ousness and justice. I greatly deplore the fact that owing to the
remoteness and the unstable conditions in Persia, details and particulars
regarding this ugly incident are not as yet available, but will be duly
communicated to the various centers immediately upon their receipt. I
would, however, ask the believers throughout the West to arise without any
further delay and supplement the publication of the news conveyed in this
message with an account of previous happenings of a similar character,
combined with an adequate survey of the aim, the principles and history of
the Baha'i Cause.

It is to you, dearly beloved friends of the West, who are the
standard-bearers of the emancipation and triumph of the Baha'i Faith, that
our afflicted brethren of the East have turned their expectant eyes,
confident that the day cannot be far-distant when, in accordance with
'Abdu'l-Baha's explicit utterance, the West will "seize the Cause" from
Persia's fettered hands and lead it to glorious victory.

Though grief-stricken and horrified at this cruel blow, let us be on our
guard lest we give way to despair, lest we forget that in the Almighty's
inscrutable wisdom this sudden calamity may prove to be but a blessing in
disguise. For what else can it do but to stir the inmost depths of our
souls, set our faith ablaze, galvanize our efforts, dissolve our
differences, and provide one of the chief instruments which the unhampered
promoters of the Faith can utilize to attract the attention, enlist the
sympathy, and eventually win the allegiance of all mankind?

Ours is this supreme opportunity; may we fulfill our trust.

Your true brother,
SHOGHI.

Haifa, Palestine,
April 22nd, 1926.

Letter of May 11th, 1926.

To the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
United States and Canada.

Fellow-laborers in the Vineyard of God:

Various happenings of recent months, highly disquieting in their
suddenness, their complexity and consequences, have time and again, to my
regret, compelled me to defer correspondence with you, my highly valued
co-workers, who are destined to share no small a part of the burden that
now weighs so heavily upon me. The prolonged and delicate negotiations
arising out of the critical situation of Baha'u'llah's house in Ba_gh_dad;
the shameful recrudescence of unrestrained barbarism in stricken Persia;
the unexpected reverse recently sustained in our legal transactions for
the deliv