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Encyclopædia Iranica

 

ABU’L-HASAN KHAN ILCI, MIRZA, Persian diplomat. b. 1190/1776 in Shiraz. He was the second son of Mlrzã Mohammad-’Ali, the brother-in-law of Hajji Ebrahim Khan E ‘temãd-al-dawla (q.v.), the prime minister of the Qajars Agã Mohammad Khan and Fath- ‘Ali Shah; he married Hajji Ebrahim’s daughter. In 1215/1800, when Hajji Ebrahim fell out of favor and was imprisoned, all his relatives either fled or were put to death or blinded. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan, then the governor of Sushtar, was exiled to Shiraz. Fearing for his life, he fled to Basra and then made the pilgrimage to Mecca. He returned to Basra and from there set off for India, where he eventually joined the court of the Nezam in Hyderabad. In 1223/1800. He received a royal pardon and returned to Iran. With the help of Hajji Mohammad-Hossein Khan Amin-al-dawla, the influential relative of his wife, the Mirza entered the court of Fath- ‘Ali Shah and accumulated considerable wealth.

The first mission of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan, to the court of George Ill, earned him the title of Ilci (envoy). Napoleon’s plans for marching to India made Iran suddenly the pivot of the great powers’ interest in the Orient. Napoleon had signed a treaty of friendship with Iran at Finkenstein in 1807, and Fath- ‘Ali Shah hoped to recover Georgia from the Russians with his help. But the same year Napoleon made peace with the Russians at Tilsit. and Fath- ‘Ali Shah turned to the British.

 
Mirza Abu’l-Hasan, traveling with Sir Harford Jones Brydges (the returning British ambassador) and James Morier, who was at this time secretary to the mission, left Tehran on 7 May 1809, reaching Plymouth November 25. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan kept a detailed diary of the trip entitled Hayrat-nama-ye sofara. Morier, who later based some incidents of his Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan (London, 1824) on the events of this journey, gave a detailed and often satirical account of the mission in A Journey Through Persia, Armenia and Asia Minor to Constantinople. In the years 1808 and 1809 (London. 1812). Another account is given by Brydges in an Account of His Majesty’s Mission to the Court of Persia, in the years 1807-1811 (London, 1834. 2 vols.). In London the famous orientalist Sir Gore Ouseley (q.v.) was appointed the mehmandar (or host) of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan, and between them a long friendship developed. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan’s mission was to secure the help of England in making Russia return the occupied Iranian territories in the Caucasus, but according to a letter written by Mirza Abu’l-Hasan and addressed to Marques Wellesley (British Foreign Office 60/4, January-December. 1810), none of the objectives of the Iranians was attained. Accompanied by Sir Gore Ouseley (the new envoy to Iran), his family, his brother Sir William Ouseley, and James Morier. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan departed from Portsmouth for Iran on 16 July 1810. A severe storm drove their ship to South America, and they eventually arrived at Bushr on 1 March 1811. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan and his suite of eight servants probably were the first Iranians to visit South America. The account of this part of the mission is contained in Morier’s A Second Journey through Persia... to Constantinople, 1810-1816 (London, 1818), Sir William Ouseley’s Travels in Various Countries of the East, More Particularity’ Persia... (London, 1819, 3 vols.), and William Price’s Journal of the British Embassy to Persia ... (London, 1832, 2 vols. in I).

In England Mirza Abu’l-Hasan began to learn English and became able to converse in it. His progress is shown by two letters written to an anonymous English lord which were published in The Morning Star of 29 May 1810. The letters give an interesting insight into the mind of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan and his ideas on English society. In the London of 1810, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan caused quite a sensation. According to Charles Lamb, who devoted an essay to him, the Mirza was “the principal thing talked of” for some time (Collected Works, London, 1876, II, p. 241, letter CIV). “

There was in the manners of Mirza,” Sir Walter Scott wrote, “all the address and dexterity of a courtier with some points which seemed to indicate a deeper degree of reflection than we are accustomed to connect with the idea of a Mussalman” (Edinburgh Review for January, 1829, p. 91). Mirza Abu’l-Hasan was a witty and amiable person, and some of his repartees and anecdotes appear in contemporary English sources (see Millard, “A Diplomatic Portrait”). Some of his remarks appear in Morier’s Hajji Baba and in Stephen Weston, Persian and English Ambassadors (London, 1812).

During his stay in London Mirza Abu’l-Hasan was initiated into the Freemasonry brotherhood and attained the title of “Past Grand Master” (R. F. Gould, The history of freemasonry Throughout the World, London, 1887, VI. p. 338), but it is not known if he brought the Masonic order into Iran. Some Iranian historians have criticized him for joining Freemasonry and also for receiving gifts and an annuity from the British (E. Ra’in, Hoquq-hegirãn-e Engelis dar Iran, Tehran, 1348. /l969. pp. 20-43). Receiving gifts was not uncommon among the courtiers of Fath- ‘Ali Shah, but a regular annuity from a foreign government was unusual. James Fraser, who did not think highly of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan. wrote of him: “Although he has for a long time past, and I believe still receives a considerable annuity from the English government, and has returned to Persia loaded with its presents, he constantly opposes its interests, and talks of it before his countrymen generally in very slighting terms” (J. B. Fraser. Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822, London, 1825, p. 151). Despite Fraser’s statement, most of the sources confirm that Mirza Abu’l-Hasan was a staunch supporter of the British, and for his good services he was paid an annuity of 1,000 rupees from 1810 to 1845, the year of his death. According to British Foreign Office documents (F. 0. 60/vol. 118), in 1843 Mirza Abu’I-Hasan asked that after his death his salary should be paid to his son; correspondence (31 January, 13 May, 18 March, and 27 March 1848; cf. Rã’in, op. cit., pp. 37-38) indicates that his son pursued the same aim without success.
After his return to Iran, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan, who received the honorary title of Khan from Fath-’ Ali Shah, worked closely with the British ambassador, who played an important part in drafting the Treaty of Golestan (q.v.). Sir Gore Ouseley— who had included Mirza Safi’ (q.v.), the prime minister, in the British payroll (F. 0. 60/7 1812, letter no. 16)—enlisted the services of these two officials and outmaneuvered Mirza Bozorg Qa’em-maqãm (q.v.), the patriotic minister to ‘Abbas Mirza, who opposed this ignominious treaty. Ouseley’s main concern was to safeguard the British and Russian interests and enable the Russians to face the Napoleonic army without being disturbed by Iran. On behalf of Iran, Mirza Abu’l Hasan signed the treaty in the village of Golestan in March, 1813.

The Golestan treaty enacted a ceasefire but left the fate of the Iranian territories occupied by the Russians to be resolved later. In 1815 Mirza Abu’l-Hasan was sent to the court of St. Petersburg as special envoy; though Sir Gore Ouseley had promised Fath- Ali Shah to negotiate for the return of the Iranian territories with the czar, nothing came out of this trip, and Mirza Abu’l-Hasan returned to Tehran after two years. In 1819 he was again sent to England, traveling overland via Constantinople, Vienna, and Paris, and he returned in the following year. In 1239/1823 he was appointed minister of foreign affairs, the second foreign minister of Iran after Mirza ‘Abd al-Wahhab Mo’tamad-al dawla Nasat ( (q.v.). Until 1250/1834, when Fath-’AIi Shah died, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan held this position and was involved in most Iranian major foreign policy decisions. He and Nasat were among the very few officials who opposed the policy of war with Russia, but they could not cope with the wave of militancy which was being fanned by some of the ‘olama. When Iran was again defeated in her struggles against Russia, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan and ‘Abbas Mirza, the crown prince, signed the Treaty of Torkamanca (q.v.) on 5 Sa ban 1243/28 February 1828.

After the death of Fath- ‘Ali Shah, his son ‘Ali Shah Zell-al-soltãn proclaimed himself king. Mirza Abu’l Hasan, learning that Mirza Abu’l-Qasem Qa’emmaqãm had been declared prime minister by Mohammad Shah in Tabriz, took the side of ‘Ali Shah. When ‘Ali Shah was defeated and Mohammad Shah entered Tehran, Mirza Abu’l-Hasan took sanctuary in the shrine of ‘Abd-al- ‘Azim (Ramazãn, 1250/February, 1835), and did not leave it until the fall and execution of the prime minister on 26 June 1835. The new prime minister. Hajji Mirza Aqãsi, accorded him the position of foreign minister for the second time in 1254/1838. Mirza Abu’l-Hasan held this position until his death in 1262/1845.

 
Though most of the contemporary British travelers speak favorably of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan’s character and his friendliness with the British (see J. Johnson, A Journey from, India to England through Persia in the Year 1817, London, 1818. p. 154), James Fraser is harshly critical: “He is so mean and dishonest, in all his dealings, that none who can avoid it will have anything to do with him; and so proverbially false, that none believes a word he says” (Narrative, p. 149). Iranian scholars also give a generally unfavorable estimate of his character.

 
Apart from a number of official letters, Hayrat nama-ye sofara is the only work written by Mirza Abu’l-Hasan. One copy is in the British Museum (Add. 23. 546) and another in the Majles Library. The present writer has seen a third in the possession of the descendants of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan in Tehran, longer and more detailed than the British Museum copy. The book is written in the usual florid style of the period and illustrates many of the incidents that are humorously described in Hajji Baba and its sequel. Five portraits of Mirza Abu’l-Hasan were painted during his European journeys. The two most outstanding pictures are by Sir Thomas Lawrence and Sir William Beechey (see Millard. “A Diplomatic Portrait”).

Bibliography: See also: ‘A. Eqbal, Majmu’a-ye maqalat e ‘Abbas Eqbal Astiãni, ed. M. Dabirsiaqi. Tehran. 1971, pp. 235-37. A. Fathi, “Abu’l-Hasan Ilci. nakostin Irani dar Amrika,” Mehr 8, pp. 476-79. 592-94. M. Mahmud, Tarik-e rawabet-e ,siasi,-e Iran va Engelis, Tehran, 1327-33 S./1948-54. 1. pp. 88-90. S. Nafisi, Tãrik-e ejtemã i  va siãsi-e Iran dar dawra-ye mo aser,, Tehran, 1344 ./l965, vol. II. J. qa em-maqãmi. “Se nama az Mirza Abu’l-Hasan Khan Ilci” Yagma 16/6. pp. 271-72. H. Sa’adat-e Nuri. “Hajj Mirzä Abu’l-Hasan Khan Sirazi ma’ruf be Ilci.” Nasriya-ye wezarat-e omür-e kãreja 3, no. 3, 1345 S./1966, pp. 80-91. A. Taheri, Tarik-e rawãbet-e’ bazargani va siasi-e Engelis va Iran, Tehran, 1975, I, pp. 422ff. Anonymous, “Memoir of the Persian Ambassador,” The London Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Letters, Arts, Sciences, etc., no. 120. 8 May 1819. p. 229. M. Gail, Persia and the Victorians, London. 1951, pp. 63-84. H. Javadi, “James Morier and his Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan.”Indo- Iranica, Silver Jubilee Volume, Calcutta. 1970. C. W. Millard, “A Diplomatic Portrait: Lawrence’s ‘Persian Ambassador’.” Apollo, February. 1967. pp. 115-21. W. Waldergrave. Baron Radstock. “A Slight Sketch of the Character, Person, etc.. of Aboul Hassen, Envoy Extraordinary from the King of Persia to the Court of Great Britain, in the Years 1809 and 1910.”The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle 90. Part I, February. 1820.
p. 119.

(H. Javadi)

 

 

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