presence of several witnesses, "is that any one who had
not seen Karbila would, if he had seen Tabarsi, not only have comprehended
what there took place, but would have ceased to consider it; and had he
seen Mulla Husayn of Bu_sh_ruyih, he would have been convinced that the
Chief of Martyrs (Imam Husayn) had returned to earth; and had he witnessed
my deeds, he would assuredly have said: 'This is _Sh_imr come back with
sword and lance...' In truth, I know not what had been shown to these
people, or what they had seen, that they came forth to battle with such
alacrity and joy.... The imagination of man cannot conceive the vehemence
of their courage and valor."

What, in conclusion, we may well ask ourselves, has been the fate of that
flagitious crew who, actuated by malice, by greed or fanaticism, sought to
quench the light which the Bab and His followers had diffused over their
country and its people? The rod of Divine chastisement, swiftly and with
unyielding severity, spared neither the Chief Magistrate of the realm, nor
his ministers and counselors, nor the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the
religion with which his government was indissolubly connected, nor the
governors who acted as his representatives, nor the chiefs of his armed
forces who, in varying degrees, deliberately or through fear or neglect,
contributed to the appalling trials to which an infant Faith was so
undeservedly subjected. Muhammad _Sh_ah himself, a sovereign at once
bigoted and irresolute who, refusing to heed the appeal of the Bab to
receive Him in the capital and enable Him to demonstrate the truth of His
Cause, yielded to the importunities of a malevolent minister, succumbed,
at the early age of forty, after sustaining a sudden reverse of fortune,
to a complication of maladies, and was condemned to that "hell-fire"
which, "on the Day of Resurrection," the Author of the Qayyumu'l-Asma had
sworn would inevitably devour him. His evil genius, the omnipotent Haji
Mirza Aqasi, the power behind the throne and the chief instigator of the
outrages perpetrated against the Bab, including His imprisonment in the
mountains of A_dh_irbayjan, was, after the lapse of scarcely a year and
six months from the time he interposed himself between the _Sh_ah and his
Captive, hurled from power, deprived of his ill-gotten riches, was
disgraced by his sovereign, was driven to seek shelter from the rising
wrath of his countrymen in the shrine of _Sh_ah 'Abdu'l-'Azim, and