370 ,A HISTORY OF PERSIA. the cooperation of the person who, next to himself, possessed the greatest influence over the mind of the youthful king. In a country where every one, from the Shah downwards, looks on his neighbour with suspicion, there is but one person in whom the sovereign feels that he is sure, under all circumstances, to find a true adviser and a sincere friend. The position and influence of the Queen-mother so entirely depend on the life and pros- perity of the Shah, that her counsels are ever listened to by him without suspicion or impatience. One can only speculate as to the motives which induced the Queen-mother to withhold her confidence from the Ameer-i-Nizam. She may have dreaded the effect upon the selfish chiefs of Persia of the measures of reform which the Minister had made up his mind to introduce. She may have been brought to believe that the here- ditary nobles of the land would never be induced to re- ceive the law from a man of humble extraction, and that her son's throne would in consequence be endangered Or, her Highness's conduct may have originated in some less worthy motive : such as jealousy of the influ- ence which had been acquired by the Ameer over the mind of the king. But for whatever reason, the Queen - mother threw the weight of her influence into the scale of the opposition, and afforded her countenance to the host of influential and discontented persons whose unlawful gains were curtailed in consequence of the measures of the new Minister. At first, however, these intrigues produced no impression upon the mind of the Shah ; and had his Majesty been allowed to follow the dictates of his own will, the Ameer would probably ere now have, for a time, converted Persia from the condition
