...Such is the divinity that doth hedge a throne in Persia,
that not merely does the Sháh never attend at state dinners or eat with his
subjects at table, with the exception of a single banquet to his principal male
relatives at Naw-rúz, but the attitude and language employed towards him even
by his confidential ministers are those of servile obeisance and adulation.
‘May I be your sacrifice, Asylum of the Universe,’ is the common mode of
address adopted even by subjects of the highest rank. In his own surrounding
there is no one to tell him the truth or to give him dispassionate counsel. The
foreign Ministers are probably almost the only source from which he learns
facts as they are, or receives unvarnished, even if interested, advice. With
the best intentions in the world for the undertaking of great plans and for the
amelioration of his country, he has little or no control over the execution of
an enterprise which has once passed out of his hands and has become the sport
of corrupt and self-seeking officials. Half the money voted with his consent
never reaches its destination, but sticks to every intervening pocket with
which a professional ingenuity can bring it into transient contact; half the
schemes authorised by him are never brought any nearer to realisation, the
minister or functionary in charge trusting to the oblivious caprices of the
sovereign to overlook his dereliction of duty.
...Only a century ago the abominable system prevailed of
blinding possible aspirants to the throne, of savage mutilations and life-long
captivities, of wanton slaughter and systematic bloodshed. Disgrace was not
less sudden than promotion, and death was a frequent concomitant of disgrace.
- Lord Curzon (Extract from “Persia and the Persian Question”, quoted by Shoghi
Effendi in the Introduction to the Dawn-Breakers)
