14 AUGUST 1869, Page 2

The Czar has published an ukase., abolishing the hereditary character

of the Russian priesthood, which is now a caste, com- prising 700,000 families. The right to obtain ordination is now extended to all, while a priest's son. can betake himself to ordinary life. It is probable that the motive of this remarkable measure, which has almost escaped attention in Western Europe, was to break up a powerful imperium in imperio, but its effect will probably be to dissolve the ice-like rigidity and coldness of the Russian eccle- siastical system. The new priests will be more like ordinary human beings,—a great gain.