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Shah and his successors in Afghanistan than under any other | the face wherever presented. "Beardless and shrivelled,' sovereign power. Aga Mahommed determined to restore the writes Sir John Malcolm, "it resembled that of an aged and whole province to Persia, and, after a brief residence in Teheran wrinkled woman, and the expression of his countenance, at no on his return from the Georgian expedition, he set out for time pleasant, was horrible when clouded, as it very often was, Meshed. It is important to note that on the occasion of his with indignation. He was sensible of this, and could not bear coronation he had girded on the sabre consecrated at the tomb that any one should look at him." of the founder of the Safawid-thus openly pledging himself to support the Shi'ite faith.

But there had been continual dissatisfaction in the capital of Khorasan, and constant inroads upon it from without, which the royal puppet was unable to prevent. His popularity was real, but never seemed to have effect outside the limited sphere of personal sympathy and regard. Owing to the frequent revolutions in the holy city the generals of Timur Shah, king of the Afghans, had made three expeditions on Shah Rukh's behalf. Meshed had been taken and retaken as though he were not a resident in it, much less its de jure king. Moreover, his two sons Nadir Mirza and Wali Ni'amat had long been fighting, and the former was in 1796 the actual ruler of the place. Three years before Timur had died, and his third son, Zaman Shah, by the intrigues of an influential sirdar, Paiyanda Khan, and been proclaimed his successor at Kabul.

Aga Mahommed's entry into Meshed was effected without a struggle on the part of those in possession. The Kajar shah walked on foot to the tomb of Imam Riza, before which he knelt and kissed the ground in token of devotion, and was recognized as a Shi'ite of Shi'ites. Shah Rukh submissively followed in his train. Then began the last act of the local tragedy. The blind king's gradual revelation, under horrible torture, of the place of concealment of his several jewels and treasures, and his deportation and death (of the injuries thus received, at Damghan, en route to Mazandaran), must be classed among the darkest records of Oriental history.

From Meshed Aga Mahommed sent an envoy to Zaman Shah, asking for the cession of Balkh, and explaining his invasion of Khorasan; but the Afghan monarch was too perplexed with the troubles in his own country and his own insecure position to do more than send an unmeaning reply. It is not shown what was the understood boundary between the two countries at this particular period; but Watson states that on the shah's departure he had received the submission of the whole of Khorasan, and left in Meshed a garrison of 12,000 men.

of Aga

Aga Mahommed had now fairly established his capital at Teheran. On his return thither in September 1796 he dismissed Death and his troops for the winter, directing their reassembly Character in the following spring. The re-invasion by Russia of the provinces and districts he had recently Mahommed, wrested from her west of the Caspian had made great progress, but the circumstance does not seem to have changed his plans for the army. Although, when the spring arrived and the shah led his forces to the Aras, the Russians had, it is true, retreated, yet territory had been regained by them as far south as the Talysh. Aga Mahommed had now arrived at the close of his career. He was enabled, with some difficulty, to get his troops across the river, and take possession of Shusha, which had given them so much trouble a year or two before. There, in camp, he was murdered (1797) by his own personal attendants-men who were under sentence of death, but allowed to be at large. He was then fifty-seven years of age, and had ruled over part of Persia for more than eighteen years-over the kingdom generally for about three years, and from his coronation for about one year only.

The brutal treatment he had experienced in boyhood under the orders of 'Adil Shah, and the opprobrious name of "eunuch" with which he was taunted by his enemies, no doubt contributed to embitter his nature. His contempt of luxury, his avoidance of hyperbole and dislike of excessive ceremony, his protection to commerce and consideration for his soldiers, the reluctance with which he assumed the crown almost at the close of his reign-all these would have been praiseworthy in another man; but on his death the memory of his atrocious tyranny alone survived. Those who have seen his portrait once will recognize

Fath All Shah.

Aga Mahommed had made up his mind that he should be succeeded by his nephew Fath 'Ali Shah, son of his full brother, Hosain Kuli Khan, governor of Fars. There was a short interval of confusion after the murder. The remains of the sovereign were exposed to insult, the army was disturbed, the recently captured fort on the left bank of the Aras was abandoned; but the wisdom and resolution of the minister, Hajji Ibrahim, and of Mirza Mahommed Khan Kajar secured order and acceptance of the duly appointed heir. The first, proclaiming his own allegiance, put himself at the head of a large body of troops and marched towards the capital. The second closed the gates of Teheran to all comers until Fath 'Ali Shah came himself from Shiraz. Though instantly proclaimed on arrival, the new monarch was not crowned until the spring of the following year (1798).

Rebellions.

The so-called rebellions which followed were many, but not of any magnitude. Such as belong to local history are three in number, i.e. that of Sadik Khan Shakaki, the general whose possession of the crown jewels enabled him, after the defeat of his army at Kazvin, to secure his personal safety and obtain a government; of Hosain Kuli Khan, the shah's brother, which was compromised by the mother's intervention; and of Mahommed, son of Zaki Khan, Zend, who was defeated on more than one occasion in battle, and fled into Turkish territory. Later, Sadik Khan, having again incurred the royal displeasure, was seized, confined and mercilessly bricked up in his dungeon to die of starvation.

Another adversary presented himself in the person of Nadir Mirza, son of Shah Rukh, who, when Aga Mahommed appeared before Meshed, had taken refuge with the Afghans. Fath 'Ali sent to warn him of the consequences, but without the desired effect. Finally, he advanced into Khorasan with an army which appears to have met with no opposition save at Nishapur and Turbet, both of which places were taken, and when it reached Meshed, Nadir Mirza tendered his submission, which was accepted. Peace having been further cemented by an alliance between a Kajar general and the prince's daughter, the shah returned to Teheran.

Now that the narrative of Persian kings has been brought up to the period of the consolidation of the Kajar dynasty and commencement of the 19th century, there remains but to summarize the principal events in the reigns of Fath 'Ali Shah and his immediate successors, Mahommed Shah and Naşru 'd-Din Shah. Fath 'Ali Shah came to the throne at about thirty-two years of age, and died at sixty-eight, after a reign of thirty-six years. Persia's great aim was to recover in the north-west, as in the northeast of her empire, the geographical limits obtained for her by the Safawid kings; and this was no easy matter when she had to contend with a strong European power whose territorial limits touched her own. Fath Ali Shah undertook, at the outset of War with his reign, a contest with Russia on the western side of Russia. the Caspian, which became constant and harassing warfare. Georgia was, clearly, not to revert to a Mahommedan suzerain. In 1800 its tsar, George, son and successor of Heraclius, notwithstanding his former professions of allegiance to the shah, renounced his crown in favour of the Russian emperor. His brother Alexander indignantly repudiated the act and resisted its fulfilment, but he was defeated by General Lazerov on the banks of the Lora. Persia then re-entered the field. Among the more notable occurrences which followed were a three days' battle, fought near Echmiadzin, between the crown prince, 'Abbas Mirza, and General Zizianov, in which the Persians suffered much from the enemy's artillery, but would not admit they were defeated; unsuccessful attempts on the part of the Russian commander to get possession of Erivan; and a surprise, in camp, of the shah's forces, which caused them to disperse, and necessitated the king's own presence with reinforcements. On the latter occasion the shah is credited with gallantly swimming his horse across the Aras, and setting an example of energy and valour. In the following year 'Abbas Mirza advanced upon Shishah, the chief of which place and of the Karabagh had declared for Russia; much fighting ensued, and Erivan was formally taken possession of in the name of

the shah. The Russians, moreover, made a futile attempt on Gilan by landing troops at Enzeli, which returned to Baku, where Zizianov fell a victim to the treachery of the Persian governor. Somewhat later Ibrahim Khalil of Shusha, repenting of his Russophilism, determined to deliver up the Muscovite garrison at that place, but his plans were betrayed, and he and his relatives put to death. Reprisals and engagements followed with varied success; and the crown prince of Persia, after a demonstration in Shirvan, returned to Tabriz. He had practically made no progress; yet Russia, in securing possession of Derbent, Baku, Shirvan, Sheki, Garja, the Talysh and Mugan, was probably indebted to gold as well as to the force of arms. At the same time Persia would not listen to the overtures of peace made to her by the governor-general who had succeeded Zizianov.

with Eng

land, India

Relations had now commenced with England and British India. A certain Mahdi 'Ali Khan had landed at Bushire, entrusted by the governor of Bombay with a letter to the shah, and Relations he was followed shortly by an English envoy from the governor-general, Captain Malcolm of the Madras and France. army. He had not only to talk about the Afghans but about the French, and the trade of the Persian Gulf. The results were a political and commercial treaty, and a return mission to India from Fath 'Ali Shah. To him France next sent her message. In 1801 an Armenian merchant from Bagdad had appeared as the bearer of credentials from Napoleon, but his mission was mistrusted and came to nothing. Some five years afterwards Jaubert, after detention and imprisonment on the road, arrived at Teheran and went back to Europe with a duly accredited Persian ambassador, who concluded a treaty with the French emperor at Finkenstein. On the return of the Persian diplomatist, a mission of many officers under General Gardane to instruct and drill the local army was sent from France to Persia. Hence arose the counter-mission of Sir Harford Jones from the British government, which, on arrival at Bombay in April 1808, found that it had been anticipated by a previously sent mission from the governor-general of India, under Malcolm again, then holding the rank of brigadier-general.

The home mission, however, proceeded to Bushire, and Malcolm's return thence to India enabled Sir Harford to move on and reach the capital in February 1809. A few days before his entry General Gardane had been dismissed, as the peace of Tilsit debarred France from aiding the shah against Russia. Sir Harford concluded a treaty with Persia the month after his arrival at the capital; but the government of India were not content to leave matters in his hands: notwithstanding the anomaly of a double mission, Malcolm was in 1810 again despatched as their own particular envoy. He brought with him Captains Lindsay and Christie to assist the Persians in the war, and presented the shah with some serviceable fieldpieces; but there was little occasion for the exercise of his diplomatic ability save in his non-official intercourse with the people, and here he availed himself of it to the great advantage of himself and his country. He was welcomed by the shah in camp at Ujani, and took leave a month afterwards to return via Bagdad and Basra to India. The next year Sir Harford Jones was relieved as envoy by Sir Gore Ouseley.

Russian

Meanwhile hostilities had been resumed with Russia, and in 1812 the British envoy used his good offices for the restoration of peace, but the endeavour failed. To add to the Persian Renewal of difficulty, in July of this year a treaty was concluded between England and Russia, and this circumstance War. caused the envoy to direct that British officers should take no further part in Russo-Persian military operations. Christie and Lindsay, however, resolved to remain at their own risk, and advanced with the Persian army to the Aras. On the 31st of October the force was surprised by an attack of the enemy, and retreated; the next night they were again attacked and routed at Aslanduz. Christie fell bravely fighting at the head of his brigade; Lindsay saved two of his nine guns; but neither of the two Englishmen was responsible for the disaster. Lenkoran was taken by Persia, but retaken by Russia during the next three months; and on the 13th of October 1813, through Sir Gore Ouseley's intervention, the Treaty of Gulistan put an end to the war. Persia formally ceded Georgia and the seven provinces before named, with Karabakh. On the death of the emperor Alexander in December 1825 Prince Menshikov was sent to Teheran to settle a dispute which had arisen between the two governments regarding the prescribed frontier. But, as the claim of Persia to a particular district then occupied by Russia could not be admitted, the special envoy was given his congé, and war was recommenced. The chief of Talysh struck the first blow, and drove the enemy from Lenkoran. The Persians then carried all before them; and the hereditary chiefs of Shirvan, Sheki and Baku returned from exile to co-operate with the shah's general in the south. In the course of three weeks the only

1 The "wakilu 'l-mulk," governor of Kerman, told Colonel Goldsmid, when his guest in 1866, that "his father had been Sir John Malcolm's Mihmandar. There never was such a man as Malcolm Sahib.' Not only was he generous on the part of his government, but with his own money also."—(Telegraph and Travel, p. 585.)

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advanced post held by the governor-general of the Caucasus was the obstinate little fortress of Shusha. But before long all was again changed. Hearing that a Russian force of some 9000 mei was concentrated at Tiflis, Mahommed Mirza, son of the crown prince, advanced to meet them on the banks of the Zezam. He was defeated; and his father was routed more seriously still at Ganja. The shah made great efforts to renew the war; but divisions took place in his son's camp, not conducive to successful operations, and new proposals of peace were made. But Russia demanded Erivan and Nakhichevan as well as the cost of the war; and in 1827 the campaign was reopened. Briefly, after successive gains and losses, not only Erivan was taken from Persia but Tabriz also, and finally, through the intervention of Sir John Macdonald, the English envoy, a new treaty was concluded at Turkmanchai, laying down the boundary between Russia and Persia. Among the hard conditions for the latter country were the cession in perpetuity of the khanates of Erivan and Nakhichevan, the inability to have an armed vessel in the Caspian, and the payment of a war indemnity of some £3,000,000.

After Russia, the neighbouring state next in importance to the well-being of Persia was Turkey, with whom she was united on the west by a common line of frontier. Selim had not War with scrupled, in 1804 and 1805, to allow the Russians to Turkey. make free use of the south-eastern coasts of the Black Sea, to facilitate operations against the shah's troops; and there had been a passage of arms between the king's eldest son, Mahommed Ali Mirza, and Suleiman Pasha, son-in-law of the governor-general of Bagdad, which is locally credited as a battle won by the former. But there was no open rupture between the two sovereigns until 1821, when the frontier disputes and complaints of Persian travellers, merchants and pilgrims culminated in a declaration of war. This made 'Abbas Mirza at once seize upon the fortified places of Toprak Kal'ah and Ak Sarai within the limits of the Ottoman Empire, and, overcoming the insufficient force sent against him, he was further enabled to extend his inroads to Mush, Bitlis, and other known | localities. The Turkish government retaliated by a counterinvasion of the Persian frontier on the south. At that time the Pasha of Bagdad was in command of the troops. He was defeated by Mahommed Ali Mirza, then prince-governor of Kermanshah, who drove his adversary back towards his capital and advanced to its immediate environs. Being attacked with cholera, however, the Persian commander recrossed the frontier, but only to succumb to the disease in the pass of Kirind. In the sequel a kind of desultory warfare appears to have been prosecuted on the Persian side of Kurdistan, and the shah himself came down with an army to Hamadan. Cholera broke out in the royal camp and caused the troops to disperse.

In the north the progress of 'Abbas Mirza was stopped at Bayazid by a like deadly visitation; and a suspension of hostilities was agreed upon for the winter season. At the expiration of four months the sirdar of Erivan took possession of a Turkish military station on the road to Erzerum, and the crown prince marched upon that city at the head of 30,000 men. The Ottoman army which met him is said to have numbered some 52,000; but victory was on the side of their opponents. Whether the result was owing to the defection of 15,000 Kurds or not the evidence adduced is insufficient to decide. In the English records of the period it is stated that the defeat of the Turks was complete.

Profiting from this victory, 'Abbas Mirza repeated an offer of peace before made without avail to the pasha of Erzerum; and, in order to conciliate him more effectually, he retired within the old limits of the dominions of the shah, his father. But more troubles arose at Bagdad, and other reasons intervened to protract negotiations for a year and a half. At length, in July 1823, the Treaty of Erzerum closed the war between Turkey and Persia. It provided especially against a recurrence of the proved causes of war, such as extorting taxes from Persian travellers or pilgrims, disrespect to the ladies of the royal harem and other ladies of rank proceeding to Mecca or Karbala (Kerbela), irregular levies of custom-duties, non-punishment of Kurdish depredators transgressing the boundary, and the like.

With respect to the eastern boundaries of his kingdom, Fath 'Ali Shah was fortunate in having to deal with a less dangerous neighbour than the Muscovite of persistent policy and The Afghan the Turk of precarious friendship. The Afghan, though Question. equal to the Persian in physical force and prowess, was his inferior in worldly knowledge and experience. Moreover, the family divisions among the ruling houses of Afghanistan grew from day to day more destructive to that patriotism and sense of nationality which Ahmad Shah had held out to his countrymen as the sole specifics for becoming a strong people.

The revolt of Nadir Mirza had, as before explained, drawn the shah's attention to Khorasan in the early part of his reign; but, although quiet had for the moment been restored at Meshed by the presence of the royal camp, fresh grounds of complaint were urged against the rash but powerless prince, and recourse was had to extreme measures. Charged with the murder of a holy saiyid, his hands were cut off and his tongue was plucked out, as part of the horrible punishment inflicted on him. It does not appear that Nadir Mirza's cause was ever seriously espoused by the Afghans,

nor that Fath 'Ali Shah's claim to Meshed, as belonging to the | Persian crown, was actively resisted. But the large Province of Khorasan, of which Meshed was the capital, had never been other than a nominal dependency of the crown since the death of Nadir; and in the autumn of 1830 the shah, under Russian advice, assembled a large force to bring into subjection all turbulent and refractory chiefs on the east of his kingdom. Yezd and Kerman were the first points of attack; Khorasan was afterwards entered by Samnan, or the main road from Teheran. The expedition, led by 'Abbas Mirza, involved some hard fighting and much loss of life; several forts and places were captured, among them Kuchan and Serrakhs; and it may be concluded that the objects contemplated were more or less attained. An English officer, Colonel Shee, commanded what was called the "British detachment which accompanied the prince. Thus far as regards Yezd, Kerman and Khorasan. It was otherwise with Herat.

Hajji Firuzu'd-Din, son of Timur Shah, reigned undisturbed in that city from 1800 to 1816. Since Fath 'Ali Shah's accession he and his brother Mahmud had been, as it were, under Persian protection. Persia claimed the principality of Herat as part of the empire of Nadir, but her pretensions had been satisfied by payments of tribute or evasive replies. Now, however, that she marched her army against the place, Firuzu 'd-Din called in the aid of his brother Mahmud Shah of Kabul, who sent to him the famous vizier, Fath❘ Khan Barakzai. The latter, intriguing on his own account, got possession of the town and citadel; he then sallied forth, engaged the Persian forces, and forced them to retire into their own country. In 1824, on a solicitation from Mustafa Khan, who had got temporary hold of Herat, more troops were despatched thither, but, by the use of money or bribes, their departure was purchased. Some eight or nine years afterwards 'Abbas Mirza, when at the head of his army in Meshed, invited Yar Mahommed Khan of Herat to discuss a settlement of differences between the two governments. The meeting was unproductive of good. Again the Persian troops advanced to Herat itself under the command of Mahommed Mirza, son of Abbas; but the news of his father's death caused the commander to break up his camp and return to Meshed. Sir Gore Ouseley returned to England in 1814, in which year Mr Ellis, assisted by Mr Morier-whose Hajji Baba is the unfailing proof of his ability and deep knowledge of Persian character -negotiated on the part of Great Britain the Treaty of Teheran. England was to provide troops or a subsidy in the event of unprovoked invasion, while Persia was to attack the Afghans should they invade India. Captain Willock succeeded Morier as chargé d'affaires in 1815, and since that period Great Britain has always been represented at the Persian court. It was in Fath 'Ali Shah's reign that Henry Martyn was in Persia, and completed his able translation of the New Testament into the language of that country. Little more remains to be here narrated of the days of Fath 'Ali Shah. Among the remarkable occurrences may be noted the murder at Teheran in 1828 of M. Grebayadov, the Russian envoy, whose conduct in forcibly retaining two women of Erivan provoked the interference of the mullas and people. To repair the evil consequences of this act a conciliatory embassy, consisting of a young son of the crown prince and some high officers of the state, was despatched to St Petersburg. Shortly afterwards the alliance with Russia was strengthened, and that with England slackened in proportion.

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Fath 'Ali Shah had a numerous family. Agreeably to the Persian custom, asserted by his predecessors, of nominating the heir-apparent from the sons of the sovereign without restriction to seniority, he had passed over the eldest, Mahommed 'Ali, in favour of a junior, 'Abbas; but, as the nominee died in the lifetime of his father, the old king had proclaimed Mahommed Mirza, the son of 'Abbas, and his own grandson, to be his successor. Why a younger son had been originally selected, to the prejudice of his elder brother, is differently stated by different writers. The true reason was probably the superior rank of his mother.

Mahommed Shah was twenty-eight years old when he came to the throne in 1834. He died at the age of forty-two, after a reign of about thirteen and a half years. His accession was

Shah.

Mahommed not publicly notified for some months after his grandfather's death, for it was necessary to clear the way of all competitors, and there were two on this occasion-one 'Ali Mirza, governor of Teheran, who actually assumed a royal title, and one Hasan Ali Mirza, governor of Shiraz. Owing to the steps taken by the British envoy, Sir John Campbell, assisted by Colonel Bethune, at the head of a considerable force, supplied with artillery, the opposition of the first was neutralized, and Mahommed Shah, entering Teheran on the 2nd of January, was proclaimed king on the 31st of the same month. It cost more time and trouble to bring the second to book. Hasan Ali, " farman-farma," or commander-in-chief, and his brother and abettor, had an army at their disposal in Fars. Sir Henry Lindsay Bethune marched his soldiers to Isfahan to be ready to meet them. An engagement which took place near Kumishah, on the road between Isfahan and Shiraz, having been successful, the English commander pushed on to the latter town, where the two rebel princes were seized and imprisoned. Forwarded under escort to Teheran, they were, according to Watson, ordered to be sent on thence as state prisoners to Ardebil, but the

year.

Herat.

farman-farma died on the way, and his brother was blinded before incarceration. Markham, however, states that both 'Ali Mirza and Hasan 'Ali were allowed to retire with a small pension, and that no atrocities stained the beginning of the reign of Mahommed Shah. It is presumed that the fate of the prime minister or "kaim-makam," who was strangled in prison, was no more than an ordinary execution of the law. This event, and the prevalence of plague and cholera at Teheran, marked somewhat gloomily the new monarch's first The selection of a premier was one of the first weighty questions for solution. A member of the royal family, the "asafu 'd-daula," governor of Khorasan, left his government to urge his candidature for the post. The king's choice, however, fell on Hajji Mirza Aghasi, a native of Erivan, who in former years, as tutor to the sons of 'Abbas Mirza, had gained a certain reputation for learning and a smattering of the occult sciences, but whose qualifications for statesmanship were craftiness and suspicion. As might have been anticipated, the hajji fell into the hands of Russia, represented by Count Simonich, who urged him to a fresh expedition into Khorasan and the siege of Herat. There was no doubt a plausible pretext for both proposals. The chiefs, Expedition reduced to temporary submission by 'Abbas Mirza, had against again revolted; and Shah Kamran, supported by his vizier, Yar Mahommed, had broken those engagements and pledges on the strength of which Fath 'Ali Shah had withdrawn his troops. In addition to these causes of offence he had appropriated the province of Seistan, over which Persia had long professed to hold the rights of suzerainty. But the king's ambition was to go farther than retaliation or chastisement. He refused to acknowledge any right to separate government whatever on the part of the Afghans, and Kandahar and Ghazni were to be recovered, as belonging to the empire of the Safawid dynasty. The advice of the British envoy was dissuasive in this respect, and therefore distasteful. Sir John Campbell, in less than a year after the sovereign's installation, went home, and was succeeded as British envoy by Henry Ellis. The change in personnel signified also a transfer of superintendence of the Persian legation, which passed from the government in India to the authorities in England. The expedition was to commence with a campaign against the TurcomansHerat being its later destination. Such counter-proposals as Ellis had suggested for consideration had been politely put aside, and the case was now more than ever complicated by the action of the Barakzai chiefs of Kandahar, who had sent a mission to Teheran to offer assistance against their Saduzai rival at Herat. Fresh provocation had, moreover, been given to the shah's government by the rash and incapable Kamran.

About the close of the summer the force moved from Teheran. The royal camp was near Astarabad in November 1836. Food was scarce: barley sold for ten times the usual price, and wheat was not procurable for any money. The troops were dissatisfied, and, being kept without pay and on short rations, took to plundering. There had been operations on the banks of the Gurgan, and the Turcomans had been driven from one of their strongholds; but little or no progress had been made in the subjection of these marauders, and the Heratis had sent word that all they could do was to pay tribute, and, if that were insufficient, the shah had better march to Herat. A military council was held at Shahrud, when it was decided to return to the capital and set out again in the spring. Accordingly the troops dispersed, and the sovereign's presence at Teheran was taken advantage of by the British minister to renew his attempts in the cause of peace. Although on the present occasion Simonich ostensibly aided the British chargé d'affaires M'Neill, who had succeeded Ellis in 1836, no argument was of any avail to divert the monarch from his purpose. He again set out in the summer, and, invading the Herat territory in November 1837, began the siege on the 23rd of that month.

Siege of Herat.

Not until September in the following year did the Persian army withdraw from before the walls of the city; and then the movement only took place on the action of the British government. M'Neill, who had joined the Persian camp on the 6th of April, left it again on the 7th of June. He had done all in his power to effect a reasonable agreement between the contending parties; but both in this respect and in the matter of a commercial treaty with England, then under negotiation, his efforts had been met with evasion and latent hostility. The Russian envoy, who had appeared among the tents of the besieging army almost simultaneously with his English colleague, no sooner found himself alone in his diplomacy than he resumed his aggressive counsels, and little more than a fortnight had elapsed since M'Neill's departure when a vigorous assault, planned, it is asserted, by Simonich himself, was made upon Herat. The Persians attacked at five points, at one of which they would in all likelihood have been successful had not the Afghans been aided by Eldred Pottinger, a young Englishman, who with the science of an artillery officer combined a courage and determination which inevitably influenced his subordinates. Still the garrison was disheartened; but Colonel Stoddart's arrival on the 11th of August to threaten the shah with British intervention put a stop to further action. Colonel Stoddart's refusal to allow any but British mediators to decide the pending dispute won the day; and that officer was able to report that on

the 9th of September Mahommed Shah had "mounted his horse and gone from before the walls of the beleaguered city.

The siege of Herat, which lasted for nearly ten months, was the great event in the reign of Mahommed Shah. The British expedition in support of Shah Shuj'a, which may be called its natural consequence, involves a question foreign to the present narrative. The remainder of the king's reign was marked by new difficulties with the British government; the rebellion of Aga Khan Mahlati otherwise known as the chief of the Assassins; a new rupture with Turkey; the banishment of the asafu'd-daula, governor of Khorasan, followed by the insurrection and defeat of his son; and the rise of Bābiism (q.v.). The first of these only calls for any detailed account. In the demands of the British Government was included the cession by Persia of places such as Farah and Sabzewar, which had been taken during the war from the Afghans, as well Difficulty as reparation for the violence offered to the courier of with the British legation. M'Neill gave a certain time for England. decision, at the end of which, no satisfactory reply having reached him, he broke off diplomatic relations, ordered the British officers lent to the shah to proceed towards Bagdad en route to India, and retired to Erzerum with the members of his mission. On the Persian side, charges were made against M'Neill, and a special envoy was sent to England to support them. An endeavour was at the same time made to interest the cabinets of Europe in influencing the British government on behalf of Persia. The envoy managed to obtain an interview with the minister of foreign affairs in London, who, in July 1839, supplied him with a statement, | fuller than before, of all English demands upon his country. Considerable delay ensued, but the outcome of the whole proceedings was not only acceptance but fulfilment of all the engagements contracted. In the meantime the island of Kharak had been taken possession of by an expedition from India. On the 11th of October 1841 a new mission arrived at Teheran from London, under John (afterwards Sir John) M'Neill, to renew diplomatic relations. It was most cordially received by the shah, and as one of its immediate results, Kharak was evacuated by the British-Indian troops.

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44

There had been a long diplomatic correspondence in Europe on the proceedings of Count Simonich and other Russian officers at Herat. Among the papers is a very important letter from Count Nesselrode to Count Pozzo di Borgo in which Russia declares herself to be the first to counsel the shah to acquiesce in the demand made upon him, because she found "justice on the side of England" and wrong on the side of Persia." She withdrew her agent from Kandahar and would not have with the Afghans any relations but those of commerce, and in no wise any political interests." Aga Khan's rebellion was fostered by the defection to his cause of a large portion, of the force sent against him; but he yielded at last to the local authorities of Kerman and fled the province and country. He afterwards resided many years at Bombay, where, while maintaining among natives a quasi-spiritual character, he was better known among Europeans for his doings on the turf.

The quarrel with Turkey was generally about frontier relations. Eventually the matter was referred to an Anglo-Russian commission, of which Colonel Williams (afterwards Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars) was president. A massacre of Persians at Kerbela might have seriously complicated the dispute, but, after a first burst of indignation and call for vengeance, an expression of the regret of the Ottoman government was accepted as a sufficient apology for the

Occurrence.

The rebellion of the asafu 'd-daula, maternal uncle of the shah, was punished by exile, while his son, after giving trouble to his opponents, and once gaining a victory over them, took shelter with the Turcomans.

Before closing the reign of Mahommed Shah note should be taken of a prohibition to import African slaves into Persia, and a commercial treaty with England-recorded by Watson as gratifying achievements of the period by British diplomatists. The French missions in which occur the names of MM. de Lavalette and de Sartiges were notable in their way, but somewhat barren of results. In the autumn of 1848 the shah was seized with the malady, or combination of maladies, which caused his death. Gout and erysipelas had, it is said,' ruined his constitution, and he died at his palace in Shimran on the 4th of September. He was buried at Kum, where is situated the shrine of Fatima, daughter of Imam Riza, by the side of his grandfather, Fath 'Ali, and other kings of Persia. In person he is described as short and fat, with an aquiline nose and agreeable countenance.2

Nasru 'd-Din Shah.

On the occasion of his father's death, Nașru 'd-Din Mirza, who had been proclaimed wali 'ahd, or heir apparent, some years before, was absent at Tabriz, the headquarters of his province of Azerbaijan. Colonel Farrant, then chargé d'affaires on the part of the British government, in the absence of Colonel Sheil, who had succeeded Sir John M'Neill, had, in anticipation of the shah's decease and consequent trouble, sent a messenger to summon him instantly to Teheran. The British officer, moreover, associated himself with Prince Dolgoruki, the representative of Russia, to secure the young prince's accession.

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The queen-mother, as president of the council, showed much judgment and capacity in conciliating adverse parties. But the six or seven weeks which passed between the death of the one king and the coronation of the other proved a disturbed interval, and full of stirring incident. The old minister, Hajji Mirza Aghasi, shut himself up in the royal palace with 1200 followers, and had to take refuge in the sanctuary of Shah Abdul-'Azim near Teheran. On the other hand Mirza Aga Khan, a partisan of the asafu 'd-daula, and himself an ex-minister of war, whom the hajji had caused to be banished, was welcomed back to the capital. At Isafahan, Shiraz and Kerman serious riots took place, which were with difficulty suppressed. While revolution prevailed in the city, robbery was rife in the province of Yezd; and from Kazvin the son of 'Ali Mirza otherwise called the "zillu's-sultan," the prince-governor of Teheran, who disputed the succession of Mahommed Shah, came forth to contest the crown with his cousin, the heir-apparent. The lastnamed incident soon came to an inglorious termination for its hero. But a more serious revolt was in full force at Meshed when, on the 20th of October 1848, the young shah entered his capital and was crowned at midnight king of Persia.

The chief events in the long reign of Naşru 'd-Din, fall under four heads: (1) the insurrection in Khorasan, (2) the insurrection of the Babis, (3) the fall of the amiru 'n-nizam, and (4) the war with England.

A

Khorasan.

It has been stated that the asafu 'd-daula was a competitor with Hajji Mirza Aghasi for the post of premier in the cabinet of Mahommed Shah, that he was afterwards, in the same Insurrecreign, exiled for rising in rebellion, and that his son, tion in the salar, took shelter with the. Turcomans. Some four months prior to the Mahommed Shah's decease the latter chief had reappeared in arms against his authority; he had gained possession of Meshed itself, driving the prince-governor, Hamza Mirza, into the citadel; and so firm was his attitude that Yar Mahommed of Herat, who had come to help the government officials, had retired after a fruitless co-operation, drawing away the prince-governor also. The salar now defied Murad Mirza, Naşru 'd-Din's uncle, who was besieging the city. In April 1850, after a siege of more than eighteen months, fortune turned against the bold insurgent, and negotiations were opened for the surrender of the town and citadel. Treachery may have had to do with the result, for when the shah's troops entered the holy city the salar sought refuge in the mosque of Imam Riza, and was forcibly expelled. He and his brother were seized and put to death, the instrument used being, according to Watson," the bowstring of Eastern story." The conqueror of Meshed, Murad Mirza, became afterwards himself the prince-governor of Khorasan.

In the article on BABIISM, the facts as to the life of the Bab, Mirza Ali Mahommed of Shiraz, and the progress of the Babiist movement, are separately noticed. The Bab himself was executed Bablism. in 1850, but only after serious trouble over the new religious propaganda; and his followers kept up the revolutionary propaganda.

In the summer of 1852 the shah was attacked, while riding in the vicinity of Teheran, by four Babis, one of whom fired a pistol and slightly wounded him. The man was killed, and two others were captured by the royal attendants; the fourth jumped down a well. The existence of a conspiracy was then discovered in which some forty persons were implicated; and ten of the conspirators were put to death-some under cruel torture. Mirza Taki, the amiru 'n-nizam (vulgarly amir nizam), or commander-in-chief, was a good specimen of the self-made man of Persia. He was the son of a cook of Bahram Mirza, Mahommed Shah's brother, and he had filled high and important Fall of offices of state and amassed much wealth when he was Mirza Taki. made by the young shah Nasru 'd-Din, on his accession, both his brother-in-law and his prime-minister. The choice was an admirable one; he was honest, hard-working, and liberal according to his lights; and the services of a loyal and capable adviser were secured for the new régime. Unfortunately, he did not boast the confidence of the queen-mother; and this circumstance greatly strengthened the hands of those enemies whom an honest minister must ever raise around him in a corrupt Oriental state. For a time the shah closed his eyes to the accusations and insinuations against him; but at last he fell under the evil influence of designing counsellors, and acts which should have redounded to the minister's credit became the charges on which he lost his office and his life. He was credited with an intention to grasp in his own hands the royal power; his influence over the army was cited as a cause of danger; and on the night of the 13th of November 1851 he was summoned to the palace and informed that he was no longer premier. Mirza Aga Khan, the "itimadu 'd-daulah," was named to succeed him, and had been accordingly raised to the dignity of "sadr'azim." As the hostile faction pressed the necessity of the ex-minister's removal from the capital; he was offered the choice of the govern ment of Fars, Isfahan or Kum. He declined all; but, through the mediation of Colonel Sheil, he was afterwards offered and accepted Kashan. Forty days after his departure an order for his execution was signed, but he anticipated his fate by committing suicide.

When England was engaged in the Crimean War of 1854-55 her alliance with a Mahommedan power in no way added to her

popularity or strengthened her position in Persia. The Sunnite
Turk was almost a greater enemy to his neighbour the Shi'ite than
the formidable Muscovite, who had curtailed him of
Rupture
so large a section of his territory west of the Caspian.
with
Since Sir John M'Neill's arrival in Teheran in 1841,
England.
formally to repair the breach with Mahommed Shah,
there had been little differences, demands and explanations, and these
symptoms had culminated in 1856, the year of the peace with
Russia. As to Afghanistan, the vizier Yar Mahommed had in
1842, when the British troops were perishing in the passes, or
otherwise in the midst of dangers, caused Kamran to be suffocated
in his prison. Since that event he had himself reigned supreme in
Herat, and, dying in 1851, was succeeded by his son Sa'id Mahommed.
This chief soon entered upon a series of intrigues in the Persian
interests, and, among other acts offensive to Great Britain, suffered
one 'Abbas Kuli, who had, under guise of friendship, betrayed the
cause of the salar at Meshed, to occupy the citadel of Herat, and
again place a detachment of the shah's troops in Ghurian. Colonel
Sheil remonstrated, and obtained a new engagement of non-
interference with Herat from the Persian government, as well as
the recall of 'Abbas Kuli. In September 1855 Mahommed Yusuf
Saduzai seized upon Herat, putting Sa'id Mahommed to death
with some of his followers who were supposed accomplices in the
murder of his uncle Kamran. About this time Kohan Dil Khan,
one of the chiefs of Kandahar, died, and Dost Mahommed of Kabul
annexed the city to his territory. Some relations of the deceased
chief made their escape to Teheran, and the shah, listening to their
complaint, directed the prince-governor of Meshed to march across
to the eastern frontier and occupy Herat, declaring that an invasion
of Persia was imminent. Negotiations were useless, and on the Ist
of November 1856 war against Persia was declared.

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ensued by the determined refusal of the two native officials to meet in conference; and the arbitrator had no course available but to take advantage of the notes already obtained on the spot, and return with them to Teheran, there to deliver his decision. This was done on the 19th of August 1872. The contending parties appealed to the British secretary of state for foreign affairs, as provided by previous understanding; but the decision held good, and was eventually accepted on both sides.

Nasru 'd-Din Shah, unlike his predecessors, visited Europein 1873 and in 1879. On the first occasion only he extended his journey to England, and was then attended by his "sadr 'azim," or prime minister, Mirza Husain Khan, an able and enlightened adviser, and a Grand Cross of the Star of India. His second visit was to Russia, Germany, France and Austria, but he did not cross the Channel. (F. J. G.; X.)

E. Persia from 1884 to 1901.

Gult.

In 1865 the shah had mooted the idea of a Persian naval flotilla in the Persian Gulf, to consist of two or three steamers manned by Arabs and commanded by English naval The Control officers; but the idea was discountenanced by the of the British government, to whom it was known that the Persian project really concealed aggressive designs upon the independence of the islands and pearl fisheries of Bahrein (Curzon, Persia, ii. 294). Fifteen or sixteen years later it was repeatedly pointed out to the authorities that the revenues from the customs of the Persian Gulf would be much increased if control were exercised at all the ports, particularly the small In less than three weeks after its issue by proclamation of the ones where smuggling was being carried on on a large scale, governor-general of India, the Sind division of the field force left and in 1883 the shah decided upon the acquisition of four or Karachi. On the 13th of January following the Bombay govern- five steamers, one to be purchased yearly, and instructed the ment orders notified the formation of a second division under Lieut.-General Sir James Outram. Before the general arrived late 'Ali Kuli Khan, Mukhber ad-daulah, minister of telegraphs, the island of Kharak and port of Bushire had both been occupied, to obtain designs and estimates from British and German firms. and the fort of Rishir had been attacked and carried. After The tender of a well-known German firm at Bremerhaven was the general's arrival the march upon Borazjan and the engagement at Khushab-two places on the road to Shiraz-and the finally accepted, and one of the minister's sons then residing in operations at Muhamrah and the Karun River decided the camBerlin made the necessary contracts for the first steamer. Sir paign in favour of England. On the 5th of April, at Muhamrah, Ronald Thomson, the British representative in Persia, having Sir James Outram received the news that the treaty of peace had at the same time induced the shah to consider the advantages been signed in Paris, where Lord Cowley and Farrukh Khan had to Persia of opening the Karun River and connecting it with conducted the negotiations. The stipulations regarding Herat were much as before; but there were to be apologies made to the mission Teheran by a carriageable road, a small river steamer for confor past insolence and rudeness, and the slave trade was to be sup- trolling the shipping on the Karun was ordered as well, and the pressed in the Persian Gulf. With the exception of a small force construction of the road was decided upon. Two steamers, the retained at Bushire under General John Jacob for the three months "Susa" and the "Persepolis," were completed in January 1885 assigned for execution of the ratifications and giving effect to certain stipulations of the treaty with regard to Afghanistan, the British at a cost of £32,000, and despatched with German officers and troops returned to India, where their presence was greatly needed, crew to the Persian Gulf. When the steamers were ready to owing to the outbreak of the Mutiny. do the work they had been intended for, the farmer, or farmers, of the Gulf customs raised difficulties and objected to pay the cost of maintaining the "Persepolis "; the governor of Muhamrah would not allow any interference with what he considered his hereditary rights of the shipping monopoly on the Karun, and the objects for which the steamers had been brought were not attained. The "Persepolis". remained idle at Bushire, and the "Susa was tied up in the Failieh creek, near Muhamrah. The scheme of opening the Karun and of constructing a carriageable road from Ahvaz to Teheran was also abandoned.

The question of constructing a telegraph in Persia as a link in the overland line to connect England with India was broached in Teheran by Colonel Patrick Stewart and Captain AngloChampain, officers of engineers, in 1862, and an agreeIndian Telement on the subject concluded by Edward Eastwick, graph Line. when chargé d'affaires, at the close of that year. Three years later a more formal convention, including a second wire, was signed by the British envoy Charles Alison and the Persian foreign minister; meantime the work had been actively carried on, and communication opened on the one side between Bushire and Karachi and the Makran coast by cable, and on the other between Bushire and Bagdad via Teheran. The untrustworthy character of the line through Asiatic Turkey caused a subsequent change of direction; and an alternative line-the Indo-European-from London to Teheran, through Russia and along the eastern shores of the Black Sea, was constructed, and has worked well since 1872, in conjunction with the Persian land telegraph system and the Bushire-Karachi line.

The Seistan mission, under Major-General (afterwards Sir Frederic) Goldsmid, left England in August 1870, and reached Teheran on the 3rd of October. Thence it proceeded to Isfahan, from which city it moved to Baluchistan, instead of seeking its original destination. Difficulties had arisen both in arranging the preliminaries to arbitration and owing to the disordered state of Afghanistan, and it was therefore deemed advisable to commence operations by settling a frontier dispute between Persia and the Kalat state. Unfortunately, the obstructions thrown in the way of this settlement by the Persian commissioner, the untoward appearance at Bampur of an unexpected body of Kalatis, and the absence of definite instructions marred the fulfilment of the programme sketched out; but a line of boundary was proposed, which was afterwards accepted by the litigants. In the following year the same mission, accompanied by the same Persian commissioner, proceeded to Seistan, where it remained for more than five weeks, prosecuting its inquiries, until joined by another mission from India, under Major-General (afterwards Sir Richard) Pollock, accompanying the Afghan commissioner. Complications then

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Frequent interruptions occurred on the telegraph line between Teheran and Meshed in 1885, at the time of the "Panjdeh incident," when the Russians were advancing towards Afghanistan and Sir Peter Lumsden was on the Afghan frontier; and Sir Ronald Thomson concluded an agreement with the Persian government for the line to be kept in working order by an English inspector, the Indian government paying a share not exceeding 20,000 rupees per annum of the cost of maintenance, and an English signaller being stationed at Meshed. Shortly afterwards Sir Ronald Thomson left Persia (he died on the 15th of November 1888), and Arthur (afterwards Sir Arthur) Nicolson was appointed chargé d'affaires. During the latter's tenure of office an agreement was concluded between the Persian and British governments regarding the British telegraph settlement at Jask, and the telegraph conventions of 1868 and 1872 relative to telegraphic communication between Europe and India through Persia, in force until the 1st of January 1895, were prolonged until the 31st of January 1905 by two conventions dated the 3rd of July 1887. Since then these conventions have been prolonged to 1925.

Ayub Khan, son of Shir 'Ali (Shere Ali) of Afghanistan, who had taken refuge in Persia in October 1881, and was kept interned in Teheran under an agreement, concluded on the 17th of April 1884, between Great Britain and Persia, with a pension of £8000 per annum from the British government escaped on the 14th of August 1887. After a futile attempt to enter Afghan territory and raise a revolt

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