‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎246v] (499/722)

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that of the morning; and transacts business with his ministers and principal
officers of state.
The usual occupations of the monarch of Persia are liable to no inter-
ruption but what proceeds from illness, the pursuit of field-sports, or
occasional exercise on horseback. When in camp, his habits of occupation
are the same as in his capital; and we may pronounce that he is from six to
seven hours every day in public, during which time he is not only seen by,
but accessible to, a great number of persons of all ranks. It is impossible
that a monarch, whom custom requires to mix so much with his subjects,
can be ignorant of their condition; and this knowledge must, unless his
character be very perverse, tend to promote their happiness.
It is impossible to give an exact description of the duties which the
prime minister of a king of Persia has to perform. These depend upon the
degree of favour and confidence he enjoys, and upon the activity and
energy, or indolence and incompetency, of his sovereign. He is usually
deemed the medium through which political negotiations and all affairs
that relate to the general welfare *of the state should be transacted.
He receives and introduces foreign ambassadors,—corresponds with the
principal governors of provinces ; and when he is a decided favourite, he
exercises a great influence over all the branches of the government. The
prime minister is sometimes placed at the head of every department; and
at others, this great power is divided, and a separate minister has charge
of the public revenue. These arrangements rest solely with the king;
upon whose favour the ministers of his court are dependent, from hour to
hour, not only for the authority they exercise, but for the preservation
of their property and their lives, which may be said to be always in peril.
Their danger increases with their charge; and their time is incessantly
occupied in personal attendance upon their sovereign, in the intricacies of
private intrigues, or the toils of public business. Men must be very
efficient before they are competent to fill such stations; and they are
generally selected on account of the reputation they have attained in
inferior" offices. It is a maxim of policy not to raise a nobleman of high
birth and rank to the station of prime minister. Perhaps, few of that
class in Persia are equal to the duties; but if they were, it would not be
deemed wise to trust men with the use of the king’s name and of the
royal seal, who might employ them to further their own plans of ambition,
and who could not be cast down without exciting a murmur of discontent,
if not a spirit of turbulence, among their vassals and adherents. As the
administration is in general constituted, the disgrace or execution of a
minister creates no sensation whatever. There are instances of a departure
from this policy; but they are too rare to be considered otherwise than as
exceptions to a general rule.
Besides his chief ministers, the king of Persia is aided by secretaries
of state in every department. They preside over different offices or cham
bers of accounts; and the accounts of the receipts and disbursements
of the kingdom, throughout the ecclesiastical, civil, revenue, and military
branches of its government, are kept with much regularity and precision.
It is rare, however, that any of the officers who fill these departments
enjoy any extensive influence, though it is from this class that the minis
ters of the crown are often selected.
A great change has taken place in the whole frame of the court of
Persia since the Safavian kings occupied the throne. Some of the monarchs