Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/272

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252
A HISTORY OF PERSIA.

Having put to death a Georgian groom and two Cossacks, they led out the horses, and, departing to their homes, the tumult suddenly subsided.

On the first news of this outbreak reaching him, the Shah instantly ordered the governor of Tehran and the commander of the forces to do their utmost to quell it; but it appeared that the authority of these princes was utterly set at defiance, since, after having received personal insults, they retired to the citadel, the gates of which were shut under the apprehension lest the rising should extend itself even to the precincts of the abode of the Shah. The king overwhelmed with shame and dismay upon learning what had taken place, hastened to protect the person of M. Malzoff, the first secretary to the Russian Mission, and the only survivor of the party.

That gentleman had been lodged with the Persian in charge of the Mission, in a house, or rather a suite of rooms, adjoining the scene where the catastrophe occurred. From his windows, according to his own statement, he saw the crowd pour into the court of the Minister's house, and the gathering at once became so dense as to deprive him of the means of proceeding to join his comrades. Seeing the extremities to which the multitude resorted, he retired with his servants to an upper room, where he might more easily defend himself if attacked, and there he distributed the sum of two hundred ducats amongst the Mahomedan guards attached to him. These men and his servants now ranged themselves in front of the room where he had taken refuge, and told some inquiring Persians that the apartment was occupied only by Mahomedans. The number of Russian subjects