It was a reign of terror in Poland, and above all in Lithuania, where General Muravieff in his headquarters at Vilna ruled with a rod of redhot iron. The indignation of Europe was aroused; but it was largely an ignorant indignation, for whereas the English and French newspapers were generally fed with stories against the Russians, there was complete silence as to the provocation on the other side. Mr. Sutherland Edwards, the _Times_ correspondent at Warsaw, a most competent and above all a most just witness, told me that there was much exaggeration and much invention about the information which was sold to the foreign press by certain travelling Jews of the lower sort. News to be marketable must be such as would tell against the Government. Edwards had no reason to take sides with the Russians, for he had just been turned out of Warsaw, bag and baggage, at twenty-four hours’ notice, but he was far too honest a politician to allow any personal treatment of himself to influence him in discussing a great question of national importance; it was a mistake to deal with him in so ungenerous a fashion, but it was only one among many mistakes. There were many Russians, loyal subjects to the Tsar and enthusiastically devoted to their own country, who recognized and deplored those mistakes. Above all, these just men viewed with indignation the barbarous methods of General Muravieff, the man who, above all others, was responsible for the feeling aroused in the rest of Europe. Prince Suvoroff, the Governor-General of St. Petersburg, a great friend and favourite of the Emperor, spoke out bravely about this. A subscription had been set on foot to present Muravieff with a statue of the Virgin Mary in silver, for which the Metropolitan found the inscription, “Thy name is Victory.” The subject was being discussed at Tsarskoe Selo at the Imperial table, when Prince Suvoroff declared aloud that “he could not understand men giving a blessed image to a hangman.” These bold words, uttered unrebuked in the presence of the Tsar, created a great sensation, and induced many men to speak their minds more openly than they had up to then dared to do. It showed also that the Emperor—essentially a good and humane ruler, as he proved to be over and over again—while determined to put down the rebellion, abhorred the methods that were being adopted, otherwise Prince Suvoroff’s speech would not have been passed over. The downfall of Muravieff was considered to be imminent. He was not recalled, however, until April, 1865, being raised to the rank of Count, and he died the following year at his country place, Surez, near Luga. A bronze statue of him was erected in Vilna in 1898.