'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎334] (381/714)

^ PEHSIA
The gardeners of the British Legation were once almost wholly
recruited from this class. 1
But by far the most startling consequence of the new order of
things is the increase in the number of Europeans now resident in
European capital. As late as 1851 Mr. Binning reported that
l the only European foreigners were the staffs of the various
Legations, a few officers in the army (the majority having left
because they could not get their pay), two or three French and
Italian shopkeepers, and an Englishman employed by the Shah to
ti anslate the foreign journals to him and to edit his own pet news
paper. In 1865 Mr. Mounsey found this total swollen to fifty.
But at the time of my visit, in the autumn and winter of 1889, it
was estimated to have risen to nearly 500 persons. The increase
is not in the official element. They—i.e. the.diplomats, the officers
of the Telegraph Department, a few Austrian and Russian officers
in the army, and one or two other employes of the Persian Govern
ment—remain at about the same figure. So, it may be said, do the
missionaries, the merchants, and the few globe-trotters who may be
annually driven by a vagabond fancy to Teheran. It is in the
large number of speculators, small traders, would-be concessionaries,
wandering chevaliers dHndustrie, et hoc genus omne —all the goodly
crew, in fact, who live to illustrate the phrase that ' where the car
case is, there will the eagles [surely a mistranslation for vultures!]
be gathered together'—it is in these that the main increase has
taken place; and in time we may expect the streets of Teheran to
present as many models of the sartorial degradation of Europe as
do those of Cairo or Constantinople. The elements of this polyglot,
but, unfortunately, monochrome, society are necessarily thrown
somewhat together; and in their idiosyncrasies, foibles, combina
tions, rivalries, and projects is to be found an inexhaustible fund
of local gossip, as well as almost the sole source of non-political
interest.
There is but one Embassy at Teheran—that which is occu-
Foreign pied by the representative of the Sultan ; a compliment
Legations which could hardly fail to be exchanged between the two
great Mohammedan Powers. Europe is, however, represented by
1 Guebre, which means ' infidel,' and is the same as Giaour, is, of course, not
their own name, but only a term of opprobrium applied to them by the Mussul
mans. Until 1882 they paid a special jezieh or poll-tax to the Persian Govern
ment ; but, through the intervention of the British Legation, this invidious tax
was repealed.