restore to somewhat of its former prosperity a trade which had been in a great degree lost. The mission landed at Bushire on the first of the month of February of the year 1800, but it was not until the month of November of the same year that it reached the presence of the Shah. As a preliminary measure the envoy distributed presents to the various Persian officers with whom he was thrown in contact on the route from Bushire to Tehran, and on arriving at that city he laid at the feet of the king a costly offering of watches, arms, mirrors and jewels.
Two months later a commercial treaty and a political treaty were concluded between the envoy from India and the prime minister of Persia, the observance of which was made binding on all Persians by a firman from the Shah. This firman contained orders to the rulers, officers, and writers of the ports, sea-coasts, and islands of the provinces of Fars and Khuzistan, to take means to expel and extirpate any persons of the French nation who should attempt to pass these forts or boundaries, or desire to establish themselves on these shores or frontiers. By the commercial treaty it was stipulated that English and Indian traders and merchants should be permitted to settle, free from taxes, in any Persian seaport, and should be protected in the exercise of their commerce in the Shah's dominions. The English were likewise to be at liberty to build and to sell houses in any Persian port or city, and English iron, lead, steel, and broad-cloth were to be admitted into Persia free from duty, while the existing imposts on other goods were not to be increased. By the political treaty the Shah engaged to make no peace with his Affghan neighbour excepting
