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

508 HISTORY OF PERSIA CHAP.
a student who was a Sayyid was killed but the
;
prisoner
was rescued. The funeral of the victim of the soldiery
was marked by further disturbances, which resulted in the
death of fifteen persons. The Masjid-i-Jami, or "Mosque
of Assembly," in the centre of Teheran, was now the scene
of a second bast. On this occasion soldiers prevented
supplies from being brought in, and the agitators sought
permission to retire to Kum, which was granted on condition
that the Mujtahids departed alone. On the way they issued
a notice threatening to leave Persia in a body unless the
Shah fulfilled his promises. As their absence would stop
all legal transactions, this threat was really
a serious one,
for it would be equivalent to placing
the land under an
interdict.
The Great" Bast" in the British Legation, August ^ 1906.
Simultaneously with the exodus to Kum a second and still
more important movement The began. Ay n-u-Dola, according
to Persian custom, ordered the reopening of the bazaars,
which had been closed as a protest, and announced that
any shops which were left shut would be looted. Thereupon
a few representatives of the merchants and bankers
visited the British representative
at Gulahak, the summer
quarters of the Legation, to enquire whether they would
be driven out if they took sanctuary in the grounds of
the British Legation at Teheran. The reply being given
that force would not be used to expel them, a small
number of merchants immediately took sanctuary and
;
their numbers increased until there were at least twelve
thousand men camped
in the Legation garden. Their
demands were for the dismissal of the Ayn-u-Dola, the
promulgation of a Code of Laws, and the recall of the
Kum exiles. The Shah again yielded.
He dismissed
the Ayn-u-Dola, appointed the liberal Mirza Nasrulla
Khan, Mushir-u-Dola, to be his successor, and invited
the Mujtahids to return from Kum. But the people,
instigated by a few Europeanized Persians, refused to be
content and demanded a regular constitution, to include
a representative National Assembly, with guarantees of
the Shah's good faith.
The M.agna Charta of Persia. For a long time the