was with General Sir William Mansfield (the late Lord Sandhurst) when
he, being Commander-in-Chief in India, had a conversation with the Amir
Sher Ali of Kabul on general subjects, in the course of which the Amir,
in rather a captious manner, made some sharp remarks on what he called
the hostile differences in the Christian Church; Sir William rejoined by
referring to the great division in Islam between Sunni and Shiah, and
asked if there were many of the latter faith at Kabul. A look of
displeasure passed over Sher Ali's face as, half turning towards his
people who stood behind him, he said, in a severe tone, 'Yes, there are
a few of the dogs there, sons of burnt fathers.'

The mutual hatred ever existing with Sunni and Shiah has always worked
against very cordial relations between Turkey and Persia, and once
certainly, in the sixteenth century, the fear of Persia, then actively
hostile on the south-eastern border, benefited Austria and Russia by
deterring the Turkish Power, in the days of its triumph and strength,
from extended aggressive operations north and west of Constantinople.
Accordingly, the reconciliation of Sunni and Shiah has long been a
cardinal point of policy with the Porte. While it appears that Austria
thus benefited in an indirect manner through Turkey's fear of Persia, it
is an interesting coincidence that, from the time the latter extended
her diplomatic relations beyond those with Russia and England, which,
for a considerable period, were the only Western Powers represented at
the Shah's Court, Austria has held a prominently friendly position in
Persia. Austrian officers have long been employed in her army, and the
fact of the Emperor Francis Joseph and the late Shah Nasr-ed-Din having
ascended their thrones within three months of each other in the same
year (1848) was regarded by the latter as an association with himself of
the highest honour and amity. And this brings to my recollection a
matter connected with the Austrian Legation at Tehran which occurred
after the deportation of Jemal-ed-Din in 1891. Mohamed Reza, the
murderer of the late Shah, remained in Tehran, and continued the
treasonable practices which had been originated by Jemal, even to the
extent of disseminating his revolutionary opinions by means of printed
papers.

The press used for printing was a lithographic one, and one of the
Mirzas employed by the Austrian Legation having been drawn into Jemal's
secret society, he was indu