P.P.S. The Guardian will certainly pray for the progress and happiness of the soul of Mr. Manton. No doubt the selfless services his son has rendered the Cause of God, in an hour of great need, will be accepted and enable him to influence the state of his father through his own prayers. [From the Guardian:] Dear and valued co-workers, On the occasion of the victorious consummation of the first historic Plan undertaken by the British Bahá’í community, I feel moved to reaffirm my feelings of exultation, joy and gratitude for the superb triumph that marks such a great turning point in British Bahá’í history. No single event, in the course of its half-a-century existence, with the exception of the twice repeated visit of the Centre of the Covenant to the British Isles, has proved as significant and momentous as this unique collective achievement, which may, in a sense, be regarded as the first and long-awaited fruit of that intimate and personal contact, established both in private and in public, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with its members as well as with various representatives of the country to which it belongs. So magnificent an achievement has, no doubt, endowed the entire community, now representative of the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, with tremendous potentialities, empowering it to launch on the first stage of its historic overseas mission destined to bring that community into closer and more concrete association with its sister communities in North America and Egypt, for the purpose of promoting the Faith in the vast virgin territories where its banner is still unraised and which constitute an integral part of the territories of the British Crown beyond the confines of that community’s homeland. To the races and tribes inhabiting these territories throughout the vast African Continent ‘Abdu’l-Bahá when His life was in imminent danger, specifically referred in a Tablet, addressed by Him to the cousin of the Báb and chief builder of the first Ma_sh_riqu’l-A_dh_kár of the Bahá’í world, in which He predicts, in moving terms, the awakening of the peoples of that dark continent and the ultimate triumph of His Father’s Faith among its backward peoples as well as among the great masses inhabiting China and India. To the accomplishment of the initial stages of this colossal task, envisaged by our beloved Master, the Bahá’í community of the British Isles, now greatly reinforced, resting on a far broader foundation, galvanised into action, qualified through its initial signal victory in its homeland—the base of its future operations overseas, is now summoned to direct its attention and its energies.