If the duty on imported tea were greatly diminished, as well as the excise on sugar, a great step towards sobriety would thereby be assured. People who are indifferent to the moral condition of Russia assure me that this would cause too heavy a loss of Government revenue. They may be right, but I should suppose that any temporary loss of revenue would soon be made up by the increased demand for tea and sugar, which would undoubtedly be immense, both articles being so important to our people's comfort. Still less doubt could there be about the moral advantage. Temperance has, it is agreed, an enormously beneficial effect. Those who want to see this for themselves and to study this question thoroughly, should go especially to Plotsk in our Polish provinces, and visit there our Old Catholics called "Mariavites" and their bishops. It cannot be sufficiently well known that since this noble religious movement began in the year 1871 (when the Pope's infallibility was proclaimed), 200,000 people have become Mariavites, thanks to the efforts and example of their bishops and priests, and that all the congregation is composed of absolute teetotallers. A leading and curious characteristic of Bishop Kovalsky's parish is that they are all absolute teetotallers--materially very poor, but rich in faith and energy. Each of them joyfully brings to the Church his hard-earned contribution, with the result that the community is well provided with churches, schools, workshops, etc. Try to understand by this example what voluntary efforts, personal sacrifices and teetotalism may do. Since these lines were written, God has taken {180} pity upon us, and on the declaration of War, our noble and courageous Emperor came to our rescue by ordering the closing of the vodka bars and the total prohibition of alcohol. From all the reports, this measure, drastic though it was, has elicited not the complaints, but rather the blessings of the entire country. A curious fact is also traceable to this wise legislation in many parts of Russia: the village banks have never been in better funds than now, while crime has enormously diminished, and family life flourishes. Reforms in Russia, even of the greatest magnitude, are sometimes carried out with miraculous rapidity. As a great many people, even in England, well know, the liberation of forty-eight millions of Serfs--half of whom suddenly became freeholders--was actually introduced (19 February, 1862) after two years working out. The abolition of the village Commune (in many respects resembling the Indian Communal System) has been abolished in still shorter time. It worked fairly well, I am told, before the emancipation, but ceased to do so after the great Reform.