se the time
was short, they upheld their country's honor and proclaimed their
hard-earned right to live and govern themselves.

A few minutes before noon the public vote was taken; one or two
faint-hearted members sought a craven's refuge and slunk quietly from
the chamber. As each name was called, the deputy rose in his place and
gave his vote, there was no secret ballot here.

And when the roll-call was ended, every man, priest or layman, youth or
octogenarian, had cast his own die of fate, had staked the safety of
himself and family, and hurled back into the teeth of the great Bear
from the north the unanimous answer of a desperate and downtrodden
people who preferred a future of unknown terror to the voluntary
sacrifice of their national dignity and of their recently earned right
to work out their own salvation.

Amid tears and applause from the spectators, the crestfallen and
frightened cabinet withdrew, while the deputies dispersed to ponder on
the course which lay darkly before their people.

By this vote, the cabinet, according to the Persian constitution,
ceased to exist as a legal entity.

Great crowds of people thronged the "Lalezar," one of the principal
streets of Teheran, shouting death to the traitors and calling Allah to
witness that they would give up their lives for their country.

A few days later, in a secret conference between the deputies of the
Medjlis and the members of the deposed cabinet, a similar vote was
given to reject the Russian demands. Meanwhile, thousands of Russian
troops, with cossacks and artillery, were pouring into northern Persia,
from Tiflis and Julfa by land and from Baku across the Caspian, to the
Persian port of Enzeli, whence they took up their 220-mile march over
the Elburz mountains toward Kasvin and Teheran.

In the government at Teheran, conference followed conference. Intrigues
against the deputies gave way to threats. Through it all, with the
increasing certainty of personal injury, the members of the Medjlis
stood firmly by their vote.

It is impossible to describe within the limits of this article the days
and nights of doubt, suspense, and anxiety that followed one another in
the capital during this dark month of December. There was a lurking
dread in the very air, and the snow-covered mountains themselves seemed
afflicted with the mournful scenes through which the country was
passing.

A boycott was proclaimed by the priests against Russian and English