I have alluded above to what Prince Suvoroff said of General Muravieff. A little later in the year another scheme was set on foot by certain ultra-Russians to build a church at Vilna and dedicate it to St. Michael, Muravieff’s patron saint, in honour of the glory of the General and to celebrate his quelling of the insurrection in Lithuania. The plan met with much opposition, and the Maréchal de la Noblesse of the district of Tsarskoe Selo, on being invited to support the project, wrote an indignant letter in reply, asking what conduct on his part could have led the originators to suppose that he approved the actions of the General. General Muravieff stood in a peculiar position for an officer holding a high command under a despotic government. The authorities accepted his services and so gave their moral support and countenance to his policy; but they took no steps to defend him from the animadversions of his enemies, nor did any Russian feel that he was committing an indiscretion in openly canvassing the conduct of the tyrant of Vilna. All this showed that the Russians were enjoying far greater liberty of both press and speech than was believed abroad. In this respect there was a marked change since the last reign. Speech was free enough, sometimes startlingly so. There was a certain amount of censorship of the journalistic press; but as regards literature in general, books were openly sold which under Nicholas no bookseller would have dared to stock upon his shelves. * * * * * With this arrow in his quiver Prince Gortchakoff wrote: “If Lord Russell followed attentively the productions of the Press devoted to the Polish rebellion, he must be aware that the insurgents demand neither an amnesty, nor an autonomy, nor a representation either more or less complete. The absolute independence of the Kingdom even would be for them only a means for arriving at the final object of their aspirations. This object is dominion over provinces where the immense majority are Russians by race or by religion; in a word, it is Poland extended to the two seas, which would inevitably bring about a claim to the Polish provinces belonging to other neighbouring Powers. “We desire to pronounce no judgment upon these aspirations. It suffices for us to prove that they exist, and that the Polish insurgents do not conceal them. The final result in which they would arrive cannot be doubtful. It would be a general conflagration which the elements of disorder scattered through all countries would be brought to complicate, and which seek for an opportunity to subvert Europe.” One would have imagined that the dignified and lofty tone adopted by the Prince, combined with the avowed pretensions of the rebels, would have convinced Lord Russell that his interference would not be accepted, and could only end in the humiliation of England. Nothing could stop Lord Russell.