History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

82 HISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. II.

ever be remembered with gratitude by the Parsis, who will unceasingly pray for his long life and reign, and may this tend to the welfare and happiness of the Persian Zoroastrians. The Parsis are no less ' grateful to the Grand Vazir and other high functionaries of the state who are understood to have supported the cause of the Zoroastrians before their august master. To Mr. Ronald F. Thomson, the British ambassador at the Court of Persia, the Parsis owe a deep debt of gratitude for the admirable tact and judgment with which he pleaded for the relief of the distressed Zoroastrians, and for having succeeded in obtaining the redress which had been so long sought for in vain. The Parsi community is also indebted to its old friend, Sir George Birdwood, for the services he rendered in connection with this object, as was expressed at the time in a letter of thanks from the committee at Bombay. “Long live Nasaredin Shah!” was the cry of every Zoroastrian in Persia and India after the promulgation of the firman, which might be appropriately called the Magna Charta of the Zoroastrians of Persia, by which the rights of justice have been secured for them in common with all the other subjects of the Persian monarchy.

It should be remembered that the abolition of the “jazia”’ was not the only undertaking to which the Bombay committee and their representatives abroad