'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎405] (460/714)

224
THE SIIAII—ROYAL FAMILY—MINISTERS
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sovereign could have hazarded such a step. Nadir Shah, before he
started out for India, had removed every possible competitor for the
throne. Moreover, he took his army with him, and the prospect of
the gieat Afshar returning at the head of a victorious host was
enough to make the blood of any would-be upstart run cold.
Nasr-ed-Din Shah had to contend with many obstacles in arranging
the first of his European journeys, of which there have now been
three, in 187o, 1878, and 1889. The project was obstinately
resisted by the clergy; great difficulty was experienced in settling-
the problem of the seraglio, the solitary wife who accompanied His
Majesty in 1873 being ultimately sent back from Moscow; and
the putting of the government into commission in his absence was
also not unattended with hazard. It is to the credit of the Shah
that then, and indeed throughout his reign, he has shown a com
mendable independence of the fanatical element among the mullahs
and mujtaheds of Islam. Though a careful observant of the forms
and rites of the Mussulman creed, and though reposing a super
stitious credulity in astrology and divination, he has uniformly
asserted the superiority of the temporal over the spiritual power,
and there was probably never a moment in the history of Persia
when the ecclesiastical ascendency, that is of the essence of Islam,
was so much in abeyance as at present. The immense amount of
money spent by the Shah in the purchase of furniture and
curiosities in Europe also excited a feeling of discontent; and his.
second tour was unquestionably unpopular among his subjects.
That he was able to venture upon a third is a proof of the absolute
security of his position, but it is also due to the sentiment which
he has taken care to diffuse among his Subjects, that the princes of
Christendom vie with each other in anxiety to entertain so great a
potentate and squabble for the honour of his alliance.
Finally, I will apply the double test of a comparison, firstly, of
t le general state of the country during the Shah's reign with its state
STwith Under IliS P redecessors ; and 5 secondly, of its condition now
previous with its condition at his accession forty-three years ago.
leigns The record of previous reigns is one of internal warfare,
yearly renewed against insurgent tribes or recalcitrant chieftains,
of tribute refused, of brigandage rampant and unpunished, of
ambitious nobles struggling with each other for the ascendency, of
tie royal authority frequently insulted and sometimes wholly ignored.
Such is not the picture which is presented by the Persia of to-day.
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