‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎295r] (596/722)

of Muhammad Ah Mirza, the eldest son of the Shah, was drawing 1
towards a close. He was compelled to return from Baghdad by au attack
of disease, which proved mortal, and carried him oif at the age of thirty-
seven. Subsequently Abbas Mirza, the crown prince, inflicted a defeat on
the Turks. The war was ultimately brought to a close by the treaty of
Erzerum in 1823, under which each power retained the territories which were
in its possession at the commencement of the war.
All this while differences between Persia and Russia arising out of the
terms of the treaty of Gfulistan were still as far from settlement as ever.
The treaty had not been sufficiently definite as regards certain portions of the
line of frontier ; and patches of land were claimed on either side—by the
Russian authorities with all the arrogance of conscious power, and by the
Persian authorities with all the bitterness of wounded pride. After a long
delay a commission was appointed, but without result. At length, in 1825,
Russia took military possession of the little territory of Gfokehah, which
belonged of right to the Shah, and declared that she would continue to
hold it until her claims in other directions were conceded. About this
juncture, namely, in December 1825, the Emperor Alexander died, and the
Emperor Nicholas succeeded to the throne of Russia. Shortly afterwards
prince Menchikoff arrived in Persia for the purpose of arriving at a final
arrangement.
Meantime a religious movement against Russia had sprung up in the
dominions of the Shah. The Russian authorities in Georgia were said to
have wantonly interfered with the prejudices of their Mussaltnan subjects ;
and the occupation of Gokchah converted this discontent into a religious
frenzy. The priests began to proclaim from their pulpits the necessity for
chastising the infidels ; and the Shah found that, unless the Russians evacu
ated Gokchah, he had no alternative but to declare war against Russia. He
received prince Menchikoff at his summer camp at Sultania ; but scarcely had
the negotiations opened when a long train of priests from Tihran arrived at
the royal camp. It now appeared that prince Menchikoff had no power to
consent to the evacuation of Gokchah ; and consequently the Shah was
literally forced by the popular fanaticism to break up the conference and
give the prince his passports. The whole people of Persia were bent upon
a religious war ; and they found means to intimate to the Shah, that if he
declined to lead his subjects to battle, they would find another leader for
themselves.
The conduct of the war against Russia was placed in the hands of Abbas
Mirza, the heir-apparent. Volunteers joined his standard in thousands ; and
operations were commenced without the preliminary ceremony of a formal
declaration of war. The Russians were thus taken by surprise, and for some
time were wholly unable to resist the onslaught of their heated and enthu
siastic enemy. Abbas Mirza gained a series of successes, and was soon push
ing on to Georgia; but by this time a Russian force had taken the field, and
the Persians discovered that they were unable to contend against Russian
artillery and discipline. It would be needless to describe the military
operations. It will suffice to say that, in spite of some successes of Abbas
Mirza on the river Araxes in 1827, the superior power of the Russians was
manifest, and the inferiority of the Persians was vastly increased by the
parsimonious avarice of Fateh All Shah. Notwithstanding the grave
character of the crisis, the Shah of Persia refused to advance the funds
necessary for the conduct of the war; and, indeed, threw all the charges