Mordecai having learned all that had passed in reference to this decree, sent a message to queen Esther informing her of all that had occurred, and imploring her to go to the king and petition him to save her people. The queen, on hearing this sad news felt sorely grieved, and was at a loss how to act, knowing as she did, that the laws of the Medes and Persians were unalterable; and that the ordinance had been passed, prohibiting any person, on pain of death, from approaching the king without being called to attend him, unless he should condescend to hold forth his golden sceptre as a signal of his pleasure. The queen sent a message to her cousin Mordecai, pointing out to him the danger of such an undertaking; to which he replied, that it was not her own personal safety that was in question, but the security of a whole race, who were unjustly condemned to perish by the vile artifices of an arrogant and ambitious man. Esther, feeling the force of the appeal made to her by Mordecai, repaired to the palace, at the risk of her own life, to save her people; and to her great joy and astonishment, the moment the king beheld her in the court, he kindly extended the sign of mercy, and gave her a favorable reception. Esther, encouraged by this pleasing invitation, related to her husband the intentions and plot of the wicked Haman, who was instantly condemned to death, and Mordecai was favorably admitted into the king's household as the relative of the queen. The king, by another royal edict, published throughout all his dominions, that the Jews should be empowered on the day named by Haman for their destruction, to stand on their own defense; and as this decree became known all over the land to be the real wishes of the sovereign, and Haman being no more, it proved serviceable to the poor Jews, and fully answered all that could have been expected; but yet, not without great slaughter among the people during the various conflicts and battles which took place on the day appointed. In these conflicts, the Jews standing only on their own defense, slew upwards of seventy-five thousand of their enemies, who rose up against them. It is in commemoration of this signal deliverance from their enemies, that the feast of Purim is celebrated annually among the Jews throughout the world.