CHAPTER VII.
IT has been said that the Shah was led to conclude a peace with Russia as news had reached him that his dominions were threatened from another quarter. Indeed, such was the condition of Central and Western Asia at this time that the King of Persia was forced to maintain an effective army ready to operate at an hour's warning upon any point of his extensive frontiers. The Shah had four grown-up and warlike sons upon whose aid he chiefly relied for the guardianship of the different provinces of his empire. Of these four the eldest was Mahomed Ali Meerza, to whom was assigned the government of Kermanshah and the defence of the Southern portion of the Turko-Persian frontier. This prince had been set aside in favour of his next brother, Abbass Meerza, who had been selected to be Veli Ahed, or heir-apparent, to the Persian throne. The law of succession to the crown of Persia is not the same as that which regulates the inheritance of the royal and princely families of Turkey and Egypt. Of them the eldest male is chosen to be the reigning prince, but in Persia the selection of the heir-apparent depends upon the free-will of the sovereign on the throne. Mahomed Ali Meerza, however, by no means acquiesced in the choice which his father had made. On one occasion the Shah ordered that at the public reception which he was to hold on the following day no one of the princes excepting Abbass Meerza was to appear before him wearing a sword. The morrow came, and with it came the princes to attend upon their sovereign. All, save Mahomed Ali Meerza, appeared unarmed, but that Shahzadeh wore his sword as usual, and when he was asked by the Shah why he had not obeyed his command he replied that there was only one way of making him obey it, and that way was to take his sword from him by force. He further announced his readiness to fight with his brother Abbass then and there, and to abide by the event of the duel. After so open a display of discontent on the part of one who had a better right than Abbass Meerza to be selected to be the Shah's heir, it seems strange that Mahomed Ali Meerza should have been employed at the head of an armed force in the field; but while Abbass Meerza was being driven before the Russians his elder brother was once more overrunning the frontier province of Turkey; humbling the Pasha of Baghdad, and reestablishing the governor of Shehr-i-zoor in his office.
The second of the Shah's four elder sons was, as has been said, Abbass Meerza, the crown-prince, who was entrusted with the government of Azerbaeejan, the richest province of Persia, and with the defence of the Russo-Persian, and of the northern part of the Turko-Persian, frontier. Azerbaeejan is the most important province of Persia. Bounded as it is on one side by Turkey and on another by Russia, its position admirably fits it for commercial intercourse with foreign nations, and hence Tabreez is the principal emporium of Persian trade. The climate of Azerbaeejan is healthy and bracing, its soil is fertile, and its inhabitants are hardy, active, and industrious. From this province the Persian army is supplied with the best recruits it receives. It is not easy to state with accuracy what may be the numbers of the population of the province, as no census of the people has ever been taken; but, according to the opinion of intelligent Persians,[1] Tabreez contains 200,000 souls, while Uroomeeah, Khoi, Maragha, Ahar, and Ardebeel, each claim from 20,000 inhabitants and upwards. The principal productions of Azerbaeejan are wheat, barley, rice, fruits, butter, wax, tobacco, wool, cotton and gums. Iron and copper abound in the hills of Karadagh, and coal is found in the vicinity of Tabreez, Water is, however, so scarce that in summer the owner of a garden does not grudge to pay a sum equal to twelve pounds sterling for the use of a stream for twenty-four hours. The suburbs of Tabreez are very extensive, occupying a space of about sixteen miles in circumference. The city numbers thirty-two caravanserais, occupied by merchants, containing more than a thousand counting-houses, and a proportionate number of store-rooms. Besides these there are thirty-seven caravanserais for the special accommodation of muleteers and their animals.
To the third of the Shah's elder sons, Hassan Ali Meerza, was assigned the third of the four most important provinces of Persia, Sheeraz; and to the fourth, Mahomed Veli Meerza, was given the almost equally important government of Khorassan. It was in that quarter that the next danger threatened the safety of the kingdom. The Turkomans of the neighbourhood of Astrabad were roused to war by a man called Haji Yoosuf, a native of Central Asia, who had been outlawed by the King of Bedekhshan. These marauders, however, in a fight which ensued with the Shah's forces, were discouraged by the loss of their leader; and as they could not restore him to life, they thought that the next best thing to do was to cut off his head, in order to secure to themselves the reward which had been offered for it by the King of Bedekhshan. A more serious rebellion, which occurred at the same time, was that of the chiefs of Khorassan, who took the opportunity of Abbass Meerza's defeat to rise against Prince Mahomed Veli. They possessed themselves of Meshed, and whilst they continued to act in concert the prince was unable to oppose any obstacle to their proceedings; but the son of the deceased Syed Mehdi opportunely espoused the cause of the Shah, and by adroitly sowing the seeds of jealousy in the minds of the chiefs, he caused the temporary breaking up of this formidable combination. The chiefs dispersed to their respective strongholds, and the prince resumed the government of Meshed.
In the meantime the ruler of Bokhara, who had been invited by the insurgents to undertake the invasion of Persia, advanced towards Khorassan, where he found the Shah's authority to be already reestablished. He had committed himself very openly to hostilities against the King of Persia, but Oriental potentates, judging of the conduct of others by what, under similar circumstances, they would do themselves, look with a lenient eye upon any infringement of neighbourly duties which may be likely to be attended with successful results; and Fetteh Ali listened with complacency to the explanations offered by the envoy of the Ameer of Bokhara, who declared that his master had been beguiled by the protestations of the rebellious chiefs of Khorassan. The Shah then sent a force to Meshed, which defeated the troops of the rebellious chiefs, who were thus forced to return to their duty. About the same time the Turkomans again rose in arms against the Shah, being headed by Mahomed Zeman Khan, one of the chiefs of the upper branch of the Kajar tribe. This leader and his son were made prisoners, and the Turkoman tribes, as is their custom after a defeat, retired into the dreary recesses of the deserts of the Attreck. The Khan of Khiva, or Khorassan, had advanced towards the Persian frontier at Astrabad to the support of the chiefs of Khorassan, but he unexpectedly found himself opposed by a Persian force superior in strength to his own. Of this superiority its commander was fully aware; and when the terrified Oozbeg potentate sent an envoy to deprecate the vengeance of the Kajar chief, the latter compelled the Oozbeg diplomatist to pass the night in the undignified occupation of playing on the harp for the delectation of the Persian generals. This insult naturally fired with wrath the mind of the Khan of Kharesm, but his forces were insufficient to enable him to avenge it, and he sustained a severe defeat from the troops of the Shah.
But the results of the rebellion of the chiefs of Khorassan did not end with the discomfiture of their ally. The most powerful of these chiefs was Isaak Khan, Karai, a man who had raised himself from the lowest rank of life to the position which he now occupied. In his youth he had held the office of mace-bearer to the chief of Kara Tartar, and had been entrusted by his master with a considerable sum of money, to be expended in building a caravanserai, which he converted into a fort,[2] where he afforded shelter to all the discontented individuals of the tribe to which he was attached. In the troubled condition to which the country was reduced he had, by the exercise of courage and prudence, contrived to consolidate his rising power, and had in time attained to the foremost place amongst the proud leaders of the mailed horsemen of Khorassan. His possessions extended on the north of the gates of Meshed for the distance of a hundred miles, whilst they stretched as far to the south in the direction of Khaf. His revenue was considerable. His force included six thousand men. Whilst this extraordinary man never failed in his efforts to conciliate the good opinion of his superiors, he was dreaded and hated by his equals, and greatly beloved by his subjects, who, under his watchful sway, lived free from all oppression. This chief added to the character of a petty ruler that of a merchant prince, and under his sagacious sway, Turbat, his place of residence, rose from the condition of a village to that of a considerable city, where his hospitality was daily extended to several hundred guests. Isaak Khan had given in his adhesion to the sovereignty of Aga Mahomed, and had been treated with great confidence and distinction by that politic monarch, whose example in this respect was followed by Fetteh Ali Shah. But Isaak Khan seems to have viewed with personal dislike the Kajar Prince Mahomed Veli Meerza, who had been appointed to rule over Khorassan, and again and again he attempted to obtain from the Shah the recall of his son. These intrigues were not unknown to the Veli of Khorassan; but Isaak Khan continued as usual to attend the levees of the prince, and to obey his authority. The Shahzadeh, fearing lest at last he should lose his government owing to the hostile influence of the Karai chief, determined upon taking a step at which the boldest might have hesitated. No man in Persia possessed more influence than Isaak Khan, and no man was so likely to be missed as he whose unbounded hospitality had been experienced by hundreds of thousands of the subjects of the Shah. But fear for his own position drove the prince to desperation, and on a certain day when the chiefs were assembled at his levee Isaak Khan and his son were successively seized and strangled in his presence. Such an act, as might have been predicted, called down on the prince a storm of indignation, which it was difficult to appease. The other chiefs, each fearing for himself, fled each to his stronghold, and the king was compelled by the general clamour to recall the governor of Khorassan. But it was said that in this act Mahomed Veli was only carrying out the policy prescribed to him by his father, who, like Tarquin, was of opinion that his son's course would be more unrestrained in a garden from which the tallest poppies should have been removed. Mahomed Veli survived the threats of vengeance which his act called forth, and fifty years later he descended to his grave mourned as the honoured elder of the Kajar race.
The government of Meshed was next conferred by the Shah upon another of his sons, Hassan Ali Meerza, a prince of a warlike disposition, and well calculated to reduce to submission the turbulent nobles of Khorassan. As they declined to appear at his court, he marched against them at the head of his troops, and he brought them one after another to acknowledge his authority. But one Hezareh[3] chief still held out in his stronghold of Mahmoodabad, and the prince, who was preparing to march upon Herat, determined to reduce this fortress by the way. As his soldiers defiled before its walls, a rash matchlockman fired a shot on the Persian troops, and this unfortunate measure determined their commander to adopt the severest measures against the Hezareh hold. It was assaulted in due form; one hundred and twenty of its defenders fell in the assault, and three hundred and fifty of their comrades were made prisoners. Their commander, however, escaped on horseback, although for twenty miles he was pursued by the prince in person. Disappointed in the hope of taking him, the Persian Shahzadeh turned his vengeance upon his prisoners, some of whom he caused to be nailed to the ground. The prince, it has been said, was at this time proceeding to Herat. The governor of that city had some time previously invaded the district of Ghorian, and to resist this measure the governor of Khorassan was now in arms against Feerooz-ed-Deen Meerza, the prince of Herat. The fate of Mahmoodabad struck terror into the heart of Feerooz-ed-Deen, and he sent an envoy to the Persian prince, offering to give up Ghorian, and praying him to spare Herat. The prince accepted the fort of Ghorian, hut continued his march towards Herat.
Probably no city in the world has so frequently witnessed the horrors of a siege as has Herat within the last hundred years. It lies in a valley surrounded by lofty mountains, and contiguous to the northern ridge which separates the territory of Herat from the country of Bactria or Bokhara. The valley extends for at least thirty miles from the east to west, and is about fifteen miles in breadth, being watered by a river which rises in the mountains, and runs through the centre of the vale. The valley is highly cultivated, its whole extent being covered with villages and gardens.[4] The city spreads over an area of four square miles, and is fortified by a lofty mud wall with towers, and a wet ditch; having on the northern side the citadel elevated above the wall. This is a small square castle, with towers at the angles built of burnt bricks, and encompassed by a wet ditch, over which is a drawbridge. Beyond this there is an outer wall with a dry ditch, and the city has two gates on the northern side, and one in each of the three other directions. From each gate a bazaar extends to the market-place, the principal one being vaulted in its whole length. In market days these bazaars are so crowded as almost to be impassable; on either side of them are spacious serais, where the merchants have their places of business. The city is abundantly supplied with water, each serai having its own cistern independently of those on either side of the bazaars. In the early part of the nineteenth century the city of Herat was believed to contain a hundred thousand inhabitants: Affghans, Moghuls, Hindoos, and Jews. It is the chief emporium of the trade between Hindostan, Kashmeer, Cabul, Candahar, Bokhara, Merve, Khorassan, Yezd, and Kerman. In addition to the advantages which it derives from this active trade, and the transit dues arising therefrom, Herat gains much wealth from the manufactures which are carried on by its citizens; but after all it is to its situation as the key to Affghanistan that it owes its chief importance. Prince Hassan Ali Meerza advanced from Ghorian to Herat, and began to besiege the city in due form.[5] The watching of each of its gates was assigned to his different leaders, and Ismail Khan, his best general, began to work his way up to the city ditch by regular approaches. These preparations terrified Feerooz-ed-Deen into absolute submission, and on paying a fine of fifty thousand tomans he was permitted to continue to be governor of the city on condition that the khotbeh, or public prayers for the king, should be read in the mosques for the Shah, and that the coinage should thenceforth be in his name.
After concluding this successful arrangement, Hassan Ali Meerza next turned his attention to the pursuit of the fugitive governor of Ghorian, who, with two other Khorassan chiefs, had found a place of refuge in the country of the tribe of Feerooz Koh. One of these chiefs was the mortal enemy of Ibraheem Khan, the head of a branch of the powerful tribe of Hezareh; and accordingly Ibraheem, without waiting for the arrival of the prince's army, determined to attack the tribe of Feerooz Koh. He did so, and being defeated had to take refuge in the camp of Ismail Khan, who had advanced in command of the leading corps of the Persian army. The country through which that army had now to make its way, is described as presenting the greatest difficulties to the progress of troops, and especially to that of artillery. For eleven days, day after day, the prince had to lead his men over rocky mountain gorges, and, in order to encourage them to exertion by his example, he marched on foot, and lent his personal aid in dragging the guns over some of the most inaccessible passes. The Sirdar Ismail Khan had in the meantime apparently reduced the fugitive chiefs to the necessity of submitting at discretion to the authority of the prince. They agreed to surrender themselves after the delay of two days, if, during that time, they should be unable to effect something for their own deliverance. The delay which they wished was granted to them, but their only object in asking it was to give time to their Feerooz Kohi allies to come up to their assistance. At the end of the forty-eight hours no signs of the coming of the chiefs were discernible, and Ismail Khan accordingly ordered his brother to advance to the destruction of the pent-up mountaineers. This officer succeeded in mastering the outlying troops opposed to him, and his soldiers having effected this service, thought their work was over, and committed the mistake which has so often proved fatal to an Oriental army, that of prematurely plundering the camp of the enemy. Booneead Khan, one of the fugitive Khorassan chiefs, saw from his position on the mountain the mistake committed by the Persian troops, and without losing a moment, he led his remaining followers through a gorge into the camp where the plunderers were at work. The result was their complete overthrow, and Ismail Khan, who advanced to their support, was unable to resist the impetuosity of the triumphant troops from the mountain. His followers fell back in disorder, but their gallant chief would have preferred death to the dishonour of defeat. He threw his sheep-skin hat to the ground to show those around him that he was determined to die on the spot; but this sign of resolution was insufficient to turn the tide of victory, and Ismail was forced to mount a horse and to follow his men, in the hope of being able to rally them. The news of his defeat was as a thunderbolt to the prince, but the latter resolved to present a bold front to this crushing misfortune. He caused his artillery to fire a salute, for the purpose of inspiriting his men, and advanced to receive and protect the fugitive troops of the Sirdar. The general himself was that day nowhere to be found; but in the middle of the night, directed by the glare of the camp-fires, he found his way to the prince. It was then confessed between them that as they were so far from their base of operations, they did not possess the means of prosecuting the mountain war at that time, and accordingly their remaining troops retraced their steps to Meshed. ***** In the year 1814, Mr. Henry Ellis was sent from England on a mission to Persia, for the purpose of modifying the treaty then in force between those two countries. Mr. Ellis accordingly, in conjunction with Mr. Morier, then British Minister at the court of Persia, agreed with the Shah's government as to the conclusion of an amended treaty, by one of the articles of which it was stipulated that the subsidy of 200,000₤. a year that England had engaged to furnish to Persia, in the event of her being attacked by any European power which might reject the mediatory offices of Great Britain, should not be payable in the case of Persia beginning a war upon either of her European neighbours, or invading the territory of either of them in the first instance. But a short period was destined to elapse ere the exact obligation of Great Britain in this matter was to form a subject of prolonged and earnest discussion. In return for the advantage conferred by this article, Persia, on her side, engaged to obstruct the advance of the armies of any European power seeking to pass through her territory for the purpose of invading India. From this time forth the Persian court was destined to become the place of residence of ministers plenipotentiary from the sovereigns of England and of Russia; and as Persia was thus assumed to be a civilized power, she was obliged thenceforth to conform herself in some respects to the practices of civilized nations. The mere residence of foreign ministers at his capital of itself greatly tended to increase the stability of the throne of the Shah, whilst it conferred a greater dignity upon his court than it was in his power to purchase with all his treasure. But a semi-barbarous government was not all at once to be brought to observe the customs that are the fruit of many centuries of civilization; and on more than one occasion it has been found necessary to threaten the Ministers of the Shah with the withdrawal of all intercourse with them, in the event of the repetition of certain outbreaks of needless cruelty. On the whole, however, the intercourse between Persia and European nations has been highly beneficial to that country. From it she has learned some lessons as to the necessity of upright dealing and a faithful observance of treaty engagements. From it she has learned to respect the opinion of the civilized world, and to abstain from barbarous acts, for fear of calling down upon herself the ridicule and indignation of the European press; and from it has arisen and gradually extended a trade by which the subjects of the Shah are supplied to a greater extent each year with the produce of European enterprise and industry.
At the time of the conclusion of the treaty of Gulistan, the Persian Government had been led to indulge the hope that, through the good offices of England, the Czar might be induced to restore to the Shah some portion of the territory which was by that treaty ceded to Russia. The same ambassador who had previously visited England was accordingly sent to St. Petersburg with instructions to spare no effort to induce the Emperor's Government to accede to the wishes of the Shah. But in respect of winning back one square foot of territory from the iron grasp of Russia, the efforts of the Persian ambassador were utterly futile, and all the result they produced was an idle promise that General Alexander Yermeloff, the newly appointed Governor-General of Georgia and ambassador to Persia, would discuss the matter upon his arrival at Tehran. General Yermeloff in due time came to Persia at the head of a splendid following, and being the bearer of presents of a value calculated to impress upon the mind of the Shah a just idea of the grandeur of Russia. At a court composed of persons at once so vain and so venal as those who counselled the Shah, there was every reason to suppose that General Yermeloff would obtain a favourable answer to all his demands. Persia had felt the power of his master, and she now saw his reflected magnificence. She had lately been opposed to him in arms; she was now invited to become his ally. The Czar's representative wished the Shah to agree to join him in an offensive engagement against the Sultan; but the King of Persia had already felt what it was to have his interests overlooked by his European allies at the time of concluding peace, and he wisely declined to provoke the enmity of the Sublime Porte. General Yermeloff next demanded permission for the passage of a Russian army through the provinces of Astrabad and Khorassan, on its way to attack the Khanate of Khiva; but he was told that as the treaty of Gulistan contained no clause justifying such a demand, the permission could not be granted. The ambassador then requested the sanction of the Shah for the residence of a Russian commercial agent at Resht in Gilan; but compliance with this request was categorically refused. A similar answer was given to the Russian proposal to supply officers for the purpose of disciplining the army of the Shah. On his side, General Yermeloff was equally firm. He would not consent to the restoration of a single acre of the territory which had been won from Persia by the force of his master's arms; and thus the business of his embassy was brought to a close equally unsatisfactory to either party. But not the less hospitable for this was the treatment which the Czar’s representative experienced at the Persian court. The utmost refinements of the ornate, complimentary style of Persian composition were called into use for the purpose of expressing the regard felt by his Kajar Majesty for his Northern neighbour, and for the Lieutenant of the Caucasus; and the presents made to the ambassador on his departure were in keeping with those of which he had been the bearer from the Czar.
Having granted an audience of leave to his powerful visitor, the Shah was at liberty to turn his attention to the punishment of those who had committed a serious infringement of order which occurred in the province of Yezd. That city stands in a plain, or broad valley, which is continuous with that of Naeen, nearly equidistant from parallel ranges of mountains on the northern and southern sides, and bounded by a sandy desert on the western and eastern directions. On the southern side the plain for some miles has been partially laid under cultivation. The city is enclosed by a ditch and double wall, with numerous detached towers around it,[6] all in tolerable repair, and its circumference is about two and a half miles, the area within being crowded with houses and gardens. At the eastern side, within the walls, stands the citadel, an irregular square of about four hundred paces in diameter, possessing a ditch, a double wall and towers, and devoted to the purpose of sheltering the soldiers of the garrison. The city is surrounded by numerous habitations and gardens, the circumference of which may be about five miles. The bazaars of Yezd contain about a thousand shops, and are arched over in the usual Persian style. The town possesses thirty-four caravanserais, in fourteen of which the merchants and traders transact their affairs. The only public building deserving of notice which this city contains is the Mesjid-i-Juma, a mosque, the construction of which is attributed to Ameer Chakmäk, an officer in the army of Timur. Its lofty façade and minarets, though they are now in a ruinous state, form an imposing object, and have been highly ornamented. There are also in the city about thirty other mosques and eleven medressehs, or colleges, for students of divinity; Yezd is denominated in official papers the Dar-el Ibádeh, or seat of devotion. The city and the surrounding suburbs are divided into twenty- four wards, and owing to the great depth at which the water that supplies the town is found, the houses are constructed very far below the level of the streets, sometimes being sunk as much as twenty or twenty—five feet. The population has been estimated[7] as being about forty thousand souls, forming for the most part an industrious body; many persons being engaged in the manufacture of silks, cotton, &c., whilst others devote their time to various branches of trade. In addition to the Mahomedan population of Yezd, that city contains some Hindoo merchants, some Jews, and a considerable number of Guebres; but the people of the last-mentioned sect, owing to the oppression from which they have suffered, are year by year withdrawing themselves, as they find opportunities, from the rule of the Shah, and hastening to join their more prosperous co-religionists in India. The climate of Yezd is considered to be very salubrious, and is extremely dry; occasionally, however, an epidemic makes its appearance, and at one blow does the work which in other places is scattered over years. In 1846 the cholera was fatal to between seven and eight thousand of the inhabitants. This city surrendered to the Affghans, who, on entering it, set on foot a general massacre of the people; the bodies of the victims were interred in long lines of vaults on the margin of the ditch, and after the lapse of a hundred and twenty years, these vaults were opened, and it was observed by an English traveller[8] that the clothes in which the bodies had been buried still clung undecayed round the skeletons, affording a proof of the extreme dryness of the climate and the soil. The districts of Yezd are small and thinly populated, owing to the encroachments of the desert and the scarcity of water. The soil of the finest district of the province that of Ardekan is said to yield from thirty to sixtyfold of grain in return for high cultivation. Wheat and barley are the staple crops; and fruits of numerous descriptions, including nectarines, grapes and cherries, dates, melons and pomegranates of exquisite quality, are produced in the gardens. The plain of Bafk possesses large groves of palm-trees. Here, as in every part of Persia, the mineral productions of the country have excited little or no attention. The only mine now worked is one of lead at Zerekan, the daily produce of which is said to amount to between seven and thirteen hundred pounds' weight, the smallest of which measures is valued at Yezd at about ten tomans, or rather less than five pounds sterling. The deserts surrounding Yezd afford shelter and subsistence to wild boars, antelopes and hares, and to jackals, wolves and foxes, wild sheep, wild goats and wild asses; and in the hills are found the three kinds of partridge known in Persia the royal partridge, the ordinary bird of that name, and the smaller kind, called teehoo. The hump- backed oxen of the country, which are small, handsome, and high-bred, are used as beasts of burden, and are guided by a halter passed through their nostrils.
This province from its situation is particularly exposed to danger and annoyance from the inroads of plundering Belooches and Bakhtiaris. The former travel immense distances across the desert, being carried by small, swift camels, on each of which two riders sit, placed back to back on a double saddle. The camels move either at an easy but rapid amble or at a trot, which pace they keep up for a surprising length of time, and if they obtain a fair start, they are not easily overtaken by horsemen. When their riders are obliged to halt and fight, they draw up the camels in the form of a ring or of a square, and, making them lie down, endeavour to keep off their enemies from passing this living rampart. A prolonged defence under these circumstances causes but little embarrassment to the Belooches, as they have all they require with them, and can, in case of necessity, provide themselves at once with food and water by slaughtering one of their camels. They are a hardy race, and so destitute in many instances of worldly substance that they do not hesitate to undertake, for the sake of plunder, a journey of thirty or forty days across the sandy desert. They are reputed to be more ferocious and more cruel than the Bakhtiari, being addicted to the custom of killing those whom they have plundered; whereas the Bakhtiari rarely add murder to robbery, unless in the case of resistance being offered. The Belooches assault their victims with matchlocks and swords, and they defend themselves with shields of asses' skin. I have given this minute description of Yezd, partly because it may tend to afford the reader some idea of the conditions of life in Persia, where the state of things in one province more or less resembles that of another province; and partly because Yezd claims notice as being the last spot in Persia where the descendants of the fire-worshippers[9] who so long ruled the empire have found a resting-place, on the condition of cultivating the earth for their alien masters.
The number of the Guebres in and around Yezd is reduced to about eight hundred families. They possess two fire temples in the town of Yezd, and one in each of the eight villages occupied by them in its vicinity. These consist of arched apartments open to the weather, and paved with small stones. These are the houses of prayer, and in a dark room adjoining each is preserved the sacred fire buried beneath a heap of ashes on a raised piece of brickwork or on a regularly- constructed altar of stone. The Guebre priests are of two degrees the Moobid, or chief priest, and the Destear, or inferior clergy. The Moobid, before going to meals, recites a prayer, when he places before him fire, holy water, and the Hom, a knotted plant found in the desert. To his care is confided the Zendavesta and the Dessateer, or book of prophecies; whilst the sacred fire is watched over by attendants called Heerhed. Four fasts in each month are ordained to be observed by the Guebres, but at all other times they are at liberty to eat flesh. The flesh of all birds is lawful food for them, excepting that of the cock. That bird, and the dog, are regarded by them as preventatives against the approach of evil spirits, and on this account the presence of a dog is generally secured at a Guebre death-bed. Like the Mahomedan, the Guebre is enjoined to pray five times each day at dawn, at sunrise, at noon, near sunset, and after it ; at which periods two orisons are recited the one a short, the other a lengthy prayer. The Guebres of Persia turn to the sun during their devotions, but they do not regard that luminary as a deity. They look upon it as an emblem of the Creator, calling it the light of God. They consider the four elements as sacred and not to be defiled unnecessarily. The Guebres of Yezd wear a sacred girdle, a thick narrow ribbon, composed of seventy-two threads of the wool of sheep or goat, which is bound on at the age of fourteen, a ceremony which is celebrated with rejoicing. The lower orders of this people, of the male sex, are distinguished by their costume of dull yellow, a short vest or petticoat, and a striped turban. The Guebres have two places of pilgrimage in the vicinity of Yezd Anarck, in Peeshkoh, and Zerjo, near Ayhda. They believe that at these places two daughters of Yezdigird, the last of the Kayanian kings, were miraculously translated when pursued by their enemies the rocks having opened to receive them. Sheep[10] and oxen are there offered up in sacrifice. It is touching to witness the reverence paid by the fire-worshippers, so-called, of Yezd to the memory of the last monarch of their ancient faith, and to that of his immediate descendants. They have adopted the date of the death of Yezdigird as an epoch from which to count their periods of time. They now, as did their ancestors of old, date the commencement of their solar year from the 21st of March, when the sun enters the sign of Aries. Their months are of thirty days, and the five extra days of each year are distinguished by each day having its distinct name. They have no division of time corresponding to a week. Five days of each month are sacred, and the months are for the most part called after the names of angels. The Guebres of our day do not bury their dead, but it has been observed that this custom would seem to have been departed from in ancient times in the case of their sovereigns, whose tombs, hewn in the rocks, are found at Nakhsh-i-Rustem and at Persepolis. The places at which the bodies of the dead are laid out to be decomposed by the action of the atmosphere are simply walled enclosures, without roof or covering, on the summit of mountains or rocks. The Guebres no longer make use amongst each other of the language handed down to them by their ancestors. Their children learn the Persian tongue alone, and a knowledge of the Zend is confined to the priesthood. ***** In the city of Yezd there dwelt, in the earlier part of the reign of Fetteh Ali Shah, the chief of a sect of Mahomedans who hold that the lawful succession to the Imam Jaffer belonged to his son Ismail, and who are therefore denominated Ismailites. These sectaries were devoted to their chief, who was on this account a man of great influence throughout Persia. Some of his servants having quarrelled with some shopkeepers of the city, the latter pursued them to their master's house. The affray soon increased in dimensions, and the shopkeepers, being headed by one Moolla Hassan, succeeded in overpowering the Ismaïlites, whose chief they put to death. The news of this event was received with the greatest concern by the Shah, who dreaded lest he should be held responsible by the dangerous sect of Ismaïlites for the death of their sacred chief. Accordingly the ringleader of the disturbance was sent for to Tehran, and was flogged and otherwise severely punished in the Shah's presence. The actual perpetrators of the assassination of Shah , who boasted descent from him from whom the assassins are named, had met their death by the hands of his followers, and Fetteh Ali adopted his son Aga Khan, Mahalati, and added a considerable property to the estates which the boy had inherited from his father.
In the same year[11] the port of Mahooya on the coast of the Persian Gulf was added to the dominions of the Shah, having been taken by Mahomed Zeki Khan.
In the earlier portion of the following year the attention of the Shah's government was again engrossed by the appearance of a most formidable combination of the powers of Herat, Central Asia, and Khorassan. Feerooz-ed-Deen Meerza, the Prince of Herat, had no sooner agreed to hold his principality under the King of Persia than he began to shrink from the consequences of having offended his brother, the Shah of Cabul. He accordingly sent to demand from him the assistance of a military force, for the purpose of enabling him to withstand the pretensions of the governor of Khorassan. This demand on his part was met at Cabul, with instant acquiescence. That kingdom was then nominally ruled over by Mahmood Shah, but virtually by his able Vizeer, Fetteh Khan, Barukzye, who subsequently became more widely known from his having paved the way to the rise to power of his celebrated brother, Dost Mahomed Khan. Fetteh Khan had placed most of his numerous brothers at the head of the different provinces of Affghanistan, and he was glad of an opportunity of displacing the Sedozye ruler of Herat. Accordingly he marched to that stronghold with a military force, with which he encamped before the walls of the city, but he carefully declined to enter Herat until he had made himself sure of the cooperation of its leading men in the scheme which he desired to carry out. Having prepared his way, he entered the city for the ostensible purpose of bidding adieu to Feerooz-ed-Deen Meerza before setting out for Ghorian; and he made prisoners of the prince and his family, sent them under an escort to Cabul, and put the Vizeer of Herat to death. He then despatched his brother Keendil, commonly called Kohendil, Khan, with orders to possess himself of the fortress of Ghorian, and he wrote to each of the chiefs of Khorassan, inviting him to join in a combination for throwing off the supremacy of the Shah of Persia in Herat, Ghorian, and the dependencies of Meshed. He further engaged in his interests the Khan of Khiva, and the chiefs of the two powerful tribes of Feerooz Kohi and Hezareh, the last of whom, Ibraheem Khan, had lately been the ally of the governor of Meshed. Amongst the Khorassan chiefs who joined his standard was the surviving son of Isaak Khan, Karai.
The governor of Meshed lost no time in making the Shah's ministers aware of the extent of the danger which threatened the Persian power in the East, and in their turn the Shah's ministers lost no time in carrying into effect such measures as seemed to them to be best fitted for meeting the emergency. Meerza Abdul Wahab Khan, the Moetemed-ed-Dowleh, was in the first place sent to Khorassan with instructions to spare no effort to win back to the interests of the Shah some amongst the warlike chieftains of that country. In the next place, such troops as were at hand and could be spared were pushed forward to Meshed, and the Shah prepared to follow them in person after the celebration of the annual festival of the Nowrooz. At the same time the king endeavoured to add security to the foreign relations of his country by sending an ambassador to the Sublime Porte, from whence the same envoy was to proceed to the courts of Vienna and Paris, on his way to England, which was his final destination. On the arrival at Meshed of the reinforcements from Tehran, Prince Hassan Ali Meerza found himself in a condition to take the field at the head of a body of 10,000 men. He was, however, at a loss as to the direction to which he ought to turn his arms. The Khan of Khiva had advanced with a powerful force to Serekhs, and the prince could not but be certain that if he should lead his troops against him, Fetteh Khan, who, with 40,000 men, was on the border of Khorassan, would advance to the city of Meshed. Under these circumstances, he determined to attack the nearest enemy, and accordingly he marched towards Ghorian, and soon found himself in the presence of the army of Fetteh Khan, which was encamped at a place called Kohseveeah, a short distance on the Herat side of the Persian frontier. The resolution displayed by the prince seems to have produced some effect on Fetteh Khan, who probably was not aware of the inferior number of the army of his adversary. He sent to inform his Highness that he had no wish to fight with him, and that upon the condition that Ghorian should be left in the possession of the Shah of Cabul, and that his two allies, Mahomed Khan Karai, and Ibraheem Khan, should be secured in their respective rights over Turbat and Bakhers, he would engage not to undertake any hostilities against the King of Persia. To this overture the governor of Meshed returned a taunting reply, and both sides thereupon prepared for battle. The advantage in point of numbers was greatly in favour of the Affghans, but the Persian troops were more accustomed to unity of action than were the motley elements of which the army of Fetteh Khan was composed. Nevertheless, the Persian soldiers could scarcely bear up against the weight of numbers, and the Semnan regiment was already taking to flight, when its colonel, Zulfikhar Khan, dismounted from his charger, which he deliberately hamstrung, declaring to his clansmen that if they should abandon the field of battle they would leave their chief in the hands of the enemy. Fetteh Khan's immediate followers seem to have fought bravely; but he was unable to exercise authority over some of his allies, who stood aloof during the battle, in order that they might be the better able to plunder the Persian camp so soon as the fighting should be over. A bullet, which struck Fetteh Khan in the mouth, decided the event of the day, and the field was left in the hands of the Persians.
One of the Khorassan chiefs, who had espoused the cause of the Affghans, was mistaken for the prince- governor of Khorassan by the Moetemed-ed-Dowleh, one of the ministers of the Shah, who thus fell into his power. Such an event might seem at first sight to be a success for Fetteh Khan; in reality it proved to be the reverse. Under no circumstances need one despair of being able to corrupt the fidelity of a Persian; and the Moetemed-ed-Dowleh, who was aware of the character of those he had to deal with, took advantage of the opportunity of suggesting to his captor that he should go over to the side of the prince. His words were not wasted on the rebellious chief, who authorized him to make terms for his return to duty. The governor of Khorassan accordingly agreed to name the chief to a subordinate government under himself, and the Shah's minister was sent with all honour to the Persian camp, while his late captor made haste to join in the spoiling of the now fugitive Affghans. The King of Persia received the news of this decisive battle when he was on his way from Tehran to Meshed, and he followed up his advantage by besieging and taking the fort of Bern, whose governor had rebelled. Here an ambassador met him from Mahmood Shah of Cabul, disavowing the proceedings of his Vizeer, Fetteh Khan, and deprecating the anger of Fetteh Ali Shah. The king, in reply, required that Fetteh Khan should be made over to him in chains, or that he should be blinded by Mahmood, failing which concession he threatened to invade Affghanistan. In the meantime a force was sent to encounter the Khan of Khiva. That potentate did not wait to receive it, but retreated to the regions whence he had come. The condition imposed by the King of Persia was at once accepted by the Shah of Cabul, and the unfortunate Fetteh Khan was blinded and afterwards barbarously murdered. But his death was speedily avenged by his brother, Dost Mahomed; and the next envoy from Affghanistan to Persia was sent by Kamran Meerza to implore the protection of the king, and to announce that, save the fortresses of Herat and Candahar, nothing of Affghanistan remained to him or to his father, Mahmood Shah.
In the year of the Hegira 1236,[12] hostilities broke out at the extremity of Persia most distant from the scene of the military operations in which the Shah's army had last taken part. A dispute arose between the frontier Persian and Turkish authorities between the Prince- Governor of Azerbaeejan and the Seraskier of Erzeroum— on account of two wandering tribes claimed by the former as Persian subjects, and to which the latter afforded his protection. The Seraskier was recalled, but his successor showed himself to be even more unfriendly towards the Persians, imprisoning an agent sent by the governor of Tabreez to remonstrate on the subject of some grievances. After this insult the Shah's Government became convinced that friendly relations were no longer possible between the frontier authorities, and Abbass Meerza was accordingly instructed to invade the Turkish dominions. His troops crossed the border, and possessed themselves of the fortified places of Toprak-Killeh and Ak Serai. They were opposed by a force sent from Erzeroum; but this was insufficient to withstand them, and they overran the border districts, and took possession of Abshekr, Diadeen, Moollasgird, Bitlees, Moosh, Ikhlot, Adelace- jawas, and Khandoosh.
On the other hand the Turkish Government prepared to counterbalance these advantages by invading, from Baghdad, the frontier government of Shehr-i-zoor. The force sent by the Pasha for this purpose was opposed by the prince-governor of Kermanshah, who defeated the Ottoman army, and followed up his victory by advancing to the outskirts of Baghdad. The Pasha possessed no further means of stopping his progress, and when he had almost arrived at the gates of the City of the Caliphs, he was implored to spare the place which now lay at his mercy. This appeal to the moderation of a Persian general would probably have been of little avail, had not the prince found himself to be stricken with a mortal disease which would have prevented him from exercising a control over his army. He accordingly spared Baghdad, and prepared to return by the shortest route to Kermanshah. He had crossed the vast plain which lies between the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan; but when he had reached the middle of the imposing pass by which the upper country of Persia in that direction is approached, his ailments increased to such a degree as to prevent his further progress. A messenger was despatched to Baghdad, to summon to his assistance an European physician; but he was already beyond the aid of medical science, and as he felt himself to be dying, he was careful to send to their native mountains the Looristan and Bakhtiari chiefs in his camp, knowing that they would in all probability raise disturbances after his decease. At a lonely spot in the pass of Kerrind, marked by the remnant of an ancient arch, died the eldest son of Fetteh Ali Shah, at the early age of thirty-seven, and his removal from the scene probably saved his country, at a later period, from a renewal of the horrors of civil war, to which, in the preceding century, she had for so long a time been given over. When the news of this occurrence reached Tehran, it was, according to Persian custom, at first concealed from the king. Gradually his ministers and nobles assumed the garments of mourning, and it was not until after the lapse of a week that the news of his son's demise was revealed to the Shah from the lips of his youngest child.
In the meantime, the war continued to rage upon the frontier of Azerbaeejan. The Porte appointed a new Seraskier to Erzeroum, and under him were three Pashas, each of whom took the field at the head of a separate force. Of these, one undertook the siege of toprak-Killeh, while the other two marched towards the Persian frontier, with the intention of invading Azerbaeejan. A Persian officer starting from Erivan encountered a Turkish force, which he defeated, taking its commander, and a thousand men, prisoners. These were sent to the Crown-Prince of Persia at Khoi, and as he was anxious for a termination of the hostilities that were being carried on, he despatched them all free from ransom to the Pasha of Erzeroum, with an expression of his desire to see peace re-established. But the Seraskier, in Persian phrase, imagined that he could discern the image of victory in the mirror of his consciousness, and he turned a deaf ear to the suggestion of the Prince. During this time, Toprak-Killeh held out, and Abbass Meerza marched from Khoi with the hope of being able to relieve that fort. In passing through the Armenian district of Kara-Keesia, he was met by a procession of the priests of that persuasion, headed by their archbishop, who implored his Highness's protection, and consecrated his sword. Orders had been given to the commanders of the Persian detachments on the frontier to hasten to join the Prince's standard. No troops in the world, it may safely be asserted, are capable of so much continued endurance of fatigue as are the veteran soldiers of Persia. On this occasion several regiments marched towards their destination for many days together at the rate of thirty miles a day.[13] Very few men, however, had joined the Persian commander ere he found himself within sight of Toprak-Killeh, and of the Turkish army.
On the Pashas' becoming aware of his inferiority in point of numbers, they resolved at once to attack him, but he was able to stand his ground until seven thousand of his troops, of whose approach he was aware, had joined him. Still his forces were much inferior to those to whom he was opposed, but the system of divided command which had been adopted by the Osmanlis, now served to neutralize their superiority in numbers. The struggle which ensued was long and bloody, but we can scarcely give our credit to the Persian historian,[14] who asserts that fifty thousand Turks were left dead upon the field of battle. The corps of one of the Pashas suffered severely, and its commander's flight decided the day in favour of the Persians. The siege of Toprak-Killeh was immediately raised, and the three Ottoman camps, with all that they contained, fell into the hands of the crownprince. So little prepared were the Turks for the flight to which they had betaken themselves, that many jewelled coffee-cups were found in their tents, which had only been half-emptied. After this victory the crownprince once more offered terms of peace to the Seraskier of Erzeroum, but that Pasha nobly replied that, so long as the Persian general should maintain a threatening attitude upon Turkish soil, to talk of peace was impossible. Abbass Meerza accordingly withdrew his army to within the Persian frontier, and the Seraskier was empowered by the Porte to conclude a treaty with the plenipotentiaries nominated by the Shah. But during the time that the war still raged, great confusion prevailed along the length of the Turko-Persian frontier. In the direction of Baghdad the disputed province of Shehr-i- zoor became "once again the theatre of military operations, and with a view, at the same time, to put down his opponents in this quarter, and to secure for himself a sufficient escort during a pilgrimage which he wished to make to the shrines of Hussein and of Ali, the Shah gathered around his standard a military force, at the head of which he marched to Hamadan. On the one hand, however, the Turks were defeated near the border by the son of the late governor of Kermanshah; and on the other, the king's troops had to be dispersed on account of the ravages which the cholera was making amongst them. That disease appeared this year for the first time in Persia, and is said to have carried away one hundred thousand victims, but this number must be set down as a mere guess, since no mortuary statistics are kept in the Shah's dominions.
At another part the frontier was disturbed by an inroad made by the Kurds of the mountains upon the peaceful Christians of the district of Salmas, six thousand of whom are said to have been on this occasion put to death. In this portion of the kingdom of Persia, there is a Nestorian population of about thirty thousand persons, five thousand of whom dwell in the mountains, and twenty-five thousand in the plain of Uroomeeah, gaining their livelihood almost exclusively by the cultivation of the soil. Their landlords supply them with grain seeds, and when the harvest is reaped two-thirds of it are retained by the owner, while the remaining third is made over to the ryot. But under various pretexts a considerable portion of the cultivator's substance is extorted from him by the rapacious landowner, who is sufficiently powerful in the support of his mountain border clansmen, and sufficiently far removed from the seat of government at Tehran, to treat with indifference the orders which are sent from time to time by the Shah for the just and equitable treatment of his Christian subjects. It must be added that the arbitrary exactions levied on the Nestorians are not dictated by prejudice against their religion, but are in a great measure the same as those practised upon Mahomedan cultivators at a distance from the capital, and where the landowner can fall back upon his tribesmen for support in case of resistance. Two bodies of foreign missionaries, American and French respectively, have for many years past devoted their painstaking endeavours to the improvement of this portion of the Christian population of Persia. The system followed by the American missionaries is to afford the best secular education which they have it in their power to bestow upon the pupils who attend their schools, and to instruct the Nestorians in the tenets of that sect of Christianity to which they profess to belong. No proselytism of any kind is attempted by these missionaries. The French priests at Salmas direct their labours towards the extension amongst the sectaries of Persia of the faith of Rome. The education which many children of both sexes are year after year receiving in these charitable establishments would be much more highly appreciated if there were more means open to Christian ryots of honesty and capacity for securing to themselves advancement in the different walks of life; but in a country where fair-dealing between man and man is scarcely believed in, and where Christianity is a despised religion, the earnest labours of many devoted men during long years have not as yet produced any appreciable effect upon the general material condition of the Christians of Persia.
The attack on Salmas which I have mentioned was repulsed after a time by an armed force sent from Tabreez, and tranquillity was for the time re-established along the Turko-Persian frontier. The Pasha of Baghdad soon again gave trouble, but was obliged to pay a fine to the Shah, and to engage not to levy any toll upon the Persian pilgrims who might pass through the limits of the territory subject to his jurisdiction, on their way to Kerbela and Nejjef. One of the articles of the treaty brought to Tehran by the Turkish envoy for ratification was disapproved of by the Shah, and this caused a delay in the ultimate conclusion of peace, but both parties finally agreed to the terms upon which the hostilities between them should be brought to a close, and each power retained the territorial possessions which had belonged to it at the commencement of the war.[15]
Shortly after this event the Khan of Khiva died, and his son signalized his accession to the musnud by invading Khorassan. But the prince-governor collected several squadrons of the famous horsemen of that province, clad in mail wrought by the descendants of the sword-makers of Damascus, who were carried into captivity by Tinmr, proceeded to attack the formidable host of Oozbegs and Turkomans advancing against him, and after a severe struggle drove the young Khan of Khiva back into the deserts whence he had issued. As a warning against such attempts for the future, the prince then caused a pyramid to be erected of two thousand skulls of the Turkomans that had been slain in the action.
- ↑ See Report on the trade of Azerbaeejan, by Mr. W. Dickson, for 1859.
- ↑ History of Persia, by Sir J. Malcolm.
- ↑ The Hazarah, a tribe and descendants of Moguls, and of Tshingis Khan. Most of them are totally destitute of beards. They are partly Sunnees and partly Sheahs. . . . They are cruel, treacherous, inhospitable, and vile robbers and murderers. Missionary Labours, by the Rev. Joseph Wolff.
- ↑ Narrative of a journey by Captain Christie.
- ↑ A.H. 1232 : A.D. 1817.
- ↑ "Notes on the Cities of Southern Persia," by K. E. Abbott.
- ↑ By Mr. Abbott.
- ↑ Mr. K. E. Abbott.
- ↑ In several parts of this work, the Guebres, or Parsis, are called fire-worshippers, because they are generally known to English readers by that name.
- ↑ Notes by Mr. K. E. Abbott.
- ↑ A.H. 1232.
- ↑ A.D. 1821.
- ↑ The reader may compare the distance here stated to have been accomplished in such a time by Persian soldiers with the account given by Xenophon of the marches of the army of Cyrus. See Xenophon’s Expedition of Cyrus, book i., chapter ii., 22 parasangs in 3 days; and chapter v., 90 parasangs in 13 days. 1 parasang equals 3 miles 787½ yards, or 3½ miles all but 92½ yards.
- ↑ Riza Kuli Khan.
- ↑ Treaty of Erzeroum, between Persia and Turkey—A.D. July 28, 1823: A.H. Zilkadeh 19, 1238.