"تقارير إدارية ١٩٠٥-١٩١٠" [و‎‎٢‎١‎٨] (٦١٦/٤٤٠)

CHAPTER II.
administration eepoet for shiraz for the year 1909.
The year 1909 marks a long step in the gradually accelerated process of
General. decomposition of all authority in Fars.
« . -r.,1, c . ft as marked by two main and most im
portant facts. For the first time a really resolute and capable Governor-
General has tailed to impose an effective authority on the province;* and for
the first time a airect attack has been made on a foreign consular officer
resulting in the death and wounding of members of the regular forces of a
foreign Power. These two things are unprecedented, and cannot fail to
produce far-reaching consequences. Another important event, in the opposite
direction, is the arrival in Shiraz of a British detachment, small, but adequate
for the protection of the European colony in the face of all eventualities
which may reasonably be expected.
Asaf-ed-Dowleh. continued to display the qualifies described in my last
Local authorities. Governor-General. report Until July 1910, when he was
» -P j "n i u v> t i < ^ isni, i sse< i an d Zil-es-Sultan appointed.
Asaf-ed-Dowleh, however lingered on m Shiraz hoping for the tide to turn,
unt' July 24th. The Bakhtian coup in Tehran had meanwhile been
iatal to Zil-es-Sultan s appointment and he was replaced, on July 21st, by Ala-
ed-Dowleh. This event brought Sowlet-ed-Dowleh to the fighting point and he
declared categorically that Ala-ed-Dowleh should not enter Fars as Governor-
General He also showed signs of an evident intention to maintain his
puppet Asar-ed-Dowleh m power, and it was mainly in consequence of pres
sure brought to bear on him by the British Consulate that the province was
imally delivered ot this incubus. Sowlet meanwhile pursued his role of King
maker by coming to Shiraz and negotiating the appointment of Ain-ed-Dowleh
at a, telegraphic interview with the triumphant popular leaders. This ap
pointment, which was made known on August 8th, was as ephemeral as the
P r^ n ^ inatl0ns ' . and a PP ears to have been cancelled under the influence
a + 10 i 1z j revolutionar y Taghizadeh. Finality was at last reached on
August 12th by the appointment of Saham-ed-Dowleh, of which Sowlet was
graciously pleased to approve, and he left Shiraz, on the 16th, to meet the new
Governor-General at Abadeh.
Saham-ed-Dowleh showed himself without delay to be a most remarkable
ype 01 Persian. He arrived on September 20th, entirely without guards, and
proceeded at once to tackle Shiraz problems with an energy to which the
irazi is quite unaccustomed, but to which he submitted at first with his
us omary docility, and when a visible sign of power appeared in the shape
a lorce of 120 Persian Gossacks, Saham's authority seemed secure.
t f i ^ s 1 ? x j :reme ty independent attitude commended itself, however, neither
0 lie religious leaders, his behaviour to whom was the reverse of conciliatory,
or to the all-powerfull Sowlet, whom he further alienated by sending him
niperious letters on a number of subjects, especially the extensive misbeha-
iQur or a certain section of the Kashgai in injuring the telegraph line. By
e close cf the year Saham-ed-Dowleh had made a strong attempt to secure
e aismissal of Sowlet, and had conspicuously failed. The end of his regime
January 80 ^ 611 ^ i^^^ent, and it did not in fact outlast the month of
mod rU ^ e . w k^ e ^ lasted was an excellent blend of ancient principles and
^ ern practice. He soon saw, what must be obvious to any observer, that the
ma ^t 218 a:re inllerentl .y incapable of anything like real self-Government,
and th ^ Wln ? to thd 1 " incurable propensity for petty little personal quarrels,
con ent i r e lack of any public spirit. While therefore making apparent
^cessions to the constitutional principle by pressing on elections to the
acfe anil^ irn " es ® u J tane h> in 1907, though a very capable man, seems to have been largely incapacitated by old
discouraged by the conflict of authorities in Tehran. 5 - -