From inside prison walls He [Baha’u’llah] wrote epistles to
all the kings. He summoned them to arbitration and the "Most Great
Peace." Some of the kings expressed disdain. One was the Ottoman king. The
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte III did not reply. Then a second epistle was
addressed to him. It stated: "I have written you an epistle before
summoning you to the Cause but you heeded it not. You proclaimed once that you
were the defender of the oppressed and it hath become evident that you are not.
Nor are you kind to your own distressed and oppressed people. You act contrary
to your own interests and this pride of yours, which is supported by your
commands must fall. Because of your arrogance God shortly will destroy your
sovereignty. France will flee away from you and a great conquest will take
place. The river Rhine will be a place of lamentations and mourning. The women
will bemoan the loss of their sons." - ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk, 15 April, 1912, New York; Star of the West, vol. 3, no. 9, August 20, 1912)
