s capital, banishing them, suddenly and without any
justification whatsoever, in the depth of winter, and in the most
humiliating circumstances, to Adrianople, situated on the extremities of
his empire.

That fateful and ignominious decision, arrived at by the Sultan and his
chief ministers, 'Ali Pa_sh_a and Fu'ad Pa_sh_a, was in no small degree
attributable to the persistent intrigues of the Mu_sh_iru'd-Dawlih, Mirza
Husayn _Kh_an, the Persian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, denounced by
Baha'u'llah as His "calumniator," who awaited the first opportunity to
strike at Him and the Cause of which He was now the avowed and recognized
leader. This Ambassador was pressed continually by his government to
persist in the policy of arousing against Baha'u'llah the hostility of the
Turkish authorities. He was encouraged by the refusal of Baha'u'llah to
follow the invariable practice of government guests, however highly
placed, of calling in person, upon their arrival at the capital, on the
_Sh_ay_kh_u'l-Islam, on the Sadr-i-'Azam, and on the Foreign
Minister--Baha'u'llah did not even return the calls paid Him by several
ministers, by Kamal Pa_sh_a and by a former Turkish envoy to the court of
Persia. He was not deterred by Baha'u'llah's upright and independent
attitude which contrasted so sharply with the mercenariness of the Persian
princes who were wont, on their arrival, to "solicit at every door such
allowances and gifts as they might obtain." He resented Baha'u'llah's
unwillingness to present Himself at the Persian Embassy, and to repay the
visit of its representative; and, being seconded, in his efforts, by his
accomplice, Haji Mirza Hasan-i-Safa, whom he instructed to circulate
unfounded reports about Him, he succeeded through his official influence,
as well as through his private intercourse with ecclesiastics, notables
and government officials, in representing Baha'u'llah as a proud and
arrogant person, Who regarded Himself as subject to no law, Who
entertained designs inimical to all established authority, and Whose
forwardness had precipitated the grave differences that had arisen between
Himself and the Persian Government. Nor was he the only one who indulged
in these nefarious schemes. Others, according to 'Abdu'l-Baha, "condemned
and vilified" the exiles, as "a mischief to all the world," as
"destructive of treaties and covenants," as "baleful to all lands" and as
"deserving of every chastisement and punishment."