'Persia - policy to be pursued towards. Minute by the Viceroy of 29 December 1871 with a note' [‎142r] (11/14)

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Sir W. Kaye adds a Note.—“ The
“position of the English Officers at the
“ Persian head-quarters was always very
“ embarrassing, as they were only recog-
“nised by the Persian Government in
“ the quality of instructors, and wt're not
“allowed to interfere with the interior
“economy of the Regiments to which they
“were attached, nor exercise any of .the
“ functions of command. In the provin-
“ ces, however, the local Governors, being
“ independent of Court influence, and car-
“ ing little for the jealousies of the Native
“ Commanders, sometimes conferred much
“ more extensive powers on the British
“ Officers attached to their service; Major
“ Earrant, for instance, having had full
“ authority over the Cavalry Corps at Zen-
“ jan, and Major Rawlinson having been
“ placed in Military Command of the pro-
“ vince of Kermanshah. In former times
“ Abbas Mirza had always placed the British
“ Officers in real command of his troops,
“ and Majors Christie, Hart, and Lindsay
“ had thus often led the Persians to battle
“ against the Russians ; and in the same
“ way, in 1835, the latter officer, wdio had
“now become Major General Sir Henry
“ Bethune, was entrusted by the Shah
“ with full authority over the expedi-
“ tionary force sent to the south of Per-
“sia; hut these were exceptions to the
“ general rule.’ ,
Major D’Arcy Todd’s account of the
events of 1835, consequent on the death of
Shah Eutteh Ali and the usurpation of
several claimants to the throne, is some
what amusing. He says that he and the
British Detachment were at Khoi near
Tabrez employed in dialling four Regi
ments of Infantry and some Artillery.
They were ordered to march on Teheran,
and he thus describes the course of opera
tions :—
“We approached within five or six
“ marches of Teheran without meeting with
“ the slightest opposition ; on the contrary,
“ our numbers were augmented at every
“ step. Mahomed Shah was everywhere
“ acknowledged as King, and the chances
“ of opposition seemed to diminish as we
“ approached the capital. The Zil-i-Sultan
“was not, however, wholly inactive. A
“ force of four or five thousand men,
“ with seven guns and fifty swivels, was
“ despatched against us under the com-
“ mand of Imaum Verdee Mirza, one of
“the Zil’s half-brothers. This force ad-