not do this, others will, and you will go without bread." The schismatic Missals (expressly printed in Russia) which have been sent to them have been unanimously sent back, and no one knows yet what will be the result. But the fact at present is, that prayers are offered up more ardently than ever to the Almighty Father.

I send you herewith the petition presented by fifty united curates to their bishop; the five who were charged with this mission were sent to Siberia, but they were aware in undertaking it to what they exposed themselves. In White Russia, in a large village, the priest of the place, more careful of the favour of the government than that of Heaven, having arranged his Church according to the new decrees, prepared on a Sunday last autumn to celebrate the mass according to the schismatic ritual.

He began therefore what are called the Prostrations. The peasants, the moment they perceived it, and understood its purport, went out one after the other; when they found themselves all outside, they closed the gates of the Church, set fire to it, and burned it to the ground, together with the priest, whom they would not allow to escape. This is an averred, well known fact, which the authorities, however, and the evil-disposed, take care to conceal and to deny. In Lithuania, of seven Catholic parishes only one now remains, so that sometimes the people have to go fourteen miles to be able to have a child baptized, or to assist a dying relation. They marry and baptize their children amongst each other, and only go once a year to some distant Church to be confirmed, to the confessional, and to communion, thus avoiding the Schismatic Churches; the essential point being not to set foot in them.

You see that the clergy labours in the vineyard of the Lord. Muravieff did all in his power to effect the fusion of the Churches. He has established everywhere the Imperial Gates, and this at the expense of the proprietors. Sometimes consent is obtained by force, but more easily because this kind of ornament, which is indispensable to the schismatic worship, has nothing in it essentially

contrary to the ritual of the united Greeks; but the prostrations and the altar in the middle of the Church are still obstinately objected to.

You surely have heard mention made of a certain Szymanski, of such unfortunate celebrity, who arrived here in order to make the guerillas rise, with passports from Pozzo di Borgo, and who threw into the extreme of misery more than three hundred families, whom he denounced, whether truly or falsely, as having given him asylum or even a glass of water. Amongst this number were three priests, one of whom, having received him poor and an orphan, had educated him from his childhood, clothed him, and sent him to the army in 1831. Szymanski, on his arrival in the country, immediately addressed himself to his adopted father. Welcomed as his child, he had frequently taken up his abode with the good curate. The moment having arrived, he denounced him to the authorities as the man at whose house he had alighted, and who had, as it were, allowed him to establish his head-quarters there. The curate was immediately seized, with two of his companions and neighbours, and carried off at the exact moment when he was about to celebrate the fiftieth year of his priesthood. Convicted, condemned to death by the court martial, the punishment of father Adamowicz was commuted into perpetual exile and to forced labour. Dzieduszycki and Ziclonka, of less advanced years, were clothed in the livery of crime and sent to Siberia.

At Wilna they underwent their condemnation with all the fortitude and strength of mind which might have been expected from three apostles of the faith and the gospel.

Bishop Ktagicwicz, although he fainted three times in concluding the iniquitous and sacrilegious ceremony of depriving them of the sacrament (which he had no effective right to do), although he had not the courage to do his duty in refusing entirely this office, could not however refrain from pronouncing the following words :

"Touched by the finger of God, thou departest, brother, for a land where the faith which thou confessest is unknown. Thou

wilt not find there the altar on which thou didst depose thy pious offerings during fifty years. Thou wilt find there no associate to bring consolation to thy afflicted soul. It is in thine own heart that thou must find the faith, the altar, and the consolation-and to this end I give thee my pastoral benediction."

He again fainted away. Yet he finished the ceremony, and the three old men departed-Father Adamowicz to Nerczynsk, and the two others destined to repeople the frozen deserts.

I abstain from all reflections, but an eyewitness having recounted to me all this, I attest its authenticity.

CAPITULATION GRANTED BY OMAR,

LIEUTENANT OF MAHOMET, AND AFTERWARDS HIS IMMEDIATE SUCCESSOR UNDER THE TITLE OF CALIPH,

TO THE CHRISTIANS OF JERUSALEM AND ITS DEPENDENCIES,

AT THE TIME OF THE CONQUEST OF PALESTINE, IN THE 15TH YEAR OF

THE HEGIRA.

[As a contrast to the conduct of the head of that Church, which by courtesy is termed Christian, we call the attention of our readers to a document by which may be seen the spirit that animates Islamism.]

In the name of the Beneficent and Most Merciful God,

PRAISE be to God, who has allowed us to be born in Islamism, and who honours us by the Faith, who has taken pity on us in sending to us his prophet Mahomet. Peace and the blessing of God be on him who purifies our hearts, who grants us the victory over our enemies, habitations in pleasant places, and who inspires us with love for our brethren! God be praised by his servants for this favour, for this infinite mercy.

This is the writing of Omar, Son of Chattab, which was given as a pact and a convention to the pontiff Sephyrinus, revered by all his people, Patriarch of the royal orthodox sect at Jerusalem, on the Mount of Olives.

This Convention comprises the Subjects, the Clergy, the Monks, and Nuns, and grants to them safety and protection in whatever spot they may be.

We, Chief of the true believers, and our successors, ought to guarantee the safety of the Christian subjects, if they fulfil their duties as subjects.

This Convention shall not be broken except by their own fault, in the event of their choosing to withdraw from obedience and submission,

Let security be equally granted to their churches, their dwellings, the places of their pilgrimage, as well within as without; that is to say, to the Church Kamaneh (the Holy Sepulchre);

to the birth-place of Jesus at Bethlehem; to the great Church of the Cavern, with the three gates, towards the south, the north, and the west. Let security be granted in the same manner to the other Christians in those places; to the Georgians and Abyssinians, the Nestorians, the Jacobites, and to all those who belong to the prophet Jesus.

They all merit respect, because they were already formerly honoured by the Prophet* with a document, furnished with his seal, by which he exhorts us to succour them and grant them security. For which cause, we, Chief of the true believers, are disposed to show ourselves benevolent towards them, in order to honour him who has already shewn them his kindness.

They must be relieved from the capitation tax, and that of the tolls, in all the countries and on all the seas of the Mussulmans. On their entering Kamaneh (the Holy Sepulchre) and during the remainder of their pilgrimage, no taxes whatever shall be imposed upon them.

The Christians who visit the Holy Sepulchre must depose for the Patriarch, one drachm and a half of silver money.

The true believers of both sexes are to follow this law (the Sultans and the Chiefs not excepted), and they must submit to it whether they be rich or poor.

Given in presence of all the disciples of the Prophet.

Abdallah, Osman, B. Afan, Saad, Abdor-Rahman, Ibn Auf.

Let faith be given to this writing, which must remain in the hands of the Christians. Let the blessing of God be granted to the Prophet and his disciples.

Let us praise God, the King of the worlds, on whom we repose as on the Prophet, our advocate with him. The 20 Ribuel, Euel of the XV year of the Hegira.

He who reads this Rescript, and who acts in a manner contrary to what it prescribes, from this day until the day of the last judgment, breaks the Convention of God and of his wellbeloved Prophet.

* Such is the rigid respect the Mussulmans have ever testified to the engagements and treaties they enter into.