They stand in the way of all progress, as even a railway cannot be laid without their permission, much less can institutions of learning be carried on outside of their control. Official corruption, which seems to threaten the very existence of some of the Eastern nations, gathers new power from the influence of these Mohammedan mollāhs, and a large share of the money which is appropriated for public improvement eventually finds its way into the coffers of the king’s ministers.
There is little hope of intellectual growth under this baneful influence. At the beginning of the present century Īrānian poetry assumed a dramatic form, but, like the Greek drama, and the “Mysteries” of the Middle ages, it is the offspring of a religious ceremony, and the great attraction of the Persian stage is a Moslem passion play,[[293]] even the drama of the empire being under the control of her conquerors.
RUSSIAN OPPRESSION.
Not only is the nation firmly held in the chains of priestly rule, but her political position is far from enviable. Upon her northern border stands the most unscrupulous power among the nations of the East. The black eagles of the Czar are ever watching for an opportunity to invade her dominions, ever looking for some unusual sign of internal weakness which may throw her completely into their power. Russia has justly earned a reputation which, for political treachery, is unequaled among the children of men. She makes treaties and signs the most solemn pledges of national co-operation, apparently with the utmost sincerity, and then breaks them, without even a word of apology, whenever she can gain a point or a province by so doing.
For centuries Russia has coveted Constantinople as the key of the East. For centuries she has looked with envious eyes upon the wealth of India, and she has hesitated at no policy which might advance her interests by extending her boundary line.
Great Britain stands as the strongest bulwark in the world of nations against the insidious diplomacy of the Muscovite, which seems to be the enemy of all civilization, and therefore in every move that is made in the political world of either Europe or Asia, Russia is ever on the alert to defeat the plans of England, and the coming conflict in the Old World will doubtless be led by these two great powers. Intending some day to wrest India from the hand of Great Britain, she finds Persia standing in the way of her design, and it must therefore be conquered or absorbed. By the most unscrupulous methods known to nations, she has already acquired much of Persian territory, and the process of absorption is renewed whenever the opportunity offers.
She hesitates at no oppression, and has already ruined Persian commerce, as far as lay in her power, by permitting the transportation of goods across her territory, only under restrictions which are practically prohibitory. Flattering promises are carefully combined with threats in order to promote her designs, and the emissaries of Russia are abundant in Persia, and even in Northern India, where their mission is to educate a public sentiment by constantly instilling into the minds of the people false ideas of the magnificence and generosity of Russia. These men are not Russians, for they would attract attention and arouse public apprehension, but they are Asiatics, who are kept at work by Russian gold, making lavish promises of Muscovite benevolence when northern barbarism shall succeed English civilization.
While engaged in thus duping the Asiatic tribes, she is pushing her railway as rapidly as possible toward India, and preparing for war on a greater scale than ever before in her history.
The record of her political policy proves that she will fasten her iron hand upon the vitals of a nation, and crush out, as far as possible, every effort toward progress, until the crippled empire falls into her fatal embrace. Persia has little hope of escaping the Russian policy of oppression and absorption, unless either English or German troops are allied with her native forces against the common foe. There is no longer, therefore, a hope that Persian literature may be revived, and the intellectual resources of the empire again developed, unless the civilized nations of Europe come to her rescue. The yoke of Mohammedan rule must be broken, and the tyranny of the northern barbarian removed, before the Persian mind and heart can be stimulated to intellectual and moral activity.