‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎250r] (506/722)

likely to aspire to, the throne. It is also inflicted upon chiefs of tribes
whom it is desirable to deprive of power, without putting- them to death;
and instances occur, as has been related, where this punishment is inflicted
on the male inhabitants of a city that has rebelled, in order to strike terror
by a dreadful example. The common mode of putting criminals to death
in Persia is by strangling, by decapitation, or by stabbing; but in cases of
enormity, or where there is a desire to make an impression of terror, or to
gratify a passion of revenge, inventive cruelty endeavours to discover new
ways of adding to the sufferings of its victims. These are sometimes
doomed to have their existence terminated by protracted torture; at others,
are impaled, or have their limbs torn asunder by the elastic rebound of the
branches of trees that have been bent for the purpose. An instance has
been given of a barbarous chief associating the idea of a luxurious enjoy
ment with the horrors of the most cruel death by making a garden of his
enemies; and the history of Persia abounds with examples too shocking
to be related of tyrants glutting their vengeance, by subjecting their
enemies, before they granted them the mercy of death, to the most shame
less insults and horrid injuries.
In Persia women are seldom publicly executed; nor can their crimes,
from their condition in society, be often of a nature to demand such
examples. But they are exposed to all the violence and injustice of domestic
tyranny; and innocent females are too often included in the punishment
of their husbands and fathers, particularly where those are of high rank.
Instances frequently occur where women are tortured to make them reveal
the concealed wealth of which they are supposed to have a knowledge ; and
when a nobleman or minister is put to death, it is not unusual to give
away his wives and daughters as slaves, and sometimes (though rarely) they
are bestowed on the lowest classes in the community. This usage is defended
on the ground of the necessity of making terrible examples of men who
fill high stations; and it is argued that nothing is so likely to deter others
from equal guilt as the dread of having their families exposed to similar
dishonour. But no reasoning can reconcile our minds to a practice which
is at once infamous, inhuman, and unjust; and which marks, perhaps
beyond ail others that have been stated, the wanton atrocity of a despotic
and barbarous power.
The king nominates the 4 beglerbegs/ or governors of provinces, and
hakims, or governors of cities, who are not required, as a matter of course,
to be natives of the place of their government. Nor is it necessary that
the f darughah/or lieutenant of police, who acts immediately under the
hakim, or governor, should be so. But the ‘kalantar/ or chief magistrate of
the city, and the ‘ kad-khudas/ or magistrates of different wards, though
nominated by the king, must as necessarily be selected from the most
respectable natives of the city as the members of the corporation of any city
or town in England. Though these officers are not formally elected, we
may assert that the voice of the people always points them out; and it may
be furtherstated, that if the king should appoint a magistrate disagreeable
to the citizens, he could not perform his duties, which require that all the
weight he derives from personal consideration should aid the authority of
office. In small towns or villages the voice of the inhabitants in the
nomination of their kad-khuda, or head, is still more decided ; and if one
is named whom they do not approve, their incessant clamour produces either
his voluntary resignation or removal. These facts are important; for there