706 



PERSIA. 



openly opposed to the election of Delamater, 

 whose nomination, it was claimed, had been 

 forced upon the party against the wishes of its 

 better element by the scheming of politicians. 



So widespread was the dissatisfaction in the 

 Republican ranks with the candidate for Gov- 

 ernor, that at the election in November he was 

 defeated by more than 16,000 votes, although 

 the normal Republican plurality in the State, as 

 shown at the election of 1889, was about 60,000. 

 The vote of each candidate was as follows : For 

 Governor : Pattison. 464,209 : Delamater, 447,655 ; 

 Gill, 16,108. For Lieutenant-Governor : Watres, 

 467,371 ; Black, 445.006 ; Hyatt, 17.048. For Secre- 

 tary of Internal Affairs : Stewart, 468,969 ; Bar- 

 clay, 443,478 ; Dunn, 17,105. Members of the State 

 Legislature were elected at the same time as 

 follow : Senate, Republicans 31, Democrats 19 ; 

 House, Republicans 122, Democrats 79, Fusion 3. 



The election in the congressional districts re- 

 sulted in the choice of 18 Republicans and 10 

 Democrats, a Democratic gain of three seats. 



There was a special election in May in the Third 

 Congressional District to fill a vacancy in the Fif- 

 ty-fire t Congress caused by the death of Hon. 

 Samuel J. Randall on April 13. At this election 

 Richard Vaux, Democrat, was chosen, almost 

 without opposition, there being no Republican 

 candidate. A special election in the Fourth Dis- 

 trict to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 

 Hon. William D. Kelley resulted in the choice of 

 John E. Reyburn, Republican, for the unexpired 

 term. On Nov. 4 Charles W. Stone, Republican, 

 was chosen for the unexpired term of Lewis F. 

 Watson, deceased, in the Twenty-eighth District. 



PERSIA, an empire in central Asia. The 

 reigning Shah is Nasreddin, born July 18, 1831. 

 He is absolute master of the lives and prop- 

 erty of his subjects, but has been a mild ruler 

 and has gained the affection of the people. He 

 is fond of field sports, a lover of music, an artist, 

 and something of a poet, and well acquainted 

 with European politics. His least attractive 

 quality is his avarice. Besides his priceless 

 treasure in jewels, he has amassed, mainly from 

 the gifts that flow in on every occasion from 

 ministers, nobles, officials, and merchants, about 

 $15,000,000 in personal property. His 60 wives 

 and concubines have borne him 40 children, of 

 whom there are living 7 sons and 12 daughters, 

 several of the latter being married to influential 

 men. The Valiahd, or heir to the throne, is Mo- 

 zaff ur-eddin, the eldest son from a wife of prince- 

 ly rank, born March 25, 1853. In accordance 

 with a tradition of the Kadjar dynasty, he is 

 governor of the northwestern province of Azar- 

 bijan, which he can not leave without especial per- 

 mission from the Shah. The eldest son of the 

 Shah, Sultan Massud Mirza, the Zill-es-Sultan or 

 " Shadow of the King," who was formerly the 

 Shah's favorite, ruler over seven provinces and 

 commander of a well-drilled army of 18.000 men, 

 was stripped of all his dominions in 1888 except 

 Ispahan. The most powerful man after the Shah 

 is now Mirza Ali Askar Khan, a young man of 

 humble origin, who is Minister at the same time 

 of the Interior, the Court, the Customs and the 

 Treasury. The Shah's third adult son. Kamran 

 Mirza, is Minister of War, Commander-in-chief 

 of the Army, and Governor of Teheran. 



The area of Persia is estimated at 628,000 



square miles. The population is about 8,000,000, 

 including 2,000,000 nomads. Teheran, the cap- 

 ital, has 210,000 inhabitants, and Tabriz or Tau- 

 ris has 180,000. 



Finances. The receipts of the treasury for 

 the year 1888- ! 89 were estimated at 40,064.500 

 francs, of which 5,882,350 francs were derived 

 from customs. The expenditures amount to 

 37,000,000 francs, the army requiring 14,000,000 

 francs, the court 3,750.000 francs, and the clergy, 

 pensions, etc., 10.200,000 francs. 



Commerce. The imports, consisting of cot- 

 ton goods, china and glassware, paper, iron, cop- 

 per, sugar, tea, etc., amount to about 132,000,000 

 francs, and the exports to 78,000,000 francs, the 

 chief articles being silk, tobacco, skins, carpets, 

 cotton, opium, gums, woolen fabrics, dates, ce- 

 reals, and rice. Although the routes to northern 

 Persia from the Caspian are closed against all 

 except Russian goods, by the road from the 

 Turkish port of Trebizond, on the Black Sea, to 

 Tabriz, the largest trade-distributing center in 

 the country, two thirds of the cotton goods of 

 the Tabriz market are supplied from England, 

 the rest coining from Russia, while the woolens 

 come from Austria and Germany, and the crock- 

 ery and glassware from Austria. Even at Tehe- 

 ran English cottons and Austrian woolens and 

 glassware compete successfully with Russian 

 goods. The opening of the Karun river to Eng- 

 lish navigation has proved almost a futile con- 

 cession, owing to the annoying proceedings of 

 the local officials, yet a British company has 

 placed a steamer on the river and run it at a loss, 

 for the sake of the advantages of the route, which 

 will shorten the land journey to the northern 

 marts from the Persian Gulf by nearly one half. 



The Army. The official army list, which has 

 no foundation in facts, -represents the total 

 strength of the Shah's army as 200,000 men, in- 

 cluding 50,000 militia. The nominal strength 

 capable of mobilization is 90,392, composed of 

 16,350 irregular or nomad cavalry, levies raised 

 from the frontier tribes and officered by their 

 khans, hardy and brave material, wonderful 

 horsemen and good marksmen, but in the ab- 

 sence of discipline and of generalship in their 

 commanders of little value when opposed to 

 European troops ; 2,493 trained cavalry, about 

 one half of whom are trained, while equipped on 

 the model of the German dragoons and Uhlans, 

 and the other half are the vaunted Cossack reg- 

 iments at Teheran, which have been admirably 

 drilled by Russian officers ; 63,700 regular infan- 

 try, recruited on tribal and territorial principles, 

 though without system, who only need good 

 equipment, fair pay and sustenance, and capable 

 leaders to make them equal to the troops that 

 beat the Turks and the Afghans in the last cent- 

 ury; 4,000 artillery, including 540 officers, a 

 semi-disciplined body ; 80 camel artillery, an ob- 

 solete and useless corps; 169 officers, the relics 

 of the Austrian corps; 3,600 militia. Of all 

 these troops, the number of men returned as 

 actually serving with the colors is 43,889, viz., 

 12,427 irregular cavalry, 2,493 disciplined caval- 

 ry, 25,000 regular infantry, 1,800 artillery, with 

 164 serviceable guns, 169 Austrian corps, and 

 2.000 militia; and it is supposed that allowances 

 should be made for false returns and furloughs, 

 that would reduce the total to 30,000. 



