conquests; but the heart of the ambitious can never know repose. The
grandeur of the sovereign crushed the people; Abbas felt this; he knew
that, though powerful, he was detested; he trembled even in the inmost
recesses of his palace. In pursuance of the Oriental policy which has of
late years been introduced into Europe, he resolved to give a diversion
to the general hatred, which, in concentrating itself towards a single
point, endangered the safety of his throne. With this design, he
established, in the principal towns, numerous colonies from the nations
he had conquered, and gave them privileges which excited the jealousy of
the original inhabitants. The nation immediately divided into two
powerful factions, the one calling itself the Polenks, the other the
Felenks party. Abbas took care to keep up their strength; by alternately
exciting and moderating their violence, he distracted their attention
from the affairs of government. The disputes between them sometimes
looked very serious; but they were kept under until the festival of the
birthday of the Schah; on that occasion, the contenders were at last
permitted to show their joy by a general fight. Armed with sticks and
stones, they strewed the streets with bodies of the dying and the dead.
Then the royal troops suddenly appeared, and proclaimed the day's
amusements at an end, with slashes of the sabres drove back the Polenks
and the Felenks to their homes.

But no sooner had this great politician ceased to fear his people, than
he began first to dread his court, and next, his own family. Of his
three sons, two had, by his command, been deprived of sight. By the laws
of Persia, they were consequently declared incapable of reigning, and
imprisoned in the castle of Alamuth.[6] He had only one now remaining.
This was the noble and generous Safi Mirza--the delight of his father,
and the hope of the people. His brilliant qualities, however, were
destined only to be his destruction.