costs incurred in fighting the war and the losses suffered by Russian
subjects. It would also have the effect of binding Iran to Russia through
indebtedness. The sum was later set at 20 million rubles (about £3
million), which Fath 'Ali refused to pay for several months. A brief
attempt by 'Abbas to resume the war at the start of 1828 was a total
failure and resulted in the occupation of more of Azerbaijan by Rus-
sian troops. Further resistance was hopeless. Ambassador Macdonald
encouraged 'Abbas to comply with Russia's demands by offering to
contribute 250,000 tomans toward the reparations if 'Abbas agreed
to cancel the subsidy provisions of the 1814 treaty with Britain. The
prince accepted the proposal (although he only received 200,000 to-
mans). He and Paskevich signed the treaty at Torkmanchai, a village
south of Tabriz, in February 1828. Most of the reparation charges
were paid off within the year, but to accomplish this 'Abbas had to
empty his treasury and give up most of his valuables, in addition to
yielding to British demands in order to obtain the additional 200,000
tomans. Fath 'Ali did not contribute to these payments. The out-
standing debt gave Russia the means to ensure the cooperativeness of
the Iranian government. The latest version of the Anglo-Iranian treaty,
shorn of its subsidy provisions, remained in effect until the 1850s;
the Treaty of Torkmanchai governed Russo-Iranian relations until
the fall of the Russian monarchy.
15
The whole generation of increased contact with European nations,
be it through war or the nonviolent encounters resulting directly
from war, had the odd effect of both stimulating and discouraging
the acceptance of Western influence. 'Abbas maintained at least a
remnant of his European-style army until his death in 1833, and the
Russian deserter brigade lasted several years beyond that. However,
this kind of reform had lost its original attraction as a panacea for all
of Iran's problems. The same was true of other kinds of Western in-
fluence. Beginning at the time of the Jones mission, a handful of
young Iranians had been sent to Britain for training in a variety of
subjects primarily related to military technology. A few people were
also sent on diplomatic missions. Some of these men held prominent
positions after their return as diplomats, military officers, and spokes-
men for change (for example, as a producer of European-style fire-
arms and a publisher of Iran's first newspaper). But these men were
few in number, and the obstacles they faced were many. There was
little hope of reform by a government that showed increasing lethargy
in the wake of demoralization and financial strain. Moreover, the
public reaction to European influence was emphatically negative after
The Consequences of the Struggle 159