PERSIA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 274, 12 August 1908, Page 8

PERSIA.

THE SHAH AND; HIS PEOPLE. ' Discussing Itbie ouilook in 'Persia, under date June'2s;"tne says: —"It is not easy ,to,apportion-,the ,blame for the anarchy in Persia. .There' are three factors in the situation—the Shah, the Parliament, and the people-r-and • each must, bear its share of responsibility. Mahomet Ali Shah succeeded to' .a Constitution—the, first of its kind ever .'establishedby !a • Moslem •: community—that was tHeVchild -of; his.father!s weakness rather .than of. his,/ Strength. .as ,fi,-ruler._ This novel institution he swore to maintaii). Indeed, lie had no'choice, for it was the creation not merely of. the people;-but' of the priests-who exercised their authority a council in the sacred city of t Kerballa. The Persians are hot really a-religious..people, and having been forced,', t-baccept 'Mohammed, avenge their compulsion ; by heterodoxy. Yet they welcomed the'adhesion-of the priesthood and looked upon it as a bulwark against the en-croachments-of-the, Crown. Had they been content to' work under this sacerdotal direction their-Parliament might : havo escaped the perils of infancy; l "'But whilo'the Mejliss (or Parliament) was still ! in.''thl)i'cradle its-parents, and godparents began to'quarrol. " Mahomet Ali Shah 'wjas' neither so blind to the advantages of autocratic rule nor so •convinced of the abilityJof his subjects- to manage their own' affairs 1 as to neglect the possibilities of this : cleavage between priestly and popular Parliamentarians. His instincts and traditions are despotic, and his, Parliament seenied bent'oh 1 giving them scope-and excuse''for action.' '-Instead' of devoting their new-born'energies 'and : opportunities to the .regeneration of-'their: "country, members of Parliament spent their time in absurd academic discussions, in examining concessions to and 'in "sending manifestoes and .threats to ,their Sovereign'.': Even the people began to p'eary. of-this chronic impotence, and ■set- up provincial and' parochial parliaments,>' -whose mission .was to teach tho Mejliss its business, and whose..sole :achievement has been ito -add! confusion to incapacity. In short,' Parliament degenerated into a cabal, and, as ,happenedj, in .France at the Revolution, became a,menace,instead of. a support to tho, : throiie.', Tliis, r briefly, has been the state of'.'affairs' -in Persia, for more than a year. 7.

"Only the match .was,-,needed to set this Combustible material-in a blaze. Afid that was. not' long" i to"seek'.in' Persia'. The Zil-es-Sultari—brother I 'to the late Shah —was'in his: father's time the most, powerful governor ■iii"the„ country diid; hatf at his command a great-army.' But . capacity for ruling was his undoing, and,;he .came under suspicion that has,'. passed from,, father to son and grandson.' In the intervals of threatening aiid belauding Mahomet Ali Shah the Constitutional party cast an eye on the Zil-cs-Sul-tan,!and deemed' , h'itil i 'iii6Ve i desirable than his. nephew. The of this treason was enough to send the Shah into tho hills, whence no'could launch his mandates and his Warrants in'security. But the royal warrants'did not "run within the walls of the Mejliss, and- the : Shah—following the example of Cromwell—sent strong men armed with 'the authority-,6f" rifle "arid sword. Against these 'despots—supplemented by shot and shell—neither members ■ of Parliament nor the walls that sheltered' them could stand. They have 'fallen, aiid, for the moment at any rate,,'tho 'Shall ia'victorious. But litera scripta'"manct, -and -oven-yet Persia may pave her' Constitution by -a little prudence on tho part of tho people and a little prudeuce 'tin the" part' or/ their Sovereign. This convulsion was inevitable, and it may purge tho State of perilous stuiL"