698 
PER 
S I A. 
Scrupulous as to the execution of his orders, the (hah 
inftantly began to feparate them deliberately one by one 
with the point of his dagger, to afcertain if his fentence 
had been punctually obeyed. Mirza Sheffea, his faithful 
minitter, who had long regarded his mafter’s repeated 
acts of violence with fecret horror, now hoping to make 
fome impreflion on his confcience, feized this opportu¬ 
nity. “ Does not your majefty think it poffible,” faid 
he, “ that God may one day not be pleafed with this ?” 
The king (lowly raifed his head, keeping the dagger in 
its place among the heap, and as folemnly replied : “ By 
my head, if there (hould be one eye too few here, I my- 
felf will make up the number with yours.” The ra(h 
philanthropift awaited his fate in (huddering fdence, well 
knowing that the word of his matter was irrevocable : 
but, happily for him, the fentence had been too fcrupu- 
loufly executed to call for the forfeit of his compaflion ; 
and lie even remained in favour. 
Hadjee Mohammed Huffain Khan, the prefent itimad- 
ad-doivlah, was originally a green-grocer in Ifpahan, of 
which city he is a native. From this humble ftation he 
rofe fucceflively to be deputy of his divifion, mayor of 
the city, and chief of a rich and extenfive diftridt near 
Ifpahan, where he acquired great reputation for his good 
government. He afterwards made liimfelf acceptable in 
the eyes of the late king by a large -pejhheejh, or prefent ; 
and, as the then governor of Ifpahan was a man of ditto- 
lute life, oppreflive and unjuft, he fucceeded in depofing 
him, and was liimfelf appointed beglerbeg. Here, from 
his intimate knowledge of the markets, and of all the re- 
fources of the city and its inhabitants, he created a larger 
revenue than had ever before been collected. He became 
the partner of every (hopkeeper, of every farmer, and of 
every merchant; fetting up thofe with capitals who were 
in want, and increafing the means of others who were in 
trade. He thus appeared to confer benefits when by his 
numerous monopolies he was raifing the price of almoft 
every commodity. As, however, this revenue was ap¬ 
parently acquired without oppreftion, his reputation as a 
financier greatly increafed : in fpite of the oppofition of 
his enemies he advanced rapidly in the favour of the 
reigning monarch, and in the honours to which it led. On 
the acceflion of the prefent king, his zeal, his devoted- 
nefs, and above all his prefents, fecured to him a conti¬ 
nuation of the royal favour; and he rofe, in 1807, to the 
dignity of ameen-ad-dowlah, or fecond minitter ; and at 
length, upon the death of Mirza Sheffea in 1819, he be¬ 
came prime minitter. 
How he acquired the w'ealth which enabled him to 
emerge from the green-grocer’s (tall is notexaClly known. 
His enemies affert, that, during the Jaft civil wars in Per- 
fia, a firing of Jiafar Khan’s mules were patting clofe to 
his houfe in the middle of the night, when two of them 
were accidentally detached from the reft, and ftrayed into 
his yard : they happened to be loaded with precious (tones 
and other articles of great value, which, on the fubfe- 
quent deftruCtion of that prince, he appropriated to him- 
felf. And it is afierted, that, impreffed with the preca¬ 
rious nature of court-favour, he is in the habit of annually 
remitting confiderable fums to his father, who lives near 
Bagdad, in order to provide a refource for liimfelf in cafe 
of difgrace. 
There cannot be a ftronger inftance than he is of the 
few qualifications requifite to become a ftatefmar. in Per- 
fia. Illiterate as any green-grocer may well be fuppofed, 
neceffity has obliged him fince his elevation to learn to 
read and write: but he has fucceeded fo ill, that he can 
fcarcely make out a common note, or join two words to¬ 
gether in writing. In his particular department, how¬ 
ever, that of raifing money to feed the king’s coffers, per¬ 
haps no man in Perfia has ever furpaffed him ; and, with 
all this, the people of Ifpahan, from whom the greater 
part of his riches are derived, are in general very well 
difpofed towards him. He takes great pride in the im¬ 
provement of the city and its environs, and with evident 
fuccefs. The public buildings have been repaired and 
beautified during his adminiftration ; the cultivation has 
confiderably increafed, and there is a more general ap¬ 
pearance of affluence and profperity. 
The fecond minitter in Perfia is now known by the ti¬ 
tle of ameen-ad-dowlah. This title is a new one, aud not 
to be found in the older travellers. It feems probable 
that this minifter has fuperfeded the nazir, who, in Char¬ 
din’s time, was the fteward of the domains and effedfs of 
the crown, and whofe functions have perhaps been ex¬ 
tended. Morier calls him lord-treafurer, and fays that 
he has a nazir, or deputy. According to the fame travel¬ 
ler, the ameen-ad-dowlah defrays the expenfes of the 
royal houfehold, clothes the king’s fervants, furnilhes the 
kliilauts, or robes of honour, and provides for the princes 
and the women. It is alfo the duty of this minifter to have 
apartments conftrudted or repaired in the feraglio for the' 
new-comers admitted into it, and to furnifti them with 
all the requifite ulenfils, which mutt be of filver. This 
ttatement is confirmed by Kinnier; who farther informs 
us, that the ameen-ad-dowlah is charged with the admi- 
nittration of the interior, or the home-department, in¬ 
cluding the collection of the revenues, the cultivation 
of the lands, See. 
The next great officer is the vaca-veviz, or fecretary of 
(fate. We have not met with any mention of this dig¬ 
nity in modern travellers, though it (till exifts. Morier 
introduces among the Perfian minifters the “ fecretary- 
in-chiefand Kinnier informs us, that the events of 
Feth Ali’s reign are regularly written by the royal hifto- 
riographer, who is no other than the vaca-neviz, or “ wri¬ 
ter of occurrences.” Kaempfer calls him chief fecretary 
of (fate ; and adds, that he is ftyled viziri-chep, or “ vizir 
of the left,” becaufe his place is on the left of the king. 
The duty of the vaca-neviz confifts in keeping an accu¬ 
rate regifter of all the decifions and decrees of the king ; 
in examining all the adts of his authority; in reporting, 
either to his majefty in perfon or to his miniffers, all the 
important events which occur throughout the empire, 
and in carefully committing them to writing. He is 
alfo keeper of the archives of the date, and of the letters 
and notes of foreign potentates and their minifters, of 
treaties of peace, and all diplomatic papers. Thus the 
vaca-neviz is both fecretary, keeper of the archives, and 
hittoriographer of the date. It is faid, that on the firft 
day of the year he reads, before the king and the whole 
court, a (ketch of the events of the preceding year. In 
this refpedt, the dignity mutt be of very high antiquity, 
as its origin mutt date at lead: fo far back as the time of 
Ahafuerus. See the Book of Either, chap. vi. and Jour- 
dain iii. 138. 
The kingdom is at prefent divided into feveral exten¬ 
five departments, over which are placed princes of the 
blood, who have under them officers with the title of 
Beglerbeg, or Beg of Begs. They are alfo ftyled Arkan- 
ad-dowlali, or Pillars of the Empire. 
Thefe governors of diftridts may be confidered as the 
civil officers of the (late : they have no authority over the 
troops ; but the commanders, in cafe of exigence or 
alarm, are fubjedt to their requifitions. The command¬ 
ant of the. citadel is another independent authority; fo 
that the office of beglerbeg, which was formerly commit* 
ted to the charge of one perfon, is now divided among a 
confiderable number ; and, as it isimpoflible for fo many 
interefts to coalefce, the king is fure to be informed of 
whatever may be done contrary to his orders. His 
government has been difturbed by only two rebellions; 
and it is probably owing to this (yftem of counteradling 
the power and authority of his minifters and officers of 
(late, that his reign has been of longer duration than is 
ufually the cafe in defpotic monarchies. 
Each of the beglerbegs is to the utmoft extent of his 
power a defpot; and the connivance of the king is pur- 
chafed with extraordinary prefents. This fyftem of ty¬ 
ranny defeends in a fucceffive feries from the king to the 
a fervants 
