influence over the destinies of Persia, it may be useful here to trace the connection between the two countries from its commencement. It was after Russia had finally triumphed over Sweden that the arms of the Czar Peter were, for the first time, turned against Persia.
In the city of Shumakhi, which, at that time, formed part of the Persian empire, a Russian mercantile company was established under the protection of the Shah.[1] The neighbouring mountaineers surprised and sacked the town, and caused a heavy loss to these Russian subjects.[2] This occurred during the siege of Ispahan by the Affghans, when Shah Hussein was powerless to render justice, and when Mahmoud, the invader, was in no humour to attend to the reclamations of a sovereign of whom he had, probably, never heard the name. Tahmasp, the son of Hussein, who was sent by his father to endeavour to raise an army at Kasveen, the native seat of the Sefaveeans, besought from thence the armed assistance of the Czar of Russia for ridding Persia of the Affghans. The proposal suited the views of Peter, whose capacious mind was already occupied with the scheme of making the Caspian Sea a Russian lake, and of endeavouring to attract to that country the transport of the commodities sent to Europe from Asia. He had already caused soundings to be made of the Caspian Sea, and charts to be drawn up of its coasts, and in the month of May, 1722, he set out in person for the Shah's dominions, accompanied by the Empress Catherine. They descended the Volga to Astrakan, from which place the Czar moved his army
