CHAPTER XI.

RUSSIAN PERSECUTIONS: MISSION TO CZAR NICHOLAS.

The Board of Deputies and the Russo-Jewish Question-Sir Moses Montefiore invited to St. Petersburg by the Russian Government to confer with the Minister of Education on the condition of the Jews-Policy of the Czar Nicholas towards the Jews-The persecuting Ukaze of 1843-Jewish appeals to Sir Moses Montefiore-Temporary suspension of the Ukaze-David Urquhart on Russian persecutions-Re-issue of the Ukaze-Sir Moses Montefiore appeals to Lord Aberdeen to intercede with the Czar-The Ukaze is again suspended-Promulgated once more in 1845 -A deputation of Russian Jews arrives in England-Diplomatic representations to the Russian Government are ineffectual—Sir Moses Montefiore deputed to proceed to St. Petersburg-Dangers of the journey-Flattering reception in the Russian capital-The Ukaze suspended for a third time-Interview with the Czar-Sir Moses proceeds on a tour of the Western provinces-Adventures on the journey-Willingness of the Jews to follow his advice— Triumphant progress through Jewish Russia-Sir Moses Montefiore and Prince Paskievitch-Revocation of the Ukaze-Return to England-Enthusiasm of the English Jews-Royal appreciation of the mission-A baronetcy conferred on Sir Moses Montefiore.

AT a meeting of the Board of Deputies, held on the 12th September, 1842, Sir Moses Montefiore announced that he had received an important communication from the Russian Government, inviting him to St. Petersburg to confer with Count Ouvarov, Minister of Education, on the condition of the Russian

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Jews. The letter, which was couched in very complimentary terms, stated that the Jews were in so retrograde a state, that it would be impossible for some time "to pronounce the word' Emancipation;' but that with a view to their ultimate affranchisement the Emperor desired to introduce among them an advanced system of education. Unfortunately the Government had found in the "bigotry and ignorance" of the Jews an invincible obstacle to the realisation of their benevolent desires. They therefore appealed to Sir Moses for his co-operation. "You, Sir," declared the letter, "enjoy the fullest confidence of the Russian Jews: your name is uttered with the most profound veneration by them." The Government, therefore, hoped that, with his assistance, the scheme they had in contemplation might be made acceptable to his co-religionists. At the same time other letters were received by Sir Moses from several of the Jewish communities, urging him to seize the opportunity of pleading their cause before the Czar.

Sir Moses was unable for private reasons to accept this invitation; but had he proceeded to St. Petersburg, it is doubtful whether he would have found the Russian Government as anxious as they professed to be to ameliorate the lot of his brethren in faith. The real history of the remarkable invitation of Count Ouvarov has yet to be written. Read in the light of the cruel and arbitrary policy pursued by the Emperor Nicholas towards the Jews since his accession to the throne in 1825, it cannot but suggest some arrière

pensée at issue with its well-intentioned tone. No section of the Russian population had felt the weight of the Czar's iron hand more heavily than the Jews. In 1827, when he was engaged in the organisation of a navy, it was suggested to him that the serfs were too clumsy and loosely knit to make good sailors, but that the Jews, with their lithe and active figures, might be very advantageously employed, especially if trained for the purpose in their youth. The Emperor acted upon the suggestion with the literal and reckless promptness that always characterised him. In one night 30,000 young Jewish children were torn from their mothers' arms, and carried away to the shores of the Black Sea to be inducted into the mysteries of seamanship. From the moment of their seizure they were submitted to the most rigorous discipline, and were so cruelly treated, that not more than 10,000 of them survived to enter the navy. Shut out from communication with their families, the Czar also closed against them the portals of their religion, and had them brought up in the tenets of the RussoGreek Church. This was not the only occasion on which his Majesty showed that his attitude towards the Jews was biassed by religious considerations; for in 1828 he tried to have all the Jews in the Russian army forcibly baptized.

But, besides isolated instances of persecution such as these, the Emperor Nicholas had made himself specially conspicuous in Russo-Jewish history, by codifying on a comprehensive scale the laws for

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the oppression of the Jews, which had been formulated at different times by his Russian and Polish predecessors. The ostensible object of the new code, which was promulgated in April, 1835, consisted "in a regulation of the position of the Jews, which, while enabling them to earn their livelihood by agriculture, and industrial occupations, as also to educate their children, would at the same time remove all inducements to indolence and illegal pursuits." Their effect was, however, very different. Prince Demidoff San-Donato, in his admirable work on “The Jewish Question in Russia," which has recently been translated into English, under the auspices of Sir Moses Montefiore's nephew, Mr. H. Guedalla, says of this code:-"From the sense of its enactments it would appear that, according to the views of the Legislature, the Jews, per se, do not possess any of the rights inherent to all men and citizens. Thus, for instance, with regard to all Russian subjects, with the exception of Jews, the fundamental legal principle is that everything not prohibited by law is allowed; whereas for the Jews the maxim is that everything which is not positively allowed by law, is to be considered prohibited." This is the legislation by which the Jews of Russia are governed to-day. Well might Baron Henry de Worms exclaim, on a recent occasion, that it was tantamount to a ban of excommunication!

The only recognisable explanation of Count Ouvarov's invitation to Sir Moses Montefiore was, that the Russian Government had seen the error of its

ways in respect to the Jews, and had resolved to mend them. This theory was, however, rudely dispelled in the following year. In consequence of the smuggling which took place on the Western frontiers, and in which a few Jews were thought to participate, the Czar, with his usual drastic precipitancy, issued a Ukaze, on the 20th April, 1843, ordering the removal into the interior of all Jews domiciled within a zone of 50 versts (close upon 35 English miles) along the German and Austrian frontiers. This reckless measure was worthy of the man who, heedless of engineering difficulties, commanded his railways to be built in mathematically straight lines. It was calculated to break up no less than a thousand Jewish congregations, and ruin over three hundred towns and villages. Its effect on the commerce of the Empire would have been disastrous in the extreme. To the communities at which it was levelled, it, was of terrible significance. It meant the destruction of all their little property, and their means of livelihood; it meant the break-up of homes which, however miserable, were still brightened by loving domestic reminiscences, and hallowed by the recollection of ancestors whose ashes reposed in the immediate vicinity. For wanton cruelty, the whole legislation even of autocratic Russia may be searched in vain for the equal of this decree.

Nearly three months elapsed before any intelligence of the new persecution reached Western Europe. One morning in July, Sir Moses Montefiore was shocked to receive a letter from the Jews of Königsberg describing