Page 431 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR 1909. 21

for departure when, much to the regret of the inhabitants, the hoax was ex-
plodcd by a telegram sent through the English office. This elaborate joke at
the expense of “ Uncle Ilaji”, as the Shirazis commonly termed Asaf-ed-
Dowlen, was much relished by the populace. At the end of March the Shira-
z,is, after prolonged subterranean negotiations to ensure the complete safety
of ali concerned, made up their minds that as all were quite unanimous there
wouid be no danger to anyone if they had a revolution, which they proceeded
to do, inaugurating the local assembly on the 24th March. It soon became
evident, however, that the apparent unanimity which had characterised these
proceedings had only been obtained by ignoring all the personal animosities
which alone interest the people of Shiraz, ana which continued to prevail,
quite unaffected by the floods of lofty sentiment uttered by all parties in the
assembly. The la4Jer never accomplished anything in the way of adminis­
tration, and spenr a month in fruitless discussion of the purely academic
question whether Asaf-ed-Dowleh, who refused to renounce the Shah, could
continue to be recognised as Governor-General by the popular assembly. The
knot was cut on the 24th April by Sowlet-cd-Dowleh, who made on that date
his first but by no means his last decisive irruption during the year into local
politics. He wrote that he considered the assembly irregularly elected
(which indeed was obviously the case, as no form of popular election had
been observed), and that Asaf-ed-Dowlch must be properly obeyed as Governor-
General, or he, Sowlct, would come himself and enforce obedience to him.
This bomb shell knocked all the heart out of the constitutional party, which
was not even revived by the belated regrant of the constitution by the Shah.
By that time all eyes were again turned in the direction of Lar, which place
was attacked and captured by Nasr-ed-Dowlch, about May 12th. The Lari
Seyvid took to flight, and his whereabouts remained completely unknown
even to his fniends. This gave rise to an important popular agitation against
the Kawamis, in the course of which the leading Mullah of the extremist
party, Haji Ali Agha, took bast in the Consulate, and it was only with great
difficulty that several hundreds of his adherents were dissuaded from accom­
panying him. He remained ,in the Consulate from May 15th to June 25th,
but the true motive of his proceedings never became clear and he left without
receiving any satisfaction whatever of his demands, the principal of which
was the trial and punishment of the Kawami brothers for the alleged mas­
sacre at Lar.
The popular agitation on this subject, fanned by elaborate ceremonies
for the “ murdered Seyyid ” (who was really alive and in hiding) continued
throughout June; the Kawara resigned all his offices, and barricaded all the
entrances to his quarter, and there was a brisk but futile fusillade from the
usual rival fortresses, the Persian telegraph office and the Masjid-i-Nan,
almost every night.
The Kawami party was further alarmed by t£e importation of a number
of Kashgais, ostensibly intended to form a force under Sardar Firuz for the
coercion of the Arab tribes, but practically employed to guard Asaf-ed-Dowleh
and the Palace precincts. One result of their arrival was the simultaneous
taking of bast by the entire regular garrison and a body of irregular horse­
men at the British and Russian Consulates, on July 11th, on the ground that
their pay was being given to the Kashgais. Meanwhile all the respectable
classes in the town bad joined in a vigorous agitation against Asaf-ed-Dowleh.
whose intrigues and incompetence were considered to be the root cause of the
existing disorders. A very extensively signe'd petition was sent to both Con­
sulates, and on July 3rd two small groups of respectively 12 and 4 persons of
the middle class were admitted to bast at the British and Russian Consulates
this appearing to be the only means of averting the taking of bast en masse '
At the same time, the Lari Seyyid came to fife, and both he and Sowlet-ed-
Dowleh sent in threatening messages to the effect that they intended to ootne
to Shiraz and root out the Kawamis. In reply, Kawam-ul-Slulk circulated the
news of his intention to br.ing in several thousand Arabs for his own defence
The Arab Kalantars in fact telegraphed from Dehbid to the effect that they
were collected there ready for a march on Shiraz. The situation being thus
extremely menacing, the British and Russian Consuls visited Asaf-ed-Dowleh