PERSIA'S PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 13

PERSIA'S PARLIAMENT.

« IX A WEAK CONDITION. Tho histoiy of the Russian Duma is being repeated in tho case of tho Persian Parliament, which will have- to experience many vicissitudes before ii gets into smooth working order. 'Xhc assembly, says the Teheran correspondent of the Globe, is in a very weak condition, as tho old system of intrigue, always a dominant factor in Persian politics and life, 's still in voguo. Bribery, threats, and intimidations arcby no means vmknov. n. [Suspicion and corruption cannot" bo eradicated from a people bred upon these qualities for ages, and their weakening effect ha 3 been accentuated by the casting of all responsibility for Miniaterial shortcomings upon tho' shoulders of the Parliament. Forced to opt-n their session with the consideration of financial matters, they ha-vu, between the- pride, v.-hich prevented t/heir accepting a proffered loan from England and Russia and their inability to put tho "National Bank" on a sound footing, incurred the hatred of ihe army, which they should first have propitiated, and have alienated the muss of people, who ju3tly expected that tho first reform would be a speedy amelioration of the financial position. 1 Tho meeting of the 7th July is regarded as the first of a series of dying spasms ; and during the course of tho day's debate it- was affirmed, in a, \?vy outspoken anti-Ministerjal speech, that tho Majlis fully comprehended that the Shah's sympathies hsd bpen alienated from the movement by the toaitoraus favourites and Government officials by whom he is surrounded. Fears were expressed of tho wave of r.ntagor.isin which threatens to engulf tho Parliament. Emboldened by the successes gained with the aid of tho Shah's money, thd Royalist and fanatic section of tho pcoplo threatens to expd all tho members and rc-olect representative!), i I and as the adherents of the Majlis are , ' still nam'erons, though decreasing, "very | serious collisions are occurring all over j tha country That a new Majlis will eventually arise cannot be doubted, and that it will bo cleaner in every way than the- present ono also cannot be doubted. The .Royalists do not clamour for abolition of tho Institution of I'arlinment, but For its reformation, and in this demand the Bhah. whose influence and money cannot eradicato this wish for popular representation, has to accept it as a. compromise between the present violently anti-royal Majlis and absolute power. Nor is it to bo doubted that a second, perhaps oven a third and fourth. Majlis will go the- way of its predecessors, but, i that it will eventually become the rccogI nised form of government is the acj cepted belief of all <n Persia, Royalist j and Popolanst alike