I 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.