PERSIA. 



PKUf. 



fiur inches Ion/, ami without a flaw. There ia 

 also an .-in.Talil as big M ft walnut, covered 



with tin: names of kinu's \vlio ha\e posseMed 

 it. Tin- aiiri'-nt, l'cr>ians pri/cd the emerald 

 above all gems, and particularly those, I'n.m 

 Egypt. Their goblets decorated with these 

 stones were copied by the Romans. Tho Shah 

 also possesses a pearl worth 00,000. But t In- 

 most attractive i.f all tin- Persian stones is tho 

 tiiniiioi.se, which is inlaid by the nutivo lapi- 

 daries with designs and inscriptions with 

 effect and ex pert ness. 



The year 1874 opened in Persia under very 

 unfavorable auspices. Mirza Hussein Khan, 

 the leader of the reformatory party, and, in 

 the opinion of the Europeans in Teheran, tho 

 most enlightened statesman Persia has ever 

 had, had been deposed from his place as first 

 minister. The contract with Baron Reuter for 

 the construction of railroads and telegraphs, 

 and the introduction of other improvements, 

 had been broken by the Persian Government. 

 New complications with Turkey threatened 

 another war. Soon, however, the situation 

 appeared again to improve. A letter from Te- 

 heran to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, 

 dated February 24, 1874, says: 



Political affairs in Persia are improving, the coun- 

 try is again entering on the path of progress, and 

 there is every prospect of a new policy being main- 

 tained for some time to come. The relations with 

 Turkey have also greatly improved. At the begin- 

 ning of the month a rupture between the two leading 

 states of Islam was fur from improbable^ while now 

 both sides are striving to find a peaceful means of 

 arranging their differences. The chief cause of dis- 

 pute was the commercial jurisdiction with regard to 

 Persian subjects in Turkey, and the application of 

 the Turkish laws to insolvent Persian traders in that 

 country. An understanding has at length been ar- 

 rived at between the two Governments on this point, 

 thanks chiefly to the efforts of the Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs, Mirza Hussein Khan, who is tho ruling 

 spirit of the whole cabinet. It is considered highly 

 probable that the new year (which in Persia falls on 

 the 21st of March) will bring some changes in the 

 ministry. Mirza Hussein Khan will, it is said, again 

 assume the functions of Grand-Vizier, and his broth- 

 er, Yahia Kha^will succeed him as Minister of For- 

 eign Affairs. \ ahiu Khan is well known in Europe ; 

 he is the ideal of a Persian gentleman, and would be 

 thoroughly qualified for the post of Foreign Minister. 

 Mirza Hu!>sem Khan has ordered several roads to be 

 constructed ; one of these will go from Teheran to 

 the Araxes, and be the future channel of Persian 

 trade with the Caucasus, the Black Sea, and Tiflis. 

 An engineer has already gone out to superintend the 

 works, which are to be completed in the course of 

 the summer. A second road is to be made to Rescht, 

 and a third will connect the capital with Shahabdu- 

 lazini, and thence be carried to Khoum and Ispahan. 

 As soon as these roads are finished, a regular line of 

 coaches (carioles) will run upon them. The minis- 

 ter has also adopted some severe measures for en- 

 forcing the payment of arrear taxes, many towns 

 not having paid any thing to the state since the 

 Shah left on his European tour. The princes, who 

 are the irreconcilable enemies of all progress, have 

 been removed from the capital, and appointed gov- 

 ernors of provinces. 



A letter from Teheran, dated July 23d, states 

 that the Shah had conferred upon Mirza Hus- 

 sein Khan the title of Sepezelarazara, one of 



the highest titles of Persia, and that Mirza 

 llii--cin Khan continued to be Mini 



\ Hairs and of War, and bad charge of the 

 r portion of interior affairs. When the 

 in army began to show signs of disaffec- 

 tion in consequence of the non-payment of 

 its wages, Mirza Hussein Khan himself ad- 

 vanced the money to pay it. In order to re- 

 organize the Persian army, a Danish officer, 

 M. de I.OMM , was Appointed, who was to begin 

 with orpini/ing a regiment of engineers ac- 

 cording to European models. 



On the other hand, the Mohammedan priests 

 persisted in arousing the people against tbere- 

 tornis. A letter from Trcbizond, duted Sep- 

 tember 8d, says : 



The intelligent policy pursued by Mirza Hussein 

 Khan is evidently too iar in advance of popular 

 ideas in Persia to do much good for the present. 

 The Mirza's influence has prevailed to such an ex- 

 tent at court, that the Shah was actually induced to 

 grant his loving subjects a charter conferring upon 

 them a number of privileges hitherto unknown in 

 Persia, and calculated to protect them against the 

 extortions of the clergy and the oppression of the 

 rich. Unluckily for the people, however, the clergy 

 were beforehand with the Grand-Vizier, and, before 

 he could issue his charter, they bad succeeded in 

 persuading everybody that the promised privileges 

 would never in reality exist, and that, on the con- 

 trary, the charter was directed against the poor, and 

 would in the end only aggravate their position. Pop- 

 ular credulity easily succumbed to these insinuations, 

 and the appearance of the charter, or Tamimat, was 

 greeted with riots. The latest news is, that the peo- 

 ple still refuse to have the charter ; and that the 

 musteik, or supreme head of the clergy, has been 

 summoned from his country residence to Teheran, 

 to account for the rebellious behavior of the peas- 

 antry. Judging from these reports, 'the conflicts 

 between the liberal lay party, represented bv Mirza 

 Hussein, and the ecclesiastical party under the tnvs- 

 teik, will soon become hot and thiek, and the strug- 

 gle will then be interesting to watch. 



PERU (REpfJBtiCA DEL PERT)), an indepen- 

 dent state of South America, comprised be- 

 tween Ecuador on the north, Brazil and 

 Bolivia on the east, the latter republic on the 

 south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. 

 It has an area, according to the majority of 

 geographers, of 500,000 square miles, -and is 

 divided into sixteen departments, and two 

 provinces, one littoral and one constitutional ; 

 the aggregate population of all of which, ac- 

 cording to official statements based upon tho 

 census returns of 1862, is somewhat under 

 2,600,000.* 



The following changes have taken place in the 

 cabinet since the publication of the volume for 

 1873: President of the Council and Minister 

 of Justice, Sefior Don T. E. Sanchez ; Senor 

 Don Y. de la Riva Aguero is in charge of the 

 portfolio of Foreign Affairs alone : the Minister 

 of War is General N. Freyre ; and the Minister 

 of Finance, Sefior Don Z. Z. Elgnera. 



No more perfect idea can be gathered of the 

 material development of this (after Mexico, per- 

 haps) the richest of all the Spanish-American 



* For minute detail* of population acd other statistics, 

 tee ANNUAL CTCLOP^EDIA for 1878, 



