ogress of this gigantic
movement now set in motion is accelerated. Above and beyond them all,
unsleeping, ever-solicitous, unerring, is the Pilot of their bark, the
Charterer of their course, the Founder of their spiritual fellowship, the
Bestower of that primacy which is the hallmark of their destiny.

EVOLVING STRONGHOLDS IN TEN INITIAL COUNTRIES

The ten countries, constituting the initial field wherein the prowess of
these crusaders must, in the years immediately ahead, be exhibited, and in
whose capitals the foundations of the embryonic Order of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah must preferably be unassailably laid, must each evolve into
strongholds from which the dynamic energies of that Faith can be diffused
to neighboring territories in the course of the unfoldment of the Plan.
The nuclei that are now being formed, and the groups that are beginning to
emerge, must be speedily and systematically reinforced, not only through
the dispatch and settlement of pioneers and the visits paid them by
itinerant teachers, but also through the progressive development of the
teaching work which the pioneers themselves must initiate and foster among
the native population in those countries. Any artificially created
assembly, consisting of settlers from abroad, can at best be considered as
temporary and insecure, and should, if the second stage of the European
enterprise is to be commenced without undue delay in the future, be
supplanted by broad-based, securely grounded, efficiently functioning
assemblies, composed primarily of the people of the countries themselves,
who are firm in faith, unimpeachable in their loyalty and whole-hearted in
their support of the Administrative Order of the Faith. The twenty-five
pioneers that have already proceeded to Scandinavia and the Low Countries,
to the Iberian Peninsula, to Switzerland and Italy, should, in the course
of this current year, and while the process of teaching the native
population is being inaugurated, be reinforced by as many additional
pioneers as possible, and particularly by those who, possessed of
independent means, can, either themselves or through their appointed
deputies, swell the number of the valiant workers already laboring with
such devotion in those fields.

The translation, the publication and dissemination of Baha'i literature,
whether in the form of leaflets, pamphlets or books, in the nine selected
languages, should, as the work progresses and the demand