THE SEDR-AZEM'S DISPUTE WITH MR. MURRAY. 421 not allow her to be restored to her husband ; notwith- standing that the chief mujteheds, or judges, of Tehran issued a decree pronouncing it illegal to detain the wife of the meerza in captivity, or to divorce her without the consent of her husband. The Shah himself had no power to withstand the decree of the mujteheds ; yet in the face of their decision, the Sedr-Azem continued to detain the wife of Hashem Khan, alleging that, as she was the sister of the Shah's wife, she was amenable to a certain extent to the domestic authority of the Shah. Mr. Murray insisted that, in accordance with treaty engagements, the wife of the British employe, Hashem Khan, should be forthwith liberated; and he gave the Persian government a specified time for arriving at a decision, under the alternative of a suspension of diplomatic intercourse. During the period allowed to the Persian government for the purpose of coming to a decision, Mr. Murray was asked whether the matter could not be arranged in some other way than by Hashem Khan's being actually sent to Sheeraz to be agent to the British Mission at that place ; he replied that he was ready to discharge that person from the English service upon the condition that his wife should be at once liberated, and that the meerza should receive a pension or employment a little more lucrative than the one he would forfeit, and, moreover, that his safety should be guaranteed. A fair opportunity was thus afforded to the Persian government of bringing this trivial quarrel to an end, had they sincerely wished to remain on good terms with the English government. But from the conduct of the Sedr-Azem in objecting to allow Hashem Khan to hold a post for which he had been the first person to suggest him ;
