e risk of
incurring disfavour--refused to smoke, and smashed the _kalians_ before
his eyes. In house-holds where the men--ever weaker than women--could,
after weeks of abstinence, not resist the temptation in secrecy, their
wives destroyed the pipes.

For several weeks not a single individual touched tobacco--a most
dignified protest which quite terrified the Shah and everybody, for,
indeed, it was apparent that people so strong-willed were not to be
trifled with.

In many places the natives broke out into rebellion, and many lives were
lost. Nasr-ed-din Shah, frightened and perplexed, called the high Mullah
of Teheran to the palace (January 5th-6th, 1892). By his advice the
tobacco monopoly was there and then abolished by an Imperial Decree, and
the privileges granted for the sale and export of tobacco revoked.
Furthermore, the Mullah only undertook to pacify the people on condition
that all foreign enterprises and innovations in Persia should be
suppressed; that all people imprisoned during the riots should be freed,
and the families of those killed fully indemnified.

The sudden end of the Tobacco Corporation necessarily led to much
correspondence with the British Minister, Sir Frank Lascelles, on the
question of compensation and damages to the company which, depending on
its monopoly, had entered into agreements, and had already paid out large
sums of money. It was finally agreed that the Shah should pay L500,000
sterling compensation, and take over the assets of the company, supposed
to be some L140,000, subject to realisation.

With the assistance of the Bank of Persia, a six per cent. loan was
issued, which was taken up principally by the shareholders of the Tobacco
Corporation. The interest and the sinking fund of this loan were
punctually met until the year 1900 when it was repaid in full on the
conclusion of the Russian loan.

In England this failure seems to have been ascribed to Russian intrigue,
but it must in all fairness be said that had the Russians tried a similar
scheme in a similar manner, they would have fared even worse than we did.
Even Persian concerns established on European principles have serious
troubles to contend with; but it was madness to believe that an entire
Eastern nation could, at a moment's notice, be forced to accept--in a way
most offensive to them--such an article of primary use as tobacco, which,
furthermore, was offered at a higher price than their own tobaccos which
they