Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/674

PERSIA [MODERN 52-1770. behind the walls of the town. Kari m retired a second time to Ispahan, and in the following spring advanced again to meet Azad. A pitched battle took place between them, in which the army of Karim was defeated. He retreated to the capital, closely pressed by the foe. Thence he continued his way to Shiraz, but Azad was still upon his traces. He then threw himself upon the mercy of the Arabs of the Garmsir, or hot country, near the Persian Gulf, to whom the name of the Afghans was hateful, and who rose in a body to turn upon Azad. Karim, by their aid, once more repaired his losses and advanced on Ispahan, while Muhammad Hasan with fifty thousand men was coming from the opposite direction, ready to encounter either the Afghan or the Zend. The Afghan did not await his coining, but retired to his government of Tabriz. "The Zend issued from Ispahan, and was a second time defeated in a pitched battle by the Kajar. Karim took refuge behind the walls of Shiraz, and all the efforts of the enemy to dislodge him were ineffectual. Muhammad Hasan Khan in the following year turned his attention to Adarbaijan. Azad was no longer in a posi tion to oppose him in the field, and he in turn became master of every place of importance in the province, while Azad had to seek assistance in vain first from the Pasha of Baghdad, and then from his former enemy, the Tsar of Georgia. Next year the conquering Kajar returned to Shiraz to make an end of the only rival who now stood in his way. On his side were 80,000 men, commanded by a general who had twice defeated the Zend chief on an equal field. Karim was still obliged to take shelter in Shiraz, and to employ artifice in order to supply the place of the force in which he was deficient. Nor were his efforts in this respect unattended with success : seduced by his gold, many of the troops of the Kajar began to desert their banners. In the meantime the neighbour hood of Shiraz was laid waste, so as to destroy the source from which Muhammad Hasan drew his provisions ; by degrees his army vanished, and he had. finally to retreat with rapidity to Ispahan with the few men that remained to him. Finding his position there to be untenable, he retreated still further to the country of his own tribe, while his rival advanced to Ispahan, where he re ceived the submission of nearly all the chief cities of Persia. The ablest of Karim s officers, Shaikh Ali, was sent in pursuit of the Kajar chief. The fidelity of the commander to whom that chief tain had confided the care of the pass leading into Mazandaran, was corrupted ; and, as no further retreat was open to him, he found himself under the necessity of fighting. The combat which ensued resulted in his complete defeat, although he presented to his followers an example of the most determined valour. While attempting to effect his escape he was recognized by the chief of the other branch of the Kajar tribe, who had deserted his cause, and who had a blood-feud with him, in pursuance of which he now put him to death. Karim " For nineteen years after this event Karim Khan ruled with the Khan. title of wakil, or regent, over the whole of Persia, excepting the province of Khurasan. He made Shiraz the seat of his government, and by means of his brothers put down every attempt which was made to subvert his authority. The rule of the great Zend chief was just and mild, and he is on the whole, considering his educa tion and the circumstances under which he was placed, one of the most faultless characters to be met with in Persian history. " Karim Khdn died at his capital and favourite resi dence in 1779 in the twentieth year of his reign, and, it is said, in the eightieth of his age. He built the great bazaar of Shir&z, otherwise embellishing and im proving the city, had a tomb constructed over the re mains of Hafiz, and repaired the " turbat " at the grave of Sa di, outside the walls. He encouraged commerce and agriculture, gave much attention to the state of affairs along the shores of the Persian Gulf, and carefully studied the welfare of the Armenian community settled in his dominions. In his time the British factory was removed from Gombroon to Bushahr (Bushire). It would be plea sant, if space allowed, to repeat the anecdotes creditable to his memory ; for it is unusual to find so worthy a figure in Oriental annals. On Karim s death a new period of anarchy supervened. His brother, Zaki, a cruel and vindictive chief, and withal a pardoned rebel for, when governor of Ispahan, he had revolted against Karim assumed the government. At the same time he proclaimed Abu 1-Fath Kh&n, second son of the deceased monarch, and his brother Muhammad Ali, joint-successors to the throne. The seizure of the citadel at (Shiraz by the adherents of the former, among whom were the more influential of the Zends, may have induced him to adopt this measure as one of prudent conciliation. But the garrison held out, and, to avoid a protracted siege, he had recourse to treachery. The suspicious nobles were solemnly adjured to trust themselves to his keeping, under promise of forgiveness. They believed his professions, tendered their submission, and were cruelly butchered. Zaki did not long enjoy the fruits of his perfidious dealing. The death of Karim Khan had raised two formidable adver saries to mar his peace, who could not fail to bring on a denouement of some kind seriously affecting his interests. Agha Muhammad, son of Muhammad Hasan, the Kajar chief of Astr&bdd, a prisoner at large in Shir/iz, was in the environs of that city awaiting intelligence of the old king s decease, and, hearing it, instantly escaped to Mazandaran, there to gather his tribesmen together and put himself in a condition to compete for the crown of Persia. Taken prisoner by Nadir and barbarously mutilated by Adil Shah, he had afterwards found means to rejoin his people, but had surrendered himself to Karim Kh&n when his father was killed in battle. On the other hand, Sadik, brother to Zaki, who had won considerable and deserved repute by the capture of Basrah from the Turkish governor, abandoned his hold of the conquered town on hearing of the death of Karim, and appeared with his army before Shiraz. To provide against the intended action of the first, Zaki detached his nephew, Ali MurM, at the head of his best troops to proceed with all speed to the north ; and, as to the second, the seizure of such families of Sadik s followers as were then within the walls of the town, and other violent measures, struck such dismay into the hearts of the besieg ing soldiers that they dispersed and abandoned their leader to his fate. From Karman, however, where he found an asylum, the latter addressed an urgent appeal for assistance to Ali Munid. This chief, encamped at Tehran when the communication reached him, submitted the matter to his men, who decided against Zaki, but put forward their own captain as the only master they would acknowledge. Ali Munid, leaving the pursuit of Agha Muhammad, then re turned to Ispahan, where he was received with satisfaction, on the declaration that his one object was to restore to his lawful inheritance the eldest son of Karim Khan, whom Zaki had set aside in favour of a younger brother. The sequel is full of dramatic interest. Zaki, enraged at his nephew s desertion, marched out of ShirAz towards Ispahan. On his way he came to the town of Yezdikhast, a singular place, steep and rugged, something like a section, or three upper stories, of the old town of Edinburgh set upon a natural foundation of crumbling stone. It comes upon the traveller as an abrupt elevation in a dreary vale, and the surrounding scenery savours of the weird and romantic. Here he demanded a sum of money from the inhabitants, claiming it as part of secreted revenue ; the demand was refused, and eighteen of the head men were thrown down the precipice beneath his window ; a " saiyid," or holy man, was the next victim, and his wife and daughter were to be given over to the soldiery, when a suddenly -formed con spiracy took effect, and Zaki s own life was taken in retribu tion for his guilt (1779). Whan intelligence of these events reached Karman, Sadik Khan hastened to Shirdz, proclaimed himself king in place of Abu 1-Fath Kh&n, whom he declared incompetent to reign owing to dissipation and indolence, and put out the eyes of the young prince. He despatched his son Ji afir to assume the government of Ispahan, and watch the move ments of Ali Murad, who appears to have been then absent from that city ; and he gave a younger son, Ali Naki, com mand of an army in the field. A campaign ensued with success from time to time on either side, but ending in the capture of ShirAz and assumption of sovereignty by Ali Murad, who caused Sadik Khi m to be put to death. Ali Murad.