BABIST REBELLION AT ZINJAN. 387 ever, that a commotion might be excited by the unusual spectacle of men being publicly executed at Tehran ; but on the occasion of putting the Babi conspirators to death, no such commotion took place. Some doubts existed in the minds of the people as to whether the alleged inten- tions of the conspirators had been fully proved against them, or whether it was right to punish for a mere inten- tion as if for a crime that had actually been committed ; but it could not be denied that the sentence of death upon these Babi backsliders from the Moslem faith was in accordance with Mahomedan law. Each of them was offered his life upon the simple condition of reciting the formula of the Moslem creed, but none of them consented to purchase pardon on such terms. Another example was now added to those with which the history of the world abounds, of the utter inefficacy of persecution for the suppression of religious doctrines. The chief priest of Zinjan had embraced the tenets of the Bab, and under his guidance the Babis of that place took possession of a portion of the town. On the news of this revolt reaching Tehran, measures were at once adopted by the government for suppressing the insurrection ; and it is illustrative of the success which was already beginning to attend the Ameer's system for the amelioration of the army, that within five hours from the receipt at - the capital of intelligence of the revolt, troops were already marching from Tehran upon Zinjan. The Persian soldiers, much, no doubt, to their own sur- prise, saw themselves for the first time properly clothed and cared for, and received with regularity their pay and their rations. Persian soldiers are beyond comparison the most hardy, enduring and patient troops in the world, 25a
