ON EUROPEAN MODELS. 
583 
might be founded ; and supplied at once with cannon, carriages, 
&c., constructed by native workmen, under the direction of these 
masters. The result was very promising; for, with regard to 
the rank and file, (to speak of an army as a machine, which it 
must be in the hand of its leader in the day of battle,) there 
cannot be better material in any country for forming a perfect 
soldier, than the native Persian ; he being strong, active, quick of 
apprehension, brave, and, when properly managed, sufficiently 
docile and steady. But as such management is the thing par¬ 
ticularly required, to produce the two last essentials in the 
character and practical use of a soldier ; the almost total absence 
of it for so many ages in Persia will sufficiently account for even 
her bravest troops having sometimes shewn themselves as little to 
be relied on as an army of wild animals from the jungle, whom 
accidents are as likely to scare away, as to bring on to their 
invited prey. 
The military state of the country resembles the feudal. The 
people are made up of distinct tribes, and every tribe is obliged to 
furnish a certain number of men, horse and foot, to the royal 
war armaments. When a tribe quits its wandering habits, and 
becomes fixed in any particular district, then, according to the 
returns of the numbers in resident families, that district furnishes 
its quota of horse and foot. When assembled in the field, the 
term of service is at the pleasure of the sovereign. However, 
hundreds abscond, and with impunity, long before the purpose 
of any expedition can be answered ; and many turning back on 
their march, never see the field at all. Spears, swords, daggers, 
and muskets, are the promiscuous arms of this desultory multi¬ 
tude ; it being said, that on emergencies, about 250,000 men, 
and the greatest part cavalry, can be called together. For many 
