Farrant further relates: 'The Pacha told His R.H. the Zel i Sultan and Chief Priest before leaving his camp to warn all Persians to separate themselves from the Geramees (and gave the Prince a paper to that effect) that if they could not leave the town, they should retire altogether to one quarter of it, or else with their families and property seek protection in the Courts of the tombs of Hoossein and Abbas, for he was determined to proceed to extremities if the Kerbellai's refused to submit to his orders...' Farrant reports a second excursion by Ḥájí Siyyid Káẓim and `Alí-[_Sh_]áh, the Ẓillu's-Sulṭán, on behalf of the people of Karbilá, this time to the camp of Sa`du'lláh Pá[_sh_]á, the Colonel commissioned by Najíb Pá[_sh_]á to invest the city. 'About the 1st January [1843],' writes Farrant, 'the Persian Consul accompanied by Seid Ibrahim Kasveenee[FT] arrived at Najib Pacha's camp at Mossaib from Bagdad--The army had now been eleven days before Kerbella and much fighting had taken place, and many on both sides had been killed.' The talks which Mullá `Abdu'l-`Azíz (Persian Consul) and Siyyid Ibráhím had with Najíb Pá[_sh_]á bore no result, and as Farrant reports: 'The Consul and Chief Priest returned to Bagdad, they had been four or five days in the Pacha's camp--The Chief Priest in Kerbella Hajee Seid Kausem it is said (he told me also the same thing) wrote to the Persian Consul and Seid Ibrahim Kasveenee begging the former to come on to Kerbella, that "his presence was necessary, it was the hour of danger"--This letter was received by them after they had quitted the Pacha's camp about two hours. Rumours in the town were very prevalent, that the Shah of Persia was sending an army of twenty thousand men to their assistance, which gave great confidence to the Persians inside--Persians have informed me that they heard these reports and many believed them, also they have most positively assured me that their Consul never wrote or communicated with them, and on learning, that he had returned to Bagdad, did not consider there was any danger. The Consul asserts he wrote to the Chief Priest Hajee Seid Kausem, which the latter most positively denies.... [Footnote FT: Siyyid Ibráhím-i-Qazvíní, the adversary of Siyyid Káẓim, who had left Karbilá altogether during this turbulent period.] '... The walls were daily crowded,' Farrant writes, 'by the inhabitants who vented the grossest abuse on the Sultan, and cursed the soldiers and their religion. The chief people in Kerbella did all in their power to excite the religious feelings of the Sheeahs against the Soonies, the Priests also were most active, I have been told, and as they could not fight, repaired any damages the walls might receive. They prayed also in the Mosques encouraging and exciting the people by telling them it was a religious war.'