ntire situation in which the
dear Hand of the Cause, Mr. Townshend, finds himself. He is much loved,
and his services have been of a unique nature in providing the Faith with
so many excellent books, the latest of which the Guardian hopes will soon
be ready for publication....

The persecution of the Faith last year in Persia, although no doubt a
great trial to the Persian believers, can be regarded in no other light
than as a triumph. The designs of the traditional enemies of the Faith,
the mullahs, have been entirely frustrated. The Government has been forced
to take action for the first time in its history to officially protect the
Baha'is and their institutions and the Cause of God has received a
publicity all over the world--entirely free of charge--which an expenditure
of many thousands of pounds could not have secured for it.

In spite of the great anxiety and pain which the crisis of last summer
caused the Guardian, he could not help being highly gratified that, for
practically the first time, publicity of a weighty nature was given to the
Faith in such papers as the "Spectator", the "Observer", "The Times" and
the "Manchester Guardian", and that the voices of two such distinguished
scholars as Professor Gilbert Murray and Professor Arnold Toynbee were
raised in defence of the believers of Baha'u'llah and His Faith. This has
opened the door on a new phase of the unfoldment of the Faith in the
British Isles. However slow the process may seem, the first inklings of
its emergence as a public force can now be discerned....

The loss of some of the Spiritual Assemblies in England this year need not
be viewed as an unduly horrible experience. It was inevitable that the
British Baha'i community would have to get itself, once and for all,
grounded on the same basis as all other Baha'i communities, namely, that
of having Spiritual Assemblies function within defined civil limits.
Although this seems to have dealt a set-back to the work, it is purely
temporary. The localities have perforce been increased, which is a step in
the right direction, and which cannot but widen the foundation of the
Administrative Order. In those islands more members of the community will
be given the opportunity to serve on local Assemblies and their
committees; and above all, the new crisis which developed because of this
change-over once more demonstrated the truly extraordinary and exemplary
steadfastness of the British Baha'is which had led