least for the price of a province; and with her
aid we might afterwards seize upon Herat, or
some other convenient district, to indemnify
ourselves. Then, we know that France has always
been jealous of your empire in the East, and
might at any time be induced to step in as a
mediator. This would gall you to the quick.
You would not like to see the imperial eagles
planted on the shore of the Persian Gulf."

"It is my opinion," returned the Englishman,
"that you would find your hopes entirely
unfounded. Russia has quite enough upon her
hands for the next half century, in settling her
affairs at home. The Caucasus is not yet quiet,
and I feel convinced that her policy is not one of
conquest. What could you offer her, but a salt
desert, and a beggared population? As for France,
she has recently acted in cordial co-operation
with England in her foreign wars. What inducement
could you propose to her, to make her withdraw
the hand of brotherhood she has so frankly
stretched out to us? What use would an
establishment in Persia be to her, even if she
were hostile to England? We guard all the highways
of the East. How could France support a
petty colony in a Persian province? What would
it be to her but a fruitless source of trouble and
expense?"

"Words!" answered the Persian. " Your own
parliament would not allow you to carry on a
protracted war with us, whatever a minister
might wish. Do you think we did not read the
speeches of your opposition, the last time you
quarrelled with us?"

"Parliament is, indeed," said the Englishman,
"unwilling to sanction war, and politicians
hostile to a ministry have always a great deal to
say against whatever they do; but you must
remember that the opposition never expresses the
true sense of the country, or it would cease to
be the opposition. Often the very man who
blames the conduct of a statesman in power,
knows that were he himself in office, he would
have been obliged to take the very course which
he condemns. It is the sense of the British
people, who are the parliament makers, that
you should consider in your calculations: not
the factious words of individual and irresponsible
members who have purposes of their own
to serve. Depend upon it, however reluctant
we may be to begin a fight with you, we shall
have the best of it before we end."

"You speak," said the Persian, smiling with
delightful affability, "as if we were a patriotic
and united nation; whereas we are merely a
number of individuals, with separate views and
interests, living upon the same soil. There is
always a revolt somewhere among us, and we
rejoice at it, for there is so much the better
chance of plundering the vanquished. What
do I, for instance, Boosey Khan, care whether
you had the best of it or not? The war would
give me a chance of fortune either way, if I
played my cards well. You would not hurt me.
I should take care to keep personally out of the
scrape, and as I have no chance of being
king, I do not care one straw who is. All my
tomauns and jewels might be buried, so that you
could never find them, in half an hour. Your
war would not disturb me at all. You would kill
a few soldiers, and are very welcome to the
pleasure of doing so, if it amuses you. But every
man of sense would make his own terms with
you, and be glad of an opportunity to get
something out of the scramble. So you see, Sahib
Smith, if you want my services in any way,
you must buy them. I am merely a representative
of my class, and only speak the sentiments
of every influential man in Persia. If you give
us nothing, you cannot reasonably expect
anything from us; for we don't love you, and it
would be childish to fear you." Then, with
a kindling eye, he glanced round his palace.
"Look at those mirrors! They came from
France. Behold that magnificent and beautiful
service of plate; it came from Russia. If we were
to offend the French, they have no parliament
to prevent their punishing us. If we were to
offend the Russians, they are within a few days'
march of Tabreez. But as to you, you dare not
strike us, and you cannot, or will not, give us
anything. We know that if there is a quarrel between
you and us, we can always mend it if we choose,
in time to save ourselves; and we can, and we
shall, torment your ministers at our court, and
insult your flag as often as we have an opportunity
of doing so, till you change your ways with us."

"But Malcolm and Jones gave you money
enough and presents enough, in all conscience.
Yet you insulted Malcolm's secretary, and laughed
at Jones's."

"The memory of benefits," said the Persian,
sententiously, " does not last for ever. We
tormented Pasley and his companion, a little in the
provinces, in the hopes of getting more from him;
but Malcolm had no cause to complain of his
reception. We treated him as we have never
treated any of your representatives since his
time, and he might have done, and he did, whatever
he pleased with us. His mission—though I
am aware that you complain of it—was costly, and
paid its expenses twenty times over, in tangible
advantages to you. It is true we should have
sold him to Napoleon, if Napoleon had bribed
us higher, but no one could out-bribe you rich
English if you pleased to contest the palm, and we
shall always belong individually and collectively
to any one who will pay the highest price for us.
As for Sir Harford Jones, we worried him to
please Malcolm, and because you had sent him to
interfere with Sir John, whom we liked very
much. Besides, Sir Harford Jones bought the
wrong people. He wasted thousands on a fellow
who called himself his "jockey," and who had no
influence at all. Malcolm understood us much
better, and never wasted a sixpence on anybody
who could not serve him. Besides, at that time,
we thought John Company, whom we supposed
to be an old woman of fabulous power, a much
more important personage than the King of