'Persia. No 1 (1909). Correspondence respecting the affairs of Persia, December 1906 to November 1908' [‎30v] (44/236)

A local Assembly was formed on the 87th February, not without some dis-
'(j'Ll H C 0 S
Thirty-five Tabreezi Turks, now in Meshed, have hound themselves by oath to
devote their lives and property, at all risks and costs, to the obtaining of political
liberty for Persia. . „ „
the local Assembly, which subsequently turned into a town Council, is by no
means free from internal disaffection. The clerical and mercantile elements in it have
shown much animosity. On the 11th IVfarch an excited scene occuned. The clericals
tried to silence the merchants. The latter replied that there were many things the
priests knew nothing about. A mollah responded hotly that there was nothing the
religious leaders of the people were not fully competent to deal with. Whereupon a
number of the merchants left the Council room.
All the officials and dependents of the Shrine, with the exception of one member
who is the leading Meshed reformer, have sent a Memorial to the Shah representing
that the Mujteheds, mollahs, and Seyeds of the Shrine, who are the rightful
descendants and successors of the great Iman, are not disposed to submit to any
National Assembly or any other authority other than that of the Shah himself. They
are therefore entirely at his service in any movement he desires to undertake against
the Constitutional party. This may alter the decision of the Shah to appoint Hajji
Sheikh-ur-Reis, one of the leading spirits in the reform movement at Tehran, as chief
guardian of the Shrine. It is not unlikely that the Memorial was got up for this
purpose.
“ The religious rulers of the people of Meshed,” writes Major Sykes, “ are reallv
reactionary to the core. They have hitherto taken a part in the formation and
deliberations of the local Assembly, not out of any sympathy for reform, but merely
in order to try and control a popular movement which they could not check, and which
they feared would otherwise develop independently of them, and perhaps end in the
destruction of their power. This power of the priesthood over the minds of all classes of
Persians, constituting the great hindrance to progress, has its stronghold in Meshed,”
It may, however, be noted that no such power exists in Tehran.
Central and Eastern Persia.
Ispahan.
The movement, which was directed by Agha Nejefi and Sheikh Norullah, and
aimed at the dismissal of the Zil-es-Sultan, began on the 7th March, when a 'large
crowd invaded the Persian telegraph office, and another excited mob took refuge at His
Majesty’s Consulate-General. The Zihes-Sultan was dismissed on the 16th instant
and a few days later the excitement at Ispahan subsided. In the interval
Mr. Barnham had to deal with refugees to the extent of nearly 3,000 persons. With
regard to the cause of the demonstration Mr. Barnham writes : “ Those responsible are
in the first instance, no doubt Agha Norullah for the mollahs, then Haji Mohammed
Hussein Kazerooni for the merchants. Haji Mohammed Hussein lias a large sum of
money to receive from the Zil-es-Sultan, and apparently thinks he will have more
chance of recovering it if His Highness is not Governor here. His chief clerk is the
Adib-et-Tujjar, Member for Ispahan in the National Assembly, and now in active
telegraphic communication with the people.
Yezd.
Writing on the subject of the murder of the Parsee merchant, Parviz ShaMehan
the British Vice-Consul at Yezd on the 17th ultimo says: “On the 13th instant’
between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Parviz Shahjehan, head of the Parsee firm of Shahjehan
Brothers, was shot by some one at present unknown wdien returning from the bazaar
and he died the next day.” His life had been threatened the previous November’
The murdered man had financed Mushir-ul-Mamalek, who was Vizier to the ex-Gm^nv
Moayed-ed-Dowleh, now Governor-General of Ears. A few days before he was killed
the murdered man had a stormy interview with Mushir-ul-Mamalek concerning their
accounts. Theie are some other facts which tend to throw suspicion on Mushir-ul-
Mamalek as the instigator of the murder, and on a young man named Ferrukh as the
murderer. The British Vice-Consul writes: “ I doubt if the local authorities are doino-
anything to find him (the murderer). °