200 
THE CITY OF KERMANSHAH. 
who raised the name of their empire to so high a pitch of glory, 
that Greece, and even Rome the mistress of nations, trembled 
at its sound. Her legions crossed the mountains of Caucasus, 
and mighty Taurus, to be beaten back with disgrace ; her greatest 
generals, and proudest emperors, bowed the knee to the Sapors, 
and Chosroes of Persia. Nay, nearer to our own times, what 
conquests has not Persia achieved! the splendours of Shah Abbas’s 
arms are yet remembered from the banks of the Cyrus on the 
south, to those of the Cyrus on the north : and Nadir Shah, 
originally a chief of robbers, planted the standards of the “ lion 
and the sun” on the walls of Delhi. How then are we to ac¬ 
count for the empire of Persia having been so great, and yet it 
has hardly ever appeared to exist as a nation ? How, that in the 
midst of trophies, and spoils, the country has ever been poor ? 
And in the meridian of victory, the hearts of the people have 
quailed for fear? The answer seems plain to an Englishman : 
Persia has always been under an arbitrary government. The 
people, feeling themselves nothing as a people, have been nothing 
as a people; but good soldiers when called upon; though always 
the soldiers of him who feeds or pays them. Having no political 
constitution to defend, it was all one to them, whether they 
fought the battles of Shah Thamas, or of Nadir Shah. The 
passing glory of any particular monarch might shed a transitory 
gleam on them ; his virtues might give them temporary benefits; 
but he dies ; and, in a worldly point of view, having been little 
more than “ a fortunate accident,” his successor had it at will to 
rule or oppress as he pleased. But the light of reciprocal justice 
amongst high and low, which the general diffusion of Christian 
and political knowledge disperses over the world, has spread its 
beams far to the east. If I may use such a figure, I would say, 
