Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-10

cult problem. But our project. as you
k ,,,t has s. been discussed: rewritten and
ratified and promulgated. Such as IL Is
our constitution is not an ideal. We hope.
| nevertheless. 1t will give good results.
rs 1t only a vague hope you have. high
| ness?" asked the interviewer: "A few mo-
| ments ago YOU spoke of lack of political
education. of possible troubles. Do you
| think really that the Persian chamber OF
deputies will be UP to it's task and that
| the constitution may be applied? The
grand vizier hesitated to reply and
| fected.
why not?" he said finally mo one may
| forecast the future. but frankly 1 do not
| see any insurmountable obstacle; 1 do not
see anything which may dissipate our
hopes 1 do not entertain even the con-
| trary hypothesis. because 1 am resolved to
make the loyal attempt to maintain the
parliamentary regime
| Another minister interviewed said: I'VE
| have perhaps marched too quickly. The
| circumstances were the cause, the torrent
| carried us away Now that the constitu-
ton is promulgated. that the chamber of
| deputies is working 1t would be a crime
| and folly not to rally to the support of
new IDEAS
The next parsonage interviewed was a
moliah. former student in the schools of
| Paris. actually engaged In translating into
| Persian the History of the Revolution"
by THEIRS:
TT is the march of ideas that interests
me more than the facts" said the priest
The government of the people by a ma
| tional assembly is the essence indeed of
| Islam. This system was practiced in prim-
itlve and glorious times Persia cannot
| have In the future any other government,
| moreover, all Mussulman nations In a lit
tie while will follow our example for the
great good of the religion OF the prophet"
the presence of a deputy who was cram
ming up from fine collection OF histori-
| cal. legal and political economy works.
| The deputy said:
"Our constitution our liberties! Certain
| ~ We will keep them. The more a thing
| has cost the more we are attached to It,
1t was necessary to possess almost super
! human courage to dare say publicly what
we thought. A permanent danger threat
ened us. and we knew It, We have 'mer-
| tied well of the country as you say in
the constitution, and IL 1t was necessary
| they would know how to defend it."
The interviewer in going the rounds fell
In with a deputy who. although he de-
| clared that his ideal was the republic
| nevertheless severely attacked republican
ism and showed manifest sympathy with
socialism in it's most objectiona BILE form
namely, collectivism.
The writer while residing in France after
the events in Egypt of 1882, made the &C
quaintance of the distin-
OJem-el- guished Djem-el- Eddin, dis
Eddin. tinguished as Ell Afghan.
! Djem-el-Eddin was both At
CHAN and Persian, and having espoused
the cause of Arab Pasha, it was said that
he had been sent to India to revolt the
Moslems. but the British sent him back
before he had commenced operations
The writer recalls Djem-el- Eddin, whom
| he met in Paris, as the editor of an Arab
journal he had founded there in the in
| terest first of Arab and then of Hahn
| Pasha, the pretendant to the throne of
Egypt. With Diem Eddin there were asso-
| ciated Wabi-Bey and lame Sauna, a Syrian
Israelite, who delighted in the pseudonym
| of Abou Naddara, or Father Spectacies
| editor of a comic Arab paper of that name
Diem el-Eddin and Naddara were avowed
Arabists and socialist -collectivIsts, both
supported, it was said, by the too-trust-
| ing Hahn
But to return to the socialist-collectivist
| named. but whose description by the inter-
| viewer tallies with what might have been
said of my Afghan-Persian acquaintance.
D5e ,1,,e Eddin. He is energetic and au-
formed small party in the chamber at
Teheran. where his violent speeches and
/ bitter attacks upon government render him
! popular with the lawless. Nevertheless"
| adds the interviewer, 1.-The public begins to
| understand that the socialist deputy attacks
principles less than his personal enemies,
| and already he has been told of it."
The author of an article in Questions
| Diplomatiques ct ColoniaIes'' for the 10th
| ultimo expresses the opinion that Russia
and England are about to absorb Persia
THAT the northern portion, north of the
| thirty-ffth parallel, will go to Russia
| while the British sphere. commencing South
| Of Khorassan, near Tarbat-Haidan. will
| move westward to Kahn, Tobias Kashan
! and Kirmanshab." "''"'
The author makes this suggestion be-
| cause of Persia's past history. Persia
| he says, since the time Of the
The Fast apogee of her ancient annals
of Persia. has always been obliged to
| submit to her conquerors.
The Arab conquest wiped out by sword
and fire the ancient cult of Zoroaster and
| the frequent incursions of the nomad popu-
| lations of the plateau of Iran have fire.
| quently broken the dreamy quiet Of the
| agriculturists or the artisans of the border
| hills. The Persian, according to the
| thor, is so accustomed to the .permanence
1 of their own horizon that any expansion
beyond their borders was prohibited by
| the fear of leaving their hearths to the
mercy of the turbulent pastoral Kourds,
Turkomans. Afghans and Baloutchistans.
But 1t may suffice for Persia to invoke
the name of Great Cyrus who, with this
same pastoral people, overthrow the Modes
| and established the mighty Persian empire
| which extended from the Indus to the Medi-
Egypt: of Darius, who pacified and organ
| lied the empire and conquered India, but
! who was conquered in turn at Marathon.
| Such glorious traditions may serve to eff
| feet Persia's resurrection by kindling anew
| the fires of nationalism which have been
| buried 1900 years beneath the ashes of her
! former splendor.
| It will not be by the valor of Cyrus. nor
! Cambyses, nor Darius. but by the exercise
| of her great artistic and industrial genius,
| that the resurrection of Persia may be ac-
complished-the silk fabrics of Yezd, the
brocades and velvets of Kachan. the his
| toric felts of Ispahan and Chiraz, the in
laid wood and ivory work. the Damascus
steel, the brass and pottery and, finally.
more valuable than all. the wonderful ex-
| cellence and beauty of the Persian carpets.
| Over such an artistic and Industrial peo-
! pie Mohammed Ali Mira has been called
| to govern with occidental methods.
| Neither Russia nor England may inter-
| fere with the peaceful evolution of Persia.
| for 1t were monstrous to attack either her
autonomy or her perfect independence. Be
| sides, the Bagdad railway. behind which
are Germany and Turkey. has changed the
| status Of Persia. The pathway to India
passes her territory and her naturalization
| for the better protection Of both Russian
| and British interests in farther Asia sug-
gests an Angio-Russian accord in the in