'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎549] (640/748)

COMMEKOE AND TEADE
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leagues and bonds of friendship with our princes; ' although the
Persians appear presently to have become disgusted at receiving
envoys of such small consideration from so great a monarch.
The Shah, however, granted them a firman A Persian word meaning a royal order or decree issued by a sovereign, used notably in the Ottoman Empire (sometimes written ‘phirmaund’). , conceding immunity
from tolls and customs for the space of three years, and the same
trading rights as other foreign nations, a formal treaty of commerce
being promised as soon as sufficiently valuable presents were
forthcoming from the French king or company. There were
constant quarrels at Isfahan between the representatives of the two
latter powers, and De Lalain died in 1666. The Board of the
French East India Company decided in 1668 not to open trade
with Persia; but a M. Gueston, a new director, having come out
from India to renew the attempt and having died at Shirazin 1673,
the captain of the vessel that had brought him, one Berrier, and
his clerk De Joncheres, decided that it would be very good fun to
pose as ambassadors themselves. They procured a patent from the
king giving them free right of trade throughout Persia, but do
not appear to have secured any exceptional privileges, the Shah's
minister inviting a fresh deputation from the Company before he
made any further concessions. In 1708, M. Michel, sent out by
Louis XIV., concluded a treaty with Shah Sultan Husein ; and in
1715 Le Grand Monarque was humbugged into signing another at
Versailles by a Persian adventurer, named Mohammed Reza Bey.
The French establishment existed in Isfahan till the Afghan inva
sion in 1722, when they were compelled to retire; and they also
possessed a factory An East India Company trading post. at Bunder Abbas.
About the same time, viz., in 1664, there appeared at Isfahan
an embassy from the Grand Duke of Moscovy consisting of two
Tlie envoys and 800 followers. They were received with
Russians great distinction, and were lodged in a royal palace,
which they so defiled with their filthy habits that Shah Abbas IL
called them the Uzbegs of the Franks, intimating, says Chardin,
c that as among the Mohammedans there is no nature so nasty, so
meanly educated, nor so clownish as the Yusbecs, so among the
Europeans there was not any that equalled the Muscovites in those
foul qualities.' It was presently discovered that the object of the
embassy was commerce, and that the guise of ambassadors had
been assumed in order to evade the payment of duties on the
merchandise which they had brought with them into the country.
Indignant at this double-handed dealing, the Shah dismissed them