PERSIA IS TAKEN UNAWARES

The Persian cabinet at Teheran was panic-stricken, and for ten days there ensued a period of confusion and terror that beggars description.  There was no Persian army except on paper.  The gendarmerie and police of the city did not number more than eighteen hundred men inadequately armed.  The Russian Turcomans on the northeast frontier were reported to be flocking to the ex-Shah’s standard, and it was commonly believed that he would be at the gates of Teheran in a few weeks.  This belief was strengthened by the fact that his brother, Prince Salaru’d-Dawla, had entered Persia from the direction of Bagdad and was known to have a large gathering of Kurdish tribesmen ready to march toward Teheran.

After a time, however, reason prevailed and steps were taken to create an army to defend the constitutional government against the invaders.  At this time, one of the old chiefs of the Bakhtiyari tribesmen, the Samsamu’s-Saltana, was the prime minister holding the portfolio of war, and he called to arms several thousands of his fighting men, who promptly started for the capital.  Ephraim Khan, at that time chief of police of Teheran, was another defender of the constitution who raised a volunteer force, and twice, acting with the Bakhtiyari forces, he signally defeated the troops of the ex-Shah.  By September 5th, Muhammad Ali himself was in full flight through northeastern Persia toward the friendly Russian frontier.  Whatever chances he may have formerly had were admitted to be gone.

The hound that Russia had unleashed, with his hordes of Turcoman brigands, upon the constitutional government of Persia had been whipped back into his kennel.  No one was more surprised than Russia, unless indeed it was the Persians themselves.  Russian officials everywhere in Persia had openly predicted an easy victory for Muhammad Ali.  They had aided him in a hundred different ways, morally, financially, and by actual armed force.

They still hoped, however, that the forces of Prince Salaru’d-Dawla, which were marching from Hamadan toward Teheran, would take the capital.  But on September 28th, the news came that Ephraim Khan, and the Bakhtiyaris had routed the Prince and his army, and the last hope from this source was gone.

In the mean time, another encounter with Russia had occurred.  There was at Teheran an officer of the British-Indian army, Major Stokes, who for four years had been military attache to the British Legation.  He knew Persia well; read, wrote, and spoke fluently the language and thoroughly understood the habits, customs, and viewpoint of the Persian people.  He was the ideal man to assist in the formation of a tax-collecting force under the Treasury, without which there was no hope of collecting the internal taxes throughout the empire.  Not only was Major Stokes the ideal man for this work, but he was the only man possessing the necessary qualifications.