No less a personage than the highly-respected brother-in-law of the
Sadr-i-'Azam was commissioned to apprize the Captive of the edict
pronounced against Him--an edict which evinced a virtual coalition of the
Turkish and Persian imperial governments against a common adversary, and
which in the end brought such tragic consequences upon the Sultanate, the
Caliphate and the Qajar dynasty. Refused an audience by Baha'u'llah that
envoy had to content himself with a presentation of his puerile
observations and trivial arguments to 'Abdu'l-Baha and Aqay-i-Kalim, who
were delegated to see him, and whom he informed that, after three days, he
would return to receive the answer to the order he had been bidden to
transmit.

That same day a Tablet, severely condemnatory in tone, was revealed by
Baha'u'llah, was entrusted by Him, in a sealed envelope, on the following
morning, to _Sh_amsi Big, who was instructed to deliver it into the hands
of 'Ali Pa_sh_a, and to say that it was sent down from God. "I know not
what that letter contained," _Sh_amsi Big subsequently informed
Aqay-i-Kalim, "for no sooner had the Grand Vizir perused it than he turned
the color of a corpse, and remarked: 'It is as if the King of Kings were
issuing his behest to his humblest vassal king and regulating his
conduct.' So grievous was his condition that I backed out of his
presence." "Whatever action," Baha'u'llah, commenting on the effect that
Tablet had produced, is reported to have stated, "the ministers of the
Sultan took against Us, after having become acquainted with its contents,
cannot be regarded as unjustifiable. The acts they committed before its
perusal, however, can have no justification."

That Tablet, according to Nabil, was of considerable length, opened with
words directed to the sovereign himself, severely censured his ministers,
exposed their immaturity and incompetence, and included passages in which
the ministers themselves were addressed, in which they were boldly
challenged, and sternly admonished not to pride themselves on their
worldly possessions, nor foolishly seek the riches of which time would
inexorably rob them.

Baha'u'llah was on the eve of His departure, which followed almost
immediately upon the promulgation of the edict of His banishment, when, in
a last and memorable interview with the aforementioned Haji Mirza
Hasan-i-Safa, He sent the following message to the Persian Ambassador:
"What did it profit thee, and such as ar