'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎336] (383/714)

PERSIA
provided with a shaft, sunk into the ground to a depth of thirty
or forty feet, from the bottom of which four lateral shafts run into
the soil. When all these are filled, the whole is closed and sealed
up. This certainly does not sound very nice : but between Oriental
systems of sewerage it would be difficult to discriminate.
On the other hand, the city is situated at an altitude of 3,800
feet above the sea ; during the greater part of the autumn, winter,
Political anc ^ s P r i n g months the climate is delightful; and, when
merits the scorching heats of summer begin to prevail, there is
an easy and rapid retreat to the mountain-slopes, where life under
tents and the trees, though not exhilarating, is endurable. But
the grounds upon which I should prefer to rest my defence of the
site are political. Here, too, adverse critics have declared that the
city lies exposed to Russian attack and invites aggression. I do
not agree. Teheran is nearly 500 miles by road from the Russian
frontier at Julfa, on the Araxes, whence, as conducting to the north
west capital, Tabriz, an invasion would doubtless begin; and, if
Persia did not stop Russia before those 500 miles were passed, she
would never stop her anywhere. The sole remaining alternative
on the north is the Resht-Kazvin route, crossing the main range
of the Elburz, than which an army posted for purposes of defence
could not solicit a better position. If, on the other hand, as I have
argued in my chapter upon Khorasan, invasion were to come from
the north-east quarter, how much better would the Shah be able
to meet it from Teheran, than from Isfahan. The choice of a capital
must, however, in the main, be determined, not by its exposure, or
the reverse to a single possible enemy, but by its central or cen
tralising position, and by its ready command of the routes leading
to the most valuable provinces of the kingdom. It is in this
respect that Teheran is so admirably placed. Situated but little
more than midway between the eastern and western capitals,
Meshed and Tabriz, it commands the important provinces of which
they are the governing centres. At the same time, it is in close
proximity to, and in easy yet defensible communication with, the
northern maritime provinces, for which it may hereafter require to
strike a blow. Lastly, it stands as a sort of advanced outpost to
the elder capitals of Isfahan and Shiraz, upon which, in the event
of disaster in the north, it would always be possible to fall back.
So far, therefore, from thinking that Persia would be the better or
the stronger for a change of capital to a more southerly site, I