nment officials were boldly and rapidly espousing the Cause of the
Prisoner. The conversion of the zealous, the famous Mirza Asadu'llah,
surnamed Dayyan, a prominent official of high literary repute, who was
endowed by the Bab with the "hidden and preserved knowledge," and extolled
as the "repository of the trust of the one true God," and the arrival of a
dervish, a former navvab, from India, whom the Bab in a vision had bidden
renounce wealth and position, and hasten on foot to meet Him in
A_dh_irbayjan, brought the situation to a head. Accounts of these
startling events reached Tabriz, were thence communicated to Tihran, and
forced Haji Mirza Aqasi again to intervene. Dayyan's father, an intimate
friend of that minister, had already expressed to him his grave
apprehension at the manner in which the able functionaries of the state
were being won over to the new Faith. To allay the rising excitement the
Bab was summoned to Tabriz. Fearful of the enthusiasm of the people of
A_dh_irbayjan, those into whose custody He had been delivered decided to
deflect their route, and avoid the town of _Kh_uy, passing instead through
Urumiyyih. On His arrival in that town Prince Malik Qasim Mirza
ceremoniously received Him, and was even seen, on a certain Friday, when
his Guest was riding on His way to the public bath, to accompany Him on
foot, while the Prince's footmen endeavored to restrain the people who, in
their overflowing enthusiasm, were pressing to catch a glimpse of so
marvelous a Prisoner. Tabriz, in its turn in the throes of wild
excitement, joyously hailed His arrival. Such was the fervor of popular
feeling that the Bab was assigned a place outside the gates of the city.
This, however, failed to allay the prevailing emotion. Precautions,
warnings and restrictions served only to aggravate a situation that had
already become critical. It was at this juncture that the Grand Vizir
issued his historic order for the immediate convocation of the
ecclesiastical dignitaries of Tabriz to consider the most effectual
measures which would, once and for all, extinguish the flames of so
devouring a conflagration.

The circumstances attending the examination of the Bab, as a result of so
precipitate an act, may well rank as one of the chief landmarks of His
dramatic career. The avowed purpose of that convocation was to arraign the
Prisoner, and deliberate on the steps to be taken for the extirpation of
His so-called heresy. It instead aff