'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎523] (586/714)

THE NORTH-WEST AND WESTERN PROVINCES 523
I have already, in Chapter XIII., dwelt upon the character and
personality both of the Vali-Ahd, the nominal Governor, and of his
Govern- recent minister, the Amir-i-Mzam, the actual Governor, of
ment Azerbaijan. Under the Persian system, which has never,
except in the case of Abbas Mirza, allowed any initiative to a son
of the sovereign, the former was a mere puppet. The latter kept
the whole power in his own hands, and was indeed as a rule
addressed as Governor-General. Being a man of strong character,
he reduced turbulence to a minimum, and immensely consolidated
the Shah's authority and position in Azerbaijan. Though an old
man, he is still full of life and vigour, and under any change
of regime might devote to a kingdom the talents that were
recently concentrated upon a province. His salary was only 5,000
tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. per annum, or 1,420Z. ; but the important point in the pay
of any Persian Governor is not what he receives from the State,
but what he exacts from the people. Among other allowances to
Azerbaijan from the Royal Treasury we find a subsidy of 2,000
tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. for post-houses on the postal route; and the same sum for
fireworks at festival times, the Persians considering a holiday,
religious or secular, that is not so celebrated in much the same
light as we should a Christmas without plum-pudding or mince-
pies.
Fraser, passing through Azerbaijan in 1834, and observing the
Loyalty to calamitous results of the system under which Path Ali
the Crown gj^ distributed his colossal male progeny in every
Government post throughout the kingdom, remarked :—
The most obvious consequence of this state of affairs is a thorough
and universal detestation of the Kajar race, which is a prevalent
feeling in every heart and the theme of every tongue. 1
-Just, however, as in Khorasan a similar feeling, existing as
late as MacGregor's visit in 1875, has disappeared under the firm
and not unpopular rule of the reigning Shah, so have the sins of
his great-uncles, the sons of the prolific Path Ali, been forgotten
and forgiven in Azerbaijan. The Turkish population of that
province, so far from being hostile, are predisposed to be friendly
to a dynasty of Turkish extraction. There is far too keen a hatred
between Shiahs and Sunnis, between the Turkish subjects of the
Shah and the Turkish subjects of the Sultan across the border, to
1 A Winter's Journey, p. 401.