622 



PERSIA. 



for three years. This had the effect to exclude 

 from the polls in Philadelphia a large number 

 of persons who had received certificates of cit- 

 izenship from the Supreme Court during the 

 months of September and the first three days 

 of October. The vote in Philadelphia Co., at 

 the State election, was 60,808 for the Demo- 

 cratic, and 60,633 for the Republican ticket. 



At the Presidential election the whole vote 

 of the State was 645,662. The Republican 

 electors received 342,280 of these, and the 

 Democratic 313,382, which gave a majority of 

 28,898 for the election of General Grant for 

 president. The Legislature met early in Jan- 

 uary, 1869, and was constituted as follows : 



Senate. House. Joint Ballot. 



Republicans 18 62 80 



Democrats 15 38 53 



Republican majority. 3 24 27 



PERSIA, a country in Asia. Shah (prop- 

 erly Shah yn Shah, which means King of 

 Kings), ISTasser-ed-Din, born in 1829; suc- 

 ceeded his father, Mohammed-Shah, in 1848. 

 The heir-apparent, Mouzaffer-ed-Din-Mirza, 

 died in 1868. Ministry (appointed 1866) : War, 

 Aziz-Khan; Finances, Mirza-Yussuf; Com- 

 merce and Public Instruction, Ali-Kooli-Mirza ; 

 Foreign Affairs, Mirza-Said-Khan ; Justice, 

 Mehemed-Kuli-Khan. The area is about 

 562,000 square miles; the population, about 

 10,000,000 (according to other estimates only 

 6,000,000). The nomad population is es- 

 timated at 3,000,000. The largest cities are 

 Ispahan, about 60,000 inhabitants; Tabreez, 

 110,000 (according to a Tabreez letter in the 

 Levant Herald of Constantinople, the city has 

 over 70,000 houses and over 200,000 inhabit- 

 ants); Teheran, 85,000 ; Meshed, 70,000. All 

 the inhabitants, with the exception of about 

 500,000, are Mohammedans, of whom about 

 7,500,000 belong to the Shiite, 1,500,000 to the 

 Sunnite, and 500,000 to other sects. The num- 

 ber of Christians is variously estimated at from 

 60,000 to 300,000. The majority of Christians 

 are Nestorians and Armenians. The Gotha 

 almanac for 1867 gives 200,000 Armenians 

 and 100,000 Nestorians ; but the Gotha almanac 

 for 1869 estimates the number of ISTestorians 

 at only 25,000, and that of Armenians at 26,- 

 000. A correspondence of the Paris Moniteur 

 (October 15, 1867) gives the following statis- 

 tics on the district of Ooroomeeyah, which has 

 for many years been the seat of Protestant 

 missions: The district has a population of 

 about 125,000 inhabitants, of which 31,300 

 belong to the town of Ooroomeeyah and 93,500 

 to the 360 villages. The country population is 

 composed of 4 Armenian villages, with 1,000 

 inhabitants ; 90 Nestorian villages, with about 

 20,000 inhabitants; of whom from 1,500 to 

 2,000 are Catholic Chaldees; 30 villages of 

 Koords (Sunnite Mohammedans), 7,500 inhab- 

 itants ; 215 Turkish villages (Shiite Mohamme- 

 dans) ; 60,000 inhabitants ; 21 villages, with a 

 mixed population of Chaldees, Armenians, and 

 Mohammedans, 6, 000 inhabitants. The town of 



Ooroomeeyah numbers 200 Catholic Chaldees, 

 600 Nestorian Chaldees, 1,000 Israelites, 1,500 

 Sunnites, and 28 Shiites. The total number 

 of Israelites is about 16,000; that of the Par- 

 sees (especially in Yezd and Kerman), about 

 7,200. The receipts of the treasury of the 

 crown in 1868, amounted to about 5,000,000 

 "tomans," (1 toman = $1.95 ; or, | sterling,) 

 to which sum must be added the value of the 

 extraordinary presents to the Shah. The Per- 

 sian army at present numbers 90 regiments or 

 battalions, of 800 men each, of regular infan- 

 try ; 3 squadrons, of 500 men each, of regular 

 cavalry, who are at the same time a body- 

 guard to the Shah; 5,000 artillery, and 200 

 light artillery, mounted on camels; besides 

 30,000 irregular cavalry, who are called into 

 service in case of emergency. The imports are 

 valued about $12,000,000, and the exports at 

 $7,000,000. 



In a report from Mr. Ronald Thompson, of 

 the British Legation at Teheran, to the English 

 Government, the following information on 

 Persia is given : 



In the Royal Treasury of Persia it is said there is 

 deposited gold coin of the value of 1,500,000, gold 

 furniture and plate belonging to the Crown, 500,000, 

 and the Crown jewels valued at 2,000,000, making 

 in all 4,000,000, or 20 crores of tomans. The most 

 remarkable of the Crown jewels are theDeryaii-Noor, 

 178 carats, valued at 500,000 tomans, or 200,000 : the 

 Taj Mehel, 112 carats ; and the English diamond, 73 

 carats, given by George IV. to Fatti Ali Shah. The 

 Persian Government has no debt, the balance due by 

 the Shah to Russia on account of the expenses of the 

 war concluded in 1828, amounting to about 200,000, 

 havingbeen cancelled by the Emperor twelve years 

 ago. The revenue from Persia demanded from the 

 several provinces this year amounts to 4,912,500 to- 

 mans (8s.), or 1,965,000; but under the complex 

 system of taxation much more will be wrung from 

 the people, and intercepted by local functionaries on 

 its w_ay to the treasury. Small as is the revenue of 

 Persia, it is in excess of the expenditure ; this con- 

 sists of 700,000 for the army, 300,000 for civil ser- 

 vices. 100,000 for priesthood and syeds, and 200,- 

 000 for extraordinary disbursements ; the residue, 

 with presents from officials on appointment, being 

 applicable to the Shah's private expenditure, the use 

 of the army, and other purposes. The army consists 

 nominally of about 105,500 men, but not more than a 

 third of this number are on active service ; the re- 

 mainder form a kind of reserve, mostly disarmed and 

 engaged in agricultural pursuits, but liable to be 

 called upon at any moment ; supposed to receive 

 half-pay, but seldom really getting it. Every ap- 

 pointment in the army is disposed of to the highest 

 bidder. The troops are armed with old-fashioned 

 French muskets, purchased in Paris for about twenty- 

 five francs each, old muskets purchased in England 

 twenty years ago, and a few thousand made in Tehe- 

 ran. Probably there are not more than a hundred 

 cannon in Persia mounted and fit for service ; nearly 

 all of them are smooth-bored and of small calibre, 

 varying from six pounds to twelve pounds. The offi- 

 cers generally are said to be ignorant and inefficient, 

 but the soldiers are described as obedient, sober, in- 

 telligent, and capable of enduring great fatigue. Last 

 summer, Mr. Thompson saw several regiments per- 

 form stages of twenty -four miles for days together, 

 and on one occasion they marched thirty-six miles 

 over a sandy desert in the plain of Tankbrass, with- 

 out a drop of water on the road, and under a burn- 

 ing sun. when the thermometer stood 102 in a 

 double-fly Indian tent. The external trade of Per- 



