THE CONDITION OF PERSIA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 453, 8 April 1909, Page 2

THE CONDITION OF PERSIA.

Thk Shah’s Government, according to European ideas of political stability, hovers on the brink of utter destruction, because there is an armed rebellion against his authority in three important provinces and loudly expressed dissatisfaction at many points, including the capital itself. But the rebels are separated from each other by hundreds of miles of desert country; there is no tangible correlation between them and no symptoms of aggression against the central power. Tabriz is still threatened by Royalist troops, and, according to the latest information, its defenders aie incapable of forcing an issue, much less of marching on the capital. Ispahan is 300 miles distant by road, and at present on the defensive. Five hundred miles away, in Tar, there is a revolt, but there is little thought of rebellion against any but the local authority. Everywhere there is much constitutional talk which may or may not be translated into action. The Shah is comfortably encamped in a garden on the outskirts of Teheran. With a great radius nobody disputes his dominion, though there are many who murmur at it. His strength consists of a body of troops commanded by foreign officers whose masterful behaviour during the coup has filled the discontented with wholesome respect. Take the foreigners away, and Nationalists and Royalists would be at each other’s throats, with the odds still considerably in favour of the latter.