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PREFACE.

of to-day, and calls for the indignant protest of every right-feeling man and woman in this Christian land. Stolid and defiant as Russian officialism may seem to be, that protest will not be in vain. M. Pobiedonostyeff, the High Procureur of the Holy Synod, who is supposed to be responsible for the atrocities described in these pages, may be as blindly fanatical as was Saul of Tarsus, thinking he is doing God service, and he may be all-powerful as an ecclesiastic, but he is not too blind to see the storm signal on our shores or too powerful to feel the force of the indignation of Western Christendom when it is once fairly roused. Nations are vastly nearer to each other in these days of the Press and of swiftly-flying intelligence than they were a century ago, and even the strongest nation must yield at length to that love of justice and right which, in the last resort, is stronger than battalions and mightier than the edicts of kings. We can all do something to create an enlightened public opinion, and we can all bear these suffering brethren and sisters on our hearts in prayer before God.

JOHN BROWN.

Bedford.