'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎429] (488/714)

tiiiii shah royal family—ministers
than a political cypher ; the real control of the foreign relations of
Persia being entirely in the hands of the Shah and the Prime
Minister.
Among the most important of the ministers, although at present
occupying only a secondary official rank, is Yahia Khan, known as the
i hia Mushir-ed-Dowleh. He is the younger brother of the
Mushlr-ed- fanious Sadr Az ^i and Sipah Salar Mirza Husein Khan
Dowieh who was Prime Minister at the time of the Shah's first
visit to Europe, and who afterwards died in semi-exile at Meshed
m 1881. From early years he attracted the favour of his sove
reign. 1 He became a minister, received the Shah's sister in marriage 2
was appointed Governor of Gilan and Mazanderan, and afterwards
of Fars, was President of the Council of Regency during the Shah's
second absence in Europe, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from
1885 to 1887. In that year he forfeited the post by the intrigue"
which led to the flight of Ayub Khan from Teheran, and which
rendered him a persona ingrata to the British Legation This
charge he resolutely denies; but it is to be feared that it is not
without serious justification. He has also been sent on a special
mission to St. Petersburg, where he was treated with great consider
ation, and where he is supposed to have imbibed Russian ideas
He is now Minister of Justice and Commerce. Speaking French
admirably, the result of an early European education, and thoroughly
versed in the politics and habits of the West, he is probably one of
the cleverest of the public men in modern Persia. He inhabits a
magnificent house, which he holds no loan from the Shah, who
had confiscated it from his deceased brother. It adjoins the
immense Sipah Salar Mosque, which I have described in my
chapter on Teheran, and which he is completing in accordance
with the instructions and bequests of the former Sipah Salar.
At the time of my visit his eldest son was about to be married
to one of the daughters of the Vali-Ahd, and the Mushir, who
1 Contradictory and incorrect accounts of the incidents of his early career
have been given by Mme. Carla Serena {Hommes et Choses en Perse, cap xx ^ and
Benjamin, p. 225.
2 This lady, who is the Shah's sister by the same mother, has had a somewhat
checkered matrimonial career. She was first wedded to Mirza Taki Khan the
great minister who was murdered by the Shah in 1852. She was then given to
the son of his successor in that post. Upon his disgrace and exile several years
later she was again set free, and on this occasion married her uncle, who soon
died of cholera. Her fourth and final destiny was as wife of Yahia Khan.