Proclamation of Baha 'U' Llah to the kings and leaders of the world

ONE HUNDRED years ago, Baha'u'llah, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, proclaimed in clear and un- mistakable language, to the kings and rulers of the world, to its religious leaders, and to man- kind in general that the long-promised age of world peace and brotherhood had at last dawned and that He Himself was the Bearer of the new message and power from God which would transform the prevailing system of antagonism and enmity between men and create the spirit and form of the destined world order.
At that time the splendour and panoply of the monarchs reflected the vast power which they exercised, autocratically for the most part, over the greater portion of the earth. Baha'u'llah, an exile from His native Persia for His religious teaching, was the prisoner of the tyrannical, all- powerful Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In such circumstances He addressed the rulers of the world. His Tablets to particular kings and to the Pope, although delivered, were either ignored or rejected, their wise counsels and dire
warnings went unheeded, and in one instance the bearer was cruelly tortured and killed.