is blamed, together with her fanatical favorite, Melle.
Bludow, the Minister of Public Instruction, Tolstoy, and Gromeka, Governor
of Siedlce, for having urged him to use the power of the empire in forcing
conversions to Russo-Greek _orthodoxy_. That the heads of a semi-barbarous
nation should so advise is not surprising. The Tsar, who is an absolute
monarch, cannot be excused. There is every reason, besides, for holding
him personally responsible. When he was at Warsaw, a peasant woman,
bearing a petition, succeeded in obtaining admission to his presence. As
soon as he learned that the petition begged toleration for the united
Greek Church, he replied by inserting in all the newspapers a confirmation
of the orders formerly given for the extinction of that church. Count
Alexandrowicz de Constantinovo was repeatedly warned by the Russian
authorities that he had no right to attend the Latin churches, which,
being less persecuted, were a refuge for the united Greeks, when, indeed,
as was rarely the case, they were allowed to enjoy it. The Count, hoping
to be more liberally dealt with by the enlightened Tsar, who was said to
surpass in all that was great and noble, his tolerant predecessor,
Alexander I., proceeded to St. Petersburgh. The Tsar made a reply to his
representation, which, in the case of an ordinary mortal, would be taken
for a proof of stupidity, or of impenetrable ignorance. "The Orthodox
religion is pleasing to me. Why should it not please you also?" It
remained only for the Count to sell his properties and abandon his
country. More humble members of the obnoxious church could not so easily
escape. The savage treatment to which they were subjected can only be
briefly alluded to here. A persecution which has lasted more than a
hundred years, and is not yet at an end, is more a subject for the general
history of the church than for the life of Pius IX. A few facts,
therefore, must suffice.

In the important diocese of Chelm, particularly, the most ingenious
devices were had recourse to, in order to delude the Catholic people, and
induce them to comply with the requirements of the Russo-Greek Church. All
these failing, force was had recourse to, and it was used, assuredly,
without stint or measure. Seizure of property, imprisonment, the lash and
exile to Siberia, proved equally unavailing, as persecution, in every
form, must always be. Greater excesses were then had recourse to.

They who dared to perform a pilg