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would it constitute a deviation from what is right and
proper, if we were to strengthen our relationships with
neighboring countries, enter into binding treaties with
the great powers, foster friendly connections with well-disposed
governments, look to the expansion of trade
with the nations of East and West, develop our natural
resources and increase the wealth of our people?
Would it spell perdition for our subjects if the provincial
and district governors were relieved of their
present absolute authority, whereby they function exactly
as they please, and were instead limited to equity
and truth, and if their sentences involving capital punishment,
imprisonment and the like were contingent
on confirmation by the Sháh and by higher courts in
the capital, who would first duly investigate the case
and determine the nature and seriousness of the crime,
and then hand down a just decision subject to the issuance
of a decree by the sovereign? If bribery and
corruption, known today by the pleasant names of gifts
and favors, were forever excluded, would this threaten
the foundations of justice? Would it be an evidence of
unsound thinking to deliver the soldiery, who are a
living sacrifice to the state and the people and brave
death at every turn, from their present extreme misery
and indigence, and to make adequate arrangements for
their sustenance, clothing and housing, and exert every
effort to instruct their officers in military science, and
supply them with the most advanced types of firearms
and other weapons?
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