According to "A Traveller's Narrative" (p. 14), the  Bab "forwarded a 
 letter to the Royal Presence craving audience to set forth the truth of His 
 condition, expecting this to be a means for the attainment of great 
 advantages."  Regarding this letter, Gobineau writes as follows:  
 " Ali-Muhammad wrote personally to the Court and his letter and the 
 accusations of his adversaries all arrived at the same time.  Without 
 assuming an aggressive attitude toward the king, but trusting on the 
 contrary to his authority and justice, he represented to them that the 
 depravity of the clergy in Persia had been well known for many years; that 
 not only morals were thereby corrupted and the well-being of the nation 
 affected, but that religion itself, poisoned by the sins of so many, was 
 in great danger and was about to disappear leaving the people in perilous 
 darkness.  
   "As for himself, called by God, in virtue of a special mission, to 
 prevent such an evil, he had already begun to apprise the people of  Fars 
 that the true doctrine had made evident and rapid progress; that all its 
 adversaries had been confounded and were now powerless and universally 
 despised; but that this was only a beginning.  
   "The  Bab, confident of the magnanimity of the king, requested the 
 permission to come to the capital with his principal disciples and there 
 hold conferences with all the  Mullas of the Empire, in the presence of the 
 Sovereign, the nobles and the people, convinced that he would shame them by 
 exposing their faithlessness.  He would accept beforehand the judgment of 
 the king and, in case of failure, was ready to sacrifice his head and that 
 of each one of his followers."  (Comte de Gobineau's "Les Religions et les 
 Philosophies dans l'Asie Centrale," p. 124.)