ons and the government. They are instigating
the hopeless ones at every moment and sending them to the British
Legation, while on the other hand they ask private assistance and
protection from the government so that they may procure wealth. Each and
all of the clergy are thinking in this line.

However, we have nothing to do with these proceedings and
counter-proceedings. We are commanded to quicken the souls, to train the
characters, to illumine the realm of man, to guide all the inhabitants of
the earth, to create concord and unity among all men and to lead the world
of humanity to the Fountain of the Everlasting Glory. The reformation of
one empire is not our aim; nay, rather we invoke from God that all the
regions of the world be reformed and cultivated; the republic of men
become the manifestors of the bounty of the most glorious Lord; the East
and the West be brought nearer together; and that Turk and Tajik, Iran and
America, India and Arabia, Japan and Persia, China and Germany; in brief,
all the nations and peoples of the world become as one soul and one
spirit, in order that strife and warfare be entirely removed and the
rancor and hostility disappear so that all become as the waves of one
ocean, the drops of one sea, the flowers of one rose-garden, the trees of
one orchard, the grains of one harvest and the plants of one meadow.

Regarding the statement that hath been given out as the saying of His
Majesty the Shah: This hath no connection whatever with the Bahais; nay,
rather it hath meant the Babis. Mirza Yahya, the son of Mirza Hadi of
Doulet Abad, and a few souls of Ezelis(225) who are living in Teheran and
were at one time secret friends of Jamal-ed-Din of Afghan, have allied
themselves with the party, which is working against the government, and is
engaged in the work of instigating and inciting the people. His Imperial
Majesty did mean these souls, that is, the Babis, not the Bahais. But it
is an established facts that the Bahais are the well-wishers of the nation
and the government; are showing forth obedience and displaying good
intentions; are not interfering in political matters; are engaged in the
education and spiritualization of characters and are occupied with the
training of the ignorant ones.

O thou who art firm in the Covenant! The general historical report about
the Cause of God in that country,(226) that thou hast forwarded to
Menshadi,(227) became very acceptable. Undoubtedly you must, e