Abbass Meerza had the superiority in artillery, and the Eelkhani was discouraged by the retreat of his ally, the Khan of Khiva. The ruler of Herat, too, who had promised to assist him, had, on seeing the turn that affairs had taken, sent his Vizeer to the prince's camp to announce his sympathy with the cause of the Shah. For all this, the Eelkhani would not surrender his fort, and the Persians accordingly prepared to assault the place. A mine was laid under the outer ditch, which, on being sprung, opened the way for the advance of the assailants up to the foot of the wall ; and their courage was animated by the arrival, at that juncture, of the son of the Asef-ed-Dowleh, the afterwards well-known Salar, who had been sent by the Shah as the bearer of a number of royal khilats, or robes of honour, conferred by his Majesty on those who had distinguished themselves at the taking of Ameerabad. It is the custom in Persia for those who are honoured by being made the recipients of royal khilats to show respect to the Shah by making an istikball, or formal reception, to the robe of honour. Notwithstanding the critical position in which the Salar, on his arrival at Khabooshan, found the besiegers of that place, the custom -of going to meet the Shah's khilats could not be departed from, and accordingly Abbass Meerza caused the assault to be postponed in order that he and his THE EELKHANI OF THE KURDS. 261 officers might take part in the istikbalL But this cere- mony was not regarded with equal reverence by the Eelkhani, who, to the intense mortification of the prince, rudely disturbed the slowly-winding procession by the discharge of a gun on the rampart of the fort. Even after this affront terms of accommodation were still offered to the Eelkhani, and on their being declined, the order was given to assault Khabooshan simultaneously on each of its four sides. But now the Eelkhani came to the conclusion that he had done enough for honour, and he accordingly sent a messenger to the prince to intimate his willingness to agree to terms of arrangement. In reply he was told that he must surrender at discretion, or take the consequences of not doing so. He came to the Persian camp and was received with distinction by the prince. His Royal Highness entered Khabooshan, and permitted to himself the relaxation of going to the Eel- khani's bath, on coming out of which he was received by the son of that chieftain, who, in the name of his mother, presented him with an offering of ten cashmere shawls, and as many of the finest horses that were to be found in the tents of the tribe. The prince embraced the oppor- tunity of exercising the power which success in arms had given him, without calling upon the tribesmen to change the allegiance which they had till now owned to the family of their chief. The Eelkhani was deposed ; but his son, Sam Khan, who was the bearer of the offering, was then named Eelkhani in place of his sire. The fortifications of Khabooshan were destroyed, and the Persian army received orders to march to Ak-derbend, to which place the prince proceeded after having visited Meshed. 262 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. The object to which he now turned his attention was the reduction of the city of Serrekhs.* That place is con- sidered by the Persians to be one of the four chief cities of Khorassan. From its situation in the desert between Meshed and Merve, its possession is a matter of necessity to an invader approaching from either side with the pur- pose of possessing himself of one or other of the above- mentioned cities, and Prince Abbass Meerza could not have reasserted the power of Persia to regain the line of the Oxus as her frontier without having first possessed himself of Serrekhs. That city is said to have derived its name from Serrekhs, the son of Gooderz, a chief of Turan. It was held by the Saloor tribe of Turkomans, and its possession had been successively disputed by the Khan of Khiva and by the Ameer of Bokhara, respec- tively. The Saloors are called after the title of Tuli Khan,f the son of Genghis, and they form one of the most powerful divisions of the Turkomans. They are not addicted to the practice of making excursions into Persia for the purpose of plundering, but they were accused by Abbass Meerza of being in the habit of supplying arms to other tribes, to be used against the^ peaceful subjects of the Shah. In return for those arms, or for other commodities, they received many Persian prisoners, whom they detained as slaves, or sold to the inhabitants of Khiva and Bokhara. At this juncture * A.D. 1832. f "The Harem of Zingis was composed of five hundred wives and concubines ; and of his numerous progeny, four sons, illustrious by their birth and merit, exercised under their father the principal offices of peace and war. Toushi was his great huntsman, Zagatai his judge, Octai his minister, and Tuli his general." The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, c. Ixiv. SIEGE OF THE CITY OF SERREKHS. 263 there were three thousand captive Sheeahs within the city of Serrekhs. Abbass Meerza appeared before that fortified place, and summoned it to surrender. In reply, Adina Khan, one of the chief of the Saloor tribe, proceeded to the camp of the prince, taking with him the wives and children of a number of Turkomans who had previously been sent as hostages to Persia. The chief of the Saloors agreed to liberate the Persian captives on receiving back the hostages, and his proposals were emphasized by the tears and entreaties of the women and children. But these failed to make any impression on the prince, who in- formed the chief that the hostages were not in his camp, and who went so far as to detain Adina Khan and those he had brought with him ; the Persian com- mander being of opinion that men-stealers, such as the Turkomans, were not entitled to the benefit of the usages established for war between civilized nations. The Persian artillery opened fire on the city, and the Turkomans thereupon had recourse to the expedient of placing their Sheeah captives men, women and children in such a position as that they should be exposed to the full effects of the fire of the besiegers. This device caused the prince to suspend for a time the cannonade from his artillery. But he was roused to fresh measures against the Turkomans by the perusal of a petition which he received from his father's captive subjects, imploring him to rescue them from a captivity in which they were constantly exposed to hear the Sheeah faith blasphemed, and to see their wives violated. Adina Khan was sent into the city as the bearer of the prince's ultimatum ; which was, that the place should be 264 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. surrendered to him, unconditionally, within one hour, or that it should feel the effects of his power. The hour elapsed, and the prince gave his troops the order to assault Serrekhs, and to execute a Katl-i-am, or general massacre upon its stubborn inhabitants. The onset did not terrify the brave tribesmen of Saloor, who met the assailants with the Suni war-cry, "La Allah-il-Allah ; " but the Turkomans were overcome, their chief was slain, and no quarter was asked by the vanquished, or offered by the victors. For the space of one hour the carnage raged, but at the end of that time the hunger after plunder prevailed over the thirst for blood, and the soldiers left off slaughtering in order that they might secure the spoil with as little delay as might be possible. The riches found in Serrekhs are said to have exceeded all computation, and the troops were permitted to retain for themselves whatever fell into their hands. Four hundred and fifty slave-dealers were given over to the liberated slaves, by whom they were torn in pieces, and after the walls of Serrekhs had been levelled with the ground, the prince turned back towards Meshed. His successes had inspired such terror throughout Central Asia, that it is said Turanian mothers could hush their children by pronouncing the dreaded name of Abbass. The last recusant chieftain of Khorassan the ruler of the Kara tribe now submitted to the representative of the Shah. He was deprived of his government, and detained in custody along with the former Eelkhani. The declared intention with which the crown-prince had set out from Ispahan, of reasserting by force the right of the Shah to all the country lying between Khorassan and the SUCCESSES OF PRINCE ABBASS MEERZA. 265 Oxus, had not been carried into execution : not even as far as to Merve had the arms of Abbass penetrated ; but yet he was now in some sort enabled to carry out the instructions he had received from the Shah. Five thousand prisoners of the tribe of Saloor still remained in his camp, and for their ransom the Khan of Khiva offered to pay the sum of fifty thousand tomans. Abbass Meerza consented to liberate them only upon the condition that he should receive, besides the ransom- money, a paper wherein it was stipulated that Persian merchants proceeding to Central Asia should be con- ducted as far as to the Oxus by guards of the Saloor tribe, who should be responsible for their safety; that that tribe should undertake to prevent the Turkomans of the tribes of Tekeh and Saroock from making incur- sions into Khorassan ; that if they could not in all in- stances effectually prevent these incursions, they should at any rate give timely notice to the nearest Persian authorities to take measures for their own defence ; that they should agree never to receive or have any dealings with slave- dealers of any country ; and finally, that they should consent to furnish tribute and horsemen to the Shah at stated intervals. These conditions were accepted by the Turkomans, who probably had no intention at all of adhering to them; but the document in which they were embodied remained in the hands of the prince, and the honour of the Persian government was vindi- cated. After this, Prince Abbass Meerza, elated by the success which had attended his arms in Khorassan, turned his attention to the scheme of conquering a portion of Affghanistan. Yar Mahomed Khan, the 266 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Vizeer of Prince Kamran of Herat, was then in the Persian camp, and Abbass Meerza desired him to inform his master that the Shah, being now not engaged in Russian wars, was at leisure to assert by force of arms the claims of the Kings of Persia to dominion over Affghanistan. This declaration on the part of the Persian crown-prince was the beginning of a series of events which greatly contributed to bring about the subsequent Affghan war. Prince Kamran was required to acknowledge the authority of the Shah, and to pay tribute to him as a vassal, or else to be prepared to feel the effects of his power. The ruler of Herat endea- voured by means of a soft answer to turn away the prince's wrath, but this did not have the effect of in- ducing his Highness to forego the resolution he had taken of marching upon Herat. His son, Mahomed Meerza, was at his request appointed Vali of Khorassan, so that the crown-prince might be at liberty to devote his exclusive attention to the great scheme of conquering Affghanistan. 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 heir- apparent should be far away in Affghanistan. The crown-prince returned to Tehran, bringing with him the fallen chiefs of Khorassan. He also brought REVENGE OF MAHOMED VELI MEERZA. 267 with him Abdul Eezak Khan of Yezd, who had risen in rebellion against the Shah during the occupation of Azerbaeejan by the Kussians, and who had forced the governor of Yezd, Mahomed Yeli Meerza, to make his escape from that place. This Khan had also insulted and ill-used the family of the prince, and had expelled the members of his harem from Yezd. Abb ass Meerza had promised to intercede with the Shah for the pardon of these prisoners of rank ; but Abdul Eezak Khan so much dreaded the effects of the revenge of Mahomed Yeli Meerza, that, ere reaching Tehran, he twice attempted to commit suicide, in the first instance by taking a large quantity of opium, and afterwards by inflicting upon himself a wound with his dagger. In this state he was brought before the Shah, and having been, along with the other two captives, severely repri- manded, he was made over to the custody of Mahomed Yeli Meerza, with the distinct understanding that, though he was to be disgraced, his life would not be taken, and that he was to receive no bodily injury. What follows is illustrative of the barbarism which still lingers in the Persian character. The prince was beset by the women of his family who had been ill-treated by Abdul Eezak, and, no longer able to restrain his desire for the blood of his foe, he entered the apartment where the Khan was being attended by doctors, who were endeavouring to bandage the wound which his own hand had inflicted on his person. These were ordered to retire, and Mahomed Yeli nearly severed the Khan's head from his body with one blow of his sabre. Upon this the women of his family rushed into the apartment, and after having mangled the body, caused it to be thrown out into 268 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the street. I nowhere read that this shocking act drew down upon the perpetrator any censure from the Shah. Abbass Meerza was now bent upon returning to Kho- rassan, but the state of his health was such as to alarm the king, and the prince was earnestly entreated by his friends to act upon the advice of his medical advisers, and to repair to some place where he might hope to enjoy the repose which he so much required. He replied that the necessities of his position were such as to put it out of his power to retire from affairs for a time, as the report would in that case get abroad that he was dangerously ill, and would have a prejudicial effect on his interests. He accordingly, much against the wish of the Shah, set out once again for K"horassan, and he saw his father's face no more. Efforts were at this time made on the part of the Kussian Government to bring the crown-prince to throw himself into the hands of that power. His Highnesses fickle and wavering mind was swayed to and fro between the schemes of ruling by the favour of the Czar, or of owing his crown to his own efforts, and to the aid of some English officers who were now sent - from India for the purpose of drilling and commanding his troops. He chose the nobler part, and declined to become the slave of the power whose legions he had so often faced in battle. His Highness proceeded towards Meshed, and on the way he had the misfortune to hear of the death of his English physician, Dr. Cormick, who had attended him during a period of twenty- three years, and who, by his professional skill and his intimate acquaintance with the prince's constitution, might perhaps have been the means DEATH OF PRINCE ABBASS MEERZA. 269 of saving his life. After his arrival at Meshed his ill- ness rapidly increased, and he became aware that his end was approaching. He now devoted his few remaining hours to the services of religion. Twice each day he proceeded on foot to the shrine of Imam Keza, and when his last hour was come he turned his face to Mecca, and, worn out by war and woes, calmly yielded up the ghost. He had, amongst one hundred and fifty-nine children, been ever the favourite of his father, and though he was fickle and easily worked upon and passionate, he was, notwithstanding, the noblest of the Kajar race. Abbass Meerza had attained the age of forty-six years, when his ashes were consigned to the sacred earth beneath the shrine of Imam Keza.* The difficult task had now to be performed of announcing to the Shah the intelligence of his son's demise. 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. The outrageous grief of the Shah was not occasioned solely by the loss for ever of his beloved son's society. Some time before this the king, it is said, had com- manded the royal astrologer to cast his horoscope, so that he might gain some knowledge of the fate that * A.D. 1833. 270 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. awaited him. The astrologer, in the performance of this delicate duty, was, perhaps, guided by his common sense more than by any conjunction of the stars. In all probability the crown -prince would survive his father, and therefore he would not be put to shame before the latter by the answer which he delivered. It was that the prince's death would precede by about a year that of the king. He could have little calculated on the literal fulfilment of his prophecy. Before the death of the heir-apparent, his son Mahomed Meerza had advanced upon Ghorian, in the territory of Herat, and having found that place obsti- nately defended, had left it in his rear and proceeded to attack the capital of Prince Kamran. The inhabitants of Herat defended themselves with the courage and steadiness which they have manifested during each of the numerous sieges of that fortress. On one occasion they sallied out from the place and defeated one of the divisions of the Persian army ; but Mahomed Meerza was assisted by the talent and experience of Monsieur Beroffsky, a Polish officer who had come to Persia with the design of inducing that power to league with Turkey against Russia at the time of the Polish insurrection. The siege of Herat would probably ere long have been conducted to a termination favourable to the Persians, but it was brought to a sudden close in consequence of the death of the crown -prince. The ruler of Herat agreed to pay tribute to the Shah, and Mahomed Meerza returned to Meshed, and proceeded to Tehran, where he was pronounced the heir- apparent to the throne, and appointed to be governor of Tabreez. The removal of the crown-prince from the scene gave fresh hope to PRINCE MAHOMED MEERZA. 271 those who had intended to dispute with him the acces- sion to the regal dignity, and, from the feeble health of the king, men were prepared soon to witness the miseries of civil war. Prince Mahomed Meerza, now the acknowledged heir to the Persian throne, returned to Tabreez to undertake the government so long held by his father. This prince was at this time twenty-eight years of age, but, young as he was, he was already enfeebled in constitution, and he paid the penalty of his devotion to the pleasures of the table by having to submit to frequently-recurring attacks of gout. The province of Azerbaeejan had suffered greatly from the excessive peculation of his brothers, two of whom, Jehangeer and Kosroo, were now sent to well- merited confinement in the fortress of Ardabeel. Of these two young men their own mother is said to .have declared that it was impossible to tell which was the worst ; and we are therefore not surprised to read that Kosroo Meerza, who had been ambassador to the court of Eussia, was afterwards condemned to be deprived of sight. But though Mahomed Meerza was the nominal governor of Azerbaeejan, the real authority over that province lay at this time in the hands of Meerza Abdul Kassim, the Kaim-Makam, who had long filled the important office of vizeer to Abbass Meerza, and who was subsequently called to the still higher post of Grand Yizeer of Persia. This nobleman stood unrivalled for talent in the estima- tion of his countrymen. He was an able financier, and was well acquainted with the condition of every province in the kingdom, and was moreover versed in the relations between Persia and the foreign States ; but the quality in the possession of which he was chiefly pre-eminent, 272 A HISTORY .OF PERSIA. was the power of deceiving others a power which it would seem was in no way lessened by the circumstance that his falseness was widely known. He made it a principle never to refuse a request made of him, and hy these easy means he contrived to send away petitioners contented, for the time being. The Kaim-Makam esti- mated others by what he knew of his own character. He would trust no one, and as he insisted on himself trans- acting all affairs of importance, the business confided to him remained always in arrears, and the people of Azer- baeejan were left to vent in grumbling the discontent engendered by the miserable system of government under which they were condemned to live. The aged Shah had for some time past been in indif- ferent health, and his demise was thought to be not far distant. Under these circumstances his son, Hassan Ali Meerza, the Firman-Firma, or governor-general, of the province of Fars, who had made up his mind to be king after his father should die, thought it would be wasting money to pay in the arrears which he owed to the royal treasury. In order to compel him to do so, Fetteh Ali, whose ruling passion of avarice was as predominant as ever, deter- mined upon undertaking another journey to the south of Persia. His march would also, he hoped, have the effect of putting down the rumours of his death which had been circulated for some time past, and which were the cause of much lawless disorder in the provinces at a distance from the capital. The Bakhtiari mountaineers had even gone to the length of inflicting a poignant blow on the Shah by seizing on a portion of the royal treasure which was being conveyed to Tehran from Ispahan. A large force, said to have amounted to thirty thousand horse DEFALCATION OF HASSAN ALI MEERZA. 273 and foot, was assembled for the purpose of accompanying the Shah. In the autumn his Majesty quitted Tehran, and at Koorn went to inspect the gorgeous sepulchre which he was destined soon to fill. At Kashan he re- mained for eight days in the delightful palace of Feen, and thence proceeded to Ispahan. The monarch, whose life had been spent in travelling from place to place, had now made his last journey. He was met near the city by the whole population of Ispahan, and a gorgeous carpeting of cashmere shawls was spread on the ground to be pressed by the feet of the king as he entered the palace of Sadetabad. Six days later the Firman-Firma arrived from Sheeraz, but in place of the 600,000 tomans * which were due from the revenue of Fars, the prince brought with him only 13,000 tomans. This was too trying for the Shah's patience, and after having vented his anger in abuse of his son, he ordered him to be con- fined until the remaining arrears should be collected by the commissioners whom he appointed to that duty. The Grand Vizeer was ordered to proceed to Fars with ten thousand men, and there to employ the severest measures for coercing the inhabitants into a settlement of the claims against them. The Firman-Firma, having been thus temporarily superseded, was permitted to return to the south. After this the Shah held a public salam, or levee, at which he desired the governors and vizeers present to dismiss from their minds the vain idea that he was too old to be able to enforce the payment of what was due to him. Three days later, his Majesty suffered from a slight attack of fever, which increased to an * About 300,OOOZ. sterling. 18 274 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. alarming extent in the course of the two following days, but up to the last hour of his life the Shah continued to transact the business of the state. On the day before his death he held the usual levee, and gave his prime minister his audience of leave. On the next day the third of his illness, he sent his eunuchs with messages to the different officers of the government whom he could not see personally ; as his fever obliged him to remain in his harem apartments, where he was nursed by his favourite wife, the Taj-ed-Dowleh, a lady whom his will had raised from the condition of a dancing-girl to that of the ruling sultana of the royal family. When on this day, the 23rd of October, 1834,* the hour of evening- prayer arrived, the king endeavoured to perform his accustomed devotions ; but his strength was exhausted, and all that remained for him was to ask that his feet might be placed in the direction of Mecca. As the sul- tana hastened to perform the dying request of her lord, the Shah fell lifeless at her side, having expired without a groan or a sigh. Fetteh Ali had attained to the age of sixty-eight, and he had ruled over Persia for thirty-seven years. His character may be described in a few words. Where money was not in question he was pronounced by com- petent authority to be the most sensible man in his dominions ; but his violent lust after gold obscured his common sense, and caused him to sacrifice some of the most important provinces of his kingdom, rather than supply the means necessary for their defence. Through- out his whole reign this passion was predominant, and for its more complete gratification he was ready to put * The 19th of Jemadi-es-Sani, A.H. 1250. DEATH AXD CHARACTER OF FBTTEH ALL 275 aside the suggestions of dignity and the promptings of gratitude. Thus we read that when his Britannic Ma- jesty's Government decided upon handing over to the authorities in India the management of the relations between Great Britain and the Persian court, the Shah consented to the change under the belief that the envoy from India would lay before him an offering upon the same costly scale as that which Sir John Malcolm had brought from the shores of Hindostan. But the Govern- ment of Fort William no longer felt the necessity of paying a very heavy price for the good-will of the Shah and his ministers, and accordingly their envoy was in- structed to limit his offering to the sum of fifty thousand rupees. The anxiety of Fetteh AH on this point was so great that he directed those who had access to the envoy on his way towards Tehran, to endeavour to extract from him some information regarding the amount of the pre- sent which he intended to lay before the king. These endeavours were not attended with success, and the envoy arrived at the court without having given any hint as to his intentions. Upon this the Shah sent two of his ministers to wait upon the envoy with the express pur- pose of asking him how much money he intended to offer to the king ; and when these vizeers had ascertained that the offering was to be fifty thousand rupees, they did not scruple to affirm in the name of their master that the Shah, by being offered so small a sum, would consider himself to have been almost deceived, since in accepting the proposal made to him to receive an envoy from the subordinate Government of India, he had of course taken it for granted that the offering to be made to him would be on the same scale as that of the former envoy from 182 276 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Calcutta. The result of this barefaced proceeding was exactly what the Shah wished since the envoy was bullied into exceeding the amount which his government had assigned as that which might be offered to the Shah. With the exception of the one glaring vice of avarice, Fetteh Ali's character did not exhibit many very objec- tionable traits, and on the whole it will bear a favour- able comparison with that of the generality of Oriental monarchs. That he was not without the qualities requisite for a Persian King, is proved by the fact of his having been able to put down the numerous com- petitors who disputed with him the possession of the throne, and by his having been able to maintain himself upon that throne for thirty-seven years; but he was indebted for his successes more to the precautions taken by his uncle than to any merits of his own. His talents were rather of a kind suited to an Oriental statesman than to a soldier. There is no reason to doubt that he possessed in his youth a sufficient share of courage, but after he had firmly secured possession of the throne, he did not care to expose his person too much to the chances of battle ; and in his later years, by deserting the army opposed to the Kussians, near the Araxes, he laid himself open to the charge either of inexcusable apathy towards the national cause, or of an unworthy desire to place himself beyond the reach of the incon- veniences attending a residence in a camp before the enemy. But if Fetteh Ali was not without faults, he was also gifted with several good qualities. His affection for his children was excessive, and there is something touching in the constancy with which he clung to Abbass Meerza, even at a time when that prince was the cause, CITY OF ROOM. 277 or the victim, of great national disasters. Fetteh Ali was attached to the Mahomedan religion, but he was by no means a fanatic, nor did he evince any dislike to the society of those who were not of Islam. He was unre- mitting in his attention to the discharge of the business of the state, and if in reading the history of his reign we find some acts of barbarity recorded, we must make due allowance for him on account of the character and customs of his subjects ; the unsettled nature of the times on which he was cast, and the necessity of making himself feared by those who would have wished to ascend his throne. The Shah's body was conveyed from Ispa- han to the tomb which he had caused to be prepared at Koom. Koom is a city which was built in the year of the Hejira 203,* and which lies about eighty miles to the south of Tehran, on the road from that place to Ispahan. It at one time f possessed a considerable population, but it owes, in modern times, its celebrity to the mosque of Fatima, which makes it a favourite place of burial. In one of the finest of the gardens adjacent to the city was the mausoleum of Eustem Khan, a prince of the royal house of Georgia, who had embraced the tenets of the Mahomedan religion in order to obtain the viceroyalty of his native country. In the time of the Sefaveeans, Koom boasted of handsome quays along either side of its river, a well-built bridge across it, and large bazaars for the transaction of commerce, both wholesale and retail ; also of commodious caravanserais and beautiful mosques. It was, however, subsequently almost completely destroyed * MACDONALD-KINNEIR'S Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire. f See CHAKDIN'S Travels, vol. ii. 278 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. by the Affghans in 1722, and only a portion of it has been since rebuilt. It owes, as has been said, its celebrity to the posses- sion of the mosque and sanctuary erected to the memory of Fatima, the daughter of Imam Reza, and which for centuries past has been the burial-place of the Kings of Persia. Attached to this sacred edifice are four courts, 'and the dome of the building, which is of gold, bears witness to the piety of Fetteh Ali Shah. The tomb of the Holy Virgin of Koom is protected from the defile- ment of the vulgar by a railing of massive silver, crowned at the corners by balls of gold. In adjoining chapels lie the ashes of several of the Persian monarchs : amongst them those of two of the Sefaveeans ; Sefi the first, and Abbass the second. Nothing can exceed the beauty of these places of burial. The flooring is of tablets of porphyry painted in gold and in blue, and the vaulted roofs are equally rich and picturesque. The tomb of Sefi is composed of ivory, ebony, camphor- wood, aloes and other sweet-smelling timber worked together in mosaic, and fastened by ligatures of fine gold. The chapels of the more recent royal personages whose ashes repose at Koom are attended by a service of priests, who by day and night read from the Koran and pray for the souls of those whose tombs they guard. To one of these chapels, and to the reverend care of the priests of Koom, were consigned the mortal remains of Fetteh Ali Shah, in the full hope and confidence that when the last trump should sound and the dead should rise to life, the monarch would be found to be under the all- availing protection of the Holy Virgin Fatima. ( 279 ) CHAPTER X. Three Aspirants to Sovereign Power Mahomed Meerza marches from Tabreez to Tehran Submission of the Zil-es- Sultan Mahomed Shah crowned at Tehran Defeat of Hassan All Meerza by Sir Henry Bethune Capture of the Firman-Firma Ardabeel General Revolt in Khorassaii Fall of the Kaim-Makam Haji Meerza Aghassi Ambitious Designs of the Persian Government Expedition against Herat Seistan Prince Kamran and Yar Mahomed Khan Reasons of Dost Mahomed Khan for distrusting the Government of India Cruelty of Mahomed Shah His failure before Herat Rival influences in his Camp The Siege of Herat raised. THE death of the aged Shah was the signal for which two pretenders to the throne had long waited. These were Hassan Ali Meerza, the Firman-Firma, or governor- general of Fars, and the Zil-es- Sultan,* the governor of Tehran. Both of these princes had to a certain extent the advantage over Mahomed Meerza, the rightful heir to the Persian throne. The Firman-Firma at the time of the death of Fetteh Ali, was sufficiently near to Ispahan to be able ' to reach that city, and take posses- sion of the jewels and treasure which the late king had brought with him, before the royal stores had been to any considerable degree diminished ; while the Zil-es- Sultan, on his part, from his position at the capital, had the opportunity of acquiring even a larger quantity of money and valuables than that which fell to the lot * The Zil-es- Sultan, or Shadow of the Sultan, was so called from his remarkable resemblance to Ms father, Fetteh Ali Shah. 280 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of his brother. Each prince lost no time in proclaiming himself king, and in organizing a military force sufficient to give effect to his pretensions. But in the meantime, others were taking effective measures for carrying into execution the will of the dead Shah, who had designated his grandson Mahomed Meerza to be his successor. The representative of Kussia offered to seat him on the throne by a Russian military force ; but the effective measures adopted by Sir John Campbell, the British envoy, who was at that time at Tabreez, rendered it unnecessary for the young Shah to have recourse to the aid thus proffered by his powerful neighbour. Mahomed Meerza was at this time completely under the surveillance of his minister, the Kaim-Makam, and that Yizeer was so jealous of any one gaining influence over his master, that he took every precaution to prevent all but his own creatures from approaching the person of the youthful Shah. Yet the Kaim-Makam did not exhibit at this critical juncture the qualities that mark a vigilant and able statesman. Instead of using every possible effort to hasten the preparations for the king's march to the capital, he urged puerile objections to the plans suggested by the British envoy for facilitating the royal advance to Tehran. He alleged the want of mili- tary stores as a reason for delaying his master's depar- ture, and when the English representative had himself furnished money for their purchase, the Vizeer declared that he had not the means of procuring horses to drag the artillery with which the Shah must be accompanied. But all the apathy of the Kaim-Makam was insufficient to damp the energy of Sir John Campbell, who advanced more money on account of the Shah, and himself visited THREE ASPIRANTS TO THE THRONE. 281 the arsenal several times each day in order to encourage and stimulate the workmen. Fetteh Ali Shah had expired on the 23rd of October at Ispahan. News of the event was officially communicated to the British repre- sentative at Tabreez on the 7th of November, and on the 10th of that month, by means of unremitted exertion, Sir Henry Lindsay Bethune was enabled to march from Tabreez on Meeaneh in command of the troops, upon whose aid the Shah relied for overcoming the formidable competitors for sovereign power. On the 16th of November, 1834, the Shah and his court left Tabreez, without having previously made any arrangement for the despatch to Tehran of either men or stores. The Kaim-Makam knew that these matters were being looked to by the English representative, and he had not suffi- cient respect either for himself, or for the government of his master, to feel at all troubled by the incongruity of throwing upon a foreign minister the burden of providing for the successful progress of the king. On the 24th of November, the Persian troops under the command of the English officers who had been lent to the Shah, arrived at the place of rendezvous. Colonel Bethune was now at the head of a consider- able force which possessed twenty-four guns, and when he had taken up a position at Zenjan, half-way between Tabreez and Tehran, he was made aware of the approach of some of the adherents of the Zil-es- Sultan. But the Shadow of the Sultan was already fast declining. His followers no sooner were informed of the strength of the king's army, and of the fact that his Majesty was accom- panied by the representatives of Kussia and of England, than they hastened, one after another, to secure their 282 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. own pardon by deserting from their colours and coming to the royal camp. At Kasveen the last semblance of opposition on the part of the Zil-es- Sultan disappeared, by the submission of his general, Imamverdi Meerza, and his whole army. On the 21st of December the Shah reached Tehran, and the troops of Sir H. Bethune took possession, in his Majesty's name, of the city, the palace and treasury. The astrologers fixed upon the 2nd of January, 1835, as being the first day which had a for- tunate hour for the entrance of the Shah into his capital. On that day he quitted the palace outside the walls where he had taken up his temporary abode, and entered the ark, or citadel. On the 31st of the same month, it being the feast of Bairam, Mahomed Shah was crowned King of Persia, and amongst those who assisted at the ceremony was his uncle, the Zil-es-Sultan. But a more dangerous competitor was still at large, and the British envoy pressed upon the Shah's Minister the necessity of losing no time in despatching an army to encounter that of the Firman-Firma. Such, however, was the listlessness of the Kaim-Makam, and so great was his reluctance to furnish money for the purpose of making an advance to the soldiers, that it was not until the 3rd of February that Sir H. Bethune was enabled to march towards Ispahan. His force consisted of three battalions of regular infantry, with a small number of horse and sixteen guns. He was to receive an addition to his strength on the way, and reinforcements were sent after him under the command of the Moetemed-ed-Dowleh. In the meantime the reins of government were held tightly in the hands of the Kaim-Makam, who exercised over his master an imperious authority, similar to that SIR II. BETHUNE DEFEATS THE PRETENDER. 283 which Cardinal Mazarin wielded over the mind of Louis the Fourteenth. The Shah at this time, it was averred, scarcely ventured to give an order to his personal attendants without having previously ohtained the con- sent of his Grand Vizeer. Sir Henry Bethune marched to within eighty miles of Ispahan, when he learned that the troops of the Firman-Firma were approaching from the other direction with the intention of taking posses- sion of the city. He determined upon this to he before- hand with the pretender, and he accordingly executed a forced march which only Persian troops could accom- plish ; traversing the eighty miles that lay between him and Ispahan in the space of little more than thirty hours.* Ispahan had been the scene of the greatest disorder, the lootis, or vagabonds, of the place having been encouraged in their lawlessness by the Sheikh-el- Islam, and by the Vizeer of the deceased king, who had espoused the cause of the Firman-Firma. The arrival of Sir Henry Bethune was the signal for the restoration of order. He had not been a week at Ispahan when intelligence reached him of the approach of the governor- general of Fars, whose army was commanded by his brother, Hassan Ali Meerza, the Shuja-es-Sultaneh. On receiving this information, Colonel Bethune put a portion of his army again in motion. He took with him only two regiments of infantry, some troops of cavalry, and twenty guns. In all, his force did not amount to four thousand men, and he was to be opposed to the ablest leader in Persia. The Shuja-es-Sultaneh endeavoured to turn his opponent's flank by taking a less- frequented road through the hills, by which Ispahan * ERASER'S Travels in Kurdistan. 284 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. could have been reached ; hut information of this ma- noauvre was speedily conveyed to the English officer, who thereupon made a flank march, which brought him face to face with the enemy at a place near Kumeesha. The Shuja-es-Sultaneh arranged his army in six divisions, of which two were to guard the baggage, while the remaining four were to engage the troops of the Shah. He posted his infantry behind the ruined walls of a deserted village, from which position they might aim at their opponents without being themselves exposed. But the advantage which Sir Henry Bethune possessed in artillery was sufficient to counteract the favourable disposition of the troops of Fars, and a discharge of round shot brought the mud walls down over the heads of those behind them, and killed forty or fifty men. The remaining soldiers who had been posted in this position attempted to make their escape, but were all overtaken and made prisoners. This decided the event of the contest. The horsemen of the prince did not even attempt to make a stand, and the Shuja-es-Sultaneh fled, taking with him ten thousand tomans, but leaving his camp, guns and baggage in the hands of the victors. After this engagement, Sir Henry Bethune pushed on at once to Sheeraz, the affairs of which city he found to be in the greatest confusion. The Eelkhani of the nomad tribes of Fars having been affronted and pillaged by the Firman- Firma, determined to seize the hour of his Highness's misfortune for avenging his wrongs, and at the same time performing a marked service to Maho- med Shah. He accordingly, on the approach of the king's army, possessed himself of the avenues leading to and from the city of Sheeraz, and thus prevented the THE CITY OF ARDABEEL. 285 escape of the Firman-Firma, and his brother, the Shuja- es-Sultaneh. These princes were forthwith sent under an escort to Tehran, from which place, after the Shuja- es-Sultaneh had been deprived of sight, they were despatched as state prisoners to the fortress of Ardabeel. Ardabeel, the state prison of Persia, stands on a well-watered plain on the Northern extremity of the high table-land of Iran. The population of the city was formerly considerable, but the plague and cholera have reduced it so much that it now contains but three thou- sand families. On the southern side of the place is situated the fortress a small work, about two hundred yards square, erected by Abbass Meerza. The inhabi- tants of Ardabeel reckon their city to be, save three, the most ancient town in Persia ; and the truth that the table-land of Iran was once covered with water has given rise here to the fable that King Solomon, by the aid of the two deevs, Ard and Beel, opened a passage through the mountains, by which the waters that covered the earth were drained off into the Caspian Sea. The town of Ard and Beel is famous as being the place of sepulture of Sheikh Sen*, the renowned progenitor of the Sefaveean kings. Here also was buried Shah Ismail, the first monarch of that dynasty. Their tombs, and the buildings in which they are enclosed, are orna- mented with gold, silver and inlaid-work, and the chapel of the Sheikh has its walls lined with velvet, which now hangs in tatters. In the apartment devoted to prayer there is a carpet bearing the date 946 of the Hejira, woven into the pattern. The library is said to contain a considerable number of old volumes ; but the value of the collection is believed to have been somewhat 286 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. lessened by the visit of the Kussians to Ardabeel in the reign of Fetteh Ali Shah. In another part of the same structure there is a magnificent hall ornamented with lacquered work of azure, where is kept a large collection of china vases that were made use of for holding the daily supply of rice said to have been 3,600 pounds granted for the sustenance of those who came to pay their devotions at the tomb of Shah Ismail. The value of the religious endowments of this shrine is said to have formerly amounted to the large sum of two crores of tomans,* but of all this wealth nothing now remains to the few attendants of the tomb further than a yearly allowance of some hundreds of maunds of grain. The government long ago confiscated the landed property, and under the Kajar kings contributions are no longer made towards the support of the shrine of the ancestor of the Sefaveean Shahs.f The Firman-Firma died while on the way to his prison; but many of Fetteh Ali Shah's descendants amongst them the Zil-es- Sultan and the son of the late Mahomed Ali Meerza of Kennanshah were doomed to pass their remaining days at Ardabeel, and there to reflect on the disadvantages of having been born in the purple. No more blood was spilt on this occasion ; nor, with the exception of the Shuja-es-Sultaneh, was any one deprived of eyesight. Order was now reestablished over the greater portion of Persia, but, as might have been expected, the province of Khorassan was agitated through- out its length and breadth. Save Meshed, Nishapoor and Subsewar, not a place remained to the Shah. The * A century ago such a sum represented about one million sterling, f Narrative of a Journey, by K. E. ABBOTT, Esq. REESTABLISHMENT OF ORDER. 287 people of the other towns expelled the troops in garrison in them, and refused to pay any further taxes. The Khans of Boojnoord and Deregez, and other Khorassan chiefs, set up the standard of rebellion, and the governor had no sooner proceeded in one direction to put down revolt, than news reached him of fresh revolt in another quarter. Prince Karaman was the full and the favourite brother of Mahomed Shah, and he exerted himself to the utmost to secure the safety of Khorassan. His labours were at length followed by the return of the turbulent chiefs to their duty. The confusion and vexation caused by the obstinate persistence of the Kaim-Makam to trust to no one, but to carry on every branch of the administration himself, were tolerated for a short time. The spring of the year 1835 wore away without any serious occurrence. In the south of Persia a disturbance was put down; and Prince Bahrain, the governor of Kermanshah, succeeded in pacifying the troubled districts of Looristan and Arabistan, being aided by a young English officer, then as afterwards remarkable for energy and talent lieutenant Henry Eawlinson. But the murmurs of the people at length forced them- selves on the notice of the Shah, and determined that monarch to take some step for securing the safety of his throne and the well-being of his people. In Persia there is but one step from splendour to disgrace. A minister, when his services are no longer wanted, may not fall back upon a dignified repose. He must at all hazards retain his post, or make up his mind to be ruined. The Shah, when he was reluctantly forced into action, fol- lowed the custom of the country by ordering that his prime minister, the Kaim-Makam, should be seized : an 288 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. act which was quickly followed by the arrest of his sons. No tumult succeeded this step, but, on the contrary, it produced universal satisfaction. The king himself attended to the administration of justice and the chief direction of public affairs. In the course of the few days which immediately followed the disgrace of the Kaim- Makam, numerous accusations were, as might have been expected, advanced against the fallen man, and the Shah could not fail to be convinced of the corruptness of his former minister, and the deficiencies of his administra- tion. The result was that orders were given that the ex-minister should be strangled in his prison a sentence which was carried into execution on the night of the 26th of June, 1835. But the Shah now found that it was not so easy to construct a government as it had been to break one down. At this time the plague and the cholera were raging in the capital, and amongst those who fell victims to one or other pestilence were many of the members of the court. The Asef-ed-Dowleh, the maternal uncle of the king, had been appointed to the government of Khorassan ; but he was anxious to recover his old post of prime minister, and, on hear- ing of the fall of the Kaim-Makam, he came without permission, and in the greatest haste, from Meshed to Tehran. The choice of the king, however, fell upon Haji Meerza Aghassi, a native of Erivan, who had in the course of his early travels in Arabia acquired so much knowledge that on his return to Tabreez he had been appointed tutor to two of the sons of Abbass Meerza. Amongst other accomplishments he boasted of possessing the art of predicting future events, and FOREIGN TRADE OF PERSIA. 289 in the lifetime of Fetteli AH Shah he confidently assured Mahomed Meerza that he should one day be king of Persia. Our opinion of his discernment is, however, somewhat lowered by our being told* that he privately made the same promise to others of the sons of Abbass, so that the chances might be multiplied of his being able in after years to claim the credit of having predicted so important a fact. Haji Meerza Aghassi, however learned he may have been in Arabian lore, was not a minister calculated to lead Persia in a path of pro- gress. He was suspicious of the designs of foreign governments, and was entirely ignorant of the principles which at that time were recognized by Europe as those which should be regarded as axioms in political economy. By the Treaty of-Turkomanchai it was stipulated that Eussia should have the right of placing consuls in Persia wherever the demands of trade might require their pre- sence. It was not stated who were to be judges of the requirements of trade, and Fetteh Ali Shah had to the last persisted that no consuls were required. On the other hand, the successive representatives of Russia at the Persian court had demanded the royal permission for the establishment and recognition of a consul at Resht, the chief city of Gilan. This permission was withheld, but a compromise was effected by one of the members of the Russian Legation being annually deputed to Resht to reside there during the four months when the silk-trade demanded the presence of a government agent. Towards the close of the reign of Fetteh Ali Shah, the attention of the British Government was directed to the subject of the foreign trade of Persia. A British * HOLMES'S Shores of the Caspian. 19 290 / A HISTORY OF PERSIA. consul* had pointed out that, provided the Persian monarch should throw no unnecessary obstacles in the way of the new scheme, a commercial intercourse / between England and Persia, most profitable for both countries, might be easily established. The project was that English goods should be introduced into Persia by way of Turkey; but before attempting to carry it into execution it was necessary to be secure of some gua- rantee from the Persian government, against the future imposition of arbitrary exactions or preventive restric- tions. When the government of Azerbaeejan had been held by Abbass Meerza, that enlightened man had readily issued the necessary orders for the security of British trade ; but orders not depending on the rights of treaty were liable at any time to be recalled, and after the death of Abbass it became more than ever desirable that a commercial treaty should be entered into between Great Britain and Persia. But the Shah's government could not see that a trade which at that time annually drained their country of a considerable amount of gold, could possibly be profitable to Persia, and it consequently turned a deaf ear to the proposals of Sir John Campbell for the conclusion of a treaty. That envoy was of opinion that an agent deriving his power directly from the Crown, would have more influence at the Court of the Shah than he himself possessed as the representa- tive of the East India Company. Advantage was accord- ingly taken of the accession to the throne of Mahomed to change the direction of the British Mission at Tehran. Mr. Ellis was sent to Persia as his Britannic- Majesty's ambassador charged to congratulate the Shah * Mr. BRANT. MR. ELLIS, THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR. 291 on his accession, and authorized to reopen negotiations for the conclusion of a commercial treaty. But still the prime minister of Persia objected to the establishment of English consuls in the Shah's dominions, and urged the British ambassador not to press the matter until such time as the Shah might feel himself sufficiently powerful to defy the anger with which the Russian Government would be filled, by a concession which could not fail to be to a certain extent injurious to the interests of Eussian traders. The period during which the matter was to rest unsettled was, as Mr. Ellis observed, indeed indefinite.* At the period when the first mission had been sent from India to the Persian court, the British authorities in the East were under considerable apprehension lest the sovereign of the Affghans should invade Hindostan ; and the British envoy was accordingly instructed to en- deavour to induce the Shah to march upon Afghanistan. But a change had in the course of time taken place in the policy of Great Britain with reference to the dealings of the Persians towards the Affghans, and the English Minister at the Persian court was instructed to use all his influence for the purpose of restraining the Shah from the prosecution of any scheme for the conquest of Aff- ghanistan. The successes of Abbass Meerza in his last campaigns had filled the Persians with an exalted idea of their own superiority in arms over other Oriental nations, and the Shah, who was himself an experienced soldier, had no sooner put into order the internal affairs of his kingdom, than he prepared to march towards Khorassan, at the head of a numerous army destined for the reduc- * Published despatches of Sir H. Ellis. 19-2 292 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. tion of Herat, and the conquest of a considerable portion of Affghanistan. The pretensions of the Persian govern- ment to sovereignty in that direction were at this time, somewhat arbitrarily, stated by the Shah's prime minister to extend over that portion of the country which lay be- tween the Iranian frontier and the fortress of Ghizni. The successes of the late Prince Abbass Meerza had alone been the cause of these antiquated pretensions being now advanced. The claim to dominion over Afghanistan had been renounced by Persia in the first treaty with the Government of India, inasmuch as the Affghans were acknowledged to be an independent power ; and as the whole of Affghanistan had belonged to the dominions of the Sefaveean princes, it was evident that the Kajar Shahs, as the successors of those princes, could only in reason claim the whole of the country in question if they laid claim to any portion of it. According to the opinion of those who have made the principles of international law their peculiar study, so long a time had elapsed since the country of the Affghans had passed from the power of the Persian kings, that Mahomed Shah had no suffi- cient claim, based upon the law of nations, to any portion 6f Affghanistan, in as far as such claim was founded on the extent of the dominions of former Persian kings. If such a pretension had been admitted to be a just one, the Shah might with equal fairness have claimed his right to establish by force of arms his dominion over the territory lying between the Kurdish mountains and the Tigris ; or, if there were to be no fixed period of limita- tion, he might have laid claim to what Persia had once possessed in Asia Minor. But the Shah had now other and more valid grounds THE SHAH DETERMINES TO ATTACK HERAT. 293 for undertaking a war against the Prince of Herat, besides those founded upon the conquests of a bygone dynasty. Of the three engagements which Prince Kaniran had contracted during the last years of the lifetime of Fetteh Ali Shah, he had fulfilled not one. He had not razed the fort of Ghorian, neither had he despatched to their homes certain Persian families who were to be released from captivity ; nor had he paid to the king of Persia the sum stipulated for as the amount of tribute. The Shah was therefore fully justified in determining to compel him by force of arms to fulfil his engagements. There was also another reason for the advance of the King of Persia upon Herat. On the borders of Aff- ghanistan, and lying between that country and Persia, extends the province of Seistan. Seistan had been added to the Affghan kingdom by Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Sedozye dynasty. During the lifetime of that monarch it continued to appertain to Cabul, but in the troubled times which followed his death, when his successors had difficulty in consolidating their power, the chiefs of Seistan succeeded in establishing the indepen- dence of their province. The Persian government during the reign of the first Kajar Shah, and the early years of his successor, had enough to occupy its attention without going into the question of its right to dominion over Seistan. But as the dynasty became established, its ambition gradually became enlarged, and by the time of the accession of Mahomed Meerza to the throne, Seistan had come to be considered at Tehran as an integral por- tion of the dominions of the Shah ; although up to that time, the Persian monarch could boast no more immediate control over the Seistanis than was implied by a rival 294 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. claimant to the chieftainship invoking .the king's assis- tance, on the condition of his promising to acknowledge the king's right to sovereignty over the province. But in the course of the year in which Mahomed Shah was crowned, Yar Mahomed Khan, the Yizeer of Kamran, succeeded in establishing either his own or his master's authority in Seistan, and he thereby furnished another pretext for the hostilities which the Persian monarch now determined to undertake against the Prince of Herat. At this time the British government was, by the treaty then in existence with Persia, not entitled to inter- fere in the international affairs of the two countries with each other : it was, in fact, bound not to interfere between them. It was the interest of Russia at this juncture to encourage the designs entertained by the Shah against the tranquillity of Afghanistan, inasmuch as if Herat, or any portion of that country, should become a portion of the dominions of the King of Persia, the Czar would, by the treaty of Turkomanchai, become entitled to place consuls there for the protection of Russian trade. Out- ward symbols, and the conscientiously-rendered services of a few well-chosen agents, can effect much on peoples so impressible as those of the countries of the East ; and in view of this fact, the Government of his Britannic Majesty did wisely in opposing itself to the expedition which the Shah announced ; the evident or avowed pur- pose of which was the conquest of Herat or the subjuga- tion of Affghanistan. While the question was still under discussion, and while the Shah had not yet set out from Tehran, Prince Kamran thought proper to add fuel to the flame which had been already kindled, by putting some Persians in his dominions to death, and by driving others POLICY OF DOST MAHOMED KHAN. 295 of the same race out of his city ; but, in justice to the character of the prince, it must not be omitted to be stated that these measures were in all probability under- taken for the sake of self-preservation. A conspiracy against Prince Kamran was known to exist in Herat, which had originated with the Persian inhabitants of that place, many of whom had agreed to rebel against him whenever the army of Mahomed Shah should appear before the city. With reference to his declaration of war, the Shah observed at a public levee, that since the English Government thought itself justified in following up the interests of each individual merchant, he was surely within the limits of his rights in taking measures to prevent his subjects from being carried into captivity or driven from their homes by the Turkomans. At this time Dost Mahomed Khan of Cabul was endeavouring to establish his uncertain power by making suitable foreign alliances. His dethroned rival, Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk, was a pensioner in the British dominions in India, and he was endeavouring to enlist the Indian Government in a scheme for the recovery of his kingdom. His proposals were not accepted, but he at length con- trived to obtain an advance of the pension which he was receiving. If this indulgence be considered together with the fact that the Indian Government was well aware of the purpose to which the money so advanced would be applied, and that it took no steps to prevent its pensioner from preparing a warlike expedition against Dost Mahomed ; the latter chief will not be judged to have been without grounds for believing that the British Government of India was hostile to his interests. He consequently determined to seek the alliance of 296 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Persia, with the double view of putting a limit to the Shah's plans of conquest in Affghanistan, and of securing his aid in future struggles with Shuja-ul-Mulk. Haji Hussein AH Khan was empowered by the Barukzye Sirdar to negotiate a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance between him and Mahomed Shah, on the conditions that a joint attack should be made on the territories of Prince Kamran, and that in the event of success, a partition of conquests should take place, by which Herat, and the districts lying to the west of the river of Ferrah, should belong to Persia, and the country on the eastern side of that river, with Sebzewar, to Dost Mahomed. The Affghan nobleman found reason to doubt whether the conclusion of such a treaty would really be of advantage to his master, and he seems to have been superseded in his capacity of Affghan pleni- potentiary, by the arrival at Tehran of Azeez Khan ; who had been sent thither by the chiefs of Kandahar, brothers of Dost Mahomed, and who agreed with the Persian Government on the terms of a league against Prince Kamran, the Shah acknowledging the independence of the Barukzye Sirdars. In the summer of the year 1836, Mahomed Shah put his army in motion towards the east. His Majesty's operations were in the first instance directed against the Turkomans, and they were not distinguished by any remarkable result. Prince Feridoon was detached with a division of the army to attack the fortified town of Karakillah, which place he found on his arrival to have been evacuated by the tribes in whose possession it had been. They had retired to the mountain fastness of Sooknak, from which the Persian general now endea- THE SHAH ADVANCES AGAINST HERAT. 297 voured in vain to dislodge them. The Oozbegs of Khiva collected their forces, and opened communication with the Affghans of Herat, for the purpose of arranging measures in concert with the Turkomans for their mutual defence. The Shah lingered for many weeks in the vicinity of Astrabad, and the dearth of food in his camp became so great that the soldiers plundered even the provisions destined for the use of the king. The Turkomans were in the meantime ever on the watch to cut off Persian stragglers, and their light horsemen kept alive a perpetual alarm in the Persian camp from dusk till daylight. The want of success which attended the operations of the Shah on the banks of the Goorgan, could not fail to raise the spirits of the Affghans of Herat ; whose final reply to his Persian Majesty was that they were ready to make him a present, but that they would give no hostages for their future good be- haviour, and that if the king were not contented with this answer, he was at liberty to advance to the attack of Herat. But insuperable obstacles presented themselves to the fulfilment at this time of the intentions which the Shah had so often avowed, and towards the end of the year he was forced to return discontented to Tehran. In the following year the Shah once more set out to the eastward. He mustered his army at Bostan, where it was found to consist of about 8,000 effective infantry and 1,500 cavalry. Four battalions and thirty guns had been sent on in advance to Sebzewar. The government of Herat, on hearing of the king's approach, left no means unused for preparing for the defence of that city. The whole of the provisions to be found in the country were removed into the fortresses, and the forage which 298 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. could not be carried away was burnt. Even the grass on the plains was set fire to, and all the villages within twelve miles of Herat were destroyed ; the inhabitants being removed to the fortresses, or to places at a distance. Ten thousand chosen horsemen were ordered to keep the field, and the remaining troops were directed to garrison the city and the neighbouring strong places. The season of the year, it being the early part of winter, was most unfavourable for military operations in a region where the winter is so rigorous as it is in northern Affghanistan. The troops of the Shah suffered greatly in their progress through Khorassan, and the king himself was unable to walk even from his tent to his carriage. Still he did not depart from the intention with which he had set out, and he himself proceeded with the main body of his army to Herat, while one of the divisions was told off for the duty of besieging Grhorian, and another was sent against the Turkomans and Hezarehs. The preparations for the defence of Herat were superintended by Yar Mahomed Khan, the Vizeer ; Prince Kamran being too much given over to intoxication to be able to direct the business of his government. The ambitious Vizeer was at this time paving the way for his own advancement to the supreme power on one pre- text or another, and he disposed of the greater number of chiefs who were likely to oppose his pretensions. By such measures, and his tyrannous conduct towards the people, a spirit of discontent was raised within the city, the Sheeah portion of the inhabitants of which were fully disposed to welcome the Persian king. The con- dition of the fortifications of Herat was not such, at this time, as to have prevented European troops from taking SIEGE OF HERAT. 299 the place by assault ; but the energetic Vizeer contrived to put Herat in such a state as to enable it to present considerable obstacles to a Persian force. The rampart was patched up and the ditch deepened ; and as on the occasion of the previous siege of the place by the son of Abbass Meerza, the officer in command of the Persian artillery had been bribed not to fire shot or shell into the citadel, it was hoped that the same exemption might be once more purchased. At this time there arrived at the city of Herat a young English officer of artillery, and Yar Mahomed Khan had sufficient sagacity to perceive at once the immense benefit which might be derived by his master from the services of Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger. That officer had travelled through Afghani- stan in the disguise of an Oriental costume ; and when he made it known to the Vizeer that he was an Englishman, the latter from that moment sought to engage him in the task of defending the city. It would weary the reader were I to follow minutely the events of the tedious siege which now ensued. It was carried on, on the side of the Persians, with a disregard to the usages of civilized warfare ; for which they may have imagined they were to be held excusable, inasmuch as the men of Herat had formerly professed obedience to the Shah, and were now in arms against him. But most of the atrocities now committed were traceable, in the first instance, to the ungovernable promptings of hunger. When men came to report to the Persian authorities that the provisions which they had brought to the Shah's camp for sale had been seized and retained by the soldiers, all the compen- sation that awaited them was to be rudely abused, and afterwards turned out of the camp. 300 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. On the 23rd of November, 1837, Mahomed Shah arrived within a mile of Herat, and a skirmish ensued between the irregular horsemen of both sides. One prisoner was brought before the Shah, who, ^in order to show the spirit in which he intended to carry on the war, ordered him to be bayoneted before the royal tent. On the following day a trench was commenced to be dug round the Persian camp. The Shah in person superintended the opening operations of the siege, and continued during the subsequent days to watch the pro- gress of events from a small tent on a hillock. Sixteen miles distant from Herat was a village inhabited by Sheeah Syeds, who of all men might have been expected to have least to fear from the soldiers of a Sheeah monarch. A party of Persians arrived at this village in quest of provisions, and the chief man of the place came out and informed the Persian officer who was in command, that all that the village contained of pro- visions was at his disposal, and would be brought to his camp, provided he would agree to restrain his men from entering the place. The commander assented to the arrangement, but the soldiers were not to be baulked of the opportunity of plundering, and they paid no attention to the restriction which was put upon their entering the village. Their commander upon this requested the Syeds to terrify his troops by firing upon them from the village wall. They did so, and eight Persians fell ; whereupon the survivors assaulted the place, and, having stormed it, revenged the death of their comrades by that of thirty of the holy men : they also committed every kind of atrocity. In the journal of one who was at this period in the TURKOMAN PRISONERS PUT TO DEATH. 301 royal camp before Herat,* I read, under date of the 7th of December : " The Shah sent for three Turkoman prisoners, and also for an Affghan, Mahomed Azeez Khan, who had been taken, and ordered them to be put to death, as an act pleasing to God. This order was executed in his presence. The Shah goes daily to his place of observation, and employs himself in reading the Koran." The passage I have quoted affords a melan- choly picture of sectarian fanaticism, and of the bar- barities to which an Oriental monarch must be accus- tomed. In an entry of the same journal for the 9th of December, I read that the Persian soldiers were reduced to such extremities that they went about offering the locks of their muskets for sale. For the previous twenty- five days no provisions had been issued. On the night of the 12th of December, a note was thrown over the walls by a Sheeah, stating that those of that sect within the city were powerless to effect a diversion in favour of those without, and begging that the Shah would lose no time in ordering an assault, as there was nothing to be feared from the Affghans. On the following day a Persian officer held a parley with some men on the city walls, and having been invited to enter the town and see Yar Mahomed Khan, he obtained the king's permission to do so. He was ordered to remind the Vizeer of Herat that his brother, who had yielded the fortress of Ghorian, had experienced no ill-treatment in the Persian camp, and he was told to work upon the Vizeer 's fears by dwell- ing on the insecurity of his position under a drunkard like Prince Kamran, who might at any moment, in a fit of senseless fury, issue orders for his execution. The * MEERZA AGHA. 302 HISTORY OF PERSIA. officer accordingly entered Herat, and delivered his message to the Yizeer ; but his Highness stated in reply that he had once, in the time of Abbass Meerza, pro- ceeded to a Persian camp, and had been seized and imprisoned, and that therefore he would not trust again to Persian good faith, nor place himself in the power of the Shah; but he desired the Persian to inform his master that should he withdraw his troops to Meshed, a present, as large as the men of Herat could afford to make it, would be sent to him to that place, and that he might satisfy himself as to the capabilities of the Heratis in this respect by sending accountants into the city to examine the lists of revenue. The Vizeer of Herat took advantage of the same opportunity to offer to supply provisions to General Samson, the commander of the Kussian regiment in the Shah's service, who had afforded him kindness when he had been a prisoner in the camp of Abbass Meerza. During this dreary winter the Shah's army was only kept alive by means of continually sending out large parties of soldiers to plunder the surrounding country far and wide. The atrocities which were then committed were such as to excite the commiseration even of many of the hardened Persians who had accompanied the king to Herat. The fate of the men of the villages who remained to watch over their wives and property was usually to be ruthlessly slain, while that of the women of all ages was to be violated. Even little children were not secure from death and blows. I read that they were generally sent out with copies of the Koran in their little hands, as being the messengers best fitted to awaken feelings of humanity in the breasts of the approaching ATROCITJES COMMITTED BY PERSIAN SOLDIERS. 303 soldiers. But these men were then beyond being influenced by an appeal to motives of religion or of humanity. They used to strike the children or to kill them, and the women whom they left in possession of life were stripped of all their clothes, even of articles so insignificant that a Jew would not have purchased them for the smallest copper coin. The Persian who is my authority* for this statement exclaims : " If I were about to die of hunger, I would not again accompany one of those plundering parties, to witness such enormities." He adds, in a burst of honest indignation: "May the fathers of these Serbaz burn in hell ! " On the 28th of December two hundred naked and starving wretches, all of them claiming descent from the lawgiver of Mecca, came to the Shah's camp from the villages of Ghorat, to implore help from the king ; but his religious Majesty passed them without having deigned to acknowledge their presence by the slightest notice. On the 29th of the same month one of the bastions of Herat fell into the hands of the Persians, the troops who won it having been conducted by a deserter from Prince Kamran ; but the Affghans were roused to suitable measures of defence, and retook the bastion from the Persians. The siege lingered on month after month, the pride of the Shah preventing him from giving up the enterprise he had undertaken, and the besieged being animated by the perseverance of the energetic Vizeer, and by the skilful efforts of Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger. In the spring of the year 1838, Mr. McNeill, the English Minister at the Persian court, arrived in the camp of the besiegers, and endeavoured to persuade the king to * ARAB ALI KHAN. 804 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. renounce the plans which he had formed of taking Herat. He was listened to by his Persian Majesty with attention, and during the succeeding few days those of the Persians who were anxious to return to their homes indulged the hope that their king would act according to the arguments put before him by the English representa- tive. But a few days later came General Count Simo- nich, the envoy extraordinary of Kussia, who gave the Shah advice in a sense entirely opposite to that of Mr. McNeill. Count Simonich succeeded in inducing the Shah to continue the siege, and went so far as to advance money to his Majesty, and to place at his disposal the services of his aide-de-camp, Captain Blaranberg, who now undertook the direction of the operations against Herat. Just before the arrival of Count Simonich, Mr. McNeill had, by the wish of the contending parties, entered the town of Herat, to endeavour, if possible, to conclude a negotiation. The Shah had consider- ably modified the terms he had hitherto insisted on, for he no longer demanded that a Persian garrison should occupy Herat, or that he should appropriate the revenues of that state ; but he required that Kamran should renounce the title of Shah, and that Yar Mahomed Khan should come to wait upon him in his camp. On the night on which Mr. McNeill entered Herat, preparations had been made by the Persian army for a general assault ; but a truce of some hours' duration was agreed to by both sides, for the pur- pose of giving time to the British diplomatist to bring the negotiation to a close. The Persian prime minister assured Mr. McNeill, as he was about to leave the camp, INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN ENVOYS. 305 that he was at liberty to act for the Shah's government with as full powers of discretion as he would be invested with in a matter directly concerning the British Crown. The night was already far advanced, and everything was in readiness for the assault, as the Minister crossed the trenches. He found the Affghans full of courage and confidence, and his astonishment was excited by con- templating the strength and extent of the fortifications of the city, which had been constructed since the com- mencement of the siege, and which seemed to Mr. McNeill to be capable of being defended successfully against better troops than those of Persia. The English diplomatist passed the remainder of the night in conver- sation with Yar Mahomed Khan, whom he pronounced to be one of the most remarkable men of his age and country, and with whom he arranged the terms of a treaty by which all the Shah's demands were conceded, excepting that for the independence of Herat. On the following morning, that of the 20th of April, 1838, Mr. McNeill returned to the camp ; Count Simonich also arrived before Herat, and the treaty was therefore rejected by the Persian king. The Shah, for some days after the arrival of Count Simonich, was elated with the hope of a speedy conquest ; but the besieged still opposed a successful resistance to all the efforts of the besiegers, and after the lapse of about a fortnight the spirits of the Shah and his minister had so far sunk that the latter once more called upon Mr. McNeill to mediate between the contending princes. The draft of the treaty which had been formerly rejected was now accepted, with the stipulation that Mr. McNeill, on the part of the British Government, should guarantee its 20 306 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. observance by Prince Kamran. There now seemed to be nothing left that could retard the conclusion of peace, further than that the English Minister should again enter Herat and obtain the ratification of the treaty by Prince Kamran. But this step the Persian Government on various pretences evaded sanctioning. The fickle and tortuous character of Persian policy was never more fully exemplified than on this occasion. A reverse in the operations of the siege threw the Shah and his Minister into despair, and induced them to have recourse to the assistance of Mr. McNeill ; a slight gleam of success renewed their confidence in Count Simonich. The Persian government required the British Minister to engage that, in the event of Prince Kamran refusing to ratify the treaty, he would no longer consent to conduct negotiations for Herat ; and the Persian Minister at the same time promised that on Mr. McNenTs writing a note to this effect, a man would immediately be sent to conduct him to the city. To this proposal Mr. McNeill assented, on the condition that the Shah should pledge himself not to remain before Herat for more than five days after the conclusion of the treaty, and to quit the territories of Prince Kamran within ten days thereafter. No answer was at first returned to this note, and no man was sent to conduct Mr. McNeill to Herat. On his pressing for a reply to his note, he was informed by the Persian Minister that it was necessary that some of the other civil and military officers of the Shah should first be consulted ; though the promise was at the same time renewed by his Excellency of sending a man to conduct her Majesty's Minister to Herat. This guide was to make his appearance at the tents of the TORTUOUS POLICY OF PERSIA. 307 English mission on the evening of the succeeding day ; but the promise made by Haji Meerza Aghassi was not fulfilled, and when Mr. McNeill asked for an explana- tion, he was informed that the Shah required to be indemnified for the losses he had sustained, or at least that he should receive a sum of money to distribute amongst his troops, who had suffered great privations. Mr. McNeill remonstrated against this attempt to annex new conditions to a treaty which had been already agreed to, not only by the Persian prime minister but by the Shah himself, and the formal conclusion of which had been prevented only by the impediments opposed to it by the Persian government, in violation of the written promises of the prime minister. On the following morning Mr. McNeill received a note from Haji Meerza Aghassi, which stated, in reply to his remonstrance, that the treaty could not be considered as binding on Persia, because the Affghans still continued to fire and to make sorties ; declaring that the losses of Persia in this campaign had amounted to five or six crores of tomans ;* expressing his conviction that the British Government could not desire to see Persia exposed to so great a loss ; and concluding by what he said was mentioned merely in jest, viz. that as Mr. McNeill was reported to have given a large sum of money to the Vizeer of Herat when he had visited that place, it was hard that he should have given nothing to the writer. It was evidently hopeless to continue negotiations between two princes, the minister of one of whom could so easily repudiate his own written agreements. The cause of the sudden change in the views of the Shah was the arrival of a * One and a quarter or one and a half million of pounds sterling. 202 308 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. messenger from Kandahar, with letters from Kohendil Khan, the brother of Dost Mahomed, containing the promise of aid from that quarter. The bearer of the letters assured the Shah, too, that he had nothing to fear from the direction of Cabul. A few days later Mr. McNeill sought a private audience of the king, and represented the imprudence of the line of conduct he was adopting, inasmuch as it tended to alienate from him the sympathy and friendship of Great Britain. Several causes of complaint against the Persian Government had arisen out of the difference of opinion between it and the British Government respecting the advisability of the siege of Herat. The numerous embassies which had successively been sent from England or from India to the Persian court ; the costly presents which had been lavished upon Fetteh Ali Shah and his Ministers ; and the stipulations which had been agreed to with respect to furnishing Persia with money and arms in the event of the occurrence of certain contin- gencies : all these had combined to establish in the mind of Mahomed Shah, and in that of his Minister, the idea that Great Britain placed a very high value on the friendship of Persia ; and that rather than break the alliance between the two States, and so drive Persia into the arms of Eussia, England would suffer almost any amount of neglect and indignity. The Shah and his Minister soon found that they had been mistaken in their estimate of the long-suffering of England. As subsidies were at this time no longer paid to Persia by the representative of the Governments of England and of India, there was a disposition on the part of the Shah's Government to make that representative feel his MR. M'NEILL APPEALS TO THE SHAH. 309 loss of influence, and, by means of petty annoyances and vexatious delays, to try whether it could not extort from him the price of more honourable treatment. It was prepared to push this system to the utmost point short of a rupture, and it was convinced that if it should go too far, a mission to England and a few words of expla- nation and apology would satisfy the Government of her Majesty, which could not afford to dispense with the alliance of Persia. In addition to these promptings of avarice, it must be remembered, in explanation of the line of conduct adopted at this time by the Persian government, that the Shah's ruling passion was a desire for military renown, and, connected with this wish, a determination to extend his territories, especially in the direction of Affghanistan. These views were encouraged by Russia and opposed by England, and this circumstance could not fail to raise in the Shah's mind the hope of deriving greater advantage from the cordial cooperation of Eussia, than from intimate relations with England. Such being the spirit which at this time animated the Persian court, we are not surprised to read that it showed itself in several acts which it was impossible for the British Minister to pass over without obtaining redress. The safety of the officiating British resident at Bushire was insolently threatened by the governor of that place ; and a courier of the English mission was stopped, seized and ill-treated in the neighbourhood of Meshed, and then forced to return to the camp of the Shah. In addition to these things, the conclusion of a commercial treaty with England, to which the Shah's Government was pledged, was evaded on frivolous pre- tences. Mr. McNeill obtained from the Shah the admis- 310 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. sion that even if he were to succeed in taking Herat, he would be unable to hold it, and that in that case it was his intention to give it to Kohendil Khan of Kandahar. The conversation terminated by the Shah's agreeing to fulfil the terms of the treaty drawn up by Mr. McNeill, provided that he could find a suitable pretext for raising the siege of Herat. He accordingly requested Mr. McNeill to address to him a letter threatening him with the anger of the British Government in case he should persist in his operations against the beleaguered city. In the formal representation which Mr. McNeill then addressed to the king, he embodied a statement of the other grounds on account of which his Government had to complain of Persia, in addition to the investment of the city of Prince Kamran. But in the course of two or three days, and after Mr. McNeill had been granted another private audience of his Persian Majesty, that Minister received a letter from the Persian foreign office, from which it appeared that the Shah had no longer any intention of availing himself of the pretext which he had sought from Mr. McNeill for raising the siege of Herat. It was also sufficiently apparent from this letter that the object of the Persian government was to obtain a large sum of money as the price of abandoning the enterprise against the city, or rather, that the Shah had been diverted from his previous intention to accommodate atters with Herat and to agree to Mr. McNeilTs demands, by the hopes held out to him by his advisers of their being able to extort from the English Minister a large pecuniary recompence for complying with those demands. Mr. McNeill, however, distinctly assured the Persian Ministers that the hope of extorting money from MR. M'NEILL QUITS THE COURT. 311 him by such means was futile. Ten days elapsed, and no further communication took place between the British legation and the Persian court ; but on the 30th of May, Mr. McNeill had again a private audience of the Shah, and pointed out to his Majesty the discrepancy between the language held by his Ministers and that held by himself. Two days later the British envoy received from the Persian Government a despatch, with the con- tents of which he may well have been surprised, since, while it made some show of concession on other points, it treated as an invasion of the Shah's independent sovereign rights the terms Mr. McNeill had employed, in accordance with the king's own request, with regard to the offensive light in which the siege of Herat was looked upon by her Majesty's Government. The treatment to which the British Minister had been subjected had now brought to an end the amount of patience which the calmest of men could be expected to display, and Mr. McNeill accordingly reluctantly arrived at the determination of quitting the court of the Persian king. The Shah had failed to redeem one of the many promises he had made to comply with all or a part of the demands which had been submitted to him, and had evaded every attempt which Mr. McNeill had made to procure adequate redress for the detention and ill-treatment of his messengers. The conduct of the Persian government with regard to the proposed treaty with Prince Karnran, which it had at first accepted, and which it afterwards declined to conclude, and the use which had been made of Mr. McNeill' s compliance with the Shah's request that he would furnish him with a suitable pretext for quitting the enterprise in which he 312 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. was engaged these considerations, coupled with the perseverance of the Persian government in its resolution to prevent any of its servants, excepting the prime minister and the deputy minister for foreign affairs, from holding any intercourse with the British Mission, deter- mined Mr. McNeill to demand leave to depart from the camp, and to proceed to the frontier of Turkey. The Shah still persevered in his policy of vacillation. He was unwilling to see the English Minister depart from his court, and he therefore made a pretence of disbe- lieving a fact so notorious as was the ill-treatment to which Mr. McNeill' s messenger had been subjected. Mr. McNeill was asked to prove the correctness of the statements he had advanced ; but this he could only do by Persian evidence, which it was of course vain to expect to obtain in a case where the Shah and his prime minister were amongst the delinquents. Mr. McNeill left the royal camp on the 7th of June for Meshed and Tehran. At Shahrood he received des- patches from England instructing him to place before the Shah the expression of the strongest disapproval of her Majesty's Government of the line of conduct his Majesty was pursuing towards Herat ; and he accord- ingly sent Colonel Stoddart back to the royal camp with instructions to deliver to the Shah a verbal message to the effect, that the enterprise in which his Majesty was engaged was looked upon by the Queen's Ministers as being undertaken in a spirit of hostility towards British India, and as being totally incompatible with the spirit and intention of the alliance which had been established between Great Britain and Persia. Colonel Stoddart was further directed to say that the Queen's Government REPULSE OF THE PERSIANS FROM HERAT. 313 would look upon the occupation by Persia of Herat, or any portion of Affghanistan, in the light of a hostile demonstration against England ; and he was to refer to the fact that the Shah must be already aware that a British naval armament of five ships- of- war had arrived in the Persian Gulf and taken possession of the island of Karrack. Soon after the departure of the British Minister from the royal camp the troops of the Shah, after six days' incessant battering, were led to the assault of Herat,* and repulsed with considerable loss ; the number of killed and wounded being said to have amounted to about eighteen hundred men. The loss of the higher officers was great in proportion to the total number of men killed ; but the person whose death was most severely felt was the Shah's Polish officer, Monsieur Peroffski, who held the rank of major-general. Amongst the wounded was General Samson, the colonel of the Eussian battalion in the service of the Shah. The Persian troops are said to have assaulted with gallantry, and to have planted their standards three successive times on the breach ; but they were unable to maintain their position. The Affghans attacked them sword in hand with irre- sistible energy, and drove them with great slaughter across the ditch. It is said that of the killed and wounded in the Persian ranks three -fourths received sabre-wounds. This assault was the great event of the siege of Herat. It had been planned by Count Simonich, and that circumstance is said to have afforded to the Shah and his Minister some consolation for the want of success which had attended it : so fickle and so * On the 23rd of June. 314 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. jealous was the Persian court ! The Eussian envoy- extraordinary had, throughout the campaign in Affghani- stan, taken upon himself to act in accordance rather with what he believed or knew to be the wishes of the Imperial Cabinet, than in accordance with the written instructions which he had received from Count Nesselrode. In reply to the remonstrances which the representative of the British Government was instructed to address at St. Petersburg, he was offered permission to peruse the original drafts of all the despatches which had been addressed to Count Simonich for his guidance as to his conduct with reference to the Shah's expedition against Herat ; and, out of deference to Great Britain, Count Simonich was recalled, on the plea that he had exceeded his instructions. On the llth of August Colonel Stoddart arrived at the royal camp before Herat, and on the following day he found his Persian Majesty at length disposed to listen to reasonable proposals for a cessation of hostilities. When Colonel Stoddart had come to a pause in his address, the king interrupted him with the words " The fact is, if I don't leave Herat there will be war. Is not that it ?" The English officer replied " It is war. All depends on your Majesty's answer; and may God pre- serve your Majesty ! " Whereupon the Shah stated that this declaration was all he wanted ; that he had asked Mr. McNeill for it, who had declined to make such a declaration. Two days later Colonel Stoddart was sum- moned to the royal presence, when the king said "We consent to the whole of the demands of the British Government. We will not go to war. Were it not for the sake of its friendship we should not return from BRITISH DEMANDS ACCEDED TO. 315 before Herat. Had we known that our coming here might risk the loss of its friendship, we certainly would not have come at ah 1 ." The Shah's words were this time followed by corresponding deeds. A letter was addressed from the Persian foreign office to Mr. McNeill, couched in terms similar to those which had been used by the Shah to Colonel Stoddart, and his Majesty ordered pre- parations to be made for the breaking up of the camp and the return to Persia. Colonel Stoddart offered his own services on the part of the British Minister as medi- ator between the Shah and Prince Kamran, but he firmly declared that the British Government would not consent to admit of any other foreign mediation between the contending parties. The counsels of Count Simonich had now in turn lost their weight with the Persian king ; and it is said that Monsieur Goutte, the interpreter of the Eussian Mission, who had been sent into Herat for the purpose of inducing the Yizeer to permit the departure from that place of a Prussian subject, was uncourteously desired to depart from the city forthwith. The Prussian subject was, however, sent over, after a few days, to the Persian camp. The Shah seems from this time to the conclusion of the siege to have acted with good faith, though still with some vacillation of purpose. He at first agreed to accept Colonel Stoddart's mediation for the conclusion of a treaty with the Affghan prince, and he desired his under- secretary for foreign affairs to ac- quaint that gentleman that he would not permit the interference of Russia in the conclusion of an arrange- ment with Herat. The preparations for the departure of the king were continued ; but it was necessary to wait for 316 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. some time before a sufficient number of mules could be collected. Count Simonich took advantage of this delay to send a letter into the city offering to interfere between the Shah and Prince Kamran ; but the prudent Vizeer of Herat returned no answer to the proposal of the Eussian Minister. By this time rumours had reached the place of the preparations on the part of the Government of India for a military expedition, undertaken with the view of restoring the Sedozye Shah Shuja to power. The news greatly depressed the Barukzye allies of the Shah, who had. come to his camp from Kandahar ; and, as might have been anticipated, the same intelligence caused a corresponding rise in the spirits of the Sedozye defenders of Herat. Seeing an approaching termination to the siege which they had so gallantly sustained, the Affghan rulers were no longer willing to accede to the terms of the treaty which had been rejected by the Persian king; and this information was communicated by his Majesty to Colonel Stoddart on the 19th of August. His Majesty wished Colonel Stoddart to state whether the tritish Government desired him to depart from before erat without having made any arrangement with Prince Kamran. The English officer volunteered, if authorized to do so by the Shah, to enter the city and endeavour to bring the ruler of that place to conclude the treaty which had been drafted by Mr. McNeill ; but the Shah finally determined to break up his camp and to retire from before Herat, without having concluded any arrangement with Prince Kamran. The latter ruler was now reap- ing the fruits of the long course of dissoluteness and debauchery in which he had indulged while he had entrusted the management of his state to Yar Mahomed THE SHAH INVITES MR. M'NEILL TO RETURN. 317 Khan. That sagacious Vizeer had gained great glory from the successful defence of Herat, and his master was tortured by the fear lest after the raising of the siege the Vizeer should dethrone him. He accordingly resolved not to lose the only opportunity which was open to him of getting rid of so dangerous a subject ; and with this view he addressed a secret note to his brother-in- law, in which he expressed his wish that Mahomed Shah would relieve him of the presence of his Vizeer. The note was seen by Colonel Stoddart : it bore the private seal of Prince Kamran, and with reference to it Mahomed Shah observed to the English officer " Without Yar Mahomed Khan, Kamran would be nothing : he is mad to be afraid of him." On the 25th of August a letter was addressed to Mr. McNeill on the part of the Shah, requesting that he would come back to the Persian court ; and at the same time his Majesty forwarded a royal rescript to that gentleman, assuring him of the favourable reception with which he would be met on his return to the royal presence. The Shah's army was detained before Herat by want of baggage animals until the 8th of September, and at the last moment one more attempt was made to extort from the royal family of the Sedozye prince some mark of homage to the Persian king. At midnight, or shortly after, on the 6th of September, Colonel Stoddart was roused from his sleep by the noise of some footsteps approaching his tent. A man entered in disguise, and in that still hour he communicated to the English officer that he was Sheer Mahomed Khan, the Affghan Sirdar, and that he had been sent by the Persian prime minister 318 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. expressly for the purpose of endeavouring to induce Colonel Stoddart to persuade the mother and the son of Kamran to come and make their obeisance to the Shah, after which they might return to the city. A conversa- tion which lasted for two hours, failed to persuade Colonel Stoddart to accede to the proposal of the prime minister of Persia. So that Vizeer and his master had at length after a siege which had lasted for upwards of nine months to make up their minds to turn towards Tehran, with the bitter reflection that all the Shah's power had been unable to carry into effect a single one of the objects to secure which that siege had been undertaken. The fortress of Herat was much stronger than it had ever been before, and its inhabitants had now a character for bravery and endurance to support, which might be expected to make the reduction of their city at any future time by a Persian army a still more difficult undertaking than it had hitherto been. Prince Kamran had not furnished a single shahi of tribute ; neither had he returned any captive subjects of the Kajar king ; nor had he engaged to restrain in any way the Turkomans, who were thus at liberty to carry on their marauding expeditions into Khorassan, and for the sale of whose Sheeah slaves the marts of Herat were open. The Shah, with further mortification, had to reflect that the peoples of Central Asia had witnessed how little good he had derived from the friendship he had sought to establish with the Autocrat of the North. They had seen the fortress of Prince Kamran baffle all the efforts of a Russian engineer (so called) to take it, and they had been the witnesses of the utter failure of an assault which had been planned by a Russian major-general. COLONEL STODDART'S FIRMNESS REWARDED. 319 The Persian army marched from the camp before Herat on the 9th of September of the year 1838, and on the morning of that day Colonel Stoddart, before setting out on his ill-fated journey to Bokhara, had the satisfaction to be able to report to Mr. McNeill : " The Shah has mounted his horse * Ameerij,' and is gone." 320 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. CHAPTER XI. Demands of her Britannic Majesty's Government from the King of Persia Evasive Answers of Haji Meerza Aghassi Suspension of Diplomatic Relations between England and Persia Advance of Russia in the East British Expedition to the Persian Gulf Hussein Khan Firmness of Lord Palmerston The Shah yields Rising of the Chief of the Assassins His Success and subsequent Failure Bunpoor The Belooches put their Families to Death Affairs of Kurdistan Unsettled State of Turks Persian Frontier Commission appointed for its Delimitation Persians' Sufferings at the Hands of Turkomans Massacre at Kerbela Banishment of the Asef-ed-Dowleh War in Khorassan The Bab Death of Mahomed Shah. THE Shah had promised, unconditionally, to Colonel Stoddart at Herat, as has heen stated in the preceding chapter, to fulfil the whole of the demands of the British Government. These demands were, that the Persian monarch should cease to occupy any portion of Affghan- istan, and that he should, further, afford reparation for the violence which had been offered to the courier of the British Legation. With regard to the first point, the siege of Herat had heen indeed abandoned in consequence of the threatened hostility of the English Government ; but, on the other hand, the Shah still retained possession of the fortress of Ghorian, which he had taken from Prince Kamran, and his troops still continued to occupy Ferrah, Sebzewar, and Khurukh; all of which places formed part of Affghan- istan. With regard to the second point reparation, OUTRAGE ON AN ENGLISH COURIER. 321 namely, for an insult offered to a courier the measures adopted by the Persian king did not satisfy the demands of the British Government. The outrage for which re- dress was now required had been of a nature so gross, that, had it been passed over without reparation having been exacted, the safety and efficiency of those employed by the English Mission in Persia would thereafter have been seriously compromised, and a stain would have re- mained on the honour of the Government which should have permitted one of its servants to be so maltreated. The circumstances under which the outrage had been committed were these : A courier had been sent by Mr. McNeill to Meshed, in 1837, to be in readi- ness to bring back a letter in which the British Minister was to be authorized by the government of Herat to conclude an amicable adjustment of its differences with Persia, and of which permission he was to avail himself in case the difficulties encountered by the Shah in the pro- secution of the enterprise on which he was at that time bent should be such as to induce him to accept of foreign mediation. The courier was to await at Meshed a com- munication from Fetteh Mahomed Khan, an envoy from Herat, who was returning from Persia. But for some reason probably because he feared lest the road from Herat to Meshed would be unsafe for an Affghan mes- senger Fetteh Mahomed Khan induced the courier to proceed with him to Herat, where he was detained for some weeks. He finally left the place as the bearer of letters from Yar Mahomed Khan and Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger to the address of Mr. McNeill. When within about three stages of Meshed, and after he had already passed the Persian army then marching towards Herat, 21 322 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the courier, All Mahomed Beg, was recognized by M. Beroffski ; who, on learning that he was returning from Herat, reported the circumstance on his arrival in the Shah's camp. Horsemen were then despatched in pur- suit of the English courier, and they were instructed to bring him back forcibly to the camp of the Shah. He was stripped of a portion of his clothes, the horses which he was bringing with him were seized, and he him- self was dragged to the camp and there placed in custody. He succeeded, however, in making his way to the tent of Colonel Stoddart, and was by that officer conducted to the prime minister, who, after he had been informed that the courier was in the service of the British Mission, ordered him to be again placed in custody ; while Haji Khan, an officer holding the rank of brigadier in the service of the Shah, not only used very offensive language towards Colonel Stoddart, in the presence of the Persian prime minister, but, after the courier had been released by direction of his Excellency, seized him once more in the midst of the camp ; stripped him in order that he might search for any letter there might be about his person ; took from him what letters he found ; and used towards him violent threats and opprobrious language. In a country where many of the usages of the feudal system are still in force, a pointed insult offered to a dependant is looked upon in the same light as if it had been offered to his master. Therefore, in addition to being an infraction of the law of nations, the treatment to which Mr. McNeill's courier had been subjected, was an open and public affront given in the face of the Shah and his whole camp to the English Minister and to the Government of which he was the representative. When MR. M'NEILL DEMANDS REDRESS. 323 Mr. McNeill demanded apology and reparation for the treatment received by his messenger, the Shah and his Minister, as has been already stated, had endeavoured to excuse themselves from affording it by denying the accuracy of Mr. McNeill's statements, and calling upon him to prove them. They finally sought to compromise matters by dismissing Haji Khan for other conduct, while denying that the British Government had any just cause of complaint against him. The written apology which Mr. McNeill demanded from the prime minister for his share in the transaction was categorically refused. Under these circumstances it was clearly impossible for Mr. McNeill to resume diplomatic relations with the Persian court until such time as the promise made by the Shah to Colonel Stoddart at Herat, of granting all the demands of the British Government, should be carried into execution. Mr. McNeill did nofc return to Tehran, but he awaited in the direction of the frontier the result of a remonstrance which he directed his Secre- tary of Legation to make to the Shah's Ministers against the non-fulfilment of the royal promise. Colonel Sheil joined the Shah's camp on the way from Meshed to Tehran, and he continued with it until its arrival at the capital, on the 9th of November. He, however, found the Shah in no humour to make further concessions to the British Government. His Majesty indulged ill-will against that Government for having thwarted his scheme of adding Herat to his dominions, and he determined to withhold the satisfaction demanded by Mr. McNeill, and yet not wholly to break with that Minister until he should have learnt the result of a complaint against the conduct of the British Government, which he had caused to be 212 324 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. laid before the cabinet of the Sublime Porte. Mr. McNeill, however, on the expiry of the time he gave the Persian government for coming to a decision, broke off diplomatic relations with that government ; and, hav- ing ordered the English officers who had been lent to the Shah to proceed towards Baghdad on their way to India, he retired to Erzeroom with the members of his Mission. Previously to this, Hussein Khan had been sent by the Shah on a mission to England, with the view of inducing her Majesty's Ministers to recall Mr. McNeill from Persia. In the memorandum with which he was furnished for presentation to the English Ministers, and copies of which were sent to France, Kussia and Turkey, the Shah entered into an exposition of the wrongs which, he conceived, had been inflicted on him by Mr. McNeill and by the Government he represented. It commenced by stating, what was without doubt true, that the King of Persia had received great provocation from the people of Herat, and had been perfectly justified in going to war against them. Mr. McNeill had never questioned the Shah's right to punish the people of Herat, and to obtain security from them for their future good behaviour ; but he had drawn a distinction between obtaining just satis- faction from Prince Kamran and annexing Herat to Per- sia. The king protested in the memorandum, that if by his conduct he had opened to Eussia the road to Cabul, it was with no such intention that he had undertaken the expedition to Affghanistan ; the object of which was to rescue Persian subjects from slavery. Mr. McNeill was accused of having incited the people of Herat to continue their defence, and of having bestowed on them eight THE SHAH'S CHARGES AGAINST MR. M'NEILL. 325 thousand tomans, a statement which was at variance with truth. He was further accused of having sent couriers to Kandahar, Cabul, Seistan, the Hezarehs, and Meimaneh, inviting the rulers of those places or tribes to come to attack and plunder the camp of the Shah. This statement, too, was utterly groundless. He was farther accused of having done his best to produce a scarcity in the Persian camp, and of having persuaded the conduc- tors of caravans whom he met on his way to Meshed not to advance towards Herat, as they would infallibly be plundered, and have to submit to see their cattle seized. This assertion was so entirely the reverse of correct that Mr. McNeill had, contrary to the wish of the commandant of the Persian escort which had accompanied him, in- sisted that that escort should be employed in conducting a caravan back to the camp. The memorandum con- cluded with a solemn declaration that the expedition against Herat had been undertaken without any hostile intention towards England. The king felt sure that the English nation would not sanction the oppression to which he had been subjected. If otherwise, he must seek shelter under the shadow of a great mountain. The threat contained in the last words of the preced- ing sentence was followed by a corresponding act. A few weeks later the Shah caused a letter to be addressed to Count Nesselrode, in which he piteously complained of the restraint put upon him by the British Government. " I beg your Excellency," the letter said, " to examine impartially if ever in this world greater tyranny and oppression than this were practised ; that a powerful monarch, who never broke a treaty, should be prevented from obtaining his objects when on the point of success, 326 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. after having encountered so much toil and expense in subduing a refractory province of his own dominions, the people of which have been incessant in slaughtering, plundering and carrying into slavery the inhabitants of Khorassan and Seistan ; who never observed a treaty, and who have been in the habit of selling the people of these two provinces in Khiva and Bokhara." The Persian Minister went on to say that his government had full hope and expectation that Russia would relieve her neighbour from the burden of so obvious a tyranny, which had been exercised towards her on the plea of her friendship for Russia. In conclusion, the Persian government expressed its willingness to act in the matter according to the arbitration of Count Nesselrode. The Russian Minister being thus satisfied of the sub- mission of the Persian government, and being unwilling to see Karrack in the hands of the English, instructed the representative of the Czar in London to endeavour to induce her Majesty's Government to resume its amicable relations with Persia. On the whole, indeed, the Emperor had cause to be contented with the aspect of affairs in Central Asia. Great Britain had gained for the present her point of preventing Persia from taking possession of Herat ; but, on the other hand, she had lost all her in- fluence in Persia. She had shown herself in the light so odious to the Persian Sheeahs that of the well- wisher of Affghan Sunis. If Russia or her ally had not done all she wished to have seen accomplished, she had yet the satisfaction of being able to reflect that immense strides had, in the course of a few years, been made by the Czar towards the realization of the projects of Peter the Great, and which have been kept in view by his sue- EXTENSION OF RUSSIAN ENCROACHMENTS. 327 cessors with such undeviating constancy. In less than forty years the Kussian eagles had advanced from the gates of the Caucasus to the banks of the Araxes, and from the embouchure of the Terek to that of the Astera. This was to the west of the Caspian ; but to the east- ward of that sea their progress, though less prominent, had been no less constant and successful. The line of Orenburg and of the Lake of Aral afforded to the Russian generals an admirable base of operations, from which they could advance with equal facility by the Oxus or the Jaxartes in their operations against the Oozbeg States. Those States, instead of drawing together in a league against the gigantic and insidious Northern Power which was gradually advancing to devour them, were wasting their strength in fighting with each other. Kussia had, indeed, in the preceding year sustained a considerable check ; but her Government, far from being discouraged by the disaster, only endeavoured to turn to account the experience so dearly purchased in the deserts of Khiva. A talented Russian agent was now at work in Central Asia : one from whose past successes' his countrymen were justified in expecting much. M. Witkewitsch was a native of Lithuania, who, on account of a college squabble, had been sent into banishment to a military colony in the Ural, where he remained many years, and acquired a high character among the Cossacks for gallantry, enterprise and intelligence. While residing in the government of Orenburg he gained a thorough knowledge of the Persian and Turkish languages, and otherwise prepared himself for travelling in disguise amongst Mahomedans, he having from an early period been destined by the government for service in Central Asia. He was first directed to 328 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. make the journey to Bokhara in company with a caravan of merchants, and when an officer was wanted to proceed to Cabul, Captain Witkewitsch was selected for the duty. There he out-manoeuvred the British envoy, Alexander Burnes, at the court of Dost Mahomed Khan, and, having rejoined Count Simonich at Herat, was despatched by his Excellency to Kandahar, from which place he was to proceed once more to Central Asia. During the absence of the British Mission from Tehran, the spirit evinced by the Shah towards the English nation was reflected by several additional in- sults committed by his subjects ; for which, as a matter of course, the Minister at the head of the Foreign Office demanded apology and redress. The British Residency at Bushire was removed to the Island of Karrack, which was protected by a squadron under the command of Sir Frederick Maitland. In the meantime Hussein Khan proceeded on his way to London to urge his complaints against Mr. McNeill ; being in nowise deterred by the warnings he received at Constantinople and at Vienna, that he would not be recognized at the Court of St. James's as a diplo- matic agent. With regard to the main object of his mission, he received at Vienna, by order of Lord Palmer - ston, the discouraging assurance that in the demand for the recall of Mr. McNeill, her Majesty's Government only saw an additional proofj if any were wanted, that that Minister had faithfully and ably performed his duty towards his sovereign and country.* Nor were the efforts of the Shah's ambassador to establish com- munication with England by means of a neutral power * Published correspondence relating to Persia, 1841. DEMANDS OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 329 attended with any more success. Prince Metternich transmitted to London a memorandum from Hussein Khan, together with the offer of his Highness' s services as a channel of communication. The offer was so far taken advantage of by Lord Palmerston, that the Prince was requested to he so good as to return the memo- randum to Hussein Khan. From Vienna Hussein Khan proceeded to Paris, where he applied to Marshal Soult for a passport to enable him to visit England as a private individual. He at length succeeded in being admitted to an interview with the English Minister for Foreign Affairs. The conference broke up with the understanding that Lord Palmerston should embody in a memorandum the principal points required of Persia, which memorandum Hussein Khan was to transmit to his government. The demands of the British Government were nine in number. A written apology was required for what had happened with regard to the British messenger. A firman must be published in Persia assuring protection to all persons employed in the British Mission. Ghorian, and the other places in Afghanistan still held by the Shah, must be restored to the Affghans. A written apology must be given for the illegal seizure at Tehran of the house of a British officer. All persons who had been concerned in the outrage on the broker of the British Eesidency at Bushire must be punished. The governor of that port, who had affronted Sir F. Maitland, must be removed from his office, and the reason of his removal stated publicly by the Persian Government. The claims of a British subject on account of some iron-works at Karadagh must be liquidated. The sums due to the officers of the British detach- 330 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. ment lately serving in Persia must be paid ; and, lastly, the signature of a commercial treaty between Great Britain and Persia must accompany the reestablish- ment of diplomatic relations between the two States. These demands were made in London on the llth of July, 1839 ; but it was long before the Persian Govern- ment could be persuaded to comply with them all. Little by little that government yielded to the demands of Lord Palmerston, and it pertinaciously contested almost every point in question. But at length the desire to see Persian soil free from English occupation, and to own once more the island of Karrack, overcame the reluctance of the Shah and his Minister to do what was required of them. The point to which they were most loth to consent was that Ghorian should be evacu- ated ; but at length the order was given that it should be delivered over to the officers of Prince Kamran, or, as he called himself, Shah Kamran. A further pretext for delay in this matter was furnished by the retirement at this time of the British mission under Major D'Arcy Todd from the court of Herat. But again the order was issued at Tehran to the governor of Khorassan to make over the fortress of Ghorian, and this command was carried into execution on the 31st of March, 1841.* This event was very contrary to the views and interests of Yar Mahomed Khan, who was now in opposition to the British Government ; since it afforded to his adherents and to the wild tribes whose horsemen were his chief hope, an unequivocal proof that England and Persia had * The evacuation of Ghorian was witnessed by the late Doctor Kiach, the estimable physician to the British Mission in Persia, who was deputed for this service by Sir John McNeill. THE BRITISH DEMANDS COMPLIED WITH. 331 arranged their differences, and 'that, therefore, he had nothing to expect from Persia. The Persian Government had now performed the essential conditions upon which the Government of her Majesty had consented to reestablish diplomatic inter- course between the two States ; a mission was accord- ingly despatched from London under the direction of Sir John McNeill, which arrived at Tehran on the llth of October, 1841, and which was most cordially received by Mahomed Shah. Not so flattering was the reception of Hussein Khan, who, on his return from Europe, had to expiate his want of success in Western diplomacy by submitting to a severe application of the bastinado. Shortly after the return of Mahomed Shah to Tehran from his Afghanistan campaign, he found his right to sovereignty disputed by a rival of a different order from that of those with whom he had had ere this to contend for the peaceful possession of his throne. The ect of the Ismailites has been already mentioned in a previous chapter. Agha Khan,* the son of Shah Khalilullah, who had been put to death at Yezd, and who had himself been taken under the protection of Fetteh Ali Shah, thought that the time had now come when he might assert with advantage the religious character of which he was the inheritor. There is no reason for believing * This personage based bis claim to being considered a spiritual ruler upon the fact of his being descended from the last chief of the Assassins of Persia, who is popularly known by the designation of " the Old Man of the Mountain." His castle is still to be seen in its ruined condition in the Elburz mountains near Casveen. For an account of the Ismailites, see MARCO POLO'S Travels and GIBBON'S Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 332 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. that he especially selected the moment of the Shah's return from an unsuccessful campaign for attempting to set up his own dominion in opposition to that of the king ; for his pretensions were to spiritual authority more than to temporal, and in the East, religious enthusiasts have generally been guided in their appeals to men more by the fancied promptings of some invisible power than by the suggestions of common sense. Agha Khan had for some time dwelt in the region of Mahalat, near Hama- dan ; and, fearful lest the movement of a portion of the Shah's troops which marched to that quarter should be directed against him, he recommended his followers to disperse, and took the opportunity of sending his family to perform the pilgrimage to Kerbela. Being then unincumbered, he crossed by bypaths the country lying between the plain of Hamadan and the remote cities of Yezd and Kerman. At Kerman he produced forged letters by which he was appointed governor of that place : a position which he was soon called upon to maintain by force of arms, for the real governor returned from Ispahan, and hastened to meet the usurper in the field. Numbers of the sect of Ismail had by this time flocked round their leader ; who, nevertheless, declined to abide the issue of a contest with the troops of the Shah, and decamped during the night preced- ing the .day on which the battle was to have been fought. Agha Khan betook himself to the fortress of Lar, and, on being chased thence by the troops sent in pursuit of him, he found a refuge during the heats of the coming summer in the mountains of that district. In the spring of the next year the chief of the Ismailites once more appeared in the field. He had con- REBELLION OF AGHA KHAN. 333 trived not only to raise a numerous force, but also to procure some artillery. On hearing of his movement, the governor of Kerinan lost no time in despatching troops to confront him; but while doing so he committed the error which has so frequently proved fatal in operations of greater magnitude than that of which I now write the oft-repeated error of the Aulic Council. He divided his force into three parts, and thus gave to the rebel the opportunity of defeating each detachment in detail. The first was under the command of the governor's brother, who had under his orders the troops of Bern and Ner- mansheer. Amongst these there were many who secretly held the tenets of Ismail; the result was, that in the action which ensued, they went over in a body to Agha Khan, and their leader, Isfendiar, was killed. After this success, the Ismailite chief advanced to meet the second detachment, which he defeated without difficulty. On his way to Kerman he encountered the third body of troops that had been sent against him, whom he easily dispersed, taking their commander prisoner. Elated with his success, he then wrote to the nobles of Kerman, ordering them to seize their governor ; but the high tone which he now adopted was not any further sup- ported by corresponding acts. The governor of Kerman, taking with him a chosen body of troops, marched in person to encounter the rebel ; Agha Khan, reflecting that in case of defeat he could expect no mercy from the man whose brother his followers had slain, did not choose to risk an action, but sought safety in flight, leaving his followers and his camp at the mercy of his adversary. He fled to Nermansheer and was hotly pursued ; but he succeeded in making his way to Beloo- 334 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. chistan, from whence he passed to the south. He did not again attempt, by means of his spiritual authority, to win for himself an earthly crown, but turned his attention to the safer employment of horse-racing in Western India. The chief of Bunpoor in Beloochistan had taken advantage of the rising of Agha Khan to make hostile incursions into the province of Kerman. Over all the ancient country of Gedrosia the modern Shahs lay claim to possess a vague right of dominion. The whole of the vast tract comprehended between the latitudes 24 50' and 30 40' north, and longitudes 58 55' and 67 30' east, in addition to two provinces stretching far to the east and west, was bestowed by Nadir Shah, in the year 1739, on Nasser Khan, who at the same time received the title of Begler-Beg of Beloochistan.* Founding" its pretensions on the conquests of Nadir, the Persian Government considers itself to have a seigneurial right over this country, in spite of the cir- cumstance that for a hundred years that right has been in no way recognized by the chiefs of the tribes of Beloochistan. In the first years of the reign of Mahomed Shah, this country included the region of Kohistan, in which lies the town of Bunpoor. Habeebullah Khan, the commandant of the Shah's artillery, who had been sent to the assistance of the governor of Kerman in his struggle with Agha Khan, was now directed to undertake the task of punishing the chief of Bunpoor. He accordingly marched against that place, which was yielded up to him. But on one of his soldiers attempting to carry off a Belooch woman, the * Travels in Beloochistan, \>j Lieut. HENRY POTTINGEB. SANGUINARY CONFLICT WITH BELOOCHES. 335 fury of the excitable tribesmen was aroused, and after having put their wives and daughters to that death which, like Virginius, they thought was better than dishonour, they fell upon the troops of Habeebullah Khan, to whom they had formerly surrendered. A sanguinary conflict now ensued ; the Belooches having nothing left for which they cared to live, and the Per- sians being encouraged by their chief to kill and not to spare. After a time the carnage ceased, and so great was the effect which the account of it produced upon the Shah, that he sent orders for the immediate liberation of the surviving captives of Bunpoor. About the beginning of the month of June of the year 1842, an occurrence took place on the western frontier of Persia, which was nearly being the cause of a war between that Power and Turkey. In the preceding year Mahmoud Pasha, the governor of Suleimanieh, had been obliged to take refuge in Persia. He had repaired to Tehran, and there succeeded in obtaining a recom- mendation from the Shah's government to the Porte that his successor, Ahmed, should be dismissed, and that he should be reinstated in his former post. Ahmed was accordingly removed, but Mahmoud was not restored to power. A second request was, however, made in his favour, and he proceeded to the frontier government of Senna, there to await its result. He was not restored to his former position, in which a relative of Ahmed Pasha was placed. Upon this the Yali and the Vizeer of Ardelan advanced with Mahmoud towards the Turkish frontier at the head of a considerable force, and Abdullah, the brother of Ahmed Pasha, assembled a force to oppose them. An officer of the Vali's army was detached by a 836 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. circuitous route to take possession of a defile in the rear of Abdullah's camp, and at the same time Mahmoud inarched towards Suleimanieh. Information respecting the latter move was conveyed to Abdullah Pasha, in the expectation that, on hearing of it, he would at once return to Suleimanieh, and so be surprised in the defile by the troops detached by the Vali. Abdullah, however, ren- dered this calculation futile by advancing to attack the Vali's own camp. By so doing he was obliged to invade the Persian territory ; but he was forced to take this step by the seizure of the pass within the Turkish territory by the troops of Ardelan. He was successful in his attack on the Yali, and the Yizeer of Kurdistan hastened to misrepresent the matter to the Persian government, in the hope that it might be committed to hostilities against the Porte before his own share of culpability in the affair should be ascertained. The Shah, on reading the reports sent to him from Ardelan, was so highly incensed that he at once gave orders for the assembling of a number of troops at Hamadan, with which it was his intention to march to the Ottoman frontier. He also ordered that all Persian merchants should forthwith quit the dominions of the Sultan. There was, indeed, at this time a long list of grievances, on account of which Turkey and Persia complained each of the other State. A brother of the Shah had made a wanton incursion into the district of Byazeed and plundered several villages. In that same district a large and valuable Persian caravan had been despoiled by the Kurds. At the close of the year 1835, Khan Mahmoud, a Kurdish chief, dwelling near the Lake of Van, had ravaged the districts of Kutoor and Khoi. About the DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PERSIA AND TURKEY. 337 same time the Meer of Kavandooz had attacked and plundered the district of Mergaver in the mountains of Uroomeeah. During the absence of the Shah at Herat, the thriving commercial town of Mohamera, situated near Bussora in the district of Chab in Khuzistan, had been attacked by the Turkish troops and completely destroyed. It is asserted that this aggression took place at the instigation of the Pasha of Baghdad, who was anxious to get rid of a commercial rival to Bussora, it having been discovered that the trade of the latter port was rapidly passing over to Mohamera. Persia had also to complain that some of her Kurdish tribes had been unfairly abstracted from her territory by the Pasha of Byazeed. She also claimed pecuniary compensation for the permission she had some years since granted to the Turkish tribes of Suleimanieh to pasture their flocks on Persian soil during the months of summer. Turkey, on the other hand, complained of the retention by Persia of the district of the bridge of Zohab on the frontier of the province of Kermanshah. To determine the frontier line between the two countries, a mixed commission was appointed, and the commissioners were to be guided in the adjustment of their differences by the opinion of a Kussian officer who was to accompany them over the line of frontier. To this commission a British member was afterwards added ; but so complicated were the questions to be solved, or so great the labour of surveying and mapping, that more than twenty years have been insufficient to bring the work to an end. The repre- sentatives of England and of Kussia at the Sublime Porte and at Tehran used all their influence to prevent a war at this time between the two great Moslem powers ; 22 338 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. and through their exertions the troops which had been assembled near either frontier, and which for some time were held back like greyhounds in the leash, were at length withdrawn into the interior, leaving the commis- sioners to do their work. At this time the usual state of petty hostilities between the Persians of the province of Astrabad and the Yemoot Turkomans of the Goorgan desert was varied by the despatch of a large force sent by the Shah to compel payment of tribute by the tribes, and to obtain the restoration of slaves. The result of the expedition was that of all similar ones. The Turkomans gave way, and were pursued, and consented to pay tribute and to restore slaves ; but when the Persian battalions had begun their retrograde movement, the tribesmen once more issued from their deserts, and recommenced their system of marauding. So incensed was the Shah at the injury done to him in carrying off his subjects into captivity, that he determined upon undertaking a military expedition against the Khan of Khiva, whose capital was one of the chief markets for Persian captives. In order, if possible, to avert renewed war in Central Asia, the English charge-d'affaires at Tehran had offered to send a member of the mission to Khiva, at the same time that an envoy proceeded thither on the part of the Shah. This mission * had not been attended with success, the Khan of Khiva refusing to promise any- thing further than that he would exchange some of the Persian captives for an equal number of such Turkoman captives as might be in the hands of the Persians. A Khivan envoy was, however, subsequently sent to Tehran, * Mr. WILLIAM T. THOMSON proceeded to Khiva on this occasion. PERSIAN SLAVES AMONGST THE TURKOMANS. 339 and the threatened hostilities were averted. The Khan of Khiva soon afterwards died, and his successor declared his intention of signalizing his accession to the post of cup-bearer to the Sultan * by the liberation of fifteen hundred Persian captives. But I do not find that these captives were actually set free. Indeed, except in the case of such as were the immediate property of the Khan, it was not easy to give effect to any measure such as the Shah wished to be carried out ; for the Persian slaves had been purchased by persons who would by no means consent to give up their property unless upon receiving their value in money. Many of these Sheeah slaves were permitted to work out their own redemption, but upon obtaining it they were not at liberty to quit the territory of Khiva, t This cruel * That this title is given to, or assumed by, the Khan of Khiva, I learn from M. VAMBERY'S recently published Travels in Central Asia. f What Persian slavery amongst the Turkomans is, may be best learnt from one who has himself witnessed it. "I was astonished to find how many of my fellow-travellers the poorest of the poor in spite of the noble hospitality of which they had been partakers, were already weary of the Turkomans ; for it would, they said, be impossible for men having the least sentiment of humanity to be eye-witnesses any longer of the cruel treatment to which the wretched Persian slaves had to submit The compassion evinced by my fellow-travellers, and the imprecations they used against the Karaktchi for their inhumanity, convey the least impression of the sufferings to which the poor captives are exposed. Let us only picture to ourselves the feelings of a Persian who is surprised by a night attack, hurried away from his family, and brought hither a prisoner, and often wounded. He has to exchange his dress for old Turkoman rags, that only scantily cover parts of his body, and is heavily laden with chains that gall his ankles, and occasion him great and unceasing pain every step he takes. He is forced upon the poorest diet to linger the first days often weeks of his captivity. That he may make no attempt at flight, he has also at night a kara-bagra (iron ring) attached to his neck and fastened to a peg, so that the rattle betrays even the slightest movements. No other termination to his sufferings than the payment of a ransom by his friends To the rattle of the chains I could never habituate my ears. It is heard in the tent of every Turkoman who has any pretension to respectability or position." Travels in Central Asia : VAMBERY. 222 340 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. restriction, however, was, after a time, removed, and I read of a body of several thousand Persians preparing to return to their native land. The beginning of the year 1843 was signalized by an occurrence, which was, of all things that could have happened, the most likely to bring to an abrupt ter- mination the negotiations that were being carried on between Persia and Turkey, and to rouse to instant action the warlike tendencies of the Shah. The Pasha of Baghdad thought proper to march with a military force against the holy city of Kerbela in Arabia. A breach of forty yards' length was made in the walls, and the place was carried by storm. The fighting went on in the streets for some hours, until the tomb of Abbass was taken, and eight hundred persons, who had sought refuge within it, massacred. All resistance then ceased, and the Turkish soldiers, furious at the opposition they had encountered, lost for the time all regard to dis- cipline, and massacred every one they met, without dis- tinction of sex or age. The loss of life was estimated by the survivors at from fifteen to eighteen thousand souls ; but this calculation was probably very greatly in exaggeration of the truth. The motive for this attack was the fact that for many years Kerbela had, for practical purposes, almost entirely rejected the authority of the Pasha of Baghdad. A large number of outlaws had sought safety in the neighbourhood of the Shrines, and had usurped authority over the district; the Pasha of Baghdad was therefore justified in enforcing his power over the unruly city. It is asserted that he gave warning to the Persians within it to retire before the assault ; if this were so, and they neglected his advice, they MASSACRE OF PERSIANS AT KERBELA. 341 exposed themselves to the horrors which their abodes now witnessed. One princess was severely wounded, and hundreds of the Shah's subjects shared the fate that befell so many thousands of the inhabitants of the town. The news of this event travelled to Tehran with- out the explanation of the causes that had brought it about ; and the messenger arrived at that city at the time when the people were engaged in the cele- bration by a religious ceremony of the martyrdom of Hussein. Had the contents of the despatches which reached the Government been at once divulged, there is little doubt that the people, already in a state of high excitement, would have been goaded to frenzy by the eloquence of their priests. But the Shah's Minister wisely kept the news that had reached him secret, until the expiration of the ten days of mourning. When at length the inhabitants of Tehran learned that the city containing the tomb of their favourite saint was in the hands of those whose swords had been stained with the blood of so many of their fellow-countrymen, they demanded vengeance from the Shah and his Minister. The latter knew that to argue with men under the influ- ence of fury would be a waste of time, and he accord- ingly at once acceded to their demand. Troops were ordered to prepare for marching, and immense stores were called for. Couriers were sent about in every direction, and one would have imagined that the Shah's government really intended to avenge on the inhabitants of Baghdad the wrongs of the citizens of Kerbela. But all this time Haji Meerza Aghassi had no thoughts whatever of commencing hostilities. He was naturally a humane man, and he had seen enough of campaigning 342 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. during the siege of Herat to make him resolve to study war no more. The result of his conduct on this occasion was exactly what he had foreseen. The people not being irritated by contradiction, and witnessing the seeming zeal of the minister, had gradually subsided into calmness, and the affair passed over on the Turkish Government expressing regret and giving assurances of its readiness to make suitable atonement for what the Persians had suffered in the massacre at Kerbela. The power of Haji Meerza Aghassi was now thoroughly established : the king looked upon him with a feeling little short of veneration ; and it was well that there was at hand so merciful a minister to temper the stern decrees of so cruel a prince. Haji Meerza Aghassi feared the influence of no rival, and as long as Mahomed Shah continued to reign, his former preceptor continued to administer justice in his name. The Haji even went so far in his conduct towards his master as freely to show his anger when he felt displeased with the Shah. On one occasion the king resisted the minister's demand for the dismissal of four persons of the royal household who were obnoxious to him. Fourteen days were allowed to pass by the latter without his going to pay his usual daily duty to his sovereign ; and at the end of that time it was not the Haji who yielded, but the Shah. The Vizeer had retired to one of his country-seats, and thither the Shah repaired ; but the Haji had disregarded alike the duties of hospitality and the respect due to royalty, and the king found no one to welcome him at the house which he honoured by his presence. The minister, on hearing of the royal approach, had retired to another residence which he possessed, and the Shah remained THE VIZEER HAJI MEERZA AGHASSI. 343 his guest for an entire week without having been waited upon by his host. During all this time, while the Haji's ill-temper lasted, there was a total cessation of the busi- ness of the central government of the country. It has been mentioned that the Shah's maternal uncle, the Asef-ed-Dowleh, had been appointed at the beginning of the king's reign to be governor of Kho- rassan. He had retained this important post ever since, but he had never ceased to hanker after the higher office which he had held in the time of Fetteh Ali Shah. His jealousy of Haji Meerza Aghassi sometimes broke out in words and acts, and was sometimes smothered until a more fitting occasion should occur for its display. But the influence of the Minister over his former pupil was paramount, and all the efforts of the Asef-ed- Dowleh to shake it were attended with as little result as the beating of waves against a rock : the Asef- ed-Dowleh could not shake the Minister, but by his efforts to do so he broke himself. There a*re two great offices in the Shah's gift which must be held by two persons residing in the city of Meshed. Of these two persons one acts as a check on the other. The governor of Khorassan is kept within bounds by the vicinity of an individual of character and influence who is in no way under his orders, and the custodian of the shrine of Imam Eeza is bound to regard the opinion of so powerful a personage as the Vali of Khorassan. The Asef-ed- Dowleh succeeded in uniting in his family these two important posts. He represented to the Shah that he was old, and that he wished to consult his interests beyond the grave by devoting his few remaining days to the task of guarding the holy places at Meshed. He 344 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. was accordingly made custodian of the mosque, and his son, the celebrated Salar, was appointed to be the gover- nor of Khorassan. But the Asef-ed-Dowleh had no sooner got rid of a troublesome spy in the person of the former custodian than another thorn in his flesh appeared to vex him. This was one Mahomed Hassan Khan, a chief of Nardeen, who by means of making pre- sents at Tehran contrived, without the Asef-ed-Dowleh's knowledge, to be named governor of his native district. Nardeen lies between Meshed and Astrabad, and is sub- ject to the government of Khorassan. It lies along the Turkoman frontier, and its new ruler showed his gra- titude to his patrons at Tehran by making himself a scourge to the hereditary enemies of the Persians. This was too much for the patience of the Asef-ed-Dowleh, and a body of horsemen was, by his instigation, sent against the chief of Nardeen with orders to put him to death. These orders were faithfully executed ; but Allah- yar Khan was called upon to account for the deed that had been done. As a matter of course he protested that he had not been accessary to the death of Mahomed Hassan Khan ; but he was nevertheless ordered to repair to Tehran. This he declined to do, on the ground that he could not leave the shrine of Imam Keza without a custodian : a pretext of which he was deprived by the immediate appointment of another person to fill that holy office. He then slowly and reluctantly approached the capital of the Shah, having previously written to his Majesty to point out how utterly unfitted the prime minister had shown himself for the task of ruling Persia. At Tehran the sentence of exile awaited him. He was ordered to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and to reside DISGRACE OF ALLAH-YAR KHAN. 345 for his remaining days at Kerbela, in case the journey through the sands of Arabia should not be enough to quench the spark of life which animated his aged body. Thus passed from the scene the former prime minister of Iran, and who was by birth and position the most noble of the nobles of the land. It was not intended to take away the government of Khorassan from the family of the Asef-ed-Dowleh ; but as his son, the Salar, was suspected of entertaining the design of making himself independent, his elder brother was sent down from Tehran to supersede him in the govern- ment. The Salar, however, was of a more commanding spirit than his brother, and instead of being put down by him he brought him over to his own views. The son of Allah -yar Khan was now sufficiently powerful to be an object of serious alarm to the Persian court. In addi- tion to the wealth and weighty influence of his own house, his cause derived support from a formidable combination of the chiefs of the Turkomans and of Khorassan. Prince Hamza Meerza, one of the brothers of the Shah, was invested with the chief power in the eastern province of Persia, and was enjoined to proceed with an army to put down the audacious rebel. The Salar was at this time encamped on the plain of Maiyanmai with a force of twenty-five thousand cavalry. Prince Hamza Meerza might well hesitate to encounter him ; but, as is not unusual with Persians, he attempted to conceal his weakness under a boastful pretence of clemency. He sent a messenger to his opponent, advising him to reflect well while there was still a choice open to him. " You are the first of your race," the message went on, " who have aspired to sovereignty. 346 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. We have ruled and you have obeyed. What new thing is this, that the servant should rise against his master and the slave against his lord?" The mention of the word " slave" stung to the quick the proud Salar, who, replied to the prince's communication by a defiance to mortal combat ; adding a Persian verse to this effect:* " What use my life to me, Since though I be Salar I still a slave must be ? " On receiving this reply the prince advanced towards the camp of the rebels ; but as he did so, the forces opposed to him began to disperse, and their leader found himself compelled to consult his safety by retreating to Boojnoord. Thither he was followed by Hamza Meerza, and the Salar and the chief of Boojnoord were forced to fall back upon the Turkomans. It was the intention of Prince Hamza to pursue them, but he was recalled to Meshed by the news of a rising at that place. The governor whom he had left at Boojnoord contrived to make himself so disagreeable to the people that they opened communication with their former chief, Jafer Kuli Khan, who, with the Salar, returned from the Turkoman desert, and once more took possession of Boojnoord. Twelve thousand men flocked to their standards, and the prince had to hasten frpm Meshed to oppose them. They retired on his approach and fell back on their Turkoman allies ; but this time they were pursued to the deserts bordering the Attrek river. The chief of Boojnoord, after a number of adventures, succeeded in making his way to Herat, where he was * " Maraii ar ayed az zendagee, ke salar basham kunam bendagee." INSURRECTION AND DEFEAT OF THE SALAR. 347 detained for some time in captivity by Yar Mahomed Khan. The Salar found his way to Serrekhs, and, falling in with a body of several thousand Turkoman horse, he doubled upon the prince, who was pursuing him, and attempted by means of a forced march to gain the city of Meshed. By the 'orders of Hamza Meerza a body of cavalry was sent to oppose him ; but the Salar was victorious in the fight which ensued, and he continued his way to Meshed. He was not, however, in a condi- tion to face the artillery which the prince now brought up against him, and he was once more driven to seek safety in flight, and shelter amongst the Turkomans of the desert. At this time there occurs the first mention in the Persian records of a man whose name is destined to hold an enduring place in Persian history.* The East, so prolific in originators of creeds, had produced a fanatic who was able to obtain spiritual authority over the minds of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen. Syed AH Mahomed, though boasting descent from the lawgiver of Mecca, was the son of a grocer of Sheeraz. Being of a religious disposition, he was sent in his youth to Kerbela, where he sat at the feet of a celebrated doctor of the Mahomedan law. From Kerbela he proceeded to Bushire, and at the latter place he endeavoured by * Babism, though at present a proscribed religion in Persia, is far from being extinct, or even declining, and the Bab may yet contest with Mahomed the privilege of being regarded as the real prophet of the faithful. Babism in its infancy was the cause of a greater sensation than that even which was produced by the teaching of Jesus, if we may judge from the account of Josephus of the first days of Christianity. Far from foreseeing the future spread of that religion, the Jewish historian contents himself with observing " And the tribe of Christians, so named from him (Christ), are not extinct at this day." 348 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the practice of certain austerities to acquire the reputation of peculiar piety. One of his singular proceedings at this period was to expose himself bareheaded to the rays of the burning summer sun, in order that men might see that his power extended even over the orb that had been the object of the veneration of the Persians of old. It is said, however and any one who has visited Bushire in summer will readily believe the statement that the sun's influence had the effect of rendering his brain disordered. He now gave out that as Ali had been the gate by which men had entered the city of the prophets' knowledge, even so he was the gate through which men might attain to the knowledge of the twelfth Imam. It was in accordance with this doctrine that he received the distinguishing appellation of Bab, or gate ; from which his followers were styled Babis. His pretensions rose in proportion to the credulity of those who placed faith in his mission from above. We are not informed in what manner he reconciled his new statements with preceding declarations, with which they were not consistent ; but we may infer that after each new revelation he told his disciples that it had been necessary to prepare them for it by the preceding one. Not contented with the character of the forerunner of the twelfth Imam, he presently gave out that he was no other than the long-looked -for Mehdi himself; and finding that the higher his pretensions rose the more his followers increased in numbers and in zeal, he next gave out that the holy prophet of Medina had revisited the earth, and appeared in his person. His impiety lastly reached the blasphemous height of his declaring that he was an incarnation of the eternal God. SYED ALI MAHOMED, THE BAB. 349 The success which had attended the preaching of the Bab at Bush ire induced that personage to attempt the dangerous experiment of endeavouring to bring over to his doctrines the inhabitants of his native place. He assumed the pretension of being able to work miracles ; but the only two said to have been performed by him of which I can obtain any record were certainly of the most simple description. One was his foolhardy attempt to brave the power of the rays of the sun on the shore of the Persian Gulf ; the other was the assertion of being able to write faster than merely mortal fingers could ply the pen. But if his actual performances would scarcely have entitled him to whatever credit may be due to a clever deceiver of men's senses, his deficiencies were fully made up for by the power of imagination and of belief possessed by his followers. These spread his fame far and wide throughout Persia, and his naib, or vicegerent, was sent to Sheeraz to pave the way for the approach of the Bab himself. But the naib was unfor- tunate enough to have to deal with a hardened unbeliever in Hussein Khan, who after his return from England had been appointed governor-general of the province of Fars. By his orders the na'ib was seized and basti- nadoed, and, in order to prevent him from going from house to house, the governor ordered that the tendons of his legs should be severed. But this ungracious re- ception of his forerunner did not deter the Bab from carrying into execution his project of visiting Sheeraz. On his arrival there he was sent for by the governor, with whom he had a private interview. In order that he might the better prove the secret thoughts of the Bab, the governor pretended to be half disposed to believe in 350 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. his mission. He declared that a few days before, the Bab had appeared to him in a dream, and while reproaching him with his treatment of the na'ib had declared that he considered it beneath his dignity to punish him for the same. The Bab, it appears, had unlimited belief in the powers of credulity of those whom he encountered ; it never occurred to him to suppose that Hussein Khan was not sincere in what he said, and he therefore determined to complete his conversion by affording him a proof of his superhuman power. " You have correctly stated what I said to you," he replied ; " but it was not in a dream that I appeared : I was present to you in the body/' Upon this Hussein Khan declared himself to be convinced of the heavenly mission of the Bab. This was a great accession to the ranks of the faithful, and the powerful neophyte was forth- with promised that he should one day sit on the throne of Stamboul. It was a satisfactory prospect for the future ; but in the meantime Hussein Khan suggested that the Bab should come with him and confront the assembled moollahs and ulemah of Sheeraz. It would not have accorded with the Bab's pretensions had he declined to accede to this proposal ; and he faced the priests and doctors of the Mahomed an law with all the more confidence that he believed himself to be secure of the support of the strong arm of the governor of Fars. He boldly declared to the astonished assembly that the mission of Mahomed, which had served its purpose, was now at an end, and that he had come down from heaven to dwell amongst men for the purpose of inaugurating a new order of things. The doctors gave him an attentive hearing, and as some parts of his discourse were con- SPREAD OF BABISM. 351 fused, they requested, not unreasonably, that he would furnish them with a written statement of that which they were required to believe. The Bab made no objection to this request ; but when the statement came to be read it was found to be written in some other language than the Arabic or Persian. Upon this the assembled priests declared that the fanatic was mad, and in conformity with this opinion, they decreed that, instead of the sentence of death which the Bab deserved to have passed upon him for having declared that he was God, he should receive the punishment of the bastinado, and be confined for life. The execution of the first part of this sentence is said to have had the effect of causing the Bab to acknowledge that he had been guilty of egregious folly; but it produced little or no effect on the spread of his fame and of his doctrine. Many of the principal priests of Persia became secret converts to Babism, and, while the Bab languished in prison at Sheeraz, and afterwards at Ispahan and at Chereck in Azerbaeejan, his naib, who had contrived to escape, was successfully engaged in preaching his religion at Yezd. So numerous in a short time were the followers of the Bab that a decree was issued by the chief religious authorities in Persia, making it a capital crime for any one to profess the tenets of the false prophet of Sheeraz. Some of the followers of the Bab, full of new-born zeal, thought that they were doing a service acceptable to the Almighty by assassinating some of the chief priests who had issued decrees condemnatory of Babism ; and, on the other hand, the priesthood authorized a persecution of the followers of the Bab. In this way the feelings and interests of a large body of 352 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. men were entirely engaged in this religious question, and the blood of those who were martyrs for the faith con- tributed greatly to the spread of the tenets of Babism ; since the fact that men were found willing to lay down life for the cause, convinced waver ers that it must rest on the everlasting foundation of truth. The reader of this volume will probably before reach- ing this page have made to himself the observation that the history of modern Persia is for the most part a mere record of deeds of violence and blood. Such deeds, it may be observed, occupy a large space in the annals of every nation, but it is painful for a writer to find so little else worthy of being recorded in the history of the modern occupants of a country which so early and for so long a period filled a conspicuous place in the world. But though fully aware of the monotonous nature of the task I have undertaken, I can find little or nothing in the pages of the Persian chronicler, or in the volumes and documents upon which I have drawn, that would either interest or instruct the European reader. I have there- fore confined myself to the relation of such facts as seemed to me to show the spirit of the times of which I have written, and to have had more or less influence in shaping the destinies of the nation ruled over by the princes of the Kajar dynasty. I am now drawing near to the end of the reign of the third Kajar king, and having recounted the wars and massacres of that reign, it remains to me to describe the more peaceful events which marked it. The greatest of these would be considered by philanthropists to be a decree of the Shah strictly forbidding the application of torture to any of his subjects. It is not to be supposed, how- PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 353 ever, that this decree was sufficient to put a stop, once for all, to a practice so congenial to the habits of petty governors placed in positions where they were indepen- dent in a great measure of the central authorities. Some governors still continued to torture at their pleasure, but one of these having been brought to justice through the representations of the British Minister, the practice came gradually to be looked upon as unsafe, and thus a greater regard to the laws of humanity came to be observed. Another step in the path of civilization was the pro- hibition of importing into Persia African slaves along the seaboard of the Persian Gulf and by the harbour of Mohamera. This measure was the result of the continuous efforts of her Britannic Majesty's Govern- ment. A third event of this reign which it is a pleasure to record, is the conclusion of a treaty of commerce between Persia and England. Negotiations were long in progress for making a similar treaty between Persia and France. Following the example of her Majesty's Govern- ment, that of King Louis Philippe had sent out to Persia a congratulatory embassy upon the Shah's accession to the throne ; the ambassador being permitted to enter into arrangements for the conclusion of a commercial treaty. No results followed this measure, and the embassy ob- tained permission to return to France ; its chief, and the Marquis de Lavalette, his secretary, being made Khans of Persia. A few years later the Count de Sartiges renewed the negotiations which had been begun by his predecessor. But these were not attended by the wished - for result, and his Excellency had to content himself with confining the practical work of his mission to the protection of his co-religionists in Persia. 23 354 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. During the administration of Haji Meerza Aghassi some attention was paid to the development of the internal resources of the dominions of the Shah. The cultivation of the mulberry -tree, to supply food for the silkworm, was anxiously watched over in the province of Kerrnan ; and, amongst other projects, the prime minister entertained, and endeavoured to carry into execution, that of diverting into the plain of Tehran the broad river of Kerij, with a view to procure an abundant supply of water for the wants of the city. On the whole, the minister of Mahomed Shah showed himself, during the thirteen years of his administration, to be a man not altogether unqualified for the duty of ruling over an Oriental nation. He was not deaf to the claims of expe- diency, of justice and of mercy, and if his merits scarcely deserved the high opinion which he entertained of his own performances and his own capacity, he is at least entitled to the credit of having meant well to his country and his sovereign. That sovereign was now about to close a career the years of which had been evil as they had been few. In the autumn of 1848 he was overtaken by a combination of maladies which it was feared would speedily bring him to the grave. Gout and erysipelas had together effected the ruin of his constitution, and on the evening of the 4th of September, 1848, his Majesty, being then in his fortieth year, expired at the palace of Mahomediah in Shimran, without having at the last suffered pain. That palace, as well as the once splendid abode of the Vizeer hard by, has long since been stripped of its treasures ; in accordance with the Persian prejudice, which makes a son object to dwelling in the house in which his father has died. The marble baths and halls SUCCESSION OF NASSER-ED-DEEN. 355 that were built for the use of Sultanas are now the refuge of the jackal and the owl. But at the epoch of the death of Mahomed Shah the palace of Mahoinediah contained two ladies of princely rank, in the relative condition of whom a wonderful alteration was effected by the demise of the king. During the lifetime of his Majesty his affections had been centred, and his con- fidence bestowed, on one alone of the many fair women who formed the royal household. But that princess was not the mother of the heir-apparent, and she had now the mortification of being forced to yield the place of dignity and influence to her rival, the new queen-mother. Nasser- ed-deen Meerza, the heir-apparent of Persia, was absent at the seat of his government in Azer- baeejan at the time of the death of his father. It was of the utmost importance, for the establishment of a feeling of public security, that the young Shah should be brought to the capital without any unnecessary delay. The Kussian Minister, in conjunction with the English charge d'affaires, had determined to send members of their respective Missions to Tabreez so soon as they should receive intelligence of the demise of the king. But certain persons, whose interest it was to prolong the state of lawlessness which commonly prevails imme- diately after the death of a Persian monarch, had, before the demise of the Shah, begun to assemble in threaten- ing bands on the roads between the palace and the city, with the view of stopping the messengers who should be sent to announce to the hundred and thirty provinces or governments of Persia that the monarch of the land was no more. Under these circumstances, Colonel Farrant, who was then in charge of the English Mission, 232 356 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. determined to act upon the medical information he had received to the effect that the king could not possibly survive for many hours; and by thus anticipating the event he enabled his messenger to arrive at Tabreez long before any other courier could reach that town. The crown-prince was thus enabled to make timely prepara- tions for his march to the capital, and the mischievous designs of these intriguers were frustrated. The character of the deceased Shah must have been apparent to those who have perused the preceding .pages. He was just in his intentions and pure in his private life : no indulgence in any vice is laid to his charge. On the other hand, he was bigoted and cruel ; but for his bigotry he was indebted to his early education, and for his cruelty, the bodily pain under which for so many years he suffered, and which soured his temper, may be admitted as some palliation. The custom prevalent in Persia during his reign, by which the monarch was not only the judge of criminals but the witness of the execution of capital punishments, could not but deaden the royal heart to sentiments of compassion,. On the whole, Mahomed Shah's memory is entitled to the respect accorded to that of a man who, in the face of obstacles and infirmities, has consistently persevered in what he believed to be the path of duty. His obsequies were performed with the pomp and splendour usually observed at the burial of a Persian king, and his body was placed by the side of that of Fetteh Ali Shah in the mosque of Koom. ( 357 ) CHAPTER XII. Flight of Haji Meerza Aghassi Rival Parties at Tehran The Queen- Mother President of the Council Serious Risings in the Provinces The Salar The Ameer-i-Nizam Measures of Reform adopted hy him Combination against him Mutiny of the Garrison of Tehran Seizure of Kotoor by the Turks Ascendancy of the Belooches in Seistan Persian Claims to that Province Protracted Siege of Meshed Bahman Meerza Prince Sultan Murad presses the Siege of Meshed Foreign Interference offered for the Pacification of Khorassan Ravages of the Turkomans Surrender of Meshed Death of the Salar. SOMETHING of that feeling of satisfaction with which one listens in a warm room to the roar of thunder and the pelting of rain without, ought to be experienced by the reader dwelling in a settled country while perusing an account of the condition of affairs in an unsettled country after the death of its ruler. Mahomed Shah had scarcely breathed his last when a large body of his most influential courtiers hastened at night through the lanes and gardens of Tajreesh to the encampment of the British Legation. To them it was as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, under which they sought refuge till the calamities which they dreaded should be past. These courtiers had formed themselves into a council, with the purpose of carrying on the administration until the arrival of the Shah. Whilst they made the strongest professions of allegiance to their new sovereign, they one and all declared that 358 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. they would no longer submit to the authority of Haji Meerza Aghassi, whom they were prepared to resist by force. They were informed by the English charge d'affaires that he would act, in the emergency which had arisen, in concert with the Eussian representative ; and on the following day, they took part with him in a con- sultation with Prince Dolgorouky. A paper was sealed by most of the influential persons of the court, by which they gave in their allegiance to the young Shah ; but in it they stipulated that Haji Meerza Aghassi should withdraw himself from public affairs until the commands of his sovereign should be received with reference to the formation of the new government : they also required that the Haji should disperse the armed force with which he had surrounded his person. In order to prevent loss of life, Prince Dolgorouky and Colonel Farrant agreed to request the minister of the late Shah to remain quietly at his village, and to abstain from interfering in public affairs. To the latter proposal he at once agreed ; but on the morning of the day after the council had been held, he suddenly made his appear- ance in the citadel of Tehran, where he surrounded him- self with twelve hundred followers, and shutting the gates, he cut off all communication with the city. He did not, however, remain there long, but, after wandering for a time about the plain of Tehran, took sanctuary in the shrine of Shah Abdul Azeem ; to which he was pursued by some Shahzevend horsemen. In the meantime much disorder ensued in the capital \ the popular fury being vented on the retainers and clients of th'e Minister. The roads in the vicinity of Tehran became impassable ; but the chief priest REGEXCY OF THE QUEEN-MOTHER. 359 exerted himself to restore order, and after a time his efforts were attended with success. The government in the meantime assumed the form of an oligarchy. Every member of the council issued orders as he thought proper, and each aspired to fill the post of prime minister so soon as the Shah should arrive at the capital. But the president of the council was the queen- mother, who, under very difficult circumstances, showed herself to be possessed of judgment and of ability qualities not often to be met with in Oriental ladies. There were two principal parties at this time in Persia : one of these was called the Azerbaeejan party, the other was that of the Asef-ed-Dowleh. The queen-mother was readily persuaded that it would be impolitic to ex- clude the members of the latter from all participation in power, and her Highness accordingly invited its chiefs to attend the council, and to take part in the delibera- tions on public affairs. Her Highness received visits from the foreign missions, and while she thanked them in the name of her son for the support they had given to his cause, she expressed her readiness to be guided by their friendly advice. To the party of the Asef-ed- Dowleh belonged one of the most influential noblemen of Persia, Meerza Agha Khan. He had formerly filled the post of Minister of War, but at the instigation of Haji Meerza Aghassi he had been banished from Tehran, after having been beaten and fined. He now made his appear- ance at one of the gates of the city, and requested the English charge d'affaires to procure him permission to enter it. The queen-mother was glad to welcome back the banished man, and his reception by the people as he passed through the bazars on his way to the palace, 360 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. showed either how popular he was, or how much the Azerbaeejan party, of which he was the opponent, was disliked by the populace. It was not at Tehran alone that the announcement of the Shah's death had been the signal for disorder. The roads in all directions became infested with robbers, who effectually prevented all communication with the capital. The inhabitants of several towns availed themselves of this favourable opportunity for putting to death their tyrannical governors. Ispahan, in common with Ker- man, Sheeraz and other cities, became the scene of lawless outrage. An affray took place between the garrison and some of the citizens, which ended in the murder of one of the principal assistants of the governor of Ispahan. The perpetrators of this act, which was committed in the most public manner in the mosque, and under the eyes of the chief priest, continued at large, in defiance of the civil authorities. The Imam-i- Juma * made at first no effort to appease the tumult, but when his aid was called in, he lent his assistance to the governor ; who, having been reinforced by the arrival of some troops, attacked the rebels, and, after having met with much resistance, drove them from the town. The city of Yezd was also thrown into a state of re- bellion and confusion by the announcement of the death of Mahomed Shah. The governor, who possessed great firmness, but who was very unpopular, found himself besieged by a portion of the inhabitants headed by some notorious disturbers of the peace. After having at- tempted in vain to defend his place of residence, he was forced to retire to the citadel, where he and his few * The chief priest. RISING AT YEZD. 361 attendants found themselves to be almost destitute of provisions. By the aid of four pieces of ordnance, however, they contrived not only to hold out for some days, but also seriously to annoy the townspeople. At length hunger compelled them to negotiate, and it was agreed that they should receive provisions and beasts of burden to enable them to quit the place. But these had no sooner been produced and admitted into the citadel, than the governor closed the gate, and refused to abide by the conditions to which he had agreed. The camels and asses were slaughtered to serve the garrison for food, and the followers of the governor began to congratulate themselves on the superior ability they had shown in outwitting the townsmen. It appeared, how- ever, that both parties were suitably matched in point of bad faith, and the defenders of the citadel found that they were premature in thinking that all the advantage had been theirs in the late transaction ; it was ascertained that the bread they had received had been poisoned. They endeavoured to punish this attempt on their lives by renewing the fire upon the town, which the citizens, being without artillery, were unable to return. After these mutual discoveries of each other's treachery, it seems strange that they should have again had recourse to negotiation ; but no amount of experience of the bad faith of his countrymen has the effect of inducing a Persian to resolve not to trust to Persians for the future. The explanation of this singular, but incon- testable, fact is to be found in the circumstance that vanity is even more strongly developed in the Persian character than is deceitfulness. Each Persian thinks that he of all men is sufficiently clever to be able to 362 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. decipher the character, and to divine the secret inten- tions, of those with whom he has to deal; and ac- cordingly he is ever ready, in spite of his previous experience, to believe in the promises, protestations and oaths of his countrymen. The governor of Yezd renewed his overtures to the townspeople, and as his arguments continued to be seconded by the fire of his artillery, he found a ready disposition on the part of the citizens to yield to his wish of being allowed to retire unmolested. But at this point of the negotiation some troops arrived to his succour, and enabled him to leave the citadel and appear openly in the town. A few of the rebels were then secured, but it was not until after the lapse of some time that their leader was captured and put to death. The condition of the highways in the province of Yezd was now such as to cause the greatest embarrass- ment to the trading community. In the space of about two months no less than fifteen hundred beasts of burden, with their loads, were carried off, or detained on their way to or from the provincial capital. It was no wonder that the merchants began to lose courage, and to talk loudly of deserting a country where their property was so slightly protected. The city of Kasveen had been for fourteen years the prison of Syf-el-Mulk Meerza, a son of that Zil-es-Sultan who had disputed the throne with Mahomed Shah. The Ameerzadeh now suddenly appeared at the distance of thirty-six miles from Tehran, at the head of a body of horsemen. He addressed a circular to the chiefs of the wandering tribes in that vicinity, requesting them to join his standard, and to aid him in preventing the ac- REBELLION OF THE SALAR. 363 cession to power of Nasser-ed-deen Shah. But the sole exploit of this paltry pretender to regal power was to roh a courier of the Eussian Mission of the sum of three thousand five hundred ducats. His forces were soon afterwards routed, and he himself made prisoner by some horsemen of the Affshar tribe, who brought him, tied with cords, to Tehran. But the most formidable opponent whom the young Shah had to put down was, as might have been expected, the gallant son of Allah-yar Khan. Some of his fol- lowers having taken sanctuary in the great mosque of Meshed, the servants of the governor of Khorassan, actuated by imprudent zeal, desired to drag them out from the holy precincts, or to slay them over the tomb of the saint. Such sacrilegious talking shocked the feelings of the priests and pilgrims, and they called on the people to assist in saving from insult the shrine of the blessed Imam. The appeal was not without effect, and the people of Meshed drove the impious soldiers from the mosque, and were from that hour devoted to the cause of the Salar. On the receipt of the news of the Shah's death, that chief lost no time in taking possession of the city of Meshed, and he forced the governor to take refuge in the citadel. During the interval which elapsed between the death of Mahomed Shah and his son's arrival at the capital, the city of Tehran was a scene of intrigues and counter- intrigues which were planned in quick succession. No effort was spared by the ambitious and the unworthy to undermine those in whom it seemed likely that the Shah would place confidence. A priest named Nasrullah was now the chief of the Azerbaeejan party, and as he also 364 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. possessed to a certain extent the confidence of the fol- lowers of the Asef-ed-Dowleh, it was thought hy many that he was the person best fitted to fill the post of premier, or Sedr-Azem. But the Shah had already made choice of a Grand Vizeer. On the 20th of October, 1848, his Majesty made his public entry into his capital, and at midnight of the same day he was crowned King of Persia. Nasser-ed-deen, the eldest son of the late Mahomed Shah, and of Mahd-Aulia, the daughter of Cassim Khan, Kajar, was at this time sixteen years of age. He was not remarkable for any premature development of mental gifts, but he was possessed of sagacity sufficient to enable him to discern in a man who accompanied him from Tabreez, the qualities that were wanted in a Persian Minister. Meerza Teki Khan, who was at this time appointed to be the Ameer-i-Nizam, or commander-in-chief of the Persian army, owed his elevation entirely to his talents and his services. He was a man altogether of a different nature from that of his countrymen in general. Belisarius did not tower over the degenerate Romans of his day more than did the Ameer-i-Nizam over his contemporaries, the successors of the adversaries of " the last of the Roman generals." The race of modern Persians cannot be said to be altogether effete, since so recently it has been able to produce a man such as was the Ameer-i-Nizam. Feraghan, near Sultanatabad in Irak, had the honour to give birth to him who perhaps alone of all the Oriental statesmen and governors whose names appear in the history of modern Persia, would have satisfied the scrutiny of a Diogenes, and was fully entitled to be considered that " noblest work of God," an honest man. The father of Meerza Teki occupied a humble THE AMEER-I-NIZAM. 365 station in life, and from the post of cook was promoted to that of steward in the household of the Kaim-Makam, the first minister of Mahomed Shah. The son at an early age entered the service of the Persian commander- in-chief, and accompanied that officer to St. Petersburg with the Mission on which Prince Kosroo was sent after the murder of M. Greba'iodoff. On his return to Persia after this his sole visit to Europe, the servant of the commander-in-chief was promoted in the social scale, and from being a menial retainer he became a Meerza, or writer. He was subsequently named to the rank of Khan, and on the death of his patron he became Vizeer of the army of Azerbaeejan. In consequence of the illness of the Musheer-ed-Dowleh, who had been named Persian plenipotentiary at the conferences of Erzeroum for the settlement of the points in dispute between Persia and Turkey, Meerza Teki Khan was sent to represent his government; and we are told that he was beyond all comparison the most interesting personage amongst the commissioners of Turkey, Persia, Kussia and Great Britain, who were then assembled at Erzeroum.* During his residence in that city Meerza Teki Khan had an opportunity of witnessing the results of the introduction of the Tanzimat in the dominions of the Sultan. On his return to Tehran he was directed to accompany the crown -prince to Tabreez when his Eoyal Highness was named governor-general of Azerbaeejan, and thus a considerable share in the actual government of the chief province of Persia fell into his hands. From Tabreez he proceeded to Tehran in the train of the new Shah, and on the way he was offered by his Majesty the post * Armenia and Erzeroum, by the Hon. ROBERT CURZON. 306 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of Prime Minister of Persia. It is said I know not whether correctly or otherwise that Meerza Teki had from his youthful years confidently asserted that if he should live to middle age, he felt sure he would rise to be the prime minister of his native land; but he was some- what disturbed by the recollection that each of the two preceding Kajar Shahs had put to death his first chief Vizeer, and, therefore, when the post was offered to him, he sought to reconcile ambition with prudence by declining the title of Sedr-Azem, which is usually con- ferred on a prime minister, and by taking in its stead the humbler designation of Ameer-i-Nizam. On assuming charge of the administration of the government of Persia, the new minister found every department in the utmost confusion. But he was not a man to be daunted by difficulties, and he courageously set himself to reform every branch of the public service, and to abolish many abuses, such as the putting up of governments for sale. He took measures for at once improving the condition of the army ; for relieving the peasantry from the oppressions under which they laboured ; and for changing the whole financial system of the country. It was remarked at the commencement of the Ameer's ministry that too much reliance was not to be placed on his promises, since, after all, he was a Persian. But the Yizeer in every thing acted up to his expressed intentions, and if all his measures were not followed by success, their failure must be attributed to the little assistance and cooperation he received from others, rather than to any want of sagacity or energy on the part of the minister. His word was not readily pledged, but when it had once been given, implicit reliance might SIEGE OF MESHED. 367 be placed upon it. It was no easy task that now lay before the Aineer. The province of Khorassan was Jin^aims. .against the Shah, and had the measures adoptei.Jby-4he new government been unsuccessful, anarelrj^jm(L confusion would have followed. It was openly predicted at this time that the days of the Kajar dynasty would very soon be over, and that Persia would be broken up into a number of petty states. Fortunately these sinister anticipations were not fulfilled ; men's minds were greatly calmed by the removal to Kerbela of Haji Meerza Aghassi, owing to whose avarice, nepotism and misgovernment, it was alleged, the general disorder had arisen. The insurrection in Khorassan was not easily put down. Prince Hamza, having with him in the citadel only three thousand infantry of Azerbaeejan, could not take any active measures against the Salar, who was at the head of fifteen thousand men, and whose force was daily increased by the arrival of detachments from all parts of Khorassan. All the chiefs of that province, with one or two exceptions, espoused the cause of the insurgents, and the feeling of the people towards the brave and courteous Salar is described as having amounted almost to worship. On the other hand, Yar Mahomed Khan of Herat came at this time to Meshed to the relief of the prince-governor, with two thousand AfFghan horsemen and a large supply of provisions. The motive if any motive need be ascribed to him save the innate Oriental desire to take part in a disturbance the alleged motive for this movement on the part of the ruler of Herat, was the promise held out to him by the governor of Khorassan of twenty pieces of artillery and a 368 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. large number of muskets, which were to be given to him, together with two places on the frontier of Khorassan, on the condition that he should afford assistance towards putting down the insurrection at Meshed. After some fighting, the joint forces of Herat and of Prince Hamza found that they were able to make but little progress, and negotiations were therefore set on foot with a view to the cessation of hostilities. Jafer Kuli Khan of Boojnoord, who till now had been detained in custody by the ruler of Herat, was sent to the Salar on the part of the leaders opposed to him. But that chief was the worst envoy that could have been selected, for he was now burning to avenge, on the person and troops of Yar Mahomed Khan, the long imprisonment to which he had so inhospitably been sub- jected, and having joined his friend the Salar, he refused to return to the hostile camp. The attention of the Affghan chief was now directed to the movements of a cavalry force which was sent to devastate the border of the territory of Herat. The prince -governor of Khorassan was then obliged to evacuate the citadel of Meshed, and to retire towards the Affghan frontier. The Ameer-i-Nizam had in the meantime sent a body of about six thousand infantry from Tehran to the assistance of the governor of Khorassan. Prince Sultan Murad, who was in command of this force, laid siege to the town of Sebzewar, which place was defended by the youthful son of the Salar; but Sebzewar held out, and the siege was soon raised. Prince Sultan Murad, care- less of leaving a fortified place behind him, then went on towards Kuchan, plundering by the way several villages, in which he found an ample supply of provisions for his troops. Some chiefs of consideration joined his standard, DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE AMEER. 369 and through their friends he endeavoured to enter into an arrangement with the people of Meshed. His brother, Prince Hamza, was in the meantime encamped within twenty-four miles of Herat. The Salar's party had lost the assistance of some allies whose aid might have turned the scale of victory. The chiefs of Mazenderan had been driven into opposition, and almost into rebellion, against the Shah's government by the vexatious policy of Haji Meerza Aghassi ; but on the guarantee of the English representative at the Persian court that their personal safety should be granted to them, at their own request and by the desire of the Shah, they at once repaired to court, where they received a flattering welcome. While Khorassan still continued in rebellion, the process of amelioration in other parts of Persia was found to be attended at every stage by difficulties that were almost insurmountable. The Ameer-i-Nizam was so thoroughly aware of the duplicity and venality of almost all the Persian courtiers, that he for a time could not fix upon a man who might with safety be employed in the task of cooperating with him in re- medying abuses, and establishing a system of equitable government. But the Ameer himself was as laborious as he was conscientious : he worked day after day and week after week, late and early, at the noblest task that can fall to the lot of man ; nor was he dis- couraged or disheartened by the difficulties which he had to surmount, and the intrigues he had to thwart. He enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the Shah, without which he could not have effected anything ; but he had not been fortunate enough to be able to secure 24 370 ,A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the cooperation of the person who, next to himself, possessed the greatest influence over the mind of the youthful king. In a country where every one, from the Shah downwards, looks on his neighbour with suspicion, there is but one person in whom the sovereign feels that he is sure, under all circumstances, to find a true adviser and a sincere friend. The position and influence of the Queen-mother so entirely depend on the life and pros- perity of the Shah, that her counsels are ever listened to by him without suspicion or impatience. One can only speculate as to the motives which induced the Queen-mother to withhold her confidence from the Ameer-i-Nizam. She may have dreaded the effect upon the selfish chiefs of Persia of the measures of reform which the Minister had made up his mind to introduce. She may have been brought to believe that the here- ditary nobles of the land would never be induced to re- ceive the law from a man of humble extraction, and that her son's throne would in consequence be endangered Or, her Highness's conduct may have originated in some less worthy motive : such as jealousy of the influ- ence which had been acquired by the Ameer over the mind of the king. But for whatever reason, the Queen - mother threw the weight of her influence into the scale of the opposition, and afforded her countenance to the host of influential and discontented persons whose unlawful gains were curtailed in consequence of the measures of the new Minister. At first, however, these intrigues produced no impression upon the mind of the Shah ; and had his Majesty been allowed to follow the dictates of his own will, the Ameer would probably ere now have, for a time, converted Persia from the condition THE AMEER'S ADMINISTRATION. 371 in which Hercules found the Augean stables into that in which he left them. But it is not to be supposed that the Ameer alone could have permanently changed the characteristics of a whole nation, or could have overcome the combined influences of climate, of custom, and of religion. He might have effected much during his own lifetime ; but it is highly improbable that another man could have been found to carry on the Shah's government on the enlightened principles adopted by the Ameer ; and, there- fore, Persia would in any case have sunk into the apathetic condition of all the surviving Mahomedan States which are not influenced from without. The Ameer's system of government was that which experience has proved to be the most beneficial for an Oriental nation an enlightened despotism. He made no pretence of wishing to educate the people, or of con- sulting their inclinations. He professed to endeavour to secure their material well-being, and to restrain their evil propensities. But the Minister aimed at far more than this; and had his measures been permanently effected, their adoption would have indicated nothing less than a radical change in Persian morality and Persian manners. The first idea which the word Persia suggests in the mind of a scholar is the flowery and overloaded style which for two thousand years has cha- racterized the compositions of the poets and historians of the land of the fire -worshippers. The Ameer-i-Nizam resolved to suppress the meaningless and disgusting phraseology which is suited only to slaves and parasites, and he published a decree forbidding the use in petitions and official documents addressed to himself of more than 24 a 372 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. one specified title that of "Jenab" or " Excellency." A person of less rank was in like manner to be addressed by one lesser title. People were astonished to hear of a Vizeer who rejected the incense of flattery ; but they obeyed his commands, and probably few regretted the high-sounding but meaningless expressions to which their ears had been so long accustomed, Persian immorality and dishonesty are unhappily proverbial, and the Ameer-i-Nizam did not hesitate to grapple with these most deeply-ingrained vices of his fellow-countrymen. The public baths of Tehran had been allowed to become the scenes of open debauchery ; and the Minister lost no time in punishing those who made their profit by these practices, which he now put down. Of all the traits which go to make up the Persian character, that which, next to excessive vanity, is most strongly developed, is a constant desire to acquire unlaw- ful gains. The word "mudahil," for which there is no exact English term, has, for Persian ears, a charm which few Europeans can comprehend. " Mudahil" signifies all that one can acquire by receiving bribes, by swindling and extortion, and by all other irregular means. It is " mudahil" and not salary which every Persian official is anxious to secure. A salary regularly paid affords no scope for the display of the talents in which Per- sians most excel for dissimulating and overreaching, oppressing and cringing and, therefore, a post which has only a good salary attached to it, and which affords no good opportunities of making " mudahil," is looked upon by Persians as being but a poor possession. The Ameer-i-Nizam, himself altogether above being bribed, resolved to suppress the wide-spread system of whole- FINANCIAL DISORDER. 373 sale bribery which he saw around him. By degrees he effected much in the way of putting a stop to corruption ; but his next task proved to be too much even for his energy and unlimited power. The sectarian spirit in Persia is kept alive mainly by the annual exhibition on the stage of the sufferings and the martyrdom of the Imam Hussein ; and during the month of Moherrem the whole populations of the cities of Northern Persia are worked up into a state bordering upon frenzy ; notwith- standing that the chief Moslem authorities hold that these exhibitions are contrary to the duty of the followers of Mahomed. The Ameer-i-Nizam endeavoured to take advantage of the weight of religious authority to do away with a custom so productive of fanaticism as is the Persian Tazeeah. The Sheeahs of Irak and Azerbaeejan were, however, too much attached to the yearly-recurring exhibition to submit to its suppression, and the Ameer was forced unwillingly to permit its continuance. Soon after the arrival of the Shah at his capital, a royal commission was appointed to examine into the state of the finances of the kingdom, and to draw up for the king's information a statement of the revenues and of the expenditure of the country. At this time the latter far exceeded the former. It appears that one mode of courting popularity practised by the minister Haji Meerza Aghassi had been, seldom or never directly to refuse compliance with a petition for the grant of a donation or a pension. He had not made direct payments, excepting to his own tribesmen, as a general rule ; but he had been in the habit of issuing government orders on the different provincial authorities. 374 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. It is said that he had never meant that these orders should be attended to, and that he had given the pro- vincial governors to understand so. The result was that they seldom or never had been attended to ; but the odium of the non-payment had fallen on the governors, while the credit of liberality had remained with the Haji. The consequence of this truly Oriental system of can- vassing for popularity was, that the Ameer-i-Nizam now found upon his hands an enormous amount of govern- ment liabilities. He had the alternative of meeting them or of damaging the credit of the Shah by rejecting bonds issued by a minister of state. Most Persians would have attempted to evade choosing between these alternatives by having recourse to some ingenious subterfuge ; and it is to the credit of the Ameer that he preferred boldly to face the difficulty. Probably no financier ever found himself to be placed in a more embarrassed position than that of Meerza Teki Khan in the beginning of the year 1849. Since the accession of the Shah no money had been paid into the royal treasury, and on the other hand the expenditure was necessarily heavy. The army in the field in Khorassan depended for its existence en- tirely upon the central government, and that government was in the unfortunate position of lacking the credit which could only result from confidence in its stability. But in addition to the financial difficulties to be over- come, there was the embarrassment to be dreaded from affronting and impoverishing so many powerful and un- principled men. Colonels there were who had been drawing pay and receiving clothing for regiments which actually did not exist. The royal body-guard, during the reign of Fetteh Ali Shah, had consisted of an efficient UPRIGHTNESS OF THE AMEER. 375 regiment of six hundred horsemen. During the reign of that monarch's grandson it had been increased, upon paper, to four thousand men, but reduced, at muster, to three hundred. Nor was the state of things in the civil department at all out of keeping with that of the military department. Many persons were in the receipt of large pensions which had been granted by Haji Meerza Aghassi without the slightest reference to any service rendered by them ; and as many of these stipendiaries were priests and men of influence, the task of compelling them to relinquish their prey was all the more difficult of accomplishment. Nevertheless, the Ameer had the firm- ness to cut down the expenditure of the government, and to reduce or discontinue the pensions that had been granted to so many idle princes and priests. The most extraordinary, and even unaccountable, part of his con- duct in the eyes of the Persians, was that he was utterly inaccessible to bribery. This being the case, the money which he refused to accept was employed for the purpose of upsetting him. The Shah had shown himself to be possessed of sufficient firmness to resist the attempts that had been made to induce him to dismiss from office the Ameer-i-Nizam ; and his Majesty had even insisted on giving to his Minister, in opposition to the wishes of his mother and all his relations, the hand of his only sister. The discontented noblemen, therefore, despair- ing of being able to move the Shah, resorted to other means for obtaining the dismissal of the Ameer. There were at that time in the citadel of Tehran about two thousand five hundred soldiers of regiments belonging to Azerbaeejan, and these men were bribed to mutiny, and to demand the life of the prime minister. 376 A HISTORY OF FERSIA. On the llth of March, 1849, the regiments of the gar- rison of the citadel of Tehran refused to listen to the commands of their officers, and proceeded to the house of the Ameer-i- Nizam, in front of which they began to vociferate loudly, and to demand their arrears of pay. They were, however, persuaded to return to their quarters, on the promise that their alleged grievances would be inquired into on the following morning, and redressed if proved to be real. On the next day the troops again made their appearance unarmed ; but they were con- fronted by the personal attendants of the Minister, who fired upon the clamorous mob. Upon this the exas- perated troops returned to their barracks for their arms, and again came forth in a body, vowing vengeance against the Ameer. The Persian Minister had now recourse to the friendly interference of the English charge d'affaires at Tehran. That officer had formerly been employed in the command of Persian troops, and he was listened to by the mutineers ; but his efforts were insufficient to quell the tumult. The furious soldiers were unanimous in their demand that the Ameer should be dismissed or put to death ; and not a word was now said as to their arrears of pay. The Shah had not the means of putting down this mutiny, at the outset, by force, and it seemed likely that he would be compelled to submit to the dangerous course of allowing himself to be dictated to by an armed throng. The Minister in this dilemma volunteered to retire from office ; he left the citadel forthwith, and took up his abode in the house of Meerza Agha Khan, whose services to the government on this occasion won for him the -entire confidence of the Shah and of the Ameer-i-Nizam. MILITARY REVOLT. 377 The countenance of one of the principal hereditary noblemen of Persia was, at this conjuncture, of the greatest value to the plebeian brother-in-law of the Shah ; but the government was laid under still greater obligations to the Imam-i-Juma, the high priest of Tehran. That functionary possessed the greatest in- fluence over the citizens, who, at his command, shut the shops in the bazaars, closed the caravanserais, and armed themselves for the purpose of resisting the mutinous soldiery. The excited townsmen, backed as they were by the approval of the Shah and his Minister, by the exhortations and blessings of the Imam-i-Juma, and by the full moral support of the foreign legations, were more than a match for the tumultuous crowd of soldiers without their officers. The victory was rendered no longer doubtful by the return of one of the regiments to its duty ; an appeal having been made to the men not to disgrace the English officers by whom they had been drilled. The danger to the government thus passed over, and the Ameer-i-Nizam quietly returned to the discharge of the duties of his office. About this time the cause of the rebels in Khorassan received a severe blow by the desertion of Jafer Kuli Khan, the lord of Boojnoord. That chief quarrelled with the Salar, and he thereupon took advantage of the offer of the Shah's pardon, which had been guaranteed to him by the Ameer on the condition that he should return to his duty. On his arrival at Tehran his reception was in accordance with the assurances which had been held out to him. The fort of Sebzewar was now surrendered to the troops of the Shah, but the atrocities which they com- 378 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. mitted in that town went far towards checking any incli- nation which the people of Meshed may have entertained to imitate the example of those of Sehzewar. It was at this time that the Turkish government took advantage of the confusion that reigned throughout Persia to seize the frontier district of Kotoor, in direct contravention of the engagements which had been con- cluded between Persia and the Sublime Porte at Erze- roum. In spite of all remonstrances, Turkey has per- sisted in retaining Kotoor. While the fate of Khorassan was still doubtful, neither the authority of the Shah nor the position of his Minister could be said to be secure. It was long before the gover- nor of Ispahan could put down the insurrection that had been raised in that city ; and at the same time the chief of Bunpoor, in Beloochistan, took advantage of the oppor- tunity of revolting. A military force was assembled at Eoodbar for the purpose of being sent against him ; but it was determined to try, in the first instance, the effect of negotiation with the insurgent chief. This mode of settling the difference having failed, the troops took pos- session of Bunpoor. The town of Bunpoor is distant from Eoodbar about two hundred and forty miles, nearly two-thirds of the road between them being an unin- habited tract of desert. It was at this time proposed to the Shah's government, by the Prince of Kerman, to invade the province of Seistan, on the plea of putting a stop to the raids of the Belooches within the territory of Yezd and Kerman. Some of the chiefs of Seistan had lately sent to ask the assistance of the prince in support of their claims to supremacy in their native province. The Belooches in Seistan were gradually acquiring the ascen- PERSIAN CLAIM TO SEISTAN. 379 dancy over the races who had been longer settled in that country, and who were much divided amongst themselves. The Kayanian tribe of Seistanis, who boasted of being descended from the oldest dynasty of Persian kings, was long the ruling race in that province ; but this tribe was driven from Jelalabad by some others who united them- selves together against it. The chief of one of these tribes (not aBelooch one), called Sirbendi, now exercised most influence in Seistan ; but on his death his son was unable to preserve his high position, and, in order to be able to put down his uncles, he reluctantly had recourse to asking the aid of the Persian governor of Kerman. One of his uncles also applied to the same person for aid ; and the Prince of Kerman thought that the conjuncture was a favourable one for practically asserting the vague claims of his master to the possession of the province of Seistan. The route by which a Persian army from Kerman could reach Seistan would be that by Tehrood, Bern, Koorook and Terij, and thence by places not marked in the maps of that region, along a distance of about four hundred and fifty miles in all ; the greater part of which is a desert tract having wells at intervals. A march over such a region, and in the face of active Belooches who would seize the passes, would not be likely to be attended with success, while it would certainly entail unusual hardships and difficulties. It may have been the dread of these, or it may have been the fact that the Ameer-i-Nizam had already more than sufficient to occupy the resources, of the government, that induced the Shah's Ministers to reject the proposal of the Prince of Kerman to invade the province of Seistan. The siege of Meshed continued, during a period of 380 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. eighteen months, to keep alive in the minds of the people of Persia a feeling of disquietude or of hope, according as they were well or ill-disposed towards the government established at Tehran. There were at this time absent from the kingdom, in banishment, two men who had been the most powerful, as well as perhaps the ablest, states- men of Persia. One of the two was the Shah's uncle, Bahman Meerza, who had been implicated in the pro- ceedings of the Asef-ed-Dowleh at Meshed. It was believed that the latter had offered to him the crown of Persia, and the discovery of this conspiracy had led to Prince Bahman being deprived of his government of Azerbaeejan, and to his being forced to retire to Georgia, where he remained under Kussian protection. The other exiled Persian statesman was the Asef-ed-Dowleh, the uncle of the late Mahomed Shah. The Ameer-i-Nizam was urged to recall both of these illustrious exiles ; but with regard to the case of Bahman Meerza, he observed that, should the prince be permitted to return to his country, his wealth, influence and popularity would quickly secure for him his former government of Azer- baeejan, which he would be likely to constitute an inde- pendent province. With regard to the case of the Asef- ed-Dowleh, the Minister observed that to grant permission for his return to Persia whilst his son continued in open rebellion, would be to make it appear that the Shah was unable to put down insurrection by force of arms, and that he was constrained to make terms with the insur- gents. Prince Sultan Murad was instructed to strain every nerve, in order to bring to a conclusion the siege of Meshed. A messenger sent by the Ameer to that city with conciliatory letters and messages to the chief men FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN PERSIA. 381 of the place, totally failed in securing the object of his mission. The propositions which he had been instructed to name were at once rejected, and the priests of Meshed even urged the advisability of putting him to death. The Salar, however, not only protected him from vio- lence, but treated him in the kindest manner, and sent him back to Tehran as the bearer of a proposal that a son of Fetteh, Ali Shah should be named governor of Khorassan, and that the Salar should be his vizeer ; the Azerbaeejan troops being withdrawn. These terms were rejected by the Ameer-i -Nizam. / Before this period it had been customary in Persia to concede an unusual degree of deference to the opinions and wishes of the foreign representatives accredited to the Persian court ; the influence of either the English or the Kussian Mission being in the ascendant for the time, according as the inclinations of the Shah or of his mini- ster of the day leaned towards England or towards Kussia. To such an extent was this interference in the internal affairs of Persia allowed to be carried, that foreign repre- sentatives were sometimes requested to take under their protection individual subjects of the Shah. Thus at the time of the departure of the young king from Tabreez for Tehran, the English consul was asked to protect the Armenians resident in that place. The Ameer-i-Nizam did not fail to perceive that it was unbecoming that a govern- ment should not regulate the affairs of its own subjects, and he accordingly determined for the future to set himself against foreign interference in matters that only concerned Persia. Every impartial person must admit that the right of granting protection to subjects of the Shah, which was assumed by foreign ministers, 382 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. though it had been sanctioned to a certain extent by the consent of the Persian government, was contrary to the principles of international law.* But when the Ameer-i- Nizam showed symptoms of an intention to put a stop to the abuse which had arisen in this respect, the foreign ministers at the Persian court would by no means consent to relinquish a custom, the observance of which gave them so much influence over the Vizeers and subjects of the Shah. The foreign ministers then resident at Tehran were too intent on establishing the influence of their respective governments in Persia, to be able to sympathize fully with the Ameer-i-Nizam hi his endea- vours to erect his country into a powerful and firmly- established monarchy upon the basis of law and justice. It was proposed to employ the good offices of the Russian and English representatives at Tehran for the purpose of bringing about a satisfactory compromise between the government and the rebels of Khorassan. But the * " The house of an ambassador ought to be safe from all outrage, being under the particular protection of the law of nations. . . . But the immunity and freedom of the ambassador's house is established only in favour of the minister and his household, as is evident from the very reasons upon which it is grounded. Can he take advantage of the privilege in order to convert his house into an asylum to afford shelter and protection to the enemies of the prince? . . . Such proceedings would be contrary to all the duties of an ambassador, to the spirit by which he ought to be animated, and to the lawful purposes for which he has been admitted into the country. This is what nobody will presume to deny. But I will proceed farther, and lay it down as a certain truth, that a sovereign is not obliged to tolerate an abuse so pernicious to his state and so detrimental to society. . . . Thus, it belongs to the sovereign to decide, on occasion, how far the right of asylum, which an ambassador claims as belonging to his house, is to be respected ; and if the question relates to an offender whose arrest or punishment is of great importance to the State, the prince is not to be withheld by the con- sideration of a privilege which was never granted for the detriment or ruin of States. The Law of Nations, by M. de VATTEL. Edition of 1834, pp. 494-5. PROGRESS OF SIEGE OF MESHED. 383 Ameer, whilst acknowledging how much the Shah had owed to foreign assistance, was of opinion that foreign intervention in the affairs of Persia had been stretched to the utmost limits which were compatible with the dignity of the government, and he therefore would not avail himself of this mode of bringing the rebellion to an end. He is even reported to have said that it would be better for Persia that the inhabitants of Meshed should be brought back to their duty through the loss of twenty thousand men, than that that city should be won for the Shah through foreign interference. The siege of Meshed went on with variable fortune : at one time the army met with a severe check in at- tempting to carry one of the gates of the place ; at another time the besiegers had the advantage in a combat with the troops of the besieged, whose sortie they repulsed. In the meantime the Turkomans, being left unopposed, gathered a rich harvest of spoil throughout Khorassan ; not a caravan could pass to or from Herat in safety, and the Khorassan villages far and near were plundered by these ruthless marauders. At the close of the year 1849 a fresh detachment of troops from Tehran arrived before Meshed ; but its commander, instead of joining the force of Prince Sultan Murad, thought proper to pitch his tents at a distance from those of the rest of the besieging army. This mistake was at once perceived and taken advantage of by the Salar, who sallied in force from the city and inflicted great loss on the newly-arrived detach- ment ; and then returned to within the walls. In con- sequence of the retreat of the Salar, the leader of the detachment, with the vanity never absent from a Persian, claimed to have gained a victory. Up to this time the 384 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. city had not been completely invested, one gate having remained open through which provisions were introduced under the safe conduct of the Turkomans. The besieged further derived some encouragement from the arrival of a brother of the Salar, who passed along the whole length of Persia in the disguise of a pilgrim, carrying with him a considerable sum of money. But at length the Shah's troops obtained possession of some redoubts, which gave them so commanding a position, that the citizens of Meshed, fearing the result of a general assault for which the preparations were in progress, entered into negotia- tions with Prince Sultan Murad. These negotiations terminated in the surrender, first of the citadel, and later of the entire city. The Salar took refuge in the mosque of Imam Eeza ; from which, however, he was forcibly expelled. He was then seized by the soldiers of the Shekaki regiment, and the inhabitants of Meshed were permitted to ransom their city from plunder by the promise to pay a fine of one hundred thousand tomans. The forbearance and discipline displayed on this occasion by the Persian troops reflect the highest credit on their commander, Prince Sultan Murad; but the glory he acquired by the capture of Meshed is somewhat stained by the suspicion which attaches to him of having put the Salar to torture, for the purpose of compelling that chief to reveal the amount and the locality of his treasure. The Salar was then justly condemned to expiate the crime of having rebelled against his sovereign by being deprived of life ; the instrument by which death was inflicted upon^him being the bowstring of Eastern story, and a similar sentence was pronounced upon one of his brothers, who had been his companion in arms. ( 385 ) CHAPTER XIII. Rising of the Followers of the Bab Mode of carrying out Capital Punish- ments in Persia Seizure of Zinjan The Bab put to Death Tenets of his Followers Hopeless Contest at Zinjan Reckless Bravery of the Babis Courage of the Women Terrible Cruelties Exhibition of Fanaticism at Tabreez Results of Administration of the Ameer-i- Nizam Occupation of Ashoradeh by Russia The Caspian Provinces Fall of the Ameer-i-Nizam Interference on his Behalf Meerza Agha Khan, Sedr-Azem Influences brought to bear on the Shah against the Ameer-i-Nizam Conduct of the Wife of the ex-Minister The Ameer's Death Remembrance of his Administration. IT was hoped that the capture of Meshed would usher in a period of calmness and security, during which the Ameer-i-Nizam might have leisure to perfect the system of general reform which he had introduced into Persia. But no sooner had order been established in one direction than revolt and disorder appeared in another quarter. At Yezd, the followers of the Bab assembled in such numbers in the spring of the year 1850, as to compel the governor of that city to take refuge in the citadel ; to which they then laid siege. But the priests of Yezd, conscious that the spread of Babism would be the signal for the downfall of their own power, lent to the governor all the weight of their influence. In the name of Mahomed, the messenger of God, they sum- moned the townspeople to attack the infidels, and they collected a force by which the Babis were overthrown. 25 386 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. The zealots of the new religion then betook themselves to the adjoining province of Kerman. The followers of the Bab looked upon the Ameer-i- Nizain, by whose orders their chief was kept in prison, as an enemy to the faith, whom it was lawful, and even proper, to slay. A conspiracy was accordingly organized for the purpose of taking the life of the Minister ; but the plot was discovered ere it was ripe for execution, and the conspirators were seized. Seven of them were condemned to suffer death, and the occasion of their execution was taken advantage of for intro- ducing the custom of conducting capital punishments openly at Tehran. Previously to this time it had been usual to cause condemned criminals to be strangled before the Shah. On one occasion, when the representative of Kussia at the Persian court was waiting to be sum- moned to the presence of the king, he was alarmed by hearing loud cries in his immediate neighbourhood in the palace garden, and as he was proceeding to the audience chamber, he encountered a number of executioners dragging along the still-palpitating bodies of some men who had been strangled. The prince was shocked beyond measure, and he was, with reason, offended at the indignity which had been offered to him in his being summoned to the royal presence at such a moment ; he, therefore, expressed in strong terms to the Shah and to his Minister, his opinion as to the barbarousness of the usage by which executions were conducted before the eyes of the sovereign. The Ameer-i-Nizam fully concurred in the opinion of the Russian Minister on this subject, and he accordingly at once determined to put a stop to the practice complained of. It was feared, how- BABIST REBELLION AT ZINJAN. 387 ever, that a commotion might be excited by the unusual spectacle of men being publicly executed at Tehran ; but on the occasion of putting the Babi conspirators to death, no such commotion took place. Some doubts existed in the minds of the people as to whether the alleged inten- tions of the conspirators had been fully proved against them, or whether it was right to punish for a mere inten- tion as if for a crime that had actually been committed ; but it could not be denied that the sentence of death upon these Babi backsliders from the Moslem faith was in accordance with Mahomedan law. Each of them was offered his life upon the simple condition of reciting the formula of the Moslem creed, but none of them consented to purchase pardon on such terms. Another example was now added to those with which the history of the world abounds, of the utter inefficacy of persecution for the suppression of religious doctrines. The chief priest of Zinjan had embraced the tenets of the Bab, and under his guidance the Babis of that place took possession of a portion of the town. On the news of this revolt reaching Tehran, measures were at once adopted by the government for suppressing the insurrection ; and it is illustrative of the success which was already beginning to attend the Ameer's system for the amelioration of the army, that within five hours from the receipt at - the capital of intelligence of the revolt, troops were already marching from Tehran upon Zinjan. The Persian soldiers, much, no doubt, to their own sur- prise, saw themselves for the first time properly clothed and cared for, and received with regularity their pay and their rations. Persian soldiers are beyond comparison the most hardy, enduring and patient troops in the world, 25a 388 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. and had the administration of the Ameer-i-Nizam been prolonged, the King of Persia would have been the master of an army of one hundred thousand men, regularly drilled and accoutred. The Minister had announced his intention of maintaining such a force ; and he was not likely to change his mind, or to neglect any precau- tion to ensure the efficiency of the army upon which depended the stability of the Kajar throne. The insurrection at Zinjan took place in the month of May, 1850, and the Babis long continued to defend themselves in that city against the troops of the king, with all the fiery zeal which is characteristic of the proselytes to a new religion. Zinjan is the capital of the district of Kflamseh, and it lies on the direct road from Tabreez to Tehran. Whilst the siege was in progress, the founder of the new creed was taken from his prison in Azerbaeejan, and, after having been examined as to his religious belief, was condemned to death by the authorities of Tabreez for having renounced the faith of Islam. A circumstance that arose out of this sentence had nearly been the cause of setting the Bab high above the temporal powers of Iran. A company of soldiers was drawn up in the great square of Tabreez, and before it was a hapless man whose arms were tied together : that man was the Bab, and he was to be shot to death. On their captain giving the word to fire, the soldiers discharged a volley, the smoke from which threw a veil over the scene. When the smoke had been dis- pelled, great was the astonishment of the soldiers and of the lookers-on to find that the person of the Bab had altogether disappeared. There could now be no doubt, they thought, of his having ascended to the heaven, EXECUTION OF THE BAB. 389 which, when he was on earth, he had said was his home. Nothing was wanted but this apparent miracle to establish Babism on a sure foundation. But it happened, most unfortunately for the prospects of the creed of the Bab, that its originator (who had been unscathed by the bullets which had cut the ropes around him) had taken the wrong direction while endeavouring to effect his escape when concealed by the smoke of the volley of musketry. Had he gained the bazar he would have been safe ; but he chanced to rush into the guard-room, from which place he was taken back to the square and shot. His death did not diminish the faith of his followers in his mission ; for, according to the doctrines which they had learned from him, he could not really die : the form which his spirit animated might be altered, but his soul must still exist. It was, as he taught, undoubtedly true that his mortal body could not be annihilated but must be resolved into other forms of life ; yet not the less were his followers shocked to see that body thrown into the ditch of Tabreez, by the orders of the brutal governor, to be a prey to the dogs and the jackals. The main tenet of Babism is utter indifference to, and disbelief in the existence of, good and evil. But nothing could be less in accordance with this theory than was the practice of the followers of the Bab. Far from looking on the course of events, and the changes and chances of this mortal life, with the calm eyes of uncon- cerned spectators, they attempted to impose their opinions upon others by force. The earth, they said, had been given to them for a possession, and it was, therefore, lawful for them to appropriate to themselves the goods 390 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of unbelievers. They asserted that the time had come when Mahomedanism must fall, and that to them had been assigned the task of bringing about the decree of fate. In their opinion the restrictions imposed upon men by the Koran were too heavy to be borne. Accord- ing to their creed all men were alike ; none were impure, since all human beings, with all other created objects, whether animate or inanimate, formed so many portions of one all-pervading and everlasting God. It was pro- bably when in possession of this idea, that the Bab had startled his disciples by the sudden announcement that he was God. The followers of the Bab were to have all their possessions, including their women, in common : marriage being one of the puerile observances of the Mahomedan code which it was now time to abolish. The Babis admitted of no hereditary claims to high rank ; nor did they see the necessity of any formal election of rulers or teachers : they admitted only such superiority as was conferred by the force of intellect, and that force, they held, would make itself felt without the adventitious aid of human laws. Hell was no longer a source of terror to men who had been enlightened by the teaching of the Bab. Their master had explained to them that there was to be no hereafter beyond this enduring world ; he had laughed to scorn alike the Moslem prophet's description of the terror- striking bridge of Al-Sirath and of the black-eyed virgins who repose on green cushions and beautiful carpets, hidden from public view in the pavilions of paradise. This terrestrial globe was to be everlasting, and men need not fear what people falsely term death, since in truth they could not die. These opinions explain the reckless bravery with DEFENCE OF ZINJAX BY THE BABIS. 391 which the Babis of Zinjan continued to maintain a hopeless contest against the troops of the Shah. They were driven into the south-eastern corner of the town, where they erected barricades, loop-holed the walls, and defended themselves with much skill. Their numbers were by degrees reduced by casualties, but their spirit could not be quenched : their women are as deserving of being praised for their bravery as are the maids of Saragossa. To the existence of heroines at Zinjan, at least, no doubt attaches : at Zinjan the maidens shed no " ill-timed tears " for the fall of their lovers, but they took their share in the fearful task of defending their desperate position, and they were not backward in hurling the missile which was to be their love's avenger. Three hundred fanatics continued to defy the artillery and the troops of the Shah. By night and day the loop- holes were watched by sharp-shooters, who hastened on every occasion to take advantage of the slightest indis- cretion on the part of the besiegers. Two guns were constructed from bars of iron to reply to the fire of those without, and the fact that these were damaged by every discharge in no way damped the energy of the defenders. The invitations to surrender which were held out by the Persian commander were treated by the Babis with deri- sion, and they put to death on the spot a well-meaning but rash individual who proposed to act as mediator between the contending adversaries. Terrible was the lot of the Persians who fell into the hands of the Babis : we are told that they were shod as horses, suspended from beams by one arm, or burnt to death. The priest who headed the defence seemed to expect a successful termination to the conflict, since he assigned to one of 392 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. his people, as a reward for bravery, no less a prize than the government of the land of Egypt, and to others the possession of such and such villages and towns. The siege continued to be prosecuted throughout the summer of the year 1850. The scene of operations was visited in the month of October by Sir Henry Bethune, who had come to die in the country where he had acquired his glory, and he expressed his opinion that the reduction of the defended portion of Zinjan ought not to occupy ordinary troops for a longer period than three hours. But it was not until the last days of the year that the siege was brought to a conclu- sion. Moollah Mahomed All, the leader of the defenders, received a wound from the effects of which he died, and this event so dispirited the survivors that they had no longer any care to resist the attacks of the assailants. The position occupied by the Babis was at length carried, and all who survived of the defenders men, women, and children were ruthlessly butchered by the Per- sian troops, who now displayed as much ferocity as they had shown pusillanimity during the siege. Whilst the disciples and followers of the Bab were endeavouring to undermine the faith of Islam, the priests of that religion were not blind to the expediency of doing something towards maintaining their hold over the minds of the Persian people. But the Ameer-i-Nizam was equally averse to tolerating the spread of Babism and to encourage the Mahomedan priests in their ambitious views. He was the more anxious to weaken the influence of the Moslem doctors, inasmuch as he saw that no thorough reform could be carried out in Persia so long as the people retained their superstitious dread of incurring the displeasure of a band of selfish and PRETENDED MAHOMEDAN MIRACLES. 393 narrow-minded moollahs. He found much difficulty in bending to his will the privileged and rapacious Mahomedan doctors ; but he did not recoil from the labour of subduing them. The priests of Tabreez, about this time, resolved to show the world who believed in miracles that such manifestations of a direct interference with the ordinary course of nature were not exhibited solely through the medium of the person of the Bab. They determined to try the effect of one in connection with a Moslem place of worship. A cow on the way to the slaughter-house twice took sanctuary in a mosque and was twice expelled ; a third attempt to deprive the animal of the privilege of taking sanctuary was punished by the patron saint of the mosque, for the driver of the cow fell down dead. Such was the story that was noised abroad, and as it was received with credit, other miracles were attributed to the influence of the spirit who guarded the same holy place ; blind men were said to have had their sight restored, and sick men to have been healed of their maladies. Much religious enthu- siasm was accordingly excited, and, in honour of the distinction which had thus been conferred upon Tabreez, the city was illuminated. The mosque where the cow- herd had fallen dead was pronounced to be a sanctuary, which must thenceforward be on no account violated, and it was publicly announced that it was lawful to slay any persons who might be discovered gambling or intoxicated in its neighbourhood. But the priests of Tabreez found that, although the people of that city were as credulous and fanatical as could be wished, there was a ruler in Persia who was possessed both of common sense and of firmness, and who would not permit the establishment of 394 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. priestly domination over the populace of the most con- siderable city in the kingdom. The Ameer-i-Nizam sent to that city an Affshar chief, who had the courage and the adroitness to seize and carry off the Sheikh-el-Islam. This blow at priestly influence having been de- livered, the Minister next abolished the privilege which had up to this time been accorded to the Imam-i-Juma of Tehran, of affording sanctuary in his mosque to all who sought it. It was the consistent policy of the Ameer-i-Nizam to uphold the supreme authority of the Shah, and to check all encroachments upon it, from what quarter soever they might be directed. From his endeavour to carry out this policy he never swerved, notwithstanding all the ill-will which, by so doing, he excited against himself. The measures of the enlightened Minister were now beginning to be followed by some satisfactory and visible results. The system of taxa- tion throughout the country was remodelled on a more equitable basis than had formerly existed. The various provincial treasuries were pronounced to be at length in a satisfactory condition. Trade between the different chief cities and provinces of the kingdom, as well as between Persia and her Eussian, Turkish, Arab, Affghan, Indian, Oozbeg, and Turkoman neighbours, was being carried on with confidence, under the protection of a just and energetic government ; and the Ameer-i-Nizam grati- fied the inhabitants of Tehran, and more especially the mercantile classes at the capital, by erecting a handsomer range of bazars than any other city in the world can boast of possessing. The caravanserai which bears his name vies in beauty and in commodiousness with the finest struc- tures of Asia, and it was the intention of the Minister to THE CASPIAN SEA. 395 undertake several other works for the embellishment and convenience of the city and neighbourhood of Tehran. It is illustrative of the soundness of the Ameer's judgment that, although no man could have been more anxious than he was to maintain the dignity and inde- pendence of his master, he preferred to give way, even when he felt that he was in the right, rather than risk the effects of a quarrel with his powerful northern neighbour. By the treaty of Gulistan, Persia had renounced the right of maintaining ships of war on the Caspian ; and about the year 1836 the Shah's govern- ment had applied to the Czar for naval assistance against the refractory Turkomans who infest the south-eastern shores of that sea. Following this application there had been made, when too late, a request that the Kussian naval commander might be placed under the orders of the governor of Astrabad, or that, failing this, the naval aid might be withheld. The Shah had subsequently intimated to the Eussian envoy that as he had without assistance been enabled to capture the island of Cherken, the presence of the Kussian vessels was no longer necessary. But the idea of the advantage of maintain- ing the police of the sea on the southern and eastern shores of the Caspian had not been relinquished at St. Petersburg, and in 1842 a Kussian squadron appeared off Astrabad, and commenced the salutary operation of putting a stop to the predatory expeditions of the Turkoman pirates. To the eastward of a tongue of land which juts out from the Persian coast of the bay of Astrabad there is a small island called Ashoradeh, and of this island the Kussian officer had taken possession, for the purpose of making 396 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. it a naval station. This measure had alarmed the Persian Government, who anticipated greater danger from the establishment of the Kussians on an island so near to the Persian mainland, than they did from any amount of Turkoman depredation. Every species of remonstrance had been had recourse to in order to induce the self-invited and unwelcome guests of Persia to take their departure ; but these protests and remonstrances had not been followed by any indication on the part of the Eussian authorities to comply with the demand now made of them. The Persian ministers had at one time been told in reply that the occupation of the island had been a necessary consequence of the Shah's request for Eussian naval aid ; at another time, they had been reproached with ingratitude and folly in not appreciating the value of the assistance gratuitously given by Eussia in putting a stop to Turkoman piracy and devastation. That the presence of Eussian ships in the southern waters of the Caspian sea is highly beneficial to the interests of humanity, cannot be questioned ; but, on the other hand, the tenure by which Eussia holds the island of Ashoradeh is as illegal as are the proceedings of the pirates which she came there to check. Eegardless of public opinion, and of Persian appeals to right and to international law, the Eussians now look upon Ashoradeh as being as much a portion of the Czar's dominions as Bakoo or Derbend, and on this island all the buildings which are neces- sary for the permanent accommodation of a considerable force have been erected. The possession of Ashoradeh is most beneficial to Eussian interests, for other reasons than that it affords a suitable station for the ships employed in maintaining the police of the sea. From ATTACK ON ASHORADEH. 397 Ashoradeh steam-vessels ply along the Persian coast, conveying the produce of the three fertile provinces of Astrabad, Mazenderan, and Gilan, to the markets of Georgia, and in return bringing Kussian wares to supply the requirements of the merchants of Persia. The fact, too, of a Eussian force being always present at the south-eastern corner of the Caspian sea, gives to that power great political influence throughout the neigh- bouring provinces of the states of Central Asia. In the year 1851 the island of Ashoradeh was pro- tected by five Kussian vessels of war, each carrying from four to eight guns ; but notwithstanding the presence of this force, the island was surprised by the Turkomans, who killed or carried off all the Russians they found upon it. The officers in the ships escaped the fate that overtook the men on shore, but it is said that one or two ladies were carried off to the desert of the Attreck. The time that had been chosen for delivering this humiliating blow was Easter- eve, when the Turkomans believed they should find the Kussian sailors in a state of intoxication. It was thought necessary for the re -establishment of Russian prestige on the shores of the Caspian, to give out that the Turkomans alone had not been able to over-run Ashoradeh, but that they had been abetted by the Persians ; and on this account the Russian represen- tative at Tehran demanded the dismissal from office of the Shah's brother, the governor of Mazenderan. The Ameer-i-Nizam at first refused to agree to the disgrace of a man whom he knew to have had nothing whatever to do with the affair at Ashoradeh ; but rather than risk the consequences of a rupture of peaceful relations with Russia, he bowed his pride, and yielded to the demand. 398 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. It was in consequence* of his having had to make a concession to one foreign mission, that the Ameer-i- Nizam now thought proper to make another concession, which up to this time he had refused to grant, to the request of another mission. An engagement was entered into, by which the right of searching for slaves in native vessels in the Persian Gulf was granted to British vessels of war, and the permission was accorded of remov- ing any slaves who might be so found, to the British ships. This blow to the slave-traffic was one of the last notable measures of the Ameer's administration. The enemies of the Ameer had never abandoned their efforts to shake the Shah's confidence in his Minister, and I it is matter of surprise that a boy should have for so long a time been able to resist the oft-repeated solicitations of his mother and others for the dismissal of a plebeian Vizeer. Warnings against the clever and ambitious Minister were constantly poured into the royal ear ; the Ameer's virtues and successes were represented as crimes, / and it was insinuated that it was the Minister's intention to grasp the sceptre. The Ameer-i-Nizam had greatly j improved the condition of the Persian army, and the Shah was told that the soldiers were so devoted to their commander, that they would readily second him in \ carrying out the ambitious designs imputed to him. The king's fears were at length aroused, and as there were no means of checking the Ameer's power save by dismissing him from office, his dismissal was determined on. So persuaded had the Shah become of the evil intentions of the Minister, that he did not venture to * Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, by Lady SHEIL. DEPOSITION OF THE AMEER. 399 depose him until he found himself in a position to defend his person against any treasonable attack. On the night of the 13th of November, 1851, the king summoned four hundred of the royal body-guard to the palace, and thus fortified, he sent to inform the Ameer that he was to be no longer prime minister of Persia, and that his functions were thenceforward to be limited to the command of the army. But no accusation could have less foundation in truth than that which imputed dis- loyalty to the Ameer-i-Nizam ; he bowed in silence to the decree of his sovereign, and awaited in his palace the coming of the events which time would bring forth. Meerza Agha Khan,* the Itimad-ed-Dowleh, who has been before mentioned in these pages, was now raised to the dignity of Sedr-Azem, or prime minister. The idea, not unnaturally, occurred to him that he could never be secure in that post so long as his predecessor should be alive ; as, sooner or later, the Shah and all his subjects would see the immense difference between the Ameer and his rival. Indeed the king was already aware that the commander of his troops was his loyal subject, since he had not attempted to avail himself of the affection of the soldiers for his person, for the purpose of creating any disturbance of the new administration. The new minister was in close league with her Highness the Queen-mother, and it was determined by them that the Ameer-i-Nizam should forthwith be removed from the capital ; for so long as he should remain there, there was no chance of the king being persuaded to consent to the * Agha Khan was not originally this minister's name, but was rather appellation by which he was known, first in his family circle, and after- wards by the public. 400 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. death of a man who had so faithfully served him, and to whom he was so much attached. At this time the king addressed two letters to the Ameer, in one of which he stated that although it had been thought advisable to dismiss him from office, yet he might be sure that the royal heart bled for him. But it was hoped by the Sedr-Azem that separation might have the effect of cooling the Shah's affection for his brother-in-law ; accordingly the Ameer was offered the choice of the government of Ears, of that of Ispahan, or that of Koom. It is to be regretted that he did not accept the offer now made to him. Had he retired for a short time from the capital, he might have lived to return to it as minister; but he knew too well the character of his fellow-countrymen not to fear that his life would be in danger so soon as he should be separated from the Shah. Under the working of this apprehension, the Ameer declined the offers made to him ; but, through the influ- ence of the British Minister, it was at length arranged that he should be appointed governor of Kashan. Such was the condition of affairs when the unfor- tunate interference of Prince Dolgorouky produced a sudden change in the temper of the Shah. That Minister, although he had found the Ameer to be the uncompromising opponent of Russian aggressive move- ments, had yet found him ever truthful, just and reason- able. He was therefore sorry to see him replaced by Meerza Agha Khan, who had enjoyed English pro- tection ; and who, it was to be presumed, would favour English rather than Eussian influence at the Persian court. The prince feared lest the life of the Ameer should be taken, and he knew that if his life were spared, THE AMEER DESERTED. 401 he would, sooner or later, be replaced in office. The surest way of securing that object appeared to be to take the Ameer under Kussian protection. Had the Ameer sought the privilege of asylum in the house of the Russian Legation, the Shah would have been justified, according to international law, in taking him forcibly thence ; much more was he justified in altogether dis- avowing the ill-judged act of Prince Dolgorouky in send- ing the members of his mission, and his Cossack guard, to the Ameer's house, and declaring that the Ameer was under the protection of Russia. No monarch could be expected to submit to so insulting a proceeding ; and the Shah was told by his new Minister, that unless he should assert his royal right to authority over his subject, the people of Persia would no longer look upon him as being an independent king, but as being the obedient vassal of Russia. This taunt stung the Shah to the quick, and he requested Prince Dolgorouky to withdraw the members of his mission forthwith from the house which sheltered his mother and sister. At the same time he declared his intention of sending the servants of the royal household to seize the person of the Ameer, in case the prince should refuse. The members of the Russian Legation were accordingly withdrawn, and as the British Minister also withdrew from all interference in the affair, the Ameer was left to be dealt with as the offended Shah might think proper. The king's feelings of anger were skilfully fanned by the enemies of the fallen Vizeer, and under their influence the Shah degraded him from the post of Ameer-i-Nizam, and ordered him to retire in disgrace to Kashan, under the surveillance of an escort of troops ; the officer in 26 402 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. command of which was to be responsible for his safe- keeping. But even this downfall did not satisfy the wishes of the vindictive enemies of Meerza Teki Khan. The Shah was reminded that no other government could be secure in Persia, so long as the fallen minister should live, and he was told that if he valued the security of his throne, he must consent to give the order for the death of the ex-Ameer. Still, the Shah could not be brought to consent to the capital punishment of an innocent man, and the fallen Vizeer was permitted to live for two months in retirement with his wife, amidst the cypresses and fountains that surround the splendid palace of Feen. It was the fate of Prince Dolgorouky to be the in- strument of further misfortune to the man whom he so sincerely wished to befriend. He was deeply chagrined at the results which had followed his attempt to take the ex-minister under Kussian protection, and when the time approached for the arrival of a reply to the reports regarding the occurrence which he had addressed to St. Petersburg, he openly boasted that in the course of a few days he should receive instructions which would put an end to all uncertainty as to the fate of Meerza Teki Khan. All uncertainty as to his fate was, indeed, put an end to, even before the period assigned by the prince. The Ameer's enemies did not fail to report the rash boast to the Shah, and his Majesty, in order to avoid the consequences of a refusal to the demand which he antici- pated from Eussia, of giving a guarantee for the Ameer's life, determined to anticipate the arrival of the expected courier, and at once to cause the Ameer to be put to death. But even this measure could not be executed by Persians without recourse being had to dissimulation. FATE OF THE AMEER. 403 The Shah's only sister, the wife of Meerza Teki Khan, was devotedly attached to her husband, and no one had the heart to tear him from her arms. No princess educated in a Christian court and accustomed to the con- templation of the brightest example of conjugal virtues that the history of the world has recorded, could have shown more tenderness and devotion than did the sister of the Shah of Persia towards her unfortunate husband. Every day his guards took the precaution of summoning him from his room, in order that they might make sure that he had not escaped ; and when he went outside to show himself, his wife was, at first, in the habit of accom- panying him. Seeing, however, that this ceremony was a mere matter of form, she ceased to go forth with him, and contented herself with the precaution of tasting of every dish that was set before him. But a man was found who volunteered to put the Ameer to death without the princess being made aware of what was going to take place. One Haji AH Khan, a clever and worthless adven- turer, had been admitted into the Shah's service by the Ameer, and had been made chief of his ferashes ; a post of some importance. In order to show his zeal in the service of his new master, the Ferash-Bashi now volun- teered to be the executioner of his benefactor. When he appeared at Kashan, the retainers of the ex-minister were filled with joy ; for they believed that one who had owed his advancement in life to their lord had been chosen to be the bearer of good news. They were doomed to a cruel disappointment. On the 9th of January, 1852, the ex-minister was called forth, as usual, by his guards, and on his appearing alone was seized, gagged, and dragged to an adjoining house, where he was 262 404 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. cast on the floor, stripped and tied. The veins in both his arms and his legs were then opened, and he was allowed to linger for several hours in mortal agony. He bore his cruel fate with a resignation which was in keep- ing with the consistent greatness of his life. The youthful princess, his wife, being alarmed at the absence of her husband, was told by Haji Ali Khan that he had gone to the bath, in order to be prepared to put on a robe of honour which the Shah had sent to him by his hands. When she awoke from her delusion, the heart of her husband had for ever ceased to beat. Thus perished, by the hands of Persians, the man who had done so much to regenerate Persia : the only man who possessed at the same time the ability, the patriotism, the energy and the integrity required to enable a Persian Minister to conduct the vessel of State in safety past the shoals and rocks which lay in her course. Those who, with a living imperial author, see in every remarkable man, such as Caesar, Charle- magne, or Napoleon, a special instrument in the hands of Providence for tracing out to peoples the path they ought to follow, must be at a loss to account for the design of Providence in raising up Meerza Teki Khan, and permitting his fall, ere he had accomplished in a few years the labour of centuries and stamped with the seal of his genius a new era for his country. Had he lived to accomplish what it was his intention to do, he would no doubt have been ranked with the men who are held by some people to have been specially raised up by God for a particular mission. But his premature death, before he had lived long enough permanently to benefit his fellow-men, must prevent us from having recourse to CHARACTER OF THE AMEER. 405 this theory for accounting for the appearance, in these latter years in Persia, of a man so remarkable as Meerza Teki Khan. His career seems rather to be illustrative of the truth of the proposition so much insisted on by the author of the History of Civilization in England :* namely, that a people makes its own government, and that no government can force progress if the people be unsound. The Ameer's measures were distasteful to so many per- sons, that the Shah was compelled to listen to the cry of discontent ; consequently, the upright ruler fell, and a Vizeer was named in his place whose character was more in accordance with that of the persons he had to govern, and who permitted those he employed to imitate his own example of extorting bribes. What the Ameer had with so much difficulty effected was now at once undone. The soldiers were no longer paid, until after years of entreaty ; peculation became once more rampant in every department of the administration ; priestly influ- ence again acquired undue ascendancy ; and Persian titles were heaped upon the great with even more prodigality than ever. The shocking fate of Meerza Teki Khan excited, how- ever, the greatest horror throughout Europe, and the Shah and his new Minister had to listen to the indignant protests and remonstrances called forth from foreign governments by the sentence which had been executed at Kashan. Then followed the hour of remorse. When too late the Persian king, as well as many of his subjects, became sensible of the irreparable loss their country had sustained. It is said that the king, in his grief, re- * See BUCKLE'S History of Civilization in England, pp. 115 and 146-150, vol. ii., 1861. 406 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. solved to observe each anniversary of the Ameer's death as a day of fasting and humiliation ; and the two infant daughters of the great Minister were betrothed to two sons of the Shah. Each year that has elapsed since the death of Meerza Teki Khan has gradually added to his fame, by showing how vain is the expectation of finding another Vizeer capable of completing the work of reformation in Persia which was begun by him. The short period of his administration is now looked back upon as having been the golden era of modern Persia ; and the traveller from the west, as he pursues his tedious way across the plains of Irak, or through the lonely passes of the Elburz, if he converse with his muleteers as to the condition of the country, is sure to be told that everything now goes badly, but that things were otherwise in the time of the Ameer-i-Nizam. ( 407 ) CHAPTEK XTV. Conspiracy against Life of the Shah His Escape Punishment of Conspira- tors Ministers of State act as Executioners Firmness of followers of the Bab Jealousy of European interference at Persian Court Alliance of the Shah sought by Russia in 1853 Tempting offer made to Persian Government Alternative placed before the Shah His Alliance declined by the Western Powers Neutrality distasteful to Persian Government Angry Discussions between Sedr-Azem and the British Minister Meerza Hashem Arrest of his Wife Conduct of the Sedr-Azem Diplomatic Relations suspended between England and Persia Mr. Murray quits Tehran Persian Expedition against Herat War against Persia declared at Calcutta. THE disciples of the Bab had been little heard of during the eighteen months that followed the conclusion of the siege of Zinjan. It was in the summer of the year 1852 that they next forced themselves upon public notice. A conspiracy against the life of the Shah was hatched at Tehran, under the auspices of two priests of distinction, and of Suleiman Khan, whose father had been master of the horse to Abbass Meerza. Men holding the Bab doctrines were in the habit of congregating, to the number of about forty, in the house of the above- named Khan, where their plans were concerted and where arms of every description were collected. On the 15th of August, the Shah, who was then residing in the neighbourhood of Tehran, at the Niaveran Palace, had mounted his horse, and was proceeding towards the Elburz on a hunting excursion, when four men pre- 408 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. sented themselves on his path. It is the custom for the Persian king to ride alone, all the attendants being some distance in front of, or behind, his Majesty ; and it is a common thing for the Shah to be addressed by those of his subjects who have a grievance to be righted, and who are allowed by custom to approach the sovereign and hand to him written papers containing their petitions. Consequently it was not thought strange when one of the four men who appeared on this day on the king's path, approached the horse on which his Majesty was riding, as if for the purpose of handing a paper to the Shah. The Babi, as he drew near the royal person, attempted to grasp the king's girdle, and when he found himself repulsed, he drew a pistol from within his dress and fired it at the Shah. His Majesty, however, had the presence of mind to throw himself to the opposite side of his horse, and the contents of the pistol inflicted no other injury beyond a slight wound in the thigh. So intent was the assassin on effecting his object, that, regardless of the presence of the Shah's followers, who now came up to the rescue, he drew from its sheath a formidable dagger, with which he assailed the Shah and those who defended him ; nor did he cease his efforts until he was himself slain. Two of his confederates were captured, one of them having been severely wounded ; the fourth Babi contrived to effect his escape by jumping down a well. This occurrence was at once made known to the dwellers in Shimran, and the report got abroad that the king had been killed. Without waiting to hear this news confirmed, the people in the royal camp began to disperse, and there was a general rush towards Tehran. The shops of the city were immediately shut, and every one THE BABI CONSPIRACY. 409 strove to lay in a supply of bread, as a provision against the stormy future. On the following day, however, men's minds were reassured by the discharge of a salute of one hundred and ten guns, to announce the safety of the king. The priests and the persons of influence amongst the people were invited to proceed to the royal camp ; and Tehran was illuminated during several nights. The Babi conspiracy having been discovered, ten of the conspirators were at the first put to death; some of them under circumstances of the greatest cruelty. Lighted candles were inserted into the bodies of two or three of these men, and the victims, after having been allowed to linger for some time, were hewn in two by a hatchet. The requirements of the lex talionis were satisfied by the steward of the Shah, acting as his representative, blowing out the brains of one of the conspirators. Amongst those who suffered death was a young woman, the daughter of a celebrated teacher of the law, and who was considered by the Babis to be a prophetess ; on this account she had been for years detained a prisoner at Tehran. But ten victims were not enough to calm the fears of the advisers of the Shah, and a short reign of terror followed ; no one being secure against suspicion, or being denounced as a fol- lower of the Bab. If any one at this time imagined that the Shah's Ministers had any considerable amount of regard for their own dignity in the eyes of the world, the scene which now presented itself was well calculated to dispel the illusion. The prime minister, far from imitating the example set by Cicero in his orations against Catiline in taking to himself all the glory of having suppressed a dangerous conspiracy, was fearful 410 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. of drawing down upon himself and his family the vengeance of the followers of the Bab ; and, in order that others might be implicated in these executions, he hit upon the device of assigning a criminal to each department of the State ; the several ministers of the Shah being thus compelled to act as executioners. The minister for foreign affairs, the minister of finance, the son of the prime minister, the adjutant- general of the army, and the master of the mint, each fired the first shot, or made the first cut with a sabre, at the culprits assigned to their several departments, respectively. The artillery, the infantry, the camel-artillery, and the cavalry each had a victim assigned to them.* But the result of all this slaughter was, as might have been expected, to create a feeling of sympathy for the Babis ; whose crime was lost sight of in the punishment which had overtaken em. They met their fate with the utmost firmness, and none of them cared to accept the life which was offered to them on the simple condition of reciting the Moslem creed. While the lighted candles were burning the flesh of one follower of the Bab, he was urged by the chief magistrate of Tehran to curse the Bab and live. He would not renounce the Bab ; but he cursed the magistrate who tempted him to do so, he cursed the Shah, and even cursed the prophet Mahomed, his spirit rising superior to the agony of his tor- ture * "Even the Shah's admirable French physician, the late lamented Dr. Cloquet, was invited to show his loyalty by following the example of the rest of the court. He excused himself, and pleasantly said that he lolled too many men professionally to permit him to increase their number by any voluntary homicide on his part." Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia. By Lady SHEIL, p. 277. THE SEDR-AZEM. 411 It is now time to refer to an important and interest- ing epoch in the history of modern Persia, and to show the position which she occupied with reference to the great European Powers immediately before the war between the nations of the West and Russia. It will enable the reader to understand more easily the motives in which originated the policy pursued by the Shah, if I show what was at this time the actual position in which the Persian prime minister found himself placed. He had on two occasions in former years been indebted for safety or protection to the good offices of the British Legation : he had, in fact, been at one time looked upon as being a British protege. At that period the influence of the foreign missions, and their interference in the internal affairs of Persia, had not been regarded by the Shah's government with much alarm ; but a rapid change had taken place in Persian opinion in this respect, and there was nothing now so unfashionable at the court as to be connected in any way with a foreign representative. The claims of gratitude have not much weight with Persians, and, even if the Sedr-Azem had been well disposed towards those to whose influence he had owed so much, he could not but see that if he would retain his post, he must at any rate make the Shah and the courtiers understand that he had given up all intimacy with the English Minister. In order the more effectually to avert the damaging supposition that he favoured British influence at the Persian court, he took care to speak slightingly of the English government and its representative at Tehran ; and was always ready to raise difficulties and objections in the way of anything pro- posed by the latter. But notwithstanding his clever- 412 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. ness and his powers of intriguing and dissimulating, the Persian Minister did not find himself placed on a bed of roses. At one time he even spoke of resigning the high office which he held ; but if he ever seriously entertained the intention of doing so, he probably feared that it was not open to him to resign office only, but that he must make up his mind to part at the same time with office and with life. Under these circumstances his tortuous mind suggested to him the singular idea of doing something which would induce either the Russian or the English Minister to demand his dismissal from office ; hoping that thus he might be allowed to retire into private life without being exposed to any further danger. But the possession of office, if he ever was seriously indif- ferent to it, reacquired in his eyes a charm which he could not resolve to dispel, and he accordingly talked no more of resigning his post. That post now derived 1 additional importance, from the fact that the alliance of Persia was courted by one of the powers whose quarrel engrossed the attention of the civilized world. Late in the autumn of the year 1853, General Bebitoff arrived at Nakhtchivan to take command of the Eussian army destined to act against the Turkish forces in the Pashalic of Erzeroum ; and a , messenger was des- patched by him to Tehran, who was to communicate, through the Eussian Minister, certain propositions from the Eussian government to the Shah. A private inter- view with his Majesty was demanded by Prince Dol- gorouky on the occasion of the arrival of the messenger at Tehran. To this interview none of the Shah's subjects were admitted, lest the purport of the propositions should transpire : no Vizeer was there to echo the statements RUSSIAN PROPOSALS TO THE SHAH. 413 of the king, and no eaves-dropping page listened behind the cashmere curtains of the throne-room whilst the Kussian Minister, through his dragoman, made known the wishes of his imperial master. So far the secret was kept secure, and not even to his Grand Vizeer did the Shah at first communicate what had transpired. But to the eye of jealous suspicion there are facts which explain themselves, and which do not need to be expressed in words. The Turkish ambassador was too well informed of the state of affairs at the court to which he was accredited, not to be able to draw his own conclusions from the arrival of a special Kussian officer, and from the precautions which had been taken to exclude the Persian Minister from the audience given by the Shah to the stranger. His Excellency, therefore, resolved to assume a threatening demeanour, and he made known at once to the Shah his determination to quit Tehran forthwith, unless he should receive satisfactory assurances regarding the course which the Persian government intended to pursue in the conjuncture which had come about. In consequence of this sudden resolve on the part of the Turkish ambassador, the king was constrained to send for his prime minister, and to reveal to him the nature of the proposals that had been made by the representative of the Czar. These proposals were that Persia should cooperate with Kussia in the war to be waged against Turkey. A strong military demonstration must be made on the frontier of Azerbaeejan, to threaten Byazeed and Erzeroum ; and another on the frontier of Kermanshah, to threaten Baghdad and the holy cities. In the event of its being necessary that Persia should declare war 414 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. against Turkey, the Shah's forces were to invade the Ottoman dominions at both points. They were to seize Kotoor, and endeavour to occupy the city of the Caliphs ; and when peace should be restored in Europe, the Sublime Porte should be compelled either to leave in the hands of the Shah all the territory he might have taken, or to ransom it by the payment of a suitable sum. Further than this, the Shah was to be released from the pecuniary obligations he was under to Eussia, for the balance of the money due under the Treaty of Turko- manchai, in the event of his going to war ; and in the event of his not being called on actually to declare war, all the cost of his military preparations was to be deducted from his debt. Kussia was also to furnish warlike stores and money, in the event of the duration of the war being protracted. These were tempting propositions for a Persian king to listen to. Should he agree to them he would be admitted to play a part in the great drama in which the chief monarchs of Christendom and the Sultan were the actors. He would be gratified by the con- sciousness of his being the first Persian prince of modern times who should have been able to emancipate himself from the second-rate position of a ruler whose sphere of action was confined to Asia. Furthermore, he would escape for ever from the degrading pecuniary obligations under which he was held by Kussia. He would wrest from the unrighteous grasp of Turkey the strong stra- tegical position of Kotoor ; and he would endear himself to his subjects, and his memory to their children, by adding to his dominions the holy cities that contain the shrines of Ali and of Hussein. Such were the prospects to which the Shah now called the attention of his prime DILEMMA OF THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. 415 minister, and it devolved on that functionary to point out the alternative line of conduct that lay open to his master. There was another way, the Vizeer said, by which the Shah might be admitted to take his place amongst the princes and rulers whose decisions swayed the affairs of the great world. If it was open to him to act with Eussia against the allies, so might it be open to him to cooperate with the allies against Kussia. His weight would be equally felt in either scale of the balance. If England and France should take up arms for Turkey, the allies would be as three to one, and it would be prudent for Persia to join the stronger side. She might by declaring war against Kussia break up for ever the Treaty of Turkomanchai, and win back her severed provinces. By reuniting them to Persia, the Shah would endear himself to his people, and his memory to their children, as surely as he could by adding to his dominions the holy cities of the Arabian desert. The Shah was at this time a youth, and the words of his minister seemed to him those of the wisdom of age. He therefore fell in with his reasoning so far as to determine to proceed no longer in the course indicated to him by Prince Dolgorouky. Although orders had been issued for assembling a force of forty thousand men in Azerbaeejan, to be commanded by the Sirdar Azeez Khan, and a force of fifteen thou- sand men in Kerrnanshah, to be commanded by the chief of the royal body guard, it was determined to watch for the present the course df events, and not to conclude the treaty with Kussia to which the Shah had given his consent. The Russian representative could not fail to draw from this change of purpose the conclusion that the 416 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Sedr-Azem had employed his influence to divert the Shah from his first intention. The prince was the more irritated on account of this change, inasmuch as he had already reported to the Imperial Government the full concurrence of the Shah in the views of the Czar. His government must therefore he counting to a certain extent on the assistance to be rendered by Persia in the opera- tions about to be undertaken against Asia-Minor. Under the influence of strong feelings of disappointment, Prince Dolgorouky, at several interviews with the Sedr-Azem, endeavoured to persuade his Highness to enter into the views of Eussia. These interviews, like that between Charles the Twelfth and the grand vizeer Baltazzi Mahomed on the Pruth, after the escape of Peter, afforded a picture of fiery and demonstrative earnest- ness on the one hand, and of imperturbable calmness on the other. The prince took occasion, at one interview, to reproach the Yizeer for the evil counsel which he had given to his master, and warned him to beware of the consequences of refusing to ratify the treaty to which the Shah had signified his assent. In his eagerness, the prince rose from his seat and approached the Yizeer, flourishing his cane in the air to give emphasis to his arguments and words, and it unluckily happened that the cane came down somewhat heavily on the Yizeer's leg. But this occurrence had not the effect of betraying the Persian Minister into a fit of anger, or of making him forgetful of his own dignity in the presence of others ; he contented himself with taking the cane with which he had been struck, and throwing it to the further end of the room ; and after having done so, he requested that he might be left alone. Soon after this occurrence, Prince VACILLATION OF THE SHAH. 417 Dolgorouky was recalled from his post; and as the Sedr-Azem gave out that he had procured the minister's recall, his triumph was complete. In his future dealings with foreign representatives he allowed it to be seen how much his awe of them had abated. As time wore on, news came from the West of active preparations for war, and the Shah was once more tempted to revert to his first intention of casting in his lot with Russia. He did not at first avow to the Sedr- Azem his change of plan, and it was not until he had committed himself to a specific course of action that he informed the minister of what he had done. The Sedr- Azem, however, still remained firm to the opinion he had formerly expressed, and he had again influence sufficient to induce the Shah to repudiate his engagement. But the king was naturally desirous that this vacillation in his policy should not at that time transpire, and he feared lest the pride of the Sedr-Azem should induce him to boast to foreign representatives of his having had influ- ence enough to bring the Shah round again to his way of thinking. Accordingly when the Sedr-Azem received a visit from a foreign representative, the Shah's ferash- bashi the executioner of the Ameer-i-Nizam was ordered to pass by the door of the Vizeer's room, and to station himself so as to be within hearing of all that might be said. This significant hint was not thrown away upon the Sedr-Azem, who gathered from it that he might possibly go too far in withstanding the wishes of his master ; and he did not again fall into such an error. It would appear that some rumours had reached England to the effect that the Shah of Persia had given indications of being inclined to ally himself with Russia 27 418 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. in the war that was being waged, and the leading English journal took advantage of the appointment of a new English minister to the Persian court to give out that the said minister was going to Persia for the purpose of bringing the Shah to his knees. The passage in The Times newspaper to which I have alluded was of course translated and communicated to the Shah, and it is only natural to suppose that from the moment he read it he determined to preserve an attitude of firmness and inde- pendence in his dealings with the English envoy. Meanwhile the offers which Persia had made to join the allies against Eussia had been declined ; the allies being sensible that they would be unable to protect Persia against the vengeance of Kussia in the end, thinking it unfair to encourage a weak power to incur great risks without a reasonable hope of reaping any advantages. Their counsel to Persia was that she should remain neutral during the struggle ; but this counsel little suited the temper of the excitable court of the Shah a court which is not given to looking far into the future, and which is not too scrupulous as to the merits of the cause for which it may begin a war. The Persian king now no longer found in his minister a check upon his warlike inclinations. Several causes seem to have contributed to bring about a change in the senti- ments of the Sedr-Azem. Probably the most potent of these was a conviction that it was not safe for him to thwart the wishes of the Kussian party at the Persian court ; and he seems to have been completely brought over to the views of that party, by some angry discussions between himself and the English Minister on matters of trifling importance. MEERZA HASHEM KHAN. 419 Eefore the arrival at Tehran of the Hon. Charles A. Murray, who was the new representative in Persia of her Majesty's Government, some correspondence had taken place between the prime Minister and the English charge d'affaires regarding a meerza, or Persian writer, who had been employed in the Mission, and who was much disliked by the Sedr-Azem. The Persian Vizeer had not sought to conceal the antipathy which he felt towards Hash em Khan, and he had expressed a wish that this man might not be continued in his position in the Mission, in virtue of which he was the medium of communication between the Persian Government and the British Minister. The meerza in question belonged to one of the principal branches of the tribe of Noor; of another branch of which tribe the Sedr-Azem was the chief. He had at one period been in the Persian service, but had for a long time past been unemployed ; when in 1854 he was named Persian secretary to the English Mission at Tehran. The Persian Minister now asserted that Hashem Khan had never obtained a formal discharge from the Shah's service, and that he was consequently not eligible for employment under a foreign mission ; the English charge d'affaires was therefore requested not to press the question of his employment. The point of his removal from the post of Persian secretary to the Mission was yielded ; not in consequence of the truth of the assertion that he had not obtained a discharge from the Shah's service, but because it was manifestly contrary to the public interests that English business should be daily transacted through a subordinate who was avowedly disliked by the Persian prime minister. When the Sedr-Azem had at first requested that Hashem 272 420 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Khan might be removed from the post of Persian secretary to the English Mission, he had himself sug- gested, in the course of a conversation on the subject, that the meerza should be sent to Sheeraz to fill the post of agent to the English mission at that place. To this post Hashem Khan was therefore appointed, in spite of the Sedr-Azem's subsequent assertion that, as he had never obtained a formal written discharge from the Shah's service, he was incapable of holding any appoint- ment under a foreign government. Upon inquiries instituted by the British Minister, it appeared that it was not the custom for the Shah's servants to obtain a written discharge on their quitting the royal service, and the Sedr-Azem himself admitted that Hashem Khan, on being refused an increase of pay, had been told that he might go to where he pleased. When, however, in the autumn of 1855 the meerza was about to proceed to fill his post, the Persian prime minister unexpectedly announced to the English envoy that the Persian government would not permit Hashem Khan to hold any appointment under the British Mission ; and he further intimated, in terms too plain to be misunder- stood, that if Hashem Khan should attempt to quit Tehran, on his way to Sheeraz, he would be seized and detained. Mr. Murray could not submit to this interference in a matter that concerned only the government of which he was the representative, and he therefore replied that should the Persian ministers cause Hashem Khan to be arrested, they must expect the same consequences as would follow the seizure of any servant or employe of his mission. Upon this the Sedr-Azem gave orders for the arrest of the wife of Meerza Hashem, and he would THE SEDR-AZEM'S DISPUTE WITH MR. MURRAY. 421 not allow her to be restored to her husband ; notwith- standing that the chief mujteheds, or judges, of Tehran issued a decree pronouncing it illegal to detain the wife of the meerza in captivity, or to divorce her without the consent of her husband. The Shah himself had no power to withstand the decree of the mujteheds ; yet in the face of their decision, the Sedr-Azem continued to detain the wife of Hashem Khan, alleging that, as she was the sister of the Shah's wife, she was amenable to a certain extent to the domestic authority of the Shah. Mr. Murray insisted that, in accordance with treaty engagements, the wife of the British employe, Hashem Khan, should be forthwith liberated; and he gave the Persian government a specified time for arriving at a decision, under the alternative of a suspension of diplomatic intercourse. During the period allowed to the Persian government for the purpose of coming to a decision, Mr. Murray was asked whether the matter could not be arranged in some other way than by Hashem Khan's being actually sent to Sheeraz to be agent to the British Mission at that place ; he replied that he was ready to discharge that person from the English service upon the condition that his wife should be at once liberated, and that the meerza should receive a pension or employment a little more lucrative than the one he would forfeit, and, moreover, that his safety should be guaranteed. A fair opportunity was thus afforded to the Persian government of bringing this trivial quarrel to an end, had they sincerely wished to remain on good terms with the English government. But from the conduct of the Sedr-Azem in objecting to allow Hashem Khan to hold a post for which he had been the first person to suggest him ; 422 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. in afterwards seizing his wife and arbitrarily detaining her, for the sole purpose of affronting Mr. Murray ; and now from his refusing to take advantage of an offer by which Hashem Khan's connection with the British Mission would have been for ever terminated one is almost forced to believe that the conduct of the Sedr- Azem was dictated by a desire to bring about a tem- porary rupture of diplomatic relations between the English and Persian governments. After a short delay had been asked and conceded, for the purpose of taking into consideration Mr. Murray's proposal, the Persian government refused to agree to it. The Sedr-Azem had been taught to believe that England had at this time enough upon her hands, and that it was certain she would not go to war with Persia ; there was, therefore, he thought, no great danger in breaking off friendly intercourse with the British Government. It may have been, and it probably was, the Sedr-Azem 's first intention to follow up the rupture by overtures of joining Eussia ; but as the year 1855 wore on, there seemed less and less temptation for Persia to do so. The Sedr-Azem, however, thought that he saw a good opportunity for seizing Herat, whilst Great Britain should still be engaged in war. Mr. Murray was induced to accord a further delay to the Shah's Ministers for the purpose of their coming to a decision ; the Turkish charge d'affaires volunteering to use his influence to bring the Shah's government to a sense of just dealing. A still further delay was granted at the request of the representative of France ; who, from the intimate alliance of his country with England, was entitled to be informed of the progress of the quarrel. The Sedr-Azem now showed himself to be utterly POLICY OF THE SEDR-AZEM. 423 unscrupulous as to the means he had recourse to in order to throw suspicion on the motives by which Mr. Murray was actuated in demanding the liberation of the wife of Hashem Khan. He stated openly that both that gentle- man and his predecessor in charge of the English Mis- sion, had retained the meerza in the British service simply on account of his wife. By means of this utterly-unfounded slander he hoped to excite public feel- ing against Mr. Murray. Nor was he altogether unsuc- cessful. Nothing is more easy than to invent and pro- pagate stories affecting the character of others, which those against whom they are directed may find it almost impossible effectually to refute ; and as there seemed, to persons unacquainted with the utter disregard of most Persians to truth, to be a certain amount of pro- bability in the stories set on foot by the Sedr-Azem, these stories obtained credence in some quarters ; those who believed them being inclined to attach blame, not so much to any supposed breach of morality, as to the imprudence of intriguing with a lady who was so nearly related to the Shah. This was exactly the view of the matter which the Sedr-Azem wished to be taken ; and he felt sure that, if he could only gain for this story a certain amount of belief amongst the British public, Mr. Murray would not be supported by his Government. As to the indignity which the propagation of this falsehood brought upon a nobleman of the Sedr-Azem's own tribe, as well as indirectly on the Sedr-Azem's sovereign, it was a con- sideration that in no way troubled his Highness. During the time granted by Mr. Murray for the deliberations of the Persian government as to their deci- sion, the prime minister thought proper to send to that 424 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. gentleman a highly offensive letter, in which he insinuated that should the British flag be struck, the Sedr-Azem would be compelled to make certain revelations. His Highness must have known little, indeed, of the English character, if he really fancied that this threat would deter Mr. Murray from carrying into execution the mea- sure to which he had pledged himself. The British flag was lowered at the expiration of the last delay granted by the English Minister, and when the Sedr-Azem after this sent two messengers one of them of princely rank to the British Legation, to inquire whether there were no means of arranging the difference that had arisen, his messengers were told that, as preliminary measures to any arrangement for an accommodation of the dispute, the wife of Hashem Khan must be restored to her hus- band, and the Sedr-Azem must come to the British Mission-house to withdraw his offensive letter, and apologize for having written it. M. Bourree, the French minister at the Persian court, professing to view with great solicitude the progress of a negotiation, the unsuccessful result of which might have the effect of driving Persia to take part with Russia against Turkey, besought Mr. Murray to allow him to make one more effort to reconcile him with the Persian government ; and as he feared that the Sedr-Azem might refuse to come to the house of the British Legation for the purpose of making an apology for the offensive letter, he entreated Mr. Murray, for the sake of the alliance between France and England, to be contented with a written withdrawal of the letter and with the restoration of the imprisoned lady. Mr. Murray could not refuse his per- mission to the French Minister to make the attempt, and MR. MURRAY QUITS TEHRAN. 425 on the following day M. Bourree accordingly brought to the English Minister a letter of retractation and apology from the Sedr-Azem for the offensive despatch he had written ; but instead of the lady being restored to her hus- band, it was proposed that she should be transferred to the house of her inother-in-law. To the latter point Mr. Murray could not consent, and the mediation of the French Minister in the matter was, therefore, at an end. But after this, and before the English Minister had com- pleted his preparations for quitting Tehran, the Sedr- Azem seemed at one time to meditate giving way : he announced his intention of coming in person to the hotel of the English Mission. But, before proceeding to put this proposal into execution, he once more put him- self into communication with M. Bourree. His High- ness's intention of proceeding to call upon Mr. Murray was, however, abandoned ; and on the 5th of December, 1855, the members of the British Mission quitted Tehran, and entered on their long journey towards the Turkish frontier. After this the Sedr-Azem awaited with anxiety the reports of his agents in Europe as to the light in which his conduct was there viewed ; and as week after week, and month after month, passed by without his receiving from her Majesty's Government a peremptory demand for apology and reparation, his highness began to believe that the proceedings of the English Minister would be disavowed. A personal triumph of this kind would have been so gratifying to his vanity, that it would have been more than sufficient to cause him to renounce any policy to which he may have leaned of breaking with the allies and making war against Turkey. In his recklessness 426 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. and exultation he thought that, under such circumstances, he might afford to gratify the national wish for the pos- session of Herat. In the month of January, 1853, an agreement had been concluded between the British minister at Tehran and the prime minister of Persia, by which the Shah's government had engaged not to send troops to Herat, unless troops from the direction of Cabul, or Kandahar, or other foreign country should invade that principality. In direct contravention of this arrangement, the Sedr- Azem now instructed the Prince of Khorassan to march upon Herat ; thereby affording to Great Britain an un- questionable casus belli. The expedition to Herat was undertaken partly in order to gratify the national Persian desire for the pos- session of that place, and partly in the hope that success in the direction of Affghanistan would afford Persia advantages by the sacrifice of which reparation might afterwards be made to the English Government. Herat, after the death of Yar Mahomed Khan, had fallen under the sway of that ruler's son, Syd Mahomed ; * but the new governor possessed none of the striking ability which had characterized his father, and his subjects had soon become disgusted with a ruler only remarkable for his cruelty and his excessive debauchery. Some of them had accordingly taken advantage of the absence of Syd Mahomed from Herat, upon an expedition against the tribe of Hezareh, to enter into negotiations with Prince Mahomed Yoosuf, the nephew and heir of Shah Kamran, and who was then a refugee at Meshed. The * This man's name is given as Syud Mahomed in Mr. KAYE'S History of the Sepoy War, but it is more correctly written Syd, or Cid, Mahomed. WAR DECLARED AT CALCUTTA. 427 result of these negotiations was that Prince Mahomed Yoosuf had proceeded to Herat, and obtained posses- sion of that fortress. Syd Mahomed had been after- wards seized and imprisoned, and, in conformity with the barbarous Moslem law respecting vengeance for blood, the nephew of Kamran had avenged his death by slaying the son of Yar Mahomed. Early in the year 1856, Prince Sultan Murad marched from Meshed at the head of an army , with which he commenced the siege of Herat. The Persian troops took the fort of Ghorian, and subsequently made Mahomed Yoosuf a prisoner. He was sent to Tehran, where he afterwards met with a melancholy fate. But the defence of Herat was continued by Isa Khan, the deputy-governor, who opposed with the greatest bravery all the assaults of the besiegers. During the progress of the operations each party attempted to blind and deceive the other the Persian giving assurances of grace and protection, whilst besieging the town and devastating the country around it; and the Aifghan boasting his loyalty and obedience to the Shah, whilst openly and heroically opposing the advance of the Persian army. But while the Sedr-Azem was allowed to pursue his reckless course, and while the progress of the siege of Herat occupied the attention of the Shah and his sub- jects, preparations were being made in India for an expe- dition to Bushire, for the purpose of showing Persia that she could not with impunity depart from her treaty engage- ments with England ; and in the proclamation which was issued at Calcutta, on the 1st of November, 1856, the cause of the war that was to be waged was declared to be the Persian hostile expedition against Herat. 428 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. CHAPTER XV. Policy of the Sedr-Azem Embassy of Ferrukh Khan to Europe Fall of , Herat Rules to be observed in carrying on English War against Persia Singular Instance of Persian Levity War against Infidels proclaimed at Tehran The Sirkisikchi-Bashi Occupation of Karrack by British Troops Capture of Reshire Surrender of Bushire Sir J. Outram Expedition to Burazjan Action at Khushab Bombardment of Mohamra Defeat of Persians Expedition to Ahwaz Restoration of Peace Terms of Treaty of Paris Sultan Ahmed Khan Murder of Prince Mahomed Yoosuf Fall of the Sedr-Azem Conclusion. I HAVE endeavoured to show that the rupture of friendly relations between Great Britain and Persia, arose, in- directly in the first instance, out of the unsettled state of the political atmosphere of Europe, and from the desire of the Persian Government to be permitted to play some part in the drama which then occupied the stage of the world. The Sedr-Azem was probably incapable of pur- suing a consistent line of policy throughout the negotia- tions that preceded the war. It is considered statesman- like in Persia to conceal one's real intentions up to the last moment ; to endeavour to take advantage of every opening for finessing, and of every pretext for gaining time. We are almost, as I have said, driven to believe that the Sedr-Azem had of fixed purpose, for' some reason best known to himself, adopted a line of conduct towards the British representative which would drive that representative into the alternative of striking his OBJECTS OF THE PERSIAN MINISTER. 429 flag rather than of submitting to it; and our belief in this intention on the part of Meerza Agha Khan, is not shaken by the knowledge that he withdrew his imper- tinent letter when urged to do so by M. Bourree. He would have been altogether unlike most Persians, had he been capable of taking up a distinct line of conduct, and consistently adhering to it from first to last. It is evident that he wavered from side to side, and was guided in his conduct and in his demands, by the advice of those whom he consulted. But if when his Highness began to annoy and insult Mr. Murray, he had any intention of following up the rupture of diplomatic relations with England, by declaring war against England's ally, the Sublime Porte, the events that had occurred in Europe had caused him to renounce any such intention ; for the utmost use which he now proposed to make of the interval of non-diplomatic intercourse with England, was to gain Herat for the Shah. The peace of Paris somewhat disconcerted his calculations. There had not been wanting Europeans at Tehran to assure him that Great Britain could not afford the men or the means necessary for making war against Persia, so long as she should continue to be involved in the Crimean struggle ; but now that that war was over, the Persian Minister could not but tremble as he reflected what might be the consequences of the quarrel he had brought about. The present state of things had its advantages. The Sedr-Azem had effectually cleared himself of the sus- picion that he was actuated in his conduct by a sense of gratitude towards the English for having formerly protected him. The Sedr-Azem, too, felt more secure than ever in his post, whilst the attention of the Shah 430 * A HISTORY OF PERSIA. was occupied by the siege of Herat ; and the Minister, moreover, felt that should there he war with England, his services would become indispensable during its con- tinuance. But war was the worst that could come of the quarrel, and anything short of war could scarcely fail to turn to the advantage of the Sedr-Azem. In case Mr. Murray's conduct should be disowned by his Govern- ment, the Persian prime minister felt that the greatest credit would redound to himself, for having withstood the pretensions of a Frankish minister, and driven him in humiliation from his post. In order the more widely to circulate the stories which the Yizeer had put into circulation regarding Mr. Murray, Ferrukh Khan had been sent on an embassy to Constantinople and to Paris, at which places he was to endeavour to put him- self in communication with the English ambassadors, and to try and make them believe the Sedr-Azem 's version of the origin of the quarrel at Tehran. Ferrukh Khan had also received full powers for the conclusion of an arrangement of the points in difference between the Persian Government and that of the Queen. Lord Stratford de Kedcliffe, however, demanded, as one of the points to be conceded preliminary to the reestablish- ment of friendly relations between the two governments, that the Sedr-Azem should be dismissed from office ; and rather than accede to this demand, the ambassador plenipotentiary of Persia had resolved to continue his journey to Paris, in the hope of obtaining easier terms through the mediation of the Court of France. The Sedr-Azem was, however, well aware that there was no chance of the English Government consenting to resume diplomatic intercourse with Persia so long as the FALL OF HERAT. 431 troops of that power should occupy the territory of Herat. His intention, therefore, was to retire from Affghanistan after Herat should have been taken and placed in the hands of a ruler who would of his own accord acknowledge himself to be a subject of the Shah, and who would strike coin in his Persian Majesty's name. But to effect this it was necessary in the first place to take Herat, and this the Persian troops under Prince Sultan Murad showed themselves to be unable to do. The prime minister could not afford to lose time, and he therefore despatched to the Persian camp before Herat, M. Biihler, who had been an officer in the French engineers, and who was now in the service of the Shah. The famous Affghan fortress was not, as on a former occasion, defended by an Eldred Pottinger, and it accordingly fell before the regular approaches set on foot by an European scientific officer. But by the time Herat had fallen, it was too late for the Sedr-Azem to avoid the consequences of the rash course he had determined to pursue. Orders had been issued in India for despatching a hostile expedition to the shores of the Persian Gulf, and the English Govern- ment had now the peculiar task to perform, of directing a war against a power which it had hitherto been the policy of England to sustain, and the stability of which, notwithstanding the conduct of its Minister, was still an object of concern to the Ministers of the Queen. It was no easy matter to make war on Persia without incurring the risk of bringing Persia altogether to destruction. The tribes of the southern portion of the Shah's dominions, and those of the coast of the Persian Gulf, would have been only too happy to throw off all allegiance to the 432 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. Shah, had they heen in the least degree encouraged to do so by the English commanders ; and had they gone over to the enemy, a general rising in Persia would have been the inevitable consequence. The Eussian authori- ties in Georgia, also, might have consulted the tranquillity of their frontier by occupying the province of Azerbaeejan ; a position which would have given Eussia the command of Asia Minor. The war against Persia, therefore, had to be conducted on the principle of doing only as much mischief to the enemy as might suffice to induce him to make peace upon the terms required of him. It is sin- gularly illustrative of Persian levity, that before the British force appeared in the Persian Gulf, the original cause of quarrel between the Sedr-Azem and Mr. Murray had altogether ceased to exist. Meerza Hashem Khan had voluntarily renounced his employment under the English Government, and all claim to any protection to which it might entitle him; whereupon he was forth- with received into favour by the Sedr-Azem, and by the Shah. His wife, the Helen of the war, was restored to him, and all the imputations which had been cast upon her character were declared by the Persian Minister him- self to have been calumnies invented to serve a purpose. A suitable salary was conferred upon him, and the lady who had been so maligned, once more took her place amongst the honourable women of the land. The question of Herat was therefore now the main point at issue between the governments of Great Britain and Persia. The capture of that fortress, which had withstood for so long a time all the power of Mahomed Shah, had filled the young king with pride and grati- fication; but this feeling of satisfaction was somewhat MODES OF ATTACKING PERSIA. 433 alloyed by the reflection that he was indebted for it, as he had been for so many previous military successes, to the energy and skill of his near relative, Sultan Murad Meerza. That prince, however, was allowed to remain in the government of Herat, and Isa Khan, who had so long defended the fortress, was treacherously put to death by him, after having been assured of pardon and of favour. The problem now to be solved by the British Govern- ment of India was how to expel the Persian troops from Herat. Dost Mahomed Khan of Cabul was perfectly ready to cooperate with the English authorities, and a division of British troops might have been sent through Afghanistan. The Khan of Khelat was equally dis- posed to permit the passage of British soldiers through his dominions ; and had the course been adopted of invading Persia from India, the Government possessed in General John Jacob, the renowned commander of the Sindh Horse, an officer than whom no one was better qualified for carrying out the project. Another course which lay open to the Government of India was to land troops at Bender-Abbass, by the permis- sion of the Imam of Muskat, and thence to march to Yezd. This route presents no difficulties, with the exception of one rocky pass, and is daily traversed by strings of caravans ; the pass between Tarem and Ghuneh, however, would make it necessary that artillery should be taken to pieces before being transported over it. But although there would be no difficulty for an invading force to overcome in reaching Yezd, the military position of such a force so far from its base of opera- tions would be a very precarious one, and the routes 28 434 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. thence to Khorassan and Herat lie over dreary wastes of desert. Between Yezd and Herat there are thirty stages, and it was therefore not thought that an English army could penetrate to Herat by this route. On a previous occasion, the independence of Herat had been secured by the occupation by a British force of an island in the Persian Gulf, and as the Sedr-Azem thought it likely that the same course would be adopted on this occasion by the Indian Government, he gave orders for strengthening the defences of the southern provinces of Persia. His nephew, 'the Shuja-el-Mulk, who commanded the troops in Fars, was directed to move down to the lower country, so that he might cooperate with the governor of Bushire ; and to the prince of Arabistan, who was considered to be one of the best offi- cers in Persia, was committed the task of providing for the defence of the line of the Karoon river. A jehad, or religious war against infidels, was proclaimed at Tehran ; but this measure altogether failed to create any excite- ment.* There was no enthusiasm whatsoever amongst the Persians on the subject of the war, and the general impression that it would only be productive of disasters * " Pendant la derniere guerre que le cabinet de Londres fit a la IVrsr, le gouvemement de Teheran, pour augmenter ses forces, donna 1'ordre de precher la guerre sainte dans toutes les mosquees de I'empire. Cette resolution prescnta cette particularite que 1'idee premiere en vint d'un Arme"nien catholique. II y eut, avant qu'elle fut adoptee, les discussions les plus curieuses. Plusieurs hommes d'etat la repoussaient de toutes leurs forces. . . . Les grands marchands etaient me contents, les chefs militaires trouvaient le moyen meprisable. Quant a la populace, . . . 1'annonce de ce qui allait avoir lieu la laissa completement indifferente. . . A Schyraz, on pent croire un instant que la populace allait sY-niouvoir et se mettre en marche, mais non pas pour attaquer les Anglais, tout au contraire pour les aider." Trois Ana en Asie, par le Comtc A. de Golinm, pp. 291-295. BRITISH EXPEDITION TO THE PERSIAN GULF. 435 and disgrace to Persia, seems soon to have come home to the Sedr-Azem himself. He now took occasion to super- sede his nephew in the command of the field-force, by the chief of the royal body-guard with whom he was not on friendly terms, and whom he hoped to see disgraced in the too-probable case of his being defeated. The Sirkisikchi-Bashi * was the chief of the upper branch of the Kajar tribe, and he was a man of sufficient conse- quence to bear all the blame of the disasters which every one expected. The selection of such an officer to the command in the field was prudently made ; but the far-sighted views of the Sedr-Azem were frustrated by the slow movements of the Sirkisikchi-Bashi. Before his Excellency's arrival at the head-quarters of the army in the south of Persia, the disasters that had been fore- seen had already taken place. On the 4th of December, 1856, the island of Karrack in the Persian Gulf was occupied by British troops, and preparations were immediately made for landing a force near Bushire. The disembarkation at Halilla Bay occu- pied the greater part of three days and two nights, and no serious opposition was offered by the Persians ; three or four hundred men who appeared in the vicinity of the bay being scattered by the fire from the English gun- boats. The Persians had taken up an intrenched position near Bushire, commanding the wells from which the place is supplied with water ; but on the British line being formed, this position was abandoned. On the 9th of December the Persians were dislodged from the old Dutch fort of Keshire. A short but fierce struggle took place on this occasion, and four English * This officer was appointed prime minister of Persia, March 21, 1865. 28 a 436 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. officers, with a small number of non-commissioned officers and private soldiers, were killed, or died some hours later of the wounds they received. Brigadier Stopford, of the 64th regiment, was shot down from his horse while turning round to inquire why his regiment had halted ; it had heen momentarily stopped to be dressed in line, and then the men, seeing their com- mander down, rushed forward to the attack. Lieutenant- Colonel Malet, of the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, had prevented one of his troopers from bayoneting a wounded Persian ; but his humanity cost him his life, for he was shot so soon as his back was turned, by the Persian lying on the ground. The defeat of the Shah's troops on this occasion completely damped the ardour of the garrison of Bushire. That place was exposed, on the morning of the 10th of December, to the fire of the guns of the British ships under the command of Sir Henry Leeke, and it did not offer any prolonged resistance.* The governor, together with the officer commanding the troops, came out of the town on the day succeeding that of the struggle at Eeshire, and gave up their swords to Major-General Stalker, who commanded the invading army. Fifty-nine guns, together with a large quantity of ammunition and warlike stores, were also surrendered, and the portion of the garrison that had not escaped, grounded arms in front of the British line. The Persian common soldiers were on the following day escorted by the British cavalry for some distance into the interior and then set free ; the * Sir Henry Leeke proceeded to India after the capture of Bushire, and on his way attacked, at Lingah, a large detachment of Persian troops, which he forced to retreat from the shore. SIR JAMES OUTRAM TAKES THE COMMAND. 437 superior officers being conveyed as prisoners to India. General Stalker then proceeded to entrench himself in a camp outside Bushire ; where he was to remain inactive until the arrival of reinforcements. On the 27th of January, 1857, Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram arrived, and assumed command of the expeditionary force. Much was expected from his well- known energy and ability ; nor were such expectations left unfulfilled. On reaching Bushire, General Outram was informed that a large Persian force, said to number more than eight thousand men, had taken up an in- trenched position at the town of Burazjan, forty-six miles distant. It was intended that this force should form the nucleus of a large army, to be employed in attempting to drive the British troops from Bushire. On the 31st of January, the first brigade of the second division of the invading army arrived from India, and by the 2nd of February the soldiers had landed and reached the camp. General Outram thereupon resolved to strike a blow with the object of compelling the Persian commander to evacuate Burazjan. On the evening of the 3rd of February, the main body of the British force marched from Bushire, taking with it neither tents nor extra luggage of any kind, and each man carrying his great coat, his blanket, and two days' cooked provisions ; the commissariat being furnished with three days' provisions in addition. The protection of the town and camp of Bushire was provided for by a detachment of troops being left under the command of Lieutenant- Colon el Shepherd, who had also under his orders a party of seamen taken from all the ships in the harbour. The troops composing the division that now marched into 438 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the interior under the personal command of Sir James Outram, were her Majesty's 64th and 78th regiments, and the 2nd European regiment of the Bombay army, numbering between them, two thousand and two hundred Englishmen ; the 4th, 30th, and 26th regiments of the Bombay army, and a Belooch battalion, numbering two thousand men, including one hundred and eighteen sappers ; the 3rd regiment Bombay Light Cavalry, and the regiment of Poona Horse, consisting together of four hundred and nineteen men ; and the third troop of Bombay Horse Artillery, and the 3rd and 5th light field-batteries. The number of guns in all was eighteen. After performing in forty-one hours a march of forty-six miles, being all the time exposed to great cold and to deluging rain, the force reached the enemy's intrenched position on the afternoon of the 5th of February. The intrenchments were found to have been abandoned ; the Persians having on the preceding night evacuated their camp with so great precipitation, that there was no time to remove the tents, the camp equipage, and the ordnance . stores. The spoils of the camp were being carried off by the people of the neighbouring villages when the JBritish force arrived. Some of the horsemen of the Eelkhani of Fars were still in sight, and between them and the British cavalry a little skirmishing took place ; but the Persians eventually made off. The Persian commander having withdrawn his men, General Outram did not think it prudent to follow him up the very strong passes that lie beyond Burazjan. Accordingly, after having occupied that place for two days and destroyed the magazines of the Persians, which were found to contain 40,000 pounds of powder, with small- ACTION AT KHUSHAB. 439 arm ammunition and a large quantity of shot and shell, he commenced the march back towards Bushire. The returning army carried with it large stores of flour, rice and gram, which had heen collected by the Persians. The march towards the shore commenced on the night of the 7th of February, and at midnight an attack was made upon the rear-guard by the Eelkhani's horse, while detachments of Persians threatened the line of march on every side. Under these circumstances the troops were ordered to halt, and were drawn up so as to protect the baggage, and to present a front to the Persian irre- gular cavalry, from what direction soever it might attack. Four of the Persian guns opened a heavy fire upon the column ; but the British troops were ordered to lie down under arms till daybreak, and the shot passed over their heads without doing any harm. It appears that the Persian leaders had recovered from the alarm into which they had been thrown by the news of the approach of General Outram, and had even resolved to attack him in his camp on the night of the 7th, when the noise caused by the explosion of their own magazines announced to them his departure. They had then hastened to overtake him, and had tried to excite a panic amongst his troops. When day broke on the 8th of February, the Persian force, numbering nearly seven thousand men, was dis- covered to be drawn up in order of battle to the north- east of the English position. The British cavalry and artillery were at once moved forward to the attack, supported by two-thirds of the infantry in two lines ; the remainder of the infantry being left to protect the baggage. The fire of the artillery did great execution, and seemed completely to disconcert the Persians. The 440 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. two regiments of Indian cavalry vied with each other in gathering laurels on this field. The Poona Horse suc- ceeded in capturing the standard of the Kashgai regiment of Serbaz, and the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry performed a still more brilliant feat of arms. The 2nd Tabreez regiment of Persian infantry was drawn up in the usual Persian loose formation, when it was charged by the British regiment above named. Keferring to this exploit, it was stated afterwards, by General Jacob, who had not been present on the field of Khushab, that " a regular Persian battalion perfectly well drilled, armed, accoutred, &c., after the best European model, composed of splendid men, who stood perfectly firm, bold, and con- fident in their array was ridden over and utterly de- stroyed by Major John Forbes and one troop only of the 3rd regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry." * The Persian regiment was also stated to have been drawn up in a regularly formed square. But such a description of the formation of the Persian regiment in question is likely to mislead the reader, and to induce the erroneous belief that cavalry can break a perfectly-formed square of regular infantry. Had the formation of the regiment which was charged on this occasion by the 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, been such as is understood in England by the term " a perfectly-formed square," Major Forbes, who was the leader of the charge, would never have permitted his men to rush to destruction in attempting what was impossible for them to do. But still, the array of the Persians was * As the account here given of the action at Khushab somewhat differs from previously published statements regarding it, the author begs to observe that he derived his information from his brother officers who were present on that field, and from officers with whom he served at the close of the Persian expedition on the staff of Sir J. Outrarn. CAVALRY CHARGE. 441 sufficiently regular to render the exploit performed by the cavalry, a subject of just pride to themselves and to their comrades. Major Forbes brought his men up at the charge, and seeing (it is to be presumed) that the Persians were not very close together in their formation, the idea occurred to him that his horsemen might force their way through the gaps in their ranks. He, accordingly, instead of turning his men aside or bringing them to a halt, boldly led them up to the bayonets of the Persians. The momentum of the cavalry was so great that the line of the enemy scarcely stopped the horsemen for an instant ; although their gallant commander paid for his decision by suffering a severe wound. The cavalry having once passed through them, the Persians could no longer offer any effectual resistance, and many of the regiment fell under the sabres of the Indians. One of the junior officers of the cavalry squadrons had now the opportunity of displaying a thoughtfulness for those around him, which was suitably acknowledged by the gift of the Victoria Cross, and which showed qualities that could not be purchased by cross or honour. The adjutant of the regiment, Lieutenant Moore, had been, with his commanding officer, foremost in the charge ; his horse was impaled on the Persian bayonets, and the rider had been thrown to the ground. It was then that his perilous position was perceived by Lieutenant Malcolmson, who, amidst the clash of arms and the roar of battle, had self- possession sufficient to enable him to divine at once the only means by which his brother officer could be saved. Wheeling his Arab charger round to the spot where Lieutenant Moore was defending himself from the bayo- nets that were levelled at his breast, he extricated his 442 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. right foot from the stirrup, which he then told Lieutenant Moore to grasp. Having assured himself that the other had done so, he applied the spur to his horse, which leaping forwards bore both the officers beyond the reach of pressing danger. On the cavalry and artillery was thrown nearly all the burden of this day ; for some delay occurred in order- ing the advance of the infantry regiments, in consequence of the general commanding having been stunned by a fall from his horse. As Sir James Outram was thus unable to guide the progress of the battle, the task of giving directions fell upon General Stalker, the second in command, and upon Colonel (now Sir Edward) Lu- gard, the chief of the staff. It thus happened that the infantry portion of the army scarcely came into action at all, the enemy being in full retreat before ten o'clock in the forenoon. Two Persian guns were captured, and a third would have fallen into the hands of the English, had those who attempted to take it adopted the expe- dient of firing at the horses harnessed to it instead of at the gunners ; but as fast as one man was shot down another mounted in his place, and so the gun was saved. Great astonishment was created in the minds of the Persian troops on this day by the marvellous celerity of the movements of the English artillery ; and they were also greatly surprised by the unexpected effect of the new rifles, which had been partly introduced into the English army, and some of which were tried on the field of Khushab. A group of four Persian horsemen remained looking at the battle at what they considered to be a safe distance from the scene of operations ; an officer of the 2nd Bombay European Eegiment, wishing EXPEDITION TO MOHAMRA. 443 to show them their danger, took an Enfield rifle from a sergeant, and adjusting it to 900 yards, fired it at the group of horsemen. One of the four men fell from his horse to the ground, and the other three put spurs to their steeds and galloped off the field. The Persian gun- ammunition fell into the hands of the English troops, and seven hundred Iranis were found dead upon the field of battle. The proportion of wounded could not be ascertained, as the small number of General Outram's cavalry prevented a pursuit, and gave the Persians the opportunity of carrying off their disabled men. Many of the Shah's troops, in endea- vouring to provide as effectually as possible for their individual safety, left their arms upon the field. No British or Indian soldiers fell into the hands of the Per- sians, and the latter were prevented from decapitating the dead, as is their custom. After the termination of the action, the English troops bivouacked for the day close to the ground where the battle had been fought, and at night they accomplished a march of twenty miles towards Bushire ; over a country rendered nearly impassable by the continuous heavy rains. After a rest of six hours, the greater portion of the infantry continued their march to Bushire ; which place they reached before midnight on the 9th of February. The cavalry and artillery arrived at the camp on the following morning. The loss on the side of the British in the action at Khushab consisted of sixteen men killed and sixty-two wounded. It had been the intention of Sir James Outram to send a force against the Persian fort of Mohamra on the Karoon river, immediately after his return from Burazjan; but, owing to the non-arrival of reinforcements which had 444 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. been expected from India, in consequence of the tem- pestuous weather in the Persian Gulf, it was not until the 18th of March that the general could set out from Bushire. The interval was marked by the occurrence of two events which threw a gloom over the spirits of the British troops. The first division of the force was under the command of General Stalker, under whom it had taken Bushire. That officer's health had been affected by long exposure to the climate of India, and a sense of the responsibility that now devolved upon him weighed heavily upon his mind. He had been relieved of all poli- tical responsibility by the arrival of Sir James Outram ; but on the departure of that officer for Mohamra, he would find himself once more for a time in the indepen- dent command at Bushire. He wrote a note to General Outram with the object of endeavouring to dissuade him from commanding the expedition to Mohamra in person, but his Excellency's resolution in this respect remained unshaken. What now caused General Stalker most disquietude was the fact, that, although the hot weather was rapidly approaching, huts had not yet been erected for the protection of his men. On the morning of the 14th of March the idea seems to have occurred to him of seeking refuge from responsibility by committing sui- cide ; but it is probable that he had no fixed intention of immediately putting an end to his life, since he inscribed his name on the list of persons who were on that day to dine at the staff mess, and had also invited an officer to be his guest. He told his servant to bring out his pistols, and before breakfasting he requested his aide-de-camp to load them, in order that he might wear them ; imme- diately after breakfast, whilst he was alone in his tent, THE KAROON RIVER. 445 he put one of the pistols to his head, and firing it made an end of his life. As if this occurrence were not sufficiently deplorable, it was followed three days later by another of a similar nature. Commodore Ethersey, who had succeeded Sir Henry Leeke in the command of the fleet, felt every day more and more his unfitness for the post he held. He frequently suffered from severe nervous attacks, and ex- pressed in his diary his conviction that he should " make a mess" of the projected naval attack on Mohamra. The day after that on which General Stalker's death occurred, he sought relief by taking opium ; but the dose he took was too large for the purpose of soothing him, and it excited him so much that on the next day he was reduced to imitating the melancholy example that had been set by General Stalker. The position of the point at which Sir J. Outram intended to attack the Persians, rendered it necessary that the preliminary operations should be performed by the naval portion of the expeditionary force. Mohamra is said to have owed its origin to Alexander the Great, who, to avoid the necessity of sailing down to the Persian Gulf by the ancient channel of the Karoon, caused the canal to be dug through which that stream now flows into the Tigris.* The town was originally called Alex- andria, and having been destroyed by an overflow of the river, it was rebuilt by Antiochus and called Antiochia. It was a second time overflooded, and on being restored was called Charax. The records concerning the position of this city give it a peculiar interest, as showing an instance of an oceanic delta gaining with almost unpre- * Travels and Researches in Clialdea and Susiana, by W. K. LOFTUS. 446 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. cedented rapidity upon the sea.* The original site of Charax was believed by Pliny to be only two thousand paces distant from the shore, but, in consequence of the rapid accumulation of mud from the great river, Charax came in the course of time to stand fifty miles from the sea-shore. "If we take the trouble of comparing the historical accounts of the early Greek, Latin, and Ma- homedan authors," says a modern geologist,! " the increase of land at the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates may be distinctly traced. Since the commencement of our era there has been an increment at the extraordinary rate of a mile in about seventy years, which far exceeds the growth of any existing delta." It has been said that the town of Mohamra, in con- sequence of the injury which its establishment as a free port had done to the trade of Bussora, had been wantonly attacked by the Turks. By the treaty of Erzeroum it had been made over to the Persians, by whom it was strongly fortified in order that it might be secure against another attack. Since the rupture of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Persia, the fortifications of Mohamra had been still further strengthened. Batteries, having casemated embrasures, had been erected at the northern and southern points of the banks of the Karoon and the Shut-el-Arab, J where the two rivers join. These, with other earthworks armed with heavy ordnance, commanded the entire passage of the latter river; and they were so judiciously placed, and so scientifically formed, as to sweep the whole stream to the full * Travels and Researches in Chaldea and Susiana, by W. K. LOFTUS. ) Mr. LOFTUS. { The united stream of the Tigris and Euphrates is called the Shut- el-Arab. THE SHUT-EL-ARAB. 447 extent of the range of the guns up and down the river and across to the opposite shore. Indeed, everything that science could suggest appeared to have been effected by the Persians in order to prevent any hostile vessel from passing up the river to a point above Mohamra.* In addition to these precautions, their position had natural advantages ; since the banks of the rivers for many miles were covered with groves of palm-trees, which afforded the best possible shelter for marksmen, and the opposite shore of the Shut- el- Arab, being Turkish terri- tory, was not available for the erection of counter- batteries. f General Outram resolved to attack the enemies' batteries with his armed steamers and sloops of war, and so soon as the Persian fire should have slack- ened, to pass rapidly up the Karoon in small steamers towing boats, and then to land the force two miles up the river on the northern bank ; from which point he could advance to attack the Persians in their intrenched position. The Persian army at Mohamra consisted of nearly thirteen thousand men, under the personal command of Prince Khanlar. It consisted for the most part of Arabs, Bakhtiaris, and Beloochis, and was furnished with a suitable proportion of artillery. The British force consisted of five thousand men, and was strengthened by * See despatches by Sir JAMES OUTRAM. f I am happy to be able to record an instance of courtesy on the part of a Persian officer at Mohamra. Mr. Murray, accompanied by Dr. Dick- son, physician to his mission, wished to proceed from Bussora to Bushire, after the capture of the latter town by the British, an^ it became necessary for him to run the gauntlet of the forts at the mouth of the Karoon river. The Persian artillerymen were at their posts, but when their commander saw that the Hugh Lindsay bore the flag of the British Minister, it was allowed to pass close under the batteries without a shot being fired. 448 A HISTORY OP PERSIA. twelve pieces of artillery. This division was composed of detachments of her Majesty's 14th Light Dragoons, and of the Sindh Horse ; of the 64th and 78th Regiments, commanded by Brigadier- General Havelock ; of the 23rd and 26th Regiments of the Bombay Native Army, and of a light battalion, composed of companies of different regiments ; and of the Sappers and Miners and the 3rd troop of the Bombay Horse Artillery and the 2nd light field-battery. These troops were supported by four armed steamers and two sloops of war. On the 24th of March the steamers, having the transports in tow, moved up the river Shut-el-Arab to within three miles of the mouth of the Karoon ; but as some of the larger vessels struck on shoals, and did not reach the place of rendezvous until after darkness had set in, the attack, which had been fixed to take place at once, was necessarily deferred until the following day. During the night, a reconnaissance was made in a boat, for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the soil of an island to the west of, and immediately opposite to, the Persian battery on the northern side of the mouth of the Karoon ; where it was wished to erect a mortar battery. The soil of the island was, however, found to consist of thick mud, and in consequence of this discovery, General Outram determined to place the mortars upon a raft. It was necessary to allow some time for the construction of this raft, and the attack on Mohamra was in con- sequence deferred for another day. On the 25th the raft was formed, under the superintendence of Captain Rennie of the Indian Navy, and having been armed with two 8-inch and two 5 J -inch mortars, to be worked by a party of artillerymen under the command of Captain ATTACK ON MOHAMRA. 449 Morgan, it was towed by the small river steamer Comet up the stream, and moored in a position close to the above-mentioned island. This important operation was effected during the night without its having attracted the attention of the Persians, who entertained the full con- fidence that no vessel could pass up the river before their batteries. During the same day the horses and guns of the artillery, a portion of the cavalry, and the infantry, were trans-shipped into boats and small steamers, to be in readiness for landing on the following morning. At break of day on the 26th of March, the four mortars on the raft opened their fire on both the northern and the southern Persian batteries. The range of the 5-inch mortars proved to be short, but the 8-inch shells were very efficient, bursting immediately over and inside the enemy's works ; whilst from the low position of the raft, but few of the Persian guns could be brought to bear upon the mortars. At seven o'clock the several vessels of war moved up into the positions which had been assigned to them by Commodore Young, who had suc- ceeded Commodore Ethersey in the command of the fleet. The S emir amis, having the Clive in tow, and being followed by the Ajdaha, entered the western channel in support of the mortar battery; the Feroze, the Assaye, the Victoria, and the Falkland, remaining in reserve until the fire of the two Persian forts should be lessened. This was soon effected ; on which the vessels that had been held in reserve entered the eastern channel of the river. The Feroze now opened her fire on the southern Persian fort at less than point-blank range, as she passed by it to take up her position opposite to the northern fort. The division of ships in the western channel was then brought 29 450 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. to join in close attack on the two forts. So effective was now the fire from the ships, that in less than three quarters of an hour from its commencement, the Persian batteries were so far silenced as to be only able to reply from three or four guns. At a quarter before eight o'clock, the Feroze, which bore the pennant of Commo- dore Young, hoisted the rendezvous flag at the mast- head, as a signal for the troop-ships to advance ; which they did in good order, although when they passed the batteries their fire had not yet ceased. Between nine and ten o'clock heavy explosions occurred in different parts of the Persian fortifications, and after the batteries had ceased firing from artillery, a fire of musketry was maintained with great perseverance, until storming parties from the Semiramis, Clive, Victoria, and Falkland, landed on shore, and drove before them the last of the enemy, taking possession of their works and guns. The loss sustained by the British fleet at Mohamra was very small, owing to the precaution which had been taken of constructing on each vessel a breastwork of trusses of hay : only five men were killed, and eighteen wounded. Amongst the troops not a single casualty took place ; although they had to run the gauntlet of both the artillery and the musketry fire, by which some of the Indian servants on board were killed. By one o'clock the troops had landed above the Persian battery on the northern bank of the" Karoon, when they formed and advanced without delay through the date-groves, and across the plain that lay between them and the in- trenched camp of the Persians. The latter did not wait for the approach of the English, but fled precipitately, after having exploded their largest magazine. They left PERSIAN PUNISHMENT FOR DISASTER. 451 behind them their tents and baggage, their public 'and private stores, several magazines of ammunition, and sixteen guns. Only one troop of the Sindh Horse had by this time been enabled to land, and with it Captain Malcolm Green was ordered to follow the enemy for some distance. That officer came upon the rear-guard retreat- ing in good order, but his numerical weakness in horse- men prevented his making any impression upon it. The loss of the Persians was estimated at two hun- dred men ; and seventeen of their guns fell into the hands of the British, besides large stores of provisions. The Persian artillery and the troops in the batteries had acted as well as they could have been expected to behave : they had served their guns well, and had not shrunk from exposure and labour. But the disaster of this day demanded a public punishment to be inflicted upon some of those who had composed the army of Khuzistan. Accordingly, some months later, the Khelij regiment was brought to the Shah's camp near Tehran, to be publicly disgraced. Its colonel, however, had made such good use of the time he had been in command of it, that he was enabled to save his commission and his person, by paying a handsome bribe to the prime minister. The other officers, less fortunate, had rings passed through their noses, and were thus dragged along the ranks by cords ; they were then severely beaten, and thrown into prison. The major of another regiment, an Armenian called Asslan, received two thousand blows from the basti- nado ; though it is said that his men had fought well at Mohamra in defence of the batteries, where their colonel, Aga Jan Khan, was killed. But if the punishment now inflicted did not fall upon the right persons, the example 292 452 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. was the same ; and the Persian Minister probably cared little what became of a commanding officer who could not afford to purchase exemption from a beating. If any one more than another deserved disgrace and punishment for this disaster to the Persian arms at Mohamra, it was the Prince Khanlar, who had been entrusted with the command of the army of Khuzistan, and who fled on the landing of the British troops, without even waiting to be defeated. But his Eoyal Highness could afford to pay for the exhibition of pusillanimity, and the sum of eight thousand pounds sterling produced upon the Sedr-Azern such an impression, that instead of reproaches and disgrace, Prince Khanlar received from the Shah a sword and a dress of honour ! The Persian army retreated from Mohamra to the town of Ahwaz, which is distant by about a hundred miles from the mouth of the Karoon river. Sir James Outram determined to send a small force by water to this place, for the purpose of observing the position of the enemy and of destroying, if possible, the stores said to have been collected there. On the 29th of March a flotilla, consisting of three small river steamers and three gun-boats, was despatched up the Karoon under the command of Captain Eennie. On board the vessels were three hundred soldiers of the 64th and 78th regiments, under the orders of Captain Hunt of the 78th Highlanders ; and Captain Kemball, the English Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, was directed to accompany the expedition in his civil capacity. The town of Ahwaz, which is said to occupy the site of the ancient Aginis, was found to be in ruins, and not to be surrounded by defences of any kind, beyond a portion EXPEDITION TO AHWAZ. 453 of an old stone wall. Close to Ahwaz is a natural barrier of sandstone, which stretches across the river and renders impossible the ascent of vessels drawing more than a very few feet of water : indeed the strength of the current makes the ascent of any boats a matter of difficulty. The Karoon is at this point from ninety to one hundred and forty yards in width, while the banks of the river are so high and the water under them so deep that vessels can lie close to the side. It is the more necessary to describe the condition of the Karoon river somewhat minutely, since Sir James Outram has been censured for rashness in permitting a small flotilla to ascend to a point so far away from the main army, with the possi- bility of its being attacked by the Persian batteries at any turn of the stream. It would seem, however, that even had the Persian commander endeavoured to intercept the return of the British vessels, he would have been unable to interfere with their free progress, since they would have been favoured by the rapidity of the current and by the height of the river banks.* As the flotilla approached Ahwaz the Persian army was discovered occupying a ridge to the left, a few hundred yards distant from the Karoon, and situated in a projecting angle, round which the river winds. The steamers were brought to anchor at about a mile and a half below the Persian position, and some horsemen, whose curiosity prompted them to approach the ships, were warned by a rifle-shot to keep at a distance. It was determined by the officer in command of the expedition to carry the town of Ahwaz, which the * Captain Selby, of the Indian Navy, who had surveyed the Karoon river, was in command of one of the ships of the expedition, and acted as guide. 454 A HISTORY OP PERSIA. Persians had on the previous day abandoned ; and on the forenoon of the 1st of April the troops landed on the right bank ; * they advanced in skirmishing order, thereby giving the appearance of their being more numerous than in reality they were. Two gun-boats at the same time took up positions within shell-range of the Persians, and opened fire upon their camp. The Persian guns did not reply to the fire, but a few shots were discharged by their marksmen which did not take effect. By noon the British detachment was in possession of Ahwaz, and to the left of the stream the Persian army could now be dis- tinguished in full retreat. It retired in tolerable order, being covered by the Bakhtiari horse. A British party was upon this sent across to the opposite bank of the Karoon, to set fire to the magazines that had been abandoned by the Persians ; but the plundering Arabs were already at work in the deserted camp. The expedition then pro- ceeded down the stream to Mohamra, bringing on board the ships such of the Persian stores found at Ahwaz as had not been destroyed. So far the operations of Sir James Outram had been completely successful. Bushire and Mohamra had been taken and occupied, and the Persian forces had been defeated at Khushab and driven from Ahwaz. But had the war continued, it would have been difficult to determine a line of operations to be followed with a probability of its being attended with advantage to the British Government. General Jacob, who was second in command of the expeditionary force, and whose valuable services and great achievements on the northern frontier * The troops landed on the left bank, properly speaking, of the Karoon ; but to the right of the position occupied by the British vessels. GENERAL JOHN JACOB'S VIEWS. 455 of British India made his counsel valuable, was of opinion that since Persia had heen invaded from the sea in force, and since the British troops had obtained pos- session of Mohamra, and virtually of the whole of the Karoon river, it would be an error to abandon that dis- trict, and to restore it to Persia.* He held that the English force should retain the province of Khuzistan ; which, under British rule, could scarcely fail to be restored to its former prosperity. That province is divided from the rest of Persia by ranges of mountains which form a complete natural barrier, and it is in- habited by tribes and people of the Arab race. It is traversed by rivers navigable from hill to sea, and adjoining the valley of the Euphrates, it completely commands the outlet of that river to the ocean. General Jacob further recommended that the port of Bushire and the island of Karrack should be incor- porated with the dominions of the Queen.* Had the island of Karrack alone been retained permanently in the hands of the English Government of India, its possession would have given to that Government a position in the Gulf of Persia which would have rendered future breaches of treaty at Tehran unlikely of occur- rence ; and the retention of Karrack would not have entailed much cost, since the island would have been guarded by the British squadron stationed in the Persian Gulf, whilst it would have been governed by the officer who * Views and Opinions of General J. Jacob, C.B. Edited by Captain LEWIS PELLY. f In enumerating the advantages that were likely to accrue to England from the retention of the valley of the Karoon, General Jacob omitted to point out the increase which British influence in Turkey would gain by the establishment of a British province so near to the dominions of the Sultan. 456 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. represents the Indian Government at the courts of the Arab chiefs of the gulf, and who resides at Bushire. But whatever might have been the decision of her Majesty's Government with regard to the retention or otherwise of the territory conquered from Persia, had that decision been mainly influenced by considerations affecting only the future, the course actually adopted was based chiefly upon the urgent demands of the moment. The expe- dition to Persia had not been looked upon with favour by the English Parliament, or by the English press, and therefore a peace had been concluded at Paris before Mohamra had been taken. The expedition to Ahwaz formed the concluding act of the war. Ferrukh Khan, the Persian ambassador to the court of France, had concluded a treaty in the name of his master, which had been signed on the part of England by Lord Cowley at Paris on the 4th of March, 1857. Intimation of this event was given to Sir James Outram at Mohamra, by despatches which reached him on the 4th of April, and the ratifications of the Treaty were exchanged at Baghdad in the following month. By this treaty it was agreed that the forces of her Majesty the Queen should evacuate the Persian territory, subject to certain conditions being fulfilled. The principal one of these was that the Shah of Persia should take immediate measures for withdrawing from the territory, and city, of Herat, and from every other part of Affghanistan, the Persian troops and authorities then stationed therein ; such withdrawal to be effected within three months from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty. His Majesty the Shah further agreed to relin- quish all claims to sovereignty over the territory and city TREATY OF PEACE. 457 of Herat, and the countries of Affghanistan, and never to demand from the chiefs of Herat, or of the countries of Affghanistan, any marks of obedience, such as the coinage, or the "Khotbeh,*" or tribute. His Persian Majesty further engaged to abstain there- after from all interference with the internal affairs of Affghanistan. He promised to recognize the indepen- dence of Herat, and of the whole of Affghanistan, and never to attempt to interfere with the independence of those states. In case of differences arising between the government of Persia and the countries of Herat and Affghanistan, the Persian Government engaged to refer them for adjust- ment to the friendly offices of the British Government, and not to take up arms unless those friendly offices should fail of effect. The British Government, on their part, engaged at all times to exert their influence with the states of Aff- ghanistan, to prevent any cause of umbrage being given by them, or by any of them, to the Persian Govern- ment ; the British Government engaging, if appealed to by the Persian Government in the event of difficulties arising, to use their best endeavours to compose such differences in a manner just and honourable to Persia. In the case of any violation of the Persian frontier by any of the Affghan states, the Persian Government had the right, if due satisfaction were not given, to undertake military operations for the repression and punishment of the aggressors ; but it was to be dis- tinctly understood that any military force of the Shah * "Khotbeh" refers to the public announcement of dependence on the Shah, by praying for him in the mosques. 458 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. which might cross the border for such purpose, was to retire within his own territory as soon as the object should be accomplished, and that the exercise of this right was not to be made a pretext by Persia for the permanent occupation, or the annexation, of any town or portion of the Affghan states. In respect to the establishment and recognition of consuls, and the restrictions of trade, each of the con- tracting parties was to be in the dominions of the other on the footing of the most favoured nation. On the ratifications of this treaty being exchanged, the British Mission was to return to Tehran, where it was to be received with certain specified apologies and ceremonies. The Sedr-Azem was to write, in the Shah's name, a letter to Mr. Murray, expressing his regret at having uttered and given currency to the offensive im- putations upon the honour of her Majesty's Minister, and requesting leave to withdraw his offensive letter to that gentleman ; and two letters were sent from the Persian minister for foreign affairs, one of which contained a rescript from the Shah respecting the imputation upon Mr. Murray. Another stipulation of the treaty was, that the agree- ment entered into between Great Britain and Persia in the year 1851, for the suppression of the slave-trade in the Persian Gulf, should continue in force for ten years from the month of August 1862. Such were the principal terms of the treaty agreed to at Paris between the plenipotentiaries of England and of Persia. Great Britain had not wished to gain anything by the war, and accordingly she was willing to grant peace upon the conditions that the independence of Aff- THE TREATY RATIFIED. 459 ghanistan should be secured, and that suitable apology should be made for the affronts which had been offered to the representative of the Queen at the Persian court. The terms demanded from Persia were so light that they might have been secured at a less cost than that in- volved in the capture of Bushire and of Mohamra. It is probable that the seizure and retention of the island of Karrack, and the blockade of Bushire would have had the effect of producing the evacuation of Herat by the troops of the Shah, and of bringing the Persian court to apologize for its conduct previously to the suspension of diplomatic relations at Tehran. As it was, the cap- ture of Mohamra and the defeat of the Shah's troops at Khushab had no effect whatever on the negotiations for peace at Paris ; for it was immediately after the capture of Bushire that the Sedr-Azem had sent instructions to Ferrukh Khan to conclude peace upon any terms what- soever. The success which had attended the British arms at Khushab on the 8th of February was not known at Paris on the 4th of March, and it was not until long after peace had been made that Mohamra fell. The Sedr-Azem, on listening to the paragraphs of the treaty, which a secretary had brought from Paris, exclaimed, when he came to a pause, " Is that all ?" and on being told that there was nothing more, he uttered a fervent " Alhamdulillah ! "Praise be to God ! for he had fully expected that one of the clauses insisted on by England would contain a demand for his own dismissal from office. But, although Persia lay at the mercy of Great Britain, and would have been obliged to accept any terms offered to her, it very soon became a cause of sincere 460 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. satisfaction to her Majesty's Government, that nothing had been allowed to retard the conclusion of peace. No sooner had the ratifications of the treaty been exchanged at Baghdad, than news reached Sir James Outram at that city, of the outbreak of the mutinies in India. He hurried back to Bushire, and ere his arrival at that place, General Havelock had already put to sea with the two famous regiments* that so soon afterwards stemmed the tide of rebellion in Bengal. The second Bombay Euro- pean Eegiment had also departed for India ; where, in the Western Presidency, its presence was as much required as was that of the other two English battalions further east. The 3rd Bombay Light Cavalry was also released from service in Persia, and with the 14th Light Dragoons and a body of the Bombay Artillery, which had also formed portions of the Persian force, it took a prominent part in the subsequent war in India. Every loyal officer and man was urgently required in Hindostan, and had the Persian war continued, India would have been deprived of the services, when she most wanted them, of Sir James Outram, Sir Henry Havelock, Sir George Le-Grand Jacob, Sir Edward Lugard, and others. But for the timely arrival of British troops from the shore of the Persian Gulf, the mutineers must have been allowed to keep the field for a time almost unopposed ; and it is im- possible to assign any limits to the proportions which the mutiny might in such case have assumed. General Jacob remained at Bushire in command of a native Indian force, with which he was to hold that place until Persia should have fulfilled the conditions imposed upon her by the Treaty of Paris. It has been said that * The 64th and 78th regiments. FATE OF MAHOMED YOOSUF. 461 one of these conditions was, that Herat should thence- forth be independent. It was to be governed thereafter by an Affghan Prince, and the selection of the new governor became an object of importance to the Persian court. By the 8th article of the Treaty of Peace, the Persian government had engaged to set at liberty without ransom, immediately after the exchange of the ratifica- tions of the Treaty, all prisoners taken during the opera- tions of the Persian troops in Affghanistan. Amongst those prisoners was Mahomed Yoosuf, the nephew and heir of the late Prince Kamran of Herat. Prince Mahomed Yoosuf had defended Herat against the troops of the Shah, and had been sent as a prisoner to Tehran in the spring of the year 1856. There he had been brought into the Shah's presence with a rope round his neck, and after having been reproached with his so-called rebellious conduct, had been pardoned by the king and set free within the walls of the capital. But it was not the inten- tion of the Persian government to permit the independent Sedozye prince to return to his principality, and they took advantage of a warning regarding the contents of the coming treaty to make away with Mahomed Yoosuf whilst he should still be in the power of the Shah. On the 10th of April, 1857, a courier arrived at Tehran from Paris, bearing despatches in which Ferrukh Khan informed his government of the terms of the treaty which he was about to conclude ; and as the signed agree- ment would follow in the course of a few days, the Sedr- Azem had no time to lose in deciding on the fate of Mahomed Yoosuf. His Highness was aware that that Affghan prince would feel that, should he recover his power, he would owe its possession to the measures taken 462 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. by the English Government, and he, therefore, determined to place upon the throne of Herat, a ruler who would owe his advancement to the good-will of the Persian govern- ment. He found a man suited to this purpose in the person of Sultan Ahmed Khan, a Barukzye, and who was the nephew and son-in-law of Dost Mahomed Khan. The terms upon which Sultan Ahmed Khan was to receive the aid of Persian influence and Persian gold, to enable him to establish himself at Herat, were these : He was, of his own accord, to strike coin in the name of the Shah, and to cause the " Khotbeh," or prayer for the Suzerain, to be read for the Persian king in the mosques of Herat. Thus, although Persian troops should no longer remain on Affghan soil, and though by Treaty the Shah should renounce all pretensions to sovereignty over Herat, his coin would stih 1 be the current coin of that principality, and every Affghan who should attend at the mosques, would know that his immediate ruler acknowledged the Shah of Persia to be his Suzerain. In the powerlessness of Sultan Ahmed Khan, if not in his good-faith, the Sedr- Azem saw a guarantee for the fulfilment of his part of the stipulation. Sultan Ahmed accordingly lost no time in hurrying eastwards, in order that he might receive possession of Herat from Prince Sultan Murad. In his anxiety to communicate personally with that general he forgot the circumstance that the prince was as yet ignorant of the terms of the agreement that had been concluded at Tehran ; and he also overlooked the fact that the Persian commander and his soldiers had at last tasted a much longed-for fruit, which, like that found by the Lotus-eaters, made them forget the way to their homes. Hastening to the tent of the Persian SULTAN AHMED KHAN. 468 commander, the Barukzye Sirdar was informed by the guards that his Royal Highness was asleep ; and when he pushed them aside, and they still barred his way, he wounded one of them with his dagger. The noise of the scuffle awoke the prince, who, on learning what had taken place, gave orders that the Affghan intruder, whose coming he had little looked for, should be severely bastinadoed. But notwithstanding this unto- ward commencement of sovereignty, Sultan Ahmed Khan persevered in the course to which he had pledged himself; nor did he ever seek to evade the terms upon which he had agreed to hold Herat. Coin was struck in the Shah's name, and the customary prayer was read for his Persian Majesty in the mosques of the city, in the same manner as would have been done had the Persian troops held the principality ; and Sultan Ahmed Khan continued volun- tarily to acknowledge himself to be the vassal of the Shah until the day came when he died at his post, as his capital was about to fall into the hands of the foe against whom he had so long and so bravely defended it. More terrible was the death, and less brilliant the career of the Sedozye claimant to the throne of Herat. On the llth of April, 1857, the day succeeding that of the arrival at Tehran of the copy of the proposed treaty of Paris, Mahomed Yoosuf was seized, and the Sedr- Azem took advantage of a blood- feud to put an end to the dangerous rivalry of this Affghan prince to the new governor of Herat. Shah Kamran had been put to death by his Yizeer Yar Mahomed Khan, and Mahomed Yoosuf, the nephew of Karnran, had, in accordance with Affghan usage and Moslem law, avenged his death by slaying Syd Mahomed, the son of Yar Mahomed Khan. The rela- 464 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. tives of Syd Mahomed were, in turn, ready to kill Mahomed Yoosuf ; but they could not venture to do so so long as that prince should be living under the Shah's protection at Tehran. They were now, however, urged to demand the blood of their feudal foe, and the hapless Yoosuf was dragged to a mound in front of the Kasr-i- Kajar palace, and there clumsily hacked to pieces by the sabres of the relatives of Syd Mahomed. On the 13th of April the signed treaty was received from Paris, and was at once accepted by the Shah's government and ratified by his Majesty. Peace had not been restored one hour too soon for the interests of Persia. Tabreez, the chief city of the kingdom, had lately been in open insurrection; the southern provinces were agitated and paralyzed by the presence of a British force; and in Khorassan the Turko- mans were overrunning whole districts and carrying the inhabitants into captivity. It was the study of the Sedr- Azem to conceal this state of things from the knowledge of the Shah, and to cause his Majesty to believe that his numerous subjects were blessed with prosperity and contentment. But even the absolute power of a Grand Yizeer is unable at all times to exclude the discontented or the honest from the hearing of the sovereign, and so many murmurs reached the ears of the king that his Majesty at length determined to dismiss his Minister from office, and to assume in his own person the chief direction of the administration of his country. That his Majesty's unceasing efforts have since then been directed solely towards securing the well-being of all classes of his subjects, and towards accomplishing the difficult task of providing for the furtherance of justice CONCLUSION. 465 throughout his wide dominions, it would be unfair to deny. It will be the lot of some future writer to tell the English students of Oriental story that another name has been added to the list of exceptional Eastern monarchs ; but it is not my intention to attempt to trace the course of Persian history through the years that have elapsed since the downfall of the late Sedr-Azem. In conclusion, I shall only state that if the picture presented in these pages of the condition of Persia be not an inspiriting one, it is at least drawn with im- partiality. It would have been a gratifying task to tell of a prospect of the coming triumph of civilization throughout Central Asia, but had I ventured to hold out so delusive a hope to the reader, I should have been guilty of paltering with that truth which ought to be as jealously watched over by the historian as was the Ark of God by the Jewish priest of old. THE END. 30 LONDON : PRINTED BY SMITH, ELDER AND CO OLD BAILEY, E.C. 1 DAY USE m& RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO ^ 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS DUE AS STAMPED BELOW MAY 07 1988 ^00^243 3 nno (\ 7 1Q^ 1 APR u * w% AUTO DISC 1 FEB 2 A 1992 1 t- ** W * |^JC. ^IDf*I II ATI ON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 1/83 BERKELEY, CA 94720 $ U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES