Calcutta. The result of this barefaced proceeding was exactly what the Shah wished since the envoy was bullied into exceeding the amount which his government had assigned as that which might be offered to the Shah.
With the exception of the one glaring vice of avarice, Fetteh Ali's character did not exhibit many very objectionable traits, and on the whole it will bear a favourable comparison with that of the generality of Oriental monarchs. That he was not without the qualities requisite for a Persian King, is proved by the fact of his having been able to put down the numerous competitors who disputed with him the possession of the throne, and by his having been able to maintain himself upon that throne for thirty-seven years; but he was indebted for his successes more to the precautions taken by his uncle than to any merits of his own. His talents were rather of a kind suited to an Oriental statesman than to a soldier. There is no reason to doubt that he possessed in his youth a sufficient share of courage, but after he had firmly secured possession of the throne, he did not care to expose his person too much to the chances of battle; and in his later years, by deserting the army opposed to the Russians, near the Araxes, he laid himself open to the charge either of inexcusable apathy towards the national cause, or of an unworthy desire to place himself beyond the reach of the inconveniences attending a residence in a camp before the enemy. But if Fetteh Ali was not without faults, he was also gifted with several good qualities. His affection for his children was excessive, and there is something touching in the constancy with which he clung to Abbass Meerza, even at a time when that prince was the cause,
