Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1873 — The Shah of Persia. [ARTICLE]

The Shah of Persia.

. The visit of the Shah of Persia to Europe has given a new interest to the history of his family and country. The story of the Persian Monarchy has been long the study of the most eminent writers. The researches of the present century have led to an almost new history of the great Asiatic States of antiquity, and in this rehabilitation there is much that relates to Persia. When a royal edict is issued, it is generally prefaced with a recital of the Shah’s dignities, such as the “Keblili alem, the sovereign whose elevation vies, with that of the planet Saturn, to whom the sun serves for a banner, whose splendor equals that of the heavens, whose armies arc more numerous than the stars, whose greatness is like that of Jcmschid, and whose munificence is like that of Darius; the sovereign who is the inheritor of the throne of the Kaianians, Nasr-ed-din Shah, King of Kings, the son of Kings, the great and mighty and absolute Emperor of Persia.” The individual who is thus particularly described is the fourth monarch of his immediate family, though claiming an inheritance through his predecessors back to the remotest time. The Chaldean Empire, it is claimed, was founded by Nimrod, son of Cush, the grandson of Noah. The family of the present Shah claim a descent from Noah, through Japllelh. The Median ancT Persian States existed before the Assyrian Monarchy, and were, perhaps, contemporaneous with 'Chaldea. The supposed i mder of the Persian Monarchy was,, Aohoemenes, somewhere about B. G. 050. Persia was then tributary to Media. Cainbysses, of Persia, who died B. C. 558, was married to a daughter of Astyages, the King of Medea; and his son, Cyrus the Great, born about B. C. 592, overthrew the Mcdean Empire, which then included Assyria. Cyrus conquered Babylon and founded the Persian Empire, lie died B. C. 522. His family ruled the Persian Em-, ptre until its conquest in B, jC. 321 by Alexander the Great. Ip the division of the Empire of Alexander among his Generals, Seleucus Nicator obtained Babylonia, Media, Persia and Parthia, and founded tiie Syrian kingdom. In B. C. 240, Parthia became an independent kingdom, and a century later conquered Persia. In A. D. 220, the Persians revolted, and the Persian Monarchy was re-established under the Sarsanidai family. This dynasty com tinued to rule in Persia until A. D. 041, when the the Saracens of Turkeystan, one of the numerous families passing under the general name of Turks, conquered the country. Persia during its independent state hatl produced several monarchs of distinction. Among these was Chosroes 11. the Great, who reigned from 531 to 580. In 1103, Genghis Khan, of the Mongol Tartars, included Persia in his conquest, and his descendants ruled in Persia for several generations. They were succeeded by the 1 family Tamerlane, and by Turcoman rulers, and finally, in 1500, Ishmael, a descendant of the Sbeik Suffec, induced a revolt, and established the Saffaveik dynasty. The first of these, Ismael. was the son of a Kajar mother. The Kajar tribes preserved their tribal organization, under their own Khans, or Chiefs or Princes, and in 1722 Fath Ali Khan became Chief of all the Kajar tribes in Persia, and the same year he rescued Ispahan from a siegfe by the Affghans. The je&lohsy of the nohles drove the * Kajar Chief into retirement, and soon after the reigning Shah was taken prison-

er by the Affghans, and abdicated in favor of liis son-in-law Mahmud. The Kajar Chief soon organized an army and expelled the Affghans,* and was himself assassinated by an aspirant to the throne. Fath AliKhati left a son, Muhammad Hassan Khan, who conducted for a long time a struggle with Nadir Kuli, an. usurper. The latter was killed in 1747, and, during the intervening period, three sovereigns of the old line had nominally reigned. One Kerim Khan then usurped the throne. Muhammad Hassan Khan, the Kajar Chief, opposed the usurper. In 1751, the Khan of Affglian sent an army into Persia, in which emergency the Kajar Chief drew around him all llie Kajar tribes and all the Persians.' From these chiefs he received many presents, including two diamonds, now worn by the present Shah, one the “Sea of Light,” weighing over one ounce, and the other “Crown of the Moon,” weighing nearly an ounce. Muhammad Hasßan Khan prosecuted the war vigorously, expelling the Affghans and defeating the usurper, but in 1757 he suffered great losses, and finally lie was killed. He left two sons, Agha Muhammad Khan and Hussein Kuli Khan. The latter was killed a few years later. Kerim, the usurper, continued to rule until 1779, in which year he died, and Agha Muhammad, as the head of the Kajars, began a war for the throne of Persia. He was a hater all mankind, and his reign, which lasted until 1797, was a succession of the most horrible murders, mutilations, tortures and cruelty. He murdered all of the living descendants of the preceding dynasty. He, in 1797, was murdered by {wo of his attendants whom lie had marked for strangulation the next day. Thus was the Kajar dynasty enthroned in Persia seventy-six years ago. The second Kajar Shah was Fath Ali Shah, who digd in 1884; the third was Muhammad Shah, who died in 1848, and the fourtli is the present Shah, who was born in. 1833. The Kajar Shabs seem to be a prolific race; Every male person connected with them is a Prince, or Chief, wearing the title of Khan. Persia is overrun'with them. The first Shah had no children. He had two sisters. One of these left one son, who is Kan ler Khan. The second Shall Fath Ali had four legitimate wives, and 154 secondary wives, including permanent as well as temporary residents of the harem. He had 265 children; of these, .159 died in infancy, and 60 sons and 46 daughters lived to mature age. All the sons had children, though not all as many each as their’father. The sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons of the second Shah, now very numerous, are all Princes of the blood. The sixty sons alone had 670 children. The number of the children by the daughters is not enumerated, the male line alone being Princes. Muhammad Shah, the third monarch of the line, died in 1848. aged 41 years, lie left viving him only five sons and four daughters, only two of whom were by the same mother. His oldest son is the present Shah, who was born April 24,1853. The present Shah has lost nine sons and many daughters, who died young, and has three sons and six daughters living. These sons ase: 1. Sultan Mas ud Mirza, Zil us-Sul-tan, born in 1850, Governor of Pars, who has one son and four daughters. 2. Musafer ud-din Mirza, heir to the tlwone, born in October, 1851, who has six children. 3. Kamram Mirza, hath us Sultaneh T ,17 years of age. Of . the six daughters five are married, and several of them have children. The Shah has four Tegular wives, that is, those to whom lie is allied by a marriage ceremony, but the number of others has not been stated. It is stated that in one instance,, at least, he has recruited his regular matrimonial charge in Europe. He is accompanied in England by a suite of Princes of the blood and others, numbering about fifty persons. The territorial area of Persia is 635,963 square miles. The population is between four and five millions, or about that of the State of New York. The annual revenue is about $13,750,000, leaving a surplus of $2,000,000 annually. The Shah owes no debt, and the Treasury is filled with gold and jewels to the value of $30,000,000. lie has an army of 151,000 men of all arms. The majority of the people are Mohammedans, but 01 different sects. The Catholics have several bishoprics, and the Protestant missions have several stations. It is needless to say that the Government is an absolute despotism, but the present Shah evinces a disposition to rise above the indolence which marks the luxury of Oriental nations. —Chicago Tribune. *.«