Annotated Copy of Persia and the Persian Question by George Curzon, with Inserted Papers [‎409r] (820/1814)

THE ARMY
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party in England may base an action or initiate a policy upon
erroneous data. Not being a military man myself, I shall, in cases
where a cTvPfan judgment is worthless, support myself by profes
sional authority which none will dispute. If my remarks are any
where found to grate upon Persian susceptibilities, or to constitute
a delineation unflattering to the rulers of that country, suffer me to
take shelter behind the motto, Amicus Plato,\magis arnica veritas}
It was to the brothers Sherley, Sir Anthony and Sir Robert,
circ. 1600 A.D., that Persia owed her first practical initiation into the
military science of Europe. According to the ingenious
brothers Herbert, the Persians ‘ got the use of cannon from the
Sherley yanquised Portugal,’ and ‘ the use of musquets they have
had onely since the Portugals assisted King Tahamas (i.e. Shah
Tahmasp) with some Christian auxiliaries against the Turk, so as
now (i.e. 1627 a.d.) they are become very good shots.’ 2 But if
already acquainted with gunpowder and with the new weapons of
war, it was from the adventurous English knight-errants that they
learnt how to make proper use of the discovery. Upon their advice
Shah Abbas, for the first time in modern Persian history, laid the
foundations of a regular army by incorporating a large force of
infantry armed with muskets. A contemporary writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. says of this
event:—
The mightie Ottoman, terror of the Christian world, quaketh of a
Sherly fever, and gives hopes of approaching fates ; the prevailing
Persian hath learned Sherleian arts of war, and he which before knew
not the use of ordnance, hath now 500 pieces of brasse, and 60,000
musketiers ; so that they, which at hand with the sword were before
1 For the best accounts of the Persian Army at different epochs of the last two
centuries, vide the following :—
J. Hanway (1744), Historical Account, %c., vol. i. pp. 251-4 ; Sir J. Malcolm
(1800-10), History of Persia, vol. ii. cap. xxi. ; A. Dupre (1808), Voyage en
Perse, vol. ii. cap. liv. ; J. P. Morier (1811), Second Journey, cap. xiv.; Col. G.
Drouville (1813), Voyage en Perse, vol. ii. caps, xxxii.-xxxvi.; Sir R. K. Porter
(1819), Travels, vol. ii. pp. 580-591; J. B. Fraser (1821), Journey into Khorasan,
pp. 223-30 ; J. H. Stocqueler (1831), Fifteen Months' Pilgrimage, vol. i. pp. 164-75 ;
Lt.-Col. W. K. Stuart (1835), Journal of a Residence, pp. 186-94; Sir J. Shell (circ.
1850), Note O to Lady Sheil’s Glimpses of Life, %c. ; Sir H. Rawiinson (1858),
Journal of the R. U. S. L, vol. i. pp. 23-7 ; A. 11. Mounsey (1865), Journey in Pie
Caucasus, S^c., pp. 141-4 ; Cte. J. de Rochechouart (1865), Souvenirs, cap. v. ; Sir
F. Goldsmid (1879), Journal of the R. U. S. I., March 17, 1879; L. M. H. (1885),
Russie et VAngleterre dans VAsie Centrale ; Capt. A. C. Yate (1886), National
Review, January, 1886; C. J. Wills (1886), Persia as it is, cap. xx.
2 Some Yeares' Travels, Syc. (3rd. edit.), p. 298.