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 THE BRITISH DEMANDS COMPLIED WITH. 331 arranged their differences, and 'that, therefore, he had nothing to expect from Persia. The Persian Government had now performed the essential conditions upon which the Government of her Majesty had consented to reestablish diplomatic inter- course between the two States ; a mission was accord- ingly despatched from London under the direction of Sir John McNeill, which arrived at Tehran on the llth of October, 1841, and which was most cordially received by Mahomed Shah. Not so flattering was the reception of Hussein Khan, who, on his return from Europe, had to expiate his want of success in Western diplomacy by submitting to a severe application of the bastinado. Shortly after the return of Mahomed Shah to Tehran from his Afghanistan campaign, he found his right to sovereignty disputed by a rival of a different order from that of those with whom he had had ere this to contend for the peaceful possession of his throne. The ect of the Ismailites has been already mentioned in a previous chapter. Agha Khan,* the son of Shah Khalilullah, who had been put to death at Yezd, and who had himself been taken under the protection of Fetteh Ali Shah, thought that the time had now come when he might assert with advantage the religious character of which he was the inheritor. There is no reason for believing upon the fact of his being descended from the last chief of the Assassins of Persia, who is popularly known by the designation of " the Old Man of the Mountain." His castle is still to be seen in its ruined condition in the Elburz mountains near Casveen. For an account of the Ismailites, see MARCO POLO'S Travels and GIBBON'S Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
 * This personage based bis claim to being considered a spiritual ruler