was sent unto thee by Him Who
is the Almighty, the All-Wise. ...For what thou hast done, thy kingdom
shall be thrown into confusion, and thine empire shall pass from thine
hands, as a punishment for that which thou hast wrought."

Baha'u'llah's previous Message, forwarded through one of the French
ministers to the Emperor, had been accorded a welcome the nature of which
can be conjectured from the words recorded in the "Epistle to the Son of
the Wolf": "To this [first Tablet], however, he did not reply. After Our
arrival in the Most Great Prison there reached Us a letter from his
minister, the first part of which was in Persian, and the latter in his
own handwriting. In it he was cordial, and wrote the following: 'I have,
as requested by you, delivered your letter, and until now have received no
answer. We have, however, issued the necessary recommendations to our
Minister in Constantinople and our consuls in those regions. If there be
anything you wish done, inform us, and we will carry it out.' From his
words it became apparent that he understood the purpose of this Servant to
have been a request for material assistance."

In His first Tablet Baha'u'llah, wishing to test the sincerity of the
Emperor's motives, and deliberately assuming a meek and unprovocative
tone, had, after expatiating on the sufferings He had endured, addressed
him the following words: "Two statements graciously uttered by the king of
the age have reached the ears of these wronged ones. These pronouncements
are, in truth, the king of all pronouncements, the like of which have
never been heard from any sovereign. The first was the answer given the
Russian government when it inquired why the war [Crimean] was waged
against it. Thou didst reply: 'The cry of the oppressed who, without guilt
or blame, were drowned in the Black Sea wakened me at dawn. Wherefore, I
took up arms against thee.' These oppressed ones, however, have suffered a
greater wrong, and are in greater distress. Whereas the trials inflicted
upon those people lasted but one day, the troubles borne by these servants
have continued for twenty and five years, every moment of which has held
for us a grievous affliction. The other weighty statement, which was
indeed a wondrous statement, manifested to the world, was this: 'Ours is
the responsibility to avenge the oppressed and succor the helpless.' The
fame of the Emperor's justice and fairness hath brought hope to a great
many souls. It b