hose dormant
hopes had been awakened by 'Abdu'l-Baha's sudden ascension, and headed by
the arrogant Mirza Badi'u'llah, seized forcibly the keys of the Tomb of
Baha'u'llah, expelled its keeper, the brave-souled
Abu'l-Qasim-i-_Kh_urasani, and demanded that their chief be recognized by
the authorities as the legal custodian of that Shrine. Unadmonished by
their abject failure, as witnessed by the firm action of the Palestine
authorities, who, after prolonged investigations, instructed the British
officer in Akka to deliver the keys into the hands of that same keeper,
they resorted to other methods in the hope of creating a cleavage in the
ranks of the bereaved yet resolute disciples of 'Abdu'l-Baha and of
ultimately undermining the foundations of the institutions His followers
were laboring to erect. Through their mischievous misrepresentations of
the ideals animating the builders of the Baha'i Administrative Order;
through the maintenance, though not on its original scale, of a subversive
correspondence with individuals whose loyalty they hoped they could sap;
through deliberate distortions of the truth in their contact with
officials and notables whom they could approach; through attempts, made
through bribery and intimidation, to purchase a part of the Mansion of
Baha'u'llah; through efforts directed at preventing the acquisition by the
Baha'i community of certain properties situated in the vicinity of the
Tomb of the Bab, and at frustrating the design to consolidate the
foundation of some of these properties by transferring their title-deeds
to incorporated Baha'i assemblies, they continued to labor intermittently
for several years until the extinction of the life of the Arch-breaker of
the Covenant himself virtually sealed their doom.

The evacuation of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah by these Covenant-breakers,
after their unchallenged occupancy of it since His ascension, a Mansion
which, through their gross neglect, had fallen into a sad state of
disrepair; its subsequent complete restoration, fulfilling a long
cherished desire of 'Abdu'l-Baha; its illumination through an electric
plant installed by an American believer for that purpose; the refurnishing
of all its rooms after it had been completely denuded by its former
occupants of all the precious relics it contained, with the exception of a
single candlestick in the room where Baha'u'llah had ascended; the
collection within its walls of Baha'i historic documents, of r