'The latest accounts from Kerbella,' wrote Lt.-Col. Farrant at the end of his long report on the siege, 'state the town to be perfectly quiet and its population daily increasing.'
APPENDIX 2
THE MARTYRDOM OF THE BÁB
The martyrdom of the Báb was reported by Lt.-Col. Sheil to Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign Secretary, on July 22nd 1850:
'The founder of this sect has been executed at Tabreez—He was killed by a volley of musketry, and his death was on the point of giving his religion a lustre which would have largely increased its proselytes. When the smoke and dust cleared away after the volley, Báb was not to be seen, and the populace proclaimed that he had ascended to the skies—The balls had broken the ropes by which he was bound, but he was dragged from the recess where after some search, he was discovered, and shot.
'His death according to the belief of his disciples will make no difference, as Bâb must always exist.'[1]
At the time of the martyrdom of the Báb, R. W. Stevens, the British Consul, was absent from Tabríz, and his brother, George, was left in charge of the Consulate. The latter had failed to report the event to Sheil. On July 24th, R. W. Stevens, back at his post, rectified that omission and added that the body of the Báb and His disciple had been 'thrown into the Town ditch where they were devoured by dogs.'[2] Sheil wrote to Palmerston, on August 15th, that 'Although the advice and opinions of foreign agents are generally unpalatable to the Persian Minister, I nevertheless think it my duty to bring under his observation any flagrant abuse or outrage that reaches my knowledge. I persuade myself that on such occasions notwithstanding the absence of acknowledgement on the part of the Ameer-i-Nizam [Mírzá Taqí Khán, the Grand Vizier], he may perhaps privately take steps for applying a remedy.' He went on to say that the Consul at Tabríz had reported that the body of the Báb, 'by order of the Ameer-i-Nizam's brother, was thrown into the ditch of the town to be devoured by dogs, which actually happened.'[3] He enclosed the copy of the letter he had written to the Grand Vizier on this subject. This is what he wrote to Mírzá Taqí Khán:
'Your Excellency is aware of the warm interest taken by the British Government in all that concerns the honor, respectability and credit of this Government, and it is on this account I make you acquainted with a recent occurrence in Tabreez which perhaps has not been brought to Your Excellency's knowledge—The execution of the Pretender Bab in that city was accompanied by a circumstance which if published in the Gazettes of Europe would throw the utmost discredit on the Persian Ministers. After that person was put to death, his body by orders of the Vezeer.i.Nizam was thrown into the ditch of the town to be devoured by dogs, which actually happened—This act resembles the deeds of bye gone ages, and could not I believe now occur in any country between China and England—Feeling satisfied that it did not receive Your Excellency's sanction, and knowing what sentiments it would excite in Europe, I have thought it proper to write this friendly communication, not to let you remain in ignorance of the occurrence.'[4]
Palmerston wrote back on October 8th: '... Her Majesty's Government approve of your having called the attention of the Ameer-i-Nizam ... to the manner in which the corpse of the Pretender Bâb was treated after his execution at Tabreez.'[5]