“After offering up praise and thanks­giving to the Eternal, creator of the world, in attempting to delineate whose attributes, the pen, from inability, becomes divided, and loud thanks to the Chief of the Missionaries,* in the wide expanse of whose praise, eloquence is abashed at its own want of expression; and next, having waved an offering of the flowers of gratulation and blessings nurtured by the water and air of friend­ship and union, and blossomed in the garden of alliance and mutual interest over the court of the divine assembly of the monarch in glory, like Feerdoon and Kie Khoosroo (of fortunate aspect, adorner of the throne of empire and good fortune, giver of splendour to the crown of royalty and dominion, gracer of the assembly of magnificence and command, exalter of the standard of conquest and victory, strength of the arm of power and prosperity, gnomon of the astrolabe of dignity and command, index of the volumes of exaltation, flourisher of the edicts of truth, monarch of power­ful star, victorious in war, chief shrub in this emerald-coloured garden) giving reins to the swift courser of the pen of friendship in the plain of explanation, it becomes represented.*

“Although during so long an inter­val, according to the modes and customs of the reverencers of mere appearance, correspondence by letters or ambassadors, which is a mean of impressing the characters of friendship and agreement, and a medium of binding the knot of sincerity and alliance, hath not taken place out­wardly between us; yet internally, which well-informed minds alone regard as the foundation of action, the rules of truth and sincerity, and the fundamentals of friendship and regard have been observed in the most perfect manner. Our august mind has been wholly bent on the blossom­ing of the buds of kindly intercourse, and the expansion of the flowers of friendly connection. Our liberal attention has been uniformly directed to that establish­ment of sincere union and confirmation of true alliance, which forms a conge­niality of souls and internal agreement, which the acquainted with the nature of truth and informed in sacred mysteries, call friendship; and than which, in both worlds, a nobler connection cannot exist. Doubtless, similar ideas must have been reflected on the mirror of the enlightened mind of your Majesty, exalted as the heavens, and resplendent as the pleiades, whose soul is the source of the rays of sincerity and kindness. However, as our business is with the multitude, who judging merely from appearances, have no opinion of their own on reality; there­fore the mind, venerating concord and friendly to agreement, of this dependant on the divine throne has become anxious, that the regulation of the connections of alliance and unanimity, and the confir­mation of our mutual friendship and intimacy, may be made appear to the inhabitants of the world, and the extent of our sincere regard be known as publicly as possible by all ranks, in order that the high alliance between our two august families may be preserved until the dissolution of night and day, and remain a rule of conduct to all future glorious sovereigns.

“In consequence of the above important considerations, the chief of a noble family, famed for loyalty and attach­ment, head of faithful servants versed in sincerity, founder of the edifice of life-resignation, fully acquainted with our inmost designs, who, from his infancy to the season of youth, has been nourished under the shade of our bounty and favour, and been educated in our august presence, which is the trying touchstone of the gold of ability, has been dispatched to the court of your Majesty adorning the throne of empire, in order that, without the mediation of a second person, he may represent the accounts of our friendship and regard, as he was honoured with them in our heaven-like court, and deliver a charge* which was entrusted to his oral communication.

“There is hope, from the august disposition of that centre of the circle of majesty and royalty, that, having tinged the fingers of the bride of our request with the Hinna* of assent, they will give with the friendly moisture of bounty and kindness, lasting freshness and bloom to the garden of unanimity; that, hav­ing cleared away the damp of estrange­ment from the mirror of the heart with the polish of benevolence and condescen­sion, they will render us bound by obli­gation and pledged to gratitude. By this means they will in this unstable world bestow durability on the edifice of friendship, by a new security and improved construction.

“To the adorners of the chief seats in the assemblies of wisdom, and the explorers of the walks of the Garden of Knowledge, whose illumined minds are as the mirrors reflecting truth, it is not unknown that, on all the productions of creation, on the pages of formation, and tablet of discovery, a more approved figure from the pencil of the depictor of divine decree, (which is the contriver of all forms of existence,) has not been pourtrayed, than Friendship, as most praise-worthy in all ranks of men. Now as this connection among the common degrees of mankind is productive of a thousand benefits and advantages, it is evident what good consequences must ensue from its confirmation between heaven-exalted sovereigns and princes of sublime rank, who are the prime of crea­tion, and select productions of being, and whom, after the prophets (to whom be all respect) the divine creator has distin­guished above all created beings and things.

“Our reason for descanting on these felicitous subjects, and our object in dis­playing the above beneficial illustrations, is, that should any conceited secretary, ignorant of the rules of prudence, and void of the treasure of wisdom, (whose sensations have no feeling of the soul-delighting perceptions of friendship, and to whose view the portals of truth have never been expanded, but who esteems being employed in such important affairs a mean of displaying his own abilities) enter upon criticism, and, vesting him­self apparently in the robes of loyalty, to which in fact his discourse is inimi­cal, represent the beautiful aspect of the charmer of this important request, which is the living Leila,* acceptable to our heart, contrary to truth —— Your Majesty may, not suffering your gracious mind to be displeased with such ignorance, examine it with your own just penetra­tion and innate judgment, in the retired chamber of your own pure mind, and view it with impartial eye and truth-desiring view; so that, in a proper man­ner, the degree of her charms reaching the place of disclosure, the specimen of her world-pleasing beauty may afford unbounded delight to your heart.

“It may have reached the hearing of the reflected-upon by the rays of your Majesty’s vicinity, that in a region dependant upon the empire of your friend, some of the borderers (who for generations had bowed their heads under the line of submission, and who, like the medial dot, removed not from the circle of obedience and subjection) at the instigation of some shortsighted leaders, in whose brains the fumes of pride and vanity (which are the basest of human imperfections) had arisen, having gone astray in the mazes of error and mistake, had risen in rebellion. Supposing high mountains and difficult passes, almost inaccessible, their refuge and shelter, having extended the hands of rapine on the treasure and goods of the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities, they rushed into the path of their own destruction.

“As the care and protection of man­kind, (the committed charge and trust of the creator) and the punishment of factious schemers, was incumbent upon our august genius, We detached a powerful army of our gallant soldiery, under the command of one of our distinguished generals. The divine auspices, favour, and bounty, have ever attended the standard of our government, and the gale of victory and success hath con­stantly waved the flags of our prosperity. In a short time, the rebels became so trampled under the feet of our host-defeating heroes, and crushed by our gallant forces, as to become examples to other evil-minded wretches. The strength of our heaven-supported govern­ment, and assurance of the divine assistance to the standards of our august family, made heartfelt impressions on all mankind. True it is, that whoever girds up the loins of enmity in false pride, and rival­ship against the chosen of the throne of the Supreme and the exalted in the courts of God, that sin becomes the destruc­tion of his life, and he falls quickly, like a wrongly directed arrow, to the ground.

“At the instigation of friendship and regard, the above amicable sentences have been penned. If it is the divine will, the connections of alliance will attain fresh regulation, and the foundations of amity new strength.

“We hope that your Majesty, who adds splendour to the aspect of royalty and prosperity, regarding the customs of friendship and union, will relate to this dependant on the divine throne, who is innately anxious for alliance, accounts of your august welfare; the intent of your wishes and high designs; the glory of your throne, public and private; the modes of administering justice; the punishment of the leaders of faction and contention; also, an explanation of the laws for security of your empire, religious establishments, and prosperity of your subjects; the extent of the rays of your bounty to mankind, and of your protection to religion; likewise, the vic­tories and successes which may have attended you, and are the chief graces of royalty and empire. Farther, the light-footed steed of the pen has not found permission to proceed on the plain of prolixity.

“May the Sun of Empire and Suc­cess, and the Luminary of the splendour and good fortune of your Majesty, favoured by the divine court, continue shining in the sky of permanence and firmament of eternity!”*