Troubles, such as no eye hath beheld,
have touched this Wronged One. In proclaiming His Cause, He, in no wise,
hesitated. Addressing Himself unto the kings and rulers of the earth—may God,
exalted be He, assist them—He imparted unto them that which is the cause of the
well-being, the unity, the harmony, and the reconstruction of the world, and of
the tranquillity of the nations. Among them was Napoleon III, who is reported
to have made a certain statement, as a result of which We sent him Our Tablet
while in Adrianople. To this, however, he did not reply. After Our arrival in
the Most Great Prison there reached Us a letter from his Minister, the first
part of which was in Persian, and the latter in his own handwriting. In it he
was cordial, and wrote the following: “I have, as requested by you, delivered
your letter, and until now have received no answer. We have, however, issued
the necessary recommendations to our Minister in Constantinople and our consuls
in those regions. If there be anything you wish done, inform us, and we will
carry it out.”
From his words it became apparent
that he understood the purpose of this Servant to have been a request for
material assistance. We, therefore, revealed in his (Napoleon III’s) name
verses in the Súratu’l-Haykal…
(Baha’u’llah,
‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
