e fifth century after Christ
until the fifteenth, that period defined as the Middle Ages, such terrible
struggles and fierce upheavals, such ruthless encounters and horrifying
acts, were the rule among the peoples of Europe, that the Europeans
rightly describe those ten centuries as the Dark Ages. The basis of
Europe's progress and civilization was actually laid in the fifteenth
century of the Christian era, and from that time on, all her present
evident culture has been, under the stimulus of great minds and as a
result of the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge and the exertion of
energetic and ambitious efforts, in the process of development.

Today by the grace of God and the spiritual influence of His universal
Manifestation, the fair-minded ruler of Iran has gathered his people into
the shelter of justice, and the sincerity of the imperial purpose has
shown itself in kingly acts. Hoping that his reign will rival the glorious
past, he has sought to establish equity and righteousness and to foster
education and the processes of civilization throughout this noble land,
and to translate from potentiality into actuality whatever will insure its
progress. Not until now had we seen a monarch, holding in his capable
hands the reins of affairs, and on whose high resolve the welfare of all
his subjects depends, exerting as it would befit him, like a benevolent
father, his efforts toward the training and cultivation of his people,
seeking to insure their well-being and peace of mind, and exhibiting due
concern for their interests; this Servant and those like Him have
therefore remained silent. Now, however, it is clear to the discerning
that the _Sh_ah has of his own accord determined to establish a just
government and to secure the progress of all his subjects. His honorable
intention has consequently evoked this present statement.

It is indeed strange that instead of offering thanks for this bounty,
which truly derives from the grace of Almighty God, by arising as one in
gratitude and enthusiasm and praying that these noble purposes will daily
multiply, some, on the contrary, whose reason has been corrupted by
personal motives and the clarity of whose perception has been clouded by
self-interest and conceit; whose energies are devoted to the service of
their passions, whose sense of pride is perverted to the love of
leadership, have raised the standard of opposition and waxed loud in their
complaints. Up to now, they