'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎22] (53/714)

HBHHhu
PERSIA
furnished by the Indian civil and military services, officers belong
ing o both'of Which have taken Persia on the.r way to or from
England ; the most conspicnons among their names be,ng, m the
muftary department, those of Colonel Johnson Captam Arthur
Oonolly (afterwards murdered at Bokhara) and S.r Alexander
Burnes, the subsequent victim of the tragedy of Kabul; and m
the civil department, R. B. Binning, who, m 1851, assisted by an
uncommon familiarity with the Persian language, wrote the last
reallv good hook that has been written on Pers.a, and E Stack,
who' in 1881, threw the graces of independent thought and a
fascinating style over the novel area of his explorations. In the
middle part of the century, and at intervals since, distinct additions
to our store of knowledge have been provided by the English an
American missionaries, who have selected Persia as the scene of
their labours, whether with the Nestorian Christians on the north
east frontier, or with the Armenians in several of the larger cities.
In the same period a few other names stand forth from the ranks
with conspicuous pre-eminence. The first of these is Major now
Kir Henry) Eawlinson, who to the merit of his own topographical
researches, when employed as an officer in the service of Mohammed
Shah superadded a political knowledge and grasp that subsequently
made him British Minister at Teheran, and in later times the
political historian of Anglo-Persian relations, and an archceological
acumen that revealed to him the dark riddles of the C uneifonn
alphabet, and have elevated him to the front rank of Oriental
scholars. Sir H. Layard, a not inferior name, also most fortunately
devoted to a portion of the Persian dominions those gifts of
insight and of style that have rendered him famous ; whilst among
the officers of other nationalities who have been employed m Persia,
the Frenchman Ferrier is conspicuous for his valuable and scholarly
work. France has also had the credit of sending to Persia the
expeditions of Texier, of Flandin and Coste, and, in later years, of
Dieulafoy, whose researches or discoveries, supported by ample
funds, have resulted in the production of splendid volumes, illus
trated on the most sumptuous scale. In 1859 the Geographical
Society of St. Petersburg deputed M. de Khanikoff, who applied
to the study of Persian topography the spirit of scientific scholar
ship somewhat marred by political prepossessions. And if, during
the same epoch, Great Britain has neither commissioned nor
endowed similar inquiry—a department in which she appeals to