The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-05 00:00:00

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lia 10

[PRICE SD.

With the exception Of 10,000 men forming the Royal
Guard, the cavalry force is drawn from the several
tribes when required.. Thq 440 forge.tthey;Fe bound
to furnish amounts to 190.000 men, which, with the
guard, gives a grand total of 200,000 cavalry.
" The fixed contingents of the tribes, to whicb, extent
they can be called upon if reqnisite, is aifollows :
Khorassaa 45,000 horsetien.
Fars. Kerman, and Arabistan 50,000
The Bakhtiaris 15,000
Kurdistan 20,09 .
lrak-Ajetni 20,000'
Azerbijan 40,000

" So large a force of cavalry may appear erscessive
with reference to the population, but it must be re.mem-
bered that the infantry arm is proportionally weak, .and
also that in some parts of Persia, and especially on th.f3
frontiers, almost every man is a.horseman. These troops
receive no pay, and they furnish their own horses, arms,
and equipment; but when called out they draw rations'
for themselves and their, horses, and look to•plunder for
all cis,. They are commanded by their own Khans and
suberdinate officers, but these are all nominated by the
Shah. A portion of this force,. varying in strength, is
permanently kept on foot, a certain number. nf Villages-
being assigned ler their support. • _ c : _
" But the only reh3ectable body of permanent cavalry
is that composing the two':eorpe of the Royal,Geirst:
which amount together to 10,000 _mounted men, desk::•
nated severally:the GOlam-i-pesh Khidreut and the d'etilam-
i- Shah. Of these two corps, the first, hblde the-,. higher
rank, as the Body Guard of the Shah. Formerly, this
corps, like ,the original'Marnelnkes of Egypt, was re-
cruited by the children of Christian parents in
.Peorgia,•
le
Armenia, &c., but now it is elosively composed of
Mussulmans of good family.. _ . .. •
" On appointment, the Sower receives 40 tomans for
the purchase of horse, and equipments ; the pay is 30
tomans per annum, with rations and forage, and cloth
for a new uniform at the festival of Naoroze. The whole,
generally speaking, are very well mounted—the arms
are a carbine, the curved sabre, a long dagger, and a pair
of holster pistols. The perquisites, when employed on
civil or political duties, are very considerable, and they
are thus enabled to keep up a very strong and efficient
appearance. The other and subordinate corps of the
' Golain-i-Shah' are similarly but less sumptuously
equipped and mounted, the outfit being only 25 and the
annual pay 20 tomans.
" The artillery is confined to Horse Artillery and
Camel Artillery. The former, which takes the place of
foot artillery, is organised in batteries on the English
system, and the latter consists of zumbooruks, light
swivel guns attached to the saddle of the camel, deriving
their name from zumboor, a gnat. The Horse Artillery
forms 3 regiments, each of 8 troops or batteries, with
162 officers, 3,258 non-commissioned and gunners, and
4,368 horses. There is also a reserve corps with three
batteries, 600 men, and about as many horses—giving a
total in round numbers of 4,000 men, 5,000 horses, and
162 field guns.
The batteries consist of 5 guns and 1 howitzer. The
heavy batteries are composed of 12-pounder guns and
24 howitzers ; the light batteries of 9,6, or 3-plunder
guns, and 12. pounder howitzers. Each battery has 9
ammunition waggons, 7 for the guns, and 2 for the
howitzer, with the addition of a rocket •carriage and 1
spare guncarriage. The guns are worked by mounted
detachment ; eight horses are allowed for the draught of
each 12 9-pounder gun and 24-pounder howitzer, and 6
horses for the lighter pieces and the waggons. An or-
dinary battery has 182 horses. The ordnance and car-
riages are all constructed on English models, and espe-
cially the latter are of very serviceable description ; but
small-arm ammunition is carried on light two-wheeled
tumbrils of the Russian pattern. English weights and
measures are exclusively used by the artillery and in the
magazines, and a translation of the " Pocket Gunner,"
made by the late Major D'Arcy Todd, who was for
several years in the Persian service, is the present guide
and basis of their system.
" The corps of Zumboorchees consists of four com-
panies, each of 50 men, with a captain and two lieu-
tenants. Each man is mounted on a camel, and carries
his zumbooruk affixed by means of trunnions to a swivel
on the front of the wooden saddle. The piece in form
resembles a short musquetoon, having a stock and flint
lock with a wrought iron barrel, carrying a ball of about
13 ounces, the whole weighing about 751 b. The total
load, including the Zumboorchee and a supply of am-
munition, amounts to 4501 b. One spare ammunition
camel is allowed with every two Zumbooruks when on
service.

" Great pains have been taken to render this • little
corps as perfect and efficient as possible, it being a
favourite arm with the Shah, to whose guard it is
attached, and on all public occasion% of ceremony it form
a leading feature. The artillery generally is the most
efficient branch of the service, and is kept tolerably com-
plete. The uniform resembles that of the infantry, the
jacket of dark blue cloth with red facingA, the breeches
of blue cotton, the boots, sword and pouch belts of black
leather, with a regular horseman's cloak for bad weather
The arms are the sabre and a pair of pistols. The pay
of each grade is one third higher than that of the in-
fantry, and the officers hold rank a grade higher than in
the line, a colonel of artillery being equal to a general
in the other branches.

" The whole departments is under the charge of a sort
of Grand Master of Artillery, called Amir-i•Topkhaneh.
This appointment, which is considered one of the most
important in the empire, is only conferred on officers of
the highest rank, and is occasionally held by the Grand
Wuzeer. There are several well stored arsenals, the
most important of which is that of Teheran; which in-
cludes a foundry, a gun carriage and small-arm manufac-
tory, with an extensive laboratory and workshops.
" The large guns llre for the most part of brass, and
800 camels aro kept tip for the parks and other ordnance
purposes. In addition to the regular artillery, each
large town has a bOdy of trained gunners for local
defence.

" Such are the strength and organization of the Per-
sian army at present.
"The material is in many respects excellent—the men
are tall, powerful, active, and intelligent, sober and tem-
perate in their habits, capable of great endurance, and
by no means wanting in courage ; but they are generally
averse to discipline, inclined to be mutinous, notorious
liars, and incorrigible plunderers ; and they have never
yet proved equal to their only disciplined enemy, the
Russians. Well supplied with European officers, and
brigaded with European troops, the result might be very
different. The arms and equipments, including the ord-
nance, are of decidedly good quality, and they are ex-
ceedingly well supplied with good horses, either for
cavalry, artillery, or for baggage. Good saddle horses
for artillery or cavalry cost from 20 to 40 tomans, and
strong yaboons from 8 to 12 tomans, while camels fit
for artillery purposes cost the Government from 10 to 16
tomans ; their ordinary load being 120 tabrizimans, equal
to more than 61 cwt.

" Thus it is evident that a British contingent em-
ployed in that quarter would not be likely to want the
means of transport."

The infantry reserve and the militia, though the
raw material is excellent, can be at present little
better than a rabble, and the irregular cavalry
contingents are mere Bashi-Bazouks, but the artil-
lery is said to be admirable, and Major Rawlinson,
in his letters to the Bombay Government, states
that there is an available force of 40,000 realty
good troops. With such an array, and with the
assurance of no interference on our part, there can
be little doubt of Persia becoming paramount in
Affghanistan after Dost Mahomed's death, if *not
earlier, and such an event, by strengthening Persia
and giving us a responsible Government on our
North-western frontier, would not be of itself dis-
advantageous to British interests in India, but it
would be so if Persia, thus strengthened, were
allowed to continue under the influence of Russia.