e fires
of Smithfield did not kindle a nobler courage than has met and defied the
more refined torture-mongers of Tihran. Of no small account, then, must be
the tenets of a creed that can awaken in its followers so rare and
beautiful a spirit of self-sacrifice. The heroism and martyrdom of His
(the Bab) followers will appeal to many others who can find no similar
phenomena in the contemporaneous records of Islam." "Babism," wrote Prof.
J. Darmesteter, "which diffused itself in less than five years from one
end of Persia to another, which was bathed in 1852 in the blood of its
martyrs, has been silently progressing and propagating itself. If Persia
is to be at all regenerate it will be through this new Faith." "Des
milliers de martyrs," attests Renan in his "Les Apotres," "sont accourus
pour lui (the Bab) avec allegresse au devant de la mort. Un jour sans
pareil peut-etre dans l'histoire du monde fut celui de la grande boucherie
qui se fit des Babis a Teheran." "One of those strange outbursts,"
declares the well-known Orientalist Prof. E. G. Browne, "of enthusiasm,
faith, fervent devotion and indomitable heroism ... the birth of a Faith
which may not impossibly win a place amidst the great religions of the
world." And again: "The spirit which pervades the Babis is such that it
can hardly fail to affect most powerfully all subjected to its
influence.... Let those who have not seen disbelieve me if they will, but,
should that spirit once reveal itself to them, they will experience an
emotion which they are not likely to forget." "J'avoue meme," is the
assertion made by Comte de Gobineau in his book, "que, si je voyais en
Europe une secte d'une nature analogue au Babysme se presenter avec des
avantages tels que les siens, foi aveugle, enthousiasme extreme, courage
et devouement eprouves, respect inspire aux indifferents, terreur profonde
inspiree aux adversaires, et de plus, comme je l'ai dit, un proselytisme
qui ne s'arrete pas, et donc les succes sont constants dans toutes les
classes de la societe; si je voyais, dis-je, tout cela exister en Europe,
je n'hesiterais pas a predire que, dans un temps donne, la puissance et le
sceptre appartiendront de toute necessite aux possesseurs de ces grands
avantages."

"The truth of the matter," is the answer which Abbas-Quli
_Kh_an-i-Larijani, whose bullet was responsible for the death of Mulla
Husayn, is reported to have given to a query addressed to him by Prince
Ahmad Mirza in the