686 



PERSIA. 



PERU. 



PERSIA, an empire in Asia. The Govern- 

 ment is an absolute monarchy, based on the 

 precepts of the Koran, resembling in constitu- 

 tion that of the Turkish Empire. The. Shah, 

 or Emperor, claims absolute obedience as the 

 vicegerent of the Prophet. The country is di- 

 vided into thirty-four provinces, under thirteen 

 governors, mostly princes of the royal family. 

 The towns and villages elect their own magis- 

 trates. The reigning Shah is Nassr-ed-Din, 

 born July 17, 1831, who succeeded his father, 

 Shah Mohammed, Sept. 10, 1848. 



Area and Population. The area is about 610,- 

 000 square miles. The population is about 

 10,000,000, including 2,500,000 nomads. The 

 largest city is Tabreez, with about 300,000 in- 

 habitants ; the next in size is Teheran, the 

 capital, with about 200,000. 



Commerce. The foreign trade is estimated at 

 about $5,000,000 of imports and $3,000,000 

 of exports. The principal imports are cotton 

 goods, glass, paper, iron, and copper manufact- 

 ures, sugar, and tea; the leading exports are 

 silk, tobacco, skins, rugs, opium, gums, wool, 

 dates, cereals, and rice. The commercial in- 

 tercourse is with England, Russia, France, 

 Germany, and Italy. There has been an indi- 

 rect trade in American stoves, clocks, cigar- 

 ettes, canned goods, toys, and sew ing-machines. 

 Recently clocks and cigarettes have been im- 

 ported directly from the United States. Per- 

 sian opium is imported indirectly into the Unit- 

 ed States, and embroideries and "bric-drbrac 

 have recently been sent directly to New York. 

 Although commerce in general is falling off, 

 and several of the old industrial arts have be- 

 come extinct, there has been an increase in 

 late years in the production of opium and cot- 

 ton and in the manufacture of carpets. 



Finances. The receipts of the Shah's treas- 

 ury amount to $10,200,000 in money and $1,- 

 500,000 in produce. The expenses are about 

 $11,200,000, of which $4,400,000 are devoted 

 to the army, $2,250,000 to the royal court, and 

 $1,250,000 to religion. 



The Royal Succession. The question of the 

 succession to the throne is an anxious and dis- 

 quieting subject in Persia. The Shah is said 

 to have entertained the conception of appoint- 

 ing the Zil-es-Sultan the heir-apparent, be- 

 cause Muzaffer-ed-Din, whofulfills theconditions 

 of the family law (being the son of a princess, 

 while the eldest son is not), has shown him- 

 self deficient in strength of character and ad- 

 ministrative ability, and has fallen under the 

 influence of the mollahs. The Zil-es-Sultan 

 has established complete order in the southern 

 provinces, so that the local industries have re- 

 vived and prosperity has succeeded decay. He 

 has organized the only efficient army in Per- 

 sia, and in wealth and power he stands next to 

 the ^Shah. This energetic prince is the general 

 choice of the people for the throne when it 

 shall become vacant. 



Russian Encroachments. The advance of the 

 Russians to the Afghan frontier was accom- 



panied with encroachments upon Khorassan 

 against which the Shah protested ineffectually! 

 The Russian telegraph line from Askabad to 

 Sarakhs traverses Persian territory for a con- 

 siderable distance. On the left bank of the 

 Heri Rud, between Sarakhs and Zulfikar, the 

 Russians established military posts in accord- 

 ance with a convention wrung from the Shah, 

 which were not afterward vacated when the 

 specific occasion for occupying those points 

 was removed by the settlement of the Afghan 

 boundary dispute. 



PERU, a republic in South America. (For 

 details relating to area, population, etc., see 

 " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1883.) 



Government. The provisional President and 

 Minister of the Interior till the presidential elec- 

 tion in March, 1886, is Dr. Eusebio Sanchez, and 

 under his government the chief portfolios were 

 distributed as follows: President of the Coun- 

 cil of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 SeOor Arenas ; Minister of Justice, Seflor To- 

 var ; Minister of War, Sefior Manuel Velarde ; 

 Minister of Finance, Sefior Correa y Santiago. 

 The United States Minister at Lima is Charles 

 W. Buck ; the Minister Resident at Washing- 

 ton is Sefior J. F. Elmore ; and the Consul at 

 New York is J. 0. Tracy. 



Army. The Peruvian army is made tip most- 

 ly of Indians and cholos. It seems to be of 

 little interest to the Indian on which side he 

 fights, for he knows nothing about the politi- 

 cal troubles of the country, and serves any 

 commander that happens to capture him. 



Navy. In July the "Santiago," which had 

 recently been acquired by the Government for 

 use as a transport, was renamed the "Peru," 

 and received her crew. During the same 

 month the new Peruvian gunboats "Socra- 

 tes" and" Diogenes," built in England, left 

 for Callao. 



Protestantism. Although the English Prot- 

 estant church attached to the British lega- 

 tion at Lima has since 1874 lost its exclusive 

 character, the number of Protestants has in- 

 creased so much that it proves too small to 

 seat all those desirous of attending, and in 

 September a plot of ground was purchased 

 for 1,700, while the new church to be erect- 

 ed on it will cost 2,000 more. 



Events of 1885. The Government has been 

 beset with interminable difficulties of the most 

 serious kind, the country being impoverished 

 by a long and disastrous war. The rebel chief 

 Caceres persisted in continuing in arms against 

 the constitutional authorities, and keeping up a 

 sort of ambulant government of his own, re- 

 cruiting his army among the adventurers from 

 the late war and the Indian population. Hence 

 arose a series of operations in which victory 

 alternated between his forces and the Gov- 

 ernment troops, Caceres always succeeding ir 

 making good his personal safety, even after tr 

 most crushing defeats, and invariably turning 

 up again with a new band of followers. Tl 

 worst defeat he suffered was at the battle of 



