attend to the conservation of the dominions he already possessed, rather than to seek to extend them on the ruins of the empire of the Sultan. The sons of Hassan Ali Meerza, who were left in charge of Khorassan, appeared in arms against each other, and this was the signal for several of the turbulent chiefs, amongst them those of Boojnoord, Koochan, Kelat, and Turbat, all inveterate enemies of the Kajars, to raise the standard of revolt. One of these entered the city of Meshed in August 1828, and got possession of the citadel and of the person of the governor. The venerable Sirdar, formerly of Erivan, a warrior of ninety years of age, was despatched to Khorassan; but his military talents had not the effect of reducing the unruly chiefs to order.
Persia was still in a troubled and disordered condition when an event occurred which might have furnished a pretext for the forcible dismemberment of the monarchy and the overthrow of the Kajar dynasty. Monsieur Grebaiodoff, a Russian gentleman related by marriage to the count of Erivan, had been selected as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from the Czar to the court of Persia. He arrived at Tabreez in the month of October, 1828, and there leaving Madame Grebaiodoff and a part of his splendid suite, he proceeded to Tehran, with the purpose of presenting his letters of credence to the Shah, and of shortly returning to Azerbaeejan. The imperial mission was received with the utmost distinction by the king, who commanded his nobles to do their best in order to render the stay of the strangers at the Persian capital as agreeable as it might be made. The Order of the Lion and Sun was
