Sketches of Persia

by John Malcolm

The minister of finance, who was as remarkable for his plain manners as for his plain sense, acknowledged the justice of this suggestion. "But you know Persia," was his concluding significant remark; which sufficiently informed the Elchee that his project of road-making, however easy of execution, from the nature of the country and climate, would share the fate of other schemes, which it was then the fashion at the court of Persia to adopt, commence, and abandon. These highways required labour; which labour, political economists would have told the king, must be paid for by money, by provisions, or by the remission of other exactions. But this information would have been of little benefit, for I never knew a man, who, with all his good qualities, would listen with so little patience to political economists, as the king of kings, Fatteh Ali Shâh; for that monarch, besides the habits and prejudices of his condition, has personally an insurmountable objection to all measures which include disbursement.

Time may do much with my Persian friends, but we must not expect to hurry that tardy-paced worker of miracles. We may inspire a few with that thirst for real glory, which desires to create, not to destroy; others may be instructed in science; but even in those whom we may elevate above their countrymen, early habits and national prejudices will still be too strong for us. Their speeches and their writings may exhibit enlightened minds; but their actions will follow their established usages and ordinary habits; and their conduct will too often be what it was formerly. Like the lady-cat in the fable, they will be apt to spring from the board we have spread for them, whenever a mouse shows itself.

When the first mission was at Teheran, we found a chief there, called Ali Mahomed Khan, who had been compelled, by some political revolutions, to quit Cabool, and take refuge in Persia. He was a man of rank, and had been received and treated with hospitality and distinction by the king, who signified to the Elchee his wish, that he should take this nobleman to India, whither he was desirous of going. This request was the more readily complied with, as the Elchee had found Ali Mahomed a pleasant, and apparently a sensible man. I became very intimate with him; and when we arrived at Calcutta, I took great pleasure in showing him that splendid capital of the British dominions in the East. I pointed out the crowded shipping in its noble river; the elegant streets thronged with carriages; the newly-erected palace of its ruler; its college; the magnificent abodes of public officers and wealthy merchants; all, in short, that could impress him with an idea of the happy results of civilization.

Seeing my friend quite delighted with the contemplation of this rich scene, I asked him, with some exultation, what he thought of it? "A wonderful place to plunder!"[140] was his reply; and his eyes glistened as he made it, with anticipated enjoyment.

I mentioned this anecdote to my Christian friend, Khojah Arratoon, our treasurer. "Ay, ay," said the old man, "nature will come out. What you have related verifies our Armenian proverb: they were preaching the Gospel over the head of a wolf—'Stop!' said he; 'I see a flock of sheep passing.'"

I do not mean, in what I have here said, to condemn national efforts to spread knowledge, nor to deny that such endeavours may in due season produce happy effects; but such results will be retarded, not accelerated, by all attempts at rapid and premature changes. In endeavouring to effect these, we are often as absurd in our admiration of individuals, to whom a few of our own favourite lights have been imparted, as in our condemnation of those whom we conceive to remain in their primitive darkness. We altogether forget that it is from the general condition of the country that the character of the population is chiefly formed. Hereditary and undisputed succession to the throne, though it may not diminish the frequency of foreign wars, nor prevent the shedding of human blood, gives an internal security, which leads to the introduction of a system that enables such a state to have efficient and permanent civil and military establishments; and it also gives, to a great proportion of its subjects, a valuable leisure to pursue science and literature, which gradually lead to further improvements in society. But in countries like Persia all government is personal; institutions and establishments rise and fall with the caprice of a sovereign; and supposing him steady in his objects, still the probability is, that they prosper and die with their founder; and while their basis is so unstable, and their duration so uncertain, they cannot be permanently efficient or useful.

Revolutions of such a nature as we desire will work themselves into form, when time changes men's sentiment, and ripens a nation for them; but we too often, in the foolish pride of our knowledge, rush towards the end, with little or no consideration about the means. In our precocious plans, we cast the blame from that on which it ought to rest, upon those we desire to reform. Because men continue, like their ancestors, to live under an arbitrary monarch, and have not the precise qualities upon which we value ourselves, we hasten to the conclusion that they are slaves and barbarians, whom the force of habit and prejudice alone saves from being as miserable as they are degraded. Viewing them in this light, we waste a pity upon them which they neither value nor understand; nor has it, if we analyze its grounds, any just foundation. Though unacquainted with political freedom, though superficial in science, and unlearned in Greek or Latin, they are not without defences against injustice or despotism; and the very condition of their society gives them, on all points affecting themselves, their families, or friends, an intuitive quickness and clearness of perception, which appears wonderful to men rendered dull, as it were, by civilization. Neither are such nations deficient in those arts, which are subservient to the subsistence, and promote the enjoyments of man; and they are perhaps more alive than we improved beings to those passions whence so much of our happiness and misery flow.

I have travelled much, but have found little difference in the aggregate of human felicity. My pride and patriotism have often been flattered by the complaints and comparisons of the discontented; but I have never met any considerable number of a tribe or nation, who would have exchanged their condition for that of any other people upon the earth. When I have succeeded, as I often did, in raising admiration and envy, by dwelling upon the advantages of the British government, I have invariably found that these feelings vanished, when I explained more specifically the sacrifices of personal liberty, the restraints of the law, and the burden of taxation, by which these advantages are purchased. It was the old story of the Arab nurse, who could not endure England because there were no date trees; and the King of Persia, who, though feeling all the insecurity of his own crown, could not for a moment tolerate the thoughts of wearing that of England, which would have reduced him to only one wife!

Such observations should have made me humble; but they did not. I continued to value myself on my superiority; and when in Persia, was as eager as any of our party to parade my knowledge, particularly in science (which, by-the-bye, was my weak point), and to enjoy the wonder which its display produced.