tating a rebellion against the Sultan, of having already hoisted
the banner of Ya Baha'u'l-Abha, the ensign of revolt, in distant villages
in Palestine and Syria, of having raised surreptitiously an army of thirty
thousand men, of being engaged in the construction of a fortress and a
vast ammunition depot on Mt. Carmel, of having secured the moral and
material support of a host of English and American friends, amongst whom
were officers of foreign powers, who were arriving, in large numbers and
in disguise, to pay Him their homage, and of having already, in
conjunction with them, drawn up His plans for the subjugation of the
neighboring provinces, for the expulsion of the ruling authorities, and
for the ultimate seizure of the power wielded by the Sultan himself.
Through misrepresentation and bribery they succeeded in inducing certain
people to affix their signatures as witnesses to the documents which they
had drawn up, and which they despatched, through their agents, to the
Sublime Porte.

Such grave accusations, embodied in numerous reports, could not fail to
perturb profoundly the mind of a despot already obsessed by the fear of
impending rebellion among his subjects. A commission was accordingly
appointed to inquire into the matter, and report the result of its
investigations. Each of the charges brought against 'Abdu'l-Baha, when
summoned to the court, on several occasions, He carefully and fearlessly
refuted. He exposed the absurdity of these accusations, acquainted the
members of the Commission, in support of His argument, with the provisions
of Baha'u'llah's Testament, expressed His readiness to submit to any
sentence the court might decide to pass upon Him, and eloquently affirmed
that if they should chain Him, drag Him through the streets, execrate and
ridicule Him, stone and spit upon Him, suspend Him in the public square,
and riddle Him with bullets, He would regard it as a signal honor,
inasmuch as He would thereby be following in the footsteps, and sharing
the sufferings, of His beloved Leader, the Bab.

The gravity of the situation confronting 'Abdu'l-Baha; the rumors that
were being set afloat by a population that anticipated the gravest
developments; the hints and allusions to the dangers threatening Him
contained in newspapers published in Egypt and Syria; the aggressive
attitude which His enemies increasingly assumed; the provocative behavior
of some of the inhabitants of Akka and Haifa who had been