A REMARKABLE CHANGE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 180, 8 September 1876, Page 11

A REMARKABLE CHANGE.

Many rulers, ancient and modern, aro regarded by Catholics with an interest quite separate from that arising from the general history of their lives, and which is secured to them ty the line of conduct that they have observed with respect to the Church or certain oi her members. .Amongst these, one of the most remarkable in our own times was the Emperor Nicholas of Russia. This Prince had certainly been endowed by nature with many excellent qualities, but, as it might justly have been expected, the peculiar position in which he was placed preyed upon his disposition, so that they who had known him at the beginning of his reign and who saw him towards its close, deplored the evil change that despotic power had worked in him. But, in whatever other regard he might have deteriorated, it is much to his credit, and is to us a convincing proof of the existence of the good qualities which he was said to possess, that the latter part of his reign was less distinguished by ill-treat-ment of his Catholic subjects than its commencement had been.

The favorable change was brought about by the Czar's interview with the Sovereign Pontiff Gregory XVI. Nicholas went to Rome bearing the reputation of having been a persecutor of the Catholics of his empire, as indeed one bo famed for his fanatical attachment to the heresy of -which he was acknowledged head could hardly fail to be, and there he was admitted to an interview with the Pope. Of what took place during this interview there is no record ; but that something deeply impressive was spoken by the .Pontiff there can be no doubt, for, if by nothing else, this

is certified to by the different appearance of Nicholas as he entered the Pontifical Palace, from that borne by him as he went out from the presence of Pope Gregory, and of which Cardinal Wiseman has given us a spirited description. — "He had entered" says the Cardinal, "with his usual firm and royal aspect, grand as it was, with statuelike features, stately frame, and martial bearing ; free and at his ease, with gracious looks, and condescending gestures of salutation. So he passed through the long suite of ante-rooms, the Imperial Eagle, glossy, fiery, 'with plumes uurufiled, and with eye unquenched,' in all the glory of pinions which no flight had ever wearied, of beak and talon which no prey had yet resisted. He came forth again, with head uncovered, and hair, if it can be said of man, dishevelled ; haggard and pale, looking as though in an hour he had passed through the condensation of a protracted fever ; taking long strides, with stooping shoulders, unobservant, unsaluting : he waited not for his carriage to come to the foot of the stairs, but rushed out into the outer court, and hurried away from, apparently, the scene of a discomfiture. It was the eagle dragged from his eyrie among the clefts in the rocks, ' from his nest among the stars,' his feathers crumpled, and his eye quelled by a power till then despised." After this interview the Czar's method of dealing with his Catholic subjects became much milder, and although we canuot remove his memory from its place in the grim ranks occupied by those of the persecutors of the Church who have passed to their account at the terrible tribunal of God, still we cannot help looking with a special interest on one so evidently open to just remonstrance, and capable of being benefitted by it notwithstanding his irresponsible position, and the habits of his life. But with Nicholas, even the little grace thus granted seems to have passed away, for the government of his son has been from the beginning a scene of fierce persecution. It is hard to know what may be the true character of Sovereigns who are still living ; we have heard it said of Alexander that he is mild and peaceable, but certain events of his reign seem loudly to contradict such a reputation. Perhaps the mildness and peace of his disposition are reserved for those whom he fears ; they have certainly not been shown towards the Poles, who have felt his rule to be indeed of iron. And if we are now to see him act the part of defender of the oppressed, we shall be compelled to attribute his doing so to anything rather than to genuine philanthrophy.