ation from the shackles that restrained Him could be effected. The
persistent and decisive intervention of the Russian Minister, Prince
Dolgorouki, who left no stone unturned to establish the innocence of
Baha'u'llah; the public confession of Mulla _Sh_ay_kh_ 'Aliy-i-Tur_sh_izi,
surnamed Azim, who, in the Siyah-_Ch_al, in the presence of the
Hajibu'd-Dawlih and the Russian Minister's interpreter and of the
government's representative, emphatically exonerated Him, and acknowledged
his own complicity; the indisputable testimony established by competent
tribunals; the unrelaxing efforts exerted by His own brothers, sisters and
kindred,--all these combined to effect His ultimate deliverance from the
hands of His rapacious enemies. Another potent if less evident influence
which must be acknowledged as having had a share in His liberation was the
fate suffered by so large a number of His self-sacrificing
fellow-disciples who languished with Him in that same prison. For, as
Nabil truly remarks, "the blood, shed in the course of that fateful year
in Tihran by that heroic band with whom Baha'u'llah had been imprisoned,
was the ransom paid for His deliverance from the hand of a foe that sought
to prevent Him from achieving the purpose for which God had destined Him."

With such overwhelming testimonies establishing beyond the shadow of a
doubt the non-complicity of Baha'u'llah, the Grand Vizir, after having
secured the reluctant consent of his sovereign to set free his Captive,
was now in a position to dispatch his trusted representative, Haji 'Ali,
to the Siyah-_Ch_al, instructing him to deliver to Baha'u'llah the order
for His release. The sight which that emissary beheld upon his arrival
evoked in him such anger that he cursed his master for the shameful
treatment of a man of such high position and stainless renown. Removing
his mantle from his shoulders he presented it to Baha'u'llah, entreating
Him to wear it when in the presence of the Minister and his counsellors, a
request which He emphatically refused, preferring to appear, attired in
the garb of a prisoner, before the members of the Imperial government.

No sooner had He presented Himself before them than the Grand Vizir
addressed Him saying: "Had you chosen to take my advice, and had you
dissociated yourself from the Faith of the Siyyid-i-Bab, you would never
have suffered the pains and indignities that have been heaped upon you."
"Had you, in your turn," Baha'u'llah re