or the entire
removal of the shackles imposed by an ignorant and fanatical priesthood
upon the administration of State affairs. In matters of dress; in the
obligatory enforcement of a uniform style of national head-gear; in the
strict limitation of the number, the rights and the prerogatives of high
ecclesiastical officials; in the growing unpopularity of the veil among
almost every section of society; in the marked distinction which
unofficially and in various phases of public life is being made by an
enlightened and pressing minority between the tottering forms of a
discredited Ecclesiasticism and the civil rights and duties of civilised
society; in the general laxity in religious observances and ceremonies; in
the slow and hidden process of secularisation invading many a Government
department under the courageous guidance of the Governors of outlying
provinces--in all of these a discerning eye can easily discover the
symptoms that augur well for a future that is sure to witness the formal
and complete separation of Church and State.

To this uplifting movement, various external factors are being added that
are tending to hasten and stimulate this process of internal regeneration
so significant in the life of renascent Persia. The multiplicity and
increasing facilities in the means of transportation and travel; the State
visit of energetic and enlightened reformers to Persia's capital; the
forthcoming and widely-advertised journey of the _Sh_ah himself to the
progressive capitals of Western Europe; the repercussion of Turkey's
astounding reforms among an essentially sensitive and receptive people;
the loud and persistent clamour of a revolting order in Russia against the
evil domination and dark plottings of all forms of religious sectarianism;
the relentless vigour with which Af_gh_anistan's ambitious Ruler,
reinforced by the example of his gracious Consort, is pursuing his
campaign of repression against a similar order of a corrupted clergy at
home--all tend to lend their force in fostering and fashioning that public
opinion which can alone provide an enduring basis for the reform Movement
destined to usher in that golden Era craved for by the followers of the
Faith in Baha'u'llah's native land.

As a direct consequence of the birth of this new consciousness in the life
of the nation, as evidenced by these early stirrings in the minds of the
people, both high and low, meetings of an elaborate character,
unprecedent