TEHERAN. 
201 
enterprize of almost any other man. In the alternation of the dispo¬ 
sitions of the court of Persia, he retained the same firm and unbending 
policy, and when the influence of the French appeared to be regaining 
all its preponderance, he made no one concession which he had not 
offered in more favourable circumstances, and finally succeeded in 
concluding a treaty almost on his own original terms, while the French 
were signing every demand which the Persians made. 
As a more detailed specimen however of the conduct of the negocia- 
tion, I can reserve a portion of the concluding scene. 
At length a night was fixed in which the Treaties were to be signed. 
The Envoy and I repaired to the house of the Ameen-ed-Doulali , where 
we found him and his Nazir or Superintendant, the Prime Minister, 
the Chief Secretary, and the Persian Agent for English affairs at 
Shiraz. The conversation after a short time fixed on learned subjects. 
The Persians are extremely fond of history and geography, though in 
general they are profoundly ignorant of both. The Prime Minister 
went through in a breath the whole history of Russia. We then 
entered on matters of chronology, which introduced a discussion 
on the relative antiquity of particular remains, as Persepolis and 
Nakshi Rustam. The Chief Secretary, who seemed to have read much 
Persian history, knew that part which .related to Shapour , and men¬ 
tioned that he had carried his arms into Syria, and had taken prisoner 
a Roman Emperor. Yet the subject of the sculptures at Nakshi Rustam 
had still escaped their observation; and they had still, according to 
the popular belief, substituted Rustam for Shapour , as the hero of 
those representations. To this conversation, supper succeeded; as 
usual it was short. 
The Treaties were then brought in, and read and approved. The 
date was still wanting. Sir Harford Jones desired them to insert 
the usual form, commencing, “ In witness whereof/' &c. This how¬ 
ever the Persians could not understand, and objected strenuously to the 
word “ witnesses," who were never introduced except into a court of 
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