"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي من إعداد السيد المحترم جورج ناثانييل كورزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٤‎١‎٤] (٧١٤/٤٦٩)

414
PERSIA
I believe (and I have taken steps to procure the best informa
tion on the subject) that this is a most unfair Account of the per
sonality of the future king of Persia. So far from being either
an idiot or an imbecile, he is a man of good intelligence and
considerable instruction, being well read in history, professing an
interest in botany, and being withal of an amiable and unassuming
disposition. The charge of bigotry appears to have arisen from
th e fact that he pays marked respect to the mullahs, and that he
is believed to be more or less under the influence of the Sheikhi
sect, which may be described as a fanatical agency. 1 Any such
• prepossession, however, which probably does not amount to more
than serious orthodoxy, as contrasted with the free-thinking ten
dencies of his elder brother, is far from justifying a fear of active
religious persecution in the future. If the prince is, as alleged, of
weak character and easily led—although such a lack of individuality
is denied by others—it is largely owing to the inexcusable position
ot subordination in which he, a man of nearly forty years of age,
the second personage in the kingdom, and the future sovereign,
has been placed by the shortsighted apprehensions of his father.
1 hough nominally Governor-General of a great province, lie has
hitherto been allowed no more voice in the actual administration
than a lacquey at his table; a child in leading-strings has more
control over his own movements than this pseudo-ruler has had over
his subjects. 2 The allowance given to him by the Shah has been
have contained similarly unflattering portraits of the Vali-Ahd, but I cannot
ascertain that they amount in any case to more than repetitions of second-hand
or third-hand gossip.
1 The Sheikhi sect are so called from a celebrated Sheikh of Kerman, Haji
Mohammed Kerim Khan, who in the early part of the century was a disciple of
Sheikh Ahmed Ahsai, the doctrinal parent of Babism. A split occurred between
the followers of the Bab and the pupils of the Sheikh, who called themselves by
his name. He preached a superior rationalism, reconciling dogma with reason,
and had many admirers, including Fath Ali Shah. The three chief points of his
creed were, extreme veneration for the Imams, as divine incarnations, belief in
his own spiritual communion with them, and denial of a material resurrection.
Vide E. G Browne, Journal of the 1889, art. xii.
The Province, as I shall presently show, has been for long administered by
the Prince's Vizier—the Amir-i-Nizam. Several years ago, in the absence of a
strong hand at the helm, the mis-government was so great that the Vali-Ahd was
temporarily deprived of his governorship, which was conferred upon one of the
Shah's uncles, an adept in the proper use of the bastinado, the bowstring, and
the executioners knife. The Amir-i-Nizam having been recalled (1891), the
Vali-Ahd has now once more a chance.
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