alities
of the Prophets and Messengers revolve." In a Tablet in which the pen of
Baha'u'llah condemns him, we read: "Among them [kings of the earth] is the
King of Persia, who suspended Him Who is the Temple of the Cause [the Bab]
in the air, and put Him to death with such cruelty that all created
things, and the inmates of Paradise, and the Concourse on high wept for
Him. He slew, moreover, some of Our kindred, and plundered Our property,
and made Our family captives in the hands of the oppressors. Once and
again he imprisoned Me. By God, the True One! None can reckon the things
which befell Me in prison, save God, the Reckoner, the Omniscient, the
Almighty. Subsequently he banished Me and My family from My country,
whereupon We arrived in 'Iraq in evident sorrow. We tarried there until
the time when the King of Rum [Sultan of Turkey] arose against Us, and
summoned Us unto the seat of his sovereignty. When We reached it there
flowed over Us that whereat the King of Persia rejoiced. Later We entered
this Prison, wherein the hands of Our loved ones were torn from the hem of
Our robe. In such a manner hath he dealt with Us!"

The days of the Qajar dynasty were now numbered. The torpor of the
national consciousness had vanished. The reign of Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah's
successor, Muzaffari'd-Din _Sh_ah, a weak and timid creature, extravagant
and lavish to his courtiers, led the country down the broad road to ruin.
The movement in favor of a constitution, limiting the sovereign's
prerogatives, gathered force, and culminated in the signature of the
constitution by the dying _Sh_ah, who expired a few days later.
Muhammad-'Ali _Sh_ah, a despot of the worst type, unprincipled and
avaricious, succeeded to the throne. Hostile to the constitution, he, by
his summary action, involving the bombardment of the Baharistan, where the
Assembly met, precipitated a revolution which led to his deposition by the
nationalists. Accepting, after much bargaining, a large pension, he
ignominiously withdrew to Russia. The boy-king, Ahmad _Sh_ah, who
succeeded him, was a mere cipher and careless of his duties. The crying
needs of his country continued to be ignored. Increasing anarchy, the
impotence of the central government, the state of the national finances,
the progressive deterioration of the general condition of the country,
practically abandoned by a sovereign who preferred the gaieties and
frivolities of society life in the European capitals to th