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That fateful and ignominious decision, arrived at by the Sultan and his chief ministers, Ali Pasha and Fu'ad Pasha, was in no small degree attributable to the persistent intrigues of the Mushiru'd- Dawlih, Mirza Husayn Khan, the Persian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, denounced by Baha'u'llah as His "calumniator," who awaited the first opportunity to strike at Him and the Cause of which He was now the avowed and recognized leader. This Ambassador was pressed continually by his government to persist in the policy of arousing against Baha'u'llah the hostility of the Turkish authorities. He was encouraged by the refusal of Baha'u'llah to follow the invariable practice of government guests, however highly placed, of calling in person, upon their arrival at the capital, on the Shaykhu'l- Islam, on the Sadr- i- Azam, and on the Foreign Minister-- Baha'u'llah did not even return the calls paid Him by several ministers, by Kamal Pasha and by a former Turkish envoy to the court of Persia. He was not deterred by Baha'u'llah's upright and independent attitude which contrasted so sharply with the mercenariness of the Persian princes who were wont, on their arrival, to "solicit at every door such allowances and gifts as they might obtain." He resented Baha'u'llah's unwillingness to present Himself at the Persian Embassy, and to repay the visit of its representative; and, being seconded, in his efforts, by his accomplice, Haji Mirza Hasan- i- Safa, whom he instructed to circulate unfounded reports about Him, he succeeded through his official influence, as well as through his private intercourse with ecclesiastics, notables and government officials, in representing Baha'u'llah as a proud and arrogant person, Who regarded Himself as subject to no law, Who entertained designs inimical to all established authority, and Whose forwardness had precipitated the grave differences that had arisen between Himself and the Persian Government. Nor was he the only one who indulged in these nefarious schemes. Others, according to Abdu'l- Baha, "condemned and vilified" the exiles, as "a mischief to all the world," as "destructive of treaties and covenants," as "baleful to all lands" and as "deserving of every chastisement and punishment." (159:1) No less a personage than the highly- respected brother- in- law of the Sadr- i- A'zam was commissioned to apprize the Captive of the edict pronounced against Him-- an edict which evinced a virtual coalition of the Turkish and Persian imperial governments against a common adversary, and which in the end brought such tragic consequences upon the Sultanate, the Caliphate and the Qajar dynasty. Refused an audience by Baha'u'llah that envoy had to content himself with a presentation of his puerile observations and trivial arguments to Abdu'l- Baha and Aqay- i- Kalim, who were delegated to see him, and whom he informed that, after three days, he would return to receive the answer to the order he had been bidden to transmit.
(159:2)
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