'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎305] (348/714)

X
TEHERAN ^
burakchi Bashi, or Commander of the Camel Battery, which was one
of the favourite military toys of Fath Ali. Upon this individual
us sovereign bestowed that especial mark of confidence for which
Persian monarchs have always been famous, by inviting him^fe
W", to par with his property, which was forthwith transferred to
the English Elchi. Sir Gore Ouseley built upon it a commodious
house, whose Italian portico and pillars were a perpetual record of
Europe m the heart of Asia. The Russians originally occupied a
Legat'on in another part of the town, but, after the assassination
of their Minister, Grebayadoff, in 1828, they moved for greater
security into the precincts of the Ark. Until its disappearance
or rather expansion, in the years 1870-2, this transitional Teheran
was m every respect an Oriental city—contracted, filthy, shabby
and what the French so well denominate as morne.
Nasr-ed-Din Shah, among other titles to distinction, may claim
to have made his city a capital in something more than the name.
Teheran ^ twent y ^rs upon the throne, it appears
s j /x i 0 r ye occurred to him that the ' Point of Adoration
{Kibleh) of the Universe' was framed in a somewhat inadequate
setting. Accordingly, Teheran was suddenly bidden to burst its
bonds and enlarge its quarters. The old walls and towers were
lor the most part pulled down, 1 the ditch was filled up, a large slice
of surrounding plain was taken in, and, at the distance of a full
mi e from the old enclosure, a new rampart was constructed upon
Vaubans system, copied from the fortifications of Paris before the
German war. A good deal of the money sent out from England
by the Persian Famine Relief Fund in 1871 was spent in the hire
of labour for the excavation of the new ditch, which has a very
steep outer profile, and for the erection of the lofty sloping rampart
beyond. There is no masonry work upon these new fortifications;
they are not defended by a single gun ; they describe an octagonal
gure about eleven miles in circuit; and, I imagine, from the point
of view of the military engineer, are wholly useless for defence.
Ineir mam practical service consists in facilitating the collection of
le town octroi. Nevertheless, Teheran can now boast that it is
eleven miles round, that it has European fortifications, and twelve
^ ^ inteiior features have developed in a corresponding
westitVnhfildtown ng ,raCeable 1,1 Particularly along the south-
VOL. I.