depopulation, as few Russians can be induced by the Government to come and take the places of any but Government officers.

But the sphere in which this conflict becomes most sensitive and delicate, and the one in which it most deeply affects all the provinces, is that of religious belief and observances, for this affects all classes alike, and therefore most closely binds them in a common interest without regard to locality or language. The original and hereditary Church of nearly all the Germans in these provinces is the Lutheran. This form of Protestantism was transplanted with them to the soil in the earliest emigrations, and for a time they were allowed to enjoy their belief not only unmolested, but even under the protection of certain constitutional safeguards. But in the course of time it became apparent to the Russian authorities that a Lutheran Church on Russian soil might interfere seriously with the process of naturalization, and they commenced a series of measures, covert and open, to induce the Germans to abandon their belief and accept the Greek Church. For a time rewards and threats became quite effective, for there seemed in this matter to be a period of comparative indifference, and during this time the Government succeeded in having many of the children baptized in the Greek faith, and claiming all for this faith which were the offspring of mixed marriages.

The tide of reaction set in, however, after a time, and about six years ago the feeling in regard to the matter rose to the highest pitch. When the children baptized in the GreekChurch began to see that this was to separate them from their families in a matter of extreme delicacy to all men, they became violent in their demands to be permitted to worship according to the faith of their fathers, and neither threats nor punishment sufficed to compel them to render obedience to the Greek priests. The whole land was deeply moved, and the result was that at a Diet sitting in Riga petitions and appeals came in showers from the clergy, scholars, and ordinary citizens, led on by large numbers of the titled classes. They claimed their old constitutional right of liberty of conscience, and besought the privilege of returning to the mother Church. The news of this unusual excitement reached St. Petersburg, and the Emperor decided to send a special commissioner to

make a tour through the country and report to him directly. By chance the charge fell upon an honest man, and his report did more toward unmasking Russian intrigue and bringing the true state of the case to the throne than any thing that has occurred during the whole controversy.

Count Bobrinsky, this Commissioner, visited but two circuits, being convinced when this was accomplished that his mere presence would call out immense demonstrations in favor of the Protestant religion. In one district he summoned an assembly of Greek priests, and put to them the direct question, whether a majority of their parishes were in favor of retaining and remaining in the State or Russian Church? Their reply was clearly negative, though against their desires and interests. In another district he bid two members from each congregation to meet him, and expected to see twenty-four delegates. He was favored with the presence of four hundred. In the next village six hundred men had gathered at the report of his coming, and in the next one thousand, until he was at last obliged to inform the author. ities that he would absolutely refuse to confer with more than the number of delegates he had commanded to appear. Everywhere the people plead with him, with tears in their eyes, to carry their appeals to the throne for permission to return to the Lutheran faith, or at least to have their children thus baptized. Some fifteen came with a desire to remain in the Greek communion, presenting at the same time petitions for Government places. These interviews were all in the presence of the national priests, so that the restraint thereby exerted was decidedly in their favor. It was clearly developed that those who had left the Lutheran Church had not in conviction gone over to the Greek. They were thus virtually without any religious influence, and their moral condition was proportionally low. Of the number claimed in the statistics as belonging to the national Church not more than one tenth could be claimed as having any sympathy with it.

The report of the commissioner was honestly made to the Emperor Alexander, in accordance with this sad experience, accompanied with the regret that so many were untrue to the orthodox faith of the Empire, and the recommendation that they be permitted to return to their own faith, with the addition of the assurance that those who had abjured their faith

in 1845 had done so in the hope of improving their material condition, and that the children who had been baptized in the faith since that period now repudiated the action of their parents.

This report was by no means what the Emperor desired or expected; and, although he entertained the highest respect for a tried and faithful officer, he did not feel inclined to yield too easily to his suggestions. An audience of dignitaries was summoned to the Palace immediately, to listen to the Count's report, but among them was also the Archbishop of Riga, an ardent advocate of compulsory religion. This fact showed that the Emperor was not inclined to yield without a struggle. This Church official contested the truth of Bobrinsky's conclusions at least, and affirmed that a hasty journey of ten days gave him no opportunity to learn the true state of the case. He demanded the privilege of spending the summer among the parishes of his diocese, to have full opportunity to learn for himself the true state of the case. The Emperor, not having the least doubt of the character of this prelate's report, bid him do as he had suggested..

The adoption of this measure destroyed the hopes of the German Lutherans. The Archbishop came among them, but not on a pastoral visit in the true sense of the term. The so-called converts who desired to present to the hierarch their petitions to be permitted to return to the Church of their choice were intimidated with threats, and, when these were not successful, were overwhelmed with abuse at the very altars. In one instance a young Lutheran, who owed his connection with the Greek Church to the action of his parents, appeared as the representative of his colleagues, bearing an appeal to be released from bonds that bore heavily on their consciences. The Archbishop, in his anger at the self-possession of the appellant, declared him and his to be scabby sheep that would mar the whole flock, adding that they deserved to be expelled from the only true and orthodox Church. But the young peasant, who had a ready tongue, took advantage of this hasty and untimely accusation, and turning to his comrades, said: "You have heard that his Eminence declares us worthy of expulsion from the orthodox Church; let us go!" And in this mood the whole congregation followed him, leaving the

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angry Archbishop and his train of priests in sole possession of the church.

Finding that this line of action did no good, the prelate undertook the investigation of the material condition of the peasants and laboring classes generally, and taught them that their troubles came mainly from the injustice of the proprietors and the inequality of the laws regarding them, declaring also to the German portion of the community that in many respects civil obligations had not been fulfilled in regard to them. These were such palpable truths that they commanded. attention, and succeeded in turning their minds from religious to civil questions, and thus stirred up the whole province in political broils, in the midst of which the religious activity became weak, and indeed for a time was nearly suspended. The Archbishop had effected his purpose, and so had the Emperor; the Church question was smothered for the nonce, and the civil one could be handled by the civil authorities if it became troublesome. The distinguished services of the Archbishop were rewarded by the Emperor in the form of a diamond cross for the episcopal cap.

Of the many peculiar incidents that have attended this special struggle we give a few of those at our command, to show how deeply they penetrated into those domestic matters that we are accustomed to consider sacred from intrusions of any kind whatever. A high official of one of these provinces had married a lady who was a compulsory member of the Greek Church; she had been baptized in that faith. This fact was enough to constitute a mixed marriage, although the gentleman was a Protestant. A son was born to him, whom it was necessary to have baptized and placed on the Church records to give him a legitimate and legal status. The father determined to break the ban resting on mixed marriages, and assert his natural and parental right to bring up his child in the faith that he professed. He applied to a Lutheran clergyman to perform the rite; the latter could not do this without an open violation of the law, and refused. The father, permeated with the conviction of his faith that a child unbaptized is exposed to eternal condemnation in case of early death, resolved to perform the ceremony himself. This soon brought the diademed Archbishop into the strife; he brought an accusation against

the father, who was summoned to answer the charge before the Court tribunal of Riga. The State's attorney demanded one year's imprisonment in the penitentiary, his child and all children of his marriage to be taken from him and given over to believers in the orthodox faith, to be reared and educated in that belief. After a long trial the Court had the honest independence to give a verdict of acquittal. This decision was extensively illustrated by reference to Russian law and that of the provinces, as well as to capitulations and treaties, but was unfortunately marred in not being extended to all the provinces on account of special laws in some of them. An appeal was made to the High Court of St. Petersburg, where the matter dragged on for a long time, when the Emperor quashed the proceedings without any formal decision. The result was a decided victory against the Greek Church, but the proceedings produced a great degree of exasperation, seeing that this organization was so obstinately determined to interfere in the most delicate relations of domestic life.

The result of this trial of strength emboldened other Protestants that were parties to mixed marriages to bring up their children in their own faith. A lady of rank of the Reformed Church, whose husband was a compulsory Greek, also baptized her child herself. The case created great excitement, but she was not molested by the Greek priests, as they feared another rebuff from the courts. A still bolder act was perpetrated over a year ago by another lady of rank, who had also been forced into the Greek Church; she received the communion from the hands of an evangelical clergyman according to the Lutheran ritual, which of course excluded her from the Greek communion. She was prepared for the worst, but it was not thought advisable to interfere with her. These examples from above soon had their influence on the classes below. Two Lutheran women of the people of mixed marriage endeavored to withhold their children from Greek baptism. In one case, only a week after the birth of the child, the Greek priests appeared in the chamber of the mother and demanded the child for baptism. The mother begged a respite of a few weeks, when she would bring the child herself; but the priest became violent, and threatened father, mother, and nurse with imprisonment and transportation to Siberia. This so frightened the latter that