History of the Mongols, From the 9th to the 19th Century #229622

Constantinople and Trebizond. It also interfered very largely with the per meating influence of the crowds of Franciscan and Dominican friars, who planted convents in almost all the great towns of the East, under the tolerant shield of the early Mongol khans, and thus interwove for a while threads of European culture with the web of Eastern life. Lastly, it tied together once more, if somewhat loosely, the various states of the East which accepted Islam, into a virtual confederation of allies, and eventually, no doubt, broke down and enervated the power of the conquering caste, as was the case in China, and led to the rapid emancipation of the country from their yoke, a result which proved to be by no means an unmixed blessing. The Mongol supremacy in Persia was also marked by a remarkable succession of able administrators. Whether this was due to the central authority being a strong one, and affording opportunity for skill in this respect, I will not profess to decide; but it would be difficult to find in Eastern history a more remarkable example of good government, and of its best theories put into practice, than that presented by the reign of Ghazan Khan, whose laws and regulations remind us of the far-seeing prudence and wisdom of Akbar. Of course the lives of even the best of these men were continually in peril, and few viziers of the Ilkhans died peaceably. Their very ability and uprightness made the best of them the eventual victims of jealous and envious masters. As has been well said: In the East the death of an official is not too often the result of his ill deeds, but only a means of appeasing the cupidity of an avaricious tyrant.