at _Shiraz_; which, among the more immediate topics of the
correspondence, contained naturally full accounts of the progress of
the campaign with the Russians, (the most important object in the
existing politics of Persia), and the general sensations which it had
excited at _Teheran_. These details retain of course little interest;
it is enough to add, rather as a sketch of national character, that the
King, in consequence of his reverses, had distributed alms to the poor,
had ordered prayers to be said in the mosques, and the denunciations of
vengeance on all unbelievers to be read from the Koran. The military
preparations also were hastened at _Shiraz_ (in some measure for a
different object); and the Russian prisoners there were ordered to
drill the Persian troops, who had been raised and equipped after a
Russian manner. The account of this new corps was continued in other
letters (which, on the 23d, we received in two days and a half from
_Shiraz_). The Prince was instructed to form a body of able young
men, to shave them if they had already beards, and to dress them in
the Russian uniform. There was at this time at _Shiraz_, another
body also of seven hundred hardy and active men, (of the _Bolouk_ or
_Perganah_ of _Noor_ in _Mazanderan_), who were in the same manner to
be subjected to the discipline of the Russian drill, to lose their
beards, to substitute the firelock for the matchlock gun, (which they
had been accustomed to use), and to assume the whole dress of the
Russian soldiery. MAHOMED ZEKY KHAN and SHEIK ROOTA KHAN were appointed
their commanders. The _Jezaerchi_ also, the men who use blunderbusses,
were to wear the new Russian dress. The French at this time were very
anxious to proceed to _Shiraz_, to drill the new-raised corps; but as
the King prevented them in a former instance from sending a Resident
to _Bushire_ lest they should have found that the English factory was
still in Persia, he now equally prevented their advancing to _Shiraz_,
lest the English in their turn should discover the arrival of their
competitors. New gun-carriages after the Russian form were ordered
(though those before made after the same pattern broke to pieces at
the first fire), and five thousand new firelocks; but as the Prince
found great difficulty in procuring the execution of a former order
of two thousand only, he had in this instance sent into _Laristan_
for three thousand matchlock guns, and into other provinces for the
remainder, to convert them at _Shiraz_ into firelocks, by affixing to
the original barrel the new lock. Provisions also, of all sorts, were
collecting into magazines at _Shiraz_. These preparations were hastened
by the Prince himself from personal motives. His dexterity in hitting a
mark with a gun at full gallop, and in cutting asunder an ass with one
blow of his sword had been so much exaggerated, that the King became
desirous of witnessing these exploits, and would have sent for his son
to court, if the apprehensions at this time of General MALCOLM’S return
from India with an army had not furnished a seasonable necessity for
the Prince’s presence in his own provinces; and he prepared himself
therefore, with great zeal, to march to _Bender-Abassy_, to await there
the arrival of the English in the Persian Gulph.
As a specimen of Persian wit, as well as in the relation of a Persian’s
proficiency in English, I extract literally, from JAFFER ALI’S letter,
the following account of the Prince of _Shiraz_:--“As he is a great
quiz and flatterer, he flattered me much, and I made an equal return to
him. Owing to the immense dust that blown all the while upon the road,
my face and beard covered with dust, and appearing myself to be white,
the Prince therefore sayed to me, that my black beard became with
grey hairs in his service; I returned that whoever serves _Khadmute
Boozurk Whan_ (His Highness) becomes white-faced for eternity, as the
common proverb among the Persians, that when a man serves his master
with zeal, he says to his servant ’_roo sefeed_, white face,’ and on
the contrary they say ‘_roo seeah_, black face:’” two very common
expressions in the country, denoting severally honour and disgrace.[20]
It is not an unfair criterion of the new impulse which the Court of
Persia had received, to add, that by second orders from _Teheran_, as
they were reported to us, the Princes of the districts were required
to adopt in their own persons the Russian uniform. The Prince of
_Tabriz_, _Abbas Mirza_, had already conformed to the costume; and
the Prince at _Shiraz_, with a hundred of his immediate attendants,
was preparing to assume the same garb; and as we learned on the 10th,
by other dispatches, already appeared in it. The proposed adoption by
Sultan SELIM, of the dress of the _Nizam Gedid_ troops, was the signal
of revolt to his Janizaries, and the direct cause of his dethronement.
The national levity of the Persians counteracts the original rigour of
their religious principles, and disposes them, from the mere love of
change, to admit the encroachments of European manners, which would
rouse to despair and revenge the less volatile character of the Turks,
and animate them in defence of their least usage with all the first
enthusiasm of their faith.[21]
Though the conduct of the negociations with Persia had no connexion
with the mere change of masters in _Bushire_, which was effected
during our residence on the spot, and there was, therefore, little
direct political intercourse between the Envoy and the _Nasakchee
Bashee_, (the Chief Executioner), who superintended those changes: yet
as that officer was the ostensible representative of the Government
of _Shiraz_, some communications naturally took place. Before the
assumption of the administration of _Bushire_, (while the _Khan’s_
object was yet unattained), there was in this intercourse little
unsatisfactory; but in his later conduct to the mission, there was
something of the insolence of newly acquired power; he sent word more
than once that he was coming to pay a visit to the Envoy, and as
frequently neglected his engagement. At length he arrived, puffing in
great haste; and as soon as he had seated himself, he pulled off his
black sheep-skin cap, and begun to read a paper which he took from his
pocket. The Envoy asked him, if he were reading a _firman_ from the
court, which ordered him to sit bald-headed. The reproof startled him,
and the Envoy continued; that, representing as he did his Sovereign, he
could not permit the _Khan_ to do in his presence an act of disrespect
which he would not do before his equals, and much less before his
superiors. The _Khan_ immediately put on his cap, and in his shame
waved his hand for his attendants to withdraw. Sir HARFORD also ordered
his own Persians to retire, and as the suite were in succession leaving
the room the _Khan_ had some leisure to digest the well-timed rebuke.
The notice which the Envoy had been thus obliged to take of an
apparent disrespect in the _Khan’s_ conduct was the more necessary,
as He had that morning received a letter from the Prince at _Shiraz_,
the form and terms of which required some explanation; and on which,
therefore, the Envoy felt himself compelled to remark, that the
correspondence during the negociation must be absolutely and in every
view independent; and He desired the _Khan_ accordingly to intimate
this determination to the Prince’s Minister. The representation was
immediately successful; and to the line of conduct thus enforced, both
parties adhered throughout their future communications.
When this matter was adjusted, much friendly conversation followed,
and the affair of the cap and bald-head was laughed over. The Envoy
expressed indeed his wish to render the _Khan_ in his visit as
comfortable as possible; but repeated also his resolution to suffer
no act of inattention before servants and strangers. The _Khan_
accordingly (though as it was the _Ramazan_ he would not smoke) left us
seemingly well pleased.
But in another instance the same want of respect was visible, though
the effect probably of ignorance only. On the 30th Oct. he sent a
present of some fruit and two horses, one for the Envoy and one for
the East India Company’s Assistant Resident. SIR HARFORD immediately
returned that destined for himself, to remind the _Khan_ of the
distinction.
On the 8th of Nov. arrived, carried on fourteen mules, the _balconah_,
the customary present to an Embassador. It consisted of the following
articles:--
50 Lumps of loaf sugar,
35 Small boxes of different kinds of sweetmeats,
1 Mule load of lime-juice, consisting of ninety-six bottles,
23 Bottles of orange and other kinds of sherbet,
22 Bottles of different kinds of preserves, pickles, &c.
4 Mule loads of musk-melons,
1 Ditto of _Ispahan_ quinces,
Half ditto of apples,
1 Ditto of pomegranates,
1 Ditto of wine, thirty-nine bottles.
The whole was accompanied by a letter from NASR OALAH KHAN, the
Minister at _Shiraz_, replete with compliment and inquiries about
health, and entrusted to the care of AGA MAHOMED ALI, one of the
Prince’s servants, who received for himself from the Envoy a present of
five hundred piastres. The great men profit by these opportunities of
enriching by such returns any servant to whom in their own persons they
may owe an obligation, and to whom they thus, cheaply to themselves,
repay it. But the charge of a present is frequently made the matter of
a bargain among the adherents of the donor, and perhaps is sometimes
purchased directly from the great man himself.
On the 13th of Nov. we were informed, that a _Mehmandar_ had been
appointed by the court to escort the Envoy to _Teheran_. The title
of _Mehmandar_ has been familiarized to an English reader by His
Majesty’s appointment of Sir GORE OUSELEY to fill the station
during the residence in England of MIRZA ABUL HASSAN, late Envoy
Extraordinary from the King of Persia to the Court of London. But the
duties which, in England, the most active _Mehmandar_ could comprize
within his office are comparatively very limited to those which are
indispensably attached to a similar station in Persia. The _Mehmandar_
is the Superintendant and Purveyor assigned to the dignity and ease
of foreign Embassadors; the relative facility, therefore, with which
he can discharge these functions must vary of course with the state
of society in different countries. In England money procures every
accommodation; but money alone can procure it now: purveyance, however,
in its feudal sense, unfortunately for the people, still exists in its
full force in Persia; and the _Mehmandar_, under the commission of his
Sovereign, is entitled to demand from the provinces through which he
passes every article in every quantity which he may deem expedient for
his mission. And as there is no public accommodation on the road where,
at every hour as in England, these supplies may be procured, they
are extorted from the private stores of the villagers. Besides every
requisite of provision and conveyance, the _firman_ of the _Mehmandar_
sometimes includes even specie among the articles thus necessary in the
passage. It is not, therefore, wonderful, that the officer entrusted
with this power, though generally a man of high rank, is generally
also understood to purchase the nomination at very large prices. The
proportion of the purchase is the proportion of course of the demands
on the country: the villager groans under the oppression, but in vain
shrinks from it; every argument of his poverty is answered, if by
nothing else, at least by the bastinado.
The information of the appointment was premature: MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN,
an officer of rank, had indeed been dispatched from _Shiraz_, but he
was entrusted with a more private commission to the Envoy. On the 19th
his immediate approach to _Bushire_ was announced. As, independently of
the confidence which by this mission the Government appeared to repose
in him, he possessed high personal rank, (as one of the Chiefs of the
_Karaguzlou_ tribe, one of the most numerous, warlike, and respectable
of all under the jurisdiction of Persia,) the first Minister at
_Shiraz_ wrote to the Envoy to desire that He would send the person
next in rank to himself to receive him. The Envoy accordingly ordered
me to proceed on the occasion. I went, accompanied by Mr. BRUCE and
Dr. JUKES, and escorted by Cornet WILLOCK with ten troopers, and
five _Chattars_. The _Chattars_ are those running footmen who, in
fantastical dresses, generally surround the horse of a great man; but
the name is applied not only to these attendants of shew, but to those
messengers also who perform their journies on foot, and perform them
with a dispatch almost incredible. When we had proceeded about a mile
we met the stranger. He was thinly attended, having travelled in haste.
When we approached, our little squadron drew up in a line as he passed;
and we advanced, and made our respective compliments. We then all
turned back together, and brought him into the presence of the Envoy,
who received him sitting on one corner of the sopha, but rose just as
he approached it. We were all dressed with more or less ornament in
honour of our guest; and during his visit we kept on our hats. The
_Nasakchee Bashee_ had already fallen into his train, when we first met
him; and during the short stay which he now made, the Vice-governor
of _Bushire_, AGA MAHOMED JAFFER, came to pay his respects also. He
advanced immediately to the _Khan_, seized his hand, which he kissed,
whilst the _Khan_ applied his beard and mouth to the other’s face,
and kissed his cheek. The manners of our guest himself were pleasant
and modest, and spoke the simplicity of a man bred in camps. When the
Envoy had inquired after his health, the health of the Prince, of the
minister, and successively of other great men, the stranger, after
the interchange of a few compliments, departed to take up his abode
with the Vice-governor. As he entered _Bushire_, the guns at the gate
were fired, but one of them could not bear the shock, and flew out of
the carriage. For fear therefore of the gates and tower, they did not
venture to discharge the sixty-eight pounder, which was mounted in the
town; an apprehension not purely imaginary.
The party appeared particularly gloomy: their clothes were of a dark
hue, and their caps and their beards were of the deepest black. Every
one had a musket, a sword, a brace of pistols, and a great variety
of little conveniences, as powder-flasks, cartouche-boxes, hammers,
drivers, &c. so that the aggregate equipment displayed every man a
figure made up for fighting. The _Khan_ was dressed exactly like his
followers, and was alone distinguished by carrying fewer arms. He had,
indeed, one _Yeduk_ or led horse before him. The trappings of their
horses are very simple, compared to those of the Turks. The head-stall
of the bridle has little bits of gold and silver, or brass fixed to
it, without the tassels, chains, half-moons, or beads of a Turkish
bridle. Nor have they the splendid breast-plate, or the bright and
massy stirrup of the Turkish cavalry. Their saddle itself is much more
scanty in the seat, nor is it so much elevated behind. The only finery
of a Persian saddle is a raised pummel either gilt or silvered; and a
saddle-cloth, or rather an elegant kind of carpetting, trimmed with a
deep fringe.
On the next day, the Envoy directed me to return, in his name, the
visit of MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN. He was lodged in the house which then
belonged to the Vice-governor, but which had been the property of
the late HAJEE KHELIL KHAN, (the Embassador of Persia, who was
unfortunately killed at _Bombay_.) The room into which we were
introduced was very pleasant, and by far more agreeable than any thing
that I had expected at _Bushire_. Two pillars, neatly inlaid with
looking-glasses, supported it on one side, and thus separated it from
a small court, which was crowded with servants. An orange tree stood
in the centre of the court. The walls of the room were of a beautiful
white stucco, resembling plaster of Paris; and large curtains were
suspended around them, to screen in every position the company from
the sun. The _Khan_ was seated in a corner, and having taken off our
shoes at the door, we paid our respects severally, and then settled
ourselves according to our rank. When we were arranged, he went about
separately to each, and with an inclination of his head, told us we
were welcome, (“_Khosh Amedeed_.”) The Vice-governor next appeared, and
sat respectfully at a little distance. He was followed by the Governor
of the small neighbouring district of _Dasti_, a rough looking man,
who exchanged a kiss with the Khan. We had _kaleoons_, (the water
pipe), then sweet sherbet, then again the _kaleoons_. Few words passed,
and we did little except look at each other. Two or three Arabs came
in, and were welcomed by the Khan with the “_khosh amedeed_” as they
seated themselves at the further end of the room. The measurement of
their distances in a visit seems a study of most general application
in Persia; and the knowledge of compliments is the only knowledge
displayed in their meetings; if, indeed, the visits of ceremony, which
alone we witnessed, could be considered a fair specimen of national
manners or the state of society.
When visited by a superior, the Persian rises hastily and meets his
guest nearly at the door of the apartment: on the entrance of an equal,
he just raises himself from his seat, and stands nearly erect; but to
an inferior he makes the motion only of rising. When a great man is
speaking, the style of respect in Persia is not quite so servile as
that in India. In listening the Indians join their hands together,
(as in England little children are taught to do in prayer,) place
them on their breast, and making inclinations of the body sit mute.
A visit is much less luxurious in Persia than in Turkey. Instead of
the sophas and the easy pillows of Turkey, the visitor in Persia is
seated on a carpet or mat without any soft support on either side, or
any thing except his hands, or the accidental assistance of a wall, to
relieve the galling posture of his legs. The misery of that posture in
its politest form can scarcely be understood by description: you are
required to sit upon your heels, as they are tucked up under your hams
after the fashion of a camel. To us, this refinement was impossible;
and we thought that we had attained much merit in sitting cross-legged
as tailors. In the presence of his superiors a Persian sits upon his
heels, but only cross-legged before his equals, and in any manner
whatever before his inferiors. To an English frame and inexperience,
the length of time during which the Persian will thus sit untired on
his heels, is most extraordinary; sometimes for half a day, frequently
even sleeping. They never think of changing their positions, and like
other Orientals consider our locomotion to be as extraordinary as we
can regard their quiescence. When they see us walking to and fro,
sitting down, getting up, and moving in every direction, often have
they fancied that Europeans are tormented by some evil spirit, or that
such is our mode of saying our prayers.
Before the close of our visit, it was settled that the Khan should
send in the course of that evening the letters with which he had been
charged to the Envoy, and that on the morrow he should come to a
personal conference, and open his verbal communications.
The _Ramazan_ was now over: the new moon, which marks the termination,
was seen on the preceding evening just at sun-set, when the ships at
anchor fired their guns on the occasion; and on the morning of our
visit, the _Bairam_ was announced by the discharge of cannon. A large
concourse of people, headed by the _Peish Namaz_, went down to the
seaside to pray, and when they had finished their prayers, more cannon
were discharged. Just before we passed through the gates of the town in
returning from our visit, we rode through a crowd of men, women, and
children, all in their best clothes, who, by merry-making of every
kind were celebrating the feast. Among their sports, I discovered
something like the round-about of an English fair, except that it
appeared of a much ruder construction. It consisted of two rope-seats
suspended, in the form of a pair of scales, from a large stake fixed
in the ground. In these were crowded full-grown men who, like boys,
enjoyed the continual twirl, in which the conductor of the sport, a
poor Arab, was labouring with all his strength to keep the machine.
The feast itself of the _Bairam_ begins of course successively in
every season of the natural year, for in the formation of their civil
year the Persians, like other Mahomedans, adopt lunar months. When it
occurs in summer, the _Ramazan_, or month of fasting which precedes
it, becomes extremely severe; every man of every kind of business, the
labourer in the midst of the hardest work, is forbidden to take any
kind of nourishment from sun-rise to sun-set, during the longest days
of the year. Their full day is calculated from sun-set to sun-set,
but their sub-division of time varies like that of the Hindoos and
Mussulmans of India, according to the difference of the length of the
natural day. In their calculation of the close of the fast, and the
commencement of the _Bairam_, they are seldom assisted by almanacks:
it frequently happens, therefore, that the same feast is celebrated
two days earlier, or delayed two days later in different parts of the
country, according to the state of the atmosphere: as the new moon
may be obscured by clouds in one city or displayed in another by the
clearness of the sky.
On the 21st of November MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN KARAGUZLOU paid the
appointed visit to the Envoy. A part of the body guard was sent out to
meet him, and we received him as before in uniforms and hats. After
the usual ceremonies were over, the Envoy and his guest retired to an
inner apartment; and after a conference, which lasted four hours, the
_Khan_ departed to _Bushire_ with the same escort, to whom on parting
he gave a present of fifty Venetian sequins. The conference had been
satisfactory, as at dinner the Envoy announced to us that we might now
complete all our preparations for a journey to _Teheran_. Still with a
volatility not unusual in the diplomacy of the East, the _Khan_ two
days afterwards refused to sign, in the name of the Persian Government,
the note of the terms on which they had agreed at their meeting: and at
ten o’clock at night the Vice-Governor, and the two _Moonshees_, came
to us. After a long debate they departed; and, to the satisfaction of
all parties the business was finally settled the next morning, when,
previous to his return to _Shiraz_, the _Khan_ paid his farewell visit
to the Envoy.
He returned to _Shiraz_; and, as we learned by our next dispatches
from JAFFER ALI, immediately appeared before the Prince, where he
talked for “seven hours without stopping once,” on the Envoy and his
merits. JAFFER ALI added, that he himself had dined with the Prince’s
Prime Minister, and that they also had talked till two o’clock in the
morning on the same alluring subject. After having both agreed that, by
the progress of the negociation, they had already rendered themselves
immortal, they retired to rest, and the next morning, the Minister,
on the appointment of a _Mehmandar_ to the mission, asked JAFFER ALI
for the _Moodjdéhlook_, or customary present, for which accordingly he
received a Cashmirian shawl. In general politics the dispatches stated,
that the Russians had renewed hostilities, though General GARDANNE,
the French Embassador in Persia, had sent four of his officers to the
Russian Commander to entreat that he would desist from any further
operations; but the Russian answered, that his master had ordered
him to fight on. The failure of this attempt had greatly contributed
to disgrace the cause of the French; and the Court retrenched in
consequence their daily allowances.
The _Mehmandar_, who was announced in these dispatches, was MAHOMED
ZEKY KHAN, (the chief of the _Noory_ tribe, one of the new modeled
corps) a great favourite at the Court of _Teheran_, and with the Prince
of _Shiraz_, and advanced lately by the King to the dignity of _Khan_.
It was added also, that his appointments were more magnificent than any
which had ever before been annexed to the _Mehmandar_ of an English
Envoy; and, as a further proof of the estimation in which His Majesty’s
mission was held, JAFFER ALI stated, that the Prince had prepared for
him, as our acting Agent at _Shiraz_, a rich dress of honour, which,
however, he had found means to decline from a fear of the jealousy
which it might have excited against him. But the Prince, resolved on
bestowing upon him some distinguishing mark of his favour, had given
him a shawl, which belonged to one of his own head-dresses, and a young
and promising Arab horse, which had been sent as a present to himself
by the Governor of _Chabi_. So well indeed had JAFFER ALI deserved the
confidence of both the negociating parties, that Sir HARFORD JONES,
now at the close of these preliminary arrangements, sent him a patent
constituting him the Agent for the British affairs at the Court of
_Shiraz_.