Constantinople and Adrianople
The journey to Constantinople lasted between three and four months, the party consisting of Baha'u'llah with members of His family and twenty- six disciples. Arrived in Constantinople they found themselves prisoners in a small house in which they were very much overcrowded. Later they got somewhat better quarters, but after four months they were again moved on, this time to Adrianople. The journey to Adrianople, although it lasted but a few days, was the most terrible they had yet undertaken. Snow fell heavily most of the time, and as they were destitute of proper clothing and food, their sufferings were extreme. For the first winter in Adrianople, Baha'u'llah and His family, numbering twelve persons, were accommodated in a small house of three rooms, comfortless and vermin infested. In the spring they were given a more comfortable abode. They remained in Adrianople for four and a half years. Here Baha'u'llah resumed His teaching and gathered about Him a large following. He publicly announced His mission and was enthusiastically accepted by the majority of the Babis, who were known thereafter as Baha'is. A minority, however, under the leadership of Baha'u'llah's half brother, Mirza Yahya, became violently opposed to Him and joined with their former enemies, the Shi'ihs, in plotting for His overthrow. Great troubles ensued, and at last the Turkish Government banished both Babis and Baha'is from Adrianople, exiling Baha'u'llah and His followers to 'Akka, in Palestine, where they arrived (according to Nabil)6 on August 31, 1868, while Mirza Yahya and his party were sent to Cyprus (25:1)

Letters to Kings
About this time Baha'u'llah wrote His famous letter to the Sultan of Turkey, many of the crowned heads of Europe, the Pope, and the Shah of Persia. Later, in His Kitab-i-Aqdas7 He addressed other sovereigns, the rulers and Presidents of America, the leaders of religion in general and the generality of mankind. To all, He announced His mission and called upon them to bend their energies to the establishment of true religion, just government and international peace. In His letter to the Shah He powerfully pleaded the cause of the oppressed Babis and asked to be brought face to face with those who had instigated their persecution. Needless to say, this request was not complied with; Badi', the young and devoted Baha'i who delivered the letter of Baha'u'llah, was seized and martyred with fearful tortures, hot bricks being pressed on his flesh! (25:3)

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