) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
1 ill- m u iâ 
 
 IN KTTRO PF, 
 
 SHOWING 
 
 PALE OF JEWISH SETTLEMENT. 
 
 English Miles 
 
 J' t'na/u 
 
 
 1 BALTIC TROVKCES 
 
 2 GREAT RUSSIA 
 
 3 little Russia 
 
 •1 WEST RUSSIA 
 SOUTH RUSSIA 
 
 6 KINGDOM. OF EA2 AN 
 
 7 ASTRAKHAN 
 
 » ,, POLAND 
 
 9 LIE!TENANCY < 
 
 OF T1IE.CAUCASUS f 
 
 10 GRAND DFCHx ’? T 
 
 " OF FINLAND / 
 
 
 VeLd* 
 
 , \j I Don 7<k\'A J 
 
 ^/Vwia U 
 
 olo jâa. 
 
 VlAlD 
 
 NOVGOROD 
 
 (TOULA' 
 
 .Syzran* 
 
 Poland. 
 
 Russian Territory 
 from which the 
 yews are excluded 
 
 •UfiatorvT 
 
 PhjJj.p cltPnrx 
 
 DAVID NUTT, LONDON. 
 
THE 
 
 RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 EXTERMINATION OR EMANCIPATION? 
 
 BY 
 
 / 
 
 LEO ERRERA 
 
 PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS 
 AND CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF BELGIUM 
 
 WITH A PREFATORY NOTE BY 
 
 THEODORE MOMMSEN 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY 
 
 BELLA LÔWY 
 
 The Jews ought to have civil equality 
 and full rights to establish themselves 
 throughout the Empire. 
 
 Prince Demidoff San-Donato. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 LONDON: D. NUTT 
 1894 
 
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press 
 
PREFATORY NOTE OF PROFESSOR MOMMSEN 
 
 Sir, —You have been good enough to submit to 
 me your work on the present condition of the Jews 
 in Russia. The heartrending picture which you 
 have traced, supported as it is throughout by proofs 
 which are unhappily but too well based, cannot fail 
 to move many hearts, unveiling to them as it does 
 the abyss in which common sense and humanity 
 alike seem to be engulfed. But amongst those 
 whose hearts you have touched, will any be found 
 capable of removing the disgraceful plague-spot, 
 persons not merely content with deploring but also 
 capable of wiping out the darkest blot on this 
 century ? 
 
 Is it not possible to arrest the decay of a greatly 
 vaunted civilisation, the suicide of Russia? Let us 
 hope so ! 
 
 It is a duty never to despair of poor humanity. 
 
 But this duty becomes ever more difficult. Fana¬ 
 ticism is incorrigible. 
 
 But we may still hope that the statesmen of a 
 great Empire and the Sovereign Arbiter of Europe 
 may no longer be dominated by the blind action 
 of a resuscitated Torquemada. 
 
 Mommsen. 
 
 Rome, 
 
 November i, 1893. 
 
 Instituto Archæologico Germanico 
 al Campidoglio. 
 
AUTHOR’S NOTE 
 
 Let those who having read the following pages, 
 nevertheless remain insensible to the picture ol 
 such injustice and misery, put aside this book as 
 a useless work. 
 
 But if there are others who are touched by 
 pity and realise that it is impossible to remain 
 inactive before such an accumulation of sufferings ; 
 of them we ask that they should enlist fresh Sym¬ 
 pathisers and Workers in the cause of Humanity, 
 which we are defending. 
 
 L. E. 
 
 Brussels, 
 
 October 1893. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. SETTLEMENT OF THE JEWS IN RUSSIA.I 
 
 II. THE ATTITUDE OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF RUSSIA TOWARDS 
 
 THE JEWS UNTIL THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . . 5 
 
 III. ALEXANDER I.—NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDER II. . .8 
 
 IV. ALEXANDER III.—MASSACRES OF l88l—THE “ MAY LAWS ” . II 
 
 V. THE PAHLEN COMMISSION—INFLUENCE OF POBEDONOSTSEV l6 
 
 VI. THE GUILDHALL MEETING- 1 —DECLARATION OF RUSSIAN 
 
 WRITERS.29 
 
 VII. THE JEWISH POPULATION—THEIR PALE OF SETTLEMENT— 
 
 THEIR PRIVILEGES. 22 
 
 VIII. CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT . 29 
 
 IX. THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION. 32 
 
 1. EXPULSION OF FOREIGN JEWS I—THE RICH AND THE 
 
 POOR—SCENE IN ODESSA-ANNEXATION OF BESS¬ 
 ARABIA . 38 
 
 2 . THE JEWS EXPELLED FROM THE TOWNLETS AND 
 
 CITIES OF THE PALE :—CONTRADICTORY DECISIONS 
 —EXTRAORDINARY CASE AT JOUSOVKA—OFFICIAL 
 
 VERSION OF A CHANGE OF DOMICILE-KIEV AND 
 
 YALTA ......... 42 
 
 3. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS FROM THE CITIES AND 
 
 PLACES OUTSIDE OF THE SETTLEMENT :—LAW OF 
 
 b 
 
vin 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 ix. ( continued ) 
 
 ALEXANDER II.- CIRCULARS OF l88o AND 1882— 
 
 THEIR BRUTAL ABROGATION IN 1891—NOVGOROD— 
 SCENES DURING PASSOVER IN THE CITY OF MOSCOW 
 
 -ST. PETERSBURG-THE PROVINCES—ORDINANCE 
 
 OF 1893—RIGA—LIBAU-THE CAUCASUS . . -49 
 
 4. EXPULSION OF ARTISANS :—DISPUTE AS TO THE TERM 
 
 “ ARTISANS,” AND AS TO THEIR SKILL—SEVERITY 
 TOWARDS AGED WORKMEN. 71 
 
 5. PRIVILEGE OF KEEPING FAMILIES WITH THEM DENIED 
 
 TO THE JEWS :—CHILDREN ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE 
 THEIR PARENTS—MARRIAGE OF A CONVERT AN¬ 
 NULLED IN HIS FAVOUR—INHUMAN RESTRICTIONS— 
 WIVES BANISHED FROM THEIR HUSBANDS . . 75 
 
 6. BUSINESSES AND TRADES INTERDICTED :-VIOLATION 
 
 OF THE RELIGIOUS EQUALITY PRESCRIBED BY RUSSIA 
 TO OTHER NATIONS—WIDE MEANING GIVEN TO 
 THE WORD “ FUNCTIONARY ”—JEWISH EMPLOYES 
 DISMISSED—LAWYERS’ CLERKS — SUICIDE OF M. 
 
 KOIRANSKI-THE BAR—ELECTIVE FUNCTIONS—AN 
 
 OFFICIAL CONFESSION ...... 79 
 
 7. LIMITATION OF THE NUMBER OF JEWS IN THE UNIVER¬ 
 
 SITIES AND GYMNASIUMS :—INTENTIONS OF ALEX¬ 
 ANDER I. MISUNDERSTOOD-INCREASED SEVERITY 
 
 OF RESTRICTIVE MEASURES—RIGHTS VIOLATED . 87 
 
 8. REFUSAL TO PERMIT THE JEWS TO PARTICIPATE IN 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF THE INSTITUTIONS WHICH THEY 
 
 SUPPORT :—SCHOOLS—EMBEZZLEMENT OF TAXES- 
 
 HOSPITALS. 92 
 
 9. RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS CEREMONIALS :—SPECIAL 
 
 TAXES—RELIGION MADE THE PRETEXT FOR VEXA¬ 
 TIOUS AND EXCEPTIONAL REGULATIONS-EXPLOITA¬ 
 TION OF JEWS BY THE FISCAL AUTHORITIES . . 97 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 IX 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 ix. (continued) 
 
 10. VIOLENCE TOWARDS THE JEWS : POLICE EXACTIONS I 
 
 ROBBERY :-CENSORSHIP—THE NETWORK OF RE¬ 
 STRICTIONS— TREATMENT OF COLONISTS-VEXA¬ 
 
 TIOUS ORDINANCES—ACCUSATION OF “ WANT OF 
 RESPECT ” — ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT - HAND¬ 
 CUFFS—CRUELTIES TOWARDS PREGNANT WOMEN- 
 
 EXTORTIONS OF THE POLICE - PILLAGING IN 
 
 KHARAÏEVO, ELIZABETH GRAD, STARADOUB, JOUSOVKA, 
 
 ETC.-RESPONSIBILITIES ...... IOO 
 
 11. results: abject misery and want:—survey of 
 
 THE SITUATION OF THE JEWS—DESTITUTION IN 
 WILNA, BERDITCHEV, GRODNO, KOVNO, ODESSA, 
 EVERYWHERE . . . . . . . . II3 
 
 X. ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST THE JEWS IN RUSSIA BY THE 
 
 ANTI-SEMITES.I23 
 
 1. TRADE IN MONEY: USURY:—FOUR-FIFTHS OF THE 
 
 RUSSIAN JEWS AT LEAST WITHOUT MEANS - 
 
 JEWISH MONEY-LENDERS LESS EXACTING THAN 
 
 CHRISTIANS - THEIR DEPARTURE REGRETTED —• 
 
 TESTIMONY OF ANTI-SEMITIC JOURNALS . . . 130 
 
 2 . TRADE IN SPIRITS :—ORIGIN OF THIS TRADE AMONGST 
 
 THE JEWS—DO THEY PROMOTE DRUNKENNESS ?— 
 DECLARATION OF KATKOFF—THE EVIDENCE OF 
 FIGURES ......... I35 
 
 3. COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS : TRICKS AND FRAUDS :- 
 
 RESULTS OF EXCEPTIONAL LAWS, OF EXORBITANT 
 TAXES, OF OVERCROWDING—SIGNIFICANT PARALLEL 
 MONOPOLIES—CONCLUSION OF THE PAHLEN COM¬ 
 MISSION . 137 
 
 4. MILITARY SERVICE :-THE JEWS FURNISH MORE THAN 
 
 THEIR PROPORTIONATE CONTINGENT TO THE ARMY 
 —LAW OF 1874—ENROLMENT AND TREATMENT OF 
 JEWISH SOLDIERS—THEIR CONDUCT-TREATMENT 
 
 OF VETERANS 
 
 142 
 
t CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 x. ( continued ) 
 
 5. INCAPACITY FOR MANUAL LABOUR l LARGE NUMBER 
 
 OF JEWISH WORKMEN-THEIR QUALIFICATIONS 
 
 SCHOOLS FOR MANUAL LABOUR—UNIMPEACHABLE 
 STATISTICS . • • • • • * • T 5 ° 
 
 6. INCAPACITY FOR AGRICULTURE :—THE JEWS AS AN 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PEOPLE — JEWISH VILLAGES — 
 COLONIES—UNEXPECTED SUCCESS DESPITE OB¬ 
 
 STACLES CREATED BY RUSSIAN ADMINISTRATION . 155 
 
 7. SUBVERSIVE TENDENCIES : PARTICULARISM :-NUMBER 
 
 OF JEWISH NIHILISTS—EXCLUSIVENESS OR EXCLU¬ 
 SION—PATRIOTISM-SAYING OF TERTULLIAN . . 164 
 
 8. WANT OF EDUCATION AND CLEANLINESS:—CAUSES AND 
 
 EFFECTS—A JEWISH AND A SLAV VILLAGE-ORDER 
 
 AND MORALITY. T 7 ° 
 
 9. SERVICES RENDERED BY THE JEWS : DISASTROUS 
 
 RESULTS OF THE RUSSIAN PERSECUTIONS :—FAIR AT 
 
 NI j N j—OPINIONS OF MOSCOW MANUFACTURERS- 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS 
 
 -TOWNS SOLICITING ADMISSION OF JEWS—SUGAR- 
 
 MILLS — FLOUR-MILLS - VARIOUS INDUSTRIES 
 
 CREATED BY JEWS-JEWISH CHARITY-ROUBLEF- 
 
 PROGRESS—OPINION OF CATHERINE THE GREAT . 173 
 
 10. FAVOURABLE DECLARATION OF WRITERS AND RUSSIAN 
 
 AUTHORITIES : — OFFICIAL COMMISSIONS — PRINCE 
 DEMIDOFF—PROTESTS OF THE CHIEF MEN OF 
 
 THE COUNTRY-GOVERNORS — STATISTICIANS AND 
 
 ECONOMISTS. I ^° 
 
 XI. THE SOLUTIONS. T ^4 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE JEWS IN RUSSIA. 
 
 The Jews are not intruders into the great Slav 
 Empire ; they count amongst its earliest inhabitants. 
 
 At the time of the economic and commercial 
 development which ensued after the conquest of 
 Asia, by Alexander the Great, the Jews established 
 themselves in all the important Greek communities, 
 and especially in the maritime cities. To this first 
 immigration, which dates back to the third century 
 before the common era, doubtless belong the most 
 ancient Jewish inhabitants of Southern Russia and 
 the Crimea. 
 
 Towards the seventh century, a Finnish people 
 from the banks of the Volga, the Khazars, became 
 in great part converts to Judaism, the first of these 
 converts being the king and his nobles. They were 
 brought over to the ancient Mosaic religion by some 
 of the rabbis, who had fled from the persecutions of 
 the Byzantine emperors. 
 
 The Jewish kingdom of the Khazars was destroyed 
 
2 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 at the end of the tenth century, by Sviatoslav, a 
 Russian prince of Kiev ; and the remnant of the 
 conquered population fled to the Crimea and joined 
 the Jewish communities which had been established 
 there for many centuries. # 
 
 At the time of the conversion of the Khazars 
 a Jewish sect known under the name of the 
 Karaites, and which rejected the Talmud, began to 
 acquire influence in Palestine, and became distri¬ 
 buted far and wide, more especially throughout the 
 Crimea. Even at the present day there exist in 
 Southern Russia several thousands of Karaites, 
 who have possessed important privileges since the 
 time of Catherine the Great ; they live quite isolated 
 from the rest of the Israelites, to whom, by the way, 
 it is forbidden to become converts to Karaltism : but 
 these 3000 to 4000 Karaites do not come within the 
 scope of our survey, and the Russian Government 
 does not even consider them as Jews.t 
 
 In Poland, the Jewish immigration began to take 
 place chiefly from the eleventh century, and the 
 persecutions of which the Jews in Germany were at 
 that time the objects, caused a great number to take 
 refuge in that country, where their condition, which 
 was very precarious in the commencement, became 
 improved towards the second half of the fourteenth 
 century. Casimir the Great, gave to the Jews the 
 right of free circulation and free trade ; he recognised 
 
 * Th. Reinach : “ Histoire des Israelites,” pp. 52, 53. 
 
 t Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior in the Novo'ie Vremia, 
 13/25 Feb. 1893. 
 
SETTLEMENT OF THE JEWS IN RUSSIA 
 
 3 
 
 their Rabbinical tribunals, and protected them 
 against the frequent outbreaks of fanaticism. # 
 
 During the following two centuries, Poland was 
 the only country in Europe, where the Jews could 
 develop peacefully ; they multiplied very rapidly, 
 and constituted the middle and working classes of 
 the country ; being the intermediate grade between 
 the warlike nobles on the one hand, and the en¬ 
 slaved peasants on the other. 
 
 Contemporary sources testify to the prosperity of 
 the Polish Jews of those days, and to their aptitude 
 for agriculture, for general business, as also for 
 science and literary pursuits. “Wearing no dis¬ 
 tinctive head-dress,” writes the Nuncio Commendoni, 
 “ and with no badge to distinguish them from Chris¬ 
 tians, they are soldiers—they carry the sword ; in 
 short, they live on a footing of perfect equality with 
 the other inhabitants of the kingdom.” t 
 
 Towards the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 Chmielniki, the Hetman of the Cossacks, assisted by 
 the Tartars and Russians, overcame the Poles in 
 three campaigns, and treated both Jews and Catholics 
 alike, with extreme rigour. 
 
 In one town alone, ten thousand Jews were 
 massacred ; and the Jews of Poland were never 
 again able to recover from these disasters, which, as 
 it is said, cost the lives of more than 200,000 of 
 their people. Nevertheless, the Jewish population 
 of Poland remained very numerous, and although 
 
 * Graetz : “ History of the Jews,” vol. iv. p. 120. 
 t Ibid. vol. v. p. 9. 
 
4 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 reduced to a condition of the greatest wretchedness, 
 yet continued to increase in numbers. 
 
 The extension of Russia towards the West and 
 South, which characterised its political history in 
 the eighteenth century, led to the incorporation 
 within the empire of a great number of Jews, and 
 both in Poland and in the Crimea, the Russian 
 conquerors found a large population of Jews who 
 had dwelt there for many centuries. Therefore 
 it is not justifiable to speak of an invasion of 
 Russia by the Jews, for it is Russia which in the 
 eighteenth century, and in our own days, forcibly 
 acquired regions and districts which had been mainly 
 populated by Jews. 
 
 
CHAPTER IL 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF RUSSIA TO¬ 
 WARDS THE JEWS UNTIL THE NINETEENTH 
 CENTURY. 
 
 The Sovereigns of Russia from an early period 
 showed a hostility and contempt for the Jew* 
 worthy of the prejudices of those times. In mo, 
 the Jews who were residents in their empire were 
 visited with a decree of expulsion, and had to take 
 refuge in Poland. Alexis Michaelovitch, the second 
 of the Romanoffs, caused sentence of death to be 
 passed on any one who should convert a Christian to 
 Judaism. In 1650, he refused the request of the 
 King of Poland, who demanded for his Jewish sub¬ 
 jects the right of entering Russia and of engaging 
 in the commerce of that country. 
 
 In 1749, the Empress Elizabeth banished her 
 physician Sanchez from Russia, although he had 
 attended her during eighteen years, because she had 
 suddenly become acquainted with the fact, that he was 
 a Jew. Seven years previously, in 1742, an imperial 
 ukase had expelled all Jews from Russian domains. 
 
 The “ Jewish question,” however, did not com¬ 
 mence to assume an important aspect in Russia 
 
6 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 until the increasing dimensions of the growing- 
 
 o o o 
 
 empire incorporated within its frontiers several 
 provinces in which the Jewish element was con¬ 
 spicuous by its preponderance. Catherine the Great, 
 owing to her philosophical training, though inclined 
 to tolerance, was obliged to avoid wounding the 
 susceptibilities of the old Muscovite spirit, and 
 was thus prevented from proceeding to any lengths 
 in that direction. When, in 1769, the empire was en¬ 
 larged by the accession of White Russia (a territory 
 in which the Jewish communities could be counted 
 by hundreds, and where until that period they had 
 enjoyed a certain amount of liberty), the Tsarina did 
 not attempt to enforce the ukase of 1742, which 
 would have entailed as a consequence the driving 
 back, of the entire newly annexed Jewish population 
 beyond the frontiers. 
 
 This would have meant the sudden ruin of all 
 the provinces where the commercial and industrial 
 activity was mainly in the hands of the Jews. They 
 were therefore permitted to remain. M. de Gra- 
 dowski, a Councillor of State, demonstrates from 
 documentary evidence, that Catherine II. had actu¬ 
 ally granted to the Jews the rights enjoyed by all 
 other Russian subjects, and that she desired that 
 they should enjoy almost entire emancipation ; # 
 but under the pretext of interpreting the intentions 
 of the Empress, the Senate nevertheless enforced 
 various restrictive measures. 
 
 * M. de Gradowski : “ The Legal Situation of the Jews in Russia,” 
 French translation, Paris, 1891, vol. i. pp. 72-76, 99-100, 106, 107. 
 
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE JEWS 
 
 7 
 
 The senatorial ukases of 1786, 1791, and 1794, are 
 the original causes of all the calamities that the 
 Jews are now undergoing in Russia. 
 
 The Senate forbade them to inhabit the seaports, 
 and excluded them from the corporations, into which 
 Catherine had granted them admission. 
 
 White Russia, to which other conquered provinces 
 were added, constituted the “ Pale of Settlement,” 
 whence it was not permitted to the Jews to have 
 egress, except under certain fixed conditions. It is 
 manifest that this cantonment within the Pale, and 
 exclusion from the privilege of free circulation, which 
 jurists unanimously declare to be indefeasible, was 
 the work of the Senate, and not that of the great 
 Empress.^ 
 
 From this time onwards the sad record of the 
 Jews of Russia is comprised in the conflict between 
 a series of measures of crowding in, and restrictions as 
 to residence, as to employment and professions. A 
 conflict between that ancient spirit of intolerance 
 bequeathed to us by the Middle Ages, and the 
 natural tendency to expansion on the part of a 
 numerous and intelligent population, who were 
 unable to emigrate in a body from the country in 
 which they were held in suspicion ; but who, on the 
 other hand, show a heroic opposition to all attempts 
 made to convert them. 
 
 * De Martens : “ Treatise of International Right,” French transla¬ 
 tion, vol. i. p. 441. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ALEXANDER I.—NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDER II. 
 
 Alexander I. was not always unfavourable to the 
 J ews. 
 
 In 1804, he granted them the right of placing their 
 children 111 all the public educational institutions ; 
 of buying and renting ground, and of establishing 
 themselves in any jiart of the imperial domains, in 
 order that they should devote themselves to agri¬ 
 cultural pursuits. He even conceded to the Jews 
 certain territories, which were to be utilised for 
 agricultural colonies. If this attempt (like others 
 of a similar nature emanating from Tsar Nicholas) 
 was not so successful at the outset, as had been 
 expected, this was due to administrative causes and 
 to the want of technical instruction ; and it must 
 he recorded to Tsar Alexander’s credit that he pro¬ 
 moted so generous and practical a plan. 
 
 But, on the other hand, the territory on which 
 the Jews possessed the right of dwelling, was now 
 further diminished by the prohibition to establish 
 themselves within fifty versts of the frontier. It was 
 even contemplated that they should be forbidden 
 to reside in any part of the rural districts, and to 
 
ALEXANDER AND NICHOLAS 9 
 
 confine them entirely to the cities. However, owing 
 to the urgent representations which the Minister 
 of the Interior made to the Tsar, in 1808, in 
 which he demonstrated that such a measure would 
 simply mean to condemn the Jews to death from 
 starvation, this law was not enforced. A Royal 
 Commission, nominated by the Emperor, and presided 
 over by Popoff—on February 17? 1812—drew up a 
 report which was favourable to the Jews of Poland 
 and of White Russia, and in this the Commissioners 
 recommended the suppression of some of the restric¬ 
 tions with regard to residence, which weighed so 
 heavily upon them. 
 
 Not only, however, was scant attention given to this 
 protest, hut Tsar Nicholas still further diminished 
 the Pale of Settlement, by excluding from its limits 
 the towns of Kiev, Nicolaiev and Sebastopol ; and 
 he also renewed the law of his predecessor with regard 
 to the fifty versts on the eastern frontier, a radius 
 within which it was forbidden to the Jews to erect 
 their domiciles. It may be added that various 
 violent attempts to convert the Jewish soldiers, 
 threw a gloomy light on the intolerant disposition 
 of Tsar Nicholas. 
 
 But with these exceptions, it would be unjust to 
 ignore the comparative peace which the Jews 
 enjoyed in this reign, or to forget that the Tsar 
 allowed them to leave their own special districts, in 
 order to visit the great fairs, and that he not only 
 encouraged them to devote themselves to agricul¬ 
 ture, but also to attend the universities and schools. 
 
IO THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Under Alexander IL, a prince of liberal and 
 generous ideas, the condition of the Jews was 
 improved to such a degree that they cherished hopes 
 of entire emancipation ; not because the exceptional 
 laws accumulated against them m the codes were 
 ever formally rescinded, but because the tolerant 
 spirit of the Tsar, in an autocratic and hierarchical 
 country, could not fail to exercise a favourable 
 influence on its policy and administration. 
 
 The Jew did not as yet possess the right of 
 choosing either his dwelling-place or his profession : 
 he could not be a sailor in the navy, an officer in 
 the army, or a superior functionary of the Govern¬ 
 ment. He did not enjoy any of the civic rights to 
 the same extent as these were accorded to the most 
 lowly of his fellow-citizens ; but such is the con¬ 
 dition of affairs at the present day, that the Jews 
 have been led to regard the reign of Alexander II. 
 as a golden age. 
 
 There was indeed every reason to believe that, 
 after liberating the serfs, Alexander II. meant to 
 extend a similar benefit to the Jews, as well as 
 to institute parliamentary rule in Kussia, but un¬ 
 happily criminal hands put an end to the noble 
 existence of a monarch, whose revered memory is 
 piously cherished by the Kussian Jews. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ALEXANDER III.—MASSACRES OF 1881 . 
 
 THE “ MAY LAWS.” 
 
 The accession of Alexander III. was marked by a 
 violent reaction against all the liberal ideas of the 
 preceding reign, which retrogression was due to 
 the old Muscovite party, whose obstinate opposition 
 to the reforms of Alexander II. had never ceased to 
 paralyse his internal policy. The ignorant populace, 
 horrified by the crimes of the Nihilists, were easily 
 persuaded that the only chance of welfare for the 
 empire, lay in a return to the ideas of the past, and 
 in undisguised hostility towards everything that 
 was not orthodox and Russian. 
 
 Thus arose the terrible disturbances which 
 marked the close of 1881, and the commencement of 
 1882, when a great number of Jews fell as victims, 
 and hundreds of thousands amongst them were 
 completely ruined. From Ekaterinoslav to Wilna 
 the panic spread amongst the Jews, and they took 
 flight across the frontier in immense numbers, in 
 order to reach some place of safety. 
 
 Thanks to the sympathy aroused by their mis¬ 
 fortunes in every city of Europe, means were found 
 
I 2 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 to indemnify some of the victims and to bring 
 help to their families. But terror and discourage¬ 
 ment reigned supreme. 
 
 What was the attitude of the Russian Govern¬ 
 ment at this juncture ? Publicly, they blamed the 
 rioters, and even on various occasions punished 
 those who had incited the mob to disorder—both the 
 incendiaries and pillagers. But when the rioters 
 were asked why they trampled down the Jews, the 
 reply was : “ They say that our little father, the 
 Tsar, wishes it.” Public opinion in Europe was not 
 in the wrong ; the excitement of the populace did not 
 arise from accumulated grievances against the Jews, 
 with whom they lived in perfect peace, but was 
 due to official suggestion, and in order that a 
 pretext might be found for formulating new excep¬ 
 tional laws ; and before long these enactments were 
 actually drawn up. 
 
 The celebrated “May Laws” of 1882 were 
 elaborated by General Ignatieff, whose rancorous 
 hostility to the Jews was well known. 
 
 After the terrible disorders and riots which had 
 stained with blood the commencement of that year, 
 a well-meaning legislator would have comprehended 
 the necessity of removing those exceptional laws, 
 which distinguished Jews from Christians, and 
 which, by perpetually individualising the former as 
 suspects, rendered them liable to the hatred and 
 violence of the latter. 
 
 But just the contrary system was actually 
 pursued, and it seems to have been accounted to 
 
THE “MAY LAWS” 
 
 i3 
 
 the Jews as a crime that they had to undergo these 
 misfortunes, and the slender amount of freedom 
 granted to them became even more restricted than 
 in the preceding reign. Subjoined is the text of the 
 May Laws, which should rather be designated as 
 the “ Laws of Ignatieff,” in order that this tyrant 
 should have to bear the full weight of his outrages 
 upon humanity, when the record of his work shall be 
 handed down to posterity in the pages of history. 
 
 The Committee of Ministers, having heard the 
 report of the Minister of the Interior on the execu¬ 
 tion of the temporary orders concerning the Jews, 
 resolved : 
 
 1. As a temporary measure, and until a general 
 revision has been made in a proper manner of the 
 laws concerning the Jews, to forbid the Jews hence¬ 
 forth to settle outside the towns and townlets, the 
 only exceptions admitted, being in those Jewish 
 colonies that have existed before, and whose in¬ 
 habitants are agriculturists. 
 
 2. To suspend temporarily the completion of 
 instruments of purchase of real property mortgages 
 in the name of Jews ; as also the registration of 
 Jews as lessees of landed estates, situated outside 
 the precincts of towns and townlets, and the issue 
 of powers of attorney to enable them to manage 
 and dispose of such property. 
 
 3. To forbid Jews to carry on business on 
 Sundays and on Christian holidays, and that the 
 same laws in force, about the closing on such days 
 of places of business belonging to Christians shall, 
 
14 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 in the same way, apply to places of business owned 
 by Jews. 
 
 4. That the measures laid down in paragraphs 
 1, 2, and 3, apply only to the Governments within 
 the Pale of Jewish Settlement. His Majesty the 
 Emperor was graciously pleased to give his assent, 
 to the above resolutions, of the Committee of 
 Ministers, on the 3rd of May 1882. 
 
 To understand the full bearing of these laws, of 
 which we shall presently see the terrible conse¬ 
 quences, it must be borne in mind, that as a result of 
 the comparative toleration shown by Alexander II., 
 thousands of Jewish artizans had settled down in 
 those small townlets of the territory, in which they 
 had actually been invited to establish themselves. 
 Further, as no Russian law has ever defined what 
 is meant by a “ townlet,” a wide field was opened 
 for the most arbitrary proceedings ; for a townlet 
 might any day be declared to be a village, and the 
 Israelites would in consequence be expelled. Such 
 expulsions did not fail to occur, with ever-increasing 
 severity ; the result being to fill to overflowing all 
 towns of the Settlement, in which the popula¬ 
 tion was already enormously overcrowded, in 
 which labour was at a standstill, and where com¬ 
 petition had reached such a deadly pitch that the 
 hygienic conditions of life, became daily more and 
 more deplorable. 
 
 Since 1882, the authorities certainly repressed 
 some of the most violent uprisings which broke out 
 against the Jews, but they instituted at the same 
 
THE “MAY LAWS” 
 
 i5 
 
 time a system of driving-back and overcrowding, of 
 which the incontestable object, if not the avowed 
 one, is to condemn several millions of human beings 
 to die of starvation, to become converts, or to quit 
 Russia. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE PAHLEN COMMISSION.-INFLUENCE 
 
 OF POBEDONOSTSEV. 
 
 The May Laws were not immediately put into 
 operation. At first a hope was felt that the 
 Russian Government would shrink from adopting 
 measures of such draconic severity, if only in con¬ 
 sideration of the disturbances, which must thereby 
 result in all commercial enterprise. In 1883, a 
 Commission, presided over by Count Pahlen, was 
 entrusted with the task of elaborating a general 
 report, on the Jewish question in Russia. It was 
 intended that the May Laws, should only be 
 regarded as temporary measures, and a definite 
 legislation was greatly desired. Various indica¬ 
 tions led to the supposition that such a code would 
 be conceived in a more liberal spirit. In fact, 
 the conclusions drawn by the Pahlen Commission, 
 and supported by public opinion all tended to 
 prove, that the Jews should be granted some portion 
 of the civil rights, which had hitherto been ob¬ 
 stinately refused to them. 
 
 One of the members of the Commission, Prince 
 Demidoff San Donato had published in 1883, a 
 
INFLUENCE OF POBEDONOSTSEV 
 
 i7 
 
 survey of the whole question, # in which, with true 
 courage, he openly demanded the complete eman¬ 
 cipation of the Jews, and a full concession of ordinary 
 rights. Unfortunately, however, these wise counsels 
 found no favour. In consequence of a fictitious con¬ 
 sultation with the governors of the province, to 
 whom the question was put, whether it ivould not he 
 desirable to increase the restrictive laws on the 
 Jews ? the report of the Pahlen Commission was 
 passed over, and the counsels of M. Pobedonostsev 
 carried the day ; and his methods, to the lasting dis¬ 
 grace of the nineteenth century, continue to remain 
 in force until the present time. 
 
 M. Pobedonostsev is the Procurator of the Holy 
 Synod, which is the most exalted office in the reli¬ 
 gious hierarchy of Russia. He is a hard-working and 
 upright man, who has obtained over Alexander III., 
 his former pupil, an ascendancy similar to that 
 exercised by Torquemada over Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, or by Père la Chaise over Louis XIV. . 
 The standpoint assumed by M. Pobedonostsev in 
 his consideration of the Jewish question is at the 
 ■same time religious and national. His dogmatic 
 spirit, carried away by a desire for unity, can 
 only behold in Russia, according to an old motto 
 —“One King, one Faith, one Law.” Deceived like 
 many others by the equivocal expression of race, 
 
 * Translated into English under the title of “The Jewish Ques¬ 
 tion in Russia,” London, 1884 (by Mitchell), and into French under the 
 title of “La Question Juive en Russie,” Bruxelles, 1884—reviewed in 
 French in the selections “Les Juifs de Russie,” Paris, 1891. 
 
 B 
 
i8 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 which politics have thoughtlessly borrowed from 
 philology and natural history, he believes that 
 Russia ought to be wholly Slav and wholly 
 Christian ; and Russian and Slav, Slav and 
 Christian are to him identical conceptions. Nearly 
 all the great crimes in history have been committed 
 in the name of general ideas insufficiently ripened, 
 and have been enthusiastically adopted by sectarians, 
 to whom the simplicity of a formula disguises its 
 absurdity or its barbarity. When M. Pobédonostsev 
 was asked what he intended to do with the Russian 
 Jews, he did not hesitate to reply that, as the eighty 
 millions of Slavs were inconvenienced by the small 
 body of strangers, the matter to be considered was 
 how best to be rid of these aliens. 
 
 The iniquitous saying, that “ a third will be 
 converted, a third will emigrate, and the rest will 
 die of hunger,” is attributed to him. 
 
 And to such inhuman extremes does religious 
 fanaticism threaten to bring the man, who, by the 
 immense influence which he exercises over Tsar 
 Alexander III. regarding certain questions, may 
 well be considered as the actual master of Russia. 
 
 But we need not inquire as to whether M. Pobé¬ 
 donostsev did actually pronounce these words or 
 not : the acts which he has inspired and still con¬ 
 tinues to prompt being unhapjnly sufficiently 
 eloquent. For more than ten years past the results 
 have strenuously appealed for reproof to the 
 conscience of the civilised world. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 THE GUILDHALL MEETING-DECLARATION OF 
 
 RUSSIAN WRITERS. 
 
 Public opinion, the only resource of the persecuted 
 against their oppressors, manifested itself most 
 eloquently in 18 81, when the before-mentioned 
 massacre occurred. 
 
 In 1890, a touching and at the same time im¬ 
 pressive manifestation of public feeling with regard 
 to this subject was given at the meeting held in 
 London in the December of that year, and which was 
 brought about and organised by the most eminent 
 Christians in England. It had become known that 
 a series of new laws was in preparation, which would 
 give the last blow to the wretched Jews in Russia, 
 by forbidding these Jews throughout the empire (and 
 including those of Poland who had been spared by 
 the May Laws) to reside anywhere, except in the 
 cities. “ It was,” as has been said by a known 
 writer, “ as if all the Jews of Russia were to be 
 violently crowded-in and piled on top of each other, 
 like grasshoppers in a ditch ; here they were to 
 be miserably crushed together until the fruitless 
 struggle for life should have done its work.” 
 
20 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 The respectful Petition addressed to the Tsar, 
 as the result of the London meeting-, was sent 
 back unopened (!) through diplomatic channels. 
 The official journal of the Russian Government, 
 Le Nord , applauded this proceeding as a proof, 
 emanating from the highest quarters, that Russia 
 would not permit foreigners to meddle with its 
 internal affairs. Notwithstanding this, Russia had, 
 on a former occasion, accorded its thanks to the 
 Duke of Westminster, one of the signatories to the 
 petition, when, in 1876, he had raised his voice in 
 favour of the oppressed Bulgarians. 
 
 At the same time a certain number of authors 
 and Russian writers, amongst whom was the cele¬ 
 brated novelist, Count Leon Tolstoi, signed a 
 declaration condemning the restrictive laws enacted 
 against the Jews. The censor forbade the circu¬ 
 lation of this publication, but the text became 
 known by means of a Berlin paper, the Borsen- 
 Courier , which, having become possessed of a copy 
 of the document, had it reproduced in its issue of 
 December 16, 1890. 
 
 The following are some of the principal passages, 
 literally translated : 
 
 “The Anti-Semitic agitation, which the Russian 
 press propagates and encourages, constitutes an un¬ 
 paralleled attack on the fundamental principles of 
 justice and humanity. We therefore consider it 
 necessary to remind the Russian public of those 
 elementary principles, of which the application 
 would effect the only possible solution of what is 
 
DECLARATION OF RUSSIAN WRITERS 21 
 
 commonly known as the 4 Jewish question.’ ” “ The 
 
 mere fact of the existence of a question of this kind 
 is the immediate result of a forgetfulness of these 
 same elementary principles.” “It is unjust to make 
 the Jews responsible for defects which are only due 
 to secular persecutions, and to the utterly abnormal 
 conditions in which they live.” “ To be of the 
 Semitic race, and to observe the laws of Moses, 
 which in itself is neither illegal nor blameable, can 
 by no means justify the repressive measures adopted 
 against the Jews.” “As the Russian Jews con- 
 tribute towards the public burdens and fulfil their 
 duties towards the State, in just the same way as 
 other classes of the Russian people, they should 
 enjoy the same rights.” “ On the ground of self- 
 preservation, a decisive condemnation should be 
 raised to this anti-Semitic agitation, which is not 
 only immoral in itself, but which may actually con¬ 
 stitute a grave danger to the future of Russia.” 
 
 These wise and noble utterances fell upon deaf 
 ears, but posterity will recall them, and will honour 
 the noblest of the Russian people, who could not 
 witness with dull indifference the most terrible 
 religious persecution of modern times. 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 
 THE JEWISH POPULATION—THEIR PALE OF 
 SETTLEMENT—THEIR PRIVILEGES. 
 
 Before entering into a detailed account of the 
 deplorable cruelties which, from 1882 until the pre¬ 
 sent time, have caused Eastern Russia to be a vast 
 arena of destitution and suffering, let us endeavour 
 to determine the number of the Russian Jews, and to 
 cast a glance on their legal position at this period, 
 or rather, as it has been said, let us review their 
 conditions beyond the precincts of the law. 
 
 A general census of the Russian population has 
 never yet been taken. Therefore it is only jiossible 
 to make approximate calculations, which have to be 
 founded on the estimates of the police, and to 
 these, according to the opinion of the most com¬ 
 petent authorities, commencing with the Central 
 Statistical Committee of the empire,^ only a very 
 limited amount of confidence can be given. 
 
 The Annual of 1890, published by the Committee, 
 computes the total population of the sixty govern¬ 
 ment, comprised within Russia in Europe, and in- 
 
 * “Annales de Statistique de l’Empire Russe,” ii. io; and “An¬ 
 nuaire Statistique de la Russie,” 1890, p. 2. 
 
23 
 
 THE JEWISH POPULATION 
 
 eluding Poland (but not Finland and the Caucasus), 
 during the year 1886, at 93?7°3?33 1 souls. 
 
 From calculations which have been purposely 
 exaggerated, the details of which are to be found in 
 a publication entitled “ Les Juifs de Russie, # the 
 Jews are entered as constituting 4,500,000 souls 
 
 out of the total population. 
 
 The number of Jews scattered over the remaining 
 portions of the globe being probably less than 
 4,000,000,t it will be seen that Russia in Europe 
 contains more than one-half of the entire Jewish 
 population throughout the world. 
 
 From the numbers given above it will also be 
 apparent that the proportion of the Jewish popula¬ 
 tion, when compared with that of the non-Jewish 
 inhabitants, does not reach more than five per 
 cent. This number it will be as well for our readers 
 to bear in mind. The proportion is naturally much 
 greater, if, instead of taking into consideration the 
 whole of Russia, we turn our attention only to 
 certain regions, in which the Jews are simply packed 
 together, owing 1 to various decrees from the highest 
 authorities, by whose instructions they have been 
 continually more and more closely crowded. Thus 
 they represent 12 to 13 per cent, of the entire 
 population of the Settlement, and 13 to 14 p©i cent, 
 of Russian Poland. 
 
 The expression, “ The Pale of Settlement, is 
 
 * Paris, 1891, p. 320. 
 
 t Vide “ Juifs ” in the “ Dictionnaire Universel de Géographie de 
 Vivien de Saint-Martin.” 
 
24 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 often misunderstood, for the district thus designated, 
 being more extensive than England and France put 
 together, it might he supposed that 3,000,000 or 
 4,000,000'' Russian Jews could live there with the 
 greatest ease. Let us see, however, what restric¬ 
 tions were imposed upon their sojourn in the “ Pale, 5 ’ 
 even before the time when a fresh increase of severity 
 caused them to be compressed within yet more limited 
 boundaries. The territories of Russia, in which the 
 Jews are permitted to reside, are comprised in the 
 ten ancient provinces of Poland, and in fifteen out 
 of the fifty governments constituting Russia pro¬ 
 per, the last-named being known under the title of 
 the “Jewish Pale of Settlement.” All these districts 
 are situated in the west of the empire, and, with 
 the exception of the south-eastern regions, are not 
 very fertile. 
 
 It is also forbidden to Jews, with some very few 
 exceptions, to inhabit Finland, notwithstanding that 
 no reservation of this kind can be found in the 
 “ Code of Laws of the Grand Duchy,” which is 
 published every year by order of the Government. 
 
 As will be apparent from the figures quoted above, 
 the Jews possess no right of residence beyond the 
 borders of Poland, except within the cities and the 
 townlets of the “ Pale.” Residence on the frontiers 
 of Prussia, of Austria, or of the Balkan States is 
 forbidden to them, theoretically at least, within a 
 radius of 50 versts. # If this frontier circle is de¬ 
 ducted, the superficies of the Pale is still greater 
 
 * A verst equals 1166 yards. 
 
THEIR PRIVILEGES 
 
 25 
 
 than that of France. Amongst 25,000,000 inhabitants 
 in 1891,there were at the lowest computation 3,000,000 
 Jews, and in the ten provinces of Poland there are 
 about 1,000,000 Jews. Although the published 
 statistics on this subject are defective, it is calcu¬ 
 lated that about five hundred thousand Jews are 
 distributed in other parts of Russia, either because 
 formerly a slight amount of toleration was displayed 
 towards them in such places, or because a select few 
 amongst their race are specially privileged. These 
 privileges, according to the letter of the law, are 
 supposed to be granted only for learning, or to 
 members of the higher professions. 
 
 Tsar Nicholas having granted permission to those 
 Jews who obtained University honours, to dwell in 
 all parts of the empire, no efforts on their part were 
 neglected to secure this right. Before 1886, the 
 year in which the restrictions enforced, limited the 
 number of Jews admissible to the University to so 
 many per cent., there were 48 Jewish pupils in the 
 higher schools, out of a population of 10,000 inhabit¬ 
 ants, against 22 Christian pupils amongst the same 
 number of Christian inhabitants. Besides those who 
 were privileged on account of their learning, Alex¬ 
 ander II. granted the right of residence, in each and 
 all of the Russian provinces, to merchants and busi¬ 
 ness men who, during five years, had belonged to the 
 first guild. When the head of a family had been a 
 member of this guild for twenty-five years, he ob¬ 
 tained for himself, and for his direct descendants, the 
 title of “ Hereditary Citizen,” the most envied of all 
 
2 6 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 distinctions, because, in spite of any reverse of 
 fortune which might ensue, it assured to the pos¬ 
 terity of its owner the right of living in any part 
 of Russia. As the patent of the first guild costs 
 thousands of roubles, it can readily be conceived 
 that the number of Jews thus privileged, would be 
 very limited, whilst that of “Hereditary Citizens” 
 is yet more so. Therefore in the facts narrated in 
 this treatise there is no question of the various privi¬ 
 leges granted to the rich. Those who profit by an 
 exceptional state of things, belong to a class, whose 
 more or less enviable position, has nothing in 
 common with the unfortunate beings whom the 
 Russian legislature deprives of their daily bread, 
 and converts into beggars or vagabonds. These 
 unfortunate persons merit all the sympathies of 
 Europe, and in support of their cause, we, like 
 many others who have preceded us, desire to uplift 
 the voice of supplication. 
 
 Since 1865, “skilled artisans” have been allowed 
 to establish themselves in Russia. The term 
 “ skilled ” artisan is no less vague than that of 
 “ townlet,” and lends itself equally well to all 
 intrigues which may be inspired by jealousy or 
 competition, for when the police wish to contest the 
 “ skill ” of an artisan, they are never at a loss for 
 some excuse to effect their object. 
 
 With the exception of the skilled artisan, it has 
 never been specified that persons having the right 
 of residence in Russia can transmit such right to 
 any members of their own family, and the contrary 
 
THEIR PRIVILEGES 
 
 27 
 
 argument is continually brought forward when it 
 seems desirable to deprive persons of their privi¬ 
 leges. 
 
 Thus in 1885, when residence in all portions ol 
 the empire was granted to Jewish mid wives, it was 
 decided that the children of these women should not 
 live with their mothers outside of the Pale. 
 
 Mechanics are legally authorised to have their 
 wives and children with them, hut a similar privilege 
 is refused to their parents. A young man or a young- 
 girl, who, owing to the privilege possessed by his 
 or her father, is permitted to reside outside of the 
 “ Pale,” loses this right as soon as the father dies. 
 
 In the days of Nicholas, old soldiers were per¬ 
 mitted to dwell anywhere and everywhere, hut now 
 this boon is denied to their families, and sometimes 
 to themselves. It would have been very simple, 
 in order to avoid dispute, to particularise the exact 
 limitations of the advantages granted to each peison, 
 and to his relations and descendants. But if this 
 matter has been hitherto neglected, it is owing to 
 the policy pursued in all matters with regard to the 
 Jews, in order to effect the withdrawal with one hand 
 of what has been granted with the other, and thus 
 an almost unlimited area for the scheming of an 
 arbitrary Government is the îesult , and abundant 
 examples of this assertion are to be found. 
 
 Further—shall we say it ? the right of lesi 
 dence in every city of Russia is granted to prostitutes, 
 who are provided with a yellow card for this 
 purpose. This infamous passport has more than 
 
28 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 once been solicited by respectable Jewesses, de¬ 
 sirous of being enabled to penetrate into certain 
 great cities in which they are not permitted to 
 dwell. 
 
 M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu relates a heartrending 
 story, often since quoted, of a young girl who 
 came to Moscow to learn shorthand. She de¬ 
 manded and obtained the yellow card ; but after 
 a time the police expelled her, because they • dis¬ 
 covered after watching her, that she refrained from 
 following her assumed trade ! 
 
CHAPTER Yin. 
 
 CONDITION OF THE JEWS IN THE PALE OF 
 
 SETTLEMENT. 
 
 In the vast Ghetto, which is known as the “Jewish 
 Pale,” the situation of the Israelites has always 
 been lamentable ; but now it has become so utterly 
 unbearable, that only an immediate order for a 
 wholesale massacre could in any way aggravate the 
 condition of things there. 
 
 We have already seen that the Jews cannot 
 acquire or rent any landed property, and that they 
 must all reside in the cities and townlets. In these 
 places the population has increased to perfectly 
 alarming proportions, owing to the continual crowd¬ 
 ing-in of the Jews. 
 
 As the immense majority of them are destitute (to 
 an extent absolutely unknown in Eastern Europe), 
 there could be no question of building new quarters 
 in which to lodge the immigrants, who are forciblv 
 ejected from the villages and congested in the cities ; 
 the result being a condition of overcrowding, which 
 to-day constitutes a formidable and permanent 
 danger to the public health, of all nations through¬ 
 out Europe. The Jews are so closely packed into 
 
3° 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 these towns, in which they form the majority of the 
 population, that three of them are compelled to 
 occupy the same amount of space as would suffice 
 for one Christian f and “ corners of rooms ” are let 
 out to entire families ! As is frequently the case, 
 extreme want is exceedingly prolific, and this starv¬ 
 ing nation multiplies to an alarming degree, not¬ 
 withstanding the illnesses and the hunger by which 
 it is decimated. Where it is possible to find any 
 work at all, the rate of wage is continually lessen¬ 
 ing, in consequence of the enforced competition 
 amongst the Jews ; even clever and industrious 
 workmen can hardly gain twelve shillings a week, 
 and are out of work during several months in each 
 year. The daily wage of fourpence to fivepence is 
 eagerly sought by a crowd of poor creatures, who 
 are only too happy to get a morsel of bread, and if 
 it were not for their exemplary sobriety and certain 
 hygienic regulations ordained by their religion, 
 their inherent family feeling, and a truly heroic 
 resignation, it would be impossible to conceive how 
 these unhappy beings could survive the privations 
 which they have to encounter day after day. But 
 human powers and physical endurance have their 
 limits. 
 
 If the condition of affairs does not change very 
 shortly, and if it is not permitted, at least, that the 
 
 * In the Government of Kiev the mean number of Christian inhabit¬ 
 ants during forty years in one dwelling was from 410 to 510, whilst 
 for Jews it was 1229, and at Berduitchev 2287.—Souravski : “ Descrip- 
 - tion du Gouvernement de Kiev,” vol. i. p. 247. 
 
CONDITION IN THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT 31 
 
 Jews should spread themselves over the entire 
 range of the Pale of Settlement, the close of the 
 nineteenth century will assist with horror at a 
 catastrophe for which Russian legislation alone will 
 be responsible, and which may ensue from one day 
 to another ; namely, an epidemic of Typhus bred by 
 want, which must cut down hundreds of thousands 
 of human beings, and which will spread throughout 
 the length and breadth of Europe. 
 
 For a long time past, Typhus, elsewhere a visitor 
 of rare occurrence, has been endemic in Poland and 
 in the Jewish Settlement ; and the indifference shown 
 by the Governments with regard to this formidable 
 danger, will perhaps be followed by a terrible 
 chastisement ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION. 
 
 From 1883 to 1890, the persecution was conducted 
 in spasmodic attacks, with alternations of mildness 
 and severity. The inferior Government officials, 
 and especially the police, on whom the more or 
 less literal execution of the enactments depended, 
 still hesitated between an excess of zeal which 
 might be blamed by their superiors, and a clemency 
 of which the benefits were certain. From 1891, 
 however, the intentions of those in power became 
 clearly known to all ; and the functionaries outvied 
 each other with regard to the execution of the 
 ordinances of the ukases. The exceptional measures 
 were enforced with greater severity, and aggravated 
 the wretchedness and squalor. This was the case 
 not only in the fifteen provinces of the Settlement, 
 but similar conditions of misery were to be found 
 in all the great towns of Europe, and in those of 
 the New World, whither the fugitives, driven to 
 the end of their resources and of their courage, went 
 forth to seek a new fatherland. The history of 
 this long and official persecution would in any case 
 be difficult to describe, owing to the absence of 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 33 
 
 precise documents, and because the enforcement of 
 the several ukases was unequally cruel, according to 
 the temperament of the governors and of the local 
 authorities. 
 
 It would therefore be necessary to give an account 
 of each province, and almost of each city, and to 
 draw as far as possible upon the facts published by 
 the Russian papers. Newspapers, as is well known, 
 are closely watched by the Censor, and therefore 
 have frequently to content themselves by announcing 
 the various enactments without venturing to pass 
 judgment upon them. But in this instance it may 
 well be said that the facts are sufficiently eloquent 
 in themselves, and that any commentary upon 
 them is superfluous. Mr. Gladstone in 1890, re¬ 
 commended that all English philanthropists should 
 make a close inquiry into the various cases to 
 which they directed public attention ; and this 
 recommendation, which was not always followed 
 out by them, has been our invariable rule in 
 drawing up the pages which we submit to our 
 readers. 
 
 We have also found much information at first 
 hand, from the excellent report addressed in 1892, 
 to the American Government, by the two special 
 Commissioners, Messrs. Weber and Kempster, who 
 were sent on a mission to Europe, in order to 
 inquire into the causes of the increasing immigration 
 of foreigners, totally devoid of resources, who came 
 to the United States. Their report only contains 
 facts for which they could personally vouch, in the 
 
34 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 course of the long journey which they made across 
 Russia and Poland. 
 
 “We believe/’ they say on page ioo, “that in 
 this account will be found a convincing history of 
 the terrible conditions which heretofore have been 
 but partially described and largely disbelieved, be¬ 
 cause of their incredible character.” # 
 
 Messrs. Weber and Kempster state that at the 
 onset they could not give credence to the stories 
 which were told to them, but that later on they 
 were able on several occasions to verify the facts 
 with tragic certainty. The American Commissioners 
 are very sober in their reflections ; they do not 
 attempt to wage a controversial strife, but desire 
 to perform the work of statisticians and historians. 
 Their personal standing, as well as the scientific 
 accuracy of their inquiries, places them above all 
 suspicion ; and the official character of the docu¬ 
 ment, to which they append their signatures, 
 inspires confidence and respect, at the very outset. 
 
 Regarded in its entirety, and deduction being 
 made for local exaggeration or extenuation, the 
 methodical persecutions of the last three years may 
 be briefly summed up thus : 
 
 i. There have been expelled in a pitiless manner 
 from Russia, all foreign Jews, the greater number 
 being Turkish and Roumanian subjects, not exclud¬ 
 ing those, who having been born in Russia, eagerly 
 demanded naturalisation. This measure has been 
 
 * “ Report of the Commissioners of Immigration upon the causes 
 which incite Immigration to the United States.” Washington, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 35 
 
 particularly hard on the Roumanian Jews, who* 
 when they are banished from Russia, cannot return 
 to Roumania, as that country denies all access to 
 Jews wishing to enter from lands beyond its own 
 frontiers. 
 
 2. There have been expelled from the townlets* 
 which were called “villages,” for the time being* 
 Jews who had lived in those places during many 
 years, and a threat, that the same order will be 
 aj3plied to Poland, has since 1891, weighed like a 
 nightmare upon the minds of the unhappy Jews 
 of that country ; paralysing their business, and 
 adding fresh terrors to their present state of utter 
 destitution. 
 
 3. There have been expelled from the cities, and 
 the various places, situated outside of the “ Pale of 
 Territory,” where they had been established on 
 sufferance since 1865 ; all those Jews who did no 
 belong to the specially privileged class. 
 
 4. In numbers of cases, the skill of artisans has 
 been contested, or the appellative “ artisan,” has 
 been refused to certain classes of workmen, in order 
 that there might be an excuse for crowding them 
 together within the limits of the “Pale.” 
 
 5. Existence has been made impossible or diffi¬ 
 cult to many Jews, residing outside of the “Pale,” 
 by denying to their families the right of following 
 them, or of living with them. 
 
 6. There have been closed against those Jews 
 who are excluded from the navy, and who are shut 
 out from the higher grades in the army, a great 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 36 
 
 number of lucrative and honourable professions ; 
 and in addition, notwithstanding their acquired 
 rights, many of them have been turned out ol 
 situations which they had filled to the perfect 
 satisfaction of all parties. 
 
 7. Since 1886, and contrary to the expressly- 
 stated intentions of Tsar Nicholas, limitations have 
 been placed upon the number of Jews, wdio could be 
 admitted to the Universities, to the High Schools, 
 
 and even to the Gymnasiums, so as to restrict the 
 
 «/ 
 
 number of privileged persons, who, being in possession 
 of a diploma, had the right to move about freely in 
 every part of the empire. 
 
 8. The Jews are refused the benefits of various 
 institutions. This is especially the case with 
 regard to benevolent institutions and hospitals, 
 notwithstanding that such establishments may be 
 supported with their money, or may have actually 
 been founded by them. 
 
 9. Various obstacles are brought into force with 
 regard to the worship of the Jews ; and they are 
 borne down by exceptional taxes. 
 
 10. Lastly, an arbitrary mode of execution being 
 added to the rigour of the laws, the Jews are 
 constantly exposed to the violence of subaltern 
 officials, to the exactions of the police, and to vexa¬ 
 tious proceedings of every description. 
 
 This many-sided persecution has produced a state 
 of want so harrowing, that it defies all attempt at 
 description. It is right to add that, in spite of 
 these repressive measures, the Jewish population 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 37 
 
 have not ceased, amidst the terrible trials to which 
 they have been exposed, to evince their sentiments 
 of self-sacrifice, and give proof of civic virtues in a 
 way which must insure them even the respect of 
 their oppressors. 
 
 Not only have they abstained from making 
 attempts at insurrectionary action, or of resisting 
 the laws of the country, but they have preferred 
 to endure all the outrages, and to face all the suffer¬ 
 ings imposed upon them, rather than free themselves 
 from their troubles, by apostacy. 
 
 Notwithstanding the inducements lavished on 
 those, who might be willing to embrace the orthodox 
 faith, conversions have been very few in number, 
 hardly attaining to 1300 per annum, a proportion of 
 3 in every 10,000. Is there in our world of to-day 
 any spectacle, more touching or more rare, than this 
 impregnable attachment of millions of unhappy 
 beings, to the faith of their fathers, when to desert 
 it, even as a mere matter of form, would save them 
 from terrible suffering, and would insure them their 
 freedom ? 
 
 It is no cowardly and degenerate population 
 which refrains from attempting to retaliate with 
 violence, but one which is content to resist with 
 stern stoicism all temptation to submit to baptism ; 
 and is content to remain tenaciously patient in its 
 endurance, simply because of a sublime faith in 
 Eternal Justice ! 
 
38 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 i. Expulsion of Foreign Jews. 
 
 The Rich and the Poor.—Scene in Odessa.—Annexation of 
 
 Bessarabia. 
 
 To be at the same time a Jew and a foreigner is a 
 combination, in which it is hopeless to expect justice 
 and humanity at the hands of the Russian Govern¬ 
 ment ; and in fact it is noticeable that foreign Jews 
 are treated with especial rigour in Russia, though, 
 as usual, exceptions are made in favour of the rich. 
 Foreign Jews who, as the Russian law states, “are 
 known for their high social position, and by the 
 importance of their commercial transactions, are 
 authorised to do business with the interior of the 
 Empire, and to establish banking houses there.” # 
 
 But for those who have to labour and toil, and 
 to whom the Legislature should above all things be 
 clement,there exists the formal prohibition: “Foreign 
 Jews are not authorised to emigrate into Russia, 
 nor to become Russian subjects.”! It is not sufficient 
 to give the text of this law to demonstrate the full 
 force of its cruelty, but the application of it must 
 also be made known. 
 
 There were in Russia about 150,000 foreign Jews, 
 Roumanians, Turks, and Austro-Hungarians (Gali¬ 
 cians). Many of them were born in Russia, and 
 only held a foreign passport. They were especially 
 
 * “Code of Laws,” vol.ix. sec 1001, note i, 1887. 
 
 t Ibid. sec. 991. See new law of 1892 concerning foreigners, 
 Novorossiski Telegrajph, Nov. 5/17, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 39 
 
 numerous in Odessa, Kherson, and other cities along 
 the coast. Ever since 1878, a number of them were 
 compelled to leave the cities, but from 1891, the 
 expulsion of foreign Jews was enforced en masse; 
 for, as we have already stated, it was forbidden to 
 them to become naturalised as Russians. 
 
 What, then, was to become of these people, who 
 only spoke Russian and the German jargon, when 
 they were sent back to Turkey ? Until the last 
 moment, and with the tenacious hopefulness which 
 characterises the unhappy, they imagined that the 
 order to depart would not be carried out, and that 
 a fresh delay would be accorded to them ; but this 
 countermanding order did not come. We give but 
 one sample amongst many of the occurrences which 
 ensued. 
 
 Two years ago, on April 26, 1892, Admiral Zelenoi, 
 governor of Odessa, issued a circular ordering the 
 Chief of the Police to put into immediate execution 
 the general order of expulsion against foreign Jews. 
 “ The agents of the police,” writes an eye-witness, 
 “ accompanied by Cossacks armed with knouts, drove 
 the Jews together, as if they were a herd of beasts, 
 
 and dragged them off, to the number of 1000 
 families or thereabouts, towards the port, so that 
 they should embark at once. It is impossible 
 adequately to describe this pitiful sight ; a crowd of 
 more than 3000 persons—mothers, with their babes 
 and sick children, tottering old men—all received 
 like treatment, and, as if they had been the vilest 
 criminals, were pushed and jostled by a large escort 
 
40 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 of Cossacks, and followed by crowds of people, who 
 did not cease to abuse them. The Jewish inhabitants 
 of Odessa, who accompanied their co-religionists, 
 had to suffer all sorts of outrages on the part of the 
 police. The procession advanced slowly amidst 
 insults and blows.” # Amongst the 2000 exiles, or 
 thereabouts, were many Ottoman subjects, who took 
 refuge in Salonica, but, notwithstanding all the 
 efforts made by the community and by the Turkish 
 Government, a third of the number died of cold and 
 starvation. 
 
 As to the Roumanians, their consuls in Russia 
 always made it a rule to refuse to sign their pass¬ 
 ports. Therefore to them especially, the Order of 
 Expulsion carries the meaning that they are doomed 
 either to be converted, or to die. 
 
 Those who were willing to undergo baptism 
 could remain in Russia, but these constituted only 
 an infinitesimal minority. Contrary to all the rules 
 of international law, it frequently happens that those 
 Jews who are treated as foreigners in the country 
 in which they were born, are systematically refused 
 admission by all the States, to which they think 
 they can appeal for support. We know of unfortu¬ 
 nate persons, who, after having been expelled from 
 Russia as foreigners, were hunted out of Germany 
 as Russians. Such cases are only of too frequent 
 occurrence. 
 
 When Prince Bismarck sent back all the Russian 
 Jews from Posnania, Russia refused to receive those 
 
 * Letter from Odessa in the Jndiseke Presse, May 26, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 41 
 
 who were rendered homeless, and they remained 
 without nationality, and without a roof under which 
 to dwell. There is a painful irony in recalling here 
 that eminent Russian lawyers, like M. de Martens, 
 emphatically proclaim, that every individual, with¬ 
 out regard to nationality, at the present day, can 
 obtain protection for his person and his property, and 
 that wholesale orders of expulsion are incompatible 
 with the international law of civilised nations. # 
 
 But in no district perhaps, was the iniquitousness 
 of the treatment pursued, so flagrantly exemplified 
 as in Bessarabia, of which the Roumanian portion 
 had been ceded to Russia in 1878, according to the 
 terms of the Treaty of Berlin. At Ismailia, at 
 Ungheni, and in other localities, the Jews had been 
 established since time immemorial ; Russia, when 
 taking possession of their country, refused to grant 
 them naturalisation, and in consequence of the 
 cession which had been effected they could no longer 
 invoke Roumanian protection, and Europe could not 
 pay any regard to their entreaties. What must 
 be thought of a Government which annexes a 
 province, and then expels as strangers, those who 
 through centuries past, have been established there ? 
 
 * De Martens : “ Traité de Droit International ” (Treaty on Inter¬ 
 national Law), French translation, vol. i. pp. 428, 447. 
 
42 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 2. The Jews expelled from the Townlets 
 and Cities of the Pale. 
 
 Contradictory Decisions.—Extraordinary Case at Jousovka.—Official 
 Version of a Change of Domicile.—Kiev and Yalta. 
 
 One of the most constant efforts of Russian legis- 
 lation against the Jews has been to concentrate 
 them in the cities. The May Laws of 1882, com¬ 
 mence with an article, which prohibited the Jews from 
 establishing themselves for the future, elsewhere 
 than in the cities and townships of the Settlement.* 
 This article implies, that after May 1882, no Israelite 
 could settle in any village whatsoever, but the 
 question is how to give an exact definition of such a 
 village ? 
 
 What number of inhabitants or of houses, entitles 
 that village to be called a town ? This is what the 
 May Laws leave undefined, nor is the term ex¬ 
 plained with precision in any other official docu¬ 
 ment whatsoever. This uncertainty, which was 
 perhaps intentional, afforded a loophole to every 
 arbitrary official : all places of the third degree, 
 could immediately be designated as villages, and 
 therefore the Jews could be expelled for any reason, 
 or for no reason at all. 
 
 The suburbs of the great cities, and particularly 
 those of Wilna, were declared to be villages, and 
 consequently thousands of unhappy beings had to be 
 crowded into the already overflowing Ghettos. 
 
 * See May Law, p. 13. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 43 
 
 The large towns of Palitski and Rechilovko were 
 turned into villages # notwithstanding that the 
 latter place, had always been described as a city, in 
 all official documents. In the month of October 
 1892, six small towns were changed into villages by 
 an ordinance of the Minister of the Interior.! As 
 soon as a decree of this kind is published, all Jews 
 who have been settled in the place since the year 
 1882, are obliged to realise their property at any 
 price, as well as their movables and their stock, in 
 Older to transport themselves to some other place 
 within a given period, which does not as a rule 
 exceed six weeks. 
 
 It is supposed that the transformation of a town 
 into a village can only be decided by the Minister 
 ol the Interior, but it has often happened that the 
 zeal of provincial officials takes the initiative in 
 the matter. 
 
 On more than one occasion, the petty magnates 
 have gone to such extremes, that their action has 
 actually been disavowed at St. Petersburg. Thus 
 on January 5, 1893, the Governor of the province of 
 Kherson had decided that sixty-three of the town¬ 
 ships in the province should henceforth be considered 
 as villages, and would therefore be prohibited places 
 ol residence to the Jews. This was not only a serious 
 disaster for them, but also an absurdity, as the pro¬ 
 vince of Kherson was thereby declared to contain only 
 cities and villages, withouc one place of intermediate 
 
 * “ Les Juifs de Russ e,” pp. 199, 201. 
 
 Î NovorossisJci Telegraph, 25 Oct./6 Nov. 1892. 
 
44 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 importance^ The Minister therefore quashed the 
 Governor’s decision.t 
 
 The most curious case was that of Jousovka. 
 This unfortunate townlet, situated in the Govern¬ 
 ment of Ekaterinoslav, was laid waste during a 
 terrible outbreak in 1892, and nearly all the Jews 
 living there were utterly ruined. At the com¬ 
 mencement of 1893, it was suddenly announced that 
 Jousovka was to be a village, and 300 Jewish 
 families had to leave. This is how the Odesski 
 Listok\ relates the consequences which ensued, and 
 the final result of the affair : 
 
 “ The Jews sent a petition to his Majesty.” “ In 
 this petition, amongst other reasons which, according 
 to their views gave them the right of living in the 
 township of Jousovka, the signatories deposed to the 
 following facts :—After the catastrophe of Borki, on 
 October 17, when the Imperial family was miracu¬ 
 lously saved, the inhabitants of Jousovka had sent 
 to the Emperor a congratulatory telegram.” “His 
 Majesty had replied with the following telegram : 
 
 ‘ Thanks to the population of the toivnlet of 
 Jousovka.’ ” Belying on this appellation, the signa¬ 
 tories declared that if it were the pleasure of his 
 Majesty to designate Jousovka as a “ townlet,” its 
 transformation into a village could only be effected 
 by an imperial ukase, and not through a simple 
 order of the local authorities. This representation 
 of the Jews of Jousovka received attention, and 
 
 * Odesski Listok , 30 Jan./n Feb. 1893. 
 
 t Ibid. 1/13 April 1893. J Ibid. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 45 
 
 the order concerning the transformation of Jousovka 
 was not accepted. Jousovka remained a townlet, 
 and the Jews retained their right of residence.” 
 
 It is a terrible state of things when the fate of 
 1500 unhappy beings, depends thus upon the use or 
 the omission of a single word. 
 
 It has been remarked that the wording of the 
 May Laws of 1882, forbids the residence in villages, 
 to all Jews, who should establish themselves in such 
 villages after that year, whereby it was decided to 
 respect the rights of families who had fixed their 
 domiciles in these places previous to 1882. 
 
 This decision was actually only a matter of good 
 sense and good faith respecting the families to 
 whom it referred, but as the arrangement appeared 
 to favour them too much, recourse was made to all 
 kinds of scheming in order to avoid the law being 
 carried into effect. A change of dwelling, or an en¬ 
 forced temporary absence, was considered as a change 
 of residence; and when once a Jew had left his 
 dwelling he was refused permission to return to it. 
 Again, it was necessary to obtain the intervention 
 of the Senate, in order that a removal from one 
 street to another, should no longer be termed 
 a change of domicile.* There are numerous ex¬ 
 amples of these incredible subtleties, arising from 
 a passion for persecution, and it seems almost as if 
 the police looked upon such course of action as a 
 species of entertainment. A gentleman who was 
 born in Palitski, and who had left that place for a 
 
 * Daily Telegraph, Aug. 4, 1890. 
 
4 6 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 few days in order to get married, was described on 
 his return as a “ new arrival,” and was conse¬ 
 quently expelled. # 
 
 A Jewish soldier was likewise expelled from 
 Palitzki although his absence was occasioned by 
 some military duty;t while another, who had been 
 garrisoned in the Caucasus, was not allowed to 
 return to his native village.^ The American Com¬ 
 missioners quote the case of an aged man, who had 
 resided for many years in a village where he was 
 able to maintain himself, but which he was obliged 
 to leave for a short time, so that the proprietor of 
 his house could make some necessary repairs. 
 When he returned he was told that he could not be 
 allowed to stay in the village, because he had 
 changed his place of residence ! The same writers 
 mention another similar instance, where a Jew, who 
 at the request of his landlord consented to pass a 
 few days at the other side of the street, § was not 
 permitted to return to his home. The Odesshi 
 Listok , May 24/June 5, 1893, reports the case of a 
 family from Borbach, who were turned out of that 
 place, because they rented a house, quite close to the 
 one in which they had hitherto lived, and for which 
 the owner had raised the rent. This family, it is 
 true, could well afford to appeal to the Senate, 
 but many months would necessarily pass, before it 
 would be possible for them to obtain a decision. 
 
 * “ Les Juifs du Russie,” p. 200 ; also Weber and Kempster, 
 p. 71. t Ibid. p. 86. Ibid. p. 38. 
 
 § Ibid. p. 72. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 47 
 
 Meanwhile only three days were allowed them, in 
 01 dei to depart for the over-filled large towns 
 which were already so congested. The number of 
 Jews established in the townlets of the Don is 
 believed to be about 500,000, and through the new 
 prohibition these would be crowded into the smaller 
 places. How many individuals may have suffered 
 up to the present from these measures is a question 
 which it is impossible to answer, but the numbers 
 must be very considerable, if one can judge by the 
 large contingent of transatlantic emigrants who have 
 migrated from the “ villages ” to the States of 
 America. 
 
 Accoiding to an official document, 4700 Jewish 
 families were banished from the villages of a single 
 government m "Volhynia, which would bring up 
 the numbers to 70,000 or 75,000 families who 
 migrated from the “ Settlement alone. 
 
 When it is impossible to assert that the towns 
 are villages, they are simply withdrawn from the 
 limits of the Settlement, and this procedure is 
 carried into effect, notwithstanding the actual 
 geographical position of the placed 
 
 Already m the reign of Nicholas the Jews were 
 turned out of Kief, which was regarded as a holy 
 city ; and those who afterwards returned thither, 
 favoured by the laws of 1865, were made the objects 
 of various measures of partial expulsion. 
 
 * Annals of the Government of Volhynia, quoted in the Odesshi 
 ListoTc, 7/19 Sept. 1893. 
 t Law on Passports, 1886, par. 16. 
 
48 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 The districts of Rostov and of Taganrog, which 
 formed a part of the Jewish Settlement, were with¬ 
 drawn from its limits in 1889, and included in the 
 military district of the Don ; and no Jews were 
 henceforth permitted to reside there. # 
 
 In 1893, the city of Yalta, in the Crimea, which 
 contained 1358 Israelites, being 13 per cent of the 
 total population, was suddenly closed against the 
 Jews, “ because it no longer formed a part of the 
 Territory”. + 
 
 The true motive of this action was, however, that 
 the Tsar had chosen Yalta for a winter residence, 
 because of the exceptional mildness of its climate. 
 As the watering-places (possessing mineral springs) 
 in the Caucasus, and on the coast of the North 
 Sea, had already been closed against Jewish invalids, 
 a residence at Yalta was the final hope of consump¬ 
 tives, but nevertheless this last chance of a cure, is 
 henceforth to be denied to them. 
 
 * Law on Passports, 1886, par. 17. 
 
 t Voskhod, 18/30 April 1893 ; Odesski Listok, July 27/August 8,1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 49 
 
 3 . Expulsion op the Jews prom the Cities and 
 Places outside op the Settlement. 
 
 Imw of Alexander IL— Circulars of 1880 and 1882. Their brutal 
 abrogation in 1891 -Novgorod.-Scenes during Passover in the 
 City of Moscow. St. Petersburg. The Provinces.-Ordinance of 
 1S93.— Riga.— Liban— The Caucasus. 
 
 In 1865, four years after the emancipation of the 
 serfs, Alexander authorised the Jewish “ skilled ” 
 artisans to establish themselves throughout the 
 empire.. By this .means he hoped to revive industrial 
 woiks in the cities of Central Russia, as a number 
 of experienced workers would be attracted thither 
 who could not find employment within the Terri¬ 
 tory. . To these places they accordingly migrated. 
 Notwithstanding the continual changes in the atti¬ 
 tude of Russian politics towards the Jews, and in 
 spite of. the uncertainty, as to what their possible 
 fate might be on the morrow, and with these 
 terrors looming over them like nightmares, thousands 
 of J ews allowed themselves to be tempted by the 
 encouraging prospects, opened up to their energies 
 and their endurance, through the ukase of Alexan¬ 
 der II. They therefore migrated to all the o-reat 
 centres, but especially to Moscow, St. Petersburg 
 Riga, and Libau ; here they formed important 
 J ewish communities, which not only included per¬ 
 sons to whom former regulations gave the right of 
 residence in any part of the empire ; but also many 
 workmen and even day-labourers, who (though all 
 
50 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 nominally subject to the despotism of the police), 
 yet found comparative security in the tolerance, 
 which for the time being, characterised the attitude 
 of the Government towards the Jews. It was 
 natural that the last-named immigrants should 
 rapidly increase in numbers, seeing that they weie 
 also the poorest section of the population ; but not¬ 
 withstanding what may have been averred to the 
 contrary, the Christian inhabitants of the various 
 cities never found reason to make any complaints 
 against them. M^hether they were skilled artisans, 
 or simply labourers, the Jews worked their haidest, 
 and their activity greatly contributed to the 
 economic development of those cities to which Tsar 
 Alexander II. had given them access. 
 
 It would therefore be incorrect to assert that a 
 policy of tolerance, which has been pursued during 
 twenty-six consecutive years, does not entitle those 
 who are its objects, to actual rights. 
 
 The best proof that can be given comes from the 
 Government itself. On April 3> ïSSo, M. Markoit, 
 the Minister of the Interior, issued an Ordinance in 
 which he requested the governors and the police, not 
 to molest those Jews who had established themselves 
 beyond the limits of the Pale , without having a 
 special permit to do so.* After this, however, there 
 followed the massacres of 1881, and the May Laws 
 of 1882, which seemed to put everything in jeopardy 
 again. But General Ignatieff having been succeeded 
 
 * Ordinance of the Minister, published by the Oclesshi Listok, 
 4/16 Feb. 1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 51 
 
 in 1882, by Count Dimitri Tolstoi, he simply con¬ 
 firmed in its entirety the Ordinance of June 21, 1882, 
 of M. Markoff. Therefore—and this is a fact of 
 the highest importance—what had been merely the 
 result of a tolerant policy before 1880 could, after 
 that year, be cited by the Jews as a Government 
 permit, which had been confirmed beneath the ægis of 
 two successive ministerial ordinances. The fatal re¬ 
 trograde movement of 1890, however, which owed its 
 rise to the all-powerful influence of a fanatical mind, 
 was the origin of a condition of things, under which 
 the rights of the Jews, and the duties of the officials 
 were brutally disregarded, and trodden under foot. 
 
 Since 1890, the police have gradually expelled 
 under, circumstances of severity which are truly 
 revolting, all those Jews who did not possess the 
 light of residence in the various places, in virtue of 
 regulations existing before 1865. All action taken 
 after, that year, in the way of progressive eman¬ 
 cipation, was considered as annulled or non¬ 
 existent. According to surrounding circumstances 
 the method of procedure was more or less precipitate. 
 Sometimes the Jews were compelled to sign a 
 “ voluntary ” undertaking, to quit the city within a 
 few months, in default of which they were to be 
 sent back by stages—that is to say, in the same way 
 as criminals are. Sometimes they were expelled 
 with scarcely any previous warning, and then whole 
 colonies of unhappy creatures would be turned out 
 upon the highroads at a day’s notice, and left to 
 the mercy of public charity. 
 
52 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 From this mode of action, terrible sufferings and 
 intense misery have resulted, the mere narration of 
 which has profoundly touched all Europe ; on various 
 occasions it has actually moved the feelings of 
 Russian officials, and even awakened an echo of 
 sympathy m the immovable Russian press, severely 
 
 controlled as that organ is. 
 
 The public in the East of Europe has hitherto 
 been under the impression, that the Head of the 
 Russian State is ignorant of the horrors which 
 are committed in his name, and by his orders, and 
 it is believed that a number of barbarous regu¬ 
 lations are presented to him for signature together, 
 and that he is not allowed to realise the terrible 
 consequences, which the application of such pro¬ 
 posed measures must entail upon his innocent 
 subjects. The officious Russian journals occasionally 
 apply the term “ tactics ” with reference to the 
 unanimous tendency of those European writers, 
 who appealed from the badly informed Tsar, to the 
 better informed one ; as a matter of fact, it has not 
 as yet been proved that European writers are 
 wholly in the wrong, and it is surely preferable to 
 believe, that they are not altogether deceived in 
 their judgment. 
 
 It was in the town, and district of Novgorod, that 
 the distressing series of expulsions commenced 
 which, since 1891, have desolated the Jewish com¬ 
 munities in Russia. In the month of February, all 
 the Jewish inhabitants of Novgorod, 617 in number, 
 and 94 families who had been settled in the surround- 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 53 
 
 ing country places for many years past, received 
 orders to remove to the Territory. 
 
 But the recollection of this catastrophe is blotted 
 out, so to speak, by the frightful scenes which took 
 place shortly afterwards in Moscow. Within the 
 “ Holy City,” amongst a population of about 600,000 
 inhabitants, there dwelt some 30,000 Jews, of whom 
 2000 at most, had been “ jrrivileged,” and who were 
 therefore exempt from the arbitrary despotism of 
 the police. The idea of expelling the others, was con¬ 
 ceived in the early months of 1891. The Governor 
 of Moscow, Prince Dolgorouki, who was considered to 
 be an official of too benevolent a disposition, was 
 accordingly superseded by the Grand Duke Sergius, 
 the brother of the Emperor, while previous to his 
 arrival in Moscow, General Kostanda, Commander 
 of the district troops, was jffaced in authority. It 
 was intended that the order of expulsion should be 
 carried into effect without delay by General Your- 
 kovski, chief of the police, who had received his 
 instructions for some considerable time before 
 putting them into execution. He, however, decided 
 not to make these instructions public until the 
 Jewish Passover, hoping doubtless to find his 
 victims all assembled together for that festival. 
 
 History will demand a severe reckoning from the 
 authors of the “ Purification ” of Moscow. It is useless 
 to endeavour to discover the names of all concerned, 
 or to point out the special share of responsibility 
 thus attached to various individuals. The Grand 
 Duke Sergius took possession of his new post, on the 
 
54 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 17th of May, and fifteen days afterwards the Tsar 
 arrived at Moscow, but the persecutions went on to 
 the same extent. The order which put an end to the 
 privileges, granted to the Jews since 1865, was 
 made known upon the first, and second days of the 
 Jewish Passover, 9th and 10th of April, 1891, (new 
 style.) 
 
 This order was divided into two sections, the one 
 forbidding Jewish workmen to enter the city, and 
 the province of Moscow, the other commanding the 
 expulsion of those persons who might be residing 
 there. # About 14,000 artisans in Moscow alone, 
 were affected by this decree. During the night the 
 poorest of the quarters inhabited by the Jews, were 
 surrounded by the police, aided by Cossacks and a 
 brigade of firemen, the soldiers searched the dwell¬ 
 ings, and turned out the unhappy Jews, Men, 
 Women and Children, all of whom were despatched 
 to the police station. 
 
 More than 500 persons, amongst whom were 
 many children of tender age, were shut up in the jail, 
 and had to remain for thirty-six hours, almost with¬ 
 out food, and destitute of clothes. If the number of 
 the victims was not still greater, this was owing to 
 the fact that the secret of the projected raid had not 
 been strictly kept ; and many Jews who had been 
 warned in time, passed the night out in the streets, in 
 public conveyances, and even in the cemeteries ; and 
 they did not return to their homes until the following 
 day. The American Commissioners, Messrs. Weber 
 
 * Messager Officiel, April 22, 1891. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 55 
 
 and Kempster, describe how the Jews who escaped 
 from this attack, were actually forced to conduct 
 their families to houses of ill fame, where they 
 rented rooms for the night. And these were the 
 only places in which for the moment, they could 
 find shelter from the intense cold ! The system of 
 nocturnal visitations continued for several weeks, 
 and always had as their destination, the poorest 
 quarters and streets. As many of the Jews, after 
 the terrible nights of the 9th and 10th, adopted 
 the habit of going out towards midnight, the police 
 visitations were usually made about five o’clock 
 in the morning. At the commencement, those who 
 wished to obtain a respite of a few days, could only 
 solicit it as a personal favour ; and it was not until 
 July 2 8th, that a new decree was proclaimed, which 
 set limits to the permissible period for delay ; or for 
 the execution of the orders of expulsion against those 
 who still remained, amongst the various grades of 
 mechanics and workmen. 
 
 These delays varied from periods of three months 
 to one year, and at the expiration of each such 
 term, the same heartrending scenes of distress were 
 repeated at the railway station at Moscow. 
 
 Veterans, who had been wounded on the field of 
 battle, and decorated for their conduct, were never¬ 
 theless summarily ejected (examples of this will be 
 given in speaking of military service), and Para¬ 
 lytics, newly-confined Women, and Sick People 
 received no better treatment. 
 
 Many unfortunate persons only came out of 
 
56 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 prison, to be marched off to the stations, and were 
 obliged to wear manacles on their wrists until they 
 reached the Pale of Settlement. 
 
 The use of manacles has been denied by the 
 Russian official press, but it is nevertheless an in¬ 
 contestable fact that they were used, and this can 
 be proved by the evidence of eye-witnesses, whose 
 testimony deserves the fullest credence. # 
 
 Women and children were not chained, but their 
 condition was sometimes vet more cruel. One case 
 amongst those of which we possess documentary 
 evidence, can be cited in proof, t 
 
 A dressmaker, eighteen years of age, named Malka 
 Halphin, had been living in Moscow for two or 
 three years, and assisted in supporting her family, 
 who had remained within the Territory. Owing to 
 the severe measures of the police, her friends, who 
 had previously given her hospitality, dared no longer 
 receive her, and she was compelled either to return 
 to the Pale, or to be inscribed as a Prostitute. She 
 wandered about for several nights, and at last, in 
 desperation, threw herself into the River Moscow. 
 Notwithstanding her resistance, she was drawn out 
 of the river, and some charitable ladies took her 
 under their protection. Messrs. Weber and Kemp- 
 ster have published in their official report J a letter 
 of thanks from Malka Halphin’s mother to one of 
 her benefactresses. Some weeks after these expul- 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 47, 48, 61, 62, 65. 
 f Ibid. p. 62. I Ibid. p. 42. 
 
the measures of persecution 
 
 sions, which were conducted in a manner worthy 
 only of the cruelties practised in the Middle Ages, the 
 navy of the French Republic was enthusiastically 
 received at Cronstadt, and the Tsar, standing with 
 ns head bare, listened to the hymn composed by 
 Rouget de Lisle, in praise of Freedom ! 
 
 A terrible experience was in store for the 2000 
 Jews, who were to have quitted Moscow, in the 
 month of January, 1892. The date fixed for their 
 departure was the 14/26 of that month, at which 
 time, the cold of winter was so severe that the ther¬ 
 mometer fell to 3 2 degrees below zero ; gas would 
 not burn, gieat files had to be lighted at the corners 
 of the streets, the schools had to be closed, and the 
 troops weie forbidden to exercise from January 
 10/22 ; even the transport of criminals had to be 
 suspended. But the decree against the Jews ivas 
 nevertheless ordered to be carried into effect Some 
 children died of the cold, others had their hands and 
 feet frozen. A woman, who had been confined four 
 days previously, was found surrounded by her six 
 star v mg children, left half-dead on a waggon. Even 
 the Russians were seized with pity, and yet it 
 was not until the 16/28 of the month, that the 
 Governor gave orders to delay the expulsions, until 
 the temperature should become somewhat less 
 
 severe. 
 
 By that time, however, it was too late, and the 
 barbarous evictions had been completed. At the 
 same period in 1891, when this jiersecution was being 
 effected in Moscow, a suburb of that city, Marina 
 
5 8 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Roschatcha, (Wood of Marie) was the scene of equally 
 terrible incidents. This small suburb contained a 
 collection of miserable cabins, which bad been 
 constructed about the year 1884, and which 
 sheltered the poorest of the Jews, who could not 
 afford to dwell in the interior of Moscow. 
 There were about 400 families, amounting to at 
 least 2400 persons. A band of Cossacks and police 
 surrounded a portion of the suburb at night, and 
 turned out the inhabitants, treating them with the 
 utmost brutality. Barefooted, and pursued by the 
 Cossacks, the poor creatures fled across the frozen 
 ground to the forest, where some of them en¬ 
 deavoured to light a fire, which, however, the 
 soldiers immediately extinguished. Others took 
 refuge in the neighbouring cemeteries, and passed 
 the night there. A poor woman named Epstein 
 was found in the morning hidden away amongst 
 the tombs, and by her side lay a new-born infant ; 
 but the child, to which she had only given birth 
 during the preceding night, was dead. A 
 
 By order of the Censor, no Russian journal was 
 allowed to publish a single line describing these 
 events, or even referring to them ! 
 
 But when the foreign press gave an account of 
 the terrible facts, even the hearts of Russians were 
 moved, and M. Bobedonostsev speaking to Mi. 
 Arnold White in July 1891, declared that every one 
 must unite in deploring the brutality of the chief 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, p. 59. Frederic : “ The New Exodus”, 1892, 
 p. 213. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 59 
 
 of the police of Moscow, in the affair at Marina 
 Roschatcha. 
 
 The regrets of the Procurator of the Holy Synod 
 were, however, of little effect, as they did not prevent 
 the horrors which in January 1892 took place, even 
 in the city of Moscow. Besides the physical suffer¬ 
 ings endured by all who were driven out of the 
 city, we must also advert to their material ruin. 
 Obliged to quit Moscow at the shortest possible 
 notice (on some occasions only a few days’ respite 
 was granted), the exiles had to sell off their property 
 at any cost, to wind up their businesses in hot haste, 
 and to get rid of all their movables as best they 
 could. 
 
 Their debtors did not attempt to pay # the various 
 amounts which they might owe, and, as if by a tacit 
 agreement, no buyer could be found to buy their 
 movables, except at ridiculously low prices. Chairs 
 were sold for five to ten copecks each, (between one 
 penny and twopence-halfpenny), a bed was sold for a 
 penny, a piece of furniture worth £ 20, was sold for 
 ^i.f But who can conceive what must have been 
 the amounts lost on stocks or securities, which 
 ensued owing to the abrupt transfer of so great a 
 number of persons, who had found remunerative 
 work in Moscow, but who were now condemned to 
 remain in utter idleness, and without any outlet 
 for their energies, shut up, and crowded together, 
 within the Pale of Settlement. The sudden ruin 
 
 * Times , May 5, 1891. Weber and Kempster, p. 59. 
 t Weber and Kempster, p. 60 ; Frederic, “ The New Exodus,” p. 213. 
 
I 
 
 60 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 of so large, hard-working, and intelligent a portion 
 of the population, exercised a serious influence on 
 the prosperity of the entire city. One merchant 
 who was expelled had employed between thirty 
 and sixty workmen, all of whom were Christians. 
 Another, who employed fifty men, was the origin¬ 
 ator of a new branch of industry and had received 
 medals in the Russian Exhibitions of 1882, and 
 1885, but nevertheless he was banished. Two other 
 merchants who gave out work, the one to 300, 
 the other to 900 workmen (most of whom were 
 Christians), were subjected to all kinds of annoy¬ 
 ances on the part of the police, and in the end had 
 to wind up their businesses and close them. # 
 
 As early as the year 1882, fifty of the principal 
 Christian manufacturers of Moscow sent a petition 
 to the Minister of Finance, informing him of the 
 great injury which had been inflicted on Muscovite 
 commerce, by the orders of expulsion, of which the 
 Jews were victims. In 1892, fifty other well-known 
 manufacturers of Moscow t addressed another petition 
 to the Grand Duke Sergius, asking him to ameliorate 
 the severity of the orders, with regard to the resi¬ 
 dence of the Jews in Moscow ; but to this the 
 Governor only gave an evasive reply. 
 
 On October 15, 1892, a ukase J expressly pre¬ 
 scribed that the right of residence in all the cities 
 of Russia, wRich was accorded to certain privileged 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 43, 45, 46, 57. 
 
 t The Standard, October 6, 1892. 
 
 J Novoie Vrémia, November 7/19, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 61 
 
 Jews, did not entitle them to the right of living in 
 the Holy City, unless they had a special permit for 
 that purpose. The large Jewish community of 
 Moscow was thus, in less than a year, reduced to a 
 few families, and was, in fact, virtually destroyed. 
 
 The devotional rites were proscribed ; the new 
 synagogue, the construction of which had been 
 authorised by the Governor-General and by the 
 Minister, was declared to be “ indecent,” and was 
 closed by the police, on April 16/28, 1892. The 
 Community also received orders to sell the edifice, 
 or to turn it into a charitable institution. After 
 receiving a verbal authorisation from the police, 
 M. Minor, who had been the Chief Rabbi of Moscow 
 during forty years, and a merchant named Schneider, 
 celebrated a service for the last time in the vesti¬ 
 bule of the synagogue, but notwithstanding the 
 permission which had been granted to them, they 
 were subjected to most severe treatment on the part 
 of the police. M. Minor was banished to the Terri¬ 
 tory for life, whilst M. Schneider was exiled from 
 Moscow for two years ; he was, at that time, seventy 
 years of age, and one of the most respected men in 
 the city. The case of the Chief Rabbi was sub¬ 
 mitted to the Emperor, and he simply ratified the 
 condemnation ! # 
 
 This decree, which struck at the Jews of Moscow, 
 was enforced at the same time in other governments 
 in Kalouga, Toula, and Kiazamt 
 
 * OdessJci Listok, 13/25 Nov. 1892. f Times, May 5, 1891. 
 
62 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 A correspondent of the Times , whilst visiting 
 Kalouga, had an interview with a widow (the 
 mother of two little children), to whom an order 
 of immediate departure had been given. The young 
 woman entreated the Governor (M. Boulygme)to give 
 her a few days’ respite, to which he replied, that “ he 
 did not care to disobey the Tsar, for the sake of 
 a few Jewish brutes.” At the time of the expul¬ 
 sions from Moscow, General Gresser, well known foi 
 his violent temper and his hatred of the Jews, had 
 for some years past been chief of the police at 
 St. Petersburg. He lost no time in banishing, under 
 various pretexts, all the Jewish workmen in the 
 capital, and it has been calculated that more than 
 10,000 mechanics must have quitted St. Peteisburg 
 from 1882 to 1890» The Governoi also took pre¬ 
 cautions to prevent any of the fugitives who 
 had been turned out of Moscow from obtaining a 
 refuge in St. Petersburg, instead of returning to the 
 Pale. But this did not suffice ; on April 30, 1891, 
 the Mayor of St. Petersburg decided also to enforce 
 the recent decree of March 2 8/April 9, in the 
 capital, although this ordinance had been intended 
 to apply solely to the “city and government of 
 
 Moscow.” 
 
 In the early days of May, 250 families of working 
 men received instructions to leave St. Petersburg.^ 
 This recrudescence of persecution did not fail to 
 spread like an epidemic disease. 
 
 The orders for expulsion, en masse , soon extended 
 
 * Le Matin, May 11, 1891. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 63 
 
 over the government of Astrakhan to the trans- 
 Caspian district and to a part of the Siberia trans- 
 Baikal governments. The city of Tioumene in the 
 province of Tobolsk, the province of Tomsk, and 
 other parts of Siberia, have been the scenes of similar 
 measures; even so recently as the year 1893, as 
 is stated by a journal (the Kraj ), well-known to 
 be hostile to the Jews, # the proceedings against 
 them “ have been characterised by great severity,” 
 and we may therefore rest perfectly assured that 
 this assertion is only too true. 
 
 The decrees in question, each referred to some 
 particular government. At the beginning of the 
 year 1893? the Minister of the Interior, always 
 keeping the same deplorable end in view, addressed 
 a circular to all the governors of the empire. I11 
 this document he first of all referred to the 
 ordinances before mentioned, which were compara¬ 
 tively liberal, and which had been promulgated by 
 his two predecessors, M. Markoff and Count Dimitri 
 Tolstoi ; but these he annulled ! Without giving 
 any motive, he prescribes the banishment from all 
 towns outside of the Territory, of such Jews who 
 had remained in the several places, under the safe¬ 
 guard of the two previous ministerial ordinances. 
 
 We do not exaggerate in this, and here subjoin 
 the text of the order : “ Recognising the actual 
 
 necessity of abrogating the previous ordinances of 
 my predecessors, I beg of your Excellency, without 
 attempting to verify in detail the rights oj the 
 
 * April 9/21, 1893. 
 
6 4 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Jeivs residing in your governments, to take the 
 necessary measures so as to compel the emigration 
 into the Territory of all such Jews, who do not 
 possess the right of residence in the provinces of 
 the Interior. 
 
 The unhappy beings who were the objects of this 
 fresh blow could be counted by hundreds of thou¬ 
 sands, their numbers, according to the most moderate 
 calculations, being computed at 300,000 to 400,000. 
 A great many Jews, as before mentioned, had estab¬ 
 lished themselves in certain cities beyond the limits 
 of the Territory, and especially in Riga and in Libau, 
 having been encouraged to settle there by the 
 ukase of 1865, and being protected by the ministerial 
 circulars of 1880 and 1882. Having taken this step 
 at official suggestion, by what right could they after¬ 
 wards be reproached for such action, seeing that 
 they had profited by the avowed tolerance, for the 
 time being, exhibited by the Russian Government ? 
 But this tolerance availed them nothing, when it 
 became a matter of greater convenience to rid the 
 cities of their presence. 
 
 Any respite whatsoever was at first refused to 
 them ; and this, notwithstanding the representa¬ 
 tions of the Municipal Authorities and of the 
 Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Nearly 3000 families, comprising about 17,200 souls, 
 had to quit Riga by October 1, 1893, at latest. There 
 existed at that time, in Riga, a “ Society of Jewish 
 
 * Ordinance of the Minister of the Interior of Jan. 14/26, 1893, 
 reproduced in the Odesski Listolc of Feb. 4/16. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 65 
 
 Benevolence, which might have been useful in help¬ 
 ing the most necessitous from its funds, had not 
 the Society been dissolved by order of the Governor, 
 by whom the funds were retained. # 
 
 At Libau, about 6000 Jewish families had received 
 orders to depart before July 1, 1893. 
 
 “ A deputation of the Municipal Council of Libau,” 
 having at its head the mayor of the city, came to 
 St. Petersburg, to submit to the Minister of the 
 Interior, the unanimously expressed opinion of the 
 Municipal Council, that the expulsion of the Jews of 
 Libau, should be postponed for two years as “ the 
 municipality consider that this expulsion will have 
 very distressing consequences upon the prosperity of 
 the city,” but the Minister replied to the repre¬ 
 sentations, by a categorical refusal.” t 
 
 Besides the fifty governments of Bussia properly 
 so-called, the ten governments of Poland, and the 
 Grand Duchy of Finland, Russia in Europe also 
 includes the twelve governments of the Caucasus. 
 These have not escaped persecution any more than 
 the others. In the month of September 1892, the 
 police forced all the Jews living in the governments 
 of Terek and Koubane, (districts situated between the 
 Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, and which are under 
 military rule), to sign a “ voluntary agreement ” to 
 quit those territories. A Tiflis paper J acknowledges 
 
 * Voslchod, 13/25 June 1893. 
 t Novoie Vrémia, June 4/16, 1893. 
 
 I Novoie Obozreni, reproduced in the Voslchod , 4/16 of April 
 1893. 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 that many of the Jews had lived in the Caucasus, 
 from periods of twenty to twenty-five years, and 
 had never given cause for complaint.” “ Of these 
 unhappy persons, by far the greater number are so 
 poor that they are obliged to depart on foot.” # 
 “ Those who delayed their departure, hoping for 
 some small measure of clemency, were cruelly dis¬ 
 appointed, for, notwithstanding their tears and 
 prayers, the order of expulsion was inexorably 
 carried out.” 
 
 Some short time since, the Minister of War, to 
 whom the provinces of Koubane and Terek are 
 amenable, gave orders that all the J ews still residing 
 there, should be expelled immediately, “ without 
 regard to their profession, or to the kind of occupa¬ 
 tion in which they might be engaged.” He even 
 adds that functionaries found guilty of delay will be 
 severely punished.t 
 
 In the Caucasus, as in Russia proper, a general 
 order, inspired no doubt by the circular of the 
 Minister of the Interior, was enforced in the spring 
 of 1893, in order to strengthen local measures. 
 Seven-eighths of the Jews who lived there and 
 whose numbers probably amounted to about 15,000 
 persons, were threatened with expulsion. 
 
 We can here happily record a change of treatment 
 for the better, for the first time in the lamentable 
 narrative of the past three years ; thanks to the 
 
 * Voshhod, April 4/16, 1893. 
 
 t Ordinance of the Minister of War in the Kievlanine, August 21/ 
 Sept. 2, 1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 67 
 
 intervention of the Grand Duke Michael Nicolaie- 
 vitch, the former Governor-General of the Caucasus, 
 the expulsion of the Jews throughout that district, 
 with the exception of Terek and Koubane, was 
 suspended. ^ 
 
 Other indications, though very undecided ones, 
 give rise to the opinion that a reaction is about to 
 take place in the highest quarters, bringing with it 
 some cessation in the system of crowding-in and 
 congestion. 
 
 Is this caused by the despairing appeals of the 
 Jews, or by the respectful but urgent protests of the 
 Chambers of Commerce in Libau and Riga ? Or, 
 lastly—and this we would willingly believe—is there 
 perhaps some slight sentiment of pity for the unfortu¬ 
 nate victims, or may perhaps some credence be given to 
 the idea, so frequently expressed by Russian journal¬ 
 ism, that the course pursued since 1882, aggravates 
 the condition of the Jews without ameliorating that 
 of the Christians ? Nothing is known for certain, 
 but it seems as if the counsels of mercy might per¬ 
 chance prevail, and whilst these lines are being 
 written a faint ray of hope seems to penetrate the 
 darkness which enwraps the Jewish communities in 
 Russia. 
 
 After such favour had been extended to the Jews 
 in the Caucasus, a ministerial order of August 7/19 
 conveyed to the Jews, who were threatened with 
 expulsion in the other parts of the Empire, that they 
 would be permitted to remain until June 1, 1894, or 
 
 # OdessJd ListoJc , July 1/13, 1893. 
 
68 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 even for a year longer A Unhappily, in the circular 
 by which the Governors of Provinces gave notice of 
 this measure to public bodies, there is the following 
 singular restrictive commentary : 
 
 “ In bringing to my notice the new stipulations, 
 his Excellency the Minister of the Interior has seen 
 fit to explain and to complete his fresh instructions 
 by the following considerations : The facilities 
 actually granted to the Jews who have established 
 themselves beyond the limits of the Settlement are 
 the utmost that they can obtain. The Jews cannot 
 possess others ; these facilities are only available for 
 those Jews who have retained their domiciles up to 
 the present ; as to the Jews who have already left 
 voluntarily, in accordance with the ordinance of 
 January 14, 1 893, or with regard to such as have been 
 expelled, and sent back by stage to the countries 
 within the Pale, the new rules are not applicable to 
 them. At the same time, the Minister of the 
 Interior desires me to exercise a continuous and 
 severe control over the Jews who are newly arrived, 
 and to refuse all authorisation of domicile to such 
 Jews.” 
 
 “ The police therefore are invited to conform 
 strictly to the stipulations of the present ordinance, 
 to watch carefully, on their personal responsibility 
 over all Jews newly arrived from the districts of the 
 Settlement, and to verify accurately the rights 
 which they allege to be theirs, in order to obtain 
 residence here.” 
 
 * Novo'io Vrêmia, Aug. 20/Sept. 1, 1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 69 
 
 With regard to this subject the OdessJci Listok 
 offers the following observations : # 
 
 “ This alleviation is the first official representa¬ 
 tion, which opens a new departure in the internal 
 policy concerning the Jews ; and we are firmly 
 persuaded that other alleviations will soon follow, 
 more particularly with regard to the application of 
 the law of May 3, 1882. The enforcement of the 
 restrictive laws against the Jews has not solved the 
 Jewish question to any extent; “for it is not by 
 administrative measures that it is possible to decide 
 this complex question. The only remedy, as heroic 
 as it is just, would be to annul the Jewish question 
 as such.” .... 
 
 “ Until that time comes, however, we shall 
 welcome any measure which will relieve the terrible 
 situation of so many millions of Russian citizens, 
 whose sole crime is that they belong to the Jewish 
 religion.” 
 
 At the same time that this temporary respite 
 was given to the calamities which weighed 
 so heavily on the Jews, two significant facts 
 occurred. In the first place, permission was granted 
 for the first time to the Israelites, to assist the 
 peasants at the ingathering of their harvests, and 
 this permission, of which they eagerly took advan¬ 
 tage, as will be seen afterwards, had the most 
 favourable results. 
 
 In the second place, the Jews of Wilna were 
 visited by a terrible inundation, and the Grand Duke 
 
 * OdessJci Listok , Aug. 22/Sept. 3, 1893. 
 
70 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Sergius sent them the sum of a thousand roubles to 
 relieve their pressing necessities. 
 
 When we recall the part attributed to the Grand 
 Duke in the recent tragedy at Moscow, we are led to 
 hope that the dawn of better days may not be so 
 far distant. If these pages can effect such a result 
 by advancing it by only an hour, we believe that we 
 shall not have written in vain. 
 
 But we must continue this sad account of the 
 situation, which was brought about by the May 
 Laws, the ordinances of the last few years, and the 
 excesses of the police ; and which have rendered the 
 Jews pariahs, throughout the empire of the Tsar. 
 The local measures of clemency and momentary 
 alleviation do not greatly modify the situation, for 
 menacing dangers may recur on the morrow. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 71 
 
 4. Expulsion of Artisans. 
 
 Dispute as to the term “ Artisansand as to their Shill .— 
 Severity totvards Aged Workmen. 
 
 Amongst those Jews privileged to leave the 
 Territory there are, as we have seen, the “ skilled ” 
 mechanics. Owing to the ukase of Tsar Alex¬ 
 ander IL, dated June 1865, they were permitted to 
 reside throughout Russia. But what restrictions 
 and what difficulties did they not have to encounter, 
 in order to enjoy this privilege, which could at any 
 time be withdrawn ? 
 
 Prince Demidoff has admirably proved how pre¬ 
 carious is their tenure of such rights. A Jewish 
 artisan, dwelling in the interior must possess a pass¬ 
 port, which has to be renewed every year ; an annual 
 certificate of good conduct and of good morals, 
 handed to him by the police ; a certificate of skill in 
 his trade from the guild of the town where he 
 resides ; and further, if he is allowed to have his 
 wife and children with him, he is forbidden to be 
 accompanied by his father and mother, even if they 
 are aged and infirm ; and when he dies his family is 
 sent back to the Pale. # 
 
 Neither the appellative artisan, nor the qualifica¬ 
 tion “ skilled ” has ever been defined with precision, 
 and each of these titles has become the cause of 
 
 * Prince Demidoff San-Donato : “ The Jewish Question in Russia,” 
 French translation, pp. 57, 58. 
 
72 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 annoyance without end. It is true that the Russian 
 law of 1886, with respect to passports, # says that 
 “ artisans generally, both masters and workmen, 
 may reside outside the Jewish Pale.” But notwith¬ 
 standing this permit, one provincial administration 
 may decree, that cooks cannot benefit by this law ; 
 another, that Jewish bakers, butchers, vinegar- 
 makers, and glaziers, cannot be considered as 
 mechanics, and therefore persons who have followed 
 these occupations, for the last twenty years outside 
 of the Pale, are obliged to leave. As to vinegar- 
 makers, the Senate of the empire had actually 
 decided them to be workmen ; and nevertheless a 
 man aged seventy-two, and having a large family, 
 was pitilessly turned out of Simbirsk, after living 
 there for thirty years, and having been a manu¬ 
 facturer of vinegar since 1869. In other places, 
 photographers, lithographers, and compositors were 
 all expelled under the same pretext that they 
 were artists, and not artisans. As to the term 
 “ skilled,” it is yet more elastic. There is hardly 
 any workman who is equally skilled in every branch 
 of his trade, and it is therefore easy to disconcert 
 him. If a tailor is specially clever in cutting out, he 
 would be examined to ascertain if he could iron well 
 or not, or vice versa. The greater number of times it 
 is the chief of the local corporation—that is to say, a 
 competitor—who has to judge the degree of skill of 
 the Jewish workmen, and it can readily be believed 
 that his judgment is not always impartial. At Kiev, 
 
 * Par. 283, note 3. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 73 
 
 Count Ignatieff, the Governor-General, caused to be 
 expelled in 1891, as “ unskilled,” all Jewish workmen 
 who had not sufficient employment to be constantly 
 occupied ! 
 
 In the month of December 1892, the privilege 
 granted to skilled artisans was subjected to a fresh 
 restriction. The Senate decided that the Jewish 
 workmen could not be allowed to reside outside of 
 the Pale, except in those places where a labour bureau 
 could control their skill, and this notwithstanding 
 the fact that such offices are only to be found in ten, 
 to fifteen per cent, of the towns. 
 
 Further, a Jewish artisan was expected to work 
 continuously at his trade, in order to retain the 
 privilege of residing outside of the Pale. # 
 
 In these cases particularly, the persecution was 
 both ingenious and underhand. It was a regular 
 practice to visit the workshops, at the very time 
 when the artisans with whom fault is to be found, 
 have gone to deliver the work, or are absent for a 
 holiday ; as they cannot then be found at their work, 
 they are said to have inscribed themselves falsely, 
 and are sent back to the Pale.t 
 
 At another time the police would choose a 
 Sabbath, on which to make the domiciliary visit. 
 There is a still more cruel practice : mechanics who 
 are past work have been mercilessly turned out, 
 and crowded into the Pale, only because they do not 
 follow their occupation. 
 
 * “ Recueil des Lois,” vol. xi. par. 346. 
 t Weber and Kempster, p. 39. 
 
74 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 It is strictly forbidden to the Jewish workman to 
 sell objects not manufactured by himself, beyond the 
 Pale of Settlement, # and this is an inexhaustible 
 source of fresh trickery. The Jewish watchmakers 
 were banished for selling watchkeys, and tailors 
 because the buttons on the garments which they had 
 made were not of their own manufacture, t The 
 wives of Jewish merchants were turned out of Kiev 
 for being guilty of the terrible sin of selling milk. 
 
 The edifying account of such crimes will be found 
 further on. Lastly, as all these restrictions did 
 not appear to be sufficiently severe in Moscow, the 
 mechanics were expelled en masse , and the rights 
 in that city which had been granted to them by a 
 liberal-minded Tsar, were withdrawn in 1891, by a 
 stroke of the pen of Alexander III. 
 
 * “ Recueil des Lois,” vol. xi. art. 103 ; decision of the Senate, 1874, 
 No. 731. 
 
 t Weber and Kempster, p. 39. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 75 
 
 5. Privilege of Keeping Families with them 
 
 DENIED TO THE JEWS. 
 
 Children encouraged to leave their Parents.—Marriage of a Convert 
 
 annulled in his favour.—Inhuman Restrictions.—Wives banished 
 from their husbands. 
 
 If love of their families, in Russia as elsewhere, 
 is the honour and strength of Judaism in the eyes 
 even of their most violent enemies, it is not because 
 the Russian legislature encourages this virtue. A 
 number of enactments seem, on the contrary, to 
 have been made solely in order to put an end to 
 Jewish family life, and to sow the seeds of discord 
 and banish all respect. No person can sign a legal 
 document in Russia, until the age of twenty-one 
 has been attained. But a Jewish child, male or 
 female, who has attained the age of fourteen, can 
 nevertheless enter the orthodox Church, contrary to 
 the wishes of its parents or guardians. # 
 
 Every convert receives a sum of fifteen to thirty 
 roubles, and a child receives half this amount. 
 
 A Jew who embraces the orthodox religion is 
 relieved of all obligation to his wife and children, 
 who remain faithful to the religion of Moses. In the 
 same way, a converted Jewess is freed from all ties 
 towards her husband, if he should not follow her 
 example. 
 
 In a work, the publication of which is authorised 
 
 * Law of 1876, on the Prevention of Crime. 
 
76 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 in Russia, M. Orehansky has related how a Jew, 
 who was married and the father of two children, 
 determining to go over to the Greek Church in 
 order to marry a Christian girl, deserted his wife 
 for two years ; then suddenly it occurred to him to 
 claim his son. The mother refused to give up her 
 child, and was therefore brutally dragged off to 
 Ostrog, her native city, and thrown into prison, 
 until her child could be found and forcibly bap¬ 
 tised.* 
 
 To complete the inconsistency, a marriage which 
 has been annulled in favour of the converted 
 husband is valid with regard to the wife who has 
 remained a Jewess, and thus prevents her finding 
 another protector for herself and her children, t 
 When one of a married couple becomes baptised, 
 the restrictions as to the right of residence cease 
 with respect to the convert, but continue with 
 regard to the other ; so that the convert can only 
 quit the Pale, by abandoning the other who has 
 remained faithful to Judaism. J 
 
 As there is no actual law which authorises those 
 Jews included in the category of privileged persons, 
 to take their families with them, a Jew who is 
 established beyond the limits of the Pale of Settle¬ 
 ment, cannot give house-room to his father or 
 mother, nor receive the children of poor or deceased 
 
 * G. G. Orehansky, quoted in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 
 Oct. 1890. 
 
 t Ibid., and Code of Laws, x. first section. 
 
 I Ibid., and Weber and Kempster, p. 53. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 77 
 
 relations, in such cases where the children do not 
 also possess the right of residence, in any or every 
 part of Russia. # 
 
 The certificate of midwiferjr permits Jewesses to 
 reside throughout the empire, and the acquisition 
 of this document had become the means of escape 
 from the Pale to many a poor woman ; but, faithful 
 to their system of hypocritical double-dealing, the 
 Department of the Police (since December 30, 1885) 
 has forbidden the children of these women to live 
 with their respective mothers, outside the Pale ! 
 
 We have already referred to the unhappy Jewish 
 women who were expelled from Kiev, where their 
 husbands lived, because they had dared to sell some 
 milk, and this occurrence deserves to be recounted. 
 
 The Pussian law is very tolerant as a rule to 
 certain small traders or to poor householders, who 
 strive to supplement their little incomes, and there¬ 
 fore no licence is required for a petty trade in milk. 
 Nevertheless, on January 21, 1891, the Kiev Court 
 of Justice, heard the case of ten Jewesses who 
 were accused in Kiev, eight of them for trading in 
 milk without licences, one in bread, the other in 
 pottery. 
 
 Their husbands were employed in Kiev as 
 labourers. The ten Jewesses were pronounced 
 guilty, and the court ordered their immediate ex¬ 
 pulsion. 
 
 The Russian paper,t from which we take the 
 
 * Code of Laws (1889), No. 55, par. 298. 
 t Novosti, Feb. 12, 1891. 
 
7 8 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 account, could evidently not refrain from the follow¬ 
 ing comment : 
 
 “ In this short notice to quit, we see the whole 
 bearing of anti-Semitism. Which of our readers 
 has ever heard of an article of the Code, which 
 forbids the wife of a poor Jewish workman to sell 
 milk or bread, under pain of immediate expulsion ? 
 
 . ... No man of common sense can understand 
 how one could condemn a poor woman who sells her 
 cow’s milk to such a fearful penalty.” 
 
 “It is difficult indeed to demand obedience to 
 laws and prohibitions which are in absolute contra¬ 
 diction to all natural rights.” 
 
 “ It will therefore be easily understood that such 
 laws cannot be observed ; the populace and adminis¬ 
 tration alike help in their infraction ; the first 
 through humanity, the second through inter¬ 
 est. 
 
 “ But let us see, what is the consequence of the 
 judgment of the Kiev court ? ” 
 
 “ For having transgressed a ridiculous law, of 
 which, in fact, no one has ever heard, ten women 
 are banished from the city, and their hearths, 
 exiled far away from their husbands, their children, 
 their interests and their affections.” 
 
 “ The winter is hard, the household miserably 
 
 poor.Outside, the wind and the snow are 
 
 pitiless, but all this is of no consequence, for the 
 law demands ‘ immediate expulsion ’ ! ” 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 79 
 
 6 . Businesses and Trades Interdicted. 
 
 Violation of the ReligiousE quality prescribedby Russia to other Nations. 
 — Wide Meaning given to the word “ Functionary.”—Jewish Em¬ 
 ployés Dismissed.—Lawyers’ Clerks.—Suicide of M. Koiranski.— 
 The Bar.—Elective Functions.—An Official Confession. 
 
 One of the reproaches which is frequently brought 
 against the Russian Jews, is the fact that they 
 follow many occupations which are regarded with 
 disfavour. They are accused of being intermediaries 
 and of dealing in money and spirits. We have 
 already seen that no accusation could be more 
 groundless, and that there are in Russia an enor¬ 
 mous proportion of Jews, who are employed in 
 manual labour ; and to this fact, abundant proof 
 will be adduced. 
 
 But, as an endeavour is made to render the Jews 
 ashamed of their occupations, it is evidently pre¬ 
 supposed that they possess freedom of choice, with 
 regard to the selections to be made. 
 
 Doubtless the Russian Government opens to them 
 a number of honourable employments ? . . . . Would 
 not this be the natural inference, seeing that, as a 
 signatory of the treaty of Berlin, Russia imposed 
 these conditions upon Bulgaria, upon Montenegro, 
 Servia, and Roumania, whilst even Turkey accepted 
 the same terms : 
 
 “ That the difference of religious beliefs and creeds 
 should not be brought forward as a reason for exclu¬ 
 sion, or of incapacity in all matters regarding the 
 
8o 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 enjoyment of civil or political rights ; of admission 
 to public employments, functions, or honours, or to 
 the exercise of the various professions and industries 
 in any localities whatsoever.” # 
 
 Therefore, and upon these grounds, why should the 
 Jews not make their way in the army or in official 
 capacities ? Why should they not be engineers, or 
 farmers, rather than money-lenders or owners of 
 taverns ? 
 
 For a very simple reason : because the greater 
 number of employments and trades are forbidden to 
 the Jews in Russia, and the few exceptions which 
 the law permits, are continually being subjected to 
 greater restrictions. They are forbidden to become 
 officers ; they are forbidden to become engineers, to 
 acquire or to rent any landed property in the 
 country, or even to settle in any of the cities outside 
 of the Pale (see the ist and 2nd articles of Ignatieff’s 
 laws) ; how then can they become agriculturists ? 
 
 Theoretically, it is possible for 5 per cent, of the 
 military doctors to be Jews—actually not one has 
 been admitted during the last few years. The on] y 
 veterinary school in existence, that of Kharkov, has 
 been shut against them. With some few exceptions, 
 which are never really put into practice, they are 
 forbidden to occupy any position in the Russian 
 administration. It should be noted what an un¬ 
 expectedly elastic meaning is given to the term 
 “ Government Functionary,” when it is intended to 
 
 * Treaty of Berlin, 1878. Articles : 5 (Bulgaria), 27 (Montenegro), 
 35 (Servia), 44 (Roumania), 62 (Turkey). 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 81 
 
 impinge on the rights of those Jews who are to be 
 excluded. Although no accusation was brought 
 against them, all the Jews employed in the offices 
 of the Government communes or tribunals, in the 
 province of Kovno were suddenly dismissed, not¬ 
 withstanding that some of them had been there 
 for fifteen years. At Odessa, a few years ago, the 
 Jewish lawyers’ clerks were sent away by special 
 orders. 
 
 They joined together, and founded a bureau, in 
 which they proposed to edit petitions and drafts of 
 legal documents ; but the Governor-General caused 
 the office to be closed by the police, thus depriving 
 them of their poor earnings. In October 1892, it 
 was forbidden to the Jews to be sworn actuaries in 
 cases of bankruptcy, even, as the Senate of the 
 empire remarks in such cases, where they have 
 already filled that position to the satisfaction of the 
 courts and of those concerned. # 
 
 At Kiev, several Jewesses had been admitted as 
 sick-nurses into the hospital of Kirilov ; but the 
 governor ordered them to be sent away again. 
 
 In August 1890, when the railway of Libau was 
 bought up by the State, all the Jewish employes of 
 the company were successively dismissed one after 
 the other. One of them, M. Koranski, an engineer, 
 whose character and professional merits had gained 
 for him the sympathy of all his colleagues, had been 
 
 Ukase of the Senate in the “ Bulletin des Lois,” No. 144. Oct. 12/24, 
 1892, and deliberation of the Senate published in the VosJchod, Dec 21 
 1892/Jan. 2, 1893. 
 
82 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 employed there for twenty-six years, but he was also 
 informed that he must either leave or become 
 baptised. He preferred to kill himself, and he was 
 buried at Wilna, November 3, 1890. In the course 
 of the summer of 1893, the two navigation 
 companies of the Dnieper were directed to dismiss 
 their Jewish officials to the number of about 80 
 persons. At the same time, these unfortunate 
 individuals received orders from the police to depart 
 at once. “ These poor people,” writes the Odesshi 
 Listoh , # “ all have large families and are in a heart¬ 
 rending condition. Whilst these lines were being 
 written, the Minister of Ways and Roads, had 
 extended the decree to all the conceded railway 
 companies, and thus eight thousand Jews, on whom 
 no breath of reproach can rest, were thrown out of 
 work.! 
 
 Excluded from the position of magistrate, the 
 Jews could at least become lawyers or barristers ; 
 and several of their number had distinguished 
 themselves at the Russian bar. Henceforth, the 
 profession of barrister and that of lawyer are closed 
 to all who do not obtain a special permit from the 
 Minister of Justice, and such authorisation is hardly 
 ever granted. Thus, at Odessa, where these fresh 
 restrictive measures had been enforced, thirty- 
 two lawyers and three barristers, all Jews, were 
 refused the right of pleading in the courts of their 
 district in the beginning of 1890. According to a 
 
 * Odesshi Listoh, June 12/24, 1893. 
 t Novoïe Vrêmia, Aug. 8/20, 1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 83 
 
 more recent decision of the Council of Minis¬ 
 ters, the complete exclusion of Jewish barristers 
 can only be enforced at the tribunals under the 
 jurisdiction of the Court ol Appeal of Warsaw, com¬ 
 prising the ten provinces of ancient Poland—that is 
 to say, the district m which the Jews are most 
 numerous. Elsewhere it is forbidden that the ratio 
 of Jewish lawyers should exceed 10 per cent, of the 
 number of Christian lawyers. Further, no Jew 
 will be able in future to take part in the Bar 
 Committee. # 
 
 Neither personal merit, nor the confidence of his 
 fellow-citizens, permits the Jew in Russia to raise 
 himself to any superior position. Jews cannot be 
 elected as members of the Provincial Assemblies 
 (Zemstvos), nor can they—however numerous they 
 may be in any particular district—participate in the 
 election of such assemblies.t 
 
 The Jew cannot be elected to act as mayor nor 
 as deputy-may or,I nor as president of the Municipal 
 Council, § nor as commissioner of the police. || 
 
 In the ten governments of Poland they cannot be 
 nominated as the “ Elders ” of a hamlet, unless all 
 the inhabitants of that hamlet are Jews. IF 
 
 Corporation committees, consisting of Christians 
 
 * Kievlanine, Oct. 21/Nov. 2, 1892. 
 t Code of Laws, No. lxiii. par. 597. 
 
 I Local Institutions, Art. 2035. 
 
 § Circular of the Minister of the Interior, Oct. 12, 1879, No. 7795. 
 
 || Code of Laws, vol. ix. par, 989. 
 
 IT “ Réglements civiques du Royaume de Pologne,” i. par. 16; par. 1. 
 
8 4 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 and Jews, cannot choose a Jew as President nor as 
 Vice-President. # 
 
 Jews cannot be nominated as members of a 
 recruiting commission by the inhabitants of the 
 cities in which they live.t 
 
 At the Stock Exchange of Odessa, as well as in 
 Warsaw, the Jews could serve on the committee of 
 the Exchange, and also act as brokers, notaries, and 
 clerks. In 1892, there were at Odessa 65 per cent, 
 of Jewish brokers, and 35 per cent. Christian ; 
 in Warsaw, 75 per cent, were Jews and 25 per cent. 
 Christian. 
 
 But a law of 1892, still further restricted the rights 
 of the Jews ; and since that time the presidents and 
 members of the Stock Exchange Committees can 
 only be chosen from amongst Christians ; and as the 
 same rule applies to experts, notaries, and clerks 
 as to Jewish brokers, their numbers are thus limited 
 to one-fourth of the total number.^ 
 
 Bussian legislation had up till the present time 
 accorded to the Jews a small share in the Municipal 
 Councils. But the new municipal law, sanctioned 
 by the Tsar on June 11, 1892, put an end to the 
 rights of the Jews. Formerly they were municipal 
 electors, and could take part in the councils in the 
 proportion of one-third, which, however, was soon 
 reduced to one-fifth. The new law deprives them 
 of all rights as electors, and does not permit them 
 
 * Code of Laws, vol. xi. par. 338, 474. 
 
 t Imperial Order, May 20, 1874. 
 
 J Odesski Listok, Sept. 2/14, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 85 
 
 to be elected by their fellow-citizens. They can 
 only be nominated as deputy-delegates of the 
 council by the local authorities, and the number of 
 those delegates may not exceed a tenth of the 
 number of the entire body of the councillors. Thus 
 in certain towns in the north-west of Russia, where 
 there are sometimes 70 per cent, of Jews, the 
 municipal affairs are entirely in the hands of a 
 minority, often hostile and inimical. 
 
 If the Jews are thus divested of their diminished 
 rights, one would be led to suppose that this is, 
 perchance, because they have acquitted themselves 
 badly in their municipal functions, on those occasions 
 when they have been invested with office. But the 
 opposite is actually the case. Here is recent and 
 trustworthy evidence, taken from an official paper, 
 “the Annals of the Government of Kovno ” : “We 
 are not accustomed to sing the praises of the Jews, 
 but we are obliged to recognise that the municipal 
 councillors of the Jewish persuasion, have given the 
 most careful attention to the working of municipal 
 affairs, and have successfully aided in the material 
 development of the wealth of our cities, during these 
 last years’ 7# 
 
 But we have not yet said all. Official enact¬ 
 ments forbid the Jews to be interested in some 
 special mine, to take part in the management of 
 some sugar-works, to possess any shares in the 
 Association of Funded Proprietors, or of the Society 
 
 Annals of the Government of Kovno, reproduced from the 
 Voshhod, Jan. 21 / Feb. 12, 1893. 
 
86 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 of Market Places of Moscow, and so on. Even bap¬ 
 tism does not confer on them the right of becom¬ 
 ing shareholders in the last-named enterprise ; and 
 the legal disabilities, of which we have not exhausted 
 the list, are further augmented by the restrictions 
 imposed by private corporations, whose zeal or self¬ 
 ishness incite them to imitate the example set by 
 the Government. Amongst the various measures 
 which are enforced, there are some which lead to 
 the most dejDlorable consequences. The apothecaries 
 of St. Petersburg decided, in 1891, that they would 
 refuse to take Jewish apprentices, and thus shut 
 out the study of chemistry to the Jews ! 
 
 The restrictions enforced occasionally present a 
 comical aspect ; as when a chess club, whose best 
 players were Jews, decided in future to close its 
 doors against them. # 
 
 * Jewish Chronicle, April 24, 1891. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 37 
 
 7. Limitation of the Number of Jews in the 
 Universities and Gymnasiums. 
 
 Intentions of Alexander I. Misunderstood.—Increased Severity of 
 Restrictive Measures.—Rights Violated. 
 
 Compulsory instruction has always prevailed 
 amongst the Jews, because the ceremony of religious 
 initiation comprises amongst its qualifications, the 
 necessity of reading aloud, and of understanding a 
 portion of the Bible in Hebrew. 
 
 If the Jews constitute a race—a question which 
 is open to dispute—they may be proud of the 
 glorious title which M. de Sacher-Masoch and 
 M. Leroy-Beaulieu have assigned to them, as being 
 the earliest civilised race amongst our Mediterranean 
 world. 
 
 They have at all times honoured science. “ The 
 wise man,” says the Talmud, “ ranks before the 
 King.” # But in addition to their natural passion 
 for study, the Russian Jews are actuated by a 
 powerful motive, which induces them to devote all 
 their efforts to the instruction of their children ; 
 the possession of University honours being as we 
 know, one of the few means at their disposal to 
 escape from the odious Ghetto of the Settlement. 
 
 Tsar Alexander I., who was not by any means 
 over-indulgent to the Jews, had authorised them, in 
 
 * Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, “Israël chez les nations,” 1893, pp. 202 
 and 214; Sacher-Masoch in his [“ Selections ” ; “ Freiheit, Liebe, und 
 Menschlichkeit,” Berlin, 1893, p. 25. 
 
88 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 1804, to send their children to all public educational 
 institutions. We read in the “ Code of Laws,” vol. ix. 
 book i. chap, iv., article 966, the following lines : 
 “ Jewish children can be admitted to, and educated 
 at, the public schools ; both in private and boarding 
 schools in the various districts where they live ; no 
 difference is to be made between them and other 
 children.” 
 
 But since the accession of the present Tsar, and 
 since the deplorable influence obtained by M. 
 Pobédonostsev, this enactment has become a dead 
 letter, and every lever has been set in motion to 
 prevent the Jews from acquiring that possession 
 sacred among all, namely, Education. 
 
 As though it is not sufficient to starve them 
 physically, attempts are likewise made to crush out 
 their intelligence. Their bodies are wasted by 
 poverty and want, and now a course of starvation is 
 likewise applied to their minds. 
 
 The Jewish secondary schools have been closed by 
 Imperial orders, and it is prohibited to open new 
 ones, # under the pretext that the public schools 
 are open to all. But how have the Tews been 
 encouraged to enter them ? 
 
 In 1882, the number of Jewish students in the 
 medical military schools was limited to 5 per cent. 
 At the present time not a single Jew can be 
 admitted. In 1883, the proportion of Jewish 
 students at the School of Mines was also reduced 
 to 5 per cent., and at about the same time their 
 
 * Circular of the Minister of the Interior, No. 7, 1888. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 89 
 
 numbers became restricted in the technical engi¬ 
 neering schools. 
 
 Since 1885, a prohibition has existed against 
 admission of more than 10 per cent, of Jewish pupils 
 to the School of Arts and Industries at Kharkov. In 
 the beginning of the same year, it was decided that 
 students should no longer be admissible to public 
 University scholarships. 
 
 In 1886, they were excluded from the Veterinary 
 School. In 1887, the proportion of Jews admitted 
 to the School for Civil Engineers was fixed at 3 per 
 cent. At last came the final blow ; on December 
 5/17, 1886, the Minister of Public Instruction, with 
 the Imperial sanction, promulgated a decree, which 
 opens with the following astonishing preamble : 
 
 “ Seeing that many Jewish young men, eager to 
 profit by the benefits of a superior classical, technical, 
 or professional education, present themselves every 
 year for admission to the Universities, that they pass 
 their examinations, and continue their studies at 
 the various schools of the Empire, it seems desirable 
 to put a stop to a state of affairs which is so 
 unsatisfactory .” ( !) 
 
 Consequently the Minister fixed the number of 
 Jewish students at 3 per cent., as a maximum of 
 the total of the students at St. Petersburg and at 
 Moscow ; at 5 per cent, in the provincial Universities 
 beyond the boundaries of the Pale ; and at 10 per 
 cent, within the precincts of the Pale. 
 
 On June 26 (July 8), 1887, a similar enactment 
 was enforced in all gymnasiums and colleges without 
 
9° 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 exception; and at the commencement of 1893, the 
 Minister decided to apply the same law to all schools 
 for Assistant-surgeons and Midwives, and to the 
 several institutions for special instruction. Circulars 
 were even addressed to the head-mistresses of HUh 
 
 O 
 
 Schools for Girls, ordering them not to admit Jewish 
 pupils. 
 
 In order to appreciate the full odium of these 
 measures, it must be remembered that the Jews had 
 been enjoined—“ Win your diplomas, and you can 
 go forth from your Ghetto 3 ” It is also to be borne 
 in mind, that in the cities of the Pale where the 
 Jews are closely packed together, their proportion is 
 frequently greater than 10 per cent, of the total 
 population ; their numbers amounting to as many as 
 50, to 82 per cent, in some of the towns, and to more 
 than 80 per cent, in four out of these. They may 
 not even enjoy the expensive luxury of sending 
 their children for purposes of study, beyond the 
 limits of the Pale, as Jewish children are not 
 admissible to the public or private educational 
 Institutions, in the places where their parents do not 
 possess a right of residence.* At the close of the 
 scholastic year of 1887-1888, 400 young Jews had 
 passed their Matriculation Examination, and thereby 
 acquired the right of entering the University ; but 
 of this number 326 were refused admission. The 
 Universities of Moscow and Helsingfors, exceeded 
 even the ordinary practice in the rigour of their 
 
 * Circulars of 1876 and 1884, No. 9846. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 9 1 
 
 conduct, and refused to give admission to any Jew 
 whatever. 
 
 M. de Martens, professor at the University of St. 
 Petersburg, and one of the most distinguished 
 expounders of International Law, affirms that “ it is 
 the duty of every Government to respect the rights 
 and interests of all its subjects, without regard to 
 race ” ; and in his list of those rights which every 
 civilised State is bound to respect, he includes those 
 which are “ indissolubly connected with every human 
 being.” He enumerates three fundamental principles : 
 The right to come and go, at will ; the right to 
 obtain means of existence by every legitimate pro¬ 
 fession ; and, lastly, the right of developing the 
 intellectual faculties, and of profiting by every means 
 of education and instruction, which is afforded by 
 the country. # 
 
 Did he remember, in drawing up this list, that not 
 one of these indefeasible rights is granted to the 
 Jews of Bussia ? 
 
 * De Martens’ Treatise on International Rights, French translation, 
 vol. i. pp. 196, 440-441 ; German translation, vol. i. pp. 149 and 334. 
 
92 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 8 . Refusal to Permit the Jews to Participate 
 in the Benefits of the Institutions which 
 they Support. 
 
 Schools.—Embezzlement of Taxes. — Hospitals. 
 
 We have seen what unprecedented restrictions are 
 imposed by the Government on the Jewish youth ; 
 one last feature completes the picture. Many of 
 the schools, from which they are now partially or 
 wholly excluded, have been founded or warmly 
 supported by Jews. The College at Minitza for pro¬ 
 fessional studies, and the School of Mines at 
 Gi olovka, both owe their existence to the generosity 
 of the Jews ; yet, nevertheless, these institutions 
 actually refuse to admit more than from 5 to io per 
 cent, of Jewish pupils. At Vinitza the population 
 of the town comprises about 40 per cent, of Jews. 
 Ten thousand roubles were also given by them for 
 the establishment of an industrial school at Rovno ; 
 and yet not a single Jewish pupil is admitted there. 
 The Jewish youth are also excluded from the 
 Polytechnic school at Kiev, (which was established 
 almost entirely at the expense of their community 
 in memory of Tsar Alexander II.), and which, in 
 spite of this fact, is still to a great extent supported 
 by subscriptions contributed by the Jews. 
 
 Normal schools for Jewish teachers were formerly 
 established at Jitomir and Wllna. These were sup¬ 
 pressed, and the building at Jitomir, which had been 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 93 
 
 raised at the expense of the Jews, was seized by 
 the Government, and used as a court for criminal 
 cases. 
 
 This example is by no means a solitary one. The 
 Jews, as we shall see presently, are the objects of 
 certain exceptional taxes. One of these, the tax on 
 candles, is intended, by the actual wording of the 
 
 law, # to be utilised in the construction of Jewish 
 schools. 
 
 But the Government gives no account of the sums 
 which it collects. Another tax, on the poor-box, is 
 supposed to be applied to charitable institutions 
 which benefit the Jews. On one occasion the 
 Governor of Kichinev “ borrowed ” 100,000 roubles 
 of this tax-money, m order to build an official 
 residence for himself. 
 
 In 1892, the police-force of Odessa was reinforced 
 by an increase of 66 men, and of 8 inspectors, and 
 the additional expenses, amounting to 19,312 roubles 
 per annum, were, according to a decision of the 
 Committee of Ministers, defrayed from the interest 
 of the poor-box tax j3aid by the Jews of Odessa.! 
 
 At Balta, the Jewish community asked for a part of 
 the tax which was disposable in order to reconstruct 
 the Orphanage, and to improve the food arrange¬ 
 ments of the sick in the Jewish hospital. To this the 
 authorities would not consent; but on the other 
 hand, 40,000 roubles were illegally abstracted from 
 this fund, and given to the Municipal Council for 
 
 * Law on Taxes, vol. v. 1857. 
 t Odesski Listolc, May 12/24, 1892. 
 
94 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 the paving of the Cathedral Place and the adjoining 
 streets. # Matters have gone to such an extreme in 
 Russia, that they actually refuse to receive the Sick 
 into the hospitals, merely because they are Jews. 
 So much useless cruelty seems quite incredible ; but 
 we quote here, a printed testimony with regard to 
 this assertion, which unfortunately leaves no doubt 
 as to the fact. “ About two months before our 
 visit,” write the Commissioners of the American 
 Government^ “ Alexiev, the Mayor of Moscow, had 
 addressed a special circular to all those hospitals, 
 under the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities, 
 in which it was commanded that no Jew should be 
 admitted for medical treatment, whether he pos¬ 
 sessed the right of domicile in Moscow or not.” 
 
 “ Madame D- having had occasion to take 
 
 an old man (who had lost the sight of one eye, 
 and was threatened with cataract in the other), to a 
 hospital for Diseases of the Eyes and Ears, could not 
 obtain admission for him because the sufferer was a 
 Jew.” “ Later on, we saw the old man in one of 
 the suburbs, where he lived hidden away, and he 
 confirmed this account.” “ His condition was most 
 pitiable, for paralysis had supervened on his other 
 complaints.” 
 
 “ At another hospital, where Pasteur s treatment 
 for hydrophobia is practised (this being the only 
 establishment of the kind in Russia), a Jew was 
 brought in, who had been bitten by a mad dog. 
 
 * Odesshi Listok, Sept. 24/Oct. 6, 1893. 
 
 t Report of Weber and Kempster, p. 41. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 95 
 
 The medical authorities, in accordance with the 
 above-named instructions, were obliged to refuse him 
 admission, but they gave him a certificate, signed 
 by the chief physician, which we saw, and which 
 attested to the facts of the case. This certificate 
 proved that the sick man had been examined, that 
 he had symptoms of hydrophobia, and that his only 
 chance of cure would have been to undergo treat¬ 
 ment on the Pasteur method in this Institution. 
 
 “ Though all this was indubitable, he could not 
 gain entrance, and was carried away on a litter.” 
 “ All the members of the artisan guild have to pav 
 a hospital-tax, in order that they may be enabled to 
 obtain medical treatment in such institutions ; but 
 this did not hinder the enforcement of the circular 
 forbidding admission to Jews. We subjoin a copy 
 of a receipt for the tax, proving that it had been 
 paid up to November 29, 1891, notwithstanding 
 which, the circular, prohibiting admission to the 
 hospitals to those who were actually paying the 
 
 tax, was issued m the month of the preceding 
 June : 
 
 “ Received by the Administration of the city of 
 Moscow the amount of 1 rouble, 2 5 kopecks, towards 
 the Hospital for Workmen coming from the govern¬ 
 ment of Mohilev, town of Homel. 
 
 “ Name— RACHEL LEAH, 
 
 Daughter of Isaac Sakoshauskay. 
 
 “Hospital Tax to November 29, 1891. 
 
 “ (Sealed, &c. &c.) ” 
 
9<5 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 The Convention of Geneva, as is well known, 
 prescribes that medical help and attendance be 
 given to all who are ill and wounded, without 
 regard to creed.* But the Russian Government 
 occasionally treats its Jewish subjects, who are 
 born in Russia, and who serve in its army, in 
 such a manner as no civilised nation, even in time 
 of war, would dare to treat its enemies. 
 
 * De Martens, French translation, vol. iii. p. 241. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 97 
 
 9. Restrictions on Religious Ceremonials. 
 
 Special Taxes. 
 
 Religion made the Pretext for Vexatious and Exceptional Regulations. 
 
 Exploitation of Jews by the Fiscal Authorities. 
 
 In the same way as liberty is withheld from the 
 Russian Jews in all matters of education, so also is 
 all freedom denied them with regard to religious 
 matters. The nomination of rabbis, and the construc¬ 
 tion of synagogues, are alike the subject of numerous 
 and vexatious formalities. The two rabbinical 
 schools which formerly existed in Russia were closed, 
 in 1873. A synagogue could not be built except in 
 such places, as contain at least eighty houses 
 inhabited by Jews. Even a room for divine worship 
 cannot be fitted up in localities where there are not 
 at least thirty Jewish houses ; and, contrary to the 
 usual customs relating to other religions, the theft of 
 objects used for divine worship by the Jews, is not 
 considered as sacrilege. 
 
 The Jews who assemble to pray in buildings other 
 than synagogues or meeting-places, render them¬ 
 selves liable to severe penalties. Recently twenty 
 persons were condemned by a communal judge 
 because they met to say prayers together in a 
 forest, and it was necessary to obtain a special 
 ukase of the Senate, to make it evident to the judge 
 that a forest is not a building. # 
 
 * Voskhod, August 15/27, 1893. 
 
 G 
 
9 8 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Religion has also been the pretext under which 
 a number of exceptional taxes have been imposed 
 upon the Jews. In return for the taxes which are 
 levied by the State on individuals, it is only fair to 
 guarantee them their rights, safety, and justice. It 
 therefore appears paradoxical that though they 
 enjoy less protection than all other subjects of the 
 Tsar, the Jews are compelled to pay the highest 
 amount of taxes. A ukase of the Senate in the 
 reign of Catherine II. had imposed on the Jews 
 double taxes. This law, which was renewed under 
 Paul I. in 1797, was abolished under Nicholas I., in 
 consequence of the regulations of 1835.^ Neverthe¬ 
 less, the idea of crushing down the Jews by taxation 
 was not relinquished. A tax was imposed for every 
 animal that is killed according to the Jewish rite 
 (kosher). Further, every pound of this same meat, 
 when sold to the consumer, is taxed afresh ; so that 
 their meat costs the Jews, a third more, than any 
 other portion of the population. The Jews pay 
 special taxes on house rent, on shops, or warehouses, 
 on the income of factories, and on the various indus¬ 
 trial or commercial enterprises which belong to 
 them ;t whilst their printing presses ,t and the capital 
 bequeathed by them, are all and each burdened by 
 exorbitant taxation. 
 
 Jewish women are obliged to pay a government 
 tax for the privilege of lighting two candles, on 
 Friday evening, a rite which constitutes one of their 
 
 * N. de Gradowski, ojo. cit. French translation, pp. 109, 141. 
 
 t Law on Taxes, vol. v. 1857. J Law on Censorship, 1886. 
 
 § Law on Taxes, 1857. 
 
99 
 
 THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 most ancient customs. This candle-tax brings in a 
 yearly duty, of 230,000 roubles. Tor the right of 
 wearing a head-covering when reciting prayers, 
 every Jew has to pay a yearly government tax, of 
 hve silver roubles. # The fiscal authorities allow no 
 occasion to pass unnoticed on which it is possible to 
 lay a heavy hand upon the Jew. Thus, in the month 
 of May 1893, a general tax was levied on apart¬ 
 ments, an impost from which Christian clergymen 
 and those of the Mussulman creed are exempt ; but 
 it is formally stated that those of the Jewish faith 
 must submit to the tax.t 
 
 It has been shown with what cruel rigour the 
 Jews have been crowded into the cities. Many of 
 them, coming from the provinces of the interior, 
 took refuge in Warsaw, whereupon the municipal 
 authonties immediately imposed a special tax upon 
 them for each day of residence, and this, too, inde¬ 
 pendently of the ordinary tax upon all new arrivals, 
 which is obligatory in Warsaw .J 
 
 ThePanslavists sum up all their accusations against 
 the Jews in one word—Exploitation. An American 
 writer, who travelled through Russia two years ago, 
 and whose observations are characterised by their 
 accuracy and perspicacity, says that the only people 
 whom he has seen exploited in Russia, are the Jews 
 themselves. § Fiscal legislation has shown that this 
 writer is not wrong, and what still remains to be 
 said, only confirms his judgment. 
 
 Law on Taxes, 1857. f Novoïe Vrêmia, June, 12/24, 1893. 
 
 I Kraj , June 25/July 7, 1893. 
 
 § Harold Frederic, “ The New Exodus,” 1892, pp. 66, 67. 
 
IOO 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 io. Violence towards the Jews.—Police 
 Exactions. —Robbery. 
 
 Censorship.—The Network of Restrictions.—Treatment of Colonists .— 
 Vexatious Ordinances.—Accusation of “ Want of Respect .”— 
 Arbitrary Imprisonment. — Handcuffs.—Cruelties towards Preg¬ 
 nant Women.—Extortions of the Police.—Pillaging in Kharaïevo, 
 Elizabethgrad, Starodoub, Jousovka, See. — Responsibilities. 
 
 After this review of the official measures of 
 crowding in, and of persecution, it only remains for 
 us to relate the actual drama of humiliation and 
 violence which ensued in consequence. 
 
 To subaltern functionaries and to the Russian 
 police, the Jew is indeed a scapegoat for every¬ 
 thing ; upon him all their hatred can find free vent, 
 towards him all threats are permissible, and all 
 extortions at his expense remain unpunished ; for 
 Israel is a victim which dares not utter a single cry, 
 however much injured. 
 
 Therefore amongst the numberless acts of local 
 violence which occur, it is certain that the report of 
 perhaps only one out of ten thousand, ever reaches 
 us. Of what use would it be to the Jew to make 
 complaint ? He would only run the risk of changing 
 an act of passing brutality, into a tenacious and un¬ 
 changing policy of rancour on the part of his op¬ 
 pressors. At present, if he is rich, he can purchase 
 comparative immunity ; if he is poor, he must needs 
 bow his neck under the yoke, and suffer in silence. 
 The individual and daily martyrdom of the Russian 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 IOI 
 
 Jews has therefore never passed into history. There 
 is no record of it in the ukases, or in the ordinances of 
 the police, and the course of action pursued depends 
 wholly upon the manner in which the officials 
 put their power into force ; whilst the execution 
 of the various ordinances depends on the mood of 
 the functionaries, or on the rapacity of the police 
 officers. 
 
 Such details as we have succeeded in obtaining, are 
 limited to facts which are more than usually revolt¬ 
 ing, and of these a feeble echo comes to us from time 
 to time, or perhaps we may chance to find a timid 
 allusion to the atrocities committed, in some news¬ 
 paper, more courageous than the rest. But the 
 censor is ever on the watch. The only Busso-Jewish 
 paper, the Voskhod , notwithstanding the extreme 
 moderation of its language, was suspended for six 
 months, immediately before the terrible expulsions 
 from Moskow ; and the Novosti, which occasionally 
 had found sufficient courage to defend the Jews, 
 was at the same ’time as the Voskliod threatened # 
 for the second time, with a similar fate to that of its 
 contemporary ; and a third such threat would be 
 synonymous with the immediate suppression of the 
 paper. 
 
 The functionaries are never at a loss for a pretext 
 when it pleases them to threaten, or to put their 
 intentions into execution. 
 
 The restrictive laws form an inextricable web, 
 and so closely woven are their meshes, that the 
 
 * Times, April 3, 1891. 
 
102 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Jews who become involved in them, cannot move 
 without breaking one regulation or another. The 
 most cautious individuals can never be certain of 
 acting in accordance with the dictates of the law, for 
 the police can always pounce upon them for some 
 involuntary and unconscious transgression. 
 
 This is so true, that one of the chief obstacles 
 to the emancipation of the Jews lies in the fact, 
 that it is to the interest of the Tchinovniks and 
 other officials to keep them thus crushed down 
 under the shackles of the law. JVT. Anatole Eeroy- 
 Beaulieu expressed himself to this effect in 1889,^ 
 before the time when the series of new measures of 
 oppression, which have been issued within the last 
 few years, were enforced. Since then, as he would 
 say,1 the meshes of the net have become yet more 
 closely drawn together, and therefore more intricate 
 and more impossible to loosen. 
 
 Authoi s, who are well acquainted with Jvussian 
 life, asseit that many of the functionaries take an 
 actual delight in causing the unhappy Jews to 
 suffer. I One would wish to believe that this is not 
 the case, though in the end it is of little consequence ; 
 the important fact does not consist m the feelings of 
 such officials, but in their actions. 
 
 An English journalist relates how in Southern 
 Russia he was an eyewitness that Jews were almost 
 killed on a railway journey, not for anything which 
 
 “ L’Empire des Tzars et les Russes,” vol. iii. p. 624. 
 t Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, Journal des Débats , Aug. 15, 1890. 
 
 Î Lanin, Fortnightly Review, Oct. 1890. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 103 
 
 they had said, or done, or for anything which they had 
 forgotten to do, or say, but simply because of the fact, 
 that they were Jews ! And when they complained of 
 the treatment inflicted upon them, or if they pleaded 
 for mercy, they were punished by being cast out of 
 the carriages, and left to perish on the lonely 
 steppes. “Not long ago,” he continues, “I saw 
 the governor of a large town, strike an aged and 
 venerable Jew for having his shop open after the 
 permitted hour ; and afterwards the governor burst 
 out laughing on seeing that his own watch was 
 wrong, and that it was an hour earlier than he had 
 imagined. 
 
 At the time of the attempted colonisation of 
 Siberia, which took place a few years ago, the Jewish 
 colonists were cruelly ill-treated by the functionaries 
 whose duty it was to escort them ; and when these 
 colonists at length arrived at their destination, they 
 found that they could not obtain either the grain 
 which had been promised to them, or the cattle 
 which they were to have had. This fact is related 
 in the official report, drawn up under the direction 
 of the Minister, Benkendorf, and addressed to Count 
 Kisselev, the Minister of the Domains, t 
 
 A Russian organ Le Journal du Nord , which 
 this year published a survey of the condition of 
 the Jews in 1892, clearly shows that the provincial 
 authorities often promulgated ordinances against the 
 
 * Daily Telegraph, Aug. 4, 1890. 
 
 t Prince Demidoff San Donato, “ The Jewish Question in Russia,” 
 French translation, p. 36, note. 
 
104 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Jews, which were as absurd as they were annoying. 
 Thus, in one province of the Pale, the governor 
 commanded the Jews to salute every representative 
 of authority in the community and the corporation, 
 wherever they might meet such a person, under 
 penalty of administrative prosecution. The Lord 
 Marshal, in one of the districts of the south, assembled 
 the chiefs of the Jewish communities and announced 
 to them, that if their co-religionists did not salute 
 him, on meeting him in the road, they should 
 undergo a whipping in public ; and in another 
 district, the Marshal threatened the Jews with 
 banishment to Siberia, for the same heinous crime ! # 
 These despotic measures were due to a fresh delin¬ 
 quency which had been invented in 1890. The 
 Jews, and the Jews alone, are now compelled to 
 raise their hats, before the most insignificant official, 
 under pain of being severely punished, for “ want of 
 respect.” It is easy to understand the immense 
 advantage which the police and the administration 
 can take by the employment of this term, which is, 
 at the same time, so elastic, and so vague in 
 its definition. 
 
 It is asserted that an official, who one day wished 
 to enter a tram-car which was quite full, took it 
 into his head that a Jew who was travelling in the 
 car, ought immediately to give up his seat to him, 
 and that in consequence of this grave matter a new 
 dereliction was invented. Whatever may have been 
 
 * Siévernoï Viestnik {Journal du Nord ) cited in the Voskhod, 17/29 
 Jan. 1893. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 105 
 
 the original cause, it is certain that circulars on this 
 subject were issued by the governors of Mohilev, 
 Odessa and Wilna, during the course of 1892. 
 
 At Odessa, the police are authorised to whip the 
 Jews, not only for serious offences, but for want of 
 politeness or of deference, towards Christians ! 
 
 In the month of August 1890, in a suburb of the 
 town of Slovadka, a subaltern functionary, finding 
 that a Jew had not shown him sufficient respect, 
 caused him to be pinioned and whipped in his 
 presence ; and if the wife of the official had not 
 intervened, the unhappy man would probably have 
 died under the lash. # 
 
 In Western countries we cannot even admit as an 
 excuse—what amply suffices in Russia as a reason 
 for the incarceration of respectable persons—namely, 
 the fact that they are known to be Jews. 
 
 Quite lately the assemblage of judges of the 
 peace at Ouchitza condemned a Jewish employé to 
 two weeks imprisonment, because he had remained 
 until the midday hour to superintend the cutting- 
 down of a forest, which belonged to his master. 
 The police asserted that he ought to have finished 
 his work bj r 11 o’clock in the morning, and that by 
 remaining in the forest beyond that hour “ he estab¬ 
 lished himself outside of the town ! ” 
 
 A woman of Mohilev, a cook, who had been 
 widowed for eight years, took her passport, which 
 had been forwarded from her birthplace by the 
 police in Moscow, in order to get the necessary certi- 
 
 * Times, Oct. 9 and 13, 1890. 
 
io6 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 ficates for its renewal. The passport was detained 
 by the authorities, but the woman was imprisoned 
 because it was not in her possession. One of the 
 American Commissioners, M. Weber, saw this 
 woman in prison, and published an official document 
 which proves that the passport was actually at the 
 time in the hands of the authorities. # In the same 
 prison was a boy of fifteen, who had been born in 
 Moscow, and whose father had left the city carrying 
 the boy's passport with him, in order that it might 
 be renewed. During the absence of the father, the 
 youth was arrested, thrown into prison and con¬ 
 demned to be sent back by stages. M. Weber 
 hesitated at believing that neither the woman nor 
 the boy had been guilty of the slighest wrong ; but 
 the inspector of the prison himself affirmed, that 
 far from being criminals, they were, on the contrary, 
 very respectable persons, and that they were con¬ 
 demned to be sent back by stages, simply because 
 they happened to be Jews.t 
 
 The American Heport describes many cases in which 
 the passports were taken and kept by the police ; 
 as also cases of arbitrary imprisonment, and of little 
 children who are incarcerated and kept without 
 food, sometimes for as long a period as thirty-six 
 hours ! 
 
 We have already referred to the use of handcuffs, 
 which is a matter of absolute fact, in spite of officious 
 denials^ that have been given to this assertion. 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, p. 47. t Ibid. p. 48. 
 
 I Messager Officiel Busse , Aug. 22, 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 107 
 
 Messrs. Weber and Kempster had in their hands 
 the orders of expulsion, signed and sealed with the 
 official seal, and mentioning expressly that the exiles 
 should be sent back “ V 1 naroutchnikakh ,” that is to 
 say, with handcuffs ; which order referred to some 
 Jews of Moscow who had not committed any mis¬ 
 demeanour whatsoever. # 
 
 The pair of handcuffs displayed on the cover of 
 Harold Frederic’s book was worn by an exiled 
 workman, Jossel Revsine ; and M. Romanis, corre¬ 
 spondent of the Daily Neivs, on January 1, 1892, 
 saw in the streets of Moscow, a similar convoy of 
 unfortunate persons who were guilty only of having 
 been born as Jews, and who were chained up to¬ 
 gether with criminals and vagabonds, t 
 
 In all civilised countries, a pregnant woman, 
 though she may have been found guilty and sen¬ 
 tenced, is an object of some consideration. But 
 in Russia, no regard is paid at such time to a 
 Jewess, even though she be of most irreproachable 
 character. 
 
 The delegates of the United States, came across a 
 cultivated and distinguished lady at Wilna, who 
 had been expelled from St. Petersburg on account 
 of being a Jewess. Although she was on the eve of 
 her confinement all aid was refused to her. She was 
 seized with the pangs of labour, whilst on the road, 
 towards four o’clock in the morning. She was 
 allowed to rest until her delivery ; but, on the same 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 47, 48, 61, 62, 65. 
 t Harold Frederic, pp. 237, 238, 289, 291. 
 
io8 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 day , at four o’clock in the afternoon, she was put 
 into the train for Wilna. 
 
 Others were not even allowed this respite of a 
 few hours, but had to be confined in the carriages, 
 or in one of the prisons, during the transport by 
 stages. # 
 
 There is surely nothing exaggerated in the excla¬ 
 mation of an English writer who says : U I would 
 rather be treated as a swindler, a forger, or a vulgar 
 assassin, than as a respectable Russian Jew ! ” 
 
 All that could be said as to the exactions of the 
 police has already been brought forward, and we 
 do not wish to weary our readers by repetition, but 
 it is only too true that the Jew is “ the serf of the 
 police,” according to the appropriate expression of 
 Sir Joseph Savory, the Lord Mayor of London. 
 
 M. Leroy-Beaulieu, a friend of the Russians, who 
 knows them thoroughly, is of the same opinion.! 
 In Russia itself there is no self-deception on this 
 score. A Russian journal asserts that the restrictions 
 imposed on the Jews, have no other aim than to 
 increase the revenues of the authorities who have to 
 carry the law into effect.!); We possess a great 
 number of edifying details on this subject. 
 
 The police officers compel the Jewish tailors to 
 furnish them with garments for which they do not 
 pay ; out of 100,000 roubles of fines which the Jews 
 hand to these officials, scarcely 14,000 reach the 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 78, 50. 
 
 t “ L’Empire des Tzars et des Russes,” vol. iii. 1889, p. 624. 
 
 ! La Semaine, Sept. 7, 1890. 
 
the measures of persecution 
 
 109 
 
 Treasury ; the remainder never gets so far. When 
 the expulsions from Moscow were made, the police 
 informed M. Rabbinovitch, that by payment of fifty 
 roubles, his banishment could be deferred for six 
 months, and another Jew had to pay 500 roubles a 
 year, in order to remain “ on good terms with the 
 police,” &c. 
 
 Messrs. Weber and Kempster were assured that 
 half of the income of the middle classes amongst the 
 Jews, went to the police. # The demoralising effect 
 of such continual extortion is easy to foresee. 
 
 The less worthy Jews are those who are the least 
 molested, for they have good friends amongst the 
 police. Therefore the few hundred scamps who 
 may be found amongst the Russian Jews, such as 
 the usurers or receivers of stolen goods, and who are 
 made to serve as the pretext for a general prosecu¬ 
 tion, are the very j3ersons who escape scot-free. 
 
 “ Dat veniam corvis , vexât censura columbas .” 
 
 The Russian peasant is not, as a rule, inimical to 
 the Jews. But the persistent increase of severity 
 shown by the officials has gradually given rise to 
 the conviction that this minority is outside the pale 
 of the law ; and after the expulsions from Moscow, 
 from Kiev, or St. Petersburg, it became a foregone 
 
 conclusion, to believe that anv kind of treatment 
 
 •/ 
 
 was permissible towards them. 
 
 Proofs of this were soon apparent. At Kharaïevo, 
 in the district of Ananiev (Kherson), the relations 
 between Jews and Christians had always been most 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 44, 52, 58, 75. 
 
I IO 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 cordial, even during the violent scenes which were 
 enacted elsewhere in Russia in 1881, and 1882. 
 Suddenly, in the night of June 10-11, 1891, (two 
 months after the massacres in Moscow), the mob 
 commenced to break the windows in the houses of 
 the Jews, to force the doors, and to wreck everything 
 upon which they could lay hands. 
 
 A hint from headquarters must surely have been 
 given, for similar attempts were made at the same 
 time in other townlets of the district. The rumour 
 was continually spread that the Jews were about 
 to be expelled from Russia, and that meanwhile they 
 could be robbed or murdered with impunity. 
 
 In the village of Mariano Tchlodarevka, in the 
 commune of Stepanovk, the son of the mayor 
 circulated a report that his father had under his 
 charge, in the safe of the administration, a communal 
 ukase of the Tsar, ordering the extermination of the 
 Jews, and this allegation is mentioned in a report of 
 the police, June 12, 1891. 
 
 Elizabethgrad, which had already been severely 
 visited in 1882, was again subjected to pillage on 
 July 26, 1891. Many thousands of peasants met 
 together and planned an attack upon the Jewish 
 shops, where they stole or destroyed everything ; 
 numbers of Jews were wounded, and three were 
 killed. 
 
 On October 11, it was the turn of Starodoub, in 
 the government of Tchernigov. The rioters, gorged 
 with wine, gave themselves up to every sort of 
 excess, and were soon aided by the peasants of the 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 hi 
 
 neighbouring villages, who had heard of what was 
 happening ; and who carried off great numbers of 
 stolen objects piled up on trucks. The affray 
 was aggravated by the fire which broke out and 
 which lasted until the following day.^ The number 
 of Jews who were killed, amounted it is said, to 
 thirty persons, whilst those who were wounded were 
 nearly 500 in number ; and in the following year 
 riots again occurred at several places. 
 
 At Jousovka, in the government of Ekaterino- 
 slav, the risings were especially disastrous. On 
 August 2, and 3, 1892, the entire Jewish quarter 
 was literally laid waste by fire and bloodshed. 
 
 According to the estimates given in the govern¬ 
 ment annals of Ekaterinoslav, the losses sustained 
 by the Jews exceeded a million of roubles—180 ware¬ 
 houses belonging to them were pillaged, and the 
 synagogue and fifty-seven houses were sacked and 
 burnt. The rioters passed through the whole town, 
 brandishing torches and seeking for the Jews, in 
 order to put them to death, and a great number of 
 them were ill-treated and seriously wounded. 
 
 A few months after these disgraceful scenes, the 
 administration gave the last touch to the despair of 
 the unhappy victims, by their intention to change the 
 townlet of Jousovka into a village, which meant at the 
 same time the expulsion of 300 Jewish families. It 
 will be remembered that merely a fortuitous chance 
 prevented the execution of this order.t The govern- 
 
 * Berliner Tageblatt, Oct. 26, 1891. 
 
 t See p. 45. 
 
I 12 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 ment could not, as in 1887, be accused of having 
 actually encouraged these disorders by its inaction, 
 for as a general rule the work of repression was 
 carried on energetically and promptly. We have 
 before us the act of accusation which was drawn 
 up against the rioters of Jousovka, to the number 
 of 223 ; they were not spared, but were arraigned 
 before the court-martial. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding all this, the government 
 must bear the brunt of a terrible responsibility. 
 Does it not by its very legislature, point out its own 
 victims ? Do not all the harsh measures against 
 the Jews create and keep alive the hatred and 
 antipathy of the common people ? 
 
 The persecutions instigated in the highest quarters 
 can only lead to massacres amongst the lower 
 orders, and whilst perpetuating the most revolting 
 acts of barbarity, the humblest of the rioters 
 merely follows out logically the system of M. Pobé- 
 donostsev. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 1T 3 
 
 ii. Results.—Abject Misery and Want. 
 
 Purvey of tlie Situation of the Jews.—Destitution in Wilna , Berditchev, 
 
 Grodno, Kovno, Odessa; Everywhere. 
 
 Thus hunted down in every part of Russia the 
 unhappy Jews are thrown upon the provinces of the 
 Settlement, where they are penned in like human 
 cattle. And as though none of the torments of this 
 Dantesque-like Inferno should be spared to them, 
 they are crowded into ever diminishing circles, 
 where the congested conditions are ever more 
 murderous in their results. The Jews, even within 
 the Pale, are forbidden to buy or rent land or to 
 move freely about ; they are shut out from the 
 country, hunted from the villages, and turned out 
 ol the frontier lands, to be caged up within the 
 towns. 
 
 There they are suffocated ; they crush each other. 
 But what matters this ? Fetters are put upon their 
 freedom of worship ; education is taken from them ; 
 their schools are closed, and every chance of a higher 
 education is refused to them. They are forbidden 
 to follow a number of occupations and honourable 
 offices, only the lower walks of life being left open 
 to them ; yet, notwithstanding all this, they are 
 actually reproached for availing themselves of the 
 only alternatives at their disposal in order to earn a 
 livelihood. 
 
 These restrictions create a terrible amount of com- 
 
 H 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 114 
 
 petition amongst them, and an incessant struggle 
 
 for existence from day to day. 
 
 Work is wanting, pay decreases, and the un¬ 
 fortunates must die of starvation. But what does 
 this matter ? 
 
 If, when fighting for their lives, some of them 
 manage by renewed privations to get on ever so 
 little, further restrictive measures are immediately 
 passed, another tax is imposed, or some fresh obstacle 
 is put in their way ; the rich are mulcted, the poor 
 are tortured. Nor are any pains spared to blunt the 
 conscience of the poor sufferers, and the vilest means 
 are employed to seduce them to apostacy. 
 
 The best men amongst them are implacably treated, 
 the worst are indulged to excess ; and prostitutes 
 are protected, whilst respectable women are exposed 
 to every sort of persecution. 
 
 The consequences of such a system may be 
 summed up in one word : Misery ! But a state of 
 misery the like of which we cannot even imagine to 
 ourselves, and beside which, the distress of most of 
 our poor in the "West, is a condition of comparative 
 ease and comfort. 
 
 Materially misery — bodily misery — mental 
 misery. 
 
 Above all, let not our readers think that we are 
 exaggerating. Those who have studied the situa¬ 
 tion on the spot are unanimous in agreement 011 
 this point ; the same pictures are depicted by every 
 writer of the most opposing opinions, and with 
 regard to localities which are far apart from each 
 
 ft x 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION it 5 
 
 other. We could easily quote fifty unimpeachable 
 testimonies on this point. 
 
 The delegates of the American Government, 
 who by their perfect impartially merit the first 
 place, state that they left Wilna, after their inquiry 
 into the condition of the Jews, “ carrying with them 
 an ineffaceable impression of an amount of wretched¬ 
 ness, the like of which the} 7 had never seen before, 
 and which they hoped never to behold again.” # At 
 their last visit to this town they went to a factory 
 fbi knittm^ stockin gs, in which thirty Jewish girls 
 were employed. 
 
 They gained 40 copecks (about 10 cl) for working 
 fourteen hours a day. 
 
 Their appearance was utterly deplorable Î 
 
 Their glassy eyes, their depressed manner, their 
 emaciated limbs, all served to prove how greatlv 
 they suffered from continual underfeeding, and over¬ 
 work. 
 
 Not far distant on the river Vilia is a steam saw¬ 
 mill. The workmen who carry the timber on the 
 rafts receive 50 copecks a day, for thirteen hours’ 
 labour without food. 
 
 “Only the Jew is employed for this sort of 
 work, because it is toilsome and fatiguing, especially 
 in the autumn, when the water is cold.”t 
 
 In a mill situated on the bank of the river, the 
 workmen, who are also Jews, earn 30 to 40 copecks 
 a day, for twenty hours labour ivithout food , and 
 
 Weber and Kempster, p. 8r. 
 t Ibid. p. 79. 
 
u6 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 hundreds are to be found who ask foi nothing 
 better than to be allowed to work even on these 
 
 conditions and at this wage. 
 
 We subjoin a statement of particular significance 
 
 which is made with regard to the same place, and 
 which is taken from one of the most violently anti- 
 
 Semitic organs, the Wilna Journal : “ 
 
 “ The poverty amongst the Jewish labourers and 
 artisans has attained considerable proportions. One 
 Jew, who was a bootmaker, kept himself alive during 
 many weeks on raw potatoes, until at last he became 
 dangerously ill ; another, a weaver, fell doAvn dead 
 whilst engaged at his loom; he had died of 
 starvation.” 
 
 “Ones heart fails one whilst passing in re¬ 
 view the wretched existence of these poor white 
 slaves.” 
 
 “ Some of them work for eighteen hours, only giving 
 up three hours to sleep, and even then they are 
 unable to afford themselves sufficient food to keep 
 body and soul together.” 
 
 “ They live in miserable hovels, dirty and badly 
 ventilated. Filth is everywhere—inside and outside. 
 In the same dwelling may be found four, five or 
 even six families, each of them having a numbei of 
 children of tender age. To add to the misery, 
 neither beds, nor chairs, nor tables, are to be seen 
 in the wretched hovels, but every one has to lie on 
 the damp and infected ground ; if all this is borne 
 
 * Wilna Journal , reproduced in the YosTchod, Nov. 22/Dec. 5, 
 1892. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 1 r 7 
 
 in mind, some slight idea may be formed of the 
 distress which prevails amongst these unfortunate 
 beings.” 
 
 “ Few labourers can boast that they are able to 
 earn the daily bread for their families. Meat is an 
 unknown luxury, even on Sabbath. To-day, bread 
 and water, to-morrow water and bread, and so on 
 day after day.” 
 
 “To form an adequate idea, of the utter misery 
 of these unhappy persons whom mischance (!) has 
 selected for such atrocious sufferings, we need only 
 compare the amount of mortality amongst the Jews, 
 as compared with that of other populations, and we 
 find that the Jews die off like flies ! ” 
 
 “ Even when business goes well, when the rate of 
 pay rises, and when work is abundant, the Jewish 
 artisan cannot get sufficient food to appease his 
 hunger : it is therefore easy to imagine how great 
 must be the actual distress when work is wanting, 
 and when business is at a standstill.” 
 
 All this does not refer only to Wilna. In the 
 official publication of statistics, M. Souravski shows 
 that in Berditchev, tens of thousands amongst the 
 Jews have no fixed means of existence. “Many 
 families are often crowded into one or two of the 
 rooms of a hut, which is almost in ruins, and here 
 they are packed to such an extent, that at night 
 there is absolutely no space whatever between the 
 sleeping inhabitants.” # 
 
 » 
 
 * Souravski, u Description of the Government of Kiev," quoted by 
 Lanin, Fortnightly Review, Oct. 1890. 
 
118 ' THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 In the government of Grodno a similar state of 
 
 O 
 
 t h ings prevails. * 
 
 In the district of Kovno there are Jewish families 
 who only break their fast at eventide, and then 
 only if the father, having found employment during 
 the day, has been paid his waged 
 
 At Odessa the state of distress attains equally 
 great dimensions. 
 
 A person who was engaged to go there in order 
 to distribute assistance, gives the most heartrending 
 details of his mission ; families of seven or eight 
 members had to live on 40 copecks a day, and thou¬ 
 sands of heads of families esteem themselves lucky, 
 when so much as this can be earned. 
 
 We subjoin one of the cases related by this person : 
 v ‘ A young man amongst my friends told me that, 
 whilst walking in the street, he saw in front of him 
 a Jew, who suddenly collapsed and fell to the ground. 
 He helped to raise the man ; others also came 
 forward to assist. He learned that the man was 
 starving, that he had had nothing to eat for eight 
 days, when a lemon was offered to him, he raven- 
 
 •j 
 
 ously seized upon it and devoured it, skin and all. 
 The young man, who was poor enough himself, gave 
 him a few copecks, and asked his name and address. 
 The next day I went to see him,” he says. “ I 
 entered a tiny little room, which was very light, 
 where I saw a beautiful young woman, whose 
 
 * Bobrovski. Description of the Government of Grodno, i. p. 858. 
 t Afanassieff, “ Description of the Government of Kovno,' pp. 5S2- 
 
 583. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 1:9 
 
 appearance could only be described by the word 
 cadaverous.” 
 
 “ She was seated on a bed, and held in her arms 
 an infant that mi oil t have been taken for a small 
 
 O 
 
 skeleton. I also saw in a corner of the room, 
 behind an enormous kind of loom, a man, who 
 appeared to be utterly lifeless. I did not notice for 
 some minutes that there were two other children 
 on the ground, who were just as inanimate as the 
 
 other inhabitants of the room.” 
 
 « 
 
 “ I learned that the man came originally from 
 Warsaw, that he had perforned his military service 
 at Odessa, and that he had only been free for the 
 last year.” 
 
 “ He had bought looms for making passementerie, 
 but it soon came about that he had no money to 
 pay for the necessary articles used in his work. One 
 of the looms had to be sold to pay for his lodging. 
 Fasting, became more and more the order of the dav. 
 At last a Christian carter, a neighbour, lent him 
 one rouble, for which he had to pay 10 copecks a 
 day. He repaid this rouble every Friday, only to 
 borrow it again every Sunday, and after paying the 
 interest he had only 20 to 30 copecks a day, for his 
 whole family. For this sum it was impossible to 
 procure sufficient bread, so he had to buy a sort of 
 farina, of which a paste is made. I found a 
 sample of this food on the floor, beside one of the 
 children. The poor man spoke of his creditor with 
 the most profound gratitude, as having rescued him 
 from the prospect of death from starvation.” 
 
I 20 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 “ In the room he owned nothing, absolutely 
 nothing, except the bare bedstead (which belonged 
 to the proprietor of the house) and the loom.” 
 
 “ They thought that I was a customer, and I did 
 not at first undeceive them.” 
 
 “ If I procured ten roubles for you free of interest, 
 would you be able to do some business ? ” I asked 
 the man. He looked at me without replying, and 
 as if he did not understand what I said. I then 
 offered him a note for ten roubles, which he took 
 without saying a word, then he called out “ my hat,” 
 and with an utterly bewildered air he tried to reach 
 the door. I saw that his complexion became yet 
 more ghastly, and he nearly fell to the ground. I 
 assisted him to seat himself on the bed, and it was 
 nearly a quarter of an hour before he regained his 
 senses. “We have still an all-powerful God, my 
 wife,” he finished by saying. . . 
 
 Wilna, Berditchev, Odessa, in the North, in the 
 Centre and the South, in fact throughout the Pale, 
 the same scenes, the same misery repeat themselves. 
 Katkofif, the Panslavist, asserts that in each of these 
 districts, the very poorest classes all belong to the 
 Jewish, and not to the orthodox religion. Even 
 at risk of wearying the reader, it is necessary to 
 reproduce a few lines from a survey of the entire 
 situation of the Jews in 1892, which was published 
 in the Russian Journal du Nord: 
 
 “ There are in Russia only ten to fifteen thousand 
 
 * Monthly Built tin of the Alliance Isn élite, 1892, pp. 61-63. 
 
THE MEASURES OF PERSECUTION 
 
 12 r 
 
 Jews who possess any certain means of existence. 
 As to the masses, they possess nothing ; and they 
 are far poorer than the Christian populace, who at 
 any rate own some land.” 
 
 The restrictive laws, it is true, are directed against 
 all Jews, but it is only the immense majority, who 
 are destitute, that actually suffer under them. 
 
 The distress has been truly appalling, as is proved 
 by official documents for at least ten years past, hut 
 since the expulsions and persecutions the poverty 
 and misery amongst the Jewish population has 
 increased enormously. 
 
 «y 
 
 Newspapers of the most notoriously anti-Semitic 
 tendencies are compelled to recognise the fact that 
 the Jews, especially in the south-west provinces, 
 are literally and actually, dying of hunger . 
 
 And yet the greater numbers of these unhappy 
 persons have lived in ease, have fulfilled all their 
 duties as liussian subjects, and have been useful 
 workers in the material development of their 
 country. “ To-day they are beggars ! ” 
 
 “ The State can no longer draw on them for 
 money, they have to be kept by public charity, a 
 burden to the rest of the population. 
 
 It is to this slow and silent decay and death, in 
 a Ghetto which is systematically retrenched and 
 starved out, as is sorrowfully acknowledged by 
 M. Leroy-Beaulieu, “ that far from the sight of 
 a sovereign, who is justly loved for his goodness, 
 
 * iïiêvernoï Viestiiik, quoted in the Voskhod, Jan. 17/29, 1893. 
 
i2 2 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 three to four millions of the subjects of the Tsar, are 
 condemned.” # 
 
 What accusations against the victims can be made 
 in order to endeavour even to justify such shocking- 
 persecution, such restrictions and prohibitions, such 
 overcrowding, such horrors of every description \ 
 We are about to pass these accusations in review 
 before our readers. 
 
 " Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, “ Isn ël chez les Nations,” 1893, p. 193. 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST THE JEWS IN RUSSIA 
 
 BY THE ANTI-SEMITES. 
 
 It is not intended in these pages to discuss in a 
 general way that anti-Semitism which, as the illus¬ 
 trious Mommsen says is “ an abortion,” and not an 
 off-shoot “ of national feeling,” # and which the 
 Emperor Frederic III. declared to be “ the disgrace 
 of our times.” t 
 
 This is not the place to investigate the avowed 
 causes, the unavowed motives, and the unavowable 
 incentives to such action. 
 
 But it is necessary to state that, except in name, 
 there is nothing in common with the “anti-Semi¬ 
 tism of other countries and that of Russia. The 
 one is directed against a few rich upstarts, the 
 other attacks a crowd of workers and the poor ; the 
 one, according to an apt definition, is the “ Socialism 
 of Imbeciles, ’ the other is an actual svstem of slow 
 
 Th. Mommsen, “Auch ein Wort liber miser Judenthum,” 1881, p. 4. 
 t This severe judgment was expressed by Frederic III., then Prince 
 Imperial, to the late Councillor Magnus. As this fact has been con¬ 
 tested, it is as well to recall that it is confirmed in letters of Von 
 Stosch the Minister of State, of Dr. Gumbinner, and of Dr. G. von 
 Bunsen, which have been recently published by the Magnus family. 
 
124 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 extermination ; the one is mere snobbishness, the 
 other is a crime. 
 
 Without denying that there are in Russia, as 
 elsewhere, certain vulgar prejudices against the 
 Jews ; that moujiks who are drunkards, or mer¬ 
 chants who are unsuccessful in their enterprises, 
 are ever ready to accuse the Jews of being the 
 authors of their misfortunes ; it must yet be borne 
 in mind that. the populace, as a whole, do not 
 cherish any ill-feeling towards the Jews, but that 
 the animosity displayed springs from head-quarters, 
 not from the masses. It constantly happens that 
 the Russian peasants protect the Jews against the 
 police, and even give them shelter ; and, indeed, the 
 Novoie Vremia complains bitterly on this score. ^ 
 
 The 6 f raj demine, the fanatical organ of Prince 
 Mejtcherski, also confirms the fact, that the 
 Russian peasant cherishes no aversion to the Jew, 
 on the contrary, he is often heard to say : “ The 
 Jews are necessary to our country communities ; 
 leave them in peace.”t At Bialystok, where there 
 are 36,000 Jews amongst 60,000 inhabitants, the re¬ 
 lations between Christians and Jews are kindly and 
 fraternal. J . In other spots respectable Russians, 
 on the eve of trouble, used to entreat the Jews to put 
 their possessions in a place of safety, and the Chief 
 Rabbi of Odessa, the late Dr. Schwabacher, relates 
 a significant story of some Christian workmen who 
 
 * Novoie Vremia, April 4, 1890. 
 
 t Grajdanine, quoted in the Odesski List ok , July 11/23, J S93- 
 j Weber and Kempster, p. 84. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 I2 5 
 
 were perfectly content with their Jewish employer ; 
 but fearing that they were about to be obliged, by a 
 ukase, to destroy all his property on the following 
 day, they promised to do nothing against him, pro¬ 
 vided he would take on himself all consequences of 
 their disobedience. # In several districts, the popes, 
 the vested proprietors, as well as the peasants and 
 common people, all came to the aid of the unhappy. 
 Jews.t 
 
 But how can we wonder that the masses of the 
 people, who do not take the trouble either to think 
 or to judge for themselves, should be hierarchically 
 swayed by this contagion of hatred ? It is inevitable 
 that, in the end, they must attribute every crime to 
 those whom they see persistently treated as suspects 
 and culprits. 
 
 The Popoff Commission, the Pahlen Commission, 
 Prince Demidoff, Count Strogonoff, the intellectual 
 notabilities of the entire Russian nation, with 
 Count Leon Tolstoi at their head, have pronounced 
 unreservedly against these persecutions ; and surely 
 Russia, as a whole, is not responsible for the 
 fanatical tendencies with which the Holy Synod has 
 inculcated the government. 
 
 The causes of official anti-Semitism in Russia, are 
 numerous, and may be considered as religious, 
 political and economic. In the leading circles, and 
 
 * Quoted in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Oct. 1890. Absurd 
 rumours concerning ukases, which ordered the destruction of every¬ 
 thing belonging to the Jews, were circulated by ill-disposed persons 
 throughout Russia. Demidoff s work, p. 94. 
 
 t Siévernoï Viestnik, loc. cit. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 126 
 
 especially during later years, it is evident that 
 religious considerations have predominated. A 
 theocratic and antiquated standpoint still causes 
 the domains “ of Cæsar and of God ” to he con¬ 
 founded together, and this to such a degree that 
 nationality is not understood as being distinct from 
 religion. In proof of this we find that all the non¬ 
 orthodox confessions are grouped together in official 
 language under the heading of “ Foreign Commu¬ 
 nions,” and both the Roman Catholics of Poland, 
 and the Lutherans of the three Baltic provinces, 
 are objects of as much distrust as the Jews. 
 
 Official employment is almost entirely closed 
 against them,* and only recently the daily papers 
 announced that the Catholic churches in the district 
 of Kolodno would be transformed into Russian 
 Orthodox churches t by a special ukase. 
 
 If the violence of persecution falls less severely 
 on the Catholics and the Protestants than it does 
 upon the Jews, it is because a fear of the diplomatic 
 complications which might ensue, compels Russia to 
 be more cautious in her action towards them. But 
 with regard to her Jewish subjects, Russia has no 
 need to take precautions ; she treats them as 
 “ foreigners,” J without any fear lest an ambassador, 
 a Minister, or a Nuncio might come forward in their 
 favour. 
 
 In short, persecution is actually a crusade con- 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu, “ L’Empire des Tsars et les Russes,” vol. iii. p. 601. 
 
 t Indépendance Beige, Aug. 23, 1883. 
 
 I Code of Laws, vol. ix. par. 835, note 7. 
 
127 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 ducted by the Holy Synod against all noncon¬ 
 formists, as is affirmed by those who are competent 
 judges, and as M. Leroy-Beaulieu has clearly shown 
 in his “ Empire of the Tsars.” 
 
 Further, after noticing that like the Jews, those 
 Christians who do not belong to the Orthodox 
 Russian Church, also seek refuge in America from 
 Muscovite fanaticism, the Commissioners of the 
 United States are led to infer that the persecution 
 is almost entirely of a religious character. # 
 
 The only feasible solution therefore of the “ Jewish 
 Question ” is to impress on St. Petersburg and on 
 Moscow, the modern notion of lay government, and 
 to prove to them that, according to the saying of an 
 eminent Belgian Catholic, J. B. Nothomb, there is 
 no more connection between the State and religion, 
 than between the State and geometry. As this is a 
 result which can scarcely be attained immediately, 
 we must, whilst awaiting radical remedies, content 
 ourselves with palliatives ; and as we cannot touch 
 the primal cause of the trouble, let us at any rate 
 endeavour to prove the inanity of the imaginary 
 pretexts which are intended to set the public 
 opinion of Europe on a wrong scent. 
 
 It is a matter of fact, that the civilisation of the 
 nineteenth century, in which Russia is expected to 
 take part, prevents her from saying openly that she 
 persecutes as heretics, and regards as responsible for 
 the Crucifixion, those infants who were born but 
 yesterday of Jewish parents, and the Government, as 
 
 Weber and Kempster, p. 47. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 128 
 
 has been done elsewhere, takes care to cover its anti- 
 Semitism with a cloak of economics. 
 
 Let us see in what these accusations consist, and 
 wherein the actual danger lies, which, as the officious 
 Russian press declares, must spring from the Jews. 
 
 1. The Jews are accused of devoting themselves to 
 trading in money, and of being usurers who exploit 
 and ruin the poor Moujik. 
 
 2. It is said that the Jews, are for the greater part, 
 inn-keepers, and that they inveigle the peasants into 
 drunkenness. 
 
 3. In their commercial transactions, they are 
 accused of fraud, trickery, and monopoly. 
 
 4. It is said that they endeavour to escape 
 military service, and that they are not good 
 soldiers. 
 
 5. It is asserted that they only occupy the 
 position of intermediaries and parasites, and that 
 they refuse to devote themselves to manual labour. 
 
 6. It is asserted that they are incapable of 
 following agricultural pursuits, when Russia is above 
 all things an agricultural country. 
 
 7. They are accused of revolutionary and sub¬ 
 versive tendencies, as also of exclusiveness, and that 
 they do not mingle sufficiently with the other 
 Russians. 
 
 8. They are said to be wanting in education, and 
 to be ignorant and dirty. At the same time, by a 
 singular contradiction of terms, it is acknowledged 
 that they are highly intelligent. 
 
 9. When we shall have examined these accusa- 
 
129 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 tions, which we have enumerated to the best of our 
 ability, without omission or diminution, it will be 
 only fair also to call to mind those services which 
 the Jews have rendered to Russia. 
 
 Lastly, we have to place in the scale against these 
 accusations, the favourable testimony of a host 
 of Russian writers, and other authorities. 
 
 In fairness to all, it should suffice only to disprove 
 the preliminary question with regard to these 
 accusations against the Jews ; for wholesale 
 accusations are necessarily unjust, and wholesale 
 condemnations are still more hateful ; we cannot, 
 however, content ourselves with so expeditious a 
 mode of proceeding, but with documents in hand, 
 must weigh each of the accusations. Many of them 
 have been repeated with great stress, and “ such is 
 the power of a thing repeated/’ that it seems almost 
 daring to attempt to combat the statements. But 
 \\ e shall soon perceive on which side the truth is to 
 be found. 
 
i 3 ° 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 i. Trade in Money.—Usury. 
 
 Four-fifths of the Russian Jews, at least, ivithout means. Jewish 
 money-lenders less exacting than Christians. Their depart ute 
 regretted.—•Testimony of anti-Semitic journals. 
 
 After the heartrending details given, as to the 
 poverty existing amongst the majority of the Russian 
 Jews, the stereotyped, accusation of usury seems 
 simply ridiculous. Eight-tenths of their number 
 (M. Leroy-Beaulieu says nine-tenths' 7 "' of the Jewish 
 population) live from hand to mouth ; and as they 
 possess no means whatsoever, cannot possibly be in 
 a position to lend anything ; whilst at least half of the 
 remaining portion are artisans. 
 
 Let us then consider the question of those who 
 are in possession of some insignificant means. 
 
 These constitute, at the utmost, one-tenth of the 
 Jewish population, and they might perhaps derive 
 some advantage, by lending out at interest a portion 
 of their savings. In fact, there does not seem to 
 be any other way of utilising their small means. 
 To buy or to rent landed property, is forbidden to 
 them, whilst travelling is made difficult by restric¬ 
 tions which entangle them on every side. 
 
 Uncertain as to what their fate may be on the 
 morrow, they cannot hope to participate in any 
 great enterprise, nor even, as a general rule, can they 
 occupy themselves in the various native industries. 
 
 * Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu, Journal des Débats, Aug. 15, 1890. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 131 
 
 Banished from the universities, excluded from public 
 employments, and stopped short at the very outset 
 of a career, nothing is left to them but petty 
 trading, and to loan small sums of money. 
 
 It is said, they always move in the same objection¬ 
 able circle ! But the Jews are only permitted to 
 follow a limited number of occupations, and are 
 then blamed because they devote themselves to the 
 few means of livelihood at their command. 
 
 I11 our social conditions a trade 111 money is no 
 less honourable than a business m coffee, and all 
 depends on the manner in which it is carried into 
 practice. It will no doubt astonish many persons to 
 learn, as is officially proved by Russian accounts, that 
 in the eastern provinces of the empire, the rate of in¬ 
 terest paid by the peasants to Jewish money-lenders, 
 is considerably less than that which is demanded by 
 the “Koulak” or Russian tradesman in those pro¬ 
 vinces which are closed against the Jews. # The rate 
 of interest demanded by the village popes and their 
 wives, is also greater (they get as much as 100—356 
 per cent, per annum), than that claimed by the 
 Russian authorities. 
 
 The Provincial Council, lor example, charges 73 J 
 per cent, for advances even for a short term, which 
 are amply covered.! And this is easy to under¬ 
 stand, owing to the keen competition amongst the 
 
 u Aktenmassige Darstellung der Jiidischen Zustande in Russland,” 
 Hanover, 1883, pp. 9-14. Official statistics of the Zemstvos and 
 Reports of the Inspectors of Taxes, 
 t Voskhocl, July 3/16, 1893. 
 
132 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Jewish money-lenders, who are penned up within the 
 limits of the Pale, where the supply far exceeds the 
 demand, whilst in other districts the money-lenders 
 and merchants are scarce, and can therefore raise 
 the rate of interest to its greatest height. Further, 
 when the Jews could not take part in business, as 
 was the case during the riots of 1881, the rate of 
 interest on money rose materially. 
 
 At Odessa, Greek usurers charged 5 per cent, 
 each month, # and at Moscow, after the expulsion 
 of the Jews, the rate of interest for loans at the 
 private pawnshops, rose from 25 to 200 per cent, 
 per annum ! 
 
 Lastly, the Jewish creditor is less troublesome 
 than the Koulak, and is always ready to make 
 terms, for the excellent reason that legal obstacles, 
 and the ill-will of the authorities, frequently pre¬ 
 vent him from insisting too strictly upon his own 
 rights. 
 
 To the peasants and petty rural proprietors of the 
 Pale, the Jewish money-lenders act in the useful 
 capacity of country hankers, for they promote com¬ 
 merce ; and it is easy to understand why enlightened 
 Russians like M. Afanassieff, the author of the 
 Official Report of the Government of Kovno, assert 
 that the best means of doing good to the Empire, 
 is to permit the Jews to reside in any part of Russia.t 
 Besides, experience proves this. 
 
 In 1892, the peasants of Bessarabia entreated the 
 
 * Golos, 1881, No. 61. 
 
 t Afanassieff, “ Journey in the South of Russia,” vol. ii. p. 32. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 133 
 
 governor to sanction the return of the Jews to the 
 rural districts, as without them it would be impossible 
 to secure a remunerative result from the harvest. # 
 If further proof were needed, this was given when 
 the Council of the Empire formally acknowledged, 
 in the deliberations which preceded the enactment 
 of the new law on usury in 1893 ; that usury has 
 chiefly developed in the rural districts since the 
 time that the Jews were turned out of them ! All 
 this is so clearly evident that even anti-Semites have 
 to concede its truth. With regard to the Jews who 
 were hunted out of the villages, owing to the May 
 Laws of 1882, (those so-called “ temporary ” laws, 
 which after eleven years, still continue in full force), 
 we read in the JVovoië Vremia of October 8/20, 
 1892: “We hear from Baranovka in Volhynia 
 that the expulsions of the Jews from the villages 
 and rural districts, are carried on with great severity 
 and activity.” “ In our village not a single Jew 
 is tolerated ; formerly we could count them by 
 fifties.” “ The peasants are not at all pleased 
 at their departure ; for they have fallen into the 
 hands of Christian usurers, who squeeze and ruin 
 them with a harshness which the Jews never dis¬ 
 played.” 
 
 “ Our peasants have often pressing need of money, 
 and the new usurers only lend at the rate of 100-150 
 per cent, per annum. Therefore the departure of the 
 Jews is greatly regretted ! ” 
 
 And the same journal adds : 
 
 * Odesski Listok, July 20/Aug. 1, 1893. 
 
134 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 “ In the governments of the central districts (in 
 which there are no Jews) the peasants are disgrace¬ 
 fully despoiled by the usurers.If this rapacious 
 
 body of men should now commence to exploit the 
 peasants of the Jewish Pale, the situation will become 
 intolerable.” # 
 
 A few days since, the Grajdanine went so far as 
 to demand the re-instatement of the Jews in villages, 
 not only throughout the Pale, but throughout the 
 entire Empire ! t 
 
 When the organs which are the most hostile to 
 the Jews demand their return, we may fairly con¬ 
 sider the question as judged. 
 
 * Novo'ie Vremia, Oct. 8/20, 1892. 
 
 t Grajdanine, quoted in the OdessTri Listoh, July 11/23 and July 20/ 
 Aug. 1, 1893. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 l 35 
 
 2. Trade in Spirits. 
 
 Origin of this Trade amongst the Jews.—Do they promote Drunken¬ 
 ness?—Declaration of Katkoff.—The Evidence of Figures. 
 
 In Poland the manufacture of spirits was formerly 
 a monopoly of the nobility of the country, and they 
 merely employed the Jews to carry on their business. 
 The sales were effected for the benefit of the higher 
 classes, and enrich them alone ; whilst the Jews 
 hardly earned enough to make a poor living. They 
 were chosen, because as they could not enjoy the 
 right of owning landed property, they were unable 
 to devote themselves to agriculture, and doubtless 
 also because their sobriety qualified them for a post 
 of trust. This is the origin of the Jewish innkeepers 
 in Poland and the Pale of Settlement, as can be seen 
 from the detailed report drawn up in 1872, by the 
 Imperial Commission presided over by Privy Coun¬ 
 cillor Popoff. 
 
 Here again, they were compelled to adopt the 
 trade by their superiors in rank, though it is very 
 convenient to forget this fact. 
 
 But is the presence of the Jews detrimental ? 
 And do they lead the peasant into drunkenness, 
 as is asserted by persons who have never taken 
 the trouble to inform themselves accurately on the 
 subject ? 
 
 Those who make such assertions should study the 
 works of Prince Demidoff, or of the State Councillor 
 Gradovski, which are assuredly impartial ; and both 
 
136 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 of these writers prove that the Jews are in no way 
 responsible for the drunken habits of the peasant. 
 
 It is as well to call to mind that Katkoff, who is 
 by no means a friend of the Jews, declares in the 
 Moskowski Viédomost that there is much less 
 drunkenness, in the provinces of the south-west 
 of Russia, than in those of the central regions from 
 which the Jews are excluded ; and this opinion is 
 based on the categorical evidence of numerous 
 Government commissions, instituted for the purpose 
 of inquiring into the spread of alcoholism in the 
 provinces of Wilna, Kovno, Vitebsk, Minsk, and 
 Mohilev. # 
 
 But it is preferable to quote some figures on this 
 subject. 
 
 From 1874 to 1878, 38 viédros t of brandy were 
 manufactured for every hundred inhabitants in Great 
 Russia, against 36 viédros in the fifteen governments 
 of the Jewish settlement.^ During the year 1876, 
 according to the report of the Minister of Finance, 
 the consumption w r as 0.31 viédros per head in these 
 fifteen governments, and 0.37 in the other districts. 
 
 Lastly, to give an example in point : The Jews 
 in 1843, sold 5995 viédros in the villages, whilst in 
 1848, after their banishment, the nobility (of whom 
 they had only been the employes) sold 7450 viédros, 
 and this at a price which was half as high again as 
 that demanded by the Jews. § 
 
 * Demidoff, op. cit ., French translation, pp. 66, 67. 
 f “ Viédio ” contains forty bottles. 
 
 I Demidoff, loc. cit. § “ Aktenmàssige Darstellung,” pp. 6, 7. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 137 
 
 3. Commercial Transactions—Tricks and 
 
 Frauds. 
 
 Results of Exceptional Laics, of Exorbitant Taxes , of Overcrowding .— 
 Significant Parallel — Monopolies .— Conclusion of the Pahlen 
 Commission. 
 
 Prince Metternich is reported to have given rise 
 to the saying, “ Every country has the Jews it 
 deserves ” ; Russia alone is an exception, for she has 
 better Jews than she deserves. 
 
 Terror and poverty are evil councillors, and we 
 cannot blame those persons who are arbitrarily 
 packed together, who are pitilessly persecuted, and 
 who are suffocated under the weight of oppressive 
 legislation, if they seek to escape by any loophole 
 whatsoever. 
 
 Artifice is their only resource in conditions where 
 their lives and the lives of their children are literally 
 at stake. 
 
 We must not be surprised if the Jews have 
 recourse to any and all means, in order to avoid 
 death by the pangs of starvation. And if they go 
 so far as to corrupt the officials by bribery—officials, 
 too who are by no means proof against such corrup¬ 
 tion—it is only those who are absolutely and 
 perfectly moral that can blame them. 
 
 In order that the Jew should be at peace with the 
 
 law, it does not suffice, as is the case with every 
 
 «/ 
 
 other Russian, to abstain from ivhat is forbidden , 
 
133 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 but he is forbidden to do what is not expressly per¬ 
 mitted .* 
 
 Under such conditions the most straightforward 
 commercial transactions, and acts which are perfectly 
 lawful in themselves, can be characterised as fraud¬ 
 ulent. 
 
 The Jewish dealer is weighed down by special 
 taxes, not to mention the numberless licences which 
 he is obliged to purchase, in order to sell the various 
 articles, which he requires in a petty detail trade. 
 It has rightly been observed that as the Jew thus 
 becomes the source of a large income to the State, he 
 is compelled to compensate himself by the high price 
 of his goods, or by their inferior quality ; and thus 
 he finds himself in the unenviable position of a 
 self-appointed tax-gatherer at the expense of the 
 poor. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, amongst the chaos of 
 contradictory accusations directed against him, he 
 is not usually reproached for selling at too high a 
 price ; but, on the contrary, he is said to sell more 
 cheaply and to work at a lower rate than his 
 Christian conrpetitors—an unavoidable result of the 
 inferior conditions in which he finds himself placed, 
 for he is not at liberty either to choose his occupa¬ 
 tion, or to select his market. 
 
 When the Russian Jews are accused of not beino* 
 
 O 
 
 sufficiently scrupulous in their commercial enter¬ 
 prises, the anti-Semites are in the habit of bringing 
 
 ■ Demidoff : “La Question Juive en Russie/’ French translation, 
 PP- 33 , 53 - 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 139 
 
 forward vague complaints which cannot be accu¬ 
 rately controlled. 
 
 But in any case how could the fraudulent trans- 
 actions of certain traders, justify the persecution of 
 an entire race ? The only thing to be done in order 
 to estimate this grievance fairly is to compare the 
 commercial proceedings of the Russian Jews with 
 those of their Christian compatriots, and this parallel 
 has been drawn on several occasions by independent 
 judges, and, it must be acknowledged, not to the 
 disadvantage of the Jews. 
 
 The pamphlet “ Aktenmassige Darstellung ” # 
 furnishes us with a mass of evidence on the part of 
 Russian writers, not one of whom is a Jew. We 
 give two or three extracts : 
 
 “ The business men in Oriental Russia, where 
 there are no Jews, exploit, and cheat the peasant, 
 loading him in addition with insults and contumely, 
 to such an extent that the Jew might well go to 
 school to them/’t According to the opinion of Prince 
 Demidoff, the Russian trader is not more scrupulous 
 than the Jew, whilst the Greeks and Armenians are 
 far more greedy for gain than the Jews, as is shown 
 by Wigel. 
 
 At the markets of the Ukraine, says Apokoff, the 
 Jews are almost the only persons who buy manu¬ 
 factured produce. They render the greatest service 
 to the various industries, and understand how to 
 promote barter in a manner which is advantageous 
 to all concerned. 
 
 ■ Hanover, 1883, PP- 9 ~i 4 - 
 
 t Bonssh'i Slava, i860. 
 
140 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 As regards monopoly, the official organ Le Nord 
 lays great stress on this. “The Jew in Russia,” it 
 says, “ has a real genius for monopoly.” And, as 
 this journal adds, “ similar talent is displayed by 
 them in all the liberal professions.” “Had not a 
 stop been put to the matter within a given time, all 
 the Russian lawyers would have been Jews ” (sic) ; ^ 
 and yet these very Jews are accused of exclusiveness. 
 This is surely a strange way of reasoning, for we 
 have seen in the course of this survey, that the 
 orthodox Russians reserve to themselves a host of 
 monopolies, by excluding the Jews.t 
 
 If there are a certain number of inferior occupa¬ 
 tions which the Jews monopolise, it is only because 
 their sphere of action is absolutely limited to these ; 
 and as a rule they would desire nothing better 
 than to be allowed to follow other callings. In fact, 
 it is almost like saying that the convicts monopolise 
 the prisons ! 
 
 Let Russia liberate these poor convicts, who are 
 condemned even before they are born, and it may 
 safely be affirmed that she will not regret it. 
 
 An English deputy, Sir Robert Fowler, some 
 years ago expressed the view that London is deeply 
 indebted to the business activity of the Jews, who 
 have contributed in a great measure to the fact that 
 it has become the chief commercial city of the world. 
 
 The Commission nominated bv the Government and 
 
 •/ 
 
 * Le Nord, May 30, 1891. 
 
 t Such is also the opinion of Prince Demidott’, op. cit., French trans¬ 
 lation, p. 52. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 141 
 
 presided over by Count Pahlen, the former Minister 
 of Justice, also came to the conclusion, after deep 
 and earnest consideration, that, far from being an 
 injury to the country, the well-being of the Jew 
 and that of Orthodox Russia are indissolubly bound 
 up together. 
 
 The health of a nation, as well as that of an indi¬ 
 vidual, demands that all the organs should be alike 
 freely developed. 
 
142 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 4. Military Service. 
 
 The Jews furnish more than their proportionate contingent to the 
 
 Army,—Law of 1874 .—Enrolment and Treatment of Jewish 
 
 Soldiers .— Their Conduct.—Treatment of Veterans. 
 
 The truth upon this subject can be stated in a 
 few lines. The proportion of the Jewish population 
 to the non-Jewish inhabitants of Russia in Europe, 
 amounts to 5 per cent., but the brigade-major of 
 the Russian army, M. F. Kittich, assesses it at a 
 much smaller proportion—3*82 per cent. # 
 
 Further, according to the account given in official 
 documents, the proportion of Jewish soldiers incor¬ 
 porated by the Russian army has varied in the last 
 few years from 5*2 to 5*8 per cent.t This repre¬ 
 sents at least a thousand Jewish soldiers enrolled 
 e^ch year in excess of the actual ratio, and the con¬ 
 tingent being about a quarter of the number of those 
 who are summoned, more than four thousand Jews 
 in excess of the fair proportion, are annually called 
 upon to draw lots for service. 
 
 The Russian Jews therefore furnish proportion¬ 
 ally afar greater number of soldiers than do the 
 rest of the popidation. 
 
 This is indisputable. 
 
 How, then, can it be that the accusation is con- 
 
 * Quoted by Rabinovicz, “ Etudes Statistiques,” &c., St. Petersburg, 
 1886. 
 
 t Report of the Recruiting Commissioners (Les Juifs de Russie, 
 Paris, 1891, p. 328 et seq.). 
 
r 43 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 stantly brought up against them that they absent 
 themselves from military service ? Although in the 
 times of Tsar Nicholas the number of Jewish soldiers 
 was sufficiently large, the law on compulsory service 
 in Russia dates only from 18 74. Of course, at first 
 it was necessary to overcome the long-standing 
 habits ol the Jews, who had been unaccustomed to 
 the use of weapons for centuries past, and also per¬ 
 haps had a lively memory of the enforced baptisms 
 inflicted on Jewish conscripts in the days of 
 Nicholas. Similar unwillingness was manifested at 
 first amongst followers of all Nonconformist creeds, 
 as can be seen from the phenomenal variations in the 
 number of Protestant and Catholic recruits during 
 the first years which followed on 1874.* 
 
 But it is a matter beyond doubt that, at least 
 since 1886, the conduct of the Russian Jews (from a 
 military point of view) merits great praise ; and 
 those who contest this point only give proof of 
 culpable ignorance, or of bad faith, which is yet more 
 culpable. 
 
 This military question has several interesting 
 aspects/ and it is needful to demonstrate how the 
 Russian Jews are enlisted into the service, how they 
 are treated, and how they perform their duties. 
 
 The roll-calls for enlistment are drawn up accord¬ 
 ing to the birth registers, and the results of recruiting 
 
 See Russian pamphlet, u ( 3 b Otbuvanii Iévréann voinskoi 
 povinosti,” p. 12. 
 
 t A more complete study on this subject will be found in the volume 
 of “ Les Juifs de Russie,” p. 323, seq. et passim . 
 
144 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 are published annually in a series of statistics, which 
 become more and more accurate in proportion to the 
 improved facilities for centralising and controlling 
 the various reports, which come in from different 
 parts of the Empire. 
 
 Now it is principally in the first summary, which 
 is the least accurate of all—namely, in the Report of 
 1874 to 1886—that complaints were made on the 
 subject of refractory Jews. But it suffices, in order 
 to judge of the errors which were perpetrated, that, 
 according to official figures now before us, the sum¬ 
 mary result gives evidence that there were 5824 
 refractory Jews in excess of the right number, from 
 1879 to 1886. 
 
 The voluntary, or involuntary removals of the 
 Russian Jews are greatly responsible for the exag¬ 
 gerations in the enrolment lists, the same man being 
 frequently inscribed both in his native place and in 
 several of his successive places of residence. Emi¬ 
 gration is another cause for similar errors which do 
 not occur so frequently with regard to the non-Jew, 
 chiefly, because there is no malevolent feeling against 
 him which might induce him to leave ; as the 
 Russian peasant hardly ever removes from one place 
 to another of his own accord. 
 
 It must also be borne in mind, how very difficult 
 it is for the Russian Jew to obtain the needful official 
 documents in order to confirm deaths which may 
 have occurred in their families. Further, it must be 
 noted that the Russian authorities, whilst forbidding 
 the Jews to give Slav names to their children, are 
 
ï45 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 but little acquainted with Hebraic pronomens, and 
 therefore the same young man may be described 
 twice over, both under his actual name and surname, 
 or under his actual name, and the same name 
 wrongly written. Or a name having been badly 
 spelt in a certificate of death, the deceased may be 
 summoned to appear, and his father will be called 
 upon to pay the usual fine of 300 roubles * for a 
 defaulter. Lastly, if the name of a girl is erro¬ 
 neously considered to be that of a male, the error 
 may certainly be found out, but the fine of 300 
 roubles is nevertheless inflicted.t 
 
 Mistakes of this description caused an excess 
 number of 78 Jewish young men, to be inscribed at 
 Berditchev alone in the course of one year. 
 
 The Jews are the more likely to be victims of such 
 errors, as an imperial enactment forbids them to be 
 nominated by the inhabitants of the towns in which 
 they live as members of the commission established 
 for the purpose of recruiting soldiers, j 
 
 Of the 800,000 young men, or thereabouts, who 
 are annually called in for conscription in the sixty 
 governments of Russia in Europe, and Poland, 
 220,000 to 250,000 are enrolled for service. The 
 remainder are divided into three categories, those 
 whose services are dispensed with, those who are 
 exempt, and those who are refractory. 
 
 It is an easy matter for a Christian to be 
 
 * This case occurred at Krementchouof. 
 
 t This case occurred at Mohilev. 
 
 X Decree of May 20, 1874. 
 
 K 
 
146 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 exempted from military duty on account of some 
 physical defect, but not so with regard to a Jew, 
 and the military authorities are not obliged, when 
 treating such a case, to conform to the usual delays, 
 in order to have a medical examination and the 
 regulation adjournments, # wherefore the possible 
 exemption of a Jew is always very doubtful. 
 
 Schoolmasters of other faiths are dispensed from 
 military service, but Jewish teachers are not exempt. 
 Besides this, according to a law passed on January 
 31, 1889, it was resolved that a Jew (unlike other 
 Russian subjects) could not be replaced by his 
 brother, or by any relation. Thus even before enter¬ 
 ing the barracks, the Jewish youth is the object ol 
 a number of restrictive measures which are both 
 exceptional and vexatious. 
 
 In the event of his not presenting himself at all 
 for service, a fine of 300 roubles is inflicted on his 
 family. There is no other law like this extant as 
 applying to soldiers of other creeds. Christians 
 who are convicted of having given refuge to a 
 deserter are placed under arrest, or are punished 
 with imprisonment, of four months at most ; whilst 
 the Jew who is guilty of the same offence, renders 
 himself liable to penal servitude for a period varying 
 from twelve, to eighteen months ! t 
 
 Once in the service, the Jewish conscript is 
 knocked about, and can be ill-treated with impunity 
 by his Christian comrades ; and the officers, instead 
 
 * Law on Military Service, par. 146, note 2. 
 t Criminal Law, 1885, pars. 528 and 530. 
 
147 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 of protecting him, only display the greatest severity 
 towards him. 
 
 As we know, there is no chance for him to 
 advance to any of the higher grades, and even 
 should he become a non-commissioned officer, he 
 cannot follow the lectures in the schools for cadets, 
 and if he should chance to pass successfully in his 
 entrance examination to a military school, yet his 
 patent does not testify that he is admissible. # 
 Moreover, since 1887, a Jew cannot present himself 
 at a military school at all ; and lastly, since 1889 
 the rank of bandmaster is no longer open to him. 
 
 A ukase of June 25, 1867, permitted old soldiers, 
 who are Jews, to live beyond the limits of the Pale, 
 but no sooner had compulsory service been imposed 
 upon them, than this privilege was withdrawn. To 
 such an extent was this restriction carried that it 
 was even endowed with a retrogressive application, 
 and veterans w T ho had been decorated for service 
 during the campaigns, or wounded on the battle¬ 
 field, were ignominiously packed off to the Pale of 
 Settlement. 
 
 It is thus that the Russian Government encour¬ 
 ages patriotism amongst her Jewish subjects Î 
 
 Messrs. Weber and Kempster have given various 
 heartrending accounts of the ill-treatment inflicted 
 upon old soldiers : one soldier who had been 
 wounded at Plevna in 1877, and was discharged 
 after nine months of hospital treatment, returned to 
 Mitau, and became a ragman, as his infirmities were 
 
 * Code of Regulations, Sept. 17, 1882, No. 84, par. 642. 
 
I4S 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 too great for him to follow any other trade. From 
 that place he was expelled under the pretext that he 
 had been inscribed in the government of Kovno ; and 
 if the Rabbi had not collected a sufficient sum to 
 enable him to travel by railway, he would have been 
 sent back by stages, like any common criminal ! 
 
 Another soldier, aged sixty-eight years, who had 
 served under Nicholas, and been freed from service in 
 1864, had obtained a medal for his behaviour during 
 the Crimean War, and a stripe of good conduct for 
 fifteen years’ faithful service. But none the less he 
 was turned out of Moscow within twenty-four hours. 
 The same sad story occurred with regard to a number 
 of expulsions. 
 
 A veteran of Nicholas, who had served for twenty- 
 five years, with tears in his eyes, related to the Amer¬ 
 ican Commissioners how he had been turned out 
 of his home and torn away from his children in the 
 closing days of his life, although he had never com¬ 
 mitted a crime, had never begged, nor done anything 
 to merit exile, save the one fact that he had been born 
 a Jew ; and though he had served his country and 
 those in power, he was now cast adrift, and treated 
 like a mere vagabond. Our authorities add regret¬ 
 fully : “ His position cannot be easily forgotten, 
 
 for it presents so striking a contrast to that of 
 the old soldiers in our own country.” # 
 
 In 1891, at Moscow, a Jewish non-commissioned 
 officer in the reserve, Israel Deyel, presented to the 
 Tsar a humble and moving petition, entreating him 
 to renew the ukase of 1867, in favour of old soldiers. 
 
 * Weber and Kempster. pp. 63-65. 
 
149 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 In it we read, amongst other things: “ A non-Jewish 
 soldier who goes forth to battle and to death for 
 his country, is sustained by the knowledge that 
 those nearest and dearest to him will be protected 
 by the State, and will receive the paternal support 
 of the Government, as well as the generous favour of 
 the Sovereign.” “But the Jewish soldier has to 
 encounter death for his native land, with the bitter 
 conviction that his country severs him like a pariah 
 from all her other children, and that by her laws she 
 has deprived him of the means of maintaining himself 
 suitably, or of providing for the family which he 
 will leave behind him.” # 
 
 All these wrongs, however, do not prevent the 
 Russian Jews from fulfilling their military duties 
 with devotion. More than twelve thousand of their 
 number go forth each year to serve beneath the 
 Russian flag. Instead of endeavouring to evade the 
 conscription, the Jews take a far greater part, pro¬ 
 portionately, in the military burden which is made 
 so hard for them, than do their Christian com¬ 
 patriots. 
 
 As to their courage and self-sacritices, how is it 
 possible to contest the good faith of individuals who 
 suffer and perish rather than commit perjury ? 
 According to the open avowal of their opponents, a 
 number of Jewish soldiers distinguished themselves 
 during the war of 1877. Nevertheless, it is of these 
 men, and such as these, that an officious organ dared 
 to state, “ they claim all rights, whilst they shirk 
 all their duties.” 
 
 * Harold Frederic, “New Exodus,” pp. 287-288. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 * 5 ° 
 
 5. Incapacity for Manual Labour. 
 
 Large number of Jewish Workmen.—Their Qualifications. Schools 
 for Manual Labour.—Unimpeachable Statistics. 
 
 The dislike and inaptitude for manual labour 
 attributed to the Jews are so many fabrications. It 
 is sufficient to compare all the various accusations 
 (which are hurled against the Jews) with one 
 another to prove that they contradict themselves ; 
 and the above-named accusation is included in the 
 number. T)r. J. M. Cohn, one of the German Com¬ 
 mittee for the relief of the Russian Jews, justly 
 remarks : “ Accused of having absorbed the wealth 
 of Russia, the Russian Jews are refused admittance 
 to the United States because of their miserable 
 poverty ; while it is widely circulated that they do 
 not devote themselves to manual labour, and there¬ 
 fore America and Australia are closed against them, 
 lest they should perform too great an amount of 
 work at too low a wage.” # 
 
 It is quite permissible to doubt the sincerity 
 of the Russian anti-Semites, who expatiate on this 
 subject of manual labour, when we find that the 
 greater number of their victims in Moscow and 
 elsewhere, are actually such labourers. Amongst 
 six hundred Jews who were rendered homeless in 
 consequence of the disorders at Kiev, and who were 
 temporarily lodged in the fortresses, there were 134 
 
 * Weber and Kemps ter, p. 29. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 151 
 
 tailors, 40 carmen, 2 2 day labourers, 21 fitters, 2 7 
 joiners and wheelwrights, without mentioning the 
 less numerous representatives of various other 
 trades. How should manual labour be repugnant 
 to the Jews when the Talmud recommends it on 
 almost each page # and when the Bible exhorts— 
 “ For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands, and 
 it shall be well with thee.” t 
 
 The Jews of Bussia strive to do their utmost in 
 order to carry out this precept with regard to the 
 education of their children. At Odessa the school for 
 manual labour, known as “ Le Troude ” (work) is 
 excellent; and Messrs. Weber and Kempster speak 
 with great praise of a sewing-school, and of the 
 classes for manual labour which are attached to the 
 Jewish Elementarv school at Minsk. 
 
 t j 
 
 With regard to capacity and intelligence, the 
 American delegates give the most conclusive evi¬ 
 dence as to the superiority of the Jewish workmen 
 over non-Jewish mechanics : j they describe how 
 they saw wood-carving of the first quality ; § and also 
 state that Jewish masons are very skilful, || in fact 
 they are the only persons capable of executing certain 
 dangerous and difficult pieces of work on the steeples 
 of churches and on various high monuments .^1 In 
 the west of Bussia, says M. Leroy-Beaulieu, most of 
 the houses which are built of stone are the handi¬ 
 work of Jews. But to what end should we adduce 
 
 * Hirsch : “ Kulturdeficit,” Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 1893, p. 50. 
 
 f Psalm cxxviii. 2. J Weber and Kempster, p. 71. 
 
 § Ibid. 67. || Ibid. 66. "fl Ibid. 74. 
 
* 5 2 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 further examples, seeing that we possess the 
 incontrovertible statistics taken for the Pahlen 
 Commission about 1888, of which proceedings there 
 is a French account ? # We extract the statement 
 concerning Jewish artisans in the fifteen vovern- 
 
 O c 5 
 
 ments of the Pale : 
 
 Bessarabia 
 Wilna . 
 Vitebsk . 
 Volhynia 
 Grodno 
 Ekaterinoslav 
 Kiev 
 Kovno . 
 Minsk . 
 Mohilev 
 Podolia . 
 Poltava . 
 Taurida . 
 Kherson 
 Tchernigov 
 
 i8,I93 
 
 27,660 
 
 14,534 
 
 28,167 
 
 34,442 
 
 6,932 
 
 23,321 
 
 21,275 
 
 30,875 
 
 14,969 
 
 37,080 
 
 5,909 
 
 5,264 
 
 17,573 
 
 7 , 3 U 
 
 Total 293,509 
 
 The compilers of this work estimate that at the 
 time when they collected their information, the 
 number of Jews in the fifteen governments amounted 
 to 2,404,526 souls. 
 
 Compared with the total Jewish population, the 
 proportion of Jewish art isans amounted on an average 
 to 12.2 per cent., varying from 22.2 per cent, in 
 Grodno to 8.4 iper cent, in Kovno. 
 
 These artisans, whose numbers are close upon 
 three hundred thousand, for the greater part pursue 
 
 * “ Les Juifs de Russie," pp. 357-359. 
 
1 53 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 the following occupations : tailors, hosiers, hatters, 
 glovers, bootmakers, furriers, curriers, tanners, 
 painters, whitewashers, bakers, cooks, masons, 
 stovemakers, paperhangers, glaziers, slaters, car¬ 
 penters, coopers, smiths, locksmiths, tinmen, 
 moulders, bookbinders, engravers, lithographers, 
 opticians, mechanicians, watchmakers, &c. Besides 
 these artisans, for whose handicrafts there are official 
 guilds, there were also at that time, in the fifteen 
 governments 89,844 Jewish workmen following other 
 manual occupations which are not recognised as 
 handicrafts ; such as gardeners, carmen, coachmen, 
 sweeps, woodcutters, paviors, navvies, butchers, 
 millers, weavers, printers, brickmakers, pewterers, 
 stone-masons, brewers, vinegar-makers, &c. 
 
 Thus the artisans and craftsmen constitute a total 
 °J 383)353 workmen , being 15 per cent, of the entire 
 Jeivish population. 
 
 This is a very large proportion. 
 
 In Prussia, the artisans and labourers only repre¬ 
 sent 9.1 per cent, of the total population ; in France 
 10.6 per cent.; in Belgium, according to the census 
 of 1890, there are 10.8 per cent, of male work¬ 
 men, and 14.3 per cent, who are labourers of both 
 sexes. 
 
 England alone gives a higher proportion, viz. 22.7 
 per cent. In Bussia even, where the Christian 
 population is mainly agricultural, the relative 
 number of artisans and of labourers is considerably 
 less; according to an inquiry made in 1871, they 
 constitute 1 per cent, in the forty governments, 
 
i54 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 between i and 2 per cent, in eight of the govern¬ 
 ments, and hardly attain to 3 per cent, in that of 
 Moscow. 
 
 It is then a positive fact that, every due allowance 
 being made, there are in Russia incomparably more 
 artisans amongst the Jews than amongst the non- 
 Jews. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 I 55 
 
 6 . Incapacity for Agriculture. 
 
 The Jeius as an Agricultural People—Jewish Villages—Colonies — 
 Unexpected Success despite Obstacles created by Russian Adminis¬ 
 tration. 
 
 A pastoral and agricultural race by descent, the 
 Jew asks no more as a rule, than to be allowed to fix 
 his abode in the land, and to be permitted to culti¬ 
 vate it. But field labour, more than any other sort 
 of work, demands security in the near future. How 
 can a man follow such a pursuit if he is unceasingly 
 exposed to arbitrary expulsions, or to the outrages 
 of fanaticism ? Peace and sunshine are needed, so 
 that the corn may ripen. With his habitual far¬ 
 sightedness, M. Anatole Leroy-Beaulieu brings 
 forward another factor as evidence. “ Why,” he 
 says, “ has the Jew for centuries past abandoned 
 the plough ? ” “ His history gives the expla¬ 
 
 nation.” “It is now nearly two thousand years 
 since he has been banished from the soil. Even 
 during the Middle Ages the law imprisoned him 
 in the ghettos of the cities.” 
 
 Now, it is well known that the denizens of towns 
 never return to field labour ! “ Never is the citizen 
 
 known to return to peasant life ! ” This is a his¬ 
 torical law ; the hard labour of the soil is so trying 
 that, once having given it up, the labourer can¬ 
 not return to it. Nor has the Jew always the 
 necessary physical strength for it : his muscular 
 energy has been enfeebled by city life ; the seclusion 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 *5 6 
 
 of the ghetto and hereditary poverty have weakened 
 him for generations past.” # 
 
 Notwithstanding these unfavourable conditions, 
 we have seen Jewish agricultural colonies established 
 in our days in Palestine, in a number of places in 
 the United States, in Canada, in the Argentine 
 Republic ; and these colonies, after some inevitable 
 mishaps, either have already prospered, or will 
 prosper in the near future. 
 
 In Lithuania, ever since 1893, a part of the 
 Crown lands have been conceded to the Jews, who 
 during several successive centuries adopted agri¬ 
 culture as their chief occupation. 
 
 Some of these agricultural settlements continue to 
 the present time in the governments of Wilna, Kovno, 
 Grodno and Minsk, as also in Volhynia. Others have 
 been established there since the time of Nicholas. 
 
 Dr. Kempster visited a certain number of the 
 Jewish villages in the government of Wilna, and 
 gives a most favourable report upon them. 
 
 Although the soil is very poor, and yields only 
 meagre harvests, the Jewish cultivators make the 
 most of the means at their disposal, and display a 
 thorough knowledge of agriculture. But the area 
 of ground belonging to them has become utterly 
 inadequate to support a population which has 
 gradually increased, and it is indispensable to their 
 existence that they should be able to rent more 
 land in the vicinity.! 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu : “ L'Empire des Tsars,” vol. iii. p. 627. 
 f Weber and Kempster, pp. 80-83. 
 
i57 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 Unhappily, every fresh extension has been 
 rendered impossible by the terrible May Laws of 
 1882, forbidding the Jews to rent or even to ad¬ 
 minister an estate for the account of landed pro¬ 
 prietors, outside of the limits of the cities and towns. 
 The overcrowding of the cities, which has resulted 
 throughout the Pale, and of which we have fre¬ 
 quently had occasion to depict the terrible effects, 
 has been most disastrous for Jewish agriculturists, 
 as well as for Christian freeholders. The latter 
 have frequently had recourse to urgent but fruitless 
 measures in order to retain their Jewish farmers. 
 Even in 1893, Prince Koudakhof, on whose lands 
 about a hundred Jewish families had been estab¬ 
 lished for the last thirty years, demanded per¬ 
 mission to renew his farming contract with them. 
 
 But the authorities refused, and replied that the 
 Jews must be expelled on the very dav of the 
 expiry of their lease, that is to say, on June 1, 
 1893U This was not the first time that the order 
 of expulsion came while the crops were yet standing, 
 whereby their ingathering was prevented.t 
 
 In the provinces of the Cossacks of the Don some 
 Jewish families, descended from military musicians 
 of the time of Nicholas L, had cultivated the 
 ground, from father to son for about fifty years. 
 A short time since they were given the alternative 
 either to be baptised, or to be sent back to the cities 
 of the Pale, and this too notwithstanding that the 
 
 * Voshhod, April, 18/30, 1893. 
 f Weber and Kempster, p. 81. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 153 
 
 lands had been conceded to them as their property? 
 and although they knew no other handicraft than 
 agriculture ; so that the transfer to the cities 
 would deprive them of every possible means of 
 gaining a livelihood. # 
 
 Even admission to Siberia is now forbidden to the 
 Jews, hut there are still some colonists, descended 
 from the free settlers, who established themselves 
 in that country at their own risk and at their own 
 expense in the beginning of this century. 
 
 A document, published by the Minister of the 
 Domains, ogives official evidence as to their eminent 
 agricultural qualifications. “ All these Jews,” he 
 says, “ are in easy circumstances ; they have become 
 good labourers, and perform the field work and 
 cultivate their lands in a very satisfactory manner. 
 Many of them, especially those of the communities 
 of Baïmok and Iskhim, can be cited as model farmers. 
 It is they who have given the impulse to other 
 cultivators to introduce improved machinery and 
 agricultural instruments. As a rule, they are greatly 
 ahead in all the improvements suitable for the cultiva¬ 
 tion of the ground.! 
 
 Therefore the alleged aversion and incapacity of 
 the Jews for agriculture are pure calumnies. A 
 fresh proof was given while these pages were being 
 written. In Bessarabia, during the summer of 1893, 
 agricultural labourers were required. Perhaps even 
 
 * Novoïe Vrémia, Dec. 13/25, 1S92. 
 
 t “ Matériaux pour l’étude de la population rurale en Sibérie,” Col¬ 
 lection xiv. 
 
*59 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 a certain amount of pity was felt for the terrible 
 distress which reigned amongst the Jews ; and not¬ 
 withstanding the laws of 1882, it was decided to 
 hire some thousands of labourers. The Russian 
 journal which contains this information notes that 
 emigration was immediately lessened or brought to 
 a standstill in that district. “ So true is it that it 
 suffices to the poor Jew, to be enabled to earn his 
 daily bread, to deprive him of all thought of quitting 
 Russia.” # 
 
 The same thing occurred in the province of Kiev, 
 where Baroness Wrangel, in 1893, hired 400 Jewish 
 workmen ; and in Podolia, where Princess Tcherbatof 
 employed as many more on her property, and showed 
 them touching marks of kindness.t Everywhere the 
 Jewish labourers behave exceedingly well, and the 
 landed proprietors are unanimous in sounding their 
 praises.^ Even the Grajdanine is obliged to admit 
 that such is the case. Besides these isolated exam¬ 
 ples, there are several important Jewish agricultural 
 colonies in the south-west of Russia. 
 
 From 1807 to 1810, several thousands of Jews 
 were transferred to the uninhabited Crown lands in 
 the government of Kherson, and others were sent 
 on therein 1822 and 1823. The poor Jews asked 
 for nothing better than to exchange their imprison¬ 
 ment in the dingy alleys for a life in the open air. 
 Unfortunately, the kindly feeling evinced under the 
 
 Odesski Listok, July 25/Aug. 6 , 1893. 
 t Kievlanine, Aug. 15/27, 1893. 
 
 I Odesski Listok, Aug. 8/20, 1893. 
 
i6o 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 government of Alexander I. did not long continue in 
 force. Orders and counter-orders followed ; pro¬ 
 mises which had been given were nob kept ; money 
 intended for the budding colonies was frittered away 
 by the officials ; and to these obstacles other misfor¬ 
 tunes were superadded—bad harvests, epidemics, 
 the severity of the climate, and privations of every 
 kind. “ The Jewish colonists,” say the official 
 reports of the time, 44 are dying of hunger and cold 
 in the midst of the steppes.” Five thousand of their 
 number, out of a total of ten thousand, succumbed in 
 a few years. # 
 
 Under Tsar Nicholas, at the instigation of Count 
 
 Kesseler, Minister' of the Domains, the attempts at 
 
 colonisation were renewed with a certain amount 
 
 of energy. After the sad events to which we have 
 
 alluded, one cannot too greatly admire the courage 
 
 and self-denial of the Jews in making fresh attempts. 
 
 This time they were established chiefly in the 
 
 government of Ekatennoslav, seventeen Jewish 
 & , 
 
 colonies being founded there,from 1848 to 1855. As 
 in the government of Kherson, the colonists had to 
 suffer cruel privations on the road, and bad treatment 
 on their arrival. Then came the intense cold, the 
 failure of the harvests, murrain amongst the cattle, 
 fever, not to mention the culpable negligence and 
 the embezzlement of funds by the officials. 
 
 M. Clauss, who was sent by the Russian Govern¬ 
 ment in 1869, to inspect the colonies, makes the 
 
 * “ The Jews of Russia/’ pp. 360, and following ; Demidoff, pp. 32 
 and. following, French translation. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 161 
 
 remark, “ How much better the foreign colonies of 
 
 Germans and Bulgarians were treated than the 
 Russian Jews.” 
 
 To the former, sixty dessiatines # of ground were 
 allotted which they were allowed to select, and new 
 lots were granted to them, as their families grew in 
 numbers, and they were also permitted to follow some 
 trade or business, according to their liking. 
 
 To the Jews, on the other hand, to each family 
 of six persons, only thirty dessiatines of land were 
 allotted, which were selected by the administra¬ 
 tion, and on which “no foreign colonists of other 
 nationalities would ever have been willing to 
 settle , further, seven dessiatines were afterwards 
 taken away, so that only twenty-three dessiatines 
 remained for each family. When the families in¬ 
 creased, their very inadequate tract of land was not 
 augmented, the territory had also to remain undi¬ 
 vided, and Jewish colonists were absolutely forbidden 
 to obtain any supplementary income for themselves, 
 
 by following some occupation other than that of 
 agriculture. 
 
 Owing to this absurd arrangement, more than 
 
 10,000 persons were excluded from the colonies from 
 1869 to 1880. 
 
 It will be conceded that an experiment has rarely 
 been tried under more unfavourable conditions, or 
 been more calculated to bring about a pitiable failure 
 if we consider the incapacity of colonists suddenly 
 obliged to accustom themselves to a new mode of life, 
 
 The dessiatine equals two acres, two roods, thirty-two poles. 
 
IÔ2 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 and the great change ol climate ; for it seemed as 
 if they had purposely been transplanted to pro¬ 
 vinces at the greatest distance from their former 
 domiciles ; added to this, the vexatious regulations 
 which were continually undergoing alteration ; 
 the administrative obstacles, and unforeseen cala¬ 
 mities. 
 
 Yet—will it be believed ?—notwithstanding all 
 these factors of ill-success, the astonishing adaptive 
 faculty of the Jews, their indomitable tenacity ol 
 purpose, their sobriety, their orderly habits, have 
 eventually triumphed over all difficulties, and this 
 is now the actual state of affairs. 
 
 The colonies of the government of Kherson and 
 Ekaterinoslav last year counted nearly 40,000 
 souls. This is a considerable increase, and the 
 ground put at the disposal of these colonists has 
 become, as in all the villages of ancient Lithuania, 
 much too limited in extent to contain them. 
 
 The landed proprietors of these districts are all 
 willing to sublet their lands, but a barbarous legis¬ 
 lation forbids them. Yet it is positively certain 
 that these Jewish tillers of the soil are not wanting 
 either in energy, or in a love of field-labour, or in 
 any of those qualities which combine to make a good 
 agriculturist. 
 
 There can be no question upon this matter. In 
 1869, M. Clauss, in his official report, of which we have 
 already spoken, asserts that “the Jewish colonists 
 give a picture of true peasant life, and that many 
 of them are in comparatively easv circumstances as 
 
 JL «/ «y 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 163 
 
 contrasted with other Bussian colonists ” whom he 
 met on the way. 
 
 The American Commissioners have published 
 extracts of a Bussian report, approved by the 
 Censor, in which the colonies of Ekaterinoslav are 
 studied m detail. TCe should wish to reproduce 
 these pages in extenso , if we did not fear to increase 
 beyond due limits an account which is already 
 
 lengthy, and we must therefore confine ourselves to 
 a general survey. # 
 
 The Jewish colonists are far better furnished with 
 tools than the Christian peasants, who do not 
 always possess a good plough. “ In comparing 
 the Jewish colonies with the most prosperous 
 Christian villages m the districts, the evidence is 
 decidedly in favour of the good farming of the 
 Jewish colonists. If we consider all the difficulties 
 and the distress which have handicapped our first 
 colonists, we can affirm that they have solved in a 
 most satisfactory manner the question as to the 
 aptitude of the Jews for agriculture.” 
 
 c In a Jewish population of more than 5000 
 souls, of which the colonies at Ekaterinoslav are 
 composed, we find no foreign elements, and the work 
 is accomplished exclusively by Jewish colonists. 
 
 Tliere is no better reply to male to those who 
 maintain that the Jews are incapable of manual 
 labour or of becoming agriculturists , than this 
 incontrovertible evidence. 
 
 Weber and Kempster, pp. 171-176. 
 
164 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 7. Subversive Tendencies.—Particularism. 
 
 Number of Jewish N'lhilists.—Exclusiveness or Exclusion. 
 
 Patriotism.—Saying of Tertullian. 
 
 Are the Russian Jews, as is occasionally main¬ 
 tained, imbued with revolutionary and subversive 
 tendencies ? and should Russia defend herself against 
 them as against a source of danger to her own 
 safety ? It is evident that if it were contemplated 
 to transform all of these people into irreconcilable 
 enemies of the State, no other course could be 
 adopted than the one at present pursued. What 
 surer means could be employed to excite hatred and 
 a feeling of revolt in these unhappy persons than by 
 accusing them in a wholesale manner, by excluding 
 them as a nation, and lastly by granting to their 
 outcasts the consideration which is withheld from 
 honest men. Such, however, is the patience of the 
 Jew, and his respect for the law be it ever so 
 iniquitous, that there are comparatively few Jews 
 amongst the Nihilists. This point is not open to 
 question, seeing that the names and religion of those 
 who are condemned are always published in the 
 official reports. Mladetski, who was hanged for 
 having attempted the assassination of Loris Meli- 
 koff, was of Jewish descent, but he had long before 
 embraced Christianity. Helfmann and Lewinsohn, 
 two women who were condemned as Nihilists, were 
 the mistresses of Christian accomplices, and lived 
 entirely cut off from their former co-religionists. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 165 
 
 And these are the principal examples which are 
 usually quoted. The Russian nobility, the army, 
 the orthodox clergy, all furnish recruits to Nihilism. 
 But would this be sufficient reason for persecuting 
 the nobility, the army, or the clergy ? Instead of 
 accusing the Russian Jews of being revolutionaries, 
 
 < >ne is tilled with astonishment at their evangelical 
 resignation, when one calls to mind that the left 
 cheek, as well as the right cheek, has been abso¬ 
 lutely scarred with blows. 
 
 This point of view being untenable, the anti- 
 Semites take refuge in another of their favourite 
 grievances : “ The Jews isolate themselves from the 
 surrounding population, and conduct themselves as 
 strangers in the midst of the Slav race, thus 
 threatening to constitute a state within a state.” 
 It is not possible to raise too strong a protest against 
 the extraordinary and unscientific misuse of the 
 word “ race,” as employed nowadays. In politics, 
 it is a source of confusion and mistakes, which easily 
 becomes transformed, when it depends on a matter 
 ol feeling, into blind antipathy and unreasoning 
 hatred. But, alas ! the stump orators take 110 
 pains to gain information from scientists when they 
 undertake to dumbfounder an audience with some 
 “ scientific ” argument. 
 
 “ It has the appearance of thought,” says Figaro , 
 and that is sufficient for them. How often it occurs 
 that high-sounding phrases are used, which are 
 irrefutable because of their very absurdity. 
 
 “ It is not true that there are any Slav, or German, 
 
166 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 or French crania ” (for notions on such matters 
 appertain to quite a different order of speculations), 
 as was observed by M. Bogdanow, one of the most 
 distinguished anthropologists in Russia, in Moscow 
 last year, “for race is not nationality .” ^ 
 
 At the same Congress, M. Topinard expressed 
 himself in equally categorical terms : “ Nationality 
 has no connection either with anthropology or with 
 race.” t Speaking of the Jews, the same scholar had 
 previously explained that “ they are neither one 
 nation, nor one race.” J 
 
 To persecute the Jews as a race, in the name of - 
 the Slav race, is therefore a twofold absurdity. It 
 is, moreover, probable that many of the Jews are 
 of Finnish, or of “ Slav ” origin, in a similar degree 
 with the Russians, whilst it is equally certain that 
 many of the personages of the highest position in 
 the Muscovite hierarchy are of foreign extraction. 
 
 To continue ; “ a State within a State ! ” # Surely 
 an extraordinary expression from those who apply all 
 their energies to the work of collecting the Jews from 
 every corner of the empire, and of crowding them 
 into one vast Ghetto. It would be difficult further 
 to develop the striking contradictions between the 
 suspicions which are attached to the Jews, and the 
 actions adopted with regard to them. 
 
 * Report of the Congress of Prehistoric Archæology of Moscow, 
 1892, vol. i. p. 18. 
 t Ibid. 1892, vol. i. p. 170. 
 
 I Topinard : “Elements of General Anthropology,” Paris, 1885, 
 p. 212. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 167 
 
 But as to Particularism Î If the Jews evince any 
 inclination in this direction in certain countries, it 
 is incontrovertible that the laws and customs of that 
 country contribute to impose such a preference upon 
 them. There is nothing less particularistic than 
 Jewish doctrine ; in fact, the great modern idea of 
 universal brotherhood emanated from the Jewish 
 prophets. 
 
 But let us see what takes place in Russia, in order 
 to facilitate the social fusion of the Jews with their 
 fellow-citizens. Singled out for contempt by every 
 species of exclusive legislature, they are obliged to 
 have legibly imprinted on their shops, their first 
 name, that of their father, and their family names ; 
 c in order,” as General Gresser writes, “that all 
 passers-by, may immediately recognise the shops of 
 the Jew.” ^ As if this were not enough, according 
 to a decision of the Council of Ministers, “Jews are 
 formally forbidden to give their children Christian 
 prenomens.” t 
 
 There is one powerful factor which, in spite of all, 
 should bring about a gradual fusion between men 
 of various grades ; namely, the higher intellectual 
 culture which ought to be open to all men in common. 
 At gymnasiums and universities men interchange 
 ideas, unite in the same efforts, seek knowledge from 
 the same sources, and cherish the same ideals ; they 
 also learn mutually to appreciate each other, and this 
 brings about a lofty communion of mind with mind. 
 
 * Circulars of Nov. 7, 1890, and of March 15, 1891. 
 t NororossisTci Telegraph, 5/17 Nov. 1892. 
 
168 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 But, alas ! through an unpardonable contradiction 
 of the Russian Government, we see the greatest 
 restraint imposed upon this possible develo]3ment 
 of the flower of the Jewish youth, through the 
 increasing restrictions which are put upon their 
 admission to the Higher Schools. 
 
 Having cited the above facts, and many others to 
 be found in this survey, proving whence the obstacles 
 actually arise, it is easy to judge whether we should 
 speak of the exclusiveness or the exclusion of the 
 Jews. 
 
 We have already shown that the Russians have 
 no spontaneous enmity towards the Jews. It is as 
 well to repeat this fact. Only a short time ago, 
 at Odessa, a Christian merchant of good position 
 defrayed the burial expenses of one of his Jewish 
 workmen, and he, as well as all his clerks, followed 
 the funeral to the cemetery. # 
 
 Such examples of true Christianity are by no 
 means of rare occurrence. Even at the present 
 time it would be comparatively easy to re-awaken, 
 both among intelligent Russians, and among the 
 masses, the prevalent feeling of human fraternity, 
 which is now being crushed out by legal measures. It 
 is only just to add that the Jews neglect no means 
 to deserve a more kindly treatment. They are 
 subjected to all taxes, which they loyally pay ; to all 
 duties, which they fulfil ; and to all the severities of 
 those in power, whom they nevertheless uphold. 
 They do not revolt, nor do they band together in 
 * Odesski Listolc, June 18/30, 1893. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 169 
 
 order to resist ; they are simply resigned. Beyond 
 their religious beliefs, the only perceptible link 
 between them is the solidarity of suffering. 
 Although they are denied a fatherland, they are 
 faithful to the Tsar, and are good patriots. They 
 never emigrate except under compulsion, and with 
 the invincible attachment of a poor whipped hound, 
 the Jew has no greater wish than to be able to 
 return to Kussia. During the last cholera epidemic 
 young Jewish doctors, male and female, disputed as 
 to the honour of being sent to the most dangerous 
 posts , and in the last war it is well known that 
 Jewish soldiers freely shed their blood for Russia. 
 Like the Jews of to-day, the Christians in early 
 times were the butt of all prejudices ; they were 
 accused of odious practices, they were suspected of 
 forming a State within a State, they were represented 
 as a danger to the Roman Empire. 
 
 Teitullian îeplied to the anti-Christians, who were 
 the anti-Semites of that age 1 “ Wb carry arms for 
 you, we cultivate the ground for you, we do business 
 with you, just as you do ; if we do not take part 
 in the same religious ceremonies, are we any the 
 less your fellow-citizens ? ” 
 
 Do not these words sound like a presage addressed 
 seventeen centuries ago to orthodox Russia, by one 
 of the greatest fathers of the Christian Church ! 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 170 
 
 8 . Want of Education and Cleanliness. 
 
 Causes and Effects.—A Jeivisli and a Slav Village.—Order and 
 
 Morality. 
 
 Even the most narrow-minded anti-Semites are 
 aware that want of education and of cleanliness can 
 hardly be a sufficient motive for persecution. How¬ 
 ever, as these ridiculous pretexts frequently serve 
 as an excuse for the exceptional measures which have 
 been adopted against the Jews, it may be as well to 
 say a few words on these points. 
 
 We are willing to admit that the Russian Jews 
 are not actual models of cleanliness and of elegant 
 manners. But are the Moujiks either the one or the 
 other ? And further, to quote an apt and striking 
 remark, “It is not fair to throw any one on to 
 a dunghill, and then to accuse him of having an 
 unpleasant smell.” # 
 
 If, on the other hand, it were sincerely desired in 
 official circles to encourage education amongst the 
 Jews, would measures be universally adopted to 
 remove them from the schools, the gymnasiums, and 
 the universities ? 
 
 As to the filth on which certain Russian papers 
 dwell in terms of doubtful good taste, and of which 
 they give the most nauseous descriptions, they are 
 extraordinarily exaggerated. 
 
 The Commissioners of the United States have 
 
 * Correspondence of Moscow in the Republique Française, May 2r, 
 1891. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 171 
 
 taken particular notice of these matters, and on 
 several occasions they praise the cleanliness of the 
 dv ellmgs. I11 the Jewish village of Dekchin 
 
 (where Dr. Kempster visited every house) the 
 buildings are m good condition. They are remark¬ 
 ably clean, the grass-plots around them are well- 
 kept, the turf being neatly cut, and the barns in 
 peifect order. No beer or liquor shop is to be found 
 in this village, but a schoolhouse, where the teacher 
 is satisfied to receive a half-yearly stipend of eight 
 roubles ! The pupils, who were examined by the 
 American delegate, gave him great satisfaction ; they 
 are cleanly, although poorly clad, respectful, and have 
 good manners. The same day Dr. Kempster passed 
 through a Kussian village two versts distant from 
 Dekchin, containing only a third of the number of 
 inhabitants in the J ewish village. He found a 
 public-house there, but no school and no teacher. 
 
 Nothing in the place indicates economy or care ; 
 the filth is terrible, and a great puddle of mud and 
 dirt, which could easily be removed, jioisons the chief 
 street.! 
 
 One of the best proofs that the Kussian Jews as a 
 rule are neither so dirty nor so careless as is reported, 
 is the insignificant degree of mortality amongst 
 children of tender age. It is, alas ! too true that 
 persecution, with its attendant cruelties, privations, 
 and misery, have greatly increased the mortality 
 within recent times. But for the credit of the 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, pp. 71, 83. 
 t Ibid. 83, 84. 
 
172 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Russian Jews, mention should be made of the care 
 which they bestow upon the sick, on the excellent 
 organisation shown in their hospitals, in their 
 orphanages, and in all their charitable institutions, 
 and this, too, at the cost of great sacrifices. # 
 
 As a sign of the morality prevailing, it may be 
 noted that the number of illegitimate births amongst 
 the Russian Jews does not exceed three per cent.t 
 
 Drunkenness is unknown amongst them, although 
 their religion does not forbid them the use of strong 
 drinks. At Grodno, for example, in a large tobacco 
 manufactory, where 850 workwomen and 400 work¬ 
 men are employed, all of whom are Jews, Messrs. 
 Weber and Kempster state J that there has never 
 been a single case of drunkenness or of theft, and 
 that the greater number of the workwomen are 
 respectable. 
 
 Truly the desire expressed by a very worthy 
 Jewish manufacturer, who was expelled from Moscow, 
 can hardly be considered as extravagant when he 
 says, “ All that I could wish for myself is to have 
 equal rights with those drunken peasants whom I 
 see lying about the streets.” 
 
 * Weber and Kempster, p. 91. 
 
 t BlacktvoocVs Edinburgh Magazine , Oct. 1890. 
 
 J Weber and Kempster, p. 46. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 173 
 
 9. Services rendered by the Jews.—Disastrous 
 Eesults of the Eussian Persecutions. 
 
 Fair f Mj^'-Opinions of Moscow Manufacturers.-Statement of 
 the United States Commissioners.—Towns soliciting admission of 
 Jews. Sugar-Mills. Flour-Mills.—Various Industries created 
 by Jeivs.-Jewish Charity,-Roublef.-Progress.-Opinion of 
 Catherine the Great. 
 
 If we consult Russian statistics, if we inquire of 
 political economists, if we read the papers, one 
 paramount impression remains, namely, that where 
 they are not paralysed by persecution nor crowded 
 together to suffocation, the presence of Jews in any 
 district is synonymous with its commercial activity, 
 and with a diminution of the rates of interest, for 
 they cause capital to circulate more freely and thus 
 render trade more active. 
 
 Since the renewal of persecution the famous fair 
 of Nijni-Novgorod has lost much of its importance. 
 At Moscow, after the terrible year of 1891, fifty of 
 the principal Christian manufacturers addressed a 
 petition to the Grand Duke Sergius (to which we 
 have already referred), wherein they described the 
 serious injury sustained by the commerce of the city 
 through the expulsion of the Jews. 
 
 “The stoppage of business in the manufactories 
 of Moscow,” they especially notice, “ is owing to the 
 departure of the Jews, who bought the articles 
 manufactured in Moscow for an amount exceeding 
 a million roubles per annum, and owing to whose 
 
174 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 commercial activity these articles had been circu¬ 
 lated in the southern and western provinces of 
 Russia.” 
 
 “ These conditions , so favourable to the commerce 
 of Russia, have now ceased to exist, in consequence 
 of the expulsion of the Jews from Moscow, and 
 owing to the restrictions and the vexatious measures 
 to which they are subjected in this city.” # 
 
 In 1891, the American delegates were greatly 
 struck by the disastrous effects which the political 
 intolerance towards the Jews has exercised on the 
 course of business throughout Russia ; and they say 
 that the blindness shown on the part of the autho¬ 
 rities appears to them utterly incomprehensible, t 
 
 Since that time the results of the deplorable 
 policy have only been more strongly accentuated, 
 but what especially condemns the course adopted is 
 the fact, that the grievances of those persons who 
 were supposed to derive benefit from the persecution 
 of the Jews have not been in any way diminished. 
 This is as it should be. The discontent which pre¬ 
 vails arises from general causes, as Prince Demidoff so 
 loyally avows ; the Jews are in no way responsible 
 for it. By persecuting them, their sufferings are 
 greatly multiplied, but the situation remains un¬ 
 changed and unameliorated. 
 
 One result, certainly a most unexpected one, is 
 that the Russian peasants, instead of deriving some 
 
 * Petition of M. Choukine and others, translated in the Standard, 
 Oct. 6, 1892. 
 
 f Weber and Kempster, p. 47. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 175 
 
 profit through the departure of the Jews, suffer from 
 the general depression ensuing therefrom to such an 
 extent, that they are actually obliged to sell their 
 lands at the lowest prices, and are likewise forced 
 to emigrate.* 
 
 The telling paradox, which has alreadjr been wit¬ 
 nessed so often, is repeated every day under our 
 very eyes. With heart and voice the wish is widely 
 expressed, that the Jews should return to the very 
 districts from which they have been expelled. 
 
 In 1829, they were banished from Nicolaiev; but 
 were recalled in 1830, when it was recognised how 
 great was the injury caused to the city by the 
 expulsion of its best artisans.t 
 
 After having effected the expulsion of the Jews 
 in 1845, the inhabitants of Kichinev at once 
 clamoured for the rescinding of the measure ; and 
 this took place in 1858.J At Nijni-Novgorod both 
 buyers and manufacturers demanded the free return 
 of the Jews, who had been excluded by an enact¬ 
 ment of 1888. The cities of Kharkov and Livni (in 
 the government of Orel), also protested against the 
 banishment of the J ews. The inhabitants of Pavlova, 
 in the government of Nijni-Novgorod, who are for 
 the greater part basket-makers, only a few years 
 ago requested as a personal favour that the Jews 
 should be allowed to attend their markets. 
 
 Recently, after the expulsion of the Jewish butchers 
 
 * Novo'ie Vrémia, 23 Sept. 5/Oct. 1893. 
 t Demidoff : “ La Question Juive en Eussie,” p. 45. 
 J Ibid., p. 31. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 176 
 
 from Kiev, the syndicate of Christian butchers 
 raised the price of meat to such an extent, that 
 the authorities found themselves obliged to threaten 
 that they would permit the return of the Jewish 
 competitors. 
 
 Even apart from the commercial impetus which 
 ensued, the account of the industrial progress 
 which Russia owes to the Jews would be a lengthy 
 one. 
 
 The important part taken by some capitalists in 
 the establishment of the network of railways existing 
 in Russia, is well known. The great advance made 
 in the government of Kiev, with regard to trans¬ 
 actions in sugar, is due to the initiative and activity 
 of the Jews ; and this fact is proved by official 
 statistics.^ 
 
 The flour industry, thanks to the Jews, has been 
 freely developed in Russia, as was attested by the 
 congress of grain merchants which assembled at 
 Odessa in September 1890. M. Yogomasov, a 
 Russian Christian, deplored the stoppage of a 
 number of mills, owned by Jews, in consequence of 
 the May Laws ; and the president of the congress 
 added that he failed to understand why persons 
 should be deprived of the right of gaining their 
 livelihood. 
 
 This grain crisis has been one of the causes of the 
 famine in Russia. 
 
 The tobacco factories within the Pale of Settle¬ 
 ment and in Poland, have been chiefly established 
 
 * Souravski : “ Description of the Government of Kiev.” 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 177 
 
 b\ Jews , and the tens of thousands of the workmen 
 employed there are principally Jews. # 
 
 The most ancient firm in Russia for bookbinding* 
 and stereotyping was founded at Wllna in 1789, by 
 Jews, but has now been ruined by the measures of 
 persecution. As many as two hundred hands were 
 employed, all of whom were Jews.t 
 
 The first cloth factories in the neighbourhood of 
 t>_y alostock were also founded by Jews, who likewise 
 cieated in Russia the industries of dyeing and of 
 preparing furs ; J and according to the testimony of 
 Soubbotme, they introduced sixteen new branches 
 ot labour into Odessa alone, § and even then we have 
 not exhausted the list. 
 
 The philanthropy of the Jews is well known, and 
 h ^ ould be bad taste to praise them for a virtue, 
 which is at the same time a joy. But we may be 
 pei nutted to state that Jewish charity pays no regard 
 to denominational distinctions. 
 
 During the famine in 1792, Jewish helpers opened 
 tree restaurants at Byeltsi, at Akermane, and at 
 < )umane, where Jewish ladies gave their services as 
 waitresses, and where the destitute of all faiths were 
 equally well treated, and could be fed fraternally 
 side by side. || It will be remembered that in the 
 previous year the Mayor of Moscow had brutally 
 excluded all the Jewish sick from the hospitals! 
 
 V eber and Kempster, pp. 73, 91, 97, 98. 
 
 Ibid., p. 76. J Ibid., pp. 86, 45. 
 
 § Quoted by N. Chomerkin, “Les Juifs et les Allemands en Russie,” 
 Paris, 1893, P- 39 - 
 
 Il Odesshi Listolc, Oct. 26/Nov. 7, 1892. 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 We leave any comparisons to our readers. Charity 
 may sometimes attain to the grade of heroism, and 
 we may remark here, that amidst the prevailing con¬ 
 fusion caused at Odessa in 1812, by the outbreak of 
 pestilence, it was a Jew named Roublef who accepted 
 from the Duke of Richelieu (at that time governor of 
 the j^rovince), the perilous office of giving burial to 
 the dead, of organising relief for the sick, and of 
 revictualling the famished city. 
 
 Roublef acquitted himself of this task with sublime 
 devotion, and the epidemic soon died out. He 
 refused all reward. 
 
 After adducing all these facts we may surely come 
 to the conclusion that the Jews have rendered some 
 services to Russia, and that they continue to render 
 them untiringly. Everywhere they have shown 
 themselves as factors of prosperity, and as promoters 
 of progress. Their activity operates favourably, and 
 the Russians, who are somewhat indolent, have been 
 benefited through their energising example. 
 
 The riches of southern Russia, and especially the 
 commercial importance of Odessa, is in great part 
 the work of the Jews. It is computed that they 
 have caused three-fourths of the factories and houses 
 to be erected in that city. The inhabitants of cities 
 in France and Germany represent 30 per cent, of the 
 total population, in England about 45 per cent., whilst 
 in Russia in Europe they constitute only 11.2 per 
 cent. If it be true that the progress of a country 
 emanates chiefly from its cities, the Government 
 officials of Russia surely commit an unpardonable 
 
ï79 
 
 ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 
 
 fault towards their country, in paralysing by their 
 exceptional laws two-fifths of the urban population 
 of the twenty-five provinces ? This is a question 
 which is asked by the best friends of Russia. # And 
 is it not evident that the Tsar must be very ill- 
 informed if he permit one of the most precious 
 germs in the development of his empire to be 
 crushed out ? 
 
 “Woe to persecutors!” wrote Catherine the 
 Great to Voltaire, on sending some aid to the 
 Sirvens, who were the victims of religious supersti¬ 
 tion ; and the Tsarina wrote with her own hand 
 these memorable words in her instructions to the 
 Legislative Committee : “In a great empire, the 
 government of which is extended over as many 
 difterent nations as there are various creeds amongst 
 men, the most injurious fault would be that of in¬ 
 tolerance.” t 
 
 * Le Temps, Nov. i, 1890. 
 
 t Voltaire: “Oeuvres Completes,” Paris, Ed. Lefèvre, 1818, vol. 
 xviii. p. 624, vol. xxvi. p. 289. “ Dictionnaire Philosophique,” vide 
 Puissance. 
 
iSo 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 io. Favourable Declaration of Writers and 
 
 Eussian Authorities. 
 
 Official Commissions.—Prince Demidoff.—Protests of the Chief Men 
 of the Country. — Governors.—Statisticians and Economists. 
 
 It would be tedious to give a collection of opinions 
 on the Jewish question in Eussia, and in this survey 
 we have preferred to let the facts speak for them¬ 
 selves. For facts have an inherent eloquence, whilst 
 opinions are of weight only, because of the persons 
 who give utterance to them. 
 
 On this ground, the Imperial Commissioners who 
 were entrusted with the task of examining 1 into the 
 condition of the Jews in Eussia, deserve to he quoted 
 in the first place ; their long preliminary labours 
 are guarantees of their capability, and no one would 
 suspect them of philo-Semitic partiality. Both in 
 1883, and in 1812, the commission of Count Pahlen, 
 like that which was presided over by Privy Council¬ 
 lor Popoff, came to conclusions favourable to the 
 Jews, pronounced against the restrictions imposed 
 upon their rights, and testified to the fact that their 
 well-being and that of the orthodox Eussians is indis- 
 soluby united. Prince Demidoff San Donato, one of 
 the most distinguished members of the Pahlen 
 Commission, published at St. Petersburg, in 1883, 
 an exact and noteworthy study on the Jewish 
 question in Eussia, # a work that has been frequently 
 
 * French translation, Brussels, 1884. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 181 
 
 quoted in these pages as evidence. Prince Demidoff 
 opposes solid arguments to the vague accusations of 
 the anti-Semites, and his conclusions are all in 
 favour of tolerance. It is greatly to he regretted 
 that such opinions should remain without effect, and 
 that occult influences always appear to hold their 
 realisation in check. 
 
 The most illustrious Russian scholars and writers 
 have vainly lifted their voices on several occasions 
 in defence of the persecuted Jews. As early as 1858, 
 in consequence of a calumny directed by a certain 
 paper against two Jewish publishers, a magnificent 
 protest was published in reply, emanating from 147 
 of the best authors, and consisting of Christian pro¬ 
 fessors and journalists of Russia, amongst whom 
 were Katkoff, Annenkoff, Aksakoff, Timiriaseff, 
 Béketoff, Menchikoff, and Turguenieff. This docu¬ 
 ment was reprinted in the Novosti of Nov. 6, 
 1890, which therefore received a first reprimand 
 from the Censor. A fresh declaration from the 
 chief men of the land, with Count Leon Tolstoi 
 at their head, solemnly condemning the persecu¬ 
 tions, was attested in 1890. The Russian Censor, 
 as we have already mentioned, forbade the publi¬ 
 cation of the document, and we are only acquainted 
 with the text through the columns of a Berlin 
 newspaper. # 
 
 The late Minister of Finance, Reutern, had also 
 called the attention of the Emperor to “ the ex¬ 
 tremely unfavourable conditions in which the 
 
 * See p. hi. 
 
182 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 Russian Jews are placed with regard to facilities for 
 gaining a livelihood.”^ 
 
 Under Alexander II, several governors of pro¬ 
 vinces furnished similar reports. 
 
 That of Poltava formally proposed that “ all 
 restrictions in force, should be immediatelv abo- 
 
 ^ *y 
 
 lished. The same cause was warmly upheld by 
 Count Strogonoff, formerly Governor-General of New 
 Russia and Bessarabia.! 
 
 We have already quoted with regard to the 
 depths of misery prevailing amongst the Jews, and 
 details respecting their commercial proceedings, 
 usury, &c., the significant judgments of various 
 statisticians and economists, many of whom, such 
 as Messrs. Afanassieff, Souravski, Apokoff, and 
 Bobrovski, occupy important official positions ; and 
 various other important names will be found in 
 the work of Prince DemidofF. In an address de¬ 
 livered on Jan. 12, 1887, at the University of 
 Moscow, Professor Janjoul maintained that the in¬ 
 fluence of the Jews was beneficial to the develop¬ 
 ment of commerce and of Russian industries. Some 
 short time since, the president of a Russian medical 
 society, who took up with great ardour a proposal 
 bearing the imprint of anti-Semitism, branded such 
 tendencies as those of a “ bygone time,” and noted 
 with deep admiration, the able way in which the 
 Jewish doctors had performed their duty both 
 
 * Code des Lois XL. 42, 264. 
 
 T Demidofi : 4> La Question Juive en Russie,’’ p. 50. 
 
ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE JEWS 183 
 
 un the field of battle and during the time of the 
 cholera. # 
 
 We will restrict ourselves to quoting one more 
 witness of special value, M. Bloch, Councillor of 
 State at Warsaw, a Christian and a wealthy and 
 distinguished man (these details are not superfluous, 
 for envy frequently imputes hidden motives to good 
 actions). M. Bloch had commenced a statistical work 
 on the Jews, thinking that he would thus be enabled 
 to discover some justification for the measures 
 adopted against them. But his researches led him 
 to a total change of opinion, and according to him 
 the figures prove conclusively that the prosj3erity 
 of the Empire depends upon Jewish enterprise, and 
 that the restrictions in inner Bussia and the Pale 
 will result disastrouslv to the Russians, unless 
 common sense shall finally prevail.t 
 
 * Voskhod, June 20/July 31, 1893. 
 
 + Weber and Kempster, p. 99. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE SOLUTIONS. 
 
 Amongst all the stories of the Bible there is one, 
 which is as simple as it is profound in thought, and 
 which equally attracts the poet and enchains the 
 student. Who does not keep it fresh in his memory ? 
 Ahasuerus, the great monarch whose dominions 
 extended from India to Ethiopia, and comprised one 
 hundred and twenty-seven provinces, had given ear 
 to the perfidious councils of Haman, the deadly 
 enemy of the Jews. Haman had said to him, “ A 
 people is dispersed amongst all the nations of the 
 kingdom ; this nation has a different belief from that 
 of other nations ; it does not share in thy creed, and 
 thou hast no interest whatsoever in its preserva¬ 
 tion. Permit me to cause it to be exterminated, 
 and thousands of talents of silver will flow into thv 
 treasury.” 
 
 And the king replied unto Haman, “ I permit 
 thee to do as thou desirest.” But Esther, the queen, 
 was a Jewess, although the king knew it not. She 
 had been chosen, for her beauty and sweetness of 
 disposition, from amongst all the virgins of the 
 kingdom. On the advice of Mordecai, (who had 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 185 
 
 adopted her as his child), she ventured to make an 
 appeal to the kindness and good sense of the king. 
 And she succeeded in convincing him, so that he 
 gave up all his plans of cruelty and massacre ; and 
 his words of peace were sent forth throughout the 
 provinces. And, adds the story, as is well known, 
 the king sentenced Haman to be hanged on the very 
 gibbet which he had caused to be prepared for 
 Mordecai. 
 
 If it is true that history repeats itself, we may be 
 permitted to regard this Eastern story as a parable. 
 And it will be as well to meditate upon it, when 
 seeking to find a remedy for the situation in Russia. 
 At the present day the monarch who rules over all 
 the divisions of the earth is Public Opinion. The 
 treacherous councillor, who appeals to all the basest 
 passions of humanity, arms himself with every sort 
 of malice, and works upon all the inducements of 
 envy, declaring an implacable war against an op¬ 
 pressed minority, can easily be recognised, although 
 he has disguised himself with the new title of 
 “ anti-Semitism.” But Christian teaching, despite 
 its apparent forgetfulness of the fact, is of Jewish 
 origin. The code of morality which has been 
 adopted as being the purest and tenderest, will 
 know how to appeal to all hearts, and its common 
 sense will enlighten all minds, just as Esther, 
 guided by the counsels of Mordecai, prevailed in 
 bygone days, and justice and toleration will triumph 
 in the end, and the last words, as in the story of 
 old, will be words of peace. 
 
i86 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 And if anti-Semitism, the Hainan of to-day, must 
 succumb in the very movement which it has created, 
 humanity (by which we mean humane sentiments) 
 will certainly not have sustained any loss thereby. 
 
 To those who endeavour to regard the “Jewish 
 question ” in Russia with impartiality, only four 
 possible solutions present themselves : 
 
 Extermination. 
 
 Conversion en masse. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 Emancipation. 
 
 Extermination .—The Jews, it is said, are too 
 numerous in Russia ; they not only stifle each other, 
 but they also stifle the Christians who live beside 
 them in those districts which the law assigns to them. 
 As a consequence of this enforced cantonment, a parti¬ 
 cularistic tendency, as the anti-Semites maintain, 
 is developed, which imperils national unity. Such is 
 the evil ; but what is the remedy ? It is absolutely 
 necessary to seek one, as the present state of affairs 
 is intolerable both to the Jews, who are condemned 
 to die of starvation, and to the Slavs, who perceive 
 a political danger ahead, in this congested mass of 
 dissenting persons. 
 
 A Russian newspaper, the Kraj , # which is fre¬ 
 quently hostile to the Jews, expressed itself to the 
 following effect in April, 1893 : “It has been shown 
 that the governments in the Pale of Settlement are 
 longer capable of receiving a fresh influx of 
 
 * Kraj, April 9/11, 1893. 
 
 no 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 187 
 
 inhabitants, either into the cities or into the rural 
 districts, and the purely mechanical procedure of 
 transferring the Jews from one overcrowded district 
 to another being utterly useless, the burning Jewish 
 question is no nearer solution through such a 
 course.” 
 
 “And yet this solution is a duty incumbent on 
 the Government, a duty which it has imposed upon 
 itself, and which cannot be evaded through expul¬ 
 sions and overcrowding. The emigration of Jews 
 beyond the limits of the Russian territory, or the 
 removal of a few thousands from one region to 
 another, has no bearing whatsoever upon the exigen¬ 
 cies which exist under our very eyes.” 
 
 If, instead of four millions of human beings, the 
 matter concerned so many millions of grasshoppers, 
 the remedy for the Jewish question might be found 
 in three words, “Ferro et igni 
 
 But, distressing as it is to behold around us some 
 signs of a return to barbaric times, the solution sug¬ 
 gested in these words would not find many partisans 
 even amongst those individuals, who throughout the 
 land, from Moscow to Paris, have inscribed on their 
 banner of hatred, the formula, “ Death to the Jews.” 
 In lieu of a violent and brutal extermination, the 
 persecutors of the nineteenth century have substi¬ 
 tuted a more lingering method, and one which 
 they consider as being more acceptable. “The 
 Struggle for Life,” Famine, and Epidemic Diseases, 
 are all brought to bear upon the people who, though 
 their ranks are to be diminished, are not to be 
 
i88 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 struck down at one fell blow. Is this a solution ? No ! 
 for on examining closely into the situation, we find 
 that the conditions still remain in statu quo. It is 
 quite fruitless to persist in such an odious and repul¬ 
 sive system of hypocritical extermination. Even in 
 the eyes of the most pitiless enemies of Judaism, this 
 inhuman method has the additional disadvantage of 
 being absurd because it aggravates the evil ; and 
 only after the persistent application of such treat¬ 
 ment through centuries could the Russian Jews be 
 made to disappear, when we take into consideration 
 the enormous numbers of those who are obliged to 
 endure such terribly over-burdened lives. What 
 militant anti-Semite is there who would count upon 
 Time as his auxiliary ? Time, who fights in favour of 
 religious toleration ; whose victory may be delayed, 
 but is none the less certain. 
 
 Conversion en masse .—Many serious-minded per¬ 
 sons have thought, though they have not actually 
 expressed the opinion, that the Jews should meet 
 the exceptional laws to which they are subjected 
 by a wholesale conversion. This idea for evading 
 the difficulty is a mere chimera, and chiefly because 
 it puts out of question that great moral quality 
 which commends the Russian Jew to the sympathy 
 of the whole civilised world—an attachment to the 
 traditions of his forefathers, and to the religion in 
 which his ancestors lived, and for which thev 
 suffered so severely. This piety, which is not neces¬ 
 sarily accompanied by a very active religious faith, 
 is the last remaining cherished possession of the 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 189 
 
 Russian Jew, when all else has been taken from 
 him. It is the precious treasure which frequently 
 takes the place of moral training or of intellectual 
 culture. The hapless sufferers, the objects of un¬ 
 merited contempt, whom their enemies seek to brand 
 with the epithet of “ Materialists,” are the living 
 proof to all the world of an exalted idealism. For the 
 last three years there have been daily examples of 
 those who sacrifice their career, their very bread, 
 and that of their families, for the austere satisfaction 
 of performing their moral obligations to the best of 
 their ability. “ Those Jews who have a sense of 
 honour,” says a distinguished Russian sociologist, 
 “ will never apostatise.” 
 
 “ They consider such an act as degrading, because 
 of the very advantages which might thereby accrue 
 to them.” 
 
 “ Only the unscrupulous change their religion. 
 Thus the Russian government actually casts the 
 refuse of the synagogue into the bosom of the ortho¬ 
 dox Church. ” # 
 
 Those who succumb to temptation, few as they 
 are, especially amongst the poor, thenceforth cease to 
 exist in the eyes of those near to them, who would 
 prefer to see them lying dead before them. 
 
 Where there is no deep belief in religion, or in 
 countries where toleration has diminished the feeling 
 of religious pride, it is easy to jeer at an obstinacy 
 which costs so tremendous a price. 
 
 * J. Novicow : “ Les Luttes entre Sociétés Humaines,” Paris, 1893, 
 p. 281. 
 
THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 190 
 
 It is also easy to deplore such a result, and to 
 recall the example of the Marranos in Portugal ; 
 Jews, who in the sixteenth century, submitted to be 
 converted in great numbers, in order to escape 
 butchery. But if any reflection is given to the 
 matter, the attachment of these persecuted Jews to 
 the faith of their ancestors, must appear as worthy 
 of our respect, as it is of our admiration. Men who 
 can suffer so terribly, and in so exalted a cause, may 
 be humiliated, but they can never be dishonoured ; 
 and they carry within themselves and will transmit 
 to their posterity, an immense reserve force of 
 morality. 
 
 Further, from indications already given, it appears 
 that the Russian Government, which is no less occu¬ 
 pied with the alleged differences of race than with 
 those of creed, would place obstacles in the way of 
 conversions, should these threaten to become too 
 numerous. This was already evident in 1891, at 
 the time of the expulsion from Moscow, when of 
 the 3000 Jews who as it was said applied for baptism, 
 only a very small proportion succeeded in obtaining 
 it. Shortly after, an order emanating from the 
 highest sources, prescribed that the newly-made 
 converts should pass three years within the Pale, or 
 in such places as would be designated, under the 
 supervision of Russian popes, who were to judge as 
 to the sinceritv of the converts. 
 
 But of what avail is it to reason upon the 
 measures which might be adopted by the Russian 
 Governments with regard to an utterly improbable 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 I 9 I 
 
 hypothetical case ? The Jews belonging to the 
 poorest and the most numerous class would never 
 accept baptism ; those in comparatively affluent cir¬ 
 cumstances might do so far more readily. But is 
 it not upon these poorest Jews, and almost wholly 
 upon them, that the burden of persecution weighs 
 most heavily ? And though they are ready to die, 
 bhey ivill never submit to conversion. 
 
 In consequence of the overcrowding of the Pale, 
 and of the normal increase of the Jewish population, 
 the emigration of the Bussian Jews had to be com¬ 
 menced without delay. The stream of emigration was 
 chiefly directed towards North America and towards 
 Brazil, the Argentine Republic, the Cape, and 
 Australia. In Asia, for historical reasons, Palestine 
 first attracted the emigrants ; but the dearth of 
 resources and of work in the cities of that country 
 soon arrested the current which had been drawn 
 thither. 
 
 Since the massacres of 1881-1882, the exodus to 
 America increased to such a decree that the Govern- 
 
 O 
 
 ment of the United States found itself obliged to 
 adopt measures for restraining it ; and representa¬ 
 tions, though of a friendly nature, were made to the 
 Bussian Government, which up to the present how¬ 
 ever, have been utterly fruitless. 
 
 President Harrison, in his message to the Con¬ 
 gress, December 10th, 1891, expressed himself as 
 follows : 4 ‘ It is estimated that more than a million 
 Bussian Jews will be obliged to leave their country 
 within a period of a few years.’ 7 
 
192 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 “ The Jew is never a beggar ; he obeys the laws, 
 lives by the work of his hands, even in spite of the 
 severe and oppressive restrictions to which he is 
 subjected. It is equally true that no race, no sect, 
 no class are so mindful of their own people, as is that 
 of the Jewish race. But the hurried transfer of 
 such a vast multitude of fugitives, arriving under 
 the conditions which have compelled them to quit 
 the narrow limits in which they were penned up, 
 and to deprive them of all energy and courage, is 
 good neither for them, nor for us.” 
 
 “ The exile of so vast a number of men and 
 women, whether induced by direct legislation or by 
 indirect methods, of which, however, the result is 
 none the less certain, is not a question of internal 
 government.” 
 
 “ The laws, which compel an individual to leave 
 his own country, impose upon him as a direct 
 consequence the necessity of seeking some other 
 country.” 
 
 “ This consideration, joined to considerations of 
 humanity, suffice to justify the remonstrances which 
 we have addressed to Russia ; our historic friend¬ 
 ship for this Government being a guarantee that 
 these representations are only inspired by sincere 
 goodwill.” 
 
 The mission confided to Messrs. Weber and 
 Kempster in 1891, included amongst its objects, 
 that of specifying the causes which directed an 
 ever-increasing crowd of Russian and Polish Jews, 
 towards the new world. 
 
I 93 
 
 THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 The conclusion arrived at by the two commis¬ 
 sioners was sufficiently explicit — namely, that 
 persecution alone obliged these people to fly from 
 their native land. 
 
 Thanks to the charitable fund established at New 
 York by Baron de Hirsch, and, above all, to the 
 ready aid afforded by the American Jews, it has 
 been possible, partially to rescue the immigrants 
 from such depths of destitution as would have soon 
 led them to regret their departure, even though it 
 was from Russia. It has been calculated that more 
 than 300,000 persons have thus found in North 
 America a new fatherland and liberty, though they 
 have not attained to wealth. 
 
 The United States at a future time will reap 
 in an increase of prosperity, the reward for its 
 hospitable toleration, of which evidence has been 
 given, and for which not only the gratitude of 
 Judaism, but also that of all humanity, will be the 
 result. 
 
 In 1891, the year of the great expulsions from 
 Moscow and Kiev, more than 60,000 Jews repaired 
 to the United States. For a considerable time a 
 minimum of 400 persons embarked daily from Ham¬ 
 burg. A German central committee was formed for 
 their benefit, which endeavoured, as far as possible, to 
 regulate the tumultuous emigration movement. At 
 New York alone there are at the present time 200,000 
 Russian Jews. This vast community, though 
 for the most part very poor, exercises an attrac¬ 
 tion easily to be understood on the Russian Jews, 
 
J 94 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 who now almost all possess some friends or rela¬ 
 tions in New York. And the tide of emigration 
 
 thither has become so regular and so strong that 
 • • . ° ® 
 no restrictive measure is capable of stemming its 
 
 course. 
 
 The obstacles which are accumulated against the 
 unhappy Jews make their departure from Russia 
 ever more difficult ; but nothing discourages them, 
 nothing could hold them back, unless perhaps it 
 would be the mitigation of those repressive laws 
 under which they are absolutely crushed. 
 
 In the month ol July 1893, the port of Hamburg 
 was closed to them ; they therefore embarked from 
 Bremen, or from Stettin, assisted by a committee at 
 Konigsberg. In consequence of fresh instructions 
 emanating from the Prussian authorities, this com¬ 
 mittee and various others had to suspend their 
 operations. The Prussian Government ordered that 
 the Russian frontier should be watched day and 
 night, by patrols on foot and on horseback, in order 
 to prevent the entry of the emigrants within its 
 territories. Along the frontier-line the fugitives 
 sought, but in vain, for some gap through which 
 they might pass. The Prussian patrol drove them 
 back. At length, when their scanty means being 
 utterly exhausted, they begged for a morsel of 
 bread in Russia, they were hunted from place to 
 place by the police. 
 
 An eye-witness describes how, despite all his 
 efforts, the rising tears almost choked him, when he 
 saw in the streets of Byalostok “ these ghost-like 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 T 95 
 
 figures, with haggard faces and tottering limbs, and 
 clad only in rags and tatters. . . 
 
 The emigration towards the United States had 
 in the first instance the effect of increasing the 
 population of the various towns. The taste for 
 agricultural pursuits, together with a feeling that 
 manual labour is their best means of regeneration, 
 has developed amongst the Jews in a truly remark¬ 
 able manner. 
 
 The question therefore was how to discover new 
 countries where land w r ould be cheap, and where it 
 might be possible to establish agricultural colonies. 
 An attempt was made in Palestine, but the soil was 
 too poor ; and in Canada, but the climate was too 
 severe. The colonies in Palestine, thanks to the 
 subventions granted by Baron Edmund de Roths¬ 
 child, and by Russian associations, have attained a 
 certain amount of prosperity, but it is only possible 
 to establish a select body of colonists in that 
 country. 
 
 In 1891, Baron de Hirsch with the approval of the 
 Russian Government, instituted a vast enterprise, 
 the above-mentioned “Jewish Colonisation Associa¬ 
 tion,” the object of which was to transport thou¬ 
 sands of Jewish families to the Argentine Republic. 
 According to the representations of the first advo¬ 
 cates of this scheme, it should be possible to emigrate 
 more than a million persons in twenty-five years. 
 But such chimerical hopes have been disproved by 
 experience. 
 
 Agriculture, even in a new country, requires 
 
196 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 large funds as well as physical strength ; and the 
 capital needed by each family is at least from 4000, 
 to 5000 francs. 
 
 Under these conditions the 50 millions of francs, 
 so munificently offered by Baron de Hirsch, would 
 permit the establishment of about 50,000 persons 
 in the Argentine Republic. This is a great step, 
 and if it can be carried out—for the attempt 
 has hardly been commenced—the admiration of 
 posterity is assured to the philanthropist who has 
 so courageously taken the initiative. But can 
 this be the solution of the Jewish question in 
 Russia ? 
 
 Out of the four and a half millions of families 
 in that country, more than half are actually pre¬ 
 vented by the existing laws from living otherwise 
 than in utter destitution ; and therefore the ex¬ 
 patriation of at least 400,000 families would be 
 needed. From the above statements it will be 
 seen that to establish such families would entail 
 an expense of tivo thousand millions of francs, an 
 amount which is absolutely out of all proportion to 
 the funds which it might be possible to obtain. 
 
 Even if Baron de Hirsch should succeed in effecting 
 
 & 
 
 the exodus of 25,000 Jews annually, which to all 
 appearance is an impossibility, this would hardly 
 absorb one-half of the annual surplus population of 
 the Russian Jews. It should therefore be widely 
 made known in response to unreflecting enthusiasm, 
 that the idea of a wholesale emigration of Russian 
 Jews to the Argentine Republic, or to any other 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 197 
 
 country, is a Utopian conception of a dangerous 
 character, giving birth to illusions from which 
 there might be a terrible awakening. The necessary 
 remedy must be sought elsewhere. 
 
 Emancipation—Migration to the Interior .—If 
 the three solutions before mentioned are highly 
 impracticable, and if it be even useless to discuss 
 them seriously, there remains but one more 
 possibility, which has been frequently considered, 
 not only by the writers and economists of the West, 
 but also by Russians. The very terms in which 
 the problem is couched lead to this conclusion, by 
 logical inductions. The Jews are too closely packed 
 together ? Then order them to spread across an 
 Empire, where the population is forty times less 
 dense than in Belgium, and of which Empire, the 
 area is five to six times greater, than that of the 
 rest of Europe. 
 
 You say they form an isolated caste, a State 
 within a State? Let them mingle with the sur¬ 
 rounding population. Encourage them to intermix, 
 so that this minority, which only attains to a ratio 
 of 4J per cent, in the whole of Russia, shall no 
 longer exist as a disturbing influence and a sub¬ 
 ject of discord, but shall act as a ferment of work 
 and progress. 
 
 They are too much accustomed, according to 
 public opinion, to restrict their activity to sordid 
 pursuits? Let all the honourable careers which 
 have been closed against them, now be opened to 
 admit them. 
 
198 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 They are murderous competitors who sell under 
 cost ? Do not compel them by overcrowding, to 
 be content with insufficient and absurdly low pay. 
 You assert that the Jews do not devote themselves 
 to agriculture ? Seeing that they have given you 
 proof, of their capability in this direction, do not 
 hinder them from acquiring land in an Empire, 
 where, owing to dearth of agriculturists, three parts 
 of the soil remains uncultivated. 
 
 Up to the present time, the remedies which have 
 been suggested and employed, have merely aggra¬ 
 vated the evil which they have striven to subdue. Ex¬ 
 cessive overcrowding was objected to ; and, instead 
 of avoiding* it, an administrative cantonment was 
 imposed within limits which have been persistently 
 and continuously diminished. 
 
 Let a fair trial be given to the opposite method, 
 the only rational one equally conformable to the 
 interests of the Empire, to the requirements of 
 universal morality, and to the spirit of Christianity. 
 Liberty of movement, Liberty in choice of career ; 
 these are the two solutions of the Jeivish question , 
 and these solutions are summed up in the single 
 word, Emancipation. 
 
 There is no need to draw up fresh regulations, in 
 opposition to those now in force, in order to promote 
 the migration of the Jews into the interior. Every¬ 
 thing tends to urge them to this step ; the inde¬ 
 scribable misery which they suffer in the Pale ; the 
 want of work ; the hope to find a freer atmosphere 
 and more light than in the wretched hovels in which 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 ï 99 
 
 they are stifled. Add to this their attachment to 
 their native country, which always leads them to 
 prefer a sojourn in Russia, instead of expatriation 
 abroad, provided only that they are permitted to 
 dwell in peace within the borders of their father- 
 land. The decongestion of the Pale of Settlement 
 and of Poland would ensue forthwith ; the adminis¬ 
 trative barriers once removed, the fertilising torrent 
 of migration would flow towards the east, depositing 
 the germs of future riches and prosperity from the 
 banks of the Vistula to those of the Amur. 
 
 Prince Demidoff, the eminent statesman, said in 
 1883 : “It is not in exceptional laws against the 
 Jews that the remedy can be found. For more 
 than a century such laws have actually been in 
 operation ; and with what results, and what 
 good purpose have they served ? Not even to 
 give satisfaction to that portion of the nation who 
 feared the economic predominance of the Jews, to 
 content whom the Jews have been persecuted, and 
 in spite of which the contrary result has ensued.” 
 
 “ The humiliating conditions in which the Jews 
 are placed, the exceptional laws which single 
 them out for public censure, only increase the 
 hatred and animosity felt toward them ; and these 
 laws, instead of being means of conciliation and 
 social peace, are the instruments of discord and dis¬ 
 organisation.” 
 
 “ There is only one remedy for the situation : 
 equal government for the Jews, abolition of ex¬ 
 ceptional laws, and a spirit of kindness inscribed 
 
200 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 in the codes, which will pass from the letter of the 
 law into daily practice. 
 
 It is impossible for any one to speak more 
 judiciously or with greater impartiality upon this 
 subject. 
 
 The persons in Russia, who think with Prince 
 DemidofF, are very numerous. But they have to 
 fight against a powerful coalition of selfish interest 
 and of fanaticism. 
 
 In that country, where the work of civilisation has 
 been so rapid in its progress, two widely opposed 
 currents of ideas are to be found : the Asiatic 
 current (so to speak), and the European current. 
 Both currents have been represented by eminent 
 men, and the political conditions of the Tsar’s 
 Empire have continually oscillated to and fro 
 between them. 
 
 It is hoped—hoped most earnestly, in the inte¬ 
 rests of humanity, justice, and of Russia herself— 
 that the European current will carry the day with 
 regard to the Jewish question. In submitting this 
 deplorable problem anew to public opinion in 
 Europe, we make appeal at the same time to 
 Russia, and to all that is worthiest in that 
 Empire. 
 
 A strange contrast exists there ; within the last 
 thirty years the Government at St. Petersburg has 
 abolished serfdom, has carried on an arduous war in 
 favour of the Bulgarians, and has spread an amount 
 
 *Demidoff: “ La Question Juive,” 91-100. The above quotation is 
 an extract from the selections, u Les Juifs Russie,” p. 300. 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 201 
 
 of civilisation unknown since the days of Alexander 
 the Great, in the depths of Central Asia, which 
 had fallen back in a state of barbarism. Within 
 her own frontiers, Russia has increased the High 
 Schools, encouraged Science, disseminated instruc¬ 
 tion in rural districts, and abolished various in¬ 
 human severities of military discipline. 
 
 And nevertheless this Government has to plead 
 guilty to a religious persecution in this very nine¬ 
 teenth century ! It is hardly possible to give 
 credence to such a fact. Whilst Russia carries 
 civilisation into the heart of Asia, she cannot 
 permit the continuance of barbarity under the 
 title of anti-Semitism. 
 
 Alexander II. won a crown of undying glory by 
 emancipating the serfs of Russia. It would equally 
 redound to the credit of Alexander III. if he were to 
 complete his father’s work by becoming the deliverer 
 of the Russian Jews. 
 
 Duties of the Civilised World .—The opinion of 
 enlightened men in all countries upon the persecu¬ 
 tions committed in Russia cannot for a moment be 
 doubted. Many of them are deterred from pronoun¬ 
 cing judgment categorically, only because they have 
 been ignorant of the subject in all its atrocity, and fear 
 to pass an opinion without being fully acquainted 
 with the question. 
 
 We hope in this survey to have furnished them 
 with complete and precise facts of indisputable 
 authenticity, and to have proved our statements by 
 giving the sources from which these facts are drawn. 
 
202 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 It has been said that the “ Jewish question ” is an 
 internal affair of Russia, and that foreigners have 
 no right to interfere in it. But this is false reasoning. 
 The Irish, the Roumanians in Transylvania, the 
 Christians in China, and many others, have not 
 been abandoned by Europe, under the pretext that 
 it is not desirable to offend the susceptibilities of 
 China, or of Hungary, or of England ; and yet the 
 sufferers in all these cases cannot be compared in 
 any way with the Russian Jews. Besides, they have 
 natural protectors in the Irish members of Parlia¬ 
 ment, in the Roumanian Government, and in all the 
 diplomats of Christendom. 
 
 Even in Russia, do we not see that other 
 dissenters find some titled defender, able to main¬ 
 tain their cause in opposition to orthodoxy ? 
 Protestants, Catholics, and Mahometans have the 
 support respectively of an Emperor, the Pope, or the 
 Sultan. 
 
 The Jews alone are utterly unprotected. The 
 Duke of Argyll said three years ago, “ There is no 
 help for them save in Public Opinion A # 
 
 Involuntarily we think of the negroes in America 
 and Africa, on whose behalf an appeal to the con¬ 
 science of the civilised world has not been made in 
 vain. “If such were the sufferings of any nation even 
 in Central Africa, we would be not only justified, but 
 called upon to intervene. How much more, then, in 
 behalf of a race who, in their past, and their present, 
 and their future, demand of us an exceptional 
 
 * Standard, Sept. 23, 1891. 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 203 
 
 reverence ? ” Thus spoke one of the highest digni¬ 
 taries of the Catholic Church, a man universally 
 venerated—the late Cardinal Manning. # 
 
 Europe has not only the right to occupy herself 
 with this condition of affairs, but this interference 
 has become a sacred duty. Her material interests 
 command such a course as imperiously as her moral 
 principles. Prévost-Paradol in i860 maintained that 
 if the Jews still suffer from persecution, they also 
 see that their cause is taken up forthwith, and that 
 their oppressors are branded by the verdict of the 
 civilised world, t Our great ideals of humanity and 
 of toleration cannot have become so obscured that 
 this promise should have been made in vain. All 
 we desire is, that a voice, powerful enough to reach 
 from one end of the civilised world to the other, 
 might cry out “ Tua res agitur" (It is thou whom 
 it concerne th). To escape injustice, and more 
 especially the terrible uncertainty of what the 
 morrow may bring forth, many Russian Jews have 
 to sallv forth to other lands, to countries w T here 
 the laws are less barbarous, and the Christians 
 more Christian. 
 
 This crisis of emigration is not devoid of some 
 amount of passing danger to the various countries. 
 It must be repeated to the civilised nations of the 
 two hemispheres ; in obtaining from Russia some 
 amelioration of the condition of their Jewish sub- 
 
 * Letter published in the Report of the Guildhall Meeting, London, 
 on the subject of the “ Jews in Russia," 1890. 
 
 t Prévost-Paradol, Journal des Débats, Oct. 12, i860. 
 
204 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 jects, you protect at the same time your own work¬ 
 ing population. Tua res agitur ! 
 
 Tua res agitur! The enforced overcrowding of 
 the Jewish population into territories which are 
 persistently diminished, in proportion as the un¬ 
 fortunate people are more closely packed together ; 
 excessive crowding into streets which are too 
 narrow, into houses which are four or five times 
 too small ; exclusion from agricultural pursuits ; 
 education which is parsimoniously meted out ; trades 
 which are proscribed to them ; careers from which 
 they are shut out must needs lead to a hopeless 
 despair, to which the strongest must yield, worn 
 out by material misery and bodily decadence. 
 
 Of this, the proofs are already but too convincing. 
 And thus, perhaps unknowingly, the Russian 
 Government, by this Jewish persecution, is creating 
 fertile soil for epidemics which may spread from 
 the Ghettos of the Pale, to Russia, Poland, Austria, 
 Germany, and throughout the length and breadth of 
 Europe. 
 
 Tua res agitur ! It is for Christendom, and in 
 the name of a Christian religion, that these horrors 
 are perpetrated. 
 
 “ Such cruelties,” wrote the Bishop of London, 
 inflicted in the name of Christianity, “ are a disgrace 
 to every religion ; but above all to Christianity.” # 
 In persecuting the Jews, Christianity shows itself 
 oblivious at the same time of its origin and of its 
 
 * Letter published in Report of the Guildhall Meeting, London, 
 1890. 
 
THE SOLUTIONS 
 
 205 
 
 principles. It is a betrayal of that teaching of 
 Christ in which he says “ Love one another,” a 
 precept which the Old Testament had likewise 
 enjoined long before his time. # 
 
 Tua res agitur ! Humane Solidarity should not 
 be a meaningless word. Whilst civilised Europe 
 interests herself in every species of suffering and 
 wretchedness ; whilst attention is given to the 
 condition of the most humble ; whilst societies exist 
 for the protection of children, and institutions for 
 liberated prisoners ; whilst a grand impulse of 
 humanity has rescued the American slaves from 
 bodily servitude ; whilst the diplomats of two 
 hemispheres have united to combat the treatment 
 of African negroes ; whilst societies spring up every¬ 
 where to protect the very brute creatures, how is 
 it possible to keep silence in face of the crying 
 iniquities with which Russia overwhelms so many 
 unhappy beings, guilty only of being Jews ? To 
 these proletarians, “ the poorest of all the poor ” of 
 Europe, as M. Leroy-Beaulieu calls them, the morsel 
 of rye-bread, their only nourishment, is begrudged ! 
 These unfortunates, who cannot be reproached with 
 the shadow of a wrong, are pitilessly chased from 
 the soil whence they have sprung. In their own 
 fatherland, in that country where they pay all rates 
 and taxes, and to which they furnish some twelve 
 thousand soldiers every year, they are hunted down, 
 and sent back by stages in the same way as are 
 
 * Leviticus xix. 18, and 33-34 : “ If a stranger sojourn with thee in 
 your land .... thou shalt love him as thyself.’' 
 
20 Ô 
 
 THE RUSSIAN JEWS 
 
 thieves and murderers. Innocent persons are 
 thrown into prison. The infirm, Pregnant Women, 
 and helpless Infants are mercilessly expelled. 
 Innocent babes are frozen to death for want of the 
 few days’ respite not even withheld from criminals. 
 More than four millions of human beings are 
 suffering unjustly ! 
 
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 London and Edinburgh 
 

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