Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 41. (1990)
BEVERIDGE, Kent D.: „Worthy Representative of Europe“. Anton Graf Prokesch von Osten
Rent D. Beveridge According to documents in the archives of the British Public Record Office, the Reverend Mr. Rosenberg, a Protestant missionary from Britain, had acquainted the foreign consuls in Adrianople, including Cam- erloher, with the plight of Bahá’u’lláh48). Mr. John D. Blunt, the British consul at Adrianople, sent a dispatch to his minister in Constantinople, Sir Henry Elliot, stating: „1 do not know what the tenets of this ‘Babee’ sect are. The Reverend Mr. Rosenberg and Boghos Aga [head of the local Protestant community] believe that they are adopted from the Holy Scripture, and this belief naturally excited their sympathy and zeal on behalf of the Shaykh [Bahá’u’lláh].“ Furthermore, Blunt confirms the information that Camerloher had previously supplied to Prokesch-Os- ten, namely that Bahá’u’lláh „has led a most exemplary life in this city“, and „that he is regarded with sympathy, mingled with respect and esteem, by the native Mahomedans [sic]“49 50). Aqá Husayn-i-Ashchi relates in his account of that period: „.. .all of a sudden the consuls of the foreign powers became aware of what was happening and together they sought the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. The soldiers stationed around the house, blocking the way to everyone, could not prevent the consuls from entering. After paying their homage, they said they had come as a body, and any one of them whom Bahá’u’lláh might command would take up the issue with the Turks and ward off this evil.“30) According to this account, Bahá’u’lláh categorically declined their „oft- repeated offer“ of assistance. The descriptions found in the government archives of the European powers involved concerning the circumstances surrounding these offers differ somewhat from the above account. For example, in a further dispatch to Elliot regarding this matter dated 10 August, Blunt enclosed an appeal for the protection of the British consulate, written in Turkish and said to be from Bahá’u’lláh, and reported that similar appeals had been addressed to Blunt’s colleagues in Adrianople51). Recently discovered evidence, however, suggests that initiative for requesting consular protection may have come from within the Christian community in Adrianople52). Camerloher apparently wished to discuss the situation and visited Blunt shortly after 48) See Momen Religions chapter 11, where the sources are quoted in full. 49) Ibid. 189. 50) Quoted in Balyuzi Bahá’u’lláh 256. 51) Balyuzi reports, ibid. 457, that a copy of this appeal, „eight lines written in Turkish with a signature and seal both reading Husayn-‘Ali was found in the archives of the French Foreign Office. The handwriting, however, is neither that of Bahá’u’lláh nor any of his amanuenses. „Expert opinion on documents in Turkish states that they ‘were written by non-Turks and contain numerous mistakes of grammar and spelling. Some misspellings are of Arabic words, and this suggests that the scribes were non-Muslims, possibly Armenians’“ (ibid.257). 52) Momen Religions 192-197. 148
