'Military report on Tehran and adjacent Provinces of North-West Persia (including the Caspian Littoral)' [‎16r] (36/610)

In their place was to he put the Shua’-us-Sultaneh,. the Shah’s younger son,
who was a by word even in Persia for extortion and injustice.
The policy of the Atabak and his friends had thus aroused the opposition
St all classes in Persia ; of the few more or less patriotic statesmen, who knew
to what a goal the country was being led ; of the priests, who felt that their old
power and independence would perish with that of their country ; and of the
great mass of the population and the mercantile classes, who were the daily
victims of the tyranny of their oppressors.”
Events, which led to the granting of a Constitution, com
menced in December 1905, when some malcontents 1 took
‘ bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. ’ at Shah Abdul Azim. They refused to be bribed or inti
midated to leave the shrine until in January 1906 the Shah
wrote a promise to concede their demand for the dismissal of
’Ain-ud-Dauleh, who, as Grand Vizir, incurred the brunt of the
popular discontent, and promised reforms in the administration
of Justice, and changes in the new Customs administration,
which was the object of anti-foreign agitation directed especially
against M. Naus. Grandees, including Muhammad All, the Heir
Apparent at Tabriz, who were enemies of the ’Ain-ud-Dauleh,
supported the movement and no mention was made of a
Constitution. The ’Ain-ud-Dauleh, however, endeavoured to
bribe the clergy to withdraw their support from the popular
leaders, and the Shah failed to give effect to his promises, until
in July popular agitation led to some disturbances, resulting in
a second taking of ‘ bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. ’ in a masjid in Tehran. Soldiers were
picketed to prevent supplies reaching the ‘ bastis ’, until in the
middle of July, the Mujtahids, who were their leaders, were
permitted to withdraw to Qum.
A few days later on July 19th a party of some 50 priests TaWngof ‘bast’
and merchants took ‘ bast (Per.) A Persian custom allowing an individual to seek asylum at a designated location. ’ in the British 2 Legation in Tehran ; tion in 1906 and
by the beginning of August the number of ‘ bastis ’ had ^‘^l^ftion
increased to nearly 14,000. This concourse had spontaneously c
assembled without any organization or programme, as a protest
against the Government with whom they refused to parley
except through the medium of the British Legation. The Court
yielded, the ’Ain-ud-Dauleh resigned and left Tehran, and on
6th August a rescript from the Shah was read out to the crowd
in the Legation promising a Representative National Assembly,
Courts of Justice, reforms, and an amnesty. On the 9th of
August the Mujtahids agreed to return from Qum and on the
10th the Legation Grounds were vacated. The reactionaries
however, attempted to nullify these concessions, the ’Ain-ud-
Dauleh suddenly returned to Tehran and the Shah was dis-
1 Their chief leaders were all Mujtahids, viz., Saiyid Abdullah, Saiyid Muham
mad and Shaikh Fazlullah.
2 In reply to an inquiry made by their representatives to the Minister, who
was at the summer residence of Qualahak, they had received his reply that force
would not be used to expel them.