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Griboedov's Last Years in Persia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

David M. Lang
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Extract

The massacre of the Russian Mission at Teheran in 1829 by an infuriated and fanatical mob cut short the career of one of Russia's finest dramatists and nearly plunged Persia into another war with her powerful neighbor. The circumstances of Griboedov's death, the events which led up to it, and its international repercussions are among the most strange and tragic episodes in the history of the Near East.

Aleksander Sergeevič Griboedov was born in 1795 of a prominent Moscow family. He distinguished himself at a phenomenally early age at Moscow University and took part in the 1812 campaign when only seventeen. In 1815 he retired from the army and began his career at St. Petersburg, where his first comedy, The Young Couple, was produced in the same year. Two years later he was given a post at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from that time he was regularly employed in diplomatic work in Persia and the Caucasus. Griboedov's first visit to Persia was in 1819. He rapidly mastered Persian and Arabic and acquired a high reputation as a shrewd and reliable diplomat. In 1822 he became diplomatic secretary to General Ermolov, the commander-in-chief at Tiflis.

Type
Articles
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , December 1948 , pp. 317 - 339
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1948

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References

1 Canning to Henry Willock, British chargé d'affaires. No. 3. November 10, 1826 British Foreign Office records, 248/53. (Hereafter referred to as F.O.) The dates of British documents are New Style, unless otherwise indicated.

2 Circular issued at Tabriz, January 20, 1827. F.O. 248/53.

3 His efforts were warmly appreciated by the Russian commander. Cf. Paskevič to Macdonald, Abbasabad, July 15/27, 1827. Ibid., 248/54.

4 McNeill to Macdonald, 1827. Ibid., 248/56, passim. See also Akty Sobrannie Kavkazskoju Arkheagrafičeskoju Kommissieju (1878), VII, 578, for a Russian officer's tribute to McNeill's disinterested conduct.

5 For Griboedov's report, see Griboedov, A. S., Sočinenija, ed. Orlov, V. (1945), pp. 515-29.Google Scholar The Persian point of view is explained in a dispatch from Macdonald to the Indian Political Department, No. 59, dated from Marand, August 12, 1827. India Office Records, Persia, XL, 638-45. The summary of a letter from Griboedov to the Persian authorities, explaining why the Russian commander refused to agree to their conditions, has also been preserved (ibid., p. 661).

6 Ibid., XLI, 339-41. Cf. Akty, VII, 572.

7 Ibid., Persia, XLI, 351, 370.

8 Ibid., p. 387.

9 One crore equals 500,000 tomans. Ten crores, or 5,000,000 tomans, would be worth between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 pounds sterling.

10 Eight crores were to be paid immediately, and two additional crores by 1830, making ten in all.

11 Macdonald to the Indian Political Department, No. 84, February 14, 1828. F.O.249/26.

12 Paskevič to Macdonald. Turkmanchai, February 17/29, 1828. Ibid., 60/30.

13 Ibid., 30.

14 Macdonald to the Persian Government. October 18, 1828. Ibid., 249/27. In any case, Paskevič was too fully occupied with the Kars campaign against Turkey to spare troops for garrisoning Persian Azerbaijan.

15 February 2, 1829. Ibid.

16 Later Lieutenant General Monteith, author of Kars and Erzeroum (London, 1856).

17 Monteith to Macdonald. Tabriz, January 3, 1829. F.O. 248/58.

18 Ibid., 251/31.

19 A nobleman sent by the Persian Court to attend a foreign envoy.

20 Published in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. XXVIII, No. 171 (1830).

21 A descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

22 Macdonald regarded him as “a low-minded, corrupt and blustering personage, upheld at Court by our [British] support, and possessed of no further weight or influence, than our countenance affords him.” F.O. 60/31.

23 Blackwood's, loc. cit., p. 501.

24 “Meerza Abdool Wahab, the Moatumud-oo-Dowleh and principal adviser of His Majesty in great affairs of state is a poor, infirm, slumbering dotard, painted and tinctured by a spirit of bigotry, proud of his descent from the royal house of Sefi, a Syed by birth, a secret enemy of the Kujer [Qajar] family, and one of those intolerant Mahomedans, who deem it pollution to hold communion with infidels.” Macdonald to the Governor-General of India. F.O. 60/31.

25 Blackwood's, loc. cit., p. 503.

26 Ibid., p. 512.

27 F.O. 60/31. The Prince Governor's letter begins with the words: “Who shall tell the condition of the Heart that is full of Blood, and who shall wash away the Blood of the Heart from the Brow?”

28 February 19, 1829. Ibid.

29 Macdonald to General Count Paskevič of Erivan. Tabriz. February 8/20, 1829. Ibid., 65/179.

30 These measures were later fully approved by the East India Company authorities. Indian Political Department to Macdonald, June 12, 1829 (ibid., 248/58).India Board to Governor-General of India, August 24, 1829 (ibid., 258/60), and December 19, 1829 (ibid., 248/59).

31 This was not quite true, as the Persian Government was not slow to point out: The Persian Envoy to India, Hajji Khalil Khan, was killed at Bombay in a brawl in 1802. The British authorities made such handsome amends that the Shah is said to have observed that more ambassadors might be killed on the same terms.

32 Macdonald to H.E. Mirza Abul Hassan Khan, Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs. February 21, 1829. F.O. 65/179. A Russian translation is printed in Akty, VII, 672-73.

33 February 24, 1829. F.O.60/31.

34 Le Chevalier Amburger to Macdonald. No. 40, February 12/24, 1829. Ibid., 248/58. Paskevič sharply reprimanded Amburger for leaving his post (cf. Akty, Vol.VII) and later explained to Abbas Mirza that his abrupt departure had been due to “health” reasons. F.O.251/31.

35 Macdonald to Amburger. February 12 /24, 1829. F.O.249/27.

36 No.9, March 25, 1829. Ibid.

37 Lord Heytesbury, British Ambassador at St. Petersburg, to the Earl of Aberdeen. No. 30. April 4, 1829. Ibid., 65/179.

38 Heytesbury to Aberdeen. No. 31. April 8, 1829. Ibid.

39 India Office Records, Persia, XLIV, 320.

40 Ibid., pp. 312-14.

41 May 4, 1829. F.O. 65/180.

42 India Office Records. XLIV, 350-87.

43 Ibid., pp. 689-700.

44 June 6/18, 1829. F.O. 65/183.

45 Prince Dolgoruki to Macdonald. September 19, 1829. Ibid., 248/58.

46 Ibid., 249/27.

47 Kaim Makam to Macdonald. August 14, 1829. Ibid., 251/31.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., 181/78.

50 Russia was in any case too deeply involved in the Balkans to enter on further offensive operations against Persia, which would probably have resulted in the complete overthrow of the Qajar dynasty and the risk of British intervention in defense of her ally.