Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/681

 HISTORY.] PERSIA 651 suec mi 14 an would have put him to death, but the Persian consul, claiming liim as a subject, saved his life, and sent him to his native place. Thenceforward his career is strange and adventurous ; and even when he himself had been committed to prison his agents were employed in promulgating his doctrine, with sufficient success to occasion the issue of. a decree making it a capital crime to profess the tenets of Babism. More will be said on the subject shortly. Before closing the reign of Muhammad Shah note should be taken of a prohibition to import African slaves into Persia, and a commercial treaty with England, recorded by Watson as gratifying achievements of the period by British diplomatists. The French missions in which occur the names of MM. de Lavalette and de Sartiges were notable in their way, but somewhat barren of results. In the autumn of 1848 the shah was seized with the malady, or combination of maladies, which caused his death. Gout and erysipelas had, it is said, 1 ruined his constitution, and he died at his palace in Shamiran on 4th September. He was buried at Kiim, where is situated the shrine of Fatima, daughter of Imam Riza, by the side of his grandfather, Fatli All, and other kings of Persia. In person he is described as short and fat, with an aquiline nose and agreeable countenance. 2 On the occasion of his father s death, Nasru d-Di n Mirza, who had been proclaimed wall ahd, or heir-apparent, some years before, was absent at Tabriz, the headquarters of his province of Adar- baijan. Colonel Farrant, then charge d affaires on the part of the British Government, in the absence of Colonel Sheil, who had succeeded Sir John M Neill, had, in anticipation of the shah s decease and consequent trouble, sent a messenger to summon him instantly to Tehran. The British officer, moreover, associated himself with Prince Dolgorouki, the representative of Russia, to secure the young prince s accession ; and there was no doubt in the minds of the wiser lookers-on that, if the two diplomatists were really of one mind in the matter, they would attain their end in spite of all obstacles. They did so after a time, and with the aid of the queen-mother, who, as president of the council, showed much judgment and capacity in conciliating adverse parties. But the six or seven weeks which passed between the death of the one king and the coronation of the other proved a disturbed interval, and full of stirring incident. The old minister, Hajji Mirza Aghasi, incurred the displeasure of the influential part of the community by shutting himself up in the royal palace with 1200 followers, and had to take refuge in the sanctuary of Shah Abdu l- Azim near Tehran. On the other hand Mirza Agha Khan, a partisan of the asafu d-daulah, and himself an ex-minister of war, whom the hajji had caused to be banished, was welcomed back to the capital. At Ispahan, Shiraz, and Karman serious riots took place, which were with difficulty sup pressed. While revolution prevailed in the city, robbery was rife in the province of Yazd ; and from Kazvin the son of All Mirza, otherwise called the &quot;zillu s- sultan,&quot; the prince -governor of Tehran, who disputed the succession of Muhammad Shah, came forth to contest the crown with his cousin, the heir - apparent. The last-named incident soon came to an inglorious termination for its hero. But a more serious revolt was in full force at Mash- had when, on the 20th of October 1848, the young shah entered his capital and was crowned at midnight king of Persia. The chief events in the long reign of the present shah, Nasru d-Dm, may be reviewed under four heads: (1) the insurrection in Khurasan, (2) the insurrection of the Babis, (3) the fall of the aniiru n-nizam, and (4) the war with England. It has been stated that the asafu d-daulah was a competitor with Hajji Mirza Aghasi for the post of premier in the cabinet of Muhammad Shah, that he was afterwards, in the same reign, exiled for rising in rebellion, and that his son, the salar, took shelter with the Turkmans. Some four months prior to the late king s decease the latter chief had reappeared in arms against his authority ; he had gained possession of Mashhad itself, driv ing the prince-governor, Hamza Mirza, into the citadel ; and so firm was his attitude that Yar Muhammad of Herat, who had come to help the Government officials, had retired after a fruitless co-operation, drawing away the prince -governor also. The salar now defied Murad Mirza, Nasru d-Din s uncle, who was besieging the city ; he found secret means of obtaining money and supplies ; and, by occasionally repelling an assault or effecting a skilful sortie, he kept up a prestige of power, which, added to his personal popu larity, commanded the sympathy and good wishes of the multitude. In April 1850, after a siege of more than eighteen months, fortune turned against the bold insurgent, and negotiations were opened between the citizens and besiegers for the surrender of the toAvn and citadel. Treachery may have had to do with the result, for when the shah s troops entered the holy city the salar sought refuge in the mosque of Imam Riza, and was forcibly expelled. He and his brother were seized and put to death, the instrument used being, according to Watson, &quot;the bowstring of Eastern story.&quot; The con queror of Mashhad, Murad Mirza, became afterwards himself the prince-governor of Khurasan. Watson. 2 Markham. Lady Sheil has written a graphic account of the death of Sa i d 1848-1851. Muhammad All. After repeated arrests and warnings to no pur pose the spread of his doctrines had become so rapid among all classes that it was thought necessary to remove him by the severest punishment of the law. He was conveyed to Tabriz, and brought out in the great square for execution. &quot;A company of soldiers was ordered to despatch Bab by a volley. When Perse- the smoke had cleared away Bab had disappeared from sight. It had so cution happened that none of the balls had touched him, and, prompted by an impulse t ,-, to preserve his life, he rushed from the spot. Had Bab possessed sufficient, , presence of mind to have fled to the baziir ... he would in all probability Babis. have succeeded in effecting his escape. A miracle palpable to all Tabriz would have been performed, and a new creed would have been established. But he turned in the opposite direction, and hid himself in the guard-room, where he was immediately discovered, brought out, and shot. His body was thrown into the ditch of the town, where it was devoured by the half-wild dogs which abound outside a Persian city. Bab possessed a mild and benignant counte nance, his manners were composed and dignified, his eloquence was impressive, and he wrote rapidly and well.&quot; Later on she wrote &quot;This year (1850) seven Babis were executed at Tehran for an alleged con spiracy against the life of the prime minister. Their fate excited general sym pathy, for every one knew that no criminal act had been committed, and suspected the accusation to be a pretence. . . . Previously to decapitation they received an offer of pardon, on the condition of reciting the kalama (or Muhammadan creed). ... It was rejected, and these visionaries died stedfast in their faith. ... In Zanjan the insurrection, or the religious movement, as the Babis termed it, broke out with violence. This city is only 200 miles from Tehran, midway to Tabriz. At its head was a mulla of repute and renown, who, with his associates, retired into an angle of the city, which they strength ened as best they could. For several months they defended themselves with unconquerable resolution against a large force in infantry and guns, sent against them from Tehran. It was their readiness to meet death that made the Babis so formidable to their assailants. From street to street, from house to house, from cellar to cellar, they fought without flinching. All were killed at their posts, excepting a few who were afterwaids bayoneted by the troops in cold blood.&quot; In the summer of 1852 his majesty was attacked, while riding in the vicinity of Tehran, by four men, one of whom fired a pistol and slightly wounded him. This man was killed, and two others were captured by the royal attendants ; the fourth jumped down a well. The existence of a conspiracy was then discovered, in which some forty persons were implicated ; and ten of the con spirators (one a young woman) were put to death, some under cruel torture. A short reign of terror then ensued which is well illustrated in the following extract from Watson s History. &quot;The prime minister. . . was fearful of drawing down upon himself and his family the vengeance of the followers of the Bab ; and, in order that others might be implicated in these executions, he hit upon the device of assigning a criminal to each department of the state ; the several ministers of the Shah being thus compelled to act as executioners. The minister for foreign affairs, the minister of finance, the son of the prime minister, the adjutant-general of the army, and the master of the mint, each fired the first shot, or made the first cut with a sabre, at the culprits assigned to their several departments, respectively. The artillery, the infantry, the camel-artillery, and the cavalry, each had a victim. 3 . . . But the result of all this slaughter was, as might have been expected, to create a feeling of sympathy for the Babis, whose crime was lost sight of in the punishment which had overtaken them. They met their fate with the utmost firmness, and none of them cared to accept the life which was offered to them on the simple condition of reciting the Muslim creed. While the lighted candles were burning the flesh of one follower of the Bab, he was urged by the chief magistrate of Tehran to curse the Bab and live. He would not renounce the Bab ; but he cursed the magistrate who tempted him to do so, he cursed the Shah, and even cursed the prophet Muham mad, his spirit rising superior to the agony of his torture.&quot; The movement, however, was not only felt in Tehran and Zanjan but also in Mazandaran, Fars, Karman, and Tabriz ; and, in spite of the fearful punishments with which the professors of the doctrine have been visited, the complete extinction of Babism by fire and sword is a consummation hardly to be set within the range of human probability. Mirza Taki, the amiru n-nizam (vulgarly amir ni zam), or com- Fall of mander-in- chief, was a good specimen of the self-made man of Mirza Persia. He was the son of a cook of Bahra m Mirza, Muhammad Taki. Shah s brother, and he had filled high and important offices of state and amassed much wealth when he was made by the young shah Nasru d-Din, on his accession, both his brother-in-law and his prime minister. The choice was an admirable one ; he was honest, hard-working, and liberal according to his lights ; and the services of a loyal and capable adviser were secured for the new regime. For the rebellion in Khurasan and all emergencies that occurred during his three years tenure of office, he was the same active and intelligent mentor that he had been when associated with the prince in his government of Adarbaijan. Unfortunately, he did not boast the confidence of the queen-mother ; and this circumstance greatly strengthened the hands of those enemies whom an honest minister must ever raise around him in a corrupt Oriental state. For a time the shah closed his eyes to the accusations and insinuations breathed against him ; but at last he fell under the evil influence of designing counsellors, and acts which should have redounded to the minister s credit became the charges on which he lost his office and his life. He was credited with an intention to grasp in his own hands the royal power ; his influence over the army was 3 &quot;Even the Shah s admirable French physician, the late lamented DrCloquet, was invited to show his loyalty by following the example of the rest of the court. He excused himself, and pleasantly said that he killed too many men professionally to permit him to increase their number by any voluntary homi cide on his part &quot; (Lady Sheil).