'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎407] (462/714)

'iZr
THE SHAH—ROYAL FAMILY—MINISTERS 407
.sustaining 01 motive power of tlie Grovernment no longer exists, nor
can it be renewed. The general condition of the provinces is hardly
less unfavourable to the consolidation of the young monarch's power
than an empty treasury and impotent and divided councils. In no
quarter is there any feeling uf confidence in the stability of the Govern
ment. A domestic crisis may be imminent, and cannot be very far
distanl, 1
Nevertheless, the subsequent period has not ratified these
gloomy vaticinations. There is a balance in the Royal Ex
chequer, regrettable though it be that it should swell by idle
mci ement instead of being' devoted to the service of the people.
The Government is secure, strong, and respected. The provinces,
as I have shown, are in thorough subordination. No member
■of the Royal Family has ventured to dispute the supremacy of
the Shah. Simultaneously there has been a considerable, even
if inadequate, expansion of commerce. The telegraph wire has
been stretched between all the principal towns ; regular posts
have been inaugurated ; newspapers of an official character are
published in the capital 5 a miniature railway, which may perhaps
become the nucleus of a great undertaking, has been built; gas
is manufactured at Teheran. The critic of the present finds plentv
that is backward and a good deal that is deplorable in the con
dition of the country. Of these abuses I shall presently speak.
But the historian, contrasting the Persia of the two periods, will
record an advance, small as measured by European ideas, but by
no means contemptible according to the standards of the East.
Before I quit the subject of the Shah and his personality, I
may briefly recapitulate the incidents of an interview with which
I was honoured in the Palace at Teheran. The Shah, to whom I
had been previously introduced in England, received me in the
Audience room in vyllicl1 stands the so-called Peacock Throne.
Shaii the r ^ ere was 110 other article of furniture in the chamber,
and the King was standing alone in the middle. He wore
black trousers and a black coat, edged with astrakhan, thick with
gold cording in front, and equipped with voluminous skirts. Upon
the face of his holah, or sheepskin hat, was a small Lion and Sun in
diamonds, a recent commission from a Parisian jeweller. Whereas
in England he had employed French, which however he is shy in
using in conversation, he now spoke in Persian, through an inter-
' Sir H. Eawlinson, England and Russia in the Fast, p. 75.