PERSIA. 



PERU. 



679 



mostly sons or relatives of the Shah. The 

 priests are a powerful body, exercising a strong 

 restraining influence over the acts of the Shah, 

 and opposing all ideas of progress coining from 

 Europe. The chief priest is the Mujtahad, who 

 resides at Kerbela, near Bagdad. 



Legal Reform. Justice is administered by the 

 governors and their representatives, who follow 

 the Urf or common law, and by the priests 

 and Sheikhs-el-Islam, who are guided by the 

 Shar, or sacred written law. The Shah and 

 his governors are unrestricted in their powers, 

 and have abused their authority to enrich 

 themselves in a way to check production and 

 material progress. In May, 1888, the Shah 

 issued an tdict promising to the people equal 

 justice and protection against extortion and 

 oppression. He declared that henceforward 

 every Persian shall have the complete disposal 

 of his property, and shall be at liberty to enter 

 into financial associations for the construction 

 of public works, or for other purposes. 



Russian and English Rivalry. Russian influence 

 has for a long period been preponderant at the 

 Persian court, more especially since the Rus- 

 sian possessions in Turkistan have been ex- 

 tended so as to encompass Persian territory on 

 the northeast and east. A Belgian company 

 has recently begun, under Russian auspices, a 

 railroad 200 miles long, connecting Teheran, 

 the Persian capital, with Resht, near the Cas- 

 pian Sea, which will probably be extended to 

 Baku, where it will join the Russian system of 

 railroads. The first section of the railroad was 

 opened in June, 1888. Sir Henry Drummond 

 Wolff, the present English Minister to Persia, 

 has endeavored to regain the influence that 

 Great Britain formerly had in Teheran, and 

 has encouraged the Shah to take a more inde- 

 pendent stand in dealing with Russian demands, 

 by holding out hopes of the political and finan- 

 cial support of Great Britain. The edict prom- 

 ising protection to companies was suggested by 

 the British representative, who pressed for a 

 concession to a British company to construct a 

 railroad from Teheran to the Persian Gulf, as a 

 counterpoise to the Russian railroad. Instead 

 of this, he obtained for foreign merchant steam- 

 ers of all nations the right to navigate Karun 

 river as far as Alivaz, 125 miles from its mouth. 

 This river, which enters the estuary of the Eu- 

 phrates alter many windings, is one of the few 

 navigable waterways in a country devoid of 

 roads. The Russian Government assumed a 

 threatening attitude toward Persia on account 

 of this concession and other anti-Russian pro- 

 ceedings that took place during the absence of 

 Prince Dolgorouky, the Czar's representative in 

 Teheran. TheShah'sproclamationwascommu- 

 nicated to the powers in a circular note dated 

 Oct. 30, 1888. Sir II. Drummond Wolff, the son 

 of a German missionary who once visited Per- 

 sia and Turkistan, found the Shah fully alive to 

 the danger of Russian proximity on the east, 

 especially to the rich province of Khorassan, 

 whoso inhabitants have twice rebelled. En- 



couraged by signs of English support, the Shah 

 refused the Russian application for the right to 

 establish a consulate at Meshed, and forbade 

 the exportation of grain from Khorassan int > 

 Turkistan at Lutfabad. The vigorous repre- 

 sentations of the Russian Government led the 

 Shah afterward to retreat from the bold posi- 

 tion he had been encouraged to take, and to 

 undo most of the advantages that England had 

 gained while the Russian min. away 



from his post. The refusal of the exequatur 

 to the Russian consul at Meshed was held by 

 Russia to be a violation of the treaties of peace, 

 commerce, and navigation; and when the Per- 

 sian Government replied that noother power had 

 a consul in that place, it was pointed out that 

 Gen. Macleod, the British agent to supervise 

 the Afghan frontier, has his headquarters at 

 Meshed. The Shah not only gave way on this 

 point, but issued in December a second note as 

 an appendix to his circular throwing open the 

 Karun to international navigation, in which he 

 greatly limited the privileges to British com- 

 merce and enterprise that were supposed to 

 have been granted. The later note forbids 

 Persian subjects to undertake works of any 

 kind with the help of foreign capital, declaring 

 that all irrigation-works, roads, and other un- 

 dertakings must be carried out by Persian sub- 

 jects with Persian capital. The proclamation 

 that Sir Henry Drummond Wolff induced the 

 Shah to issue in May, encouraging the formation 

 of companies and promising them protection, 

 was supposed to grant to foreigners the right 

 to embark in speculations in Persia, and to 

 giv-e foreign governments a claim to interfere 

 in behalf of companies or capitalists, and it was 

 so construed by the British Under-Secretary for 

 Foreign Affairs, who affirmed in Parliament 

 the right to appeal to the proclamation, since 

 it had been formally communicated to the for- 

 eign representatives in Teheran, as well as to 

 the most-favored-nation clause as a guarantee 

 of the rights of British companies for the con- 

 struction of railroads and carriage-roads from 

 the Persian Gulf. 



PERU, a republic in South America. (For 

 details relating to area, population, etc., see 

 "Annual Cyclopaedia'' for 1883.) 



Government. The President (since June 3, 

 1886) is Gen. Andres Avelino Caceres. The 

 Cabinet is composed of the following ministers : 

 President of the Council and Minister of the 

 Interior, Don Pedro A. del Solar ; Minister of 

 Justice, Sefior Zegarra; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, Don Isaac Alzamora; Minister of Fi- 

 nance, Sefior Urigoyen ; Minister of War r Sefior 

 Torrico. The United States Minister at Lima 

 is Charles W. Buck. The American Consul at 

 Callao is Henry May Brent. The Peruvian 

 Minister at Washington is Don Felix Cipriano 

 C. Zegarra. The "Peruvian Consul at New- 

 York is Don Francisco Perez de Vilasco. 



Finances. The home debt of Peru included, 

 October, 1888, $39.235.947 of bonded debt, in- 

 clusive of accumulated interest ; $10,000,000 



