military force closed the passage of flight and broke their wings and
feathers. After numerous battles they too at last yielded to covenants and
compacts, oaths and promises, vows registered on the Qur'an, and the
wonderful stratagems of the officers, and were all put to the edge of the
sword.

Were we to occupy ourselves in detail with the wars of Nayriz and Zanjan,
or to set forth these events from beginning to end, this epitome would
become a bulky volume. So, since this would be of no advantage to history,
we have passed them over briefly.

During the course of the events which took place at Zanjan the Prime
Minister devised a final and trenchant remedy. Without the royal command,
without consulting with the ministers of the subject-protecting court, he,
acting with arbitrary disposition, fixed determination, and entirely on
his own authority, issued commands to put the Bab to death. This befell in
brief as follows. The governor of A_dh_irbayjan, Prince Hamzih Mirza, was
unwilling that the execution of this sentence should be at his hands, and
said to the brother of the Amir, Mirza Hasan _Kh_an, "This is a vile
business and an easy one; anyone is capable and competent. I had imagined
that His Excellency the Regent would commission me to make war on the
Afghans or Uzbegs or appoint me to attack and invade the territory of
Russia or Turkey." So Mirza Hasan _Kh_an wrote his excuse in detail to the
Amir.

Now the Siyyid Bab had disposed all His affairs before setting out from
_Ch_ihriq towards Tabriz, had placed His writings and even His ring and
pen-case in a specially prepared box, put the key of the box in an
envelope, and sent it by means of Mulla Baqir, who was one of His first
associates, to Mulla 'Abdu'l-Karim of Qazvin. This trust Mulla Baqir
delivered over to Mulla 'Abdu'l-Karim at Qum in presence of a numerous
company. At the solicitations of those present he opened the lid of the
box and said, "I am commanded to convey this trust to Baha'u'llah: more
than this ask not of me, for I cannot tell you." Importuned by the
company, he produced a long epistle in blue, penned in the most graceful
manner with the utmost delicacy and firmness in a beautiful minute
_sh_ikastih hand, written in the shape of a man so closely that it would
have been imagined that it was a single wash of ink on the paper. When
they had read this epistle [they perceived that] He had produced three
hundred and sixty derivatives from the word