Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/484

464 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. tives of Syd Mahomed were, in turn, ready to kill Mahomed Yoosuf ; but they could not venture to do so so long as that prince should be living under the Shah's protection at Tehran. They were now, however, urged to demand the blood of their feudal foe, and the hapless Yoosuf was dragged to a mound in front of the Kasr-i- Kajar palace, and there clumsily hacked to pieces by the sabres of the relatives of Syd Mahomed. On the 13th of April the signed treaty was received from Paris, and was at once accepted by the Shah's government and ratified by his Majesty. Peace had not been restored one hour too soon for the interests of Persia. Tabreez, the chief city of the kingdom, had lately been in open insurrection; the southern provinces were agitated and paralyzed by the presence of a British force; and in Khorassan the Turko- mans were overrunning whole districts and carrying the inhabitants into captivity. It was the study of the Sedr- Azem to conceal this state of things from the knowledge of the Shah, and to cause his Majesty to believe that his numerous subjects were blessed with prosperity and contentment. But even the absolute power of a Grand Yizeer is unable at all times to exclude the discontented or the honest from the hearing of the sovereign, and so many murmurs reached the ears of the king that his Majesty at length determined to dismiss his Minister from office, and to assume in his own person the chief direction of the administration of his country. That his Majesty's unceasing efforts have since then been directed solely towards securing the well-being of all classes of his subjects, and towards accomplishing the difficult task of providing for the furtherance of justice