Khan, the Christian Governor and civil protector of the Nestorians of that province; and the Mohammedan nobles were in sympathy with them in this, as that dignitary stood in the way of their exactions. But this political alliance, though at first promising success both to the Patriarch and the Jesuits, in the end led to the signal overthrow of both. It was stated to the mission by Mr. Stevens, the English Consul, as a well ascertained fact, that Mar Shimon had united his interests with the French Jesuits, and that they had strong hope of making use of him to cast their net over his people.1 Up to this time, the mission had not applied to any European functionary for interference in their troubles with Mar Shimon. Nor did they now; but Mr. Stevens, hearing of his persecuting course, took up the matter of his own accord, gave the information as above stated, and befriended the missionaries in various ways. The Patriarch having declared, that he had the countenance and support of the Russian Consul, that official wrote sharply rebuked him for so doing. The four bishops of Oroomiah and nearly all the priests and deacons, with many of the leading Nestorians in the province, now united in a representation to the Persian Government, highly commending the character, objects, and labors of the mission. It is recorded, that the converted Nestorians also, with scarce an exception, stood firmly by the mission, in the face of trials and reproaches; and the same was true of many who made no pretensions to piety. 1 _Missionary Herald_, 1849, p. 30. News of the death of the King arrived at Oroomiah on the 14th of September. He was succeeded by his eldest son, a young man of twenty years, who for the last year had been Prince Governor of Azerbijan. In Persia, the death of the King interrupts for a time the regular transaction of public business. An immediate effect of the news was to displace the Governor of Oroomiah, Yahyah Khan, with whom Mar Shimon had been forming an alliance, to strengthen him in his persecutions. Through the friendly, but unsolicited agency of the English Consul, five of the most prominent of Mar Shimon's coadjutors were put under heavy bonds in no way to aid or abet him again in similar proceedings. Should they violate their written engagements to the authorities, they would expose themselves to severe corporal punishment and heavy fines.