804 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. renounce the plans which he had formed of taking Herat. He was listened to by his Persian Majesty with attention, and during the succeeding few days those of the Persians who were anxious to return to their homes indulged the hope that their king would act according to the arguments put before him by the English representa- tive. But a few days later came General Count Simo- nich, the envoy extraordinary of Kussia, who gave the Shah advice in a sense entirely opposite to that of Mr. McNeill. Count Simonich succeeded in inducing the Shah to continue the siege, and went so far as to advance money to his Majesty, and to place at his disposal the services of his aide-de-camp, Captain Blaranberg, who now undertook the direction of the operations against Herat. Just before the arrival of Count Simonich, Mr. McNeill had, by the wish of the contending parties, entered the town of Herat, to endeavour, if possible, to conclude a negotiation. The Shah had consider- ably modified the terms he had hitherto insisted on, for he no longer demanded that a Persian garrison should occupy Herat, or that he should appropriate the revenues of that state ; but he required that Kamran should renounce the title of Shah, and that Yar Mahomed Khan should come to wait upon him in his camp. On the night on which Mr. McNeill entered Herat, preparations had been made by the Persian army for a general assault ; but a truce of some hours' duration was agreed to by both sides, for the pur- pose of giving time to the British diplomatist to bring the negotiation to a close. The Persian prime minister assured Mr. McNeill, as he was about to leave the camp,
