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PERSIA. 



ers, for the default of a corporation with which they 

 have no concern. Whenever the laws of this Com- 

 monwealth shall provide that the employe's of a rail- 

 road may suspend all traffic upon it until their wages 

 are paid I will asquiesce, but I cannot do so while the 

 law refuses to contemplate any such remedy. My 

 duty is not to make the laws, or to criticise them, 

 but to execute them, and that duty I must discharge 

 without fear or favor. General Osborn is the officer 

 in command. I have implicit confidence in his im- 

 partiality, firmness, and discretion. I have ordered 

 him to confer with the sheriff of your county, who 

 is its proper peace-officer. If the laws are not set at 

 defiance, the sheriff will so inform General Osborn. 

 If they are set at defiance, General Osborn has been 

 ordered to enforce obedience to them. If unfortu- 

 nate consequences follow, the responsibility must 

 rest with those who endeavor to redress their wrongs 

 by violence, in contempt of the laws of their coun- 

 try, and of the officers whose sworn duty it is to take 

 care that they be faithfully executed. 



J. F. IIAETEANFT. 



A prolonged conflict between Italian and 

 native miners, at the Armstrong mines in West- 

 moreland County, occurred in the latter part of 

 the year, in which violence and lawlessness 

 were displayed on both sides. Four Italians 

 were killed and several wounded, but no action 

 was taken by the local authorities to prevent 

 or punish these riotous outbreaks. The Gov- 

 ernor called the attention of the Legislature to 

 the matter at the opening of the session of 1875. 



PERSIA, a country of Asia. Reigning sov- 

 ereign, N"assr-ed-Din, Shah of Persia, born 

 September 4, 1829, eldest son of Shah Moham- 

 med ; succeeded to the throne at the death of 

 his father, September 10, 1848. Children of 

 the Shah : Muzaffer-ed-Din, heir-apparent, born 

 in 1850 ; Djilal-ed-Dauleh, born in 1853. The 

 present sovereign is the fourth of the dynasty 

 of the Khadjars, which fully secured the rule 

 over the country in 1794. It is within the 

 power of the Persian monarchs to leave the 

 crown, with disregard to the national heir, to 

 any member of the family. 



The area of Persia is estimated at 636,000 

 square miles. The population is about 5,000,- 

 000. The vast majority of the inhabitants of 

 Persia are Mohammedans. The Armenian 

 population is estimated at 4,660 families, or 

 26,035 souls; the Nestorians, including both 

 Protestants and persons who have joined the 

 Roman Catholic Church (Chaldees about 3,- 

 500 souls, and 600 families), respectively at 

 4,100 families, or 25,000 souls; the Jews at 

 16,000 souls; the Guebers or Parsees at 1,200 

 families, or 7,190 souls. The new sect of the 

 Babis, which was founded about forty years 

 ago, is believed to have a very large number 

 of adherents, notwithstanding the cruel per- 

 secution to which it has been subjected. The 

 Gregorian Armenians have an archbishop at 

 Ispahan, who resides in the suburb Djulfah ; 

 and another archbishop at Tabreez ; the Unit- 

 ed Armenians have an episcopal see in Ispa- 

 han, which was established by Pius IX. The 

 Nestorians have two metropolitans and two 

 bishops. The. Chaldees, or United Nestorians, 

 have an archbishop at Kerkuk, and a bishop 



at Salrnas. The aggregate number of United 

 Armenians and Nestorians is from 7,000 to 

 8,000. 



The Protestant missions among the Nestori- 

 ans of Persia were begun by the American 

 Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions 

 in 1834, at Oroomiah. In 1871 they were 

 transferred to the Presbyterian Board. Ac- 

 cording to the annual report of the board for 

 1874, there were in Persia three stations, 70 

 out-stations and places where there was regu- 

 lar preaching ; 54 native pastors and preach- 

 ers; 95 teachers, and 70 village schools, with 

 1,124 scholars. There are 17 organized church- 

 es, with a membership of 767, and their con- 

 tributions exceed $800 a year. The press has 

 issued 110,000 volumes and 21,250,000 pages. 

 The female seminary had 32 pupils. The male 

 seminary, which has been closed for some time, 

 will be reopened. A school for Mohammedan 

 girls was reported to be in a flourishing con- 

 dition. 



The country is divided into twenty prov- 

 inces, each of which is administered by a beg- 

 lerbeg, or civil and military governor. The 

 governors of the large provinces mostly reside 

 in the capital. The provinces are subdivided 

 into districts, superintended by a hakem, or 

 lieutenant-governor, whose chief duty is the 

 collection of revenue. The towns are gov- 

 erned by an elective TcetTchodah, or magistrate ; 

 the villages by a muhuleh, who administers 

 justice, and serves as an organ of intercommu- 

 nication between the people and the Govern- 

 ment. 



The standing army of Persia comprises 18,000 

 infantry, 10,000 irregular cavalry, 1,500 artil- 

 lery, and 500 regular cavalry: total, 30,000 men. 



The imports of Persia are estimated at $12,- 

 240,000; the exports at $7,200,000. The 

 chief articles of import are cotton-goods from 

 England ; the chief exports, silk, opium, and 

 cotton. The Shah of Persia has a larger 

 wealth of precious stones than any other mon- 

 arch of the globe. His strong-box consists of 

 a small room, twenty feet by fourteen, reached 

 by a steep stair, and entered through a very 

 small door. Here, spread upon carpets, lie 

 jewels valued at 7,000,000 sterling. Chief 

 among them is the Kaianian crown, shaped 

 like a flower-pot, and topped by an uncut ruby 

 as large as a hen's-egg, and supposed to have 

 come from Siam. Near the crown are two 

 lamb-skin caps, adorned with splendid aigrettes 

 of diamonds, and before them lie trays of 

 pearl, ruby, and emerald necklaces, and hun- 

 dreds of rings. Mr. Eastwick, who examined 

 the whole, states that in addition to these are 

 gauntlets and belts covered with pearls and 

 diamonds, and conspicuous among them tho 

 Kaianian belt, about a foot deep, weighing per- 

 haps eighteen pounds, and one complete mass 

 of pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. 

 One or two scabbards of swords are said to be 

 worth a quarter of a million each. There is 

 also the finest turquoise in the world, three or 



