The measures which Mahmood adopted at the com• mencement of his reign were such as to conciliate the good opinion of his new subjects, and to promise pros perity to Persia. His first care was to relieve the inha bitants from famine. He received into favour all those nobles who had maintained their fidelity to Shah Hussein, while he banished or put to death those who had proved false to their duty. European factories were encou raged and confirmed in all their privileges, and Chris tians of all nations were allowed the public performance of their religious duties. But all this was but as a gleam of sunshine before a tempest It was an effort of virtue, which his cruel and capricious nature was unable to sup port. He stood amidst the wreck of a mighty empire, and he became alarmed at the magnitude of the ruins with which he was surrounded. His army had been greatly reduced, and he dreaded an insurrection in the capital. In order to relieve his fears, he had recourse to measures the most cowardly and savage recorded in his tory. The miseries of the siege were but as a prelude to the bloody tragedy which was to follow ; the different acts of which were, the murder of three hundred nobles with all their male children ; the destruction of three thousand guards whom he had taken into pay ; the mas sacre of every Persian who had ever in the service of the former government ; the plunder of European and other foreigners ; and the murder of thirty-nine princes of the blood. Such horrible cruelties could only have proceeded from a mind, overwhelmed by the most ser vile fears, or under the influence of insanity ; and we find that this prince soon after was seized with madness in its most dreadful form, in the paroxysms of which, according to some accounts, he not only tore off his own flesh, but ate it. He died under the most excruciating tortures of mind and body, in the prime of life, and after having sat upon the throne of Persia only three years.
Ashraff, the cousin of Alahmood, succeeded to the so vereignty. He commenced his reign by cutting off some of the bravest leaders of his own tribe, whose ambition he dreaded more than the resentment of the Persians, and the few Persian nobles that remained at Ispahan, whom he charged with being in correspondence with his enemies, shared the same fate. Having thus endeavoured to strengthen his internal government, the attention of Ash raff was called to the invasion of the Turks and Russians, who had entered into a treaty by which some of the finest provinces of Persia were to be divided between them. The issue of this war, throughout the whole of which he had displayed the most consummate ability, was favourable to the Affghans ; and the title of Ashraff to the throne of Persia was fully acknowledged. But he had now to pre pare for more serious dangers.
Tamasp, whose efforts to regain the crown of his father had been weak and inefficient, and chiefly confined to ne gociations with the Russian government, had fixed his small court at Ferahabad, in Mazenderan. Many of his best friends, who had continued attached to his fortunes, had been swipt away by the plague ; and his hopes of success had been fast settling into despondency, when his prospects began to brighten by the accession of a power ful auxiliary in the person of Nadir Kooli. This chief was of low extraction ; his sword was his only birthright, and his valorous deeds his proudest genealogy. He had commenced his career of ambition as the leader of a band of robbers. In the distracted state of his country, Nadir had risen to distinction and reputation by his valour and enterprise, and having obtained possession of the fort of Kelat, by the murder of his uncle, employed his forces against the Affghans, and recovered the important city and district of Nishapore. The tender of the services of
such a chief was not to be refused in the circumstances in which Tamasp was placed ; and notwithstanding the former crimes of Nadir, he was received into favour, and invested with the sole command of the Persian army. In one season, the cities of Herat and Mushed were reduced, and the whole of Khorassan compelled to recognize the sovereignty of Tamasp. Ashraff, who had hitherto beheld the exertions of this prince with indifference, now per ceived the coming danger, and hastened to meet it at a distance from the capital. But the genius of Nadir pre vailed, and after two desperate engagements, one of which was fought at Damghan, in Khorassan ; and the other about forty miles north of Ispahan, the Affghan power was annihilated in Persia.
Tamasp entered his capital amidst the acclamations of his people ; but he is said to have burst into tears when he beheld the defaced and solitary halls of his glorious an cestors. Ashraff had led off his forces towards Shiraz, carrying with him the old men, women, and children of his tribe, upon mules and'eamels, and all the spoil that he could collect. Accounts, however, daily arrived of the dreadful excesses which they committed on their march, and Nadir Kooli was urged by his sovereign to pursue the fugitives. But this chief had other views than restoring a weak prince to the throne of his fathers. He saw the sceptre within his own grasp, and lost no opportunity of securing his future elevation. He therefore required the power of levying money, as essential to enable him to ex tirpate the Affghans. This demand opened the eyes of Tamasp to his own critical situation ; but the soldiers would march under no other leader, and he was obliged to comply. Though it was the depth of winter, Nadir led his forces towards Shiraz; and in a few months Persia was relieved from her barbarous oppressors. Few of the Aff ghans escaped death, and hardly any returned to their na tive country. They either perished from want and fatigue in the desert, or were taken and sold for slaves. Such was the termination of this extraordinary usurpation, in which a small band of foreigners, seldom exceeding thirty thousand, held in subjection the mass of a great nation ; and during the seven years in which they exercised do minion in Persia, " nearly a million of her inhabitants had perished, her finest provinces had been rendered desert, and her proudest edifices levelled with the dust." On his return, Nadir Kooli was hailed as the deliverer of his country ; and, as a reward for his great services, re ceived the grant of Khorassan, Mazenderan, Seistan, and Kerman, with the power of exercising the privileges of an independent sovereign. The pageantry of Tamasp was now drawing to a close. Under the pretence of his hav ing concluded an ignominious peace with the Turks, while Nadir was quelling a rebellion of the Affghans in Khoras san, he was dethroned by his victorious general, who raised the infant son of Tamasp to the throne, and accepted the office of regent of the empire. Nadir now entered into a war with the Ottoman Porte, which, after a long and doubt ful struggle, terminated with the recovery of all the pos sessions which the Turks had seized during the Affghan invasion. The successful issue of this war stimulated the ambition of the regent ; and the opportune death of the infant king presented to him a vacant throne.