from nations within the sphere of European diplomacy.
What they sought was a practical administration of their finances in
the interest of the Persian people and nation.

In this way the writer found himself in Teheran on the 12th of May last
year, having agreed to serve as Treasurer-General of the Persian
Empire, and to reorganize and conduct its finances.

It is difficult to describe the Persian political situation existing at
that time without going too deeply into history. It is true that in a
moment of temporary weakness after her defeat by Japan, Russia had
signed a solemn convention with England whereby she engaged herself, as
did England, to respect the independence and integrity of Persia.
Later, by the stipulations of 1909, these two Powers solemnly agreed to
prevent the ex-Shah, Muhammad Ali, from any political agitation against
the constitutional government. But, as the world and Persia have seen,
a trifle like a treaty or a convention never balks Russia when she has
taken the pulse of her possible adversaries and found it weak. What is
more painful to Anglo-Saxons is that the British Government has been no
better nor more scrupulous of its pledges.

During the first half of July, we began to learn where some of the
money was supposed to come from, and we were just beginning to control
the government expenditures after a fashion when, on July 18th, late at
night, the telegraph brought the news that Muhammad Ali, the ex-Shah,
had landed with a small force at Gumesh-Teppeh, a small port on the
Caspian, very near the Russian frontier. It was the proverbial bolt
from the blue, for while rumors of such a possibility had been rife,
most persons believed that Russia would not dare to violate so openly
her solemn stipulation signed less than two years before.

PERSIA IS TAKEN UNAWARES

The Persian cabinet at Teheran was panic-stricken, and for ten days
there ensued a period of confusion and terror that beggars description.
There was no Persian army except on paper. The gendarmerie and police
of the city did not number more than eighteen hundred men inadequately
armed. The Russian Turcomans on the northeast frontier were reported to
be flocking to the ex-Shah's standard, and it was commonly believed
that he would be at the gates of Teheran in a few weeks. This belief
was strengthened by the fact that his brother, Prince Salaru'd-Dawla,
had entered Persia from the direction of Bagdad and was known to have a
lar