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Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

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438 HISTORY OF PERSIA CHAP.<br />

British Minister for the assault upon his courier in<br />

; short,<br />

he was thoroughly out <strong>of</strong> temper at having failed before<br />

Herat.<br />

Meanwhile he had despatched a certain Husayn Khan<br />

to England with a view to obtaining M Neill's recall.<br />

The envoy was armed with a portentous document in<br />

which the Shah protested that the sole object <strong>of</strong> his expedition<br />

had been to rescue <strong>Persia</strong>n subjects from slavery, and<br />

to which he had been<br />

complained bitterly <strong>of</strong> the oppression<br />

subjected by the British Minister. Unfortunately for the<br />

<strong>Persia</strong>n representative, Lord Palmerston was Foreign<br />

Minister, and at Vienna he received an intimation that he<br />

would not be recognized as a diplomatic agent, and that<br />

in the demand for the recall <strong>of</strong> the British Minister Her<br />

Majesty's Government only saw an additional pro<strong>of</strong> that<br />

Sir John M Neill had faithfully and ably performed his<br />

duty. With extreme difficulty<br />

the <strong>Persia</strong>n Envoy<br />

obtained an interview with Palmerston.<br />

That statesman<br />

finally consented to formulate the demands <strong>of</strong> the British<br />

Government, which were nine in number, and included<br />

the evacuation <strong>of</strong> Ghorian and other Afghan strongholds<br />

and a written apology for the ill-treatment <strong>of</strong> the courier.<br />

Lastly it was stipulated that the signature <strong>of</strong> a commercial<br />

treaty must accompany the re-establishment <strong>of</strong> diplomatic<br />

relations. The unsuccessful envoy upon his return " ate<br />

many sticks," in other words was severely bastinadoed.<br />

The Rebellion <strong>of</strong>Aga Khan, 1 840- 1841 The .<br />

vitality <strong>of</strong><br />

religious<br />

sects is remarkable, and Mohamed Shah received<br />

an unpleasant reminder <strong>of</strong> the fact in the rebellion <strong>of</strong> Aga<br />

Khan Mahallati. Descended from the Ismailis who<br />

played such a large part on the stage <strong>of</strong> <strong>Persia</strong> until<br />

Hulagu crushed the noxious sect, as detailed in Chapter<br />

LVL, Aga Khan, 1 who was a <strong>Persia</strong>n nobleman and landowner,<br />

rose in 1<br />

840 and defeated the Governor <strong>of</strong> Yezd<br />

on the borders <strong>of</strong> the Kerman province. After some<br />

further successes he was driven away from Kerman and<br />

seized the fort at Bam. Finally he fled to India, where he<br />

assisted the British in Sind and settled down in Bombay.<br />

In 1844-45 ms brother Abul Hasan, known as the Sirdar^<br />

1 Vide Ten Thousand Miles, etc., pp. 68-70 and p. 105.

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