began in his near neighbourhood had extended throughout the country, and
there was a firm belief in the minds of the people that the Shah could
be approached by all. But it can well be imagined that it takes a
desperate case to induce those who are oppressed in distant places to
have recourse to such a public mode of communicating grievances as the
telegraph. Yet the telegraph is so employed at times, the senders of the
telegrams giving their names openly, and confidently awaiting the
result.

The Persian Telegraph Department has a peculiar importance in being the
secret agency by which the Shah is served with an independent and
reliable daily report of all that goes on throughout the country. The
system of direct reports of the conduct of governors, by special
resident officials, which was established in the days of Darius the
King, has developed into the present secret service daily telegrams.
Nominations to all the telegraph appointments are made by the Minister
in charge of the department, who bears the appropriate title of
Mukbir-i-Dowleh (Intelligencer of the State).

An instance of the power exercised through this system occurred within
my personal knowledge a few years ago. A local dignitary in a distant
province fell under the frown of the Prince Governor, who, actuated by
greed, imposed on him a heavy fine for an imaginary offence. The fine
was not paid, on which a charge of contumacy was made, and this was
punished by the cruel bastinado and imprisonment. The Telegraph-master,
notwithstanding the fact of the Governor being a near relative of the
late Shah, reported the circumstance in all its details. The telegraph
enabled the Shah to make his presence felt in distant places, as well as
his power, for he was in the habit of occasionally summoning a Governor
to the office at the other end of the wire, to hear his commands spoken