Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/679

HISTORY.] PERSIA the shah, under Russian advice, assembled a large force to bring into subjection all turbulent and refractory chiefs on the east of his kingdom. Yazd and Karman were the first points of attack ; Khurasan was afterwards entered by Semnan, or the main road from Tehran. The expedition, led by Abbas Mirza, involved some hard righting and much loss of life. A considerable extent of ground was traversed ; several forts and places were captured, among them Kabushan and Sarakhs ; 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 detach ment " which accompanied the prince. Thus far as regards Yazd, Karman, and Khurasan. It was otherwise with Herat. Ilajji Firuzu d-Din, son of Ti mur Shah, reigned undisturbed in that city from 1800 to 1816. Since Fath All Shah s accession he and his brother Mahmud had been, as it were, under Persian protection ; and, when the king retraced his steps homeward after his expedition to Mashhad, at the commencement of the century, it is supposed that he did so at the request of an ambassador from Zaman Shah of Kabul. 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 Mahnnul Shah of Kabul, who sent to him the famous wazir, Fath Khan Barakzai. The latter, intriguing on his own account, got possession of the town and citadel ; he then sallied forth, engaged and defeated the Persian forces, and forced them to retire into their own country. There are various accounts of this action, and the Persian story is that the Afghans were defeated ; but no one dis putes the result, i.e., the retreat of the invading army. 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 Mashhad, invited Yar Muhammad 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 Muhammad Mirza, son of Abbas ; but the news of his father s death caused the com mander to break up his camp and return to Mashhad. Sir Gore Ouseley returned to England in 1814, in which year Mr Ellis, assisted by Mr Morier whose "Hajji Baba" is the un failing proof of his ability and deep knowledge of Persian character negotiated on the part of Great Britain the treaty of Tehran. England was to provide troops or a subsidy in the event of unpro voked invasion, while Persia was to attack the Afghans should they invade India. Captain Willock succeeded Mr Morier as charge d affaires in 1815, and since that period Great Britain has always been represented at the Persian court. It was in Fath All Shah s reign that Henry Martyn was in Persia, and completed his able translation of the New Testament into the language of that country. He had met Malcolm and Mackintosh at Bombay, and Sir John had recommended him to Sir Gore Ouseley, to whose mission he officiated as chaplain prior to departure from Shiraz in 1812. Martyn died at Tokat in Asia Minor, on his homeward journey. Little more remains to be here narrated of the days of Fath Ali Shah. Among the remarkable occurrences may be noted the murder at Tehran in 1828 of M. Grebayadoff, the Russian envoy, whose conduct in forcibly retaining two women of Erivan pro voked 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. There were reasons why this should be the outcome of the previous situation, some of which will be self- evident to the reader of blue-books, while others will remain mere matters of opinion. As an Oriental despot Fath All Shah was neither cruel nor un just, but acts of cruelty and injustice were committed under his sanction. The treatment of Nadir Mirza has been mentioned. That of the old minister, Hajji Ibrahim, was perhaps more barbarous still. His fondness for sport and his literary tastes gave him the capacity of suiting his conversation to visitors of different kinds ; but the love of money was a drawback to the exercise of his sympathies, and the loss of territory to Russia, involving as it did loss of revenue, was not calculated to arouse any strong sentiment of friendship towards the czar s European allies. Morier s description of the king s person was thus given in 1809. "He is a man of pleasing manners and an agreeable countenance, with an aquiline nose, large e} r es, and very arched eyebrows. His face is obscured by an immense beard and mustachios, which are kept very black ; and it is only when he talks and smiles that his mouth is discovered. His voice has once been fine, and is still harmonious ; though now hollow, and obviously that of a man who has led a free life. . . . He was seated on a species of throne called the tdkht-i-tdus, or the throne of the peacock, which is raised 3 feet from the ground, and appears an oblong square of 8 feet broad and 12 long. We could see the bust only of his majesty, as the rest of his body was hidden by an elevated railing, the upper work of the throne, at the corners of which were placed several ornaments of vases and toys. The back is much raised ; on each side are two square pillars, on which are perched birds, probably intended 1830-1836. for peacocks, studded with precious stones of every description, and holding each a ruby in their beak. The highest part of the throne is composed of an oval ornament of jewelry, from which emanate a great number of diamond rays." One passage may be added as not only significant of the indi vidual monarch but also of the national character. " When the audience was finished, the king desired one of his ministers to inquire from Ji afu 1 Ali Khan (the English Agent) what the foreigners said of him, and whether they praised and admired his appearance." 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, Muhammad All, in favour of a junior, Abbas ; but, as the nominee died in the lifetime of his father, the old king had proclaimed Muhammad 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 differ ently stated by different writers. The tnie reason was probably the superior rank of his mother. Markham s estimate of the char acter of the crown prince, based upon conflicting evidence, but apparently correct, is that "he possessed enlightened views," was "desirous of improving the condition of his country," yet "was deficient in talent, rather weak-minded, and loved flattery." It is worthy of remark that the selection of Muhammad Mirza was made with the express concurrence of the British and Russian Governments, communicated to their respective representatives at the shah s court ; and the British minister at St Petersburg was in structed to express to the Government of the czar the gratification of his own Government at finding that the two powers were " acting with regard to the affairs of Persia in the same spirit," and were "equally animated by a sincere desire to maintain not only the internal tranquillity but also the independence and integrity of Persia." l Muhammad Shah was twenty-eight years old when he came to Muham- the throne in 1834. He died at the age of forty-two, after a reign mad of about thirteen and a half years. His accession was not publicly Shah, 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 Tehran, who actually as sumed a royal title, and one Hasan Ali Mirza, governor of Shiraz. Owing to the steps taken by the British envoy, Sir John Camp bell, assisted by Colonel Bethune, at the head of a considerable force, supplied with artillery, the opposition of the first was neu tralized, and Muhammad Shah, entering Tehran on 2d 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, " farmdn- 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 Ispahan to be ready to meet them. An engagement which took place near Kumishah, on the road between Ispahan and Shiraz, having been successful, the English com mander pushed on to the latter town, where the two rebel princes were seized and imprisoned. Forwarded under escort to Tehran, they were, according to Watson, ordered to be sent on thence as state prisoners to Ardabil, but the 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 Muhammad 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 Tehran, marked somewhat gloomily the new monarch s first year. The selection of a premier was one of the first weighty questions for solution. A member of the royal family, the " asafu d-daulah," governor of Khurasan, 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. Such a counsellor was hardly fitted for Muhammad Shah, whose natural bigotry could scarcely fail to accept the short-sighted policy which the minister would be sure to advocate. As might have been antici pated, the hajji fell into the hands of Russia, represented by Count Simonich, who urged him to a fresh expedition into Khurasan and the siege of Herat. There was no doubt a plausible pretext for both Expedi- proposals. The chiefs, reduced to temporary submission by Abbas tion Mirza, had again revolted ; and Shah Kamran, supported by his against wazir, Yar Muhammad, had broken those engagements and pledges Herat, 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 Sistan, 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. l Correspondence relating to Persia and Afghanistan, London, 1839. XVIII. 82