the missionaries, or any one
in their employment. In September, the Patriarch sought the
intervention of the chief Doctor of the Mohammedan law against the
mission. It so happened that the missionaries were paying their
respects to the Moolah, at the very time when the Patriarch called,
with a large retinue of Nestorians, on this business. The Moslem
doctor made him a public and mortifying reply: "These gentlemen," he
said, "are peaceable men; the Mohammedans respect them, and are
pleased with them. Why are you falling out with them? You, who are
Christians, ought to respect them even more than the Mohammedans."
For a time the Patriarch and the Jesuits, both aiming at the
overthrow of the mission, were in practical combination. As a
necessary means to this end, both wished to expel from office Dawood
Khan, the Christian Governor and civil protector of the Nestorians
of that province; and the Mohammedan nobles were in sympathy with
them in this, as that dignitary stood in the way of their exactions.

But this political alliance, though at first promising success both
to the Patriarch and the Jesuits, in the end led to the signal
overthrow of both. It was stated to the mission by Mr. Stevens, the
English Consul, as a well ascertained fact, that Mar Shimon had
united his interests with the French Jesuits, and that they had
strong hope of making use of him to cast their net over his people.1
Up to this time, the mission had not applied to any European
functionary for interference in their troubles with Mar Shimon. Nor
did they now; but Mr. Stevens, hearing of his persecuting course,
took up the matter of his own accord, gave the information as above
stated, and befriended the missionaries in various ways. The
Patriarch having declared, that he had the countenance and support
of the Russian Consul, that official wrote sharply rebuked him for
so doing. The four bishops of Oroomiah and nearly all the priests
and deacons, with many of the leading Nestorians in the province,
now united in a representation to the Persian Government, highly
commending the character, objects, and labors of the mission. It is
recorded, that the converted Nestorians also, with scarce an
exception, stood firmly by the mission, in the face of trials and
reproaches; and the same was true of many who made no pretensions to
piety.

1 _Missionary Herald_, 1849, p. 30.

News of the death of the King arrived at Oroomiah on the 14th of
September. He was