He becomes useful to an ambassador, who makes him a partaker of his
confidence.
Necessity, so the poet sayeth, is as a strong rider with sharp
stirrups, who maketh the sorry jade do that which the strong horse
sometimes will not do.
I was disappointed, vexed, and mortified. My hopes of living a life of
ease and enjoyment had disappeared, and I once more saw myself obliged
to have recourse to my own ingenuity to keep me from starvation.
If I have lost a home, said I, see I have found a friend. Let me not
reject his proffered protection; and the same powerful destiny which
has led me on step by step through the labyrinth of life will doubtless
again take me by the hand, and perhaps at length safely land me where I
shall no longer be perplexed respecting the path I ought to pursue.
I determined to make the most of my access to the ambassador; and
happy was I to find, that the liking which he had taken to me at first
sensibly, though gradually, increased during our succeeding interviews.
He made use of me to acquire information, and conversed freely upon the
business of his government, and upon matters connected with his mission.
Having all my life been taken up in making my own fortune, I had turned
my mind but little to public events. Of the nations of the world I
scarcely knew any but my own and the Turks. By name only the Chinese,
the Indians, the Affghans, the Tartars, the Cûrds, and the Arabs were
known to me; and of the Africans I had some knowledge, having seen
different specimens of them as slaves in our houses. Of the Franks,--the
Russians (if such they may be called) were those of whom we had the most
knowledge in Persia, and I had also heard of the Ingliz and the Franciz.
When I reached Constantinople, I was surprised to hear that many more
Frank nations existed besides the three above mentioned; but still
occupied with my own affairs, I acquired but little knowledge concerning
them.
Now that I was thrown into the ambassadors society, my ideas took a
new turn, and hearing matters discussed which had never even reached
my understanding, I became more inquisitive. He seemed pleased to have
found in me one who took interest in his views, and at length let me
entirely into his confidence.
One morning, having received letters from his court, he called me to
him, said that he wished for some private conversation, and accordingly
ordered every one to depart from before him except myself.
He made me sit, and then in a low voice said, Hajji, I have long wished
to speak to you. Those who compose my suite, between you and me, do
not possess the sort of understanding I require. Tis true, they are
Persians, and are endowed with more wit than all the world beside; but
in affairs of the _dowlet_ (the state), they are nothing, and rather
impede than forward the business upon which I have been sent. Now,
praise be to Allah! I see that you are not one of them. You are much of
a man, one who has seen the world and its business, and something may
come from out of your hands. You are a man who can make play under
anothers beard, and suck the marrow out of an affair without touching
its outside. Such I am in want of, and if you will devote yourself to
me, and to our Shah, the King of Kings, both my face as well as your own
will be duly whitewashed; and, by the blessings of our good destinies,
both our heads will touch the skies.
Whatever is of my strength, replied I, is at your service. I am your
slave and your servant, and I myself will place my own ear into your
hand. Order and command me: by my head and eyes, I am ready.
Perhaps you have heard it reported in the world, said he, that the
object of my mission is to buy women slaves for the Shah, to see them
instructed in dancing, music, and embroidery, and to purchase spangled
silks and other luxuries for the royal harem; but that is of course
a blind for the multitude. I am not an ambassador for such miserable
purposes: no, my business is of greater import; and our king, whose
penetration is as searching as lightning itself, does not select men to
transact his affairs without very substantial reasons. He has chosen me,
and thats enough. Now hearken to what I shall tell you.
But a few months ago an ambassador from Europe arrived at the Gate of
Empire, Tehran, and said he was sent by a certain Boonapoort, calling
himself Emperor of the French nation, to bring a letter and presents to
the Shah. He exhibited full powers, by which his words were to be
looked upon as his masters, and his actions as his actions; and he
also affirmed, that he had full instructions to make a treaty. He held
himself very high indeed, and talked of all other nations of Franks as
dirt under his feet, and not worth even a name. He promised to make the
Russians restore their conquests in Georgia to us, to put the Shah in
possession of Teflis, Baadkoo, Derbent, and of all which belonged to
Persia in former times. He said, that he would conquer India for us, and
drive the English from it; and, in short, whatever we asked he promised
to be ready to grant.
Now, tis true, we had heard of the French before, and knew that they
made good cloth and rich brocades; but we never heard that they could do
all this ambassador proclaimed.
Something we had heard also of their attacking Egypt, for coffee and
khenna had become dear in consequence; and it was in the recollection
of one of our old khans of the Seffi family, that an ambassador from a
certain Shah Louis of France had been seen at the court of Shah Sultan
Hosein; but how this Boonapoort had become Shah, not a single man
in Persia could explain. The Armenian merchants, who travel into all
countries, affirmed, that to their knowledge such a person in fact did
exist, and that he was a great breeder of disturbance; and it was from
what they said and from other circumstances, that the Shah agreed to
receive his ambassador; but whether the papers which he exhibited,
written in characters that no one could read, were true or false, or
whether all he said was to the purpose or not, who was to say? Our
viziers, great and small, knew nothing of the matter; our Shah, who (may
Allah preserve him) knows everything under the sun, he had no knowledge
of it; and excepting one Coja Obed, an Armenian, who had been to
Marsilia, a town in France, where he had been shut up in a prison for
forty days,[87] and one Narses, a priest of that nation, who had studied
in a convent of dervishes somewhere in those countries, we had no one at
the gate of the King of Kings who could let any light into the chambers
of our brain, or who could in the least explain whether this Boonapoort
or his representative were impostors or not,--whether they were come to
take our caps from off our heads, or to clothe us with the kalaats of
good fortune.
However, we were not very long in doubt; for when the English infidels
who trade between India and Persia, some of whom reside at Abusheher,
heard of the arrival of this ambassador, they immediately sent off
messengers, letters, and an agent, to endeavour to impede the reception
of this Frenchman, and made such extraordinary efforts to prevent his
success, that we soon discovered much was to be got between the rival
dogs.
By my crown, exclaimed the Shah, all this cometh from the ascendant
of my good stars. Here sit I upon my throne, whilst the curs of
uncleanness come from the north and the south, from the east and west,
bringing me vast presents for the liberty of fighting and quarrelling at
the foot of it. In the name of the Prophet, let them approach!
When I left the imperial gate, an ambassador from the English was
expected, and the letters which I have just received are full of the
circumstances of his proposed reception, and the negotiations on foot
concerning it, but the Shah cannot well enter upon them before he
hears from me; because, having been informed that specimens of all the
different European nations were to be seen at Constantinople, each
of whom had an ambassador, there, he, in his wisdom, has judged it
expedient to dispatch me hither, to obtain all the information of which
we are so much in want, to clear up every doubt that exists in Persia
about the French and English, and if possible to find out whether all
they say of themselves be true or false.
Now, Hajji said the ambassador, I am only one man, and this is a
business, as I have found out, sufficient for fifty. The Franks are
composed of many, many nations. As fast as I hear of one hog, another
begins to grunt, and then another and another, until I find that there
is a whole herd of them. As I told you before, those who compose my
suite are not men to help me in research, and I have cast my eyes upon
you. From your exertions I expect much. You must become acquainted with
some infidels; you understand the Turkish language, and they will be
able to inform you of much that we want to know. I will furnish you with
a copy of the Shahs instructions to me upon that head, which you will
lock up of course in the secret corners of your brain, and which will be
your guide upon what we wish to acquire. And until that be done, go,
sit in a corner, and make one long and deep thought upon the plan of
operations that we ought to pursue.
Upon this he dismissed me, and I left him with new prospects of
advancement in the career of life.