Excerpt from Proceedings of the Central Asian Society: The Reform Movement in Persia

The Chairman, Lieutenant-General Sir Edwin Collen, in commencing the proceedings said: The subject of the paper which is about to be read is the reform movement in Persia. It is a very important one to us, because we are deeply concerned in the future prosperity of the country, and I do not think we could listen to anyone who is more competent to inform us on the subject than General Sir Thomas Gordon. Not only is he admirably qualified by his residence in the country, by his official connection with it, and by study and knowledge, but he has been personally acquainted with many of the actors in the great drama which has recently been enacted on the Persian stage.

The first serious reformer in modern times in Persia was Mirza Taki Khan, Prime Minister to Nasr-ed-Din, Shah, and grandfather, on the maternal side, of the new Shah, Mohamed Ali. He was a man of exceptional ability, and came to the front as a statesman and diplomatist at the International Conference of British, Russian, Turkish, and Persian representatives, which was held at Erzerum about 1845-1846, for the settlement of the longstanding frontier disputes between Persia and Turkey. The Mushir-ed-Dowleh, a high dignitary, had arrived there as Persia's plenipotentiary, but becoming incapacitated by illness, Mirza Taki, who was in his suite, was appointed to replace him. He found his opportunity then to show his high quality as a diplomatist, and at the close of the conference he was said to be 'beyond all comparison, the most interesting personage amongst the International Commissioners.'

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