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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..000cf96 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63588 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63588) diff --git a/old/63588-0.txt b/old/63588-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index af35d41..0000000 --- a/old/63588-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5831 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Within the Pale, by Michael Davitt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Within the Pale - -Subtitle: The True Story of Anti-Semitic Persecution in Russia - -Author: Michael Davitt - -Release Date: October 31, 2020 [EBook #63588] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - available at The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE PALE *** - - - - - WITHIN THE PALE - - - - - WITHIN - THE PALE - - _The True Story of Anti-Semitic - Persecution in Russia_ - - BY - MICHAEL DAVITT - - AUTHOR OF “LEAVES FROM A PRISON DIARY,” - “LIFE AND PROGRESS IN AUSTRALASIA,” - “THE BOER FIGHT FOR - FREEDOM,” ETC. - - - _SPECIAL EDITION_ - - - Philadelphia - THE JEWISH PUBLICATION - SOCIETY OF AMERICA - - NEW YORK - A. S. BARNES & CO. - 1903 - - COPYRIGHT, 1903, - BY A. S. BARNES & CO., - - _Published, October._ - - - - -PREFACE - - -It is deemed necessary, for the twofold aim of this book,--to arouse -public feeling against a murder-making legend, and to put forward a plea -for the objects of the Zionist movement,--to tell the story of the -Russian Jew, apropos of recent massacres. This task could only be -partially done in my despatches from Kishineff to Mr. William R. -Hearst’s American papers. Moreover, all the despatches were not -published, for reasons which govern the exigencies of journals that are -concerned much more with a record of daily events in the United States -than with history. - -While in Russia I tried to find both sides of the anti-Semitic Question, -so as to give expression to all views which could throw light upon -crimes that had shocked the public mind in America and in Europe no -more than they had pained and scandalised all right-thinking Russians. - -To several of the minor representatives of the Tsar’s Government I owe -an acknowledgment for uniform courtesies, and for valuable assistance in -my investigations, and I endeavour, in the chapter on “Russia’s -Attitude,” to let the voice of such exponents of official Russian ideas -and purposes be heard alongside of counter Jewish accusations. - -The unwarranted attempts that have been made in some quarters to use the -Kishineff crimes as means of creating an unfriendly feeling between the -two greatest powers in the world to-day--the United States Republic and -the Empire of Russia--are reprehensible. There are very unworthy motives -behind this mischievous endeavour that are not calculated to serve the -cause of the Russian Jew. The writer of these pages can have no sympathy -with nor lend encouragement of any kind to these sinister efforts. - -Russia cannot, for her own sake, allow the present state of things to -continue within the Pale of Settlement. Reform or revolution must deal -with an absolutely impossible condition of social and economic life. - -I follow Russian, and not Jewish, guidance in the brief sketch I give of -the history of the Russian Jew and of his long and persistent -persecution. The clear and unbiassed opinions, and statement of historic -facts, so courageously and clearly expressed in Prince Demidoff San -Donato’s book, have been the chief source of information from which the -materials for that sketch have been derived. - -The Jew, as he is ruled and oppressed by Russian officials, is a far -greater danger to Russian autocracy than anti-Semitism is to the -Israelites of the Pale. The danger was candidly avowed by all -representative Russians from whom I solicited light and information. The -average Russian, however, errs most seriously in believing that measures -of repression, like those of 1882 and 1891, can ever cure the Empire of -its “Semitic malady,” as one high official harshly expressed it. Had -far more drastic and more barbarous methods of coercion than those of -General Ignatieff possessed the power to cure a similar “malady,” or -kill the same race, no Jew would be alive on earth to-day to trouble the -domestic cares of the Tsar’s Government. There can be no stronger -argument against the policy of continued repression found in the -literature or history of liberty than the existence and the marvellous -influence to-day of this, the most persecuted of all peoples among the -civilised races. - -Contempt for human rights, even if they be Jewish rights, is an unwise -attitude for an autocratic government. It can only lead to more outrage, -through the example and encouragement it offers to the lowest aims of -anti-Semitism; to more poverty, through the steady increase within the -existing Pale of men and women of the most intellectual of races, who -grow up conscious of the fact that they are made poor by the working of -special laws, because they are Hebrews. Such contempt and neglect are -the best recruiting forces for disloyalty and Socialism among 4,000,000 -subjects, having powerful racial friends and political allies in -countries where Russia’s strongest enemies are to be found; and are far -more dangerous to Russia’s internal peace and progress than any measure -of Jewish emancipation could possibly be. - -This book is neither inspired by feeling, political or otherwise, -against Russia, nor by any pro-Jewish purpose outside the questions -immediately touched upon by the writer. Where anti-Semitism stands, in -fair political combat, in opposition to the foes of nationality, or -against the engineers of a sordid war in South Africa, or as the -assailant of the economic evils of unscrupulous capitalism anywhere, I -am resolutely in line with its spirit and programme. Where, however, it -only speaks and acts in a cowardly racial warfare, which descends to the -use of an atrocious fabrication responsible for odious and unspeakable -crimes like those that are to its credit in the massacres of Kishineff, -it becomes a thing deserving of no more toleration from right-minded men -than do the germs of some malady laden with the poison of a malignant -disease. - -The inquiries made by me in Kishineff convince me that the peculiar -atrocity of most of the crimes perpetrated against the Jews of the city -at Easter were directly attributable to the horrible influence of the -ritual-murder propaganda upon untutored minds possessed of an ignorant -and fanatical conception of religion. - -Should these pages succeed, even to a little extent, in influencing -public feeling in America and Europe, in favour of the suggestions they -contain for the redress of the indefensible wrongs of a long-suffering -people, the writer will be amply rewarded for his small share in the -performance of so worthy and necessary a task. - -“The public moral sense of all nations,” wrote Cardinal Manning, on the -same topic, a dozen years ago, “is created and sustained by -participation in a universal common law; when this is anywhere broken, -or wounded, it is not only sympathy, but civilisation, that has the -privilege of respectful remonstrance.” - - M. D. - -ST. JUSTINS, DALKEY, IRELAND, - - _4th July, 1903_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -PART I - -THE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN JEW - -CHAPTER PAGE - - I. FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO 1804, 1 - - II. THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT (1804-1882), 12 - - III. FROM THE IGNATIEFF LAWS TO THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES, 33 - - IV. A MURDER-MAKING LEGEND, 52 - - V. RUSSIA’S ATTITUDE, 64 - - VI. THE ZIONIST SOLUTION, 82 - - -PART II - -THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES - - VII. I. ORIGIN AND AGENCY, 91 - -VIII. II. LETTERS FROM KISHINEFF, 101 - - IX. III. M. DE PLEHVE’S VERSION, 182 - - X. IV. AN IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT, 189 - - XI. V. DOCUMENTS: - - (I) PETITION TO THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF POLICE, 207 - - (II) LIST OF KILLED, 217 - - (III) EXTRACTS FROM A REPORT BY TWO CHRISTIAN LADIES, 222 - -XII. NOTES AND COMMENTS, 231 - - -APPENDICES - - PAGE - - I. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ON THE KISHINEFF CRIME AND THE JEWS, 256 - - II. LETTER FROM TOLSTOY, 268 - -III. LETTER FROM MAXIME GORKY, 272 - - IV. FATHER JOHN OF KRONSTADT RECANTS, 276 - - V. THE STORY OF SIMON OF TRENT, 278 - -VI. ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF PAPAL BULLS, 291 - - - - -WITHIN THE PALE - - - - -PART I - -_THE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN JEW_ - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO 1804 - - -The time when Jews first settled in Russia is a subject of mere -historical conjecture. Some accounts assert that colonies of the race -were founded in the country bordering on the Black Sea several centuries -before the Christian era. All the probabilities favour this view. Both -before and after their dispersion by the Romans, a people so intelligent -and resourceful as the Hebrews would learn of the fruitful regions -watered by the four great rivers which flow into the southern -sea-boundaries of the vast territory now under the sway of the Tsar. -They would have a choice of land and sea routes for the voyages of -emigration, trade, or adventure. - -The distance from Jerusalem to the mouth of the Volga, through Asia -Minor and the Caucasus, is not much more than from Astrakhan to St. -Petersburg, while the journey by sea from Joppa to where the city of -Odessa stands to-day for Russia’s richest seaport, is much less than -that from Athens to Marseilles. The Caucasus, Taurida (Crimea), Cherson, -and Bessarabia, known in the days of King Solomon by other names, would -be within the zone of trading intercourse with the Kingdom of Israel, -while these rich and interesting parts of Southern Russia would -naturally attract the footsteps of the scattered race after Titus had -destroyed their nation and dispersed its people, as well as during the -existence of the Byzantine Empire. - -Whether the race known as the Khazars, who governed the territory -stretching north from Astrakhan over the eastern watershed of the Volga -as far as Kazan, were civilised by Semitic colonists, as alleged by some -writers, is now only an interesting speculation. One fact offered in -support of this theory is that the Israelites were driven out of this -country by its rulers in the eleventh century, at a time when Jews in -Christian Europe began to be objects of race persecution. - -The period of the Crusades may be taken as that in which the systematic -oppression of the Jews began. The source of this persecution was the -religious influence upon uneducated minds of the gospel of the -Crucifixion, coupled with legends about ritual murders, and fables -recording the sacrifice of the blood of Christian children and maidens -during the sacred rites of Paschal time. - -It is on record that, in the year 1298, a fanatic in a city of Franconia -circulated a story that the Sacred Host in a church had been polluted by -a Jew, and that the Almighty had chosen an avenger of this crime in the -person of the narrator of the act of sacrilege. The populace rose _en -masse_ and burned all the Jews in the city. The massacre extended to the -country, and, before the murderous fury unchained by this fanatic and -his falsehood could be stilled, over 100,000 victims were slaughtered in -Germany, Bavaria, and Austria. - -It was following these and similar ferocities that the first great -movement of the Semitic race into Poland occurred. They were encouraged -to move into this country by the toleration extended to smaller colonies -of their race who had settled in Polish dominions in earlier times. All -accounts agree in crediting to this ancient Kingdom a far more -enlightened rule of the proscribed Israelites than to any other -Christian nation during the Middle Ages. Casimir the Great protected -them in both their religious and civil liberties, in return for which -freedom they helped to organise and develop the commerce and crafts of -the country. They flourished and multiplied under such rule, and became -the trading link between producer and consumer, in the economic life of -Poland, as well as tillers of the soil and expert artisans. - -It is an error to assume that the Jews have not thriven anywhere in -agricultural industry. Wherever they were sure of protection against -spoliation, they took to land labour as readily as to other pursuits, -and succeeded. This was so in Poland during the two centuries in which -they shared in the general rights guaranteed by the state. Accounts of -Jewish agricultural colonies in various parts of Russia, in later days, -also support the same testimony. In fact there was no better foundation -for this charge in times anterior to our own than the circumstance that -a people who were not permitted to own land anywhere, or even to -cultivate it in some countries, were, in consequence, subjected to the -imputation of having a racial prejudice against this means of obtaining -a livelihood. - -The halcyon period of Jewish freedom in Poland came to an end in the -middle of the seventeenth century. That proud and ancient nation was -itself the victim of invasion and oppression, and its Semitic population -lost over 200,000 men, women, and children in the ferocious campaigns -waged by the conquering Cossack Hetman, and his Tartar and Russian -allies, against Poles and Jews alike. - -The Jews of Poland survived this calamity, and grew numerous again, as -persecuted civilised races somehow do, in their own, or in some other, -land. They, however, lent assistance to the designs of the ambitious -nobles when the landed aristocracy invaded the recognised prerogatives -of the kingly power, and took to themselves all the responsibilities and -advantages of government. They became their agents and instruments in -the sordid work of harassing the peasant cultivators, who found -themselves ground down more remorselessly by class rule than under a -semi-republican monarchy. Popular feeling was thus turned against the -Jews, and they began to experience, in Poland, as elsewhere, that social -and economic antipathy which their greater money-making capacity has -always nourished in the commercial minds of the less successful -Christians. - -As a friend of Polish freedom remarked to the writer in Warsaw in the -spring of 1903, “the nobles cultivated their pride, rack-rented their -tenants, and lost their independence.” And, with this fall of the one -Christian nation in Europe, which had fairly ruled and humanely treated -the hunted Hebrew up to the eighteenth century, the era of systematic -persecution began for the Polish Jew when a cruel fate compelled him to -become a Russian subject. - -The early oppression of the Jews in Russia was entirely due to religious -feeling. Their exceptional treatment in recent years arises from -political and economic more than from sectarian causes. M. Varadinoff, -in his history of Russian administration, says: “The history of all the -cases since 1649, involving Jewish religious matters, bears on it the -stamp of mistrust to the followers of the law of Moses, because the -Jews, by their false doctrines, convert to their faith not only -Christians, but persons belonging to other religious persuasions; in -consequence of this the civil rights of the Jews were more or less -restricted, and their settlement in Russia was prohibited. They were -also on several occasions entirely expelled across the Russian -frontiers. The code of Alexis Mikailovitch provides punishment of death -for the perversion of a Christian to the Hebrew faith. In 1676 Jews were -prohibited from coming to Moscow from Smolensk, and in 1727 an order was -promulgated to the effect that ‘All Jews found to be residing in the -Ukraine and in Russian towns shall be immediately expelled beyond the -frontier, and not be allowed under any circumstances to enter Russia.’” - -Prince Demidoff San Donato, in quoting this expert in his excellent -book, says that a proviso to this ukase stipulated that before leaving -Russia all the Jews were to be made to exchange their gold and silver -for copper money! - -It was found practically impossible, however, to carry out decrees of -complete expulsion, while, on the other hand, it had to be recognised -that the interest of the state and the development of trade required the -trained experience of Hebrew craftsmen, merchants, and bankers. They -were tolerated for the utilitarian ends of commercial necessity, while -being subject to all the possible penalties of an outlawed community. - -Nearing the end of the eighteenth century the trend of Russian conquest -westwards annexed the Polish regions known as White Russia, and the -Lithuanian country, in which Jews had hitherto found shelter when driven -out from Russia proper. Catherine II. governed the Empire at this -period, and her somewhat liberal views gave her Hebrew subjects a brief -respite from persistent injustice. It was necessary to take account of -the recognised status of the Jews in what had been a portion of the -Kingdom of Poland, and a ukase was promulgated in 1786, decreeing that -“Everyone, irrespective of creed, shall enjoy under the laws all the -advantages and privileges of his rank and condition.” This enlightened -law only extended to the territories acquired from Poland, and even -within these the tolerant intention of the ukase was frustrated by the -bias of Russian officials. The right to enrol themselves in burgher -guilds was curtailed, while double taxes were levied upon the very -people whom the law of 1786 had, in words, freed from exceptional -burdens. - -Other special penalties followed, to be again mitigated as when, in -1804, a ukase declared that “a spirit of moderation and a sincere wish -for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews,” should be shown as -being in the best interest of the population among whom the Hebrews were -allowed to live. This temporary return to reason and justice was also -due to the desire to give Russian workers and peasants the advantages of -superior Jewish workmanship in arts, and the example of trading -competency. Jewish children were to be admitted to Russian schools. -Manufacturing industry and the occupation of land were to be thrown open -to Jews hitherto denied access to these employments, except in specified -places. - -These, however, were but Russian good intentions. They lacked the value -of application. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT (1804-1882) - - -Gradually the provinces along the western frontier, stretching south -from Riga to the territories bordering on the Black Sea, became marked -off as a Pale of Settlement. Within these regions all the Jews of the -Empire were to be domiciled; saving merchants, bankers, scientists, and -eminent Hebrews whose wealth or accomplishments would outweigh in the -selfish plans of domestic government the anti-Semitic feeling which -appealed to the despotic expediency of exceptional laws. Inside this -economic Siberia, the poorer Jews would have their chances of employment -greatly diminished, while the struggle for existence must become by -degrees a contest between a growing population and a narrower area of -industrial opportunity. - -Unnatural social and economic conditions necessarily engender -correlative abuses and evils. Poverty, illegal pursuits, the smuggling -and sale of liquor, evasion of coercive laws, bribery and corruption, -protested against the causes which begot them, until finally an Imperial -Commission had to be appointed to inquire into and report upon the -measures necessary to remedy this state of things. This Commission -issued its report in 1812. The report is so tersely summarised in Prince -Demidoff’s book, and the matters dealt with are so intimately connected -with the inherited injustices of the Russian Jew, that I cannot forbear -adding the following extract to this brief historic sketch of -anti-Semitic legislation and its results: - -“Firstly, the Commission was of opinion that the impossibility of -carrying out the provisions of paragraph 34 of the Law of 1804 ‘did not -arise from the obstinacy of the Jews and remissness of the authorities, -but from the natural and political condition of those provinces to -which residence of the Jews is restricted.’ The report then states that -while the Jews retained their political independence and lived in their -own country, they were an agricultural people. Subsequently, when they -were dispersed over the whole world and everywhere subjected to the -bitterest persecution, unrecognised as regular citizens of the countries -in which they were domiciled, agriculture became to them an inaccessible -pursuit. They were thus necessarily obliged to have recourse to trade as -the sole means of occupation according with their new condition of life. - -“In Poland the Jews were so numerous that the pursuit of trade alone was -insufficient for their subsistence. On the one hand, the Polish -landlords, owing to constant wars and internal strife, were not able to -manage their own estates in a proper manner. They were, therefore, -obliged to seek special means for increasing the revenue of their -properties, for instance, by distilling brandy, lease of farms, etc. -The correlation of these two causes led to the utilisation of the Jews -by the landed proprietors in their domestic concerns. The Jews became -indispensable to the landed proprietors, and as they did not possess the -right to acquire land and engage in agriculture, they were obliged, -while residing in villages, to confine themselves to a retail sale of -spirits as a main pursuit. - -“When White Russia was annexed to Russia, the Russian Government -recognised all the previously existing rights of the Jews. The ukase of -the Senate of 1786 confirmed their right of residence in provincial -districts, and their faculty of holding estates on lease. The immediate -object of this law was the suppression of drunkenness among the rural -population. The distillation of brandy, however, is a privilege of all -landed proprietors, and forms a necessary adjunct to the process of -agriculture. With the departure [expulsion from villages] of the Jews -the retail sale of spirits would be carried on by tapsters of the -native rural class, so that drunkenness would not diminish, but only a -decrease would take place in the number of agriculturists. A peasant had -previously been in the habit of selling his corn on the spot to a Jew, -but now he was obliged to proceed to the nearest town, at a loss in time -and labour, to sell his produce to a Jew, and the money realised he -would still spend on brandy, bought from the same Jew. The same result -would ensue in the purchase by the peasant of articles required by him, -such as iron, salt, etc. - -“The Commission also found it unadvisable to allow the Jews to reside in -villages under the prohibition of their not engaging in the retail sale -of brandy; this opinion being founded on the following consideration: -The Jews who inhabit the villages belong to the poorest class, and if -not allowed to sell spirits they would be deprived of all means of -subsistence. The poverty of the peasantry of White Russia is not caused -by the Jews, and this is proved by the fact that there are also many -Jews in the southwestern provinces, yet the peasantry there are in a -more prosperous condition than those populating White Russia. So long as -the landlords of this latter region continue to adhere to their present -system of working their estates, which encourages drunkenness, the evil -will spread, be the village tapster who he may, either Jew or peasant. -This is confirmed by the example of the provinces of Petersburg, -Livonia, and Esthonia, where there are no Jews and yet drunkenness is -very prevalent. - -“Should the Government adopt the proper measures for making the sale of -brandy less lucrative, the Jews would be obliged to turn to other -pursuits, perhaps to those of husbandry, especially if they are accorded -the right of purchasing land. If the Jews be interdicted to sell brandy -such sale would be carried on by the peasants, who, in order to increase -their landlord’s revenue, will be obliged to do the same as the Jews. -It should also be borne in mind that the Jews, with all their aptitude -and experience in matters relating to the sale of spirits, never -enriched themselves by this calling, but only earned enough for their -subsistence. It would also be impossible to convert all Jews into -traders and artisans; firstly, because they would not find sufficient -occupation in the towns and hamlets, where there is no demand for a -great supply of services of this kind; and secondly, because great -injury would be inflicted on those Jews who are unable to find -alternative sources of livelihood. As a matter of fact the retail sale -of spirits in the western provinces is only carried on by those Jews who -are unable to find any other means of existence. The Jews adhere to -their present occupations because, owing to the want of means, the -Government is unable to effect any radical change in their condition. -Lastly, the Commission arrived at the conclusion that it was necessary -to rescind entirely paragraph 34 of the Law of 1804.” - -This paragraph of the law thus cited ordered the removal of all Jews -from villages and hamlets into the towns. - -The recommendation of the Commission was not acted upon. On the -contrary, the law of 1804 was continued. Though not vigorously enforced -it remained as a potential agency for rendering residence of employment -outside the Pale a source of insecurity to the Jews, and a means by -which police, business rivals, and others could at any time put the -ukase of expulsion in operation against them. Trading communities were -most active in appealing for the application of this law. Petitions -calling for expulsion from cities and towns in which Jews were rival -workers and dealers are constantly recurring features of the tyranny, -official and commercial, to which they were subjected during the next -half-century. - -General Levashoff, Governor of Kiev, reporting to the Government in -1833 upon a petition asking for the banishment of all the Jews from that -important city, laid bare the motives and condemned the selfish purpose -of the petitioners, in honestly saying: - -“It is desirable on the ground of public utility to allow the Jews to -remain in Kiev, where, by the simplicity and moderation of their mode of -life, they are able to sell commodities at a cheap rate. It may -positively be asserted that their expulsion would not only lead to an -enhancement of prices of many products and articles, but that it will -not be possible to obtain these at all. Under these circumstances the -interests of the mass of the inhabitants must be preferred to the -personal advantages which the Christian trading class would derive by -the ejection of the Jews.”[1] - -Opposed in cities and towns in this manner, after being turned out of -country districts in obedience to a similar spirit, the authors of -these coercion laws began to find it a serious administrative problem -what to do with subjects for whose systematic oppression they were alone -responsible. Agricultural colonies were planned in Cherson (Southwestern -Russia) and even in Siberia, to which Jews were induced to go in order -to escape from the intolerable hardships of incessant wrong. Failure -followed these benevolent designs of the Government; not from the -reluctance or incapacity of the migrating Jews to work the land, but -owing to the corruption and incompetence of officials who were charged -with the superintendence of these colonies. Money advanced for the -building of dwellings and purchase of stock was disbursed in the -erection of unsuitable houses, in most unsanitary places, and in other -wasteful and ignorant directions. Great hardships were thus entailed -upon the unfortunate victims of this crass official stupidity; a cruelty -of deliberate neglect adding, in the instances of the migrations to -Siberia, its penalties of suffering and death to the bitter -disappointments and the blasting of hopes caused by the callous -miscarriage of the well-meant enterprise of the Government by its -blundering officials. - -One unexpected good result followed both to Russia and to large numbers -of Jews by the failure of these contemplated agricultural settlements in -the Governments of Cherson and Ekaterinoslav; where, at a later time, -similar colonies grew and flourished. Odessa, to-day the richest and -busiest maritime city of the Empire, owes its prosperity and progress -largely to Jewish enterprise. Both the forced and voluntary migration -from the north to the south of the Pale brought this resourceful race -near where they were to find an outlet in a young and rising commercial -centre for qualities essential to its rapid development which Russians -do not themselves possess in any marked degree,--commercial genius. The -city and its varied opportunities attracted both those who succeeded and -those who had obtained no fair chance of thriving as agriculturists, -and to-day over two hundred thousand of the Jewish population of Odessa -embrace the wealthiest and most enterprising bankers, merchants, -brokers, contractors, and business men of the Empire. - -From the codification of the ukases and laws relating to Jews in 1835, -down to the Ignatieff or “May Laws” of 1882, the treatment of the Jews, -as regulated by these measures, is consistent with their experience as -already briefly described. In some of these laws, Jews would appear from -the text to be on a footing of theoretic equality with other citizens, -while again special provisions are made to limit the application of -these general rights to residence within the selected sphere of -domicile, and to be further curtailed within this area, in the light and -meaning of the law of 1804. There is a bewildering mass and maze of -contradictory purpose in this code of special laws which no summary can -hope intelligently to disentangle. It is obvious, however, that the -vigour of direct persecution is meant to be modified to the extent of -promoting the utilities of the State by Jewish abilities, while -reserving all the powers necessary to dispense with the objectionable -artisan, trader, or mechanic when his services or example are no longer -needed in hamlet or village. This is one of the most objectionable -features of indefensible laws. It wears a character of state meanness -which can well compare in odious rivalry with the methods and morals of -Jewish usury. The spirit of fair play is totally absent from regulations -which give the state, by virtue of permissive coercion, the benefits of -subjects’ services which are ultimately repaid in penalties and -expulsion. - -In 1843 the Pale of Settlement was further contracted by a law -forbidding Jews to reside within a distance of fifty versts (about -thirty-three miles) of the Austrian or German frontiers. The necessity -for this regulation was said to be the smuggling operations of the Jews. -They probably excelled in this as in other illegal practices, to which -they were driven on being denied the chances of living by more reputable -means. The injustice of punishing thousands of families who had resided -in these frontier districts for generations, for the wrongdoing of a few -people, would not be calculated to lessen the feeling of settled -disloyalty which persistent oppression must inevitably create in the -minds of an intellectual race. And, these accumulating measures of an -insensate injustice are now responsible for the existence of four -millions of disaffected subjects adjacent to the frontiers of Russia’s -two most formidable rival powers, Germany and Austro-Hungary. The Pale -of Settlement has thus become, by the _lex talionis_ of a poetic -justice, the most vulnerable part of the Russian Empire. It is not alone -the seed-bed and centre of Socialism, born of persecution, it is a -military weakness well measured and noted in the army bureaus of Berlin -and Vienna. - -Under the Emperor Alexander II., the emancipator of the serfs, the Jews -obtained a respite from many of the most oppressive and vexatious of the -penal ukases. Schools hitherto closed to Hebrew children were thrown -open to their admission. Restrictions upon attendance at fairs in the -interior were removed, while in many other respects the original plan -and purpose of the Pale were forgotten, and the dawn of happier days -began to rise above the troubled and darkened horizon of the Russian -Jew. The freedom of the peasants gave rise to the hope that the same -liberal-minded Tsar would break the bonds of his Semitic subjects, when -there fell upon all this promise of brighter times the bolt of Nihilist -vengeance, in the assassination of the best of Russia’s rulers. The -abominable deed, which shocked the world by its terrible character and -results, shattered the hopes of Hebrew emancipation, and led to the -savage onslaught which was made upon the objects of peasant fury in 1881 -and 1882, in many parts of the Empire. - -Beyond doubt there were some Jews concerned in Nihilist plots. The man -who attempted to kill General Loris Melikoff was of Jewish blood. The -women Lewinsohn and Helfman, who were sent to Siberia for complicity in -murder conspiracies, were Jewesses, while several prominent Nihilists -were believed to be half Hebrew in parentage. But the history of human -oppression always explains, even where it may not justify, deeds of -savage political vengeance. No race can be denied the ordinary -franchises of personal freedom--the right to live secure from the insult -and intrusion of a tyrannical law, and the unfair infliction of -exceptional burdens--without rousing into dangerous activity passions -which appeal to the wild impulse of revenge. The assassination of -Alexander II. had nothing to do with the coercion of the Jews. He was -not their enemy; he was their friend. But the revolutionary spirit -which germinates under despotic rule is generally blind in selecting the -objects of its unreasoning fury; just as many Governments are deaf to -the pleadings of an enlightened justice in the rule of a country until -the shock of some desperate deed compels them to think of that which, if -listened to in time, would protect both subjects and monarchs from the -fear and consequences of criminal acts. If some Jews were guilty -accomplices in the murder of a humane Emperor, so were Russians. And it -would have been no greater wrong to punish guiltless peasants for the -acts of the Nihilists than to wreak vengeance upon equally innocent -Jews. - -In Warsaw, Kiev, Rostov, and elsewhere Jews were killed, their houses -wrecked, and their shops looted. Outrages occurred throughout the whole -Pale of Settlement, and thousands of terrified people fled across the -frontiers into Germany, Bohemia, and Roumania. These outbreaks occurred -near the end of 1881 and early in the following year and, like the -recent massacres in Bessarabia, aroused a widespread expression of -sympathy in Europe and America for the hapless objects of Russian -popular fury. Manifestations of international feeling greatly impressed -the Tsar’s Government, and earnest efforts appeared to have been made to -curb the lawless conduct of the mobs. This action, however, instead of -being a promise of better things, turned out to be but a prelude to -sterner measures than ever against the victims of exceptional laws. - -On the 3d of May, 1882, General Ignatieff obtained the Emperor’s -sanction and signature to what have since been known as the “May Laws”; -the purpose of these being to add more rigorous provisions, as a -supplement to the law of 1804. This latter law ordered all the Jews of -the Empire to retire within the Pale of Settlement, excepting those who -possessed special permits, passports, or privileges to live outside. -The May Laws ordered Jews living inside the Pale to remove from the -villages into the towns within that area. In a word, General Ignatieff -created a Pale within a Pale, and contracted the territory of life and -livelihood for upwards of four millions of people within the boundaries -of the cities and towns inside the already limited domain of legal -domicile. These measures read as follows: - -“The Committee of Ministers, having heard the report of the Minister of -the Interior on the execution 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 -henceforth to settle outside the towns and townlets, the only exceptions -admitted being in those Jewish colonies that have existed before and -whose inhabitants 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, 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 3d of May, 1882.” - -These Laws did not apply to the Jews of Poland. - -These “temporary measures” remain to-day the potential law of Russia -regarding Jews. They were not immediately enforced. Russia is never in -a hurry in matters of this kind. She waits and notes the material -results of such enactments at home, and the moral effects upon opinion -abroad. In the case of the May Laws, there was a universal chorus of -condemnation in Western Europe. It was felt everywhere that any attempt -to put such savage measures into operation must either lead to the -flight of hundreds of thousands of wretched Jews over the borders, or to -their death within the crowded towns of the Pale, from starvation -induced by an overwhelming congestion of labour without means of -employment. The laws were, therefore, left inoperative, but _in -terrorem_; General Ignatieff being conveniently superseded, while a -Commission presided over by Count Pahlen was appointed by the Emperor to -prepare a report upon the whole Jewish question. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -FROM THE IGNATIEFF LAWS TO THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES - - -Prince Demidoff San Donato was a member of the Pahlen Commission, and in -his admirable work “_La Question Juive en Russie_” (published at -Bruxelles, 1884,) he gives, in his own proposed solution of the problem -of the Russian Jew, the broad and liberal measures which forced -themselves upon the Commission as an essential basis for a settlement of -the question on just and rational lines. He recommended the three -following proposals: - -“(1) For the re-establishment of more healthy relations between the Jews -and the other inhabitants and counteracting Jewish industrial and other -exploitation in the western region [the Pale of Settlement], it is -necessary to grant the Jews complete civil equality and freedom of -choice of residence. This would lead to a greater dissemination of the -Jewish population, which is now crowded together in particular -districts; to the alleviation of the poverty and hopeless condition of -the Jewish masses, and would relieve the part of the country they now -occupy from excessive industrial and other competition. - -“(2) In order to destroy Jewish exclusiveness and to facilitate the -fusion of the Jews with the rest of the population it is necessary to -incorporate the Jews with the local rural and urban communities, and to -subject them completely in fiscal, administrative, and other respects to -the rules and regulations established for these communities. Those Jews -who would wish to settle in the interior provinces should be allowed to -enjoy the right of joining peasant and burgher communities in the places -of their domicile in the ordinary way. - -“(3) It is at the same time necessary that serious attention should be -directed towards the organisation of elementary schools for the juvenile -Jewish population, inasmuch as the school must always be one of the -principal instruments for the moral training and Russification of the -Jewish masses.” - -These were the common-sense recommendations of an enlightened mind for -the cure of a growing social and political malady in Russian life. They -would have effected that cure, had there been a statesmanship in the -Government of the Empire capable of rising above anti-Semitic prejudice -in the rendering of a great service to the country. In fact, there are -but three Russian remedies for this growing danger to Russia, and two of -them are impossible; the third being the rational one outlined by Prince -Demidoff San Donato. Extermination cannot be thought of. Emigration is -out of the question, where poverty is almost the normal condition of two -or three millions of people who have inherited the evils associated -with social wretchedness, religious intolerance, and race persecution. -No other country will consent to receive them. The third remedy is, -therefore, that alone which the nature and extent of the evil demand, -and which, if wisely and courageously adopted, would make Russia the -stronger through the only effective remedy applicable to a growing, -deadly danger. - -The facts of the economic and social conditions within the Pale of -Settlement are so objective that the warning they give of a coming -catastrophe cannot be ignored. It would be like leaving an epidemic of -smallpox to cure itself by neglect. This condition of things is fully -explained and expressed by the term, unnatural. It is analogous to a -situation which would result from a Federal law compelling every -European-born artisan and labourer within the whole United States to -reside inside of Pennsylvania, and to be forbidden to seek employment -outside the cities and towns of that state. The murderous competition -for employment, the deadly rivalry for existence, the bad blood between -opposing races, the poverty and social wretchedness which such a -condition of things would create--apart from the operation of coercive -laws--can readily be imagined by the American reader. But this is no -overdrawn picture of the economic anarchy prevailing within the Russian -Pale of Jewish Settlement. - -The present estimated population of the Tsar’s dominions in Europe and -Asia is 145,000,000. The territory of legal domicile for the Russian Jew -is embraced in the fifteen “governments,” or provinces, of Kovno, -Vitebsk, Vilna, Mohilev, Minsk, Grodno, Volhynia, Chernigov, -Poltava, Kiev, Podolia, Bessarabia, Cherson, Ekaterinoslav, and -Taurida--extending south from near the Gulf of Riga, on the Baltic, to -the Crimea and the Sea of Azov, and forming the western provinces of the -Empire; having Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Roumania as frontier -barriers. Poland is not included in the Pale. The Jews have more -freedom of movement there, and are not subject to some of the coercive -restrictions imposed within the above provinces. - -The Pale itself is again narrowed by the law which forbids a Jew to -reside within thirty-three miles of the western frontier. It has a total -area about equal to that of France. - -The population of the fifteen provinces of the Pale, including Poland, -will be about 26,000,000. There are some 4,000,000 Jews comprised in -this population, but these, excepting 1,000,000 in Poland, are compelled -under the “May Laws” to reside within the “cities, towns, and townlets” -of the Pale. The united population of these urban centres will probably -not exceed a total of 5,000,000; so that the Jews number three out of -every five of the inhabitants of the urban centres within the fifteen -provinces. - -The percentage of Jews to non-Jews in the towns and townships of the -province of Mohilev, is estimated at 94; for those of Volhynia, 71 per -cent.; Minsk, 69; Kovno, 68; Podolia, 62; Vitebsk, 61; Grodno, 60; -Vilna, 56; Kiev, 49; Poltava, 43; Bessarabia, 38; Chernigov, 29; -Cherson, 28; The Taurida, 19; and Ekaterinoslav, 15 per cent. - -In the provinces of Russia in which Jews are not permitted to reside the -town inhabitants average 59 persons to every 1000 of the rural -population. In the population of the Pale the urban inhabitants average -222 for every 1000 of the rural residents and workers. Within the -industrial centres of the Jewish Pale to which they are confined there -are about 2730 Jews to every square mile of residential area. - -These facts and figures show how impossible it is, under such economic -conditions, for any healthy or hopeful prospect of industrial life to -exist. The towns are crowded with artisans and traders, and as these are -out of all proportion to the producers and consumers of an agricultural -country they necessarily become more destitute and wretched as their -numbers increase. They are too poor to emigrate. They are prohibited -from migrating. They cannot seek work on land. They are not permitted to -engage in several occupations. Municipal and Government posts are -practically closed to them. They have to compete with Russian workers -for such means of existence as can be found; and in face of these facts -they are reproached for their poverty and made subject to special -taxation. - -It is also a charge against these people that they are exploiters of -labour and not producers. The taunt comes from the apologists for the -Ignatieff laws. The charge is not true. In proportion to population, -there are relatively more artisans among Jews in Russia than among -non-Jews. According to statistics obtained by the Pahlen Commission, the -artisans and labourers averaged 15 per cent. of the total Jewish -population of the Pale. In England the proportion of labourers and -artisans is over 20 per cent.; about 12 per cent. in Belgium; 10 per -cent. in France, and 9 in Prussia. - -In Kishineff, where the Jews number 50,000 of the city population, the -Hebrew artisans, and wage-earners generally, would number fully 10,000 -before the recent anti-Semitic outrages. - -Nor can the injustice of the “May Laws” be defended or explained by the -equally unfounded assertion that the Jew will not work the land. He -refuses to do so in Russia only where he is prohibited. Whenever he has -obtained access to the land, on fair terms, he has readily embraced the -chance, and invariably improved his condition. This has been proved by -the records of the Jewish agricultural colonies in the provinces of -Vilna, Minsk, Grodno, Kovno, Volhynia, Cherson, and in Ekaterinoslav. -There are colonies of more than 50,000 land-workers among the Jews of -the southwestern provinces who have more than held their own in every -branch of agricultural industry with their Russian or Moldavian -neighbours. This taunt is, consequently, no explanation of the Ignatieff -laws. - -The evils--both to Russia and to the Jews of the Pale--arising out of -the economic conditions which these laws must stereotype, would have -been swept away or modified in the ten years following the killing and -despoiling of the Jews in 1882, had the proposals of the Pahlen -Commission been acted upon. The recommendations of provincial governors -were preferred instead. Biassed officialism prevailed over the -courageously wise counsels of Count Pahlen, Prince Demidoff San Donato, -Count Strogonoff, and their colleagues, with the result that M. -Pobédonostsev became the virtual administrator of the Ignatieff laws, -and the murders, crimes, and expulsions of 1891 followed, in decadal -sequence, the outrages of 1882; not, by any means, as a desired or -necessary measure of the policy adopted by the famed Procurator of the -Holy Synod. M. Pobédonostsev would be as averse to the killing of Jews -as General Ignatieff. Both are far above suspicion in this respect. The -instigator of the “May Laws” probably believed, as a soldier and -diplomat, that such measures were needed the better to subdue a -suspected revolutionary tendency among a non-Russian race, and thought -they might be enforced according to his plans, without any serious -explosion of anti-Semitic feeling. What followed, however, ought to have -been a warning to the keeper of the Tsar’s conscience on combined -religious and national concerns. The Procurator’s plans would be as -religious in their ultimate object as Ignatieff’s policy was the -reverse; but both sought the accomplishment of a tyrannical purpose by -means which led to such suffering, injustice, and bloodshed as will ever -be associated with their records and names. - -The Russian Jew was a domestic menace to the mind of Ignatieff; to M. -Pobédonostsev he was tainted with the unforgivable sins of heterodoxy, -and a religious persecutor is always relentless in proportion to his -fanatical sincerity. No one can justly question the honesty of the -Procurator’s zeal for Church and State in Russia, and this is why the -infidel Israelites have found in him the most implacable of their -powerful foes. - -The measures resorted to in 1891, at the instance of the influence -exerted by the Procurator of the Holy Synod, had for their end the -carrying into effect of the provisions of the “May Laws.” Thousands of -Jews were still scattered throughout the provinces beyond the Pale; -tolerated in centres of trade and enterprise for utilitarian reasons. -Most of these were artisans who had by residence, and membership of -trade guilds, acquired the privilege of living and working in various -provinces of the Empire. Large numbers of these had been specially -encouraged in previous years to settle in cities and towns where their -proficiency in crafts was necessary to the development of local -industries or manufacture. Suddenly in 1891 an Imperial decree was -issued, and all these sober, industrious, skilled, and, in many -instances, respected citizens were ordered to quit their homes, -property, or employment, within a given time, and take themselves within -the Pale of Settlement or outside of the Russian Empire. - -The orders issued by the Chief of Police of Moscow to his subordinates, -contained the following instructions: - -“You must personally verify in all the shops and factories kept by Jews -the number of the assistant artisans; also, what category the Jews -belong to, and the time of their arrival in Moscow for residence; and -then take their signature to a notice of voluntary [!] departure from -the Capital; warning them that the computation of their terms of stay -will begin on the 14th of July next. Also, take a registry of names, in -alphabetical order, of Jewish artisans and, second, of Jews living in -Moscow under the right of Circular No. 30 issued by the Minister of the -Interior in 1880, specifying in separate columns the time of arrival in -Moscow, number of assistant artisans, number in family, and the -expiration of the term of departure. In reference to Jews residing -according to Circular of 1880, specify their occupations, also the names -of commercial houses where they were employed, and present them to me -within two weeks.” - -The penalty for refusing to sign the paper suggested by General -Yourkoffsky, was immediate expulsion. The “voluntary” alternative gained -only a little time for preparation. It offered, however, some chances to -wealthy Jews to come to an arrangement with lower police officials, -whereby the general order of expulsion might be evaded, for a -consideration. - -The attack by Government and people upon the Jews in 1891 was a -deliberate proceeding. Prince Dolgorouki was an able and a fair-minded -Governor-General of Moscow. Neither Russian nor Jewish complaint had -been lodged against him during his tenure of office. His duties had -been performed with care and competency, and his administration of the -ancient capital and province left no room for official faultfinding at -St. Petersburg. - -Coincidently with a notification to all Governors of Provinces in the -Emperor’s name, that all permits to allow Jews to reside outside of the -Pale should be withdrawn on a certain date, an order for the removal of -the Governor-General of Moscow was also made, and the Tsar’s brother, -the Grand Duke Sergius, was nominated to supersede General Dolgorouki. -General Kostanda was to act as Deputy Governor; pending the arrival of -Duke Sergius, and to this officer, along with the equally zealous -anti-Semite, Yourkoffsky, Chief of the Moscow Police, was left the -congenial task of “clearing-out” the Jews. Never was an odious work more -brutally performed. The quarter in which the poorest Jews resided was -surrounded in the night time by the police and fire-brigade forces, and -the unhappy creatures were routed from their dwellings as if they were -so many noxious animals. Some who had been warned a few hours beforehand -fled to the _Cemetaires_ of the city for protection, while it has been -placed on record that several fathers of families took their daughters -to houses of ill-fame for the night, presumably to find protection where -they would be least suspected of seeking refuge. - -All this being done in the name of the Tsar, the populace were -encouraged to co-operate in executing what they were led to believe to -be the Emperor’s wish. Massacres, raping, and looting became once more -the direct results of barbarous decrees. Some 3000 Jews were driven from -Moscow after many had been killed. Hundreds of business men were ruined, -being compelled to close their establishments, and to dispose of -valuable stock at prices which could not realise enough to discharge -their obligations. Those who were able to purchase transport to America -emigrated, but the mass of the expelled victims wended their way toward -the Pale, there to add still more to the congestion of life and labour -which had already rendered the vast Ghetto of the Empire the home of -poverty, suffering, and despair. - -The example set in Moscow was followed in Kiev and other cities, and -encouraged police and mobs elsewhere to emulate the inhuman work of -hunting the hated race from villages and towns. Throughout the year 1891 -outrages were perpetrated in various provinces, despite some apparently -earnest efforts on the part of the Government to stop the more violent -outbreaks which had been provoked by its own orders. Several villages -where Jews resided were burned down. Fully 70,000 Jews emigrated during -the year; this fact confirming, in part only, a saying attributed to a -conspicuous personality in the Tsar’s confidence, that the Russian -Jewish question would be ultimately solved by the action of the “May -Laws” as these would force one-third of the Jews to emigrate; one-third -more would become converted to the Orthodox Church; while the other -third would perish of hunger! - -Whatever may be the desire of the more violent anti-Semitic Russians to -see such an unparalleled programme realised in results, there can be no -doubt as to the efficiency of the anti-Jewish code of Russian laws to -work out such a solution, if it were a task legally possible of -accomplishment. - -Allusion has already been briefly made to the tangle of contradictory -laws which the ukases, decrees, promulgations, and provisions relating -to the Russian Jew have created. Many of these measures appear to have -been adopted under the pressure of unreflecting prejudice or -apprehension. Some bear the impress of wise and humane intentions, born, -however, in the minds of Ministers or Monarchs too weak to carry out the -enlightened impulse which gave them birth. But the vast proportion of -these repressive and oppressive laws are frankly tyrannical in -inspiration and purpose, and the spirit that could suggest measures -which are a deliberate violation of the fundamental principles and -rights of civilised existence would be a feeling worthy to animate the -task of carrying the above programme into execution. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A MURDER-MAKING LEGEND - - -M. De Plehve and the Tsar can accomplish one good and blessed work, if -so minded, without altering a single anti-Semitic Russian law. The -Emperor can destroy, in Russia, the atrocious legend about the annual -killing of Christian children by Jews as an alleged part of the Blood -Atonement in Hebrew Paschal rites. In this humane and Christian task he -is entitled to the co-operation of the Emperor of Austria, the King of -Roumania, and the heads of other Balkan States, where this story of -ritual murder is constantly circulated, and not infrequently as a part -of political propaganda. There ought to be a truly Christian crusade -waged against this infamous product of ancient, insensate, sectarian -hate. It was the inspiration of the most horrible of the Kishineff -murders; the driving of nails through the eyes of a woman, the cutting -out of the tongue of a two-year-old child, and of nameless sexual -mutilations. Thousands of innocent people have been done to death in the -centuries through which these crimes have been the bloody fruit of a -monstrous invention, born of a spirit of superstitious savagery, which -no age has yet made any honest civilised endeavour to exorcise out of -ignorant and fanatical Christian minds. - -The Jews of Kishineff believe with all right-minded people everywhere -that no one deplores these shocking crimes more than the Emperor. His -humanity is beyond question in popular belief, and, should a suitable -opportunity be given, or be forthcoming, while the recollection of this -great stain on his country’s reputation remains in the public memory, he -may be counted upon, it is to be hoped, to place on record his honest -condemnation of such abominable deeds. - -Let His Majesty the Tsar add this task to other noble duties with which -his name is associated. A special ukase, reciting his own disbelief in -the ritual-murder legend, and forbidding under severe penalties its -circulation anywhere, and, by any means, in Russia; ordering that this -ukase shall be read, in the Emperor’s name, in every church in the -Empire, a fortnight before Easter each year for the next five years; let -this be done, and the good work is virtually accomplished for -Christianity, for civilisation, and for Russia, too. - -A similar obligation lies upon the governments of Austria and of the -Balkan States. Roumania is at present the worst of sinners in this -matter. This legend is in constant circulation through the anti-Semitic -press there, being used, in fact, as an argument in political campaigns -for driving the Jews out of the country. - -A few months ago, a Roumanian paper, the _Vocea Tutovei_ of Berlad, -openly incited the populace to kill the Jews. In a series of articles, -subsequently reprinted in pamphlet form, popular ignorance and passion -were appealed to by stories of alleged Hebrew murders of Christian -children. One extract from this organ of Roumanian opinion will -illustrate at once the savage sentiments of the writer and the culpable -conduct of a government which could permit such appeals to assassination -to be openly made in a civilised land: - - “The recent ritual murders committed by Jews in Austria, Bohemia, - Hungary, Germany, and Russia must still be fresh in everyone’s - mind. And how many children have disappeared in our own country! - How many mutilated bodies have been found, while the criminals have - remained undiscovered! Who are these criminals--these bloodthirsty - murderers of our prattling babes? They are the fanatical Jews that - infest our land. These monsters are the slayers of our Christian - children. They are the criminals--the Jews who have invaded our - country like locusts. - - “The time for peaceful and legal restrictions is passing away. Let - all good Roumanians raise their heavy sticks and kill these - parasites of their country.” - -Roumania is the western boundary of Bessarabia. Before the Berlin Treaty -of 1878, a portion of this now Russian province belonged to Roumania. -Moldavians live on each side of the frontier. The pamphlets circulated -by the anti-Semites of Berlad, containing the above and other murderous -appeals to fanaticism, would inevitably find their way into the -Moldavian community of Kishineff, where Pavolachi Kroushevan, himself a -Moldavian, was carrying on a similar bloodthirsty propaganda in the -_Bessarabetz_ against the Jews of Bessarabia. The Governments which -continue to permit this kind of press savagery are themselves morally -responsible for the crimes which find their instigation in such -writings. Nor can diplomatic denunciation, after the occurrence of deeds -of infamy such as those of Kishineff, atone in any way to the outraged -sense of civilised human feeling for what Leo Tolstoy rightly terms the -“permitted assassinations” of innocent people. For the law or Government -which encourages by indifference the circulation of these atrocious, -fabricated tales of the slaughtering of Christian children by Hebrews, -is either the indifferent guardian of citizens’ lives or the cowardly -accomplice of a fanatical ruffianism which it is unable or unwilling to -grapple with and put down. - -There is another and a higher authority that can deal with the -propagation of this crime-stained legend, especially in Catholic -countries like Austria and Poland. This is the authority of the Holy -See. - -A few years ago a parish priest of Vienna revived the old story of the -alleged murder of the boy Simon of Trent, for ritual purposes, by Jews -in the fifteenth century. He republished particulars of what purported -to be the crime so named, but unfairly suppressed the facts associated -with the accusation, which would explain the whole charge away. The Jews -who had confessed to the murder of the boy did so under the application -of torture; a pretty common method of extorting desired “information” of -trumped-up charges by the various authorities in the Middle Ages. The -confession thus wrung from the accused by the application of the rack -led to their execution, but it is on record that Pope Sixtus IV. -denounced their conviction and death as a murder. - -The reverend anti-Semite tried his hand again, in the same line, in -conjunction with a renegade Jew, and came to grief. One Paul Meyer -“revealed” how a Christian boy, to his (Meyer’s) own knowledge, was -kidnapped and slaughtered for the purposes of Paschal rites by the hated -Hebrews. The sensational story was published in an anti-Semitic Vienna -newspaper. This was a deliberate challenge to inquiry and refutation. -The challenge was accepted by the Jews of the city, in a prosecution of -the _Vaterland_, when Meyer confessed in open court that the whole story -was an invention of his own, palmed off on both the priest and the -public. - -An ex-professor of Hebrew in the University of Prague, an enthusiastic -student of Eastern cabalistic writings, has contributed very materially -to the revival in Poland, Bohemia, and Austria of these miserable -inventions. He has written a work in Latin on the subject, and he gives -the impression of an honest fanatic who is in the grip of a mysterious -investigation. He also falls back upon a converted Jew as a guide, and -is led to believe in the authenticity of certain cabalistic writings -shown to him by this man, Brimamo. He quotes from one of these books, -the “Ha-likkutim,” a passage which the credulous _padre_ is convinced -proves the employment of the blood of Christian maidens in these -unhallowed Hebrew ceremonies. This quotation is found, on critical -examination, to refer to a passage in the Bible dealing with the -supernatural world, in which the colour of the blood of a virgin is -taken as emblematical of the Day of Judgment. There is nothing whatever -beyond this in Brimamo’s work to justify the inference that Christian -maidens’ blood is sometimes used in Jewish sacrifices. - -In the same book Canon Röhling draws upon other cabalistic documents for -suggestions and innuendoes tending to uphold his case, but in every -instance in which he quotes passages to support his propositions, they -are found, on close inspection, to convey no such meaning as he attempts -to attach to them. There is not, in fact, a solitary authenticated -instance of this sanguinary sacrifice given in his two works, “My -Replies to the Rabbis,” and “The Controversy and the Human Sacrifices of -Rabbinism,” both published in 1883. Still, these writings have been -widely read, and have done much harm in misleading minds that look for -truth and Christian guidance from clerical authors. - -Can nothing effective be done to kill this legend? I quote in an -appendix, some pronouncements from Bulls issued by Popes Innocent IV., -Gregory X., Martin V., Nicholas V., and Paul III., all reprobating this -blood accusation as being a groundless and monstrous invention, and a -general pretext for the plundering of Jews. These enlightened words of -denunciation were addressed to the rulers, prelates, and people of the -Middle Ages, some of them so far back as six hundred years ago. Can this -example not be followed now when the reputable press of all civilised -countries would willingly co-operate in a just crusade against this -hoary-headed, crime-stained infamy? - -It has been urged that as anti-Semitism in France, Austria, and Germany -is a political movement, a denunciation of the use of the murder-legend -calumny would probably be misconstrued. This is a highly sensitive but -very inconsistent position. Surely, when Socialism--which is a far -greater and nobler political movement in each of these countries--can -be vigorously condemned, on assumed moral and Catholic grounds; an -agitation relying upon literature and legends, convicted of forgery and -lies, and condemned again and again by the Holy See itself; and which -has the killing or torture of fellow beings as its _ultima ratio_, -should claim some measure of earnest repudiation and moral censure at -the hands of Catholic Powers, temporal and spiritual. - -His Holiness Pope Pius, the Emperor of Austria, and the Tsar could -easily draw the fangs of this murder legend. To no other minds in -Christendom could the consequences of this horrible calumny of long and -infamous vitality be more odious or hateful. It is a reproach and -disgrace to Christianity that certain notorious clerical organs in -France and Austria persistently circulate these incitations to fanatical -outrage, and a stain upon the political life of Austria, Roumania, and -Russia, whose governments tolerate this poisonous propaganda. It is a -pestiferous evil that could be readily stamped out if the wish and will -to rid Europe of its baleful influence could overcome the opportunist -counsels of a spiritless _entourage_, which prevent the three best and -greatest potentates in Europe from realising all the evils, religious, -moral, and political, that spring from this perennial source of -shameless sectarian rancour, bloodshed, and crime. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -RUSSIA’S ATTITUDE - - -The absolute truth about the plan and purpose of the massacres at -Kishineff in April may be difficult to determine amidst the conflicting -accounts of Russian officials, and of Jewish witnesses of what actually -occurred. The wronged and the wrongers seldom or ever agree as to -disputed facts. But there can be no doubt upon any mind conversant with -the state of Russian feeling, and the trend of Russia’s domestic policy, -as to the intolerable position of the Hebrew subjects of the Tsar. No -facts are concealed in this connection. They are as objective and -undisguised as the Russian policeman, and as patent to every inquirer -from Odessa to Warsaw as the rivers Dniester and Vistula. I brought away -with me after a journey through the Jewish Pale, the conviction that -there is no horizon of hope for the Russian Jew in any prospective era -of future emancipation. He is and will remain an alien until the -politically impossible comes to be a reality--until the Empire of the -Tsar elects to adopt a government of constitutional liberty. - -He is under no personal or political restraint, it is true, in the -matter of emigration. The Jews are free to leave Russia to-morrow. Such -freedom of action, however, is like the tempting waters which only -aggravated the thirst of Tantalus by the mockery of a nearness made -impossible to reach. The poverty of the vast mass of these unfortunate -people renders the thought of finding refuge in America or the Argentine -a hopeless dream. And, as an educated Russian official said, in -discussing this question with the writer, “What can we do with them? -They are the racial antithesis of our nation. A fusion with us is -impossible, owing to religious and other disturbing causes. They will -always be a potential source of sectarian and economic disorder in our -country. We cannot admit them to equal rights of citizenship for these -reasons and, let me add, because their intellectual superiority would -enable them in a few years’ time to gain possession of most of the posts -of our civil administration. They are a growing danger of a most serious -nature to our Empire in two of its most vulnerable points,--their -discontent is a menace to us along the Austrian and German frontiers, -while they are the active propagandists of the Socialism of Western -Europe within our borders. The only solution of the problem of the -Russian Jew is his departure from Russia.” - -This is the conclusion to which one is irresistibly driven by a full -survey of the cruelly anomalous position occupied by the Jew in relation -to all the dominant factors of Russian life and government. He is under -the obligations of citizenship, military and otherwise, without its -privileges or full protection. Special taxes are imposed upon him. He -is confined by law within a kind of economic concentration camp. The -legal difficulties put in the way of the full exercise of his industrial -capacities are both the source of his poverty and of his oppression. He -cannot own land, within the Pale, or work it; but he must live. -Therefore, he is compelled to exploit those who will hate him all the -more on account of a resourcefulness which conquers some of the -obstacles purposely placed in the way of his livelihood. His faith is -assailed by almost every form of human temptation, including the -terrorism of such periodical crimes as those perpetrated a few weeks -ago. And the very fidelity which enables him to resist both the powers -of proselytism and of persecution, only adds one more prejudiced ground -to the many which appeal against him to the religious side of an -autocratic regime which decrees that an invulnerable heterodoxy is one -of the worst of crimes in Russia. - -The Jew has no friend outside his own race in Russia, while not -infrequently those of his own household are the worst paymasters of his -talent and industry. The peasant dislikes him for his race, his -religion, and his exploiting propensities. The artisan and labourer in -urban centres of the crowded Pale look upon him as an economic -black-leg, because he is compelled to work at anything for the wages of -bare subsistence, in order to live. He is, by the cruel decree of his -fate, and not by choice, the cause of low wages. This is one reason why -a great number of the sanguinary rioters at Kishineff were Russian and -Moldavian workingmen. - -The shop-keeper and petty dealer see in their Hebrew rival a competitor -who outclasses them in all the dexterous tricks of trade, and who can -succeed where the business capacity of the Slavonic gentile is wanting -in perseverance and resource. Here hatred is born of a sordid jealousy. - -As rich merchant and banker he is tolerated. The wealthy Russian Jew -is, at present, a Russian necessity. Odessa, one of the richest cities -of the Empire, is “run” by the superior abilities of the proscribed -race. Its commercial prosperity would collapse to-morrow if they were -expelled; just as the business and progress of Kishineff have been all -but paralysed by the outbreak against them at Easter. - -Anti-Semitic prejudices grow as we proceed from the rivalries of -economic pursuits to the classes and interests associated with the -administration of the Empire. The policeman knows the Jew is made an -alien by law, and that the necessity he is under to evade the legal -disabilities to which he is subject renders him a profitable source of -blackmail. Where his poverty repels the exercise of this corruption, the -guardian of the peace looks upon the Jew with all the mixed -antipathy--racial, religious, and economic--of the superstitious, -uniformed Mujik. - -In the lower and middle grades of the civil service the Jew is feared -as well as disliked. He is known to be far more intellectual, more -industrious, and more capable than the average Russian, and there is a -dread lest employment in the innumerable posts of a vast administration -should, at some future period, be thrown open to a race so versatile, so -sober, and so ambitious to succeed. In every Royal School or Gymnasium -to which a Jewish youth is admitted--the number must never exceed 10 per -cent. of the whole attendance, in some schools not 5 per cent.--the son -of Abraham is certain to eclipse his rivals, and to walk off with -whatever honours are to be won. - -I have already indicated the feeling, candidly expressed, of the higher -branches of the public service on the subject of the Jew as a possible -rival in that department of the state. An equality of opportunity would -mean a monopoly of posts by sheer force of mental and general equipment. - -The Russian officer is not averse to the Jew as a soldier, but he must -never be--a Russian officer. - -Finally, the Government of Russia looks upon the Jew as the most -dangerous of disturbing factors in the rapid development of the -industrial life of the Empire, and as a political enemy within the ambit -of its most vulnerable western frontier. He is believed to be the active -propagandist of Socialism, and he is known to have powerful political -and financial allies among the pressmen and financiers of France, -England, and Germany--allies who can strike at Russia’s financial -credit, external policies, and moral prestige, in retaliation for the -legal outlawry of their race within the dominions of the Tsar. - -Against these governmental, religious, industrial, social, and national -forces of a huge empire combined, what chance has a proscribed race, -alienised by law, of obtaining redress? It is a hopeless struggle, look -at it how we may. The duties and obligations of civilised rule may be -put before the Russian Government, and the pleas of an enlightened -jurisprudence advanced in behalf of the Russian Jew, but with what -result? Russia makes answer, “These people are not of us, any more than -the Chinese of San Francisco, or the ten millions of emancipated -Negroes, are free citizens of the United States Republic. They are a -danger to the Empire from within, more so than the existence of the Boer -Republics of South Africa ever was a menace to the prestige of the -British Empire, the removal of which, nevertheless, required a great and -costly war. We claim the right to resort to our own measures, as other -Powers have done, as France is doing to-day, to safeguard the peace of -the realm, and to minimise the risks involved in having an unfriendly -element, composed of five or six millions of an unpopular race, located -where a German or an Austrian attack might some day be made upon our -Western frontier. We cannot expect, or induce, other countries to open -the gates of emigration to these undesirables, but we will not permit -any Power or people to coerce us to admit this race to the common rights -of Russian citizenship or nationality.” - -This may be despotic, irrational, and all the rest, but it is the answer -which every external attempt to nationalise the Semitic alien will -obtain from the Russian Empire. The voices of Maxime Gorky, and of -Tolstoy, and of a few other noble spirits to the contrary are but moral -foils which exhibit by contrast the omnipotent strength of the resisting -and resistless ruling influences behind the Tsar; military, religious, -social, and industrial; which stand remorseless and irremovable between -the Russian Jew and justice and equality. - -Russia’s point of view must be understood if she is to be rightly judged -in this matter, and if the friends of a persecuted people are to be -persuaded to concentrate their sympathetic energies upon some feasible -remedy for an intolerable wrong. Socialism has, as yet, about as much of -a hold and of a hope in Russia, as Protestantism has in Spain, or -Catholicity in Turkey. The soil is not congenial; but the propaganda is -a most serious danger which the Russian powers that be fear more as a -potential future element of industrial and political agitation than as a -present trouble to the forces of law and order. Socialism is like the -Jew, an unwelcome intruder, and both are inseparably associated in the -ruling and official mind of the Empire. - -Russia’s industrial development, like the extension of her power and -prestige, must be along lines selected by herself. She wants no external -tutelage, and will have no outside meddling in her domestic affairs. -Nor, is she taking this stand out of any unwillingness to see labour -rightly rewarded, or from any desire that a favoured class or protected -interest shall sweat or treat unjustly the growing industrial population -of her manufacturing centres. Any such imputation would be untrue and -unfair. There is scarcely a practicable reform in the social and -industrial programme of Trades-Unionism which some department of Russian -administration is not trying its best, at the present time, to put into -operation, in some tentative way, for the benefit of the mill, and -foundry, and general workshop hands of Russia’s manufacturing -activities;--old-age pensions, profit-sharing, sanitation of mills and -mines, healthy housing of workers, even to the copying of the -_Arbeiterstadt_ of Mülhausen, in the _Cité ouvrière_ of Dago-Kertell. -But there shall be no Trades-Unionist combination in Russia except what -emanates from and is sanctioned by a paternal government. - -In many respects and ways Russian autocracy is ahead of constitutional -countries in enlightened efforts to solve the complex labour problem of -our day. The manifold evils of overcrowded urban centres are recognised -and guarded against in the encouragement of rural manufacturing -villages. Plans for enabling artisans to acquire the ownership of their -homes are the work of Commissions and Societies subsidised by the -Government for this special task. There are apprenticeship schools for -the children of mechanics, “public workshops” for the unemployed in -times of distress, and other progressive schemes having the social and -moral betterment of the worker in view. These and kindred reforms are -engaging the serious and earnest attention of the Tsar’s ministerial -advisers. - -In one other most important respect the Russian Government is setting an -example in beneficent industrial enterprise which more progressive -countries might follow with marked advantage to their labouring classes. -This is the national encouragement offered to the “Koustari,” or rural, -industries. These play an essential part in the national economy of the -Russian people. They help to keep families together, and to minimise -migratory labour. These cottage industries give remunerative employment -during slack seasons and winter months to several million people, and -yield an addition to the general wage fund of the country averaging -five hundred million roubles a year. All these industries have direct -economic relation to the greatest of all Russian industries, that of -agriculture. They, therefore, play a doubly profitable part in the -social welfare of the people, in helping to maintain a due economic -balance between rural and urban labour, and in upholding the primary -importance of land industries to the physical and moral health of the -nation. - -Russia, unlike England, recognises the national danger of physical -degeneracy through overcrowded manufacturing cities. Knowing how the -prospect of better wages in these centres attracts the workers of the -soil to the employment of mills and foundries, she sets herself the task -of encouraging the growth of such counter-industries as will tend to -minimise the extent of this movement. Not alone does she want to remove -mills from the unhealthy environment of crowded towns by placing them -amidst rural surroundings, she also wisely tries to add to the -necessarily scant money earnings of farmers’ families the profits of the -Koustari occupations, the better to preserve the home influence and the -healthy atmosphere of village industrial life for the general benefit of -the people’s physique and to the great moral advantage of the Russian -masses. - -All this is necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the -antipathy, economic and political, which the Russian Jew excites in the -official and the general Russian mind. - -And, above all, this one additional fact must, in like manner, be -grasped in any useful discussion of the problem of the Russian Jew. - -The enormous development of the industrial resources and energies of -Russia is too frequently ignored in an unfriendly foreign press, which -finds space and speculation only for the external policy and generally -exaggerated plans of the Tsar’s Government. What Russia is accused of -coveting in Manchuria, or of devising in Persia, and not what she is -strenuously and rapidly achieving in the sphere of her vast domestic -activities, exercises the critical attention of West-European and -American journalism. And yet, the wide and sure and extraordinary -progress that is being made in the economic development of a great -empire, as self-contained in its measureless natural resources as the -United States, and with an assured domestic market for most of her -manufactured products in a population of fully 140,000,000--growing at a -rate of upwards of 2,000,000 annually out of a natural increase--ought -to be a subject of infinitely greater concern to the public thought of -commercial rivals like Great Britain and the United States--as it -undoubtedly is to the keener sense of German competition--than what -Russian policy may or may not mean in its diplomatic trend in the Far -East. - -Russia is at the beginning of an enormous manufacturing career. Her -surplus urban population will be drawn upon for the needs of her mills -and factories. An artisan class, in a comparatively new sphere of -industrial energy, is rapidly growing, made up of young men who must -inevitably gather new ideas of social life among the influences of -associated labour; a class to be recruited from an uneducated peasantry, -susceptible to new impressions of capital and labour, of wages and -economic rights, of citizenship and political teachings, and of the -contending human rivalries of class interests for wealth and influence -and power in the rule of the state. - -In a word, the government of a country in which freedom of the press is -limited, and the right of public meeting denied; where no Parliament, or -Congress, exists for the ventilation of theories, the discussion of -reforms, or the chances of legislative redress, finds itself confronted -with the problem of a huge working class, soon to number millions, and -to be emancipated from peasant ignorance; a class, too, which must -contribute its quota of strength to Russia’s enormous army. And this -autocratic guardian of an Empire’s destinies says: “The enemy of my -household is the Jew. I have treated him badly, and he naturally resents -it. He retaliates by preaching Socialism in my industrial centres. He is -in alliance with the avowed enemies of the Empire in Western Europe. For -all these reasons, out he must go! Let him be off to any country whose -Constitution may admit him to equal citizenship with people who are -ruled by other systems and laws than ours. In Russia the Jew is both a -domestic and an Imperial danger, and it is our duty to rid ourselves of -its cause.” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ZIONIST SOLUTION - - -No truer general statement of the case of the Russian Jew, or nobler -appeal to enlightened humanity in his behalf, has been made in our time -than by Cardinal Manning, in a letter addressed to a London meeting in -December, 1890. Every word of this superbly Christian epistle is as true -and as applicable to-day as it was thirteen years ago, and I quote the -concluding sentences of it here as being both a powerful argument in -behalf of an oppressed people, and as a testimony to the liberty-loving -spirit of a Cardinal of the Catholic Church: - -“Six millions of men in Russia are so hemmed in and hedged about by -penal laws as to residence, and food, and education, and property, and -trade, and military service, and domiciliary visits, and police -inspection as to justify the words, that ‘no Jew can earn a -livelihood,’ and that ‘they are watched as criminals.’ The narratives -before us may be highly coloured, they may be overcharged; but, all -deductions made, they show both a violent and a refined injustice, which -is perpetually as ‘iron entering the soul.’ - -“And, further, when the cry of such a multitude of suffering is wafted -through the commonwealth of Europe, it is surely a part of the comity of -nations that we should, with all due respect, make known what we have -heard, in the confidence that, if things be so, the first to seek out -and to treat such evils would be the supreme authority of the Realm from -whence those wailing voices came. - -“We show no disrespect in believing that what reaches our ears may not -have reached the ears of those who are most highly exalted. Knowledge -travels more readily on lower levels, and often does not ascend to the -highest regions; the highest are, as a rule, the last to know the -excesses and malpractices of their local authorities. We, therefore, -with all due reverence, petition the Imperial Ruler of all the Russias -to take account of all the Governors of the Jewish Pale; and even this -we should not venture to do, if the sufferings alleged were not of such -a kind and of such an extent as to violate the great and primary laws of -human society. On this broad and solid base of natural law the -jurisprudence of European civilisation rests. The public moral sense of -all nations is created and sustained by participation in this universal -common law; when this is anywhere broken, or wounded, it is not only -sympathy but civilisation that has the privilege of respectful -remonstrance. - -“I am well aware of the counter allegations, not only of the -anti-Semitic press, but of guarded and responsible adversaries; -nevertheless, it is certain that races are as they are treated. How can -citizens who are denied the rights of naturalisation be patriotic? How -can men, who are only allowed to breathe the air, but not to own the -soil under their feet, to eat only a food that is doubly taxed, to be -slain in war, but never to command--how shall such a homeless, an exiled -race live the life of the people among whom they are despised, or love -the land which disowns them? - -“It would seem to me that if such were the sufferings of any nation, -even in Central Africa, we should be not only justified, but called on, -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 -reverence; a race with a sacred history of nearly four thousand years; a -present without parallel;, dispersed in all lands, with an imperishable -personal identity, isolated and changeless, greatly afflicted, without -home or fatherland; visibly reserved for a future of signal mercy. - -“Into this I will not enter further than to say that any man who does -not believe in their future must be a careless reader, not only of the -old Jewish Scriptures, but even of our own. It is not our duty to add to -their afflictions, nor to look on unmoved, and to keep the garments when -others stone them. - -“If we know the mind of our Master who prayed for them in His last hour, -we owe to them both the justice of the Old Law and the charity of the -New.” - -I have come from a journey through the Jewish Pale, a convinced believer -in the remedy of Zionism. I failed to see any other that can offer an -equal hope of success. It is a necessity of the actual situation, and -faces the growing perils of the position of the Russian Jew with a -courageous plan of repatriation. Hope for partial or ultimate -emancipation in Russia there is none. Other countries cannot be expected -to relieve Russia of the unhappy victims of oppression and poverty. -Where, then, are they to go? - -Russia has a direct responsibility in their impoverishment and -discontent, and this fact demands at her hands every help which the -Zionist plan requires in its execution, financial co-operation with the -wealthy Jews of Christendom in providing the cost of emigration, the -purchase of suitable land in Palestine, and in obtaining the necessary -rights of settlement and guarantee of protection from the Turkish -Government. This latter provision is generally believed to be an affair -of money, to be arranged with the Sultan; but, in any case, the moral -help of other great Powers would not be refused in such a chivalrous, -humane enterprise when once the influential Jews of Europe and America -made it, as they easily could do, an appeal for assistance to the sense -of justice and of reparation of the nations of Christendom. - -It is some eighteen years since I rode from Mount Carmel to Nazareth, -thence to Tiberias, and back through the beautiful plain of Jezreel, -down to Nablus in Samaria on the way to Jerusalem. Jericho, the wilds -of Judea, the country to the west, across the pastoral lands of Sharon, -were also visited. I found the German Templer colonies at Haifa, Nablus, -and Sarona wearing all the appearance of comfortable clusters of garden -and farming homesteads. The Jews of Bessarabia are as sober and as -industrious and, at least, as intelligent as these German emigrants. -They have progressed in South Russia when permitted to cultivate the -land. Why should they not be able to grow grain in Galilee, fruit and -olives in Samaria, meat in the mountains of Judea, and wine and other -products congenial to the soil and climate in the vale of Sharon, and -elsewhere, in a land which once flowed rich with milk and honey? - -Christendom is prejudiced against this race because its sons are -generally non-producers of wealth, and mere exploiters of the fruits and -necessities of direct industry. This is largely, but by no means wholly, -true, while the taunt bears with it the spirit of Pharisaical virtue -unconscious of self-accusation. Twenty per cent. of the Jews of -Bessarabia are artisans and labourers working for wages. But, if the -race generally are exploiters and extortioners, who made them so? Are -not historical conditions and centuries of deliberate oppression in -every Christian land (Ireland honourably excepted) answerable for the -Hebrew predilection to profit-seeking by other than the methods of -immediate production? And are the Gentiles of the lofty moral school of -critics so much above the doctrine and practice of the commercial greed -of buying in the cheapest, and selling in the dearest, market? -“Expedients of every kind and shade,” writes Herbert Spencer -(“Philosophical Essays,” vol. ii., on “Commercial Morality”), “from -innocent deception to anything you please, excepting open robbery, -prevail even in the higher grades of the commercial world. Innumerable -frauds, untruth, both in words and in principles of business, and -carefully devised subterfuges are generally in vogue, while many of -these have become established as commercial usages.” - -It is on record somewhere that no Jew has ever become a millionaire in -Scotland or in the United States. His powers of dextrous money-mongering -are blunted in some pronounced Christian lands by methods as expert and -morals as accommodating as his own. But, whatever ground there may be -for the somewhat general feeling prevailing against the Hebrew race for -its financial unscrupulousness ought to make for and not against the -Zionist movement, which seeks to find a place of refuge and of safety -for those whose present sufferings and unhappy prospects appeal to the -best side of our common humanity. - -Cardinal Manning’s noble words, quoted in support of this humble -advocacy of the cause of an oppressed people, will surely find a direct -response in every kindly heart and head which may reflect upon the story -and the sufferings of the Russian Jew. - - - - -PART II - -_THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES_ - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -I. ORIGIN AND AGENCY - - -Kishineff is the capital of Bessarabia, the seat of its government, and -the chief centre of its trading industry. It has a present population of -130,000, of a mixed ethnological community. The Russians number about -8000; the Moldavians, 50,000; the Jews, 50,000, with Bulgarians, Serbs, -Greeks, Macedonians, and Germans accounting for the balance. - -In the time of the Romans, Bessarabia formed part of the Imperial colony -known as Dacia, and the Moldavian peasantry, who form the greater part -of its present population, are said to be descendants of Roman -“undesirables” who were forcibly exiled to the Balkan regions. From -thence they emigrated, in time, to the rich lands lying west of the -Dniester. The succession of conquering and colonising peoples who fought -for the possession of this most fruitful region is historically -bewildering. Cymri and Scythians, Greeks and Getæ, Romans and Goths, -Huns and Avars, Bulgars and Slavonians; until, in the seventh century, -the Bessi arrived, and gave the country its name of “Bessarabia.” Then -came, in due course, Ugrians, Kumans, Polovtzians, and Mongolians. In -the Middle Ages the Republic of Genoa founded colonies along the -Dniester, which in turn gave way to an invasion of Turks. During the -eighteenth century Russian power asserted itself in the land, and -portions of the southern provinces which belonged to Turkey were, in our -own time, ceded to the great Empire, thus completing Russian possession -of the most fought-for country embraced within the wide dominions of the -Tsars. - -Thirty years ago Kishineff was on a level with an average Turkish town. -According to its present Mayor, M. Karl Schmidt, the city owes its rapid -rise and prosperity, and its present flourishing trade, solely to the -Jews. They built up its commerce, organised its banks, developed its -general business, and made it the handsome, thriving city it is to-day. - -The country around the city is a great wine-growing region, and the -Moldavian peasants are the chief producers of this most marketable -commodity. They are not an intelligent race, and are even more -superstitious, if possible, than the average Russian Mujik. They do not -migrate from their villages in search of labour, like Russian workers in -the central provinces. Their spare time is spent in eating sunflower -seeds, and in drinking vodka during the winter months. - -The economic relations between these Moldavian wine-growers and the Jews -of Kishineff are most intimate. They have no business capacity whatever, -and they dispose of their produce to the Jew brokers and dealers, who -make, at least, a ten per cent. profit on such transactions. - -These intimate trading connections have not led, as recently alleged, to -any marked ill-feeling against the intermediaries; though it is only -natural to assume that the profits of the skilled exploiter are not -always a source of satisfaction to the mind of the peasant producer. -What I was assured of, in this connection, from all sources of -information sought by me in Kishineff, was that the origin of the -outbreak at Easter was not, in any sense, traceable to these dealings -between the Jew merchants and brokers of the city and the surrounding -Moldavian farmers. - -The genesis of the recent massacres is to be found in the special -legislation which gives the Jew the mockery of civil rights within a -pale of legal domicile. There are, at least, a hundred laws, ordinances, -and special regulations having for object the coercing of him in all -his religious, social, and industrial rights; even within this Pale of -Settlement.[2] He is crowded into urban centres and denied, under -penalties, access to where conditions of work and location might relieve -him of his poverty and wretched home. Fines are levied upon him for -infringements of these coercive regulations, and this fact induces him -to circumvent such restrictive measures, while it appeals also to the -police to help him to do so--for a consideration. - -The first serious trouble experienced by the Jews of Bessarabia began -about eight years ago. A _sous-prefect_ of police, named Von Oglio, -appointed in the Beltzy district by the present Vice-Governor, -Ostrogoff, harassed the Jews by exactions and blackmail until they -“struck” against being further bled in this manner. He retaliated as -follows: - -On the Hebrew festival of Yom Kippur, one of the most solemn ceremonies -of the year, Von Oglio entered the local synagogue, seized the Torah, -or sacred writing, flung it on the floor, ordered a policeman to pick it -up, to seal it, and then had it conveyed to--the local prison! He next -expelled the small congregation, and placed his seal upon the lock of -the place of worship. - -He then applied the “May Laws” in all their rigour, and forced all who -had not special permits to leave the town, even men who had lived there -in peace for thirty years; taking proceedings against them under -circumstances which led to the death or injury of their cattle and the -ruin of their crops. This conduct on the part of the local head of the -police excited a corresponding feeling of hostility among the local -peasants. They saw the guardians of the law ill-treating those whom they -were supposed to protect, and they followed the example thus set them. - -Suits for reparation and damages were brought by some of the wealthier -victims of this police tyranny, but no redress was obtained. Von Oglio -was removed, without degradation or punishment, to another district, and -no further steps were taken by the authorities. - -The chief instigator of the recent massacres now appeared on the scene. -Up to 1894 the only paper in the province of Bessarabia was the -_Bessarabsky Viestnik_, a journal of a moribund existence. In this year -one Pavolachi Kroushevan, of Moldavian origin, acquired the dying sheet, -and amalgamated it with a new daily paper, the _Bessarabetz_. The -Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff, was press censor, in virtue of his higher -post, and he extended his patronage to Kishinev’s only daily organ in -the most marked manner. - -Kroushevan commenced at once a vicious anti-Semitic campaign. He singled -out for special attack municipal offices in which Jews were employed as -clerks and in other capacities, and demanded that the hated Hebrews -should be driven out to make room for Christians. This was done. -Popular feeling was worked up in this manner to such a heat that the -paper became the dominating force in the public life of the city. It was -the only paper read in Kishineff. Its circulation reached 20,000, and -its articles against the Jews were directly addressed to the police, -soldiers, workingmen, Seminarists (Kishineff possesses half-a-dozen -Royal and Ecclesiastical Colleges, Gymnasiums, and High Schools), and to -all the lower employés of the Governor’s, Post Office, Telegraph, and -other public departments. - -From fiery denunciation the Editor progressed to deliberate incitations -to violence. Articles headed “Death to the Jews!”--“Crusade against the -Hated Race!”--“Down with the Disseminators of Socialism!” followed each -other, while Kroushevan organised a society under the patronage of his -paper, in which the most rabid of his pupils in the anti-Semitic war -were enrolled. - -All this was ostentatiously tolerated by the present Vice-Governor, -Ostrogoff. - -Kroushevan got into financial difficulties a few months ago, and removed -to St. Petersburg, leaving the paper in charge of the deputy-editor, but -continuing himself as directing head of the staff. Its ferocious -anti-Jewish spirit and propaganda were in no way abated by this -arrangement. - -This brings us down, in the matter of time, to a few weeks before the -recent massacres. - -There next happened two events that gave the _Bessarabetz_ a match with -which to explode the mine of popular fury it had been building in the -popular mind for four years. One was a murder of a boy at a village -south of Kishineff, called Doubossar; and the other the suicide of a -girl within the city itself. These were at once seized upon by the -Kroushevan organ as “proofs” that they were instances of Semitic ritual -murder! They were deliberately declared to be cases of the sacrifice of -Christian blood in the performance of Hebrew rites at Passover! Steps -were taken at once to put the true facts before the people, in public -inquests and declarations; but the match had already ignited the end of -the _Bessarabetz_ fuse, and those who were resolved to strike terror -into the “Socialist Jews” of Bessarabia and Southwestern Russia paid no -heed to the documents and evidence which told the truth about the -Doubossar boy’s death and the girl who took poison and who passed away -in the Jewish Hospital in Kishineff. The plot was ripe for execution, -and the Paschal time, associated by the atrocious legend with the -kidnapping and killing of Christian children, was fixed upon for -action. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -II. LETTERS FROM KISHINEFF[3] - - -To arrive at definite conclusions as to the immediate and the -contributory causes of the sanguinary outrages perpetrated upon the Jews -of Kishineff on the 19th and 20th of April, was a tedious and painful -process, beset with innumerable difficulties. To try to find the truth -amidst a mass of conflicting testimony, where murder and rape and rapine -are charged against one side, and where the actual perpetrators of these -deeds are supposed to be all in prison awaiting some form of trial, -would be a formidable task even where the law and popular feeling were -on the side of justice. But in a city where the injured class are placed -almost beyond the protection of the law of the land, and where public -passion is alike the author of outrage and the apologist of partisan -officials, it is necessarily much more difficult for the searcher after -unbiassed evidence to secure the object of his quest. - -Disregarding entirely the accounts which have been published in the -Russian and foreign press, I adopted the following means of reaching -something approximating to the real facts as to the outrages; their -instigators, cause, and extent, and the measure of representative -Russian feeling in relation thereto: - -On arriving at Odessa I interviewed Count Schouvaloff, the retiring -Civil Governor of South Russia, and I reproduce from memory (not having -taken notes of the conversation) what he was courteous enough to say. I -also obtained expressions of opinion from Russian and other merchants -in Odessa upon anti-Jewish feeling in South Russia; and these views, -frankly biassed as they were, will speak for a very large class of -Russian and of resident foreign Christian opinion about the Jews and -their racial and commercial character, as developed in this country. - -Immediately upon reaching Kishineff, I called upon the responsible -leaders of the Jews to whom I carried letters of introduction from -London, Paris, and New York. They are prominent citizens, and are -largely of the medical profession. I obtained from them and others, -including the three Rabbis of the city, a very copious statement of all -that occurred there on the 19th and 20th of last month. - -Resolved to compare this _ex parte_ testimony with such Russian evidence -as might be least tainted with anti-Semitic prejudice in this now -somewhat demoralised place, I solicited and secured interviews with two -Christian doctors of Russian blood; also with one of the highest civil -functionaries in the district, who is a noble of great wealth, of unique -local influence, whose name I am not permitted to use, but for whose -_bona fides_ I can absolutely vouch; and, in addition, I was privileged -to hold fully an hour’s conversation on the subject of the riots and -outrages with M. Karl Schmidt, who has been Mayor of the city for the -last twenty-five years without interruption; the strongest possible -evidence to his popularity with all classes of his fellow-citizens, and -to his worth and capacity as a Russian municipal ruler. - -I then met by appointment in the Jewish Hospital all the medical men, -Jews, who had professionally attended to the persons brought there -during and after the riots, who could speak as to the number of killed -and wounded, and the extent of the injuries inflicted upon the -unfortunate victims of the mob’s fury. The statements made to me by -these doctors I repeated to the two Russian doctors I have already -referred to, and I have noted down their comments upon the accounts -given me by their Hebrew medical _confrères_. - -My next step was to visit the scenes of outrage in the city, and in the -Skulanska Rogatka district, where the most atrocious of the crimes were -committed, and to obtain from the living witnesses of the outrages an -account of what they saw and experienced, some of them from women and -girls who went through the saturnalia of ruffianism as victims of -outrage and of rape. - -From these tales of revolting deeds I proceeded to the Jewish Cemetery, -where I saw and counted the forty-four newly made graves of the -massacred men, women, and children, whose freshly turned mounds stand -there to-day with their simple Hebrew wooden marks of identity, as an -appeal to the God alike of Christian and of Jew against deeds done in -the pretended name of religion which might even shame devils to -perpetrate. - -I have taken pictures of these graves, of the shed in which the young -girl of thirteen was assaulted, and killed with four men, of groups of -little girls and women who passed through the two nights of horror in -the quarter where the Moldavian fiends committed the worst deeds, and of -houses in which numerous murders were committed. - -Knowing how unlikely it would be for me, or for any man, to obtain from -modest maidens and respectable married women any account, or even -admission, of their having been violated, I sought the Rabbis of the -city, and got from them and from some of the victims whom I met there -particulars of the outrages to which they and others were subjected. -These will, as far as the subject can permit it, be dealt with in -subsequent letters. - -Let me to this extent forestall what I shall have to say about the -violation of women. All the worst of these crimes were the work of -Moldavians, and not of Russians. This, I am convinced, is absolutely -true. Many of these Moldavians are descended from the colony of convicts -and criminals founded by Pagan Rome in the country now known as -Roumania; and the several centuries’ experience by the race of Turkish -rule, before being inflicted as subjects upon more civilised -governments, has not morally improved the original taint in the blood of -their present-day representatives. - -Two letters,[4] one signed by Count Tolstoy and the other from Maxime -Gorky, addressed to the committee in charge of the labour of relief in -Kishineff, express the hateful feeling of indignation and of abhorrence -with which the cultured Russian mind looks upon these revolting deeds of -mediæval savagery in our day. - - -_Letter I_ - -KISHINEFF, May 21st. - -The first survey of the situation here satisfies me there is no -likelihood of any further serious outbreak for the present. The -military precautions seem fully adequate to the task of dealing with any -emergency. - -The Jews, however, are still terror-stricken, and in fear of renewed -violence. Wealthy families have fled the city, but the vast mass of the -Hebrew community, numbering fully fifty thousand souls, are too poor to -purchase the means of seeking protection in flight. - -All the Russians I have met, from Odessa to this city, condemn the -abominable acts of the anti-Semitic mobs as strongly as other people. - -The true origin of the massacres will need patient and careful inquiry, -but it can in a general way be put down to combined racial, economic, -and other factors, inflamed by violent incitations of the local -anti-Jewish press. - -The latest list of the killed and wounded, and accounts of looting and -destruction, gives these figures: Killed, 44; badly wounded, 83; -injured, 500. Houses wrecked, 700; shops and small stores looted and -damaged, 600; 2000 families are said to be ruined in their business and -employment, and 10,000 people require relief. - -The wealthy Jews of the City and Pale have subscribed about forty-five -thousand dollars, while donations from Germany, France, England, and the -United States amount, so far, to some thirty thousand dollars more. - -All the vengeance of the mobs seems to have been directed against the -very poorest of the Jews. Shops were only looted, but artisans were -killed. - -Much greater help than that already received will be required to prevent -starvation. - - -_Letter II_ - -KISHINEFF, May 25th. - -During a brief halt in the South Russian capital, Odessa, I availed -myself of an opportunity of visiting the retiring Civil Governor, -Lieutenant General Count P. P. Schouvaloff, elder son of Count Paul -Schouvaloff, formerly Russian Ambassador at Berlin, and subsequently the -most popular Viceroy of Poland who reigned in Warsaw since the stormy -days of 1863. The Count received me with courtesy and affability at his -private palace, on the Nicolai Boulevard. His Excellency had, he -informed me, been abroad during the last two months, and had only just -returned to take adieux of the local officials and citizens of Odessa -before assuming the functions of his new post in the Ministry of the -Interior. Had he been in Odessa during the terrible events in Kishineff -he would, _ex-officio_, have been in possession of intimate knowledge of -the tragic occurrences, upon which he should have had no hesitation, he -was good enough to say, to have given me the frank expression of his -views. As it was, the Count regretted he could say very little indeed. -Like the rest of his countrymen who had a jealous regard for the good -repute of Russia abroad, his Excellency sincerely deplored the -frightful popular _émeute_ in the Bessarabian capital. But there were -one or two things to be borne in mind by a foreign observer and -commentator, he was anxious to point out. He need not, perhaps, he -remarked, dwell upon the unsophisticated condition of the Russian -peasant or artisan; his simplicity, ignorance, and the practically -unlimited credence he gave to sinister and plausibly mischievous -counsellors. Against these qualities in the simple Russian, there was to -be set, he insisted, the vastly superior intelligence of the Jew, of all -grades and conditions. It was, unfortunately, an indisputable fact, in -his opinion, that the Jews, more especially where they were numerically -equal to their orthodox neighbours--and in South Russian centres they -formed the predominant elements--exploited the Christians in a hundred -unscrupulous ways, to their own aggrandisement. The Jew not only knew -the law better than his Christian neighbour, but he was an adept in -circumventing it. Consequently the exploited Russian failed to obtain -legal redress, and occasionally the ignorant people, instigated by the -worst class of criminals, whose only object was plunder, took the -law--according to their own primitive conception of it--into their own -hands, with such frightful results as were lately seen in Bessarabia. - -In his Excellency’s opinion the limitations placed upon the Jews in this -country should be made somewhat more stringent, in the protective -interests of the Jews themselves. That was to say, he remarked, they -should be deprived of much of the immunity under which they now -exploited the uneducated Christians. On the other hand, improvement -might be effected by a more careful choice being made in the appointment -of Governors in Jewish centres. Younger and more active men are -required, who will keep themselves fully and exactly _au courant_ with -every latent movement among the people under their jurisdiction. They -should be just, intelligent, and alert Governors, his Excellency said, -upon whom it would be practically impossible to spring any sudden -outbreak, and they should be prepared to apply instantly repressive -measures at all time. - -Count Schouvaloff would not enter into any discussion of the Jewish -question in Russia, but he might be permitted to observe that it was, in -his opinion, one for Jews themselves, in the main, to solve. Generally -speaking, he had little hope in any change for the better in the -inimical feeling between Jew and Christian in Russia, so long as there -existed no standard of commercial rectitude among Jews. There was no -question of religious intolerance, although, unfortunately, it was no -difficult thing for _agents provocateurs_, whose object, as already -said, was plunder, to arouse the fanaticism of simple people on -occasions like Easter festivals. - -Such is the view, briefly expressed, of a Russian Governor whom I -believe to be, from the evidence of my own countrymen in Odessa, as well -as from common repute, a singularly honest and high-minded member of the -gubernatorial class in this country. - -Count Schouvaloff, on parting, cordially expressed his great admiration -for “the most progressive and enlightened nation in the world,” and -fervently trusted the United States and Russia, as the two great Pacific -powers, would ever remain the firmest of good friends and neighbours. - -Interviews with three prominent Russian merchants--all men of good -social standing and repute--failed almost entirely to elicit any more -friendly expression towards the Jews. They denounced as inhuman the -iniquities of the ignorant, savage mob at Kishineff, but could not shut -their eyes to “the trade trickeries and treacheries,” to use their own -words, which, at the hands of grossly ignorant, lower-class Russians, -brought such terribly retributive punishment upon the Jews. None of -these gentlemen could, or would, admit that religious hatred or Paschal -rancour were the incentive motives of the terrible outbreaks against the -Hebrews. There were exceptions, of course, they were careful to remark, -but, generally speaking, the Russian Jew was very largely the author of -his own persecution. - -It is alike disappointing and depressing to find with what remarkable -unanimity this unfavourable view is taken by an otherwise fair-minded -class of Russians, in the South Russian capital. Considering that nearly -the whole of the trade and commerce of the city and port of Odessa is in -the hands of Jews, it is only natural that the Christian merchant’s -opinion of his Hebrew rival and neighbour should be strongly tinctured -by competitive prejudice and jealousy. Much allowance must, therefore, -be made for that; but, on the other hand, ’tis no less remarkable that -among, for example, the resident foreign Consular corps and other -independent and impartial observers in the same city, it is almost -equally difficult to elicit a favourable opinion of the Jews, although -the majority of these authorities were solicitous to qualify their -opinions by pointing out to me that it is not against the Jews -themselves, but against Jewish methods and their shady commercial -_morale_ generally, that public feeling and sentiment run so strongly. - -There is a comparatively large English colony in Odessa, and the -shipping is almost entirely in the hands of British ship-brokers, and, -as the exporters are all Jews, these agents have intimate knowledge of -the latter. Here, again, one hears the same condemnatory opinions of the -Jew’s want of commercial morality. This is not, I regret very much to -say, a pleasing picture of the Jewish element in this great Russian -centre, but my duty and resolve is to give a faithfully accurate record -of the opinion and views I am seeking from authentic sources and -representative people of all classes. Among educated and enlightened -Russians one finds anti-Semites who are not one whit less rancorous -than the ignorant and benighted Mujik. But the former would never dream -of murdering his Jewish neighbour. - -The only other comment that suggests itself in connection with this -matter, especially in reference to Count Schouvaloff’s implied -suggestion that the Kishineff massacres are mainly due to Jewish -exploitation of artisans and peasants, and to their customary commercial -trickery, is this: The rioters of April last were not peasants, nor were -the victims of their licensed brutality usurers or profit-mongers. The -murderers and looters were chiefly labourers and artisans, led by -Seminarists; and the victims were, almost in all instances, Hebrew -workingmen and their families. The sinister influence of the local -anti-Jewish press is also a factor in the origin of the riots which his -Excellency overlooked, and which others in Odessa did not refer to when -expressing their views upon the Kishineff reign of terror at -Eastertide. - - -_Letter III_ - -KISHINEFF, May 27, 10 P. M. - -An attempt to renew disorder near the market place this afternoon was -promptly dealt with and suppressed by the military. A large crowd -gathered about five o’clock, near the scene of the first outbreak on -Easter Sunday, when, as on that occasion, some boys were made use of to -test the disposition of the police and military by throwing stones at -some Jewish residences. In this instance there was no hesitation on the -part of the authorities. The military rode round the crowd at once, and -hemmed them in, when forty of the leaders and instigators were -immediately arrested and taken to the prison. - -Hundreds of families fled from the city last night, owing to threats -that the deeds of Easter would be repeated to-day. The trains to Odessa -were packed with fugitives, while all the hotels in Kishineff were -crowded by Jews whose wives and daughters could not leave the city, and -dare not remain in their homes. - -The more I make myself acquainted with the measures which seem to be -imperatively ordered by the central Government, the more I am convinced -that the authorities here will not hesitate for a moment to employ the -sternest methods to preserve order. Fifty ball cartridges have been -served out to each soldier. At every dangerous point in the Jewish -quarters soldiers are posted with fixed bayonets, while cavalry patrols -are constantly moving from one quarter to another, day and night, in -vigilant surveillance of the situation. - -I visited the Jewish districts in the city and suburbs twice to-day, and -found everything quiet. - -The city is still paying dearly, in the virtual suspension of all work, -for the riots in April. Business is completely disorganised through the -injuries done to shops and warehouses, and the flight of Jewish dealers -and employers. - -I desire to appeal most urgently for assistance for the future of the -girls and married women who were savagely violated during the riots at -Easter. These girls have now no hope of marriage where the facts of -their dishonour are publicly known. Under the rigorous moral law of -Moses married women who are outraged must be divorced from their -husbands. There are several such cases among the victims of the mob’s -brutality, and their misfortunes, along with those of the young girls -referred to, make a peculiarly pathetic appeal to the sympathy of those -who may be blessed with the means by which the future of these unhappy -creatures might be made less miserable and hopeless. - -There are also from fifty to one hundred orphans, children of murdered -fathers and mothers, who are to be provided for. Some of the money -subscribed from abroad ought to be specially ear-marked for alleviating -these three classes of exceptional suffering and wrong. - - -_Letter IV_ - -BERLIN, June 3d. - -Finding it impossible, on account of the Russian censorship of all -telegraphic messages relating to the Kishineff outrages, to forward this -despatch from that city, I do so from this point. - -I have completed an investigation as to the origin, authors, and extent -of the recent massacres and looting, while I have also traversed almost -the whole of the Jewish Pale of Settlement, from Odessa to Warsaw, -inquiring into the present state of anti-Semitic feeling arising out of -the outbreak at Easter. - -The origin of the sanguinary riots at Kishineff, on the 19th and 20th of -April, was not, as reported in the Russian official press,[5] an assault -by a Jew proprietor of a merry-go-round upon a Christian woman, whereby -a mob of peasants were incited to attack the Jews. There is no truth in -this account. - -The real origin of the outbreak was this: - -The only daily paper in Kishineff is the _Bessarabetz_. It is a -violently anti-Semitic organ. Its chief editor is Pavolachi Kroushevan, -of Moldavian origin. He has systematically inflamed the popular feeling -against the Jews, as the foes of Russia, as the propagandists of -Socialism, and as the enemies of the Christian religion. These attacks -have been continuous for the last six years. Merchants and employers -giving work to Jews were held up to public odium, and the expulsion or -extermination of the race was openly urged. The _Bessarabetz_ has a -circulation of 20,000, chiefly among the police, municipal employés, and -workmen generally. - -Two events occurring shortly before Easter were seized upon by -Kroushevan to incite the mob to murderous violence. One was the murder -of a boy belonging to the village of Doubossar, situated between -Kishineff and Odessa, by his relatives for gain. The other was the -suicide of a girl and her death at the Jewish Hospital of Kishineff. -The _Bessarabetz_ declared them to be both ritual murders by the Jews, -and summoned the Russian Christians to punish the authors of the alleged -crimes. - -The chief Rabbi of Kishineff, fearing from past experiences the results -of these ferocious appeals, hastened to the Greek bishop, and implored -him to calm the popular mind by giving an episcopal assurance that no -such ritual was practised, and no such crimes committed, by the Jews. -The bishop’s reply was that he feared there was some Semitic sect which -really did indulge in the use of Christian blood in the Paschal -ceremonies, and he refused to intervene. - -Ten days before the riots broke out a body of representative Jews -visited the Governor and warned him that Kroushevan’s incitations would -lead to murder, unless restrained. General Von Raaben assured the -deputation that all necessary precautions would be taken, but no attempt -was made by him to stop the appeals of the _Bessarabetz_ to the popular -anti-Semitic hatred. - -Chief of Police Tchemzenkov was also requested to act in the interest of -peace, and curb the diatribes of the _Bessarabetz_. He replied that it -would “serve the Jews right if they were driven from the city for -encouraging the propaganda of Socialism.” - -Having by the blood accusation articles, and through the circulation of -a Roumanian anti-Semitic pamphlet purporting to give instances of -numerous murders of Christian children by Jews, roused the Kishineff -populace to a state of savage fury, Kroushevan’s local accomplices -planned an attack for the Easter holidays. Kishineff Jews declare that -Kroushevan came to the city, in disguise, from St. Petersburg, on the -eve of the outbreak, to plan the riots. This statement I could not get -verified. A meeting was held and a plan of attack decided on. A few days -previously a band of strangers arrived at Kishineff, comprising thirty -Albanians and some Macedonians, believed to be brigands brought -especially for an attack on the Jews. - -The chief instigators of the riots were Kroushevan and the staff of the -_Bessarabetz_; a doctor who is of Greek origin; a Moldavian doctor; a -Moldavian engineer; a notary; two sons of a prominent merchant; two -students, sons of prominent citizens; two Odessa students; two minor -officers, and several well-known citizens. - -The actual leaders of the riots were students and Seminarists from the -Royal School and the city religious colleges. - -All the statements made to me agree that the Seminarists directed the -movements of the mob on both days, disguised as labourers and strangers. -The rioters comprised thirty bands, averaging fifty each, with a -Seminarist on a bicycle directing the attack. Some of the bands were -composed of the lower employés of the various departments of the -municipality--the telegraph, post office, and other municipal offices, -but artisans and labourers, and Moldavians from the suburbs, formed the -greater body of the rioters, with the Albanian strangers above -mentioned. - -These bands, with sticks and stones, but no firearms, attacked the -Jewish quarters at thirty different points simultaneously, thus proving -a deliberate plan of operation. - -All the evidence that I have gathered during eight days of searching -inquiry in Kishineff convinces me that the riots were not a casual or -accidental uprising of a mob against the Jews, but formed a carefully -planned attack by the local anti-Semitic leaders, with the passive -connivance of the Chief of Police and the active encouragement of some -of his officers. Von Raaben’s deplorable weakness in not employing his -military force to quell the riots during the first day is responsible -for the horrors of that and the massacres and the violations of women -and girls of the second day. - -The majority of the rioters were of Moldavian origin. These Moldavians -are as numerous as the Jews in Kishineff and constitute the most -ignorant and brutal element of the populace. - -The rioting began with the looting of the Jewish shops and the -demolition of houses. The mob, finding the military not employed against -them and the police witnessing the attacks sympathetically--many of the -police taking part and participating in the looting--passed from murder -and massacre to the violation of Jewish women and girls. - -I have two detailed statements, carefully prepared by eye-witnesses of -the scenes. One is a copy of the indictment of the authors of the -massacres, which has been lodged with the Procureur; the other is a -specially prepared statement by two Christian ladies, one Russian and -one Russo-French, who investigated a certain class of outrages for my -information. Here are a few instances of the worst crimes: - -The Feldstein family is one of the most respectable in Kishineff. The -mob attacked their saloon on the corner of Armenia Street at noon on the -first day, Sunday, April 9. The police barracks are some forty paces -away. The soldiers and police patrolled the street during the five hours -occupied by the mob in demolishing the saloon and destroying fifteen -thousand roubles’ worth of wines. A safe containing a large sum of money -was also broken open and robbed. While that section of the mob was thus -employed, the leader of the gang found in the kitchen of the family -residence the meat for the family’s dinner. He put it on a stick, -mounted to the roof of the saloon, which is of one story, and, -addressing the mob, the police, and the military in the street, -declared, “Here are the remains of a Christian child found in the house -of the wealthy Jew, Feldstein.” - -The members of the household were saved by a Russian employé of -Feldstein and a humane gendarme, from the fury of the mob. On completing -the destruction of the place, the leader drank to the health of Editor -Kroushevan from the roof of the looted premises. - -At No. 13 Asia Street in the Bender Rogatka quarter some of the worst -outrages were perpetrated. Twelve families, all Jewish artisans, lived -in the yard. A mob of Moldavians, some Russian workingmen, and a few -Albanians attacked the occupants of the yard. The majority of the Jewish -men escaped, while the women and girls, numbering sixteen, concealed -themselves in a loft under the roof of a one-story house. Four Jewish -men tried to defend the place, and were murdered. Their wives and -daughters, with a dozen women and children, had taken refuge in a loft -under the roof of No. 13. It was from some of these I obtained the facts -here recorded. - -One Mottel Greenspoon, a glazier, was stunned by a blow from a bludgeon, -and the Albanians mutilated him while still alive. They then choked a -child, two years old, and cut out its tongue, while alive. - -The other three men were killed and then had feathers put on their -faces. As an act of desecration of the dead, two drunken women, one -Moldavian and one Bulgarian, trampled on the body of Greenspoon as it -lay mutilated in the yard. The mob then found its way to the loft where -the women were concealed, and remained several hours. All the women and -girls were violated. - -All this time the police and soldiers were patrolling the open space in -front of the house where these fiendish crimes were committed. I saw -blood spattered on the walls of the rooms and yard, and picked up a -child’s schoolbook on which some murderer had wiped his hands. - -At the household Foudyn, No. 33 Gostinna Street, four men and one woman -were killed. Sixteen families lived in this yard, all those of artisans. -The mob came the first day and demolished the windows and doors. It -returned the next day for massacre. Sixteen women and eight children -were concealed in the loft. The first killed was a boy of sixteen, who -begged piteously for life, saying he had done no wrong, was a scholar -of the state school, and wanted to live. His father, at the other end of -the yard, heard the boy’s cries, but could not save his life. They -killed him while the father lay stunned, unable to make an effort to -save the boy’s life. It was Mr. Baranovitch, the father of the boy, a -most intelligent and respectable man, who told me the story of his son’s -murder. As at the house in Asia Street, the women and girls who had -concealed themselves in the loft were discovered and violated by the -mob. One married woman escaped through the roof, leaped to the ground, -ran to the nearest police station, and implored help, but she was driven -out by the officer, who said the Jews were only receiving what they -deserved. Another married woman named Feya Katzap was bludgeoned to -death in the yard of this house. - -The scene of the most diabolical crimes and violations committed by the -mob was the Skulanska Rogatka suburb, eighty per cent. of the population -of which are Moldavians, the Jews forming the remainder. This is the -residence of the poorer class of the workers of both races. The mob -broke into the yard on the evening of the second day, Monday, April 20. -Twenty-five persons, mostly women and children, hid themselves in a -carpenter’s shed owned by one Grillspoon. The houses in the yard were -demolished, and the mob was going away when the cry of a child in the -shed indicated the place of concealment of the women. The shed was -instantly attacked by Moldavians, led by a father and son, who were -neighbours of the Jews. Grillspoon, the owner of the shed, was killed, -together with four other artisans, who were defending the place, and one -woman, the wife of the owner, was murdered after violation. The mob also -found a pretty girl, named Feya Wouller, aged thirteen, and her fate is -so awful that I can only state that after having been violated by more -than a dozen of these Moldavians they fought for her body like famished -wolves after life was extinct. When found the next morning by her -relatives the body was seen to be literally torn in two. - -The sister of Feya Wouller, whose brother died trying to defend the -women and children, assured me that the Moldavian leader and his son, -who led the mob in his district, are walking about free at this moment. -Three brothers, well-known in the city, are implicated in several of the -murders. A car-driver and his two sons took part in four murders and -general looting, but none of these men are now in prison. The Jews -killed by the car-driver and his son are Eydel Drochman, one Galantor, -one Kantor, and the boy Baranovitch. - -During the worst stages of the riot the chief police officer, -Tchemzenkov, drove through the city smoking cigarettes. At one period of -the disturbance, on the morning of the second day, the Jews of the New -Bazaar organised a body of about 150 to defend themselves, but Police -Officer Dobroselsky, on finding them able to drive the mob away, -arrested several of the defenders and broke up the body. - -Among the prominent looters of the Jews’ shops was the soldier servant -of a military surgeon; and a son of a murdered woman, Keyla Konza, -declares that among those who violated and killed his mother were four -common soldiers. - -Joseph Newman testifies that his father was killed in the presence of -Policeman Stepanovitch. - -A Christian Russian says that he heard the students from Odessa shout to -the mob, “Kill the Jews!” - -A prominent employé in the municipal office in the city was declared to -be an active director of the mob, showing where the Jews lived, and -shouting, “Kill the Jews!” - -Several police officers did their duty and saved many lives in the -Jewish districts. Among these was Officer Sloutschevsky, of Bender -Rogatka, who, with twelve men, drove the mob away. They went from this -to the Asia Street district, where another police officer was -patrolling, and he allowed them to commit the murders described. Some -artillery officers, who were off duty, manfully saved several Jewish -women. - -On the morning of the first day’s outbreak large crosses were chalked on -the houses of the Christians living in streets inhabited by the Jews, -and none of these dwellings or shops were injured. Ikons (images) were -shown in the windows of other houses, and thus indicated places not to -be attacked. During the progress of the first day’s outrages the Bishop -of Kishineff, while on his way to dinner with a rich noble, passed in -his carriage through the mob, giving his blessing to the crowd. Upon -hearing of this incident, I refused to believe it possible, and resolved -to interview the nobleman, who is Michael Nicolavitch Kroupensky. He -received me courteously, and said: - -“Bishops in Russia always give blessings to people when passing through -the streets. This was purely an accidental coincidence. The Bishop is a -humane man.” - -So that the fact remains that the Bishop did pass through the mob on his -way to dinner, and uttered no word to persuade the mob to stop its -murder and pillage. - -The Jews are convinced from every evidence that the outbreak was a plan -of the local anti-Semitic leaders to punish and terrorise the Jews for -their supposed propaganda of Socialism in conjunction with the leaders -of the Socialists of Western Europe. The fanaticism and superstition of -the Moldavian and Russian mob were then excited by the fabricated -stories of Jewish ritualistic murders of Christian children, to cover -the organised political plot against the local Socialist movement. I was -informed by Nobleman Kroupensky that on the day following the riots -thirty young Jews were arrested, and that five of them were found to be -in possession of pamphlets appealing to the workingmen of Russia to -demand a constitutional government like that of England. Some officials -of the municipal department, some police officers, and others connived -at the attack in order to crush the alleged Jewish Socialist -propaganda. The artisans and labourers had been appealed to by the -_Bessarabetz_ to drive out the Jew workers, who labour for low wages, -and thus do much injury to Christian families. No evidence was adduced -for me to implicate the Government at St. Petersburg in a responsibility -for the outbreak which had covered Russia’s name with shame, but -Minister de Plehve must have known that some kind of manifestation was -contemplated. Thinking, probably, the affair would not culminate in -massacres, but might assume the character of an anti-Socialist -demonstration, he took no steps to meet the emergency which actually -arose until too late. The present Vice-Governor of Bessarabia, -Councillor of State Ostrogoff, is a notorious anti-Semite. This fact, -coupled with threats of the police and the murderers at large that the -next attack will be a St. Bartholomew for the Jews of Kishineff, -explains the flight of nearly all the Jewish leaders and wealthy members -of the race from the city, leaving only the poor members of the Hebrew -community apprehending a renewed attack. - -The military measures to preserve order were adequate when I left -Kishineff on Friday morning, but if these are relaxed in any way, no -protection remains for the terrorised men, women, and children against -further violence, The journal edited by Kroushevan is still circulating -in the city, and, while more restrained in its language than before the -massacres, it is keeping alive the racial animosity against the -defenceless Jews. I would urge the following measures to afford some -immediate protection for the Jews of Bessarabia and the Pale: - -First, that the Government at St. Petersburg issue a ukase declaring -there is no truth in the horrible fiction of Jewish ritual murders of -Christian children; second, that the bishops and clergymen of all -cities, towns, and villages be compelled to read the same from their -pulpits, thereby stopping the circulation of these atrocious legends -within the borders of Russia; third, that a conference of the leading -Jews of Western Europe be held without delay, to consider the best means -to solve the problem of the Russian Jew, and how best to help the Jews -of the Pale to protect themselves under the existing Russian laws. - -Unless some action of this nature is taken soon, more outrages will -follow. I found the feeling in the larger cities, where the Jews are -strong, very excited and apprehensive. In one city the Jews have -purchased 9000 revolvers to protect themselves. There is a constant -panic in Kiev, from which most of the wealthy Jews have fled to Cracow, -while Jewish refugees from Kishineff were refused shelter on their -arrival at Kiev by the terrified Jews of that city. - -In Warsaw I found more confidence than elsewhere, as, in this large -city, with its quarter of a million of Jews, the Polish Socialists, who -are a strong organisation, have promised to aid the Jews if any attack -should be made on them by the anti-Semites. The Governor, General -Tchetverikoff, is a capable officer, free from anti-Semite prejudices, -and he has made it plain, in the measures already taken, and in some -straight talk, that he will deal promptly and sternly with any attempt -to repeat the Kishineff ruffianism in the city under his control. - -Throughout the whole Pale the police and peasants are told by the -anti-Semites that the Tsar has issued an order to kill all the Jews or -drive them from Russia. - - -_Letter V_ - -LONDON, June 6th. - -The situation at Kishineff at the present time is this: The military -measures in force are fully adequate for an instant repression of any -attempted renewal of outrages. Owing, however, to the notorious -anti-Semitic leanings and record of the Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff, the -Jews who have fled the city, and the poorer class who suffered most and -who cannot leave for lack of means, dread another outbreak. - -They likewise note the indulgent punishments inflicted upon the -directors of the riots, while several men known to have committed murder -and to have been implicated in the tortures of women were actually -liberated from prison after a few days’ detention, on the ground of -alleged lack of sufficient evidence of their guilt. The feeling in -Kishineff is general that the rank and file of the rioting bands were -retained in custody, while the instigators and ringleaders were -permitted to go free. - -I do not credit the statement going the round of the press which alleges -that Governor Von Raaben telegraphed to St. Petersburg for permission to -use the military in Kishineff in dealing with the mob, and that he -waited vainly for an authoritative reply. No such permission was needed -from either Minister de Plehve or the head of any other department. The -criminal code armed the local Governor with the fullest power and -discretion for the employment of soldiers within his government or -province as a supplementary force to the police to preserve order. There -were 8000 military and 350 police at Von Raaben’s command during the -first day’s riot, and he was as much in absolute control of those forces -in the task of dealing with the outbreak against the Jews as the -Governor of New York State would be of the State militia in a similar -emergency. - -As to the question of remedy: What can be done to safeguard the men, -women, and children within the Jewish Pale, from Odessa to the Baltic, -from periodic outrage; and free the name of a great empire from the -reproach of such organised Christian barbarism as that of Kishineff? -This question cannot be dismissed on the plea that American and European -opinion is concerned only with the humane task of relief. The best -possible measure of relief that could be offered to the victims of -anti-Semitic oppression in Russia, at this crisis, would assume the -character and form of a friendly mediating influence exercised with the -Tsar in behalf of the Jews of his Empire. - -I have discussed this idea with a high Russian official during my tour, -and I briefly summarise our conversation. - -In reply to my question as to what could be done by the friends of -Russia in the United States to procure some better protection for the -Russian Jew, this official, who is thoroughly conversant with both -American and British politics, said: - -“It is no use appealing to Russia through the medium of indignation -meetings. This is not how to exercise a friendly influence such as is -desired. We resent attempts to meddle in our domestic affairs through -the agency of political demonstration. It is an unwarranted interference -by other countries in our internal concerns. How, may I ask, would your -Government and press consider our action if we organised great -gatherings and delivered violent speeches in protest against, say, the -burning alive of American citizens, not alone without trial, but -independent even of the form of legal indictment? You must look at the -position of our Government in relation to the hateful crimes of -Kishineff from many points of view. Our system of administration differs -radically from yours, while the civil position of the Jews here has no -parallel in civil and political conditions in America except, perhaps, -in your treatment of the Negro and the Chinaman. Whatever faults our -system may possess in your eyes, we consider it as being adapted to the -domestic requirements of Russia, and to the social temperament of our -people. We are not in any sense a cruel or a persecuting nation, nor do -we hate the Jews on any religious ground. But we never will admit a -people so foreign in every respect to the Russians in racial traits and -character, in faith and in general reputation, to an equality of -citizenship. You might as well ask the American people to permit -Chinamen to become Mayors of San Francisco or members of Congress. -There is something more to be said in relation to Kishineff; not in any -sense by way of palliating the horrible outrages which I condemn as -strongly as you do, but in the way of, say, such an explanation as a -Governor of Alabama or Carolina would try to account to civilised -opinion for some act of a mob of Christian citizens in burning a -fellow-citizen at the stake. The Jew in Russia is the disciple and -propagandist of Socialism. He has introduced this menace to our -Government and system from abroad. He is believed by the tens of -thousands of our people who are employed in our departments to be their -racial enemy, and the foreign plotter inside our gates against the Tsar, -who is the head of the system which gives them their means of livelihood -and some prospect of future positions for their sons. - -“These are the class of Russians who hate the Jews most, and the hatred -is begotten of the same human selfishness which stirs up strife between -rival classes in other countries. - -“It is necessary to know all this in order to understand the fact that -many persons above the rank of artisans and labourers took part in the -shameful outrages at Kishineff. - -“Allow me now to reply direct to your question: - -“I can only make a suggestion, which is this: Let some prominent -statesman or highly respected citizen of the United States visit St. -Petersburg and seek an interview with the Emperor. This would be -welcomed as an act of friendship, and could not be considered as an -intrusion even by our Government officials. The Tsar would be sure to -receive such a visitor as the spokesman of friendly American feeling. - -“No kinder-hearted man lives to-day than the Emperor. No one in your -country deplores the outrages of April more than he does. Moreover, like -all Russians, he holds the great American nation in high esteem, and -cherishes the friendly relations which have so long subsisted between -the two countries. If, then, some one of your leading men, commanding -wide respect, would undertake such a mission, he would accomplish a -thousand times more to guarantee the Jews against further outrage than -10,000 public meetings organised by the Jews of your cities or on the -suggestion of Russia’s kind friends on the London press.” - -I most urgently beg your advocacy, and that of the American press -generally, of this proposal. It would be a mission worthy of a -statesman, and its certain fruits would be the Tsar’s protection for the -Jews from Odessa to Warsaw against further organised outrage during his -lifetime. - -The public man in the States eminently qualified for this humane mission -is ex-President Cleveland. Such an ambassador on a friendly visit to St. -Petersburg would attract the world’s attention, and success would be -sure to crown his undertaking. - -I attended several meetings of the Central Relief Committee while in -Kishineff. The last one was on the eve of my departure, last Friday. The -committee meets daily to examine applications and distribute assistance -in money, food, and clothing. Kishineff is divided, for relief purposes, -into twenty-two districts. Each has its local committee, who report to -the Central Executive Committee of Fifteen, whose chairman, Dr. J. S. -Mutznik, is a leading physician and one of Kishineff’s wealthy -residents. Assisting him are several equally representative Jews, like -Dr. Kohan-Bernstein, Rabbi Ettlinger, S. M. Grossman, E. Galperin, S. -Perelmutter, I. Kipperwasser, E. Reidel, M. Kligman, Z. Rosenfeld, -Israel Pappervasses, and several other well-known citizens. - -A Ladies’ Committee gives valuable co-operation, attending to and -reporting upon the women, girls, and orphans requiring aid. These ladies -showed me over the food, clothing, and general assistance departments -of the Central Committee Headquarters. I found everything well -organised and efficiently executed. The Rabbis and leading members of -the Ladies’ Committee have founded an asylum for the orphans of -massacred parents. - -I visited this temporary asylum and photographed the orphans and their -guardians. Up to the date of my departure the Central Relief Committee -had expended a total of 130,000 roubles; one-fourth of which was used in -the purchase and distribution of food for the people whose homes had -been destroyed, and for others made workless by the riots. Small sums of -money had been advanced to the owners of shops and little stores to -enable them to renew business; 1000 roubles were given in several -instances. - -This action of the Committee was severely criticised by the friends and -representatives of the Jews who were killed. These complained that the -money contributed from abroad ought to be apportioned according to -relative loss, and that the subscribers would not estimate the injury -done to a tailor’s or shoemaker’s store at three or four times the value -of a murdered father, mother, or brother. - -In this connection, I pointed out to Dr. Mutznik that, as those whose -stores were looted could, under Russian law, claim adequate compensation -from the city or the government, it would be more equitable to devote -the major portion of the funds received to the present and future -assistance of those who have suffered the greater wrong and injury in -the loss of parents, of employment, and in other ways. To this view he -agreed, though he was very doubtful if the claims for compensation -already lodged in behalf of the store-owners will be fairly dealt with, -or even considered, by the authorities. - -Under the law as it stands, three independent witnesses must depose, not -alone to the injury done to a particular store or business, but to the -person or persons accused of being guilty of the looting or -destruction. And no blood or marriage relative of the person seeking -redress is permitted to testify! Under such conditions, and in view of -the fact that most of the male Jews fled and hid themselves when the -outbreak occurred, many of the claims for compensation will fall to the -ground for want of sufficient evidence as to the names and complicity of -the actual perpetrators of the destruction. - -Dr. Mutznik believes that the relief work must be continued during the -coming winter, to the larger number of artisans and labour applicants. -Most of the Jewish merchants and employers have fled to Odessa, Cracow, -and other cities. They will not return until they are assured of safety, -and in their absence those whom they employed will, in all probability, -remain without work. - -My appeal through the press in behalf of the violated women and girls, -and for the orphans, was warmly endorsed by the Ladies’ Committee and -the Rabbis. Mesdames Mutznik and Hornstein, leading members of this -committee, with true matronly feeling, pleaded the exceptionally hard -cases of the young girls and of the violated married women. The case of -the orphans speaks for itself, and needs no advocacy apart from the -cruel facts which plead so forcibly for their utter helplessness. - -When visiting these little ones in their temporary shelter, and while -learning from the girls and women, whom the Rabbi assembled in his house -to meet me, the stories of the irreparable wrongs done them, and their -fears of the future now before them, I could not help indulging in the -hope that some wealthy Jewish merchant or banker in New York, London, or -Paris might have the heart and head to bring himself a life’s happiness -in the humane task of aiding these orphans and terribly wronged girls -and women which all the wealth of all the Jews in any one of these -cities could not purchase in palaces, banks, or pleasures. - -A Warsaw paper having published an account of the appeal in behalf of -the Kishineff sufferers, my hotel soon became a centre of attention and -of supplication. Hundreds of poor creatures of both sexes came to beg to -be enabled to emigrate. They had heard that the _American_ was proposing -to devote some of the money subscribed in New York and elsewhere to the -task of taking a few thousand families away from the city of blood to -the United States or to the Argentine. No matter what was the proposed -destination, they were willing to go, if it were only to some country -where Christians did not kill Jews. One petition, signed in behalf of -122 families, was presented to me to be forwarded to the _American_ in -the hope of having an early consideration of their claims. - -No explanation by my most capable dragoman would disabuse the minds of -these poor people of the forlorn belief that escape from a dreaded -recurrence of the horrors of April might lie in such a petition. - -Among my most persistent callers were two matronly-looking ladies, who -also begged to be sent to America. On the first occasion they did not -disclose the nature of their calling, or the extent of their losses. I -pressed them on these points when they came again. One of them replied, -“Our business has fallen off entirely since the riots.” - -And what was the business, inquired my dragoman. - -“We are midwives,” was the answer. The petition had, of course, to be -refused. - - -_Letter VI_ - -LONDON, June 6th. - -A few facts concerning Kishineff will be essential to the right -comprehension of the causes which led to the perpetration of the black -deeds of April, and to a proper understanding of a story of -deliberately plotted political crime. - -The last census, that of 1897, gave to Kishineff a population of 108,296 -souls. Of these over 50,000 were males. The present estimated population -may be put down at or about 130,000. These are divided racially as -follows: Jews, 50,000; Moldavians (Christians), 50,000; Russians, 8000, -with the residue comprising Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, Macedonians, -Albanians, and Germans. These figures and estimates are given me by Dr. -Kohan-Bernstein, a leading physician of the city, and are confirmed by -one of the Rabbis, who holds some kind of a government position in -connection with the special taxes levied on the Jews. - -The Jews are thus numerically in excess of the Russians and of all other -Christian sects combined, excepting the Moldavians, who are equally -strong in numbers, and even more bitter in their anti-Semitic feeling -than those of Russian blood. - -Fully fifty per cent. of the Jews of Kishineff are artisans and -labourers, and in the great majority of cases they are wretchedly poor. -The stern needs of daily life, the want of bread and the shelter of a -home, compel them to work for any pay that may be offered to them. - -The Jewish artisan is far and away more intelligent and skilled than his -Moldavian or Russian neighbour of like occupation. He is more expert in -technical details, and more ambitious to do better and to perform more -work for his employer. Poor as he may be he reads more newspapers, and -is an all-round formidable rival to workers who dislike him for his -race, and who dread him as an increasing and competing factor in the -industrial world of Kishineff. - -These facts will account to some extent for the part which Christian -workers took in the organised riots of April. - -One fact more in this connection has an important bearing upon another -feature of the outbreak--the pillaging of shops and saloons. Kishineff -is the capital of Bessarabia, and is its largest trading and commercial -centre. There are rival Christian and Jewish interests at work in -catering for the needs of so large a place, and these interests collide -in competitive activity in almost every branch of business life. - -There are shops, warehouses, and saloons where Christian and Jewish -rivalry conflicts, and in such a combat the Gentile is nowhere, in trade -competition, with the fertile and adroit Jew. Hence, there is as strong -a commercial antipathy toward the unpopular Hebrew in fairly educated -Russian and Moldavian circles as is found on other grounds among the -anti-Semitic artisans and labourers. - -These circumstances account for the complacency--to put it no -stronger--with which merchants and leaders of the Christian community -looked on at the pillaging of shops and the destruction of saloons which -belonged to their Jewish rivals. And they also explain why saloons and -stores of Jewish ownership were alone the objects of the mob’s -attention; for the riot was not an affair of blind, popular fury, bent -upon indiscriminate lawlessness. Nothing of the kind. It was -deliberately organised and intelligently directed from start to finish -by leaders who knew what they were about, and how to discriminate -between Russian and Moldavian property and Semitic belongings, in the -matter of looting, and between Jewish and Christian women in another and -more infernal business. - -Kishineff, in its central and chief business parts, is a handsome town. -Its leading boulevard, Alexandra Street, would do credit to any American -city. It is more than twice the width of Broadway, New York; is planted -on both sides with acacia trees, and can boast of imposing public -buildings, substantial shops, banks, and jewellers’ stores. - -The municipal headquarters, built, like most of the prominent structures -of the city, with a whitish stone, is situated near the middle of the -leading thoroughfare and wears a stately and striking appearance. The -streets are all wide and run as in American cities, at right angles to -each other in uniform arrangement. They are nearly all planted; a -feature which adds greatly to the beauty of the city, in combining the -light green foliage of the acacia trees with the bright, clean look of -the houses and public buildings. - -The Royal Gardens and People’s Park are in the centre of the city. -Military bands play each evening in the former, and attract large crowds -of well-dressed citizens, officers of the garrison, youth, and -particularly ladies. - -The city, in its chief business and fashionable districts, has the look -of a comfortable, fairly wealthy, up-to-date bourgeois centre, and a -well-governed municipal community; a most unlikely place, in the eyes of -a visitor, to offer itself as a theatre for one of the most abominable -tragedies in modern times. - -Kishineff owes its success and prosperity almost exclusively to the -Jews. Thirty years ago it was little more than a rough Bessarabian -village. To-day it ranks, in South Russia, next to Odessa--where there -are over 200,000 of the same race--in population, commercial standing, -and wealth, and all this is freely admitted by educated Russians. - -Jews in Russia are compelled by law to reside inside a Pale of -Settlement, or territory comprising some fifteen governments, or -provinces, of western and southern Russia, extending south from the -coast of the southern Baltic to the Crimea, and westward from Charkov -and Smolensk to the borders of Roumania, Galicia, and Prussian Poland. -The area thus embraced in the Jewish Pale is about equal to that of -France, and the number of people of this section of Russia is upward of -27,000,000. - -Under the ukase of 1882, which compelled Jews to leave the villages and -live within the towns, these centres became crowded inside of what thus -became virtual economic concentration camps. - -Within these limits of legal domicile the density of Hebrew population -is at the rate of some 2800 per square mile. In the non-Jewish towns of -Russia the average is about 60 of urban to 1000 of rural population. -Within the fifteen provinces included in the Jewish Pale, the average is -close upon 230 of urban to every 1000 of country population. - -The effects of this crowding of Jews into the towns of the Pale are as -obvious as they are inevitable. There is a dense population, restricted -by necessity and disposition to certain pursuits and occupations, in -places where the economic conditions do not provide opportunities for -the healthy exercise of one-fourth of the industry or abilities which -could under normal conditions find opportunities for profitable -employment. - -There are towns in which Jewish tradesmen and artisans are 50 per cent. -of the total population. They are literally penned in within these -places. - -This is the economic side of the problem of the Russian Jew. The -political side is even more serious to the Russian administration, and -here we are approaching the consideration of what was the real -underlying cause of the outbreak of a month ago. - -All the Jews of the Pale are not poor. Quite the contrary. Despite the -restricted area allowed them, large numbers of them are wealthy through -successful trading. Another and larger section exploit inferior Russian -intelligence and capacity, and earn money in legally forbidden ways by -making it fairly profitable for the obliging Christian to act as a -shield or deputy for the legally boycotted Jew. - -Saloons are owned in this way by Jews, and are worked for them by -Christians. - -The Jew must not own land. But he can organise a company, place a -Russian in nominal headship of the concern, and in this manner make a -profit out of Russian agriculture. - -In many other ways the keen intelligence, the inherited racial capacity -for financial undertakings, the greater natural ability and better -education of the business Jew, and also of the higher artisan Hebrew -section, enable them, even in the face of all the obstacles put in their -way, to give their sons and daughters an education which is gradually -evolving out of an oppressed and degraded race a people of progressive -thought and of political aspirations, who are deemed to be a most -dangerous menace to the government and administration of an -autocratically ruled country. - -The educated Jew in Russia is more than an accidental ally of what may -be termed Russian liberal tendencies. He occupies within this huge -empire a semi-penalised political and racial status. - -None of the higher state schools must admit more than 5 per cent. of Jew -pupils, even where, as in Kishineff, the Jews are five times more -numerous than the Russians proper. - -The Jew cannot buy land. - -He is debarred from administrative positions, except in lower grades of -employment, and while he is compelled to serve in the army, he cannot -claim the usual rewards or aspire to the ordinary ambition of men who -make no greater sacrifice than he in the common military service of the -empire. - -All these facts, disabilities, and oppressive and depressing conditions, -acting upon the thoughts and ideals of a brainy people, are producing a -powerful anti-Russian political force along the southwestern portion of -the Tsar’s most vulnerable frontier--that bordering upon the Austrian -and Germanic empires. In other words, the Jewish Pale is becoming the -nursery of revolutionary Socialist ideas and the active centre of an -anti-autocratic propaganda. - -The riots and terrorism of April, with their attendant horrors, were -deliberately planned, not by robbers or murderers, not on account of -religious bigotry, but for the reasons I have just given--namely, the -feeling of hostility in the minds of administrative employés to a race -believed to be plotting against the Empire, combined with the jealousy -of local artisans and proletarians of the cheaper, better, and pushing -Hebrew workingmen, compelled by absolute necessity to earn a living -within a legally circumscribed sphere of industrial activity. - -Hence, on the direct incitation of the local anti-Semite _Bessarabetz_ -newspaper, edited by a Russian, who is really a Moldavian, and which is -the only paper published here and read by administrative employés, -Seminarists, and other enemies of Jews, it was resolved, in an organised -riot, to strike terror into the Jewish community of Kishineff, with the -double object of punishing what is believed to be a hostile element -conspiring against the Government, and of forcing the Jews to leave the -city. - - -_Letter VII_ - -DALKEY, June 9th, 1903. - -The hideous realities of the actual outrages committed during the two -days’ inferno of murder and outrage surpass in the naked horror of their -details almost anything which the imagination could invent. I hate to -return to further reference to these deeds. It has become a horrible and -repugnant subject, but I convince myself that some good will come of it -in tending to keep alive the sympathy of the American people in the -future of the victims who escaped with life, but also with broken hearts -and the outlook of a dismal future. - -Meyer Weissman had a very small store in one of the poorest Jewish -quarters of the city. He had lost an eye, by an accident, when young. -The mob attacked and demolished his little grocery on Easter Sunday. He -offered them all the money in his possession to spare his life. It was -a sum of sixty roubles. The leader took the money, and then said: “Now, -we want your eye; you will never again look upon a Christian child.” He -implored them to kill him instead of making him blind for life. They -gouged out his eye with a sharpened stick, and left him. Amidst sobs and -suffering he told me his story in the Jewish Hospital. - -Near the bed of poor blind Meyer Weissman was that of Joseph -Shainovitch, whose head had been battered with bludgeons, and the victim -left for dead. He told me that it was this same gang who killed his -mother-in-law, by driving nails through her eyes into the brain. This -story I refused to believe, thinking it might be born of some horrible -nightmare following the poor fellow’s terrible experience. But from no -less than six different sources, one of them being a Christian doctor, I -learned that the facts were as stated by Joseph. Among the other -witnesses were the men who dug the unfortunate woman’s grave. - -In the female ward of the same hospital there were still upwards of a -dozen girls and married women, when I visited the place, whose injuries -were too serious to allow of their discharge. I heard their stories: at -least those which could in part be related to a man. - -One of the girls, aged about seventeen, was a perfect type of Jewish -beauty, with a face which a painter would envy as a model for a Rachel. -Her head was covered with bandages. She had been alone for three hours -in the hands of a dozen men, who had killed her father and mother, and -they left her for dead. A young Jew, evidently her lover, sat at her -bedside while the tale of her sufferings and losses was being told. - -In the next bed was a married woman, a mother of four children. She had -not fully recovered consciousness, and all the events of the night of -her agony were as yet not completely known to her. She, too, had been -beaten and left for dead, after having been assaulted by many men. - -At the Rabbi’s house, as already related, I met several more victims of -the mob’s nameless infamies. One was a girl of sixteen, named Simme -Zeytchik, very pretty, and childish-looking for her years. She said that -all her assailants were Russians, mainly Seminarists, and told the Rabbi -that fifteen of these young ruffians had outraged her. - -She was one of twenty women who had sought refuge in the loft of the -house No. 11 Nicolaievskai Street, and who were discovered by the mob, -as were several other groups of women and girls in similar -hiding-places. - -I have before me a record of thirteen girls and women of ages ranging -from seventeen to forty-eight, who were assaulted by from two to twenty -men, and in many cases left for dead. - -Six young girls who are known to have undergone similar violence were -ashamed to come to the Rabbi’s house to tell their tale of wrong and -ruin. - -The foregoing list does not exhaust the number of women who were -subjected to the greatest wrong that can be done to their sex. - -All house-breaking and robbery were suspended in the night-time during -the outbreak, and the younger men of the thirty or forty gangs of -rioters went in search of the hidden girls and married women. Those who -can do so naturally hide the narrative of their wrong, and suffer in -silence. The actual number of the mob’s victims in the most ruffianly of -their crimes will therefore never be fully known. - -Apart from the desperate and hopeless efforts of the forty murdered men -to save wives and daughters, and the solitary attempt at organised -resistance described in a previous letter, the 10,000 or 12,000 Jewish -men of Kishineff offered little or no resistance to the 1500 or 2000 -Moldavian and Russian assailants of their women, homes, and property. -Ninety per cent. of them hid themselves, or fled to safer parts in and -out of the city for refuge. - -A thousand determined men, even in spite of the action of the Chief of -Police in virtually protecting the mob, could have saved many lives and -averted most of the outrages on the women and girls. One plucky little -Jew, Leon Koulberg by name, a member of the Kishineff Fire Brigade, with -only a few helpers, faced a band of fifty-six Moldavians and drove them -from his district. - -Many Russians of both sexes nobly exerted themselves to protect the -women from the mob. But from no quarter in the city, and from no source, -did I learn of any attempt being made by Russian or Moldavian clergymen -(with one solitary exception) to perform a similar Christian duty. - -Instances of incredible baseness on the part of the Moldavians were -given me by various witnesses. - -Mordka Mynduik was escaping from a gang of ruffians in the Skulanska -Rogatka suburb. He was invited into a Moldavian neighbour’s house, and -murdered by those who had offered him hospitality and protection. - -Israel Ullman fell a victim to a similar act of Moldavian perfidy. - -Three men and a woman with a child were fleeing from pursuers, and were -directed to take a certain course over a field towards the railway -station. They ran into an ambush, and two of the men were killed, the -woman and child, however, escaping. - -Another woman and her child sought the house of a converted Jew for -safety, after her home had been demolished. The “Christian” Jew holds a -position under the City Government. He knew the frightened woman well, -and had been on terms of the closest intimacy with her family before -climbing into office as the reward of his “conversion.” He shut the door -in the face of the terrified wife of his former friend. - -What impressed one most painfully in Kishineff, after the narratives of -outrage, was the seeming indifference of the mass of the Russian and -Moldavian people over the whole infernal business. They had to -recognise the great injury done to the city by the riots and their -results. That was too patent to be ignored. But, with the exception of a -comparatively small number of Christians, already alluded to, there -appeared to be neither regret nor remorse among the citizens generally -over the deeds which had riveted the world’s attention upon them as a -community capable of perpetrating acts so base and inhuman. This callous -bearing I attribute mainly to the tactics of the anti-Semitic press, -combined with the amazing silence maintained by the Greek Church -prelates and clergy in relation to these crimes. - -The _Bessarabetz_ and _Znamya_, the only papers circulating in -Kishineff, audaciously blamed the Jews for what had occurred, and -carefully abstained from reproducing the comments of foreign journals -upon the rioting at Eastertide. By this means the people were prevented -realising the extent and character of the external indignation aroused -by the reports of the events of April, and they were left by these -means, or by their own indifference, a community apparently unconcerned -about the massacres and infamies which had found victims only among -Jews. - -As far as I could learn, there had not been a solitary word spoken or -act done by any of the prominent ecclesiastical authorities of Kishineff -which could be construed, even charitably, into a condemnation of the -killing of harmless men and the ravishing of innocent girls beneath the -shadows of the many Christian churches which adorn the capital of -Bessarabia. The sufferers were only Jews. - -Each evening during my stay in this soulless city large crowds gathered -in the Royal Gardens to enjoy the music of the fine Dragoon Band which -performed Polish polkas, and the Hungarian “Chardash” and Russian -marches in faultless fashion. Throngs of gaily dressed ladies, under the -escort of the young officers of the garrison, were always in evidence, -along with students from the colleges and Seminarists supplied by the -religious high schools of the city. It was fashionable Kishineff’s -rendezvous for evening enjoyment, recreation, and social gossip, and the -tables of the cafés rang with laughter when the groups of visitors were -not drinking in the music of some operatic selection or of an inviting -waltz from the band. - -Not a single Jew had been seen in this place of popular resort since -April 19th. - -One evening my dragoman called my attention to a group of young -Seminarists sitting at a table near to ours. They were boisterous in -their merriment, and appeared to be enjoying the recital of some -unusually piquant incident or adventure, amidst the smoke of their -cigarettes and the relish of their coffee. - -“That gang,” observed my dragoman, “judging from what I have heard some -of them say, must have been among those who violated the girls and women -in the loft of No. 11 Nicolaievskai Street, where Simme Zeytchik was -outraged by a number of young students.” - -It was only that morning we had seen this girl of sixteen at the Rabbi’s -house, and heard her story. - -The Mayor of Kishineff, M. Karl Schmidt, received me most courteously -when I called upon him in the fine municipal buildings on the Alexandra -boulevard. He has been burgomaster of the city for a quarter of a -century, almost in unbroken succession. A man of some sixty summers, of -tall and commanding appearance and of cultured manner, he impresses you -at once with the feeling that you are in the presence of a strong, -capable, and upright personality. - -He willingly accorded me an interview, but answered my questions in a -manner suggesting a reserve which was more official than personal: - -“What was the origin of the outbreak, Mr. Mayor?” - -“The writings in the anti-Semitic press, and their effect upon the -minds of ignorant people who dislike the Jews both for their race and -religion. The alleged murder by Jews of the Christian boy at Doubossar -and of a girl here in Kishineff, who committed suicide, inflamed the -populace. When the real facts were published, the truth was believed to -be an invention to cover up a Jewish crime, and the frequenters of cafés -and the workingmen, who are hostile to the Jews, remained convinced that -Christian blood had been actually obtained in this way for ritual -purposes.” - -“Do you find the Jews of the city a turbulent or provocative people?” - -“No. They resemble most other people, in having good and bad numbered -among them. There has been nothing whatever in their behaviour, as far -as my many years’ experience of Kishineff goes, to explain or in any way -to palliate the attacks made upon them. The great mass of them are very -poor, but they are most patient and never disorderly.” - -“Have they any secret or revolutionary society here?” - -“Nothing, in my belief, worth serious attention. Some of the younger -Jews call themselves Socialists, but there are not many, and I do not -think they need cause the authorities any serious anxiety.” - -“Is there any similar organisation, under any name, among the Russian or -Moldavian workingmen?” - -“There is some kind of a society which scatters pamphlets about and -things of that kind from time to time. Its members were among the -rioters and against the Jews.” - -“Do you take the reports of the riots in the matters of the killed, -wounded, and looting as having been exaggerated?” - -“No. I am sorry to say there were more people killed than the -forty-three reported deaths. A few bodies have been found since the last -report was issued. The number of persons wounded is difficult to find -out. Many poor Jews who want to obtain a share of the relief funds -declare they were injured, but they carry no traces of wounds or hurts, -when examined. The accounts of the destruction of dwellings and stores -have not been overstated. Enormous damage has been done, and both the -city and the actual sufferers will feel the great loss for years to -come. I understand you have been visiting the scenes of the disorders, -and you can judge for yourself as to the extent of the damage and -mischief done.” - -“Do you anticipate any recurrence of the trouble on the Emperor’s day?” -(Date of the Tsar’s Coronation, May 27th.) - -“I have seen the Vice-Governor on the matter, owing to the rumours you -mention, and I am satisfied he will act promptly and severely if any -attempt of the kind should be made. He will post soldiers at all points -of danger near where the Jews reside, and these will be under officers -who will have orders to fire on any persons who may try to renew the -riots.” - -“Is it true, as reported, that the police were, to some extent, -participators in the Easter outrages?” - -“That is not an easy nor yet a pleasant question to answer. I have no -control of any kind over the police force of the city, and I was not a -witness of the disgraceful events in April. Some loot was, I believe, -found in the possession of a few policemen, and this fact has given rise -to the charge to which you refer. But it is most unfair to impute to all -the force of the city and to its officers conduct so disgraceful, owing -to the very few who were mixed up with the disturbers and their -looting.” - -“What forces, military and police, were in the city in April?” - -“Probably about seven or eight thousand troops and three hundred police -and officers.” - -“Surely, there were in these forces means enough to have dealt promptly -and effectively with the bands of rioters?” - -The Mayor showed evidence of painful hesitation before replying to this -question, but ultimately said: - -“Oh, there was a most lamentable and unfortunate misunderstanding!” -Whereupon he politely handed me another cigarette, to indicate that it -would be no use to pursue that subject any further. - -“Can you suggest any remedy to prevent these anti-Semitic outbursts, Mr. -Mayor?” - -“I fear not. The Government measures promulgated, from time to time, -with regard to the Jews, are deemed necessary for the preservation of -order. I cannot discuss the worth or wisdom of these measures, but I can -understand why the Jews should think them unjust.” - -“One question more, sir: Do you think that the Zionist movement offers -any feasible or effective solution of the question?” - -“As the Mayor of Kishineff, I would consider the loss of the Jewish -community as a commercial calamity for the city. But, I confess, if I -were a Jew, I would be a Zionist.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -III. M. DE PLEHVE’S VERSION - - -The official explanation from the Russian Government was made by M. de -Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, to Mr. Arnold White. The -following is the full text of the document, which was sent to Mr. White -in the English language, and published in _The Times_, June 13, 1903: - -“Russia’s agricultural and labour population is ill at ease, living -common life with Jewish inhabitants of wide-developed commercial -instinct. Hence constant antagonism, material racial religious character -coming to verge of frenzy at least possible occasion. Strained relations -between Russians and Jews of Bessarabia were made the worst by fact of -finding outlying village murdered Christian boy, murder attributed by -population to ritual Jewish habits. Official denials ritual murder not -given credit by peasants, attributing other murders of Christians in -towns Kiev and Kishineff likewise to Jews. On Easter Day, on market -place of Kishineff, workers holiday-making saw a Jew proprietor of -carousing machine strike a Christian women, who fell to the ground, -letting go her infant baby. This incident was nearest cause of outburst. -Workers began breaking windows, pulling down Jewish stores as sign of -protest. Police, which always gives much to be desired in provincial -towns, failed to make efficacious intervention, the many thousand mass -of onlookers and holiday-makers approving riot, hindering policemen’s -actions. After demonstrators came plunderers’ outbreak, lasting from -five in the afternoon to ten evening, and leaving nine Jewish bodies on -place. Night brought disturbance to end what goes far to prove momentous -character of outbreak letting loose popular passions with strength -natural forces. On Monday morning Jews wishing intimidate and inflict -punishment on Christian workers, began on market place, assembling in -groups armed sticks and weapons; Jews being more numerous had best of it -in two first encounters, and a Christian was seen to fall, receiving -bullet wound. This called forth popular passion in all its abject force -and abomination. Russian peasants driven to frenzy, excited by race -religious hatred, under influence of alcohol, being worse than South -Americans lynching negroes. Unfortunately Governor of Bessarabia did not -make appearance in person. Easter Sunday and Monday gave over command to -military men what he had no right of doing, as he, in consequence, had -put the police aside, and on the other hand, left the military forces -without actual guidance. Troops can take towns by assault, but cannot -carry out police duties without special instructions. In the end, the -town being divided in districts, with a special military command in -each, the disturbances ceased on Monday evening. By this time the -Minister of the Interior had ordered by wire to proclaim martial law, -and--an unprecedented fact--had sent the Director of Police Department -to investigate as to the responsibilities of local officials. In -consequence the Governor, the chief of the town police, and some other -officials were dismissed outright. Many hundreds of rioters are in -prison with hard work in the Siberian mines awaiting them after trial. -The Minister of the Interior has issued a circular to the Governors all -over Russia authorising them to make immediate use of firearms in case -of anti-Jewish disturbances. - -“The Russian Government is the first to disapprove of such horrid acts -of violence, but it cannot, in compliance with the requests of the -Radical and revolutionary Press, give the Jews new rights of -citizenship, as this is sure to drive the Russian population to new -excesses against the Jews, who are hated by peasants with such -extraordinary force.” - -A further statement was made by M. de Plehve to Mr. White[6] in reply to -a communication calling his Excellency’s attention to the statement -“from our Russian correspondents” in _The Times_ of June 6th, that -General Von Raaben, the Governor of Kishineff, telegraphed three times -to the Minister of the Interior during the riots for permission to use -force before he received any reply: - -ST. PETERSBURG, June 7 (20). - - The former Governor of Bessarabia, the General Von Raaben, had not, - when in office, sent to the central Government authorities any - request whatever, asking for authorisation to use force against the - Kishineff miscreants. All communications with the Governor of - Bessarabia relating to the disturbances in Kishineff were limited - to the following proceedings: - - 1. Having received in the night on the 7th of April a telegram - announcing the outbreak of disturbances, the Minister of the - Interior, who was at the time staying in Moscow, had made, on the - 7th of April, a personal report of this news to his Majesty, and - had received the Emperor’s instructions directing him to send to - the Governor von Raaben an implicit order to put an immediate end - to the disturbances by any means at his disposal, however they may - be resolute and harsh. The Minister, accordingly, sent to the - Governor of Bessarabia an urgent telegram giving this order. - - 2. The same day the Minister of the Interior, of his own accord, - sent to the Governor of Bessarabia another telegram declaring the - town Kishineff and its district in the state of enforced security - (something of a state of siege), and this was made in order to give - the Governor the means of inflicting, by way of administrative - power, punishment on persons who assemble in crowds on the streets. - - 3. On receiving the report of the Director of the Police Department - who was sent by the Minister to Kishineff in order to investigate - in person as to the cause of the disturbances, and the means taken - to quell them, and render their recurrence impossible, the Minister - of the Interior had written to the General Von Raaben a letter, - requesting him to dismiss the chief of the town police in Kishineff - for failing to make an effective use of the power he was invested - with as an official responsible for the security of the town - inhabitants. And, lastly, - - 4. The Minister of the Interior had, by telegram, informed the - General Von Raaben that his Majesty had, for the same reasons, - ordered him to be dismissed. - - No other communications had passed, on the question of the - Kishineff riots, between the Minister of the Interior and the - Governor of Bessarabia. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -IV. AN IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT - - -It will be observed that M. de Plehve ignores altogether the part played -by the _Bessarabetz_ in the period which led up to the massacres. He -makes mention of the fact that he sent the chief Director of Police to -investigate the origin of the assassinations and the conduct of the -officials. But he omits all mention of the petition presented to the -Director-General Lopoukhine, in behalf of the relations of victims, in -which the responsibility of this paper was clearly demonstrated in no -less than thirty-five marked copies, handed to the Director-General, -containing in citations to murder the Jews, and to drive them from -Russia. - -M. de Plehve next asserts that the “nearest cause of the outburst” was -the striking of a Christian woman on Easter Day in the market place “by -a Jew proprietor of a carousing machine.” Here again the Minister has -been badly informed by his subordinates. - -I sought for and found the proprietor of this identical carousing -machine (a merry-go-round). He was not a Jew, but a Christian, German by -nationality, and Reinhold Mergert by name. He told me he saw no -Christian or other woman struck by any Jew on the occasion, while no -such act was committed by himself or anyone in his employment. - -Had any such injury been done to a Christian woman by a Jew, would the -carousing machine have been spared by the mobs which wrecked seven -hundred Jewish homes, and five or six hundred Jewish shops the same day? -Or would the Jew be alive to tell the story? - -I saw this very machine in full swing, with its loads of laughing -children, on several days during my stay in the city. - -“Workers then began breaking windows, pulling down Jewish stores, as -sign of protest,” continues M. de Plehve, in his official explanation. - -My information, gathered on the spot from eye-witnesses--Russian and -Jewish--tells a far different story. It is this: - -A few nights before the outbreak, members of the society organised by -the _Bessarabetz_, a large number of Moldavian and Russian artisans, and -several Seminarists and students, assembled in the “Moscow” hall. -Speeches were made in which it was declared that the Tsar had given -permission to kill Jews for a period of three days, beginning on the -coming Sunday! - -The conveners of this meeting were the leaders of the mobs of Sunday, -April 19th, and Monday, the 20th. - -That there had been plan, premeditation, and organisation for all this, -there is not a shadow of doubt. It was no sudden uprising, as M. de -Plehve had been informed, but a carefully prepared and officered -arrangement to strike terror into the “Jewish Socialists” of Kishineff, -and, through them, into the alleged propagandists of revolutionary -doctrines throughout the cities and towns of the Pale, from Odessa to -Warsaw. - -One more fact establishing the case of preparation: - -A fortnight before the riots the band of thirty Albanians referred to in -Letter IV arrived in Kishineff. They were strangers and evil-looking. -They all took part in the riots, and the mutilations of a child and of -two of the four Jews murdered at 13 Asia Street, Bender Rogatka -district, were the work of these imported brigands. They were not -imprisoned after the riot. They were expelled the city. - -The various bands of rioters referred to above proceeded with absolute -impunity, in presence of the police, to destroy Jewish homes and smash -and loot Jewish shops, until darkness set in, on the Sunday night. In -places where Christian citizens lived among Hebrews, a cross marked in -black was found on the front of the house, or an ikon was displayed in -a window. Not one of the dwellings thus indicated as non-Jewish was -injured. I counted over a hundred such houses marked and protected in -this manner during my stay in the city. At the junction of Podolian -Street and Armenian Street, looking out upon an open space, with a -police station forty paces away, and a military barracks some two or -three hundred yards distant, the Feldstein premises were in possession -of the looters for fully five hours, owing to the trouble they found in -breaking open Mr. Feldstein’s safe, where they found fifteen thousand -roubles. All this time police and soldiers were in the street, actually -looking on at the “sport.” The looters were grateful for this official -neutrality, and brought up out of the Feldstein cellars bottles of -champagne which they shared freely with the officers of the peace and a -few of the soldiers, one leader of the gang, mounting the roof of the -saloon, and asking the crowd of spectators to drink with him “the -health of Kroushevan, the Editor of the _Bessarabetz_, and terror of -the Jews.” - -Before this festive toast had been proposed the incident of the meat -took place, which had such a fiendish influence upon the subsequent -proceedings of these patronised ruffians.[7] - -The attack on the Feldstein saloon and home occurred near the dinner -hour, and some meat was being prepared for the family meal. The family -fled, or rather was rescued by a humane gendarme, a neighbour, when the -mob assailed the premises. The rioters found the meat alluded to in the -kitchen, whereupon the leader of the band fixed it upon the end of his -stick, mounted the house-top (a building of one story), and, holding up -the meat to the gaze of the people and police below, shouted, “Behold -the remains of a Christian child which we found in the home of the rich -Jew, Feldstein!” - -By eleven o’clock that night ten Jews had been murdered, and hundreds -of homes and shops broken into and looted. - -Over twenty thousand roubles’ worth of costly wines was destroyed in the -Feldstein premises. After eleven at night dozens of vehicles were seen -carting away goods and property from places visited by the mobs, and -articles of furniture, which had been flung into the streets. The -vehicles were owned and led, in every instance, by virtuous -anti-Semites. - -During all these hours General Von Raaben, the Governor, remained -indoors. No orders of any kind were issued by him, or by the -Vice-Governor, either to the police or military. The mobs were left in -possession of the city, with not alone the indirect encouragement by the -non-action of the authorities, in face of assassinations and looting, -but with the knowledge that the head of the police of the city, -Tchemzenkov, or “Baroda,” as he was popularly called, had been seen -driving round the streets during the day, smoking, as if thoroughly -enjoying the whole infernal saturnalia of sanguinary ruffianism. - -Seeing that there was no protection offered them by the authorities, -some Jews organised themselves during the night of Sunday, and on the -“sport” being renewed at eight on Monday morning, they gathered, to the -number of 150, at the New Bazaar, and easily drove away one or two of -the gangs, one shot only having been fired, which inflicted a slight -wound upon a rioter. Instantly the police and military were on the -scene; the Jews were dispersed, and their leaders arrested and lodged in -the prison. - -The deeds of Sunday were more than surpassed, in character and in -number, on the second day. Over thirty more men, women, and children -were butchered; some of the unfortunate victims being mutilated in a -manner more barbarous than anything recorded against the customs of -African savages. Then, at the hour of seven on Monday evening, the city -was declared in a state of siege, and the military cleared the centre -of the town of the murderous bands in a few moments. But only to drive -them to the Bender Rogatka, Skulanska Rogatka, and other districts and -suburbs, where they sought out the women and girls who were concealed in -lofts and in other hiding-places the previous day. - -It is not possible to describe the outrages perpetrated during this -night. Women and girls who went through it all told me their stories in -the house of the Rabbi and elsewhere, and it was impossible to doubt the -statements which, in depicting the infamies resorted to by “Christian” -men, recorded their own sufferings and dishonour. - -One statement must, however, be put on record. A number of women and -girls, some twenty in all, were discovered concealed in a loft at No. 11 -Nicolaievskai Street. For four hours the moral pupils of the -_Bessarabetz_, and of the religious and other colleges of Kishineff, -held their victims in this dark place; several of these being girls -under seventeen. A married woman, who succeeded, after being violated by -six ruffians, in breaking away from her captors, ran to the nearest -police station, and implored an officer to rescue the women, including -her daughter, Simme, aged sixteen. She was driven from the station and -told that “the Jews are only getting what they deserve.” The woman’s -name is Chane Zeytchik, and the gallant officer in question is one -Maretzky. - -There were many exceptions, however, among the police; the dictates of -decent humanity asserting themselves where the connivance of their chief -had outraged their sense of moral manhood. Among these was officer -Sloutschevsky, of one of the Bender Rogatka streets, who with twelve men -drove a mob of seventy out of his district. Several artillery officers -off duty also helped to save families and women. These instances of -Samaritan kindness were gratefully mentioned to me by both men and women -who had witnessed such acts. Among the comparatively few Christians who -were conspicuous in this humane service were the citizens Dorianov, -Demtchenks, Dr. Doroschevsky, Dr. Wolsky, the pope Laschkov, and M. -Georgior. Many Russian women also saved the girls of their Jewish -neighbours by giving them shelter in their homes. - -The mobs were composed mainly of Moldavian and Russian workingmen; the -former being five-sevenths of the whole. The Albanian contingent has -already been referred to. A few Macedonian refugees, and some -Bulgarians, were also among the gangs. All the accounts given to me -agreed in one particular--that the worst crimes were the work of the -Moldavians. In the murders inside the carpenter’s shed in the Skulanska -Rogatka suburb, all the assassins were Moldavians resident in the very -district. The sister-in-law of little Feya Wouller[8] told me that the -Moldavian father and son who led the mob in this work, and in the -murder of her husband, who tried to save his little sister, were walking -about free during my stay in Kishineff, having been released from prison -after a few days’ detention. - -A brace of other assassins, a car-driver and his son, who were concerned -in no less than four murders, were pointed out to me in the streets! - -One feature of the massacres is most significant, and is not mentioned -by M. de Plehve in his official account, namely: All the Jews who were -killed, with one exception, were workingmen, regular or casual; -carpenters, masons, smiths, clerks, and a few very poor jobbing dealers. -The exception was one Galantor, a cattle dealer, who was known to have -fifteen thousand roubles in his possession. He was assassinated and -robbed by the driver and his son alluded to above. - -The women and girls who suffered were the wives and daughters of Jewish -artisans. Those females who were killed were also, like the male -victims, of the same class. A few young ladies of richer families -suffered too, but their names, for obvious reasons, were not made known -to their families. No rich Jews were killed or wounded. - -The leaders of the gangs, in almost every instance, were Seminarists, -disguised as workingmen. There were two students from Odessa, sons of -wealthy Kishineff families, prominent among the captains of the mobs; -but to the seminaries of the city belonged the shame and dishonour of -having contributed mostly all the directors, guides, and active -instigators of the two-days’ carnival of crime, lust, and looting. -Employés of the post office and telegraph departments were along among -the rioters, but chiefly for loot. - -Among the organisers of the plot, but not in the actual execution of it, -were a notary of the city, an engineer, a well-known wealthy citizen, -two minor officers, two sons of a rich merchant, and members of the -staff of the _Bessarabetz_. - -None of these had been arrested when I left Kishineff, on the 30th of -May last. - -The question of official responsibility has been raised, and a circular -alleged to have been issued by M. de Plehve has been published which -would tend to connect the Minister of the Interior with an intimate -knowledge of the intended outbreak. No one in Kishineff with whom I came -in contact knew of any such circular. Charges of complicity were freely -made against the Government by many leading Jews, but no proofs of any -kind were adduced. These charges were entirely based upon the culpable -inaction of Governor Von Raaben, and the all but active participation of -the head of the City Police in the riots, along with the well-known -anti-Semitic record and feeling of the Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff. - -Official responsibility might be deduced from these facts, but I failed -to discover any evidence, outside these circumstances, which could even -indirectly bring home to the Government the charge of guilty connivance -in the _Bessarabetz_ plot. - -The Governor was, beyond all doubt, the person most to blame for the -crimes which were allowed to disgrace the capital of his province and a -civilised city during two whole days. And he was forewarned in time of -what was coming. - -Ten days before Easter he was waited upon by leading Jewish citizens and -his attention called to the incendiary appeals of the _Bessarabetz_, in -connection with the murder of the boy at Doubossar. General Von Raaben -assured them that they need not dread any disturbance, as he would not -hesitate to employ all the military force at his disposal in order to -preserve law and order. He fulfilled this promise on Easter Sunday and -Monday by refusing to leave his house during the forty-eight hours in -which the slaughter of forty-five victims of the anti-Semitic crusade -was carried out. - -It has been alleged that the Governor, on realising the gravity of the -first day’s events, wired to St. Petersburg for authority to declare a -state of siege. This I believe to be untrue. M. de Plehve’s explicit -statements, as given in his second communication to Mr. Arnold White, -dispose of this allegation. In face of the clear language of the -Criminal Code it would be an absurd and unnecessary proceeding on the -part of the Governor. - -Clause 340 of this Code, and Clauses 1 and 8 of the supplement to -Section 316, of Vol. II., give, I am informed, the fullest powers to the -administration of any province or city to take all necessary measures -for quelling riots or disturbances which threaten to become a menace to -life or property. There could, therefore, be no excuse or ambiguity in -the language of the law necessitating such a message, as that alleged, -to the central Government. What happened, in all probability, was this: -Someone in lower authority, seeing the criminal neglect of the Governor -in presence of such a situation as was developed on Monday morning, may -have telegraphed to M. de Plehve an account of what was taking place. -This would necessarily have to be verified, in reply to messages from -the Minister, and in this way, as he relates in his despatch to Mr. -Arnold White, he ordered martial law to be proclaimed on Monday evening; -unfortunately after most of the murders and other outrages had been -committed. - -In an official sense only M. de Plehve is answerable for the conduct of -his subordinates, as all Ministers are, under similar circumstances, -even in constitutionally governed countries; but without evidence, which -has not yet been forthcoming from any quarter, I refuse to credit -accusations of direct cognisance of, or complicity in, the plot which -owed its origin to the indications of a powerful local paper; its plan -and purpose to local anti-Semites; and in the execution of which several -minor officials of the local administration, some police officers, -employés of public departments, students, Seminarists, and Moldavian -and Russian artisans were notoriously engaged. In character it was a -savage anti-Semitic outbreak, and in purpose a terrorising demonstration -against the Jews as advocates of Socialism and suspected enemies of the -Tsar’s Government. - -M. de Plehve’s borrowed version of the origin and objects of the -outbreak is the concoction of incriminated local officials, and members -of the _Bessarabetz_ staff. It is therefore, and on that account, -prejudiced and untrue. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -V. DOCUMENTS - - -(I) _Petition addressed by the Jews of Kishineff to the Director-General -of the Police Department sent from St. Petersburg by M. de Plehve to -investigate the causes of the massacres._ - - -TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE DIRECTOR OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT: - -We, the numerous Jewish inhabitants of the town of Kishineff, having -suffered from an inhuman and sanguinary outburst which resulted in -unprecedented plundering on the part of an unrestrained mob on the 6th -and 7th (19th and 20th) of April, perceive in the arrival of your -Excellency into our town an unmistakable sign that the Supreme -Government takes an interest in the causes responsible for the sad -event, and in the conditions which made the occurrences assume such -terrible proportions. In this case we, the Jewish population of the town -of Kishineff, are convinced that your Excellency will not refuse to -listen to our complaints as sufferers. - -It is impossible, in our opinion, to attribute the causes of the present -outbreak to the economical exploitation of the Christians by the Jewish -inhabitants. Hitherto there has been no friction between Jews and -Christians, in Bessarabia in general and in Kishineff in particular. -This state of affairs is explained partly by the peaceful character of -the local population, partly by the favourable economic condition of the -province. The result has been that for the last twenty years there has -been no collision whatever between the two groups of the population in -the province of Bessarabia; and whilst in the South and Southwest of -Russia several outbreaks against the Jews have occurred, peace and order -reigned at Kishineff. - -When in the eighties the whole South was ablaze with attacks against -the Jews, not a single spark found its way into Bessarabia. During all -those years the province suffered on several occasions from failure of -crops, and yet the Christians never thought of attributing the cause of -economical troubles to their Jewish neighbours. The present year, -following upon a very good one for Bessarabia, could offer no reason -whatever for hostile feelings between Jews and Christians on economical -ground. - -We are therefore of opinion that the economical question must be -entirely excluded from a consideration of the recent massacres. Not only -does the rich and fertile province of Bessarabia secure an easy -existence for every kind of work, but it is also quite free from the -vagabond element of the rabble in seaports, from whom the rioters are -usually recruited. The recent outbreaks, unequalled even in the history -of attacks on the Jews, are so entirely out of harmony with the usual -social life and habits of the province, that we must necessarily look -for the reasons not in the relations existing between Jews and -Christians, but in special events which have taken place during the last -few years, and in certain occurrences immediately preceding the -outbreak. Among such events we count, in the first instance, the -influence of the local press, the only representative of which is the -_Bessarabetz_. This paper has been established for over five years. -Before its existence there was no local organ in the province (with the -exception of the short-lived _Bessarabsky Viestnik_). Thus the -_Bessarabetz_ was bound to begin its activity upon virgin soil, and its -influence was, for this very reason, considerable from the commencement. -In the second year of its existence the paper began a systematic -campaign of Jew-baiting, which took a much more monstrous form than that -in any other paper. The _Bessarabetz_ evidently made a special feature -of Jew-baiting. We could quote articles which plainly incite the mob to -exterminate the Jews. The local population, with only one paper, the -_Bessarabetz_, at its disposal, the Censor having refused to authorise -another organ, were told day by day that “_the Jews are enemies_,” and -that “_the Jews must be destroyed_.” - -The local Censor, in the person of the administrative power, evidently -found such a tendency useful from some other point of view, otherwise -his attitude remains quite incomprehensible. It naturally followed that -the average reader, and especially the half-educated mass, had in the -end to adopt the views of the press which told them that the -extermination of the Jews was not only desirable but also possible. This -is one phase of the state of affairs,--the preparatory stage, consisting -in the endeavour to influence the local population towards one end and -in one particular direction. The absence of any other local organs, the -attitude of the Censor, and the daily activity of several individuals -under the leadership of the editor of the _Bessarabetz_, helped forward -the movement. There is hardly a number of the paper which did not -contain an attack on the Jews. Phrases like “_death to the Jews_,” “_all -the Jews must be killed_,” were suggested regularly as the means of -solving the Jewish question. Being the only local organ the -_Bessarabetz_ is read in all the taverns and teashops, and it is evident -to what an extent this paper could foster the hatred of the Christians -towards the Jews and how all-pervading its influence upon the passions -of human nature must have been. - -In order to convince his readers of the necessity of solving the Jewish -question, especially in the spirit advocated by the paper, the editor of -the _Bessarabetz_ availed himself of the circumstances, inexplicable at -the beginning, attending the murder of a lad living in Doubossar. As -insinuatingly as possible he attributed the disappearance of the lad to -ritual murder by the Jews, and to the alleged requirement of Christian -blood. The official denial of the accusation by the competent judicial -authorities was purposely worded in such a way as to be only half -convincing. - -All these circumstances, together with the general attitude of the -_Bessarabetz_, could not but create such a state of mind in the mob that -one stone thrown into a Jewish window was sufficient to call forth a -regular attack. We are unable to trace the source whence came the -circulars read in the taverns and according to which: “the Tsar had -ordered the extermination of the Jews during the three days of Easter.” - -We must, however, remark that under the conditions existing, it was -impossible for the mob not to consider these circulars as the logical -sequel to the campaign of the _Bessarabetz_ extending over a course of -years. - -If we now turn to the lesson which the population of Kishineff could -take from the action of the local administrative authorities towards the -Jews, we see that the mass could not but come to the conclusion that -what was unlawful with regard to any other section of the inhabitants, -was legal and permissible where Jews were concerned. These acts include -the expulsion of Jews from various localities, subsequently recognised -as unjust by the Senate; and the actions of individuals, as, for -instance, the _Pristav_ Von Oglio. - -The Jewish population, becoming aware long before the festivals of the -attitude of the crowd and of the dangers that threatened them, addressed -themselves through their representatives to the Governor of the -province, and asked him to take the necessary measures to protect them -and their property. The Governor gave them a reply of a very assuring -nature, relying upon which the Jews considered it needless to think of -self-defence. - -Under these circumstances the Easter festival approached with danger -feared by all the population. It was talked of publicly and openly; it -was no secret even to the authorities. Strangely enough, however, not -only did the local government take no preparatory measures against a -possible outbreak, but even when the attack began it neglected to take -the steps within its power which would have prevented the massacres from -assuming unheard-of proportions, and of which it is impossible to speak -without feelings of horror and pity. Before the very eyes of the police -almost incredible havoc was worked upon human victims, and cruelties -committed unequalled in the history of Russia during the past few -decades. The military power remained inactive and, for reasons -altogether incomprehensible, the local government did not avail itself -of the rights and privileges accorded to it in such cases by the § 340 -of the Criminal Code and by § 1 and § 8 of the additions to § 316. -Remaining unmoved itself, it kept inactive the military forces and thus -encouraged the mob. The latter, perceiving the passive attitude of the -authorities, soon ceased breaking the windows and took to sacking houses -and shops, and finally to murder and violation. - -In their complaints addressed by the sufferers to the public -prosecutor, they pointed to cases where the police encouraged the -rioters by the words: “Kill the Jews!” (Byei Zhidoff!). Jews who had -armed themselves in self-defence were soon disarmed by the police. The -result of such an unheard-of state of affairs has been the loss of 45 -lives, with 86 dangerously wounded and 500 slightly wounded, and the -violation of women and children--in a word, all the horrors of a -massacre. - -It is not astonishing that when some of the rioters were arrested they -expressed surprise, asking: “Why they were being arrested, since it had -been permitted to kill the Jews?” There was an instance in which the mob -was engaged over eight hours plundering one house, situated in a -populous street, without being stopped, although the sufferers applied -for help to all the authorities. Only towards five o’clock in the -afternoon of the 7th (20th) of April, when the military were called upon -to check the riot, did the rabble cease its terrible work. - -The horrors and crimes committed have brought about a state of things -which, offering no guarantee as far as life and property are concerned, -prevents the inhabitants from resuming their peaceful occupations. The -people, deprived of their homes and property, are trembling for their -lives. The losses cannot be exactly estimated, but they amount to -several millions of roubles, and the fire that has broken out in -Kishineff is spreading all over the province. The Jewish population -therefore trusts that your Excellency will restore order and -tranquillity and protect the Jewish inhabitants from the dangers -threatening their lives and property. The arrival of your Excellency -into our town has already inspired us with the hope that definite and -energetic measures will be taken. - - * * * * * - -(II) _List of the killed and those that died from wounds in the -Hospital._ - -1. Seltzer, Michel Josiphov. - -2. Makhlin, Moses Chaskelev, 45 years, Asia Street, No. 13, killed by a -bootmaker; his daughter was also killed; murderers armed with hammers. - -3. Berladsky, Hosea Abramovitz, Asia Street, No. 13, had hidden himself -in the attic, and was thrown into the street. - -4. Kainarsky, Kopel Davidovitz, 60 years old. His grandsons know the -murderer. The sons are in the hospital. Kainarsky was killed in the -slaughter-house; he lived in the Mountzeskaya road. His money was taken -from him and his abdomen was opened and filled with feathers. - -5. Tounik, Jacob Elchunov, killed in his own house. - -6. Kogan, Abraham Routor, killed in the slaughter-house; was a dealer in -fowls. - -7. Menduk, Mottel Davidovitz, shop-keeper in the Mountzeskaya Street, -killed in the slaughter-house in the stables; wife and children in -Berlin (?) in very poor circumstances. - -8. Ullman, Israel Yacoblewitz, wine-shop proprietor near the botanical -gardens; wife and children in Berlin. - -9. Shalistal, Israel Leiservitz. - -10. Baranovitz, Benja Shimenov, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33. With -him in the same house 8 men were killed. - -11. Fanarnei, Eiss Davidovitz (?); lived near the slaughter-house. The -daughter Fliga is in the hospital, and is ignorant of the father’s -death. - -12. Salapter, Ben-zion Leibov, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33; -killed; the roof was torn off by the mob who killed Galantor, cattle -dealer, and robbed him of 1500 roubles, and others with clubs. - -13. Goldiss, Chaim Leibov. - -14. Chaskelevitz, David Nisselev, smith; killed together with his -grandmother. His sister, 12 years old (violated), has since died in the -hospital. - -15. Wouller, Leinha; married, no children; killed defending his sister -Feya, aged 13, who was violated and killed; wife now at home. - -16. Liss, Hirsch Yankelev, killed in the courtyard; lived at the corner -of Gostinaya Street, No. 2; dealer in bread, etc. Son was in the -hospital, student of the commercial school. - -17. Krupnik, Idel; lived in Krovskaya Street, No. 52. - -18. Krupnik, Isaac, son of the former. - -19. Drachmann, David Moisuv; baker, worked in the bakery of Silberstein. - -20. Greenspoon, Mordecai; killed with a knife. The murderers mutilated -the body. - -21. Byeletzky, Isaac David Mendelev. - -22. Kantor, Joseph Abramovitz; joiner, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. -33, 28 years old, married. - -23. Bolgar, Hirsch Chaimov; commission agent at the railway station; -killed in the courtyard; married, 8 children. - -24. Nissenson, Chaim Nissinov, formerly a bookkeeper. Died in the -hospital the following day, in consequence of blows received on the head -with clubs; he was in a terrible state. - -25. Urrmann, Samuel Baruch, died in the hospital. - -26. Weinstein, Abraham; bootmaker, 47 years old; died in the hospital. - -27. Kiegel, Moshe Samuel; lived in Ismailovsk Street, shopkeeper, 27 -years old; married, no children. - -28. Brachmann, Aaron Isaacov; his wife is now in the hospital. - -29. Rosenfeld, Isaac Yankelev. - -30. Greenberg, Joseph Hirsch Danilov. Lived in Nicolaievskai Street, No. -33. - -31. Charidon, David Abrahamov, brought in a box (to hospital or -cemetery?) with parts of his body cut off; single. - -32. Kodja (?), Beila Leiserovna. - -33. Katzap, Rose Falikovna; lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33; killed in -the yard; lived with her son. - -34. Papagei (?), Chaja Sarah Abramovna. - -35. Berger, Itlia, 52 years old; had come on a visit to Kishineff. - -36. Spivak, Pinya Isaacov. - -37. Fishmann, Simeon; 6 months old; smothered whilst the mother defended -herself. - -38. Michel Shaev Lashkoff. - -39. Wolowitz, Kalmann, 60 years old; died in the hospital. - -40. Kiegelmann, Chaya Leah, 38 years old, died in the hospital; daughter -employed in the free reading room in the professional school. - -[This list is not complete. It was probably prepared soon after the -massacres. A few dead bodies have been found since the first lists were -compiled.--M. D.] - - * * * * * - -(III) _Extracts from a report upon the outrages by two Christian -ladies._ - -Seltzer. Gostinaya Street, No. 75. His daughter rushed to the police -station, asking for help. The police replied: “We shall do nothing.” The -father escaped, but was caught by the crowd and killed; the policeman -who took him to the hospital trampled him under his feet. - -The Jews assembled on Monday, and armed themselves in self-defence, but -the police officer, Dobroselsky, ordered them to disarm. - -Makhlin. Asiatskaya Street, No. 13. Whilst the crowd was at its -murderous work in this place, the Jews addressed themselves to the -military, asking for help. The reply was: “We have no orders.” About 300 -Jews assembled near the barracks, when suddenly a drunken sergeant -(feldwebel) rushed in, calling out to the Jews: “Dogs, I shall kill all -of you.” The Jews rushed away, frightened, and fell into the hands of -the mob. - -Makhlin, Berladsky, Greenspoon, and Nissenson were killed. - -The daughter of Berladsky was thrown down from the attic. - -The daughter of Makhlin had the skin of her finger torn off, together -with the rings. - -Greenspoon. (The following is told by his wife.) She had hidden herself, -together with two little children and a neighbour, in a shed. When her -husband was being beaten in the yard she rushed out to defend him, but -one ruffian struck the child in the face and pushed her back into the -shed. She found the dead body of her husband only on the following -morning, in a neighbouring yard. In the same house there were wine -vaults, and the crowd drank, shouted, and danced upon the corpses. - -Myntsheskaya Road. Forty families lived here. - -Munduk. - -Meier Weismann. - -Kogan, Abraham, was running towards the town to save himself, when he -was caught by the crowd and struck upon the head. His wife, who was with -him, was caught by fifteen men, who violated her, in the open road, one -after the other. A daughter, 22 years old, and two sons, 16 and 18 years -old, were wounded, and when they sought refuge in the house of a retired -Colonel, who was cashier in the gut-works, he refused to shelter them. A -converted Jew showed equal cruelty with regard to the victims. - -Israel Ullmann. When the crowd left him, thinking he was dead, his -little son came, crying: “Father, father!” Ullmann lifted up his head, -and some of the Christian onlookers shouted: “Ullmann is still alive.” -The murderers returned and finished him. - -Fanorissi Siss and his wife. The wife had nails driven through her eyes. - -Chariton. - -Kainarsky. - -Baronowitz, Gostinaya Street, No. 33. Whilst the crowd was breaking the -windows, the Assistant Police Officer passed, but took no notice of what -was happening. The officer Goresonsky passed afterwards and showed the -same indifference. The son of Baronowitz hid himself in the closet; the -crowd tore off the roof and killed him. When the father saw that the son -was being killed, he wept and begged the murderers to take everything, -but to spare his son. The murderers replied: “Be quiet, Jew; we shall -soon do the same to you.” Whilst he was endeavouring to save the other -children he was dragged back into the yard. - -Baronowitz fell on his knees before the officer Solovkin, kissed his -hands, and told him that his son had been killed. “Well,” said the -officer, “don’t worry; it is all over now in your house, they will harm -you no more.” - -Drachmann. Gostinaya Street, No. 33. - -Skyljanskaya Rogatka. When the Jews went to the police station to ask -for help, the inspector replied: “Serves you right, why do you use our -blood?” - -A little girl of ten years, having begged the officer Osovsky to protect -her from the murderers, the officer replied: “Go away, you Jewish brat.” - -Kiegelmann, killed; wife died in the hospital. A son and a daughter, 18 -years old, defended themselves, when six ruffians seized the girl by the -hair, dragged her out into the yard, and attempted to violate her. She -fought desperately, defending her honour, her clothes were torn off her -body, but at last the ruffians left her. The mother rushed to the -daughter’s assistance, but was severely injured. - -Weinstein. The wife was ill (she has died since) in bed. The crowd, led -by some Government officials, came into the house and beat the husband -until he fell down bleeding and motionless. The little children defended -the bedridden mother. One little girl, 10 years old, having thrown her -arms round her mother, had her arm cut off; another daughter and her -intended had their teeth broken, and their lips cut off. The murderers -were two peasants whom they knew well, and who used to be on very good -terms with the family. They left the house shouting: “Where are Itzko -and Israel [two sons], we shall kill them.” - -Volowitz. Killed; one daughter dangerously wounded; she begged the -murderers to kill her together with her father. A younger daughter -rushed into the streets, imploring the military for help, but the -officer took no notice of her. - -Alexandrovskaya Street, No. 37. Golder hid himself in the cellar, having -with him a child 2 years old. There he passed the night. The child, in -consequence of the cold, died the next day. - -Fishmon, Solomon. The crowd was led by several men, evidently belonging -to the better class of society. The wife of F. tried to escape, holding -in her arms a child 10 months old, when somebody struck her in the back -so violently that she fell, and in her fall smothered the infant with -her own body. - -Not far away from the scene of the murder, the Superintendent of the -Police, the _Pristav_ Solovkin, and the patrol were looking on quietly -and unmoved. - -A Christian boy of about 15 jumped upon a tram, asking: “Are there no -Jews here?” There was only one Jewish woman whose husband had just been -killed, and who, tremblingly, managed to hide herself behind her -neighbour, a Christian woman. At last the reply was given: “No Jews -here.” Then a gentleman, well dressed, having a hat on, and with rings -on his fingers, asked the boy: “Well, how goes it?” “Very well,” replied -the youth. “By the evening we shall have killed all the Jews.” The -gentleman encouragingly patted the boy on the cheek. - -The Superintendent of the Police visited the crowd on the first day of -Easter, addressed a few words to them, and went away. The crowds -shouted: “Hurray, bravo!” and at once began breaking the windows. - -Elie Mutshnik and 150 Jews came on the first day of the riots to the -Vice-Governor to ask for help. The latter ordered the soldiers to -disperse them. - -Whilst the crowd of rioters was attacking a family in which there were -little children, a lady, passing by, said to her husband, a Government -official, that she was sorry for the children. “Never mind,” said her -husband, “let them get their reward.” An eyewitness says that the -military and the police refused to help the victims, and coolly looked -on whilst houses were sacked, and men and women killed. - -In Asiatskaya passage (Perenlok) all the houses were destroyed, and many -women violated. - -Among the rioters were women, girls, students of the seminary, -government officials,[9] and some belonging to the better classes. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -NOTES AND COMMENTS - - -There is another anti-Semite organ edited by Pavolachi Kroushevan. It is -named the _Znamya_, or _Standard_. Though published in St. Petersburg, -it has a large sale in Bessarabia. - -Both the _Bessarabetz_ and the _Znamya_ have studiously refrained from -alluding to the indignation excited in Western Europe and in the United -States over the consequences of their savage appeals to fanatical mobs. -No other papers being read in Kishineff by the anti-Jewish section of -the populace, these people remain unaffected by this outburst of public -reprobation in other countries. They are under the impression that the -attack on the hated Hebrews was a good work done for the Tsar, the -church, and themselves. - -The credulity of the average Russian, in all anti-Hebrew matters, is -boundless. A Christian lady in Odessa told me that her servant, a very -intelligent-looking young girl, informed her a few evenings after the -horrible events at Kishineff, that the Jews of Odessa were planning the -murder of all the Christian children in the city. When the girl was -asked what information she had of this intended wholesale slaughter, she -replied: “I was told so! The Jews will put poisoned chocolate on -Christian doorsteps some night, and then, when the children come out for -school or play the following morning, they will see the chocolate, eat -it, and die. All the Jews in Odessa should be burned out!” - - * * * * * - -The popes, or Russian priests, are not in any special sense -anti-Semitic. Anyhow, they wield little, if any, influence of that or -any other kind upon even the simple and superstitious peasantry. The -Russian pope is, in fact, a man who has neither social nor political -importance of any kind. He is not invited to the houses of the nobility, -nor is he looked up to or relied upon by the people. He is a badly -educated Mujik, as a rule, and commands neither the confidence of his -own class nor the esteem of the ruling order. When he marries, his -family ties and domestic interests are believed to be his chief -considerations, while the worldly benefits of his clerical position, -comparatively small though these may be, are believed to be his primary -concern in life. Whatever little distinction belongs to his garb and -calling arises entirely from the fact that he is, in reality, a clerical -soldier of the Tsar; earning his living as an officer of a religious -army, whose head and commander-in-chief is the great Emperor of all the -Russians. He is, in another sense, the Tsar’s moral policeman among the -Russian people. - - * * * * * - -The ordinary Russian policeman corresponds in many respects to the -average member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He is a man of the -peasantry, of fine physique, and of unbounded self-importance. He lacks, -however, the education and superior intelligence of his Irish rural -prototype, while his reputation is on a lower moral plane. He is badly -officered, as a rule, and this accounts largely for the suspicion which -attaches to the performance of his duties in districts where the -numerous vexatious restrictions in operation against the “Semitic -malady” are so many temptations to the guardian of the law “to wink the -other eye” at evasions of legal obstructions made profitable _not_ to -see. His pay is small, and this, too, is an explanation of his official -dereliction in these matters. - -Strenuous efforts have been, and are still being, made to induce a more -educated class of Russians to officer the police force of the Empire, -but with slow and uncertain results, so far. The nobility look upon the -army as the only honourable service open to them, apart from diplomatic -and administrative posts. Trade and commerce are, of course, _infra -dig._, and the police is even more so, from the point of view of all -sections of the aristocracy, poor and rich, fortunate and the reverse. -There is not, strictly speaking, a Russian middle class, but there will -soon be an intellectually developed class of men from a corresponding -social grade turned out of Russia’s fine colleges and gymnasiums, from -whose ranks an educated body of officials will be recruited for this and -kindred public employments. Well officered, and better paid than they -now are, the Russian police would soon rank in efficiency, as well as in -appearance, with the best peace-preserving forces of any country. - - * * * * * - -A Russian city mob has little or no fear of the police force. Nor do the -ordinary military, as a rule, inspire rioters with any sense of serious -apprehensions. The explanation is probably due to the immediate kinship -of class and feeling between the rough elements of an urban community -and the conscript force of which they are a potential part, and (in -anti-Semitic outbreaks) to the fact that policeman, soldier, and artisan -share a common sentiment of antipathy towards the Jew. It is -emphatically otherwise with Cossacks. The mob exhibits no hesitation -when confronted with this arm of the military power. It disperses in -double-quick time. I was told by one of the foreign Consuls in Odessa -that on one occasion, some fifteen years ago, there was a sudden -outbreak of mob violence which neither military nor police could, or -would, quell. They attacked the houses of some foreign residents, and -the Consul was called upon for protection. He went at once to the -Governor, and suggested the employment of a dozen Cossacks to clear that -part of the city of the disturbers. A troop of these splendid horsemen -was turned loose without delay, and the riots were at an end within an -hour. Nothing can stop their sweeping charge through a city’s streets. -They ride over or through obstacles, human or otherwise, knout in hand, -and spare no one who has not already cleared out of their path. As the -Consul remarked to me when discussing the action, and inaction, of the -military at Kishineff, “A dozen Don Cossacks would have settled the -whole business with the rioters on Easter Sunday in half an hour.” - - * * * * * - -During an attack upon a Jew’s shop in Kishineff, an artillery officer, -who was lodging in a Christian house opposite, saw a soldier enter the -premises, and join in the looting of the unfortunate Hebrew’s goods. The -officer, indignant at the disgraceful act of the soldier, rushed across -the street, and seizing the military culprit, tore off his number, with -the view of reporting him to the Colonel of his regiment. The mob turned -upon the officer, who was compelled to seek shelter in his quarters. The -windows were smashed with stones, and he was called upon to return the -badge containing the soldier’s number. This he refused to do, and -telephoned to the nearest military barracks for assistance. He was -ultimately rescued from the mob’s threatening display. - - * * * * * - -It was difficult to obtain any reliable account of the actual number of -persons who were arrested, tried, and punished for the murders and -looting on the 19th and 20th of April. M. Polak, the Procurator from -Odessa, came to Kishineff to put the law in motion against the rioters. -About seven hundred out of the fifteen hundred or two thousand persons -implicated were lodged in prison. M. Polak had to rely upon the local -authorities to execute the orders of the Government through him. After -his return to Odessa no less than five hundred of the prisoners were -liberated, following an inquiry before the _Juges d’Instruction_ which -was remarkable for the hurried manner in which it was conducted. - -Punishment averaging a few months’ imprisonment was meted out to about -150, by the judges of the peace, before whom the cases were sent by the -_Juges d’Instruction_. Some fifty were held on more serious charges, but -the results of their trials are not yet made known. They will presumably -be tried before the Criminal Court of Assize. - -None of the known local instigators of the outbreak were arrested up to -the date of my departure from Kishineff. - -Some of the rioters protested, on arrest, that they were led to believe -that the local authorities had lent their sanction to the massacre and -looting, in order to punish the Jews for being the enemies of the Tsar’s -Government and the supporters of Socialism. - -The _Juge d’Instruction_, M. Davidovitch, who had to deal with the -accused in the first instance, was at one time a contributor to the -_Bessarabetz_--the active agent of the outbreak. I was informed that he -had written an article for the paper shortly after the massacres, -showing how the Jews were themselves the sole cause of the attack made -upon them at Easter. - -Two especially revolting outrages, the particulars of which have been -published, one, the killing of a woman who was _enceinte_, and the -putting of feathers in her body after disembowelling her; and the murder -of a child two months old, were not included in the list of murders -which I obtained, and I am not satisfied that these two crimes were -actually committed as alleged. The Jewish doctors in the Hebrew Hospital -could not confirm the report or particulars of these two cases. In the -instance of the infant, they told me that the mother, in defending -herself, and subsequently in her flight from the mob, had let the child -fall, and that its death really happened in that way. - -The foundation for the other and more inhuman story was, I think, this: -A Jew named Kainarsky, a dealer in sheep and cattle gut, was attacked, -robbed, and murdered in a slaughter-house. The mob cut open his bowels -and put feathers inside; prompted, doubtless, to this act of barbarity -by the nature of the poor fellow’s calling and business. It was an -outrage base and inhuman enough, in all conscience, but not quite so -fiendish in character as that of the account which represented a woman -with child as the object of this peculiar atrocity. - -The man thus murdered is included in the list of victims given to me in -Kishineff, while no woman is mentioned as having undergone such -mutilation, a circumstance which, it is sincerely to be hoped, disposes -of the story as untrue. - - * * * * * - -“Byei Zhidoff!” the terrible cry which was the signal of slaughter at -Easter, means “Kill the Jews!” Zhidoff is a term of Russian contempt for -the Jew. - - * * * * * - -The “Narodovostvo,” or People’s Freedom Party, which is supposed to be a -growing movement in Russia, has no branch or supporters in Kishineff, at -least I failed to obtain information of its existence. It represents an -aspiration rather than an original force. A student who joined the -rioters on the first day’s outbreak, with the object of diverting the -mob, if possible, from resorting to extreme violence against the Jews, -began by raising a cry for constitutional freedom. The crowd did not -understand him, whereupon he shouted “Down with the Government at St. -Petersburg!” He was instantly knocked down, and would have been killed -had the police not interfered on seeing a Russian in danger. He was -taken off to prison. - -Ten days after the Kishineff massacres there was an attempted Socialist -demonstration at Odessa. It was in some way supposed to be a May Day -Labour affair, but assumed the form of an Anarchist turnout, of which -the police appeared to have had timely intimation. A band of some forty -men, workers and _prolétaires_, attempted to march toward the centre of -the city, with a red flag at their head. After proceeding along a small -street, and raising a few feeble cries, they were pounced upon by the -police and taken to prison. It was found, on examination, that nineteen -of the forty were Jews. They were all liberated after a few days’ -detention. - - * * * * * - -One ground of objection to the Zionist movement for the repatriation of -the Jews is that the Hebrews, who are not a military people, would be -shut off from European help while being at the mercy of Turkish rule and -of Arab hostility in Palestine. The implied loss of European protection -may be an imaginary risk. The record of the Turks in the matter of -modern anti-Semitism compares more than favourably with that of the -tender feelings of European Christianity. The Arab is of the same racial -family as the descendants of Father Abraham, and even were the offspring -of Ishmael more numerous in Palestine than they are estimated to be, -they might be trusted to show no more savage propensities towards their -Israelitish kindred than Russian Seminarists or Roumanian Christians -have done in recent years. - -Two or three millions of Jews in Palestine would, however, develop a -national sentiment and idea that would soon nourish a spirit of -patriotism capable of defending them from possible Arab aggression. The -Jews of the world would be their foreign friends and allies, while the -civilised nations inhabited by the scattered Hebrews could not in reason -neglect to take a sympathetic interest in the protection and welfare of -one of the oldest peoples in the world, restored again to the Promised -Land of Israel. - -Russia’s diplomatic common sense should see in the Zionist movement a -noble racial effort, worthy of assistance on its merits, but especially -calling for Russian help and encouragement. The creators of the Pale of -Settlement, and those responsible for the poverty and suffering which -are alone due to this cause, owe some reparation to the people who have -been thus treated. No ten million pounds which Russia could spend on -her army and navy would render her empire a better or more lasting -service than what would follow to her domestic peace if a sum of that -amount, or more if necessary, were devoted to the carrying out of the -great work of the Zionist leaders. If Russia will only trust and obey -her better instincts in adopting a humane policy of this kind, coupled -with a stern moral warfare against the propagation of the -blood-accusation legend inside the Empire, she will cure the “Semitic -malady,” which will otherwise grow to be an increasing and more -dangerous evil within her borders. - - * * * * * - -The Russian Jew as an emigrant to the United States is a subject which -will demand serious consideration after public interest in the Kishineff -horrors subsides. All who can find means to go will leave Bessarabia, -unless the Tsar is inclined, or induced, to speak words which will be an -Imperial guarantee against further violence. No such words have yet -been uttered. This is much to be regretted by all who believe in the -humanity of the Emperor’s personal disposition. It tends to create the -possibly erroneous and unjust suspicion that the terror created by the -massacres in April is to be used by the Tsar’s advisers “_pour -encourager les autres_,” to lessen the extent of the “Semitic malady” by -emigrating from Russia. But, in any case, large numbers of Jews will -endeavour to quit the Pale, and their relatives and friends who fled in -1891, and who have prospered in America, may be counted upon to lend -assistance to the new aspirants for United States citizenship and -protection. - -It is the proletarian Jew and the members of the small huckstering class -who are the chief undesirables in Russia now. They are three-fourths of -the Semitic population of the Pale, and their numbers are increasing. - -I saw thousands of these in the cities and towns, from Odessa to Warsaw. -They are not a drunken nor an abnormally immoral class. Russian -officials have testified to their general good conduct, on the whole; -when due allowance is made for the precarious nature of their -employments and the poverty of their lives. I observed how uniform were -the healthy looks of their children, even amidst some of the most -wretched surroundings. This is a good testimony to personal character -and civic qualities. In England the children of the lowest classes are -neglected and underfed by parents who expend in gin and beer what would -provide more nourishment for their offspring. There is no corresponding -bad trait in the average proletarian Jew of the Pale. - -There are, as a matter of course, traits of low cunning, of shady -subterfuge, and of other obnoxious qualities found among a people who -have been hunted and ground down for generations. It would amount to a -miracle of racial morality if such results did not follow from the -treatment and experiences of the Russian Jew. They are also sufferers -from the indifferent sanitary system of towns like Kishineff, where -there is an abundance of water badly utilised in municipal management -for the health and cleanliness of the poorer quarters and suburbs of the -city. - - * * * * * - -Their poverty and persecution, along with the habits peculiar to the -lowest grade of Hebrew humanity in Eastern Europe, render them -singularly objectionable in appearance; carrying with them, as they do, -all the traces of social degradation which cling to a pariah people as a -physical certificate of the wrongs and hardships they have had to -endure. - -No country, be it ever so free, hospitable, or humane, could in reason -be expected to open its ports to such a class of emigrant in order to -relieve the Russian Government and nation of these wronged and -unfortunate undesirables. They must first be improved in the land of -their birth by more liberty and better treatment, or be sent for -change--for better conditions of industrial life and hopes--to -Palestine, where land labour could be provided for them. Transplantation -would be an effective remedy, if carried out under careful supervision. -The root qualities of the Jew--his intelligence, his faith, his intense -ambition to possess money--would, under a more favourable environment, -reclaim him from the induced vices which have naturally grown out of the -congenial surroundings of poverty, suffering, and injustice. The human -being who can succeed in living at all the semblance of a civilised -existence, under the depressing conditions obtaining for the Jew within -the towns of the Pale, could not fail in winning a better livelihood -where rural industries and _petit_ culture, such as the soil and -situation of Palestine will encourage, would be open to his -intelligence, ambition, and energies. Such a Jew has no hope in Russia. -He could not possibly meet a worse fate in Palestine. No other country -can be expected to give him the privilege of its citizenship. Therefore, -if he is not to be improved off the face of the earth by a corroding -poverty, or by periodical outbreaks like that of Kishineff, he should be -taken by the Zionist movement to where there are both the promise and -inspiration of a new life. - -The Polish proletarian Jew has more virility than the Hebrew of the same -class within the Pale. He is no more prepossessing in appearance, while -it is not wronging him to say that he is less desirable, in some other -respects, as a citizen of another country. The Jews are sufficiently -numerous in Poland to enlist the co-operation of Socialist revolutionary -forces there, and thereby to obtain, by some means, a right to live. -They are not so powerless as those within the Pale, and Russia may soon -find it a wise and necessary policy to allow them to have a freer -access than they now enjoy to the resources of the country, in order to -lessen their growing numbers in the ancient capital of the Kingdom of -Poland. There are over a quarter of a million of them in Warsaw. They -would be a dangerous element there if driven to extremities, or in the -event of any complications arising between the Russian Empire and -Germany. In any case, the Polish Jew will work out his own destiny. He -has lived in Poland for over seven hundred years, and this long -experience of varied forms of fortune and of oppression gives him a -tenure and a hope which may yet win him back some of the rights and -privileges he once enjoyed before he lost the tolerant protection of the -Polish people in becoming the agent and tool of the Polish landed -aristocracy. - - * * * * * - -Since the foregoing parts of this book were prepared for the press, it -has been announced from Russia that Vice-Governor Ostrogoff has been -transferred from Kishineff to Stavropol, in the Caucasus. This action -marks the severe condemnation of this official’s conduct by the Russian -Government. - -The head of the _gendarmerie_ at Kishineff has been retired from -service. - -It has also been reported from apparently reliable sources that several -persons who were at first accused of participation in the massacres, and -liberated after a short detention in prison, have been re-arrested, and -will be tried in September. It is further stated that there are to be 53 -indictments for manslaughter in addition to 34 prisoners already held -for trial, while 400 other cases are under investigation. - -It has likewise been published in the press that former Governor Von -Raaben had asked for, and had been denied, an interview with the -Emperor. - -According to reports circulated from Vienna on the 10th of July, the -special visit paid to Kishineff by the Minister of Justice was -responsible for the action of the authorities in re-arresting suspected -culprits, and for the intention to prosecute several of the prominent -instigators of the riots at Easter who had been arrested or accused for -their connection with the massacres up to the date of the author’s -departure from Kishineff. - -From a similar Vienna source, it has been reported that one of these -prominent anti-Semites of Kishineff had committed suicide, as a result -of an inquiry instituted into his conduct during the disturbances. - -The actual murderers of the Christian boy, Ribalenko of Doubossar, who -was declared by the _Bessarabetz_ newspaper to have been killed by the -Jews for sacrificial purposes, have been discovered and arrested. He was -killed by one Tischtchevko, the caretaker of the orchard in which the -body was found. The murderer confesses that the uncle of the boy took -part in committing the crime. Both the murderers are Russians and -Christians. - -The latest published report of the Kishineff Relief Committee gives the -following account of the moneys received and how expended by that body: - -“To the end of June 735,476 roubles have been received as follows: - - -RECEIPTS - - Roubles -America, 192,443 -England, 16,001 -Germany, 35,675 -Italy, 5,000 -Holland, 1,000 -Austria, 10,415 -Roumania, 3,023 -France, 9,248 -Russia, 462,671 - ------- - Total, 735,476 - - -EXPENDITURES - - Roubles -Provisions, 14,700 -To sufferers (directly), 273,622 -To sufferers (indirectly), 30,000 -To 35 families of those murdered or who - died of wounds, 87,500 -To two families of invalids, 4,600 -To the Ladies’ Committee, for preparing - linen and clothes and for a crèche, 4,000 -To settling 50 families in Palestine, 50,000 - ------- - Total, 464,422 -Balance in hand, 271,054 - ------- - Roubles, 735,476 - -“The number of families who suffered from the riots is given at about -2750. Applications for relief were received from 2538 families, to the -amount of 2,332,890 roubles. The number of persons murdered, or who died -of wounds, is put down at 47; severely wounded, 92; slightly wounded, -345. Some of the latter were treated by private doctors. The killed left -behind 35 widows and 123 orphans. The number of persons rendered unfit -for work has not yet been ascertained, but is so far given as 50. The -Committee is of opinion that in order to satisfy all the losses for -which only now claims are being made 200,000 roubles will still be -required.” - - - - -APPENDICES - - - - -APPENDIX I - -PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND THE JEWS - -(_From the Daily Press_) - - -WASHINGTON, June 15.--Through their representative association, B’nai -B’rith, the Jews of America to-day laid their case before President -Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, and they are content to abide by whatever -the Executive decides is best for them. - -A statement of the proceedings given out at the White House concerning -the conference consisted of a memorandum submitted by the B’nai B’rith -on the recent Kishineff massacre, a tentative draft of a petition to the -Tsar, which it is desired this Government should unofficially or -semi-officially assist in delivering to the Tsar, and procuring a reply -thereto, and copies of the replies of Secretary Hay and President -Roosevelt to their callers. - -The memorandum says that the facts concerning the Kishineff massacre as -officially reported by the Russian Government have appalled and -horrified not only the Jews in Russia and elsewhere, but the whole -American people, who want something done, and whose hostility to Russia, -if nothing is done, will become intensified and fixed. - -In his reply to the memorandum Secretary of State John Hay said: - -“No person of ordinary humanity can have heard without deep emotion the -story of the cruel outrages inflicted upon the Jews of Kishineff. These -lamentable events have caused the profoundest impression throughout the -world, but most especially in this country, where there are so many of -your coreligionists who form such a desirable element of our population -in industry, thrift, public spirit, and commercial morality. - -“Nobody can ever make the Americans think ill of the Jews as a class or -as a race--we know them too well. In the painful crisis through which we -are now passing the Jews of the United States have given evidence of the -highest qualities--generosity, love of justice, and power of -self-restraining. - -“The Government of the United States must exhibit the same qualities. I -know you do not doubt the sentiments of the President. No one hates more -energetically than he does such acts of cruelty and injustice as those -we deplore. But he must carefully consider all the circumstances and -then decide whether any official action can be taken in addition to the -impressive and most effective expressions of public opinion in this -country during the last month. You will have observed that no civilised -government in the world has yet taken official action--this -consideration alone would bid us to proceed with care. - -“The Emperor of Russia is entitled to our respect, not merely as the -ruler of a great and friendly nation, but as a man whose personal -character is even more elevated than his exalted station. We should not -be justified in assuming that this enlightened sovereign, who has given -so many proofs of his devotion to peace and religious tolerance, has not -done and is not doing all that lies in his power to put a stop to these -atrocities, to punish the guilty, whether they belong to the ignorant -populace or to high official circles, and to prevent the occurrence of -the outrages which have so shocked humanity. In fact, all we know of the -state of things in Russia tends to justify the hope that even out of the -present terrible situation some good results may come; that He who -watches over Israel does not slumber, and that the wrath of man, now as -so often in the past, shall be made to praise Him.” - -The call on the President at the White House followed, and there -President Roosevelt, after the memorandum was laid before him, said: - -“Mr. Chairman: I need not dwell upon a fact so patent as the widespread -indignation with which the American people heard of the dreadful -outrages upon the Jews in Kishineff. I have never in my experience in -this country known of a more immediate or a deeper expression of the -sympathy for the victims and of horror over the appalling calamity that -has occurred. - -“It is natural that while the whole civilised world should express such -a feeling, it should yet be most intense and widespread in the United -States; for of all the great powers I think I may say that the United -States is that country in which, from the beginning of its national -career, most has been done in the way of acknowledging the debt due to -the Jewish race, and of endeavouring to do justice to those American -citizens who are of Jewish ancestry and faith. - -“One of the most touching poems of our own great poet, Longfellow, is -that on the Jewish cemetery in Newport, and anyone who goes through any -of the old cemeteries of the cities which preserve the records of -colonial times will see the name of many an American of Jewish race who, -in war or in peace, did his full share in the founding of this nation. -From that day to this, from the day when the Jews of Charleston, of -Philadelphia, of New York, supported the patriot cause and helped in -every way, not only by money, but by arms, Washington and his -colleagues, who were founding this Republic--from that day to the -present we have had no struggle, military or civil, in which there have -not been citizens of Jewish faith who played an eminent part for the -honour and credit of the nation. - -“I remember once General Howard mentioning to me the fact that two of -his brigade commanders upon whom he had placed special reliance were -Jews. Among the meetings of the Grand Army which I have attended one -stands out with peculiar vividness--a meeting held under the auspices of -the men of the Grand Army of Jewish creed in the temple in Forty-fourth -Street--Temple Emanu-El--to welcome the returned veterans of the -Spanish-American war of Jewish faith. - -“When in Santiago, when I was myself in the army, one of the best -colonels among the regular regiments who did so well on that day, and -who fought beside me, was a Jew. One of the commanders of the ships -which, in the blockade of the Cuban coast, did so well, was a Jew. - -“In my own regiment I promoted five men from the ranks for valour and -good conduct in battle. It happened by pure accident, for I know nothing -of the faith of any one of them, that these included two Protestants, -two Catholics, and one Jew; and while that was a pure accident, it was -not without its value as an illustration of the ethnic and religious -make-up of our nation and of the fact that if a man is a good American, -that is all we ask, without thinking of his creed or his birthplace. - -“In the same way, when I was Police Commissioner in New York, I had -experience after experience of the excellent service done--an excellent -work needing nerve and hardihood, excellent work of what I may call the -Maccabee type in the Police Department under me, by police officers of -Jewish extraction. - -“Let me give you one little incident with a direct bearing upon this -question of persecution for race or religious reasons. You may possibly -recall, I am sure certain of my New York friends will recall, that -during the time I was Police Commissioner a man came from abroad--I am -sorry to say, a clergyman--to start an anti-Jewish agitation in New -York, and announced his intention of holding meetings to assail the -Jews. The matter was brought to my attention. - -“Of course, I had no power to prevent those meetings. After a good deal -of thought I detailed a Jewish sergeant and forty Jewish policemen to -protect the agitator while he held his meetings; so he made his speeches -denouncing the Jews protected exclusively by Jews, which I always -thought was probably the most effective answer that could possibly be -made to him, and probably the best object lesson that we could give of -the spirit in which we Americans manage such matters. - -“Now let me give you another little example dealing with a Russian Jew, -an experience I had while handling the Police Department, and that could -have occurred, I think, nowhere else than in the United States. - -“There was a certain man I appointed under the following conditions: I -was attracted to him by being told on a visit to the Bowery branch of -the Young Men’s Christian Association that they had a young fellow -there, a Jew, who had performed a feat of great note in saving people -from a burning building, and that they thought he was just the type for -a policeman. I had him called up and told him to take the examination, -and see if he could get through. He did, and he passed. - -“He has only been an excellent policeman, but he at once, out of his -salary, proceeded to educate his younger brothers and sisters, and he -got either two or three of his old kinsfolk over from Russia, through -the money he had saved, and provided homes for them. - -“I have given you examples of men who have served under me in my -administration of the Police Department in New York and my regiment. In -addition thereto, some of my nearest social friends, some of those with -whom I have been closest in political life, have been men of Jewish -faith and extraction. Therefore, inevitably, I have felt a degree of -personal sympathy and personal horror over this dreadful tragedy, as -great as can exist in the minds of any of you gentlemen yourselves. - -“Exactly as I should claim the same sympathy from any one of you for any -tragedy happening to any Christian people, so I should hold myself -unworthy of my present position if I failed to feel just as deep -sympathy and just as deep sorrow and just as deep horror over an outrage -like this done to the Jewish people in any part of the earth. - -“I am confident that much good has already been done by the -manifestations throughout the country, without any regard to creed -whatsoever, of horror and sympathy over what has occurred. It is -gratifying to know--what we would, of course, assume--that the -Government of Russia shows the feelings of horror and indignation with -which the American people look upon the outrages at Kishineff, and is -moving vigorously not only to prevent their continuance, but to punish -the perpetrators. - -“That government takes the same view of those outrages that our own -government takes of the riots and lynchings which sometimes occur in our -country, but do not characterise either our government or our people. - -“I have been visited by the Russian Ambassador on his own initiative, -and in addition to what has been said to Secretary Hay, the Russian -Ambassador has notified me personally, without any inquiry upon my -part, that the Governor of Kishineff has been removed; that between -three hundred and four hundred of the participants in the outrages have -been arrested, and he voluntarily stated that those men would be -punished to the utmost that the law would permit. - -“I will consider most carefully the suggestions that you have submitted -to me and whether the now-existing conditions are such that any further -official expression would be of advantage to the unfortunate survivors, -with whom we sympathise so deeply. Nothing that has occurred recently -has had my more constant thought, and nothing will have my more constant -thought, than this subject. In any proper way by which beneficial action -may be taken it will be taken, to show the sincerity of the historic -American position of treating each man on his merits as a man, without -the least reference to his creed, his race, or his birthplace.” - - - - -APPENDIX II - -A LETTER FROM LEO TOLSTOY - - -The following is the translation of a letter from Count Leo Tolstoy to a -Jew who had asked his opinion concerning the outrages in Kishineff: - -“I have received your letter. I had already received several similar -letters. All the writers request me, as you do, to express my opinion on -the events at Kishineff. It seems to me that these appeals are based on -a misunderstanding. My correspondents supposed that my words carried -weight, and I am therefore begged to express my opinion on an event so -important and so complicated in its origins as the crime committed at -Kishineff. The misunderstanding consists in demanding from me the work -of a publicist, whereas I occupy myself exclusively with a single -definite question, having nothing in common with contemporary -events--viz., the question of religion and its application to life. To -request from me the public expression of my opinion on contemporary -events is as illogical as it would be to demand such expression from any -other specialist who makes use of contemporary events to illustrate his -views. I cannot, like a publicist, even if I thought it would be useful, -express my opinions on everything that occurs, no matter how important -it may be. If I did so I should have to speak hurriedly and without -reflection, repeating what has been said by others, and then my opinions -would cease to have the importance for the sake of which their -expression is sought. - -“As regards my views on the Jews and on the horrible doings at -Kishineff, they ought, it would seem, to be clear to all who would -interest themselves in my conception of life. I cannot regard the Jews -other than as brothers whom I love, not because they are Jews, but -because, like ourselves and everybody else, they are sons of the one -God the Father. Such love needs no effort on my part, for I have met and -known many excellent people among the Jews. My attitude towards the -Kishineff outrage is likewise defined by my religion and my conception -of life. When I read the first accounts in the newspapers, even before I -knew of the horrible details which afterwards came to light, I realised -the full horror of what had occurred and was filled with a profound pity -for the innocent victims of the barbarity of the mob, mingled with -astonishment at the bestial ferocities of these pretended Christians and -disgust and loathing towards the so-called educated people who stirred -up the mob and sympathised with its doings. But what I felt most deeply -was horror at the criminals who were really responsible for all that had -occurred, horror at our Government, with their clergy, who keep the -people in a state of ignorance and fanaticism, and with their bandit -horde of officials. The outrages at Kishineff are but the direct result -of the propaganda of falsehood and violence which our Government -conducts with such energy. The attitude of our Government towards these -events is only one more proof of the brutal egoism which does not flinch -from any measures, however cruel, when it is a question of suppressing a -movement which is deemed dangerous, and of their complete indifference -(similar to the indifference of the Turkish Government towards the -Armenian atrocities) towards the most terrible outrages which do not -affect Government interests. - -“This is all I can say with regard to the events at Kishineff, but it -has all been said long ago by me. If you ask me what, in my opinion, the -Jews ought to do, my answer in that case, as in others, is the logical -outcome of that Christian teaching which I strive to understand and to -follow. For the Jews, as for all men, one thing, and one thing only, is -necessary for salvation; to follow as closely as may be the universal -rule, ‘Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you.’ -They should fight the Government not by violence--that weapon should be -left to the Government--but by virtuous living to the exclusion not only -of all violence towards their neighbours, but of all participation in -violence, even when called upon by the Government instruments of -violence for their own advantage. This is all I can say with regard to -the horrible events at Kishineff; all this is very old and is well -known.” - - - - -APPENDIX III - - -Maxime Gorky, the Russian novelist, wrote the following letter to the -Kishineff Relief Committee: - -“Russia has been disgraced more and more frequently of recent years by -dark deeds, but the most disgraceful of all is the horrible Jewish -massacre at Kishineff, which has awakened our horror, shame, and -indignation. People who regard themselves as Christians, who claim to -believe in God’s mercy and sympathy, these people, on the day -consecrated to the resurrection of their God from the dead, occupy the -time in murdering children and aged people, ravishing women, and -martyring the men of the race that gave them Christ. - -“Who bears the blame of this base crime, which will remain on us like a -bloody blot for ages? We shall be unable to wash this blot from the sad -history of our dark country. It would be unjust and too simple to -condemn the mob. The latter was merely the hand which was guided by a -corrupt conscience, driving it to murder and robbery. For it is well -known that the mob at Kishineff was led by men of cultured society. But -cultivated society in Russia is really much worse than the people, who -are goaded by their sad life and blinded and enthralled by the -artificial darkness created around them. - -“The cultivated classes are a crowd of cowardly slaves, without feeling -of personal dignity, ready to accept every lie to save their ease and -comfort; a weak and lawless element almost without conscience and -without shame, in spite of its elegant exterior. Cultivated society is -not less guilty of the disgraceful and horrible deeds committed at -Kishineff than the actual murderers and ravishers. Its members’ guilt -consists in the fact that not merely did they not protect the victims, -but that they rejoiced over the murders; it consists chiefly in -committing themselves for long years to be corrupted by man-haters and -persons who have long enjoyed the disgusting glory of being the lackeys -of power and the glorifiers of lies, like the editor of _Bessarabetz_ of -Kishineff and other publicists. These are the real authors of the -disgraceful and awful crime of Kishineff. To all the shameful names -hitherto given to these repulsive men must be added another, and the -well-deserved one, of ‘instigators of pillage and murder.’ These -hypocrites, with the name of God on their lips, who preach in Russian -society hatred of the Jews, Armenians, and Finns, to-day heap base and -cowardly calumnies upon the corpses of those killed through their -influence, and they shamelessly continue their hateful work of poisoning -the mind and feeling of the weak-willed Russian society. - -“Shame upon their wicked heads! May the fire of conscience consume their -decayed hearts, covetous only of lackey-like honours and slavishly -obsequious to power! - -“It is now the duty of Russian society that is not yet wholly ruined by -these bandits, to prove that it is not identified with these instigators -of pillage and murder. Russian society must clear its conscience of part -of the shame and disgrace by helping the orphaned and desolated Jews and -assisting these members of the race which has given to the world many -really great men and which still continues to produce teachers of truth -and beauty in spite of its oppressed condition in the world. - -“Come, therefore, all who do not want themselves to be regarded as the -lackeys of the lackeys, and who still retain their self-respect; come -and help the Jews!” - - - - -APPENDIX IV - -FATHER JOHN OF KRONSTADT RECANTS - - -A Reuter’s telegram from St. Petersburg dated the 13th of June, stated: - -“The famous Orthodox priest, Father John of Kronstadt, whose fiery -condemnation of the Kishineff massacre was published in a Liberal -newspaper of St. Petersburg, has published the following statement in -the anti-Semitic journal _Znamya_, the new St. Petersburg organ of M. -Kroushevan, formerly editor of the _Bessarabetz_: - -“To my beloved brethren of Christ in Kishineff: From the newspaper -accounts that followed those first published about the Kishineff -catastrophe, I have come to the conclusion that the Jews themselves -were the cause of those disorders and the wounds inflicted and the -murders committed on April 6 and 7 [old style]. I have arrived at the -conclusion that it is the Christians who have suffered in the end, and -that the Jews have been doubly repaid for their losses and injuries by -their own brethren and others. I know this from letters which I have -received from my people, who have lived for a long time in Kishineff who -are well acquainted with the state of things there, and who are most -trustworthy. Therefore I say to Kishineff Christians, forgive the -reproach which I cast upon you alone on account of the horrors -perpetrated. From letters of eye-witnesses I am convinced that one -cannot lay all the blame upon the Christians, who were incited to the -disorders by the Jews, and that the latter are mainly responsible for -the catastrophe.” - -No Russian newspaper of any influence, with the exception of the _Novoye -Vremya_, has attempted to palliate the massacre, or to lay the blame for -it on the Jews. - - - - -APPENDIX V - - Simon of Trent, from an article of Dr. Bloch in the - _Oesterreichische Wochenschrift_, No. 42, October the 20th, 1899. - (Freely translated.) - - -SIMON OF TRENT - -The case of the alleged ritual murder of the child Simon of Trent is the -most important example of its kind, and is therefore frequently quoted -by anti-Semites. I have given the history of the case in the -_Oesterreichische Wochenschrift_. The Vienna _Vaterland_ of the 17th -October, and Pastor Deckert in the _Deutsches Volksblatt_ discuss my -articles, but carefully avoid mentioning the _Oesterreichische -Wochenschrift_. In May, 1893, the Vienna _Vaterland_ was obliged to -publish several articles from my pen, contradicting the statements made -by Pastor Deckert. In an article of May the 30th, 1893, I called -attention to a fact which throws a glaring light upon the history of the -case: Some days before the murder of the child, during the Easter week -of 1475, Bernardinus de Feltre, whilst preaching in Trent against the -Jews, expressed himself to the following effect: “And with these cursed -Jews you are on a friendly footing? You say, although without the true -faith, they are good people? But I tell you that even before the Easter -will have come to an end they will have given you a proof of their -kindness.” (_Cf._ Wadding, “Annales Minorum,” XIV. p. 132). Bernardinus -thus predicted the murder days before it happened. His prophecy was -naturally fulfilled. On Thursday in Passion Week, March the 23d, Simon, -the 28-months’-old son of the tanner Andreas, disappeared. Bernardinus -accused the Jews, and on Saturday the body of a child was discovered in -the house of Samuel. The Jews themselves informed the Bishop Hinderbach, -in consequence of which information all of them, including women and -children, were imprisoned. - -In his article of the 17th of October, Pastor Deckert maintains that: -“It is not true that the confessions made by the Jews were obtained by -means of torture, and that they had been tortured whilst there were -absolutely no indications of their guilt.” Pastor Deckert is right. -There were proofs against them, proofs of a very extraordinary nature. -As soon as the bishop saw the body of the child he exclaimed: “This is -the work of the Jews!” (Acta Sanc., II., March 24, p. 497), and swore to -have revenge. He entrusted the prefect of the town, Johann de Salis, -with the conduct of the action. The latter put the richest Jews to (an -ordeal?) trial, and the wounds having begun to bleed as soon as the Jews -approached the body, which is always the case, as experience teaches -(experientia compertum est), when a murderer approaches his victim, this -fact was a convincing proof of the guilt of the Jews. There was also -another “proof” against the Jews. In the prison of Trent a converted -Jewish criminal, Johann de Feltre, was detained. By accusing his former -coreligionists he could hope for freedom; and he became a witness, ready -to say anything and everything against the Jews. Pastor Deckert -maintains that “it is not true that the confessions of the Jews were -obtained in consequence of tortures only.” - -I have refuted his statement with his own words. On p. 21 of his article -he himself states: “_only torture could make them confess; without -tortures they would have confessed nothing_.” The Jews were submitted -for several days to the most inhuman tortures, and only then -_confessed_. This is proved by the contents of the letters of the Bishop -addressed to the Pope: “The accused Jews have been tortured for several -days (per pluries dies torti et interrogati), but have confessed -nothing”; and in another place the Bishop writes: “Although much has -been done against the Jews, a fortnight has passed without any result.” - -Had the prisoners confessed at the first, second, or third application, -the official would not have employed so many variations of torture. _All -the alleged confessions had therefore been obtained by means of terror -and tortures of the most cruel character._ - -The sufferings of the martyrs are related in the letters of the Bishop -addressed to the Pope: - -“On the 30th day of March (Vienna Acts, fol. 51) Samuel was ‘examined’ -for the first time; he was, however, sent back to prison to ‘recover’ -(animum repetendi), which term means in judicial language that he had -_fainted_. On the following day (March 31st) he was undressed, and with -his feet and hands tied, hoisted up on a rope and kept suspended in the -air, his limbs being thus turned out of their joints. As, however, he -still persisted in maintaining his innocence, he received ‘una -cavaletta’ (a leap), in other words, he was quickly lowered and pulled -up again; then the cord on which he was suspended was ‘touched,’ _i. -e._, _beaten_, and he was made to ‘leap’ several times. The victim -having swooned, the torture ceased. It was continued, with several -variations of exquisite cruelty, on the 3d of April. - -On the 4th day (April the 7th) the procedure was resumed; and as the -victim exclaimed: “If I were to confess my guilt, I would only be -telling a lie,” _a wooden peg was attached to his leg, whilst he -remained suspended in the air_, thus considerably augmenting the pain. -Then a _pan filled with fire and brimstone was held to his nose_. - -He still maintained his innocence, until at last, mad with pain and -suffering, he _confessed_ that he and Tobias had _strangled_ the boy. -This admission, clearly contradicting the blood accusation, was all that -could be obtained from him. Samuel was kept imprisoned for two months -(up to June the 7th) whilst the other Jews were being “examined.” -Evidently Samuel must have retracted his confession of the 8th of April, -as the following excerpt from the Acts will show: - - WEDNESDAY, June the 7th, in the torture chamber. - -Invited to speak the truth and informed that all his companions had -confessed their guilt, he replied that if they had done so they had told -a lie. The prefect of the town having been informed that the drinking of -holy water made criminals confess their guilt, Samuel was made to drink -a spoonful of consecrated water. - -He persisted, however, in maintaining his innocence. Then two hot boiled -eggs were put under his shoulder-blades. Asked to speak the truth, he -promised to do so, but in presence of the prefect and the captain of the -town only. Left alone with these two gentlemen, he asked them to promise -him, “that he would only (!) be burnt and not have to die any other -death.” That is the manner in which he was made to _confess_ his guilt. -In spite of his mad self-accusations he was asked again to tell “_the -truth better still_” (Interrogates, quod melius dicat veritatem, minante -eidam Samueli, quod si non dicat veritatem, ponetur ad cordam. Qui -Samuel respondit, quod vult dicere veritatem, quia ex quo confessus est -mortem pueri, vult confiteri aliqua), and was threatened with new -tortures. On the 21st of June he was burnt alive. All the other victims -were treated in the same manner, even those who had accepted baptism. - -Israel, son of Mohar of Brandenburg, was arrested on the 27th of March, -tortured from the 12th to the 21st of April, and having expressed the -wish to be baptised was freed. On the 26th of October, however, he was -again arrested, tortured several times, and killed on the wheel on the -19th of January. This sentence was due to the fact of his having given -evidence before the Papal Legate, the Bishop of Ventimiglia at Roveredo, -relating to the “examination” of the accused. In No. 128 of the Vienna -_Vaterland_ (May the 10th, 1893) I proved that the Duke and the Council -of Venice sent two eminent “jurisconsults” from Padua to Trent to -investigate the manner in which the accused were examined. The learned -doctors were maltreated by the mob. An “Apostolic note” issued by Pope -Sixtus IV., on the 10th of October, 1475, prohibits, under punishment of -excommunication, the claim that the child Simon of Trent was a martyr. -It is not proved, says the “note” that the child Simon had been murdered -by the Jews (nihil adhuc certum compertumve nostro judicio aut -approbatum de quodam puero Simone Tridentino per Judæos, ut dicitur, -interfecto). The Pope appointed the Legate, Bishop of Ventimiglia, -Giovanni dei Giudici, to investigate the case. The investigation took -place at Roveredo, in 1476, and the innocence of the Jews was proved. An -Zelinus, a citizen of Trent, proved that a certain Swiss, Zanesus, -living in Trent, and an enemy of the Jews, was the actual murderer of -the child. That the Papal Legate had clearly established the innocence -of the Jews is manifest by the acts of the case, dated: October the 20th -and 29th, and November 2d, 1475, and April 3d, 1476. - -It was natural, therefore, that with regard to this case Pope Paul III., -in a Bull of May the 12th, 1540, declared the blood accusations to be -nothing but the result of hatred and envy, and of covetousness due to a -desire to seize and appropriate the possessions of the Jews. The Bull -further prohibits, under the severest punishment of the Church, the -revival of such accusations in the future. - - - INTERPELLATION ADDRESSED BY DR. BYK, DR. RAPPOPORT, AND COLLEAGUES - TO HIS EXCELLENCY, THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, VIENNA. - -The false and terrible accusation that the Jews require blood of -Christians for their religious rites and ceremonies has been -systematically disseminated, for the last few months, all over Austria. -The immediate cause of the movement was the Polna case of the murder of -Agnes Hruza. A Jew has been accused of the crime, but although his guilt -has not yet been proved, the circumstance has been used by a prejudiced -party, hostile to the Jews, and ritual murder suggested. At the trial -the public prosecutor, representing the government, public morality, and -the law, placed himself under the influence of that accusation by the -use of the words, “the well-known motives of the crime.” The president -of the court found no words of protest against the blood legend, which -was made use of, in presence of an excited crowd, for party purposes. -Although there was no ground and no corroboration for the accusation, -the belief gained popularity, thanks to the attitude of these organs of -justice. That the unrestrained spread of such a terrible accusation must -bring about disastrous consequences, is self-evident. No law and no -power are strong enough to protect those who require the blood of -innocent human victims for their religious rites. The whole extent of -the danger was perceived centuries ago, and Popes and temporal -(non-religious) rulers, especially kings of Poland, strongly prohibited -the raising and spread of the false accusation. This was done by the -Popes: Innocent IV. (in the “Bulls” of May the 28th, 1247; July the 5th, -1247; and September the 22d, 1258); Gregory X. (October the 7th, 1272); -Martin V. (February the 20th, 1422); Michael V. (November the 5th, -1447); Paul III. (May the 12th, 1540); who, availing themselves of their -fullest authority, most emphatically, and under pain of the severest -punishment of the Church, forbade the Christians to raise blood -accusations against the Jews. The example of the Popes was followed by -the kings of Poland: Jan Albrecht in his edict of 1496; Zygmunt I., -1514; Zygmunt II., August, 1548; Stephen Batory, 1576 and 1580; Zygmunt -III., 1592; Wladystan IV., 1663; Jan Kazimir, 1694; Michael I., 1696; -August II., 1763; August III., 1763, and Stanislaus August, 1765; -commanded eternal silence (æternum silentium) in regard to the calumny -of the blood accusation, under the penalty of “pœna talionis.” In -Bohemia, where the case of Huelsner occurred, the Kings Ottokar II. -(March 29th, 1254; and August 23d, 1268); Wenzel II. (1300); and -Ladislav IV. (May the 15th, 1454), issued similar decrees. In other -countries special laws, relating to the blood accusation, have been -enacted. The condition of the present Austrian legislation makes the -promulgation of special laws unnecessary. Unfortunately, however, the -law is powerless against the extravagant excesses of the press; and thus -daily, in various languages, the legend of the ritual murder is spread -among all classes of society. - -In the face of the above facts, we beg to submit the following -questions: - -(a) Is your Excellency aware of the existing evil? - -(b) What measures does your Excellency propose to take, with a view to -put an end to it? - -Dr. Byk, Dr. Rappoport, Piepes-Poratynski, Dr. Rosenstock, Dr. -Trachtenberg, Dr. Kolischer, Yaworski, Bilinski, Dziednszycki, Gorski, -David Abrahamovicz, Dielemba, Struszkiewicz, Gizowski, Moysa, Wladimir -Gniewosz, Bogdanowicz, Pientak, Milewski, Dr. Walewski, Ratowski, -Lewicki, Roszkowski, Henzel, Popowski, Weigel, Kareis, Auspitz, -Straucher, Tittinger, Sokolowski. - - -POPE INNOCENT IV. (5th July, 1247). - - _To the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany._ - -We have received a pitiable complaint from the Jews of Germany. They say -that some nobles, lay and ecclesiastical, and other powerful and notable -men within your cities and dioceses, designing to seize and usurp their -goods unjustly, devise against them impious counsels and invent diverse -pretexts. Without considering that testimonies to the Christian Faith -have proceeded from their records and that the Sacred Scripture among -other precepts of the Law says: “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids them -at their Passover ceremonies to touch any dead flesh, they falsely -accuse the Jews of using in these same ceremonies the body of a murdered -child, thinking that the said practice is required by their Law, whereas -it is clearly contrary to their Law. And they cast upon the Jews, with -malicious intent, any corpse that by chance is discovered at any place. -Attacking them with these and other inventions, and without formal -accusation, confession or conviction, and in despite of the privileges -conceded to the Jews by the clemency of the Holy See, they despoil them -of their goods (contrary to the law of God and to justice), and they -visit them with hunger, imprisonment, and so many calamities and -afflictions, punishing them with diverse punishments (even condemning -many of them to shameful death) that the Jews, living under the rule of -the said princes, notables, and powerful men in worse plight than were -their fathers under Pharaoh in Egypt, are compelled to leave places -where they and their ancestors have dwelt from time immemorial. Hence, -in fear of extermination, they have thought it necessary to have -recourse to the protection of the Holy See. Now, therefore, being -unwilling that the Jews should be unjustly harassed (for God in his -mercy awaits their conversion, seeing that, on the testimony of the -Prophet, it is believed that the remnant of them is destined to be -saved), we order that you show yourselves favourable and well disposed -to them, and whenever you find any violent attempt made against them, -with respect to the matters mentioned above, by the prelates, nobles, -and powerful men aforesaid, you shall see that the matter is treated -according to law, and shall not in future permit the Jews to be -improperly molested on these or similar charges by any persons -whatever. Those who molest them you shall summarily restrain by your -ecclesiastical censure. - - -POPE INNOCENT IV. (1247). - - _To the Archbishop of Vienna._ - -Divine justice has not cast down the Jewish people without preserving -the remnant of them for salvation. Therefore, it is an act of zeal that -deserves no commendation, or of cruelty that is worthy of detestation, -when Christians, either through greed for wealth or thirst for blood -(disregarding the merciful nature of the Christian Church, which allows -the Jews to live in its midst and to practise their own rites), plunder, -torture, and slay them without trial. Now, the Jews living within your -province have lately brought before the Holy See a pitiable complaint. -They say that certain prelates and nobles of the province, desirous of -having a pretext for cruelty towards them, have accused them of the -death of a girl who is said to have been found secretly murdered near -Valréas, that they have inhumanly committed some of them to the flames -without legal trial or confession, while they have despoiled others of -all their possessions and driven them away, and that--against the wont -of the Mother who, herself free, brings forth children that they may be -children of freedom--they have compelled their children to be baptised -against their will. Now, since we are unwilling to tolerate such -things--as, indeed, we could not do without transgressing the will of -God--we hereby command you to deal according to law with such attacks on -the Jews, of the nature that has been described above, as are made by -bishops, nobles, and rulers. You shall not permit the Jews to be -unjustly ill-treated on these or similar grounds, and you shall restrain -the evil-doers by the summary use of ecclesiastical censures. - - - POPE INNOCENT IV. (25th September, 1253). - -Moreover, in order to counteract the wickedness and greed of evil men, -we decree that no one shall harm, or trespass on, the cemeteries of the -Jews, or shall dig up dead bodies to obtain money, or shall charge them -with using human blood in their ceremonies. Though they are ordered in -the Old Testament to use no blood at all--not to mention human -blood--yet many Jews have been killed at Fulda and in many other places -on suspicion of having used human blood. By the authority of these -presents we strictly forbid such actions in the future. If any man, -having become acquainted with the purport of this decree, contravenes -it--we pray that such a thing may not happen--let him be exposed to the -danger of losing his office or rank, or let him be punished by -excommunication, unless he makes suitable amends for his presumption; -but we wish this protection of ours to be given only to those who use -no devices for the subversion of the Christian faith. - - -POPE GREGORY X. (7th October, 1272). - -Since Jews cannot bear testimony against Christians, we decree that the -testimony of Christians against Jews shall be of no avail unless there -is a Jew bearing testimony among them. For it sometimes happens that -Christians lose their children, and Jews are charged by their enemies -with taking them away and killing them and using their hearts and blood -for religious purposes; the fathers of the children, or other -Christians, in hatred of the Jews, hide the children away, so that they -may cause trouble to the Jews and gain money from them for relieving -them from their trouble, and in order that they may most falsely assert -that the Jews have secretly stolen and murdered the children and that -they use the blood for religious purposes, whereas their law strictly -forbids them to use blood for ceremonial purposes, or to taste it, or -to eat the flesh of animals with cloven hoofs, as has been many times -demonstrated at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith. On -charges of this kind Jews have often been seized and imprisoned -unjustly. We decree that in such cases the testimony of Christians -against Jews shall not be admitted; that Jews imprisoned on this empty -charge shall be liberated; that they be not imprisoned in future on this -empty charge unless (which we cannot believe) they are found in the act. - -(Signed by the Pope, four cardinals, and two bishops). - - -POPE MARTIN V. (20th February, 1422). - -It sometimes happens that many Christians, in order that they may extort -money from the said Jews and deprive them of their goods and substance -and cause them to be killed, invent pretexts and assert (at times of -plague and other calamities) that the Jews have poisoned the wells and -mixed human blood with their unleavened bread: they say that it is in -consequence of these crimes, which they unjustly ascribe to the Jews, -that the calamities are caused. Hence the population is moved against -the Jews and massacres them and persecutes and afflicts them in many -ways. - - -POPE NICHOLAS V. (1447). - -Some persons have ventured to make the untruthful assertion that the -Jews are unable to celebrate certain of their festivals without using -the liver or heart of a Christian. - - -POPE PAUL III. (12th May, 1550). - - _To the Clergy of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland._ - -We have heard with displeasure, through the complaints of the Jews in -your parts, that various ... towns, nobles, and powerful men among you, -being jealous of the Jews and hostile to them, and blinded by hatred and -envy, or, as is more probable, by greed, and wishing to have a pretext -for depriving them of their goods, falsely charge them with slaying your -children and drinking their blood, and committing many other horrible -crimes specially directed against our faith. Thus they attempt to arouse -the feelings of simple Christians against the Jews, and it often results -that the Jews are not only robbed of their property, but are even -murdered. - - - THE END - - * * * * * - - _A NOTABLE BIOGRAPHY_ - - RECOLLECTIONS - - PERSONAL AND LITERARY - - BY - - RICHARD HENRY STODDARD - - (EDITED BY RIPLEY HITCHCOCK) - - With a preface by - - EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN - - Illustrated. 12mo., cloth, Price, $1.50 net. - - _Large Paper Edition, limited to 200 copies, extra illustrated. - Printed on Japan paper, uncut, price $7 50 net._ - - -Mr. Stoddard was the last survivor of the time which has been called the -Golden Age of American Letters. His meetings with Edgar Allan Poe, and -their curious ending, his visits to Hawthorne, and Hawthorne’s kindly -counsel, his talks with Thackeray, his literary discussions before -Lowell’s study fire, Boker’s frank comments upon the contemporary -theatre, his golden nights with Bayard Taylor are among the pictures -which are presented in these personal and fascinating RECOLLECTIONS. The -writer’s dry humor and quaint originality of expression impart an added -charm to the most notable literary autobiography of recent years. - - * * * * * - - _A REMARKABLE NOVEL_ - - TENNESSEE TODD - - A Dramatic Story of Steamboat Life on the Mississippi - - BY - - G. W. OGDEN - - 12mo. with frontispiece, cloth, Price, $1.50 - - -Not since the time when Mark Twain immortalized the Mississippi in Tom -Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, has anyone come forward to tempt comparison -with those inimitable portraits. But at last, a man who knows the life -of the river and who has caught the spirit of it, has revived the old -steamboat days during the years when the first railroad between St. -Louis and New Orleans was wresting supremacy from the river. - -TENNESSEE TODD is the story of that fight between the steamboat and the -railroad, between the old order and the new, between the men who had -carried on warfare with the treacherous stream until they had become its -controllers, and the new men which the inevitable advance of commerce -brought with capital and brains to usurp the power and break the pride -of the men of the Mississippi. - - * * * * * - - _A GREAT FIRST NOVEL_ - - THE CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE - - The Story of a New Battle on Old Fields - - BY - - BALDWIN SEARS - - 12mo. cloth, Price $1.50 - - -A novel of extraordinary power, dealing with the absorbing social and -political questions of the South which confront America to-day no less -than they confronted the government before and immediately after the -Civil War, in a different, though equally threatening, form. - -With sympathy, humor and strength, the life and problems of to-day in -one section of the South--which may be taken as representative of many -communities all over the South--is presented in a broader way than has -been done in any American novel. As the work of an entirely new author, -it will attract immediate attention for its remarkable literary quality -and its comprehensive grasp of a broad social and political motive. - - * * * * * - - _A STORY OF THE LAKES_ - - HIS LITTLE WORLD - - THE STORY OF HUNCH BADEAU - - BY - - SAMUEL MERWIN - - Author of “The Road to Frontenac,” joint-author of “Calumet K” etc. - - 12 mo. cloth. Illustrated. $1.25 - - -This is the story of a man. Whether driving his schooner through a lake -storm, or quelling a lumber-yard mutiny, or sacrificing his love for the -sake of a friend, Hunch Badeau is every inch a man. - -He doesn’t preach, but unconsciously, and prompted simply by the bigness -of his heart, he exemplifies a nobility which does the reader good. Many -things happen in this story. Readers will like and they will remember -Hunch Badeau. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Observation No. 6418, “Code of Laws,” Vol. VIII. - -[2] See Appendix - -[3] These letters are republished by the willing permission of Mr. -W. R. Hearst, for whose papers they were written from Kishineff and -elsewhere. They have, of course, undergone a necessary revision. - -It is believed that by including these letters as they were originally -written, with only such changes as were necessary to a permanent -form, a more vivid realisation of the scenes of the tragedy has been -afforded than would have been possible if their facts alone had been -incorporated with the body of the narrative. - -[4] See Appendix. - -[5] See M. de Plehve’s version. - -[6] _The London Times_, June 26, 1903. - -[7] See Letter IV. - -[8] See Letter IV. - -[9] “Government officials” here would stand for telegraph messengers, -or employés of other departments.--M. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this ebook. - -Title: Within the Pale - -Subtitle: The True Story of Anti-Semitic Persecution in Russia - -Author: Michael Davitt - -Release Date: October 31, 2020 [EBook #63588] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - available at The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE PALE *** -</pre><hr class="full" /> - -<div class="c"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_i" id="page_i">{i}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ii" id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iii" id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span> </p> - -<p class="c">W I T H I N T H E P A L E</p> - -<div class="boxx"> - -<h1> -WITHIN<br /> -THE PALE</h1> - -<p class="c"><i>The True Story of Anti-Semitic<br /> -Persecution in Russia</i></p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="c">BY<br /> -M I C H A E L D A V I T T<br /> -<br /><small> -AUTHOR OF “LEAVES FROM A PRISON DIARY,”<br /> -“LIFE AND PROGRESS IN AUSTRALASIA,”<br /> -“THE BOER FIGHT FOR<br /> -FREEDOM,” ETC.</small><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<i>SPECIAL EDITION</i><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -<span class="eng">Philadelphia</span><br /> -THE JEWISH PUBLICATION<br /> -SOCIETY OF AMERICA<br /> -<br /><small> -NEW YORK<br /> -A. S. BARNES & CO.<br /> -1903</small></p> -</div> - -<p class="c"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iv" id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span><br /> -<br /><small> -<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1903,<br /> -<span class="smcap">By</span> A. S. BARNES & CO.,<br /> -<br /> -<i>Published, October.</i></small><br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_v" id="page_v">{v}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is deemed necessary, for the twofold aim of this book,—to arouse -public feeling against a murder-making legend, and to put forward a plea -for the objects of the Zionist movement,—to tell the story of the -Russian Jew, apropos of recent massacres. This task could only be -partially done in my despatches from Kishineff to Mr. William R. -Hearst’s American papers. Moreover, all the despatches were not -published, for reasons which govern the exigencies of journals that are -concerned much more with a record of daily events in the United States -than with history.</p> - -<p>While in Russia I tried to find both sides of the anti-Semitic Question, -so as to give expression to all views which could throw light upon -crimes that had shocked the public mind in America and in Europe no -more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vi" id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span> than they had pained and scandalised all right-thinking Russians.</p> - -<p>To several of the minor representatives of the Tsar’s Government I owe -an acknowledgment for uniform courtesies, and for valuable assistance in -my investigations, and I endeavour, in the chapter on “Russia’s -Attitude,” to let the voice of such exponents of official Russian ideas -and purposes be heard alongside of counter Jewish accusations.</p> - -<p>The unwarranted attempts that have been made in some quarters to use the -Kishineff crimes as means of creating an unfriendly feeling between the -two greatest powers in the world to-day—the United States Republic and -the Empire of Russia—are reprehensible. There are very unworthy motives -behind this mischievous endeavour that are not calculated to serve the -cause of the Russian Jew. The writer of these pages can have no sympathy -with nor lend encouragement of any kind to these sinister efforts.</p> - -<p>Russia cannot, for her own sake, allow the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span> present state of things to -continue within the Pale of Settlement. Reform or revolution must deal -with an absolutely impossible condition of social and economic life.</p> - -<p>I follow Russian, and not Jewish, guidance in the brief sketch I give of -the history of the Russian Jew and of his long and persistent -persecution. The clear and unbiassed opinions, and statement of historic -facts, so courageously and clearly expressed in Prince Demidoff San -Donato’s book, have been the chief source of information from which the -materials for that sketch have been derived.</p> - -<p>The Jew, as he is ruled and oppressed by Russian officials, is a far -greater danger to Russian autocracy than anti-Semitism is to the -Israelites of the Pale. The danger was candidly avowed by all -representative Russians from whom I solicited light and information. The -average Russian, however, errs most seriously in believing that measures -of repression, like those of 1882 and 1891, can ever cure the Empire of -its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span> “Semitic malady,” as one high official harshly expressed it. Had -far more drastic and more barbarous methods of coercion than those of -General Ignatieff possessed the power to cure a similar “malady,” or -kill the same race, no Jew would be alive on earth to-day to trouble the -domestic cares of the Tsar’s Government. There can be no stronger -argument against the policy of continued repression found in the -literature or history of liberty than the existence and the marvellous -influence to-day of this, the most persecuted of all peoples among the -civilised races.</p> - -<p>Contempt for human rights, even if they be Jewish rights, is an unwise -attitude for an autocratic government. It can only lead to more outrage, -through the example and encouragement it offers to the lowest aims of -anti-Semitism; to more poverty, through the steady increase within the -existing Pale of men and women of the most intellectual of races, who -grow up conscious of the fact that they are made poor by the working of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix">{ix}</a></span> -special laws, because they are Hebrews. Such contempt and neglect are -the best recruiting forces for disloyalty and Socialism among 4,000,000 -subjects, having powerful racial friends and political allies in -countries where Russia’s strongest enemies are to be found; and are far -more dangerous to Russia’s internal peace and progress than any measure -of Jewish emancipation could possibly be.</p> - -<p>This book is neither inspired by feeling, political or otherwise, -against Russia, nor by any pro-Jewish purpose outside the questions -immediately touched upon by the writer. Where anti-Semitism stands, in -fair political combat, in opposition to the foes of nationality, or -against the engineers of a sordid war in South Africa, or as the -assailant of the economic evils of unscrupulous capitalism anywhere, I -am resolutely in line with its spirit and programme. Where, however, it -only speaks and acts in a cowardly racial warfare, which descends to the -use of an atrocious fabrication responsible<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x">{x}</a></span> for odious and unspeakable -crimes like those that are to its credit in the massacres of Kishineff, -it becomes a thing deserving of no more toleration from right-minded men -than do the germs of some malady laden with the poison of a malignant -disease.</p> - -<p>The inquiries made by me in Kishineff convince me that the peculiar -atrocity of most of the crimes perpetrated against the Jews of the city -at Easter were directly attributable to the horrible influence of the -ritual-murder propaganda upon untutored minds possessed of an ignorant -and fanatical conception of religion.</p> - -<p>Should these pages succeed, even to a little extent, in influencing -public feeling in America and Europe, in favour of the suggestions they -contain for the redress of the indefensible wrongs of a long-suffering -people, the writer will be amply rewarded for his small share in the -performance of so worthy and necessary a task.</p> - -<p>“The public moral sense of all nations,” wrote Cardinal Manning, on the -same topic,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">{xi}</a></span> a dozen years ago, “is created and sustained by -participation in a universal common law; when this is anywhere broken, -or wounded, it is not only sympathy, but civilisation, that has the -privilege of respectful remonstrance.”</p> - -<p class="r"> -M. D.<br /> -</p> - -<p class="hang"> -<span class="smcap">St. Justins, Dalkey, Ireland</span>,<br /> -<i>4th July, 1903</i>.<br /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">{xii}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii">{xiii}</a></span> </p> - -<h3><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h3> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#PART_I">PART I</a> -<br /><br /> -<span class="smcap">The Story of the Russian Jew</span></th></tr> - -<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td> </td> -<td class="rt"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">From Ancient Times To 1804</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_1">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">The Pale of Settlement (1804-1882)</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_12">12</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">From the Ignatieff Laws to the Kishineff Massacres</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_33">33</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">A Murder-Making Legend</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_52">52</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Russia’s Attitude</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_64">64</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">The Zionist Solution</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_82">82</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#PART_II">PART II</a><br /><br /> - -<span class="smcap">The Kishineff Massacres</span><br /></th></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">I. <span class="smcap">Origin and Agency</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_91">91</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">II. <span class="smcap">Letters from Kishineff</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_101">101</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">III. <span class="smcap">M. de Plehve’s Version</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_182">182</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a> -</td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">IV. <span class="smcap">An Impartial Account</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_189">189</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a> </td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">V. <span class="smcap">Documents</span>:</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top"></td><td> (I) <span class="smcap"><a href="#page_207">Petition to the Director-General of Police</a></span>,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_207">207</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top"></td><td> (II) <span class="smcap"><a href="#page_217">List of Killed</a></span>,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_217">217</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top"></td><td>(III) <span class="smcap"><a href="#page_222">Extracts from a Report by Two Christian Ladies</a></span>,</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_222">222</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Notes and Comments</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_231">231</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="3"><a href="#APPENDICES">APPENDICES</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">President Roosevelt on the Kishineff Crime and the Jews</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_256">256</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Letter from Tolstoy</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_268">268</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Letter from Maxime Gorky</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_272">272</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Father John of Kronstadt Recants</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_276">276</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">The Story of Simon of Trent</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_278">278</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td valign="top" class="rt"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">English Translation of Papal Bulls</span>,</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_291">291</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_1" id="page_1">{1}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="WITHIN_THE_PALE" id="WITHIN_THE_PALE"></a>WITHIN THE PALE</h3> - -<h2><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I<br /><br /> -<small><i>THE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN JEW</i></small></h2> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> -<small>FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO 1804</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE time when Jews first settled in Russia is a subject of mere -historical conjecture. Some accounts assert that colonies of the race -were founded in the country bordering on the Black Sea several centuries -before the Christian era. All the probabilities favour this view. Both -before and after their dispersion by the Romans, a people so intelligent -and resourceful as the Hebrews would learn of the fruitful regions -watered by the four great rivers which flow into the southern -sea-boundaries of the vast territory now under the sway of the Tsar.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_2" id="page_2">{2}</a></span> -They would have a choice of land and sea routes for the voyages of -emigration, trade, or adventure.</p> - -<p>The distance from Jerusalem to the mouth of the Volga, through Asia -Minor and the Caucasus, is not much more than from Astrakhan to St. -Petersburg, while the journey by sea from Joppa to where the city of -Odessa stands to-day for Russia’s richest seaport, is much less than -that from Athens to Marseilles. The Caucasus, Taurida (Crimea), Cherson, -and Bessarabia, known in the days of King Solomon by other names, would -be within the zone of trading intercourse with the Kingdom of Israel, -while these rich and interesting parts of Southern Russia would -naturally attract the footsteps of the scattered race after Titus had -destroyed their nation and dispersed its people, as well as during the -existence of the Byzantine Empire.</p> - -<p>Whether the race known as the Khazars, who governed the territory -stretching north from Astrakhan over the eastern watershed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_3" id="page_3">{3}</a></span> of the Volga -as far as Kazan, were civilised by Semitic colonists, as alleged by some -writers, is now only an interesting speculation. One fact offered in -support of this theory is that the Israelites were driven out of this -country by its rulers in the eleventh century, at a time when Jews in -Christian Europe began to be objects of race persecution.</p> - -<p>The period of the Crusades may be taken as that in which the systematic -oppression of the Jews began. The source of this persecution was the -religious influence upon uneducated minds of the gospel of the -Crucifixion, coupled with legends about ritual murders, and fables -recording the sacrifice of the blood of Christian children and maidens -during the sacred rites of Paschal time.</p> - -<p>It is on record that, in the year 1298, a fanatic in a city of Franconia -circulated a story that the Sacred Host in a church had been polluted by -a Jew, and that the Almighty had chosen an avenger of this crime<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_4" id="page_4">{4}</a></span> in the -person of the narrator of the act of sacrilege. The populace rose <i>en -masse</i> and burned all the Jews in the city. The massacre extended to the -country, and, before the murderous fury unchained by this fanatic and -his falsehood could be stilled, over 100,000 victims were slaughtered in -Germany, Bavaria, and Austria.</p> - -<p>It was following these and similar ferocities that the first great -movement of the Semitic race into Poland occurred. They were encouraged -to move into this country by the toleration extended to smaller colonies -of their race who had settled in Polish dominions in earlier times. All -accounts agree in crediting to this ancient Kingdom a far more -enlightened rule of the proscribed Israelites than to any other -Christian nation during the Middle Ages. Casimir the Great protected -them in both their religious and civil liberties, in return for which -freedom they helped to organise and develop the commerce and crafts of -the country. They flourished and multiplied<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_5" id="page_5">{5}</a></span> under such rule, and became -the trading link between producer and consumer, in the economic life of -Poland, as well as tillers of the soil and expert artisans.</p> - -<p>It is an error to assume that the Jews have not thriven anywhere in -agricultural industry. Wherever they were sure of protection against -spoliation, they took to land labour as readily as to other pursuits, -and succeeded. This was so in Poland during the two centuries in which -they shared in the general rights guaranteed by the state. Accounts of -Jewish agricultural colonies in various parts of Russia, in later days, -also support the same testimony. In fact there was no better foundation -for this charge in times anterior to our own than the circumstance that -a people who were not permitted to own land anywhere, or even to -cultivate it in some countries, were, in consequence, subjected to the -imputation of having a racial prejudice against this means of obtaining -a livelihood.</p> - -<p>The halcyon period of Jewish freedom in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_6" id="page_6">{6}</a></span> Poland came to an end in the -middle of the seventeenth century. That proud and ancient nation was -itself the victim of invasion and oppression, and its Semitic population -lost over 200,000 men, women, and children in the ferocious campaigns -waged by the conquering Cossack Hetman, and his Tartar and Russian -allies, against Poles and Jews alike.</p> - -<p>The Jews of Poland survived this calamity, and grew numerous again, as -persecuted civilised races somehow do, in their own, or in some other, -land. They, however, lent assistance to the designs of the ambitious -nobles when the landed aristocracy invaded the recognised prerogatives -of the kingly power, and took to themselves all the responsibilities and -advantages of government. They became their agents and instruments in -the sordid work of harassing the peasant cultivators, who found -themselves ground down more remorselessly by class rule than under a -semi-republican monarchy. Popular feeling was thus turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_7" id="page_7">{7}</a></span> against the -Jews, and they began to experience, in Poland, as elsewhere, that social -and economic antipathy which their greater money-making capacity has -always nourished in the commercial minds of the less successful -Christians.</p> - -<p>As a friend of Polish freedom remarked to the writer in Warsaw in the -spring of 1903, “the nobles cultivated their pride, rack-rented their -tenants, and lost their independence.” And, with this fall of the one -Christian nation in Europe, which had fairly ruled and humanely treated -the hunted Hebrew up to the eighteenth century, the era of systematic -persecution began for the Polish Jew when a cruel fate compelled him to -become a Russian subject.</p> - -<p>The early oppression of the Jews in Russia was entirely due to religious -feeling. Their exceptional treatment in recent years arises from -political and economic more than from sectarian causes. M. Varadinoff, -in his history of Russian administration, says: “The history of all the -cases since<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_8" id="page_8">{8}</a></span> 1649, involving Jewish religious matters, bears on it the -stamp of mistrust to the followers of the law of Moses, because the -Jews, by their false doctrines, convert to their faith not only -Christians, but persons belonging to other religious persuasions; in -consequence of this the civil rights of the Jews were more or less -restricted, and their settlement in Russia was prohibited. They were -also on several occasions entirely expelled across the Russian -frontiers. The code of Alexis Mikailovitch provides punishment of death -for the perversion of a Christian to the Hebrew faith. In 1676 Jews were -prohibited from coming to Moscow from Smolensk, and in 1727 an order was -promulgated to the effect that ‘All Jews found to be residing in the -Ukraine and in Russian towns shall be immediately expelled beyond the -frontier, and not be allowed under any circumstances to enter Russia.’<span class="lftspc">”</span></p> - -<p>Prince Demidoff San Donato, in quoting this expert in his excellent -book, says that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_9" id="page_9">{9}</a></span> proviso to this ukase stipulated that before leaving -Russia all the Jews were to be made to exchange their gold and silver -for copper money!</p> - -<p>It was found practically impossible, however, to carry out decrees of -complete expulsion, while, on the other hand, it had to be recognised -that the interest of the state and the development of trade required the -trained experience of Hebrew craftsmen, merchants, and bankers. They -were tolerated for the utilitarian ends of commercial necessity, while -being subject to all the possible penalties of an outlawed community.</p> - -<p>Nearing the end of the eighteenth century the trend of Russian conquest -westwards annexed the Polish regions known as White Russia, and the -Lithuanian country, in which Jews had hitherto found shelter when driven -out from Russia proper. Catherine II. governed the Empire at this -period, and her somewhat liberal views gave her Hebrew subjects a brief -respite from persistent in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_10" id="page_10">{10}</a></span>justice. It was necessary to take account of -the recognised status of the Jews in what had been a portion of the -Kingdom of Poland, and a ukase was promulgated in 1786, decreeing that -“Everyone, irrespective of creed, shall enjoy under the laws all the -advantages and privileges of his rank and condition.” This enlightened -law only extended to the territories acquired from Poland, and even -within these the tolerant intention of the ukase was frustrated by the -bias of Russian officials. The right to enrol themselves in burgher -guilds was curtailed, while double taxes were levied upon the very -people whom the law of 1786 had, in words, freed from exceptional -burdens.</p> - -<p>Other special penalties followed, to be again mitigated as when, in -1804, a ukase declared that “a spirit of moderation and a sincere wish -for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews,” should be shown as -being in the best interest of the population among whom the Hebrews were -allowed to live. This temporary return to reason and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_11" id="page_11">{11}</a></span> justice was also -due to the desire to give Russian workers and peasants the advantages of -superior Jewish workmanship in arts, and the example of trading -competency. Jewish children were to be admitted to Russian schools. -Manufacturing industry and the occupation of land were to be thrown open -to Jews hitherto denied access to these employments, except in specified -places.</p> - -<p>These, however, were but Russian good intentions. They lacked the value -of application.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_12" id="page_12">{12}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> -<small>THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT (1804-1882)</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">G</span>RADUALLY the provinces along the western frontier, stretching south -from Riga to the territories bordering on the Black Sea, became marked -off as a Pale of Settlement. Within these regions all the Jews of the -Empire were to be domiciled; saving merchants, bankers, scientists, and -eminent Hebrews whose wealth or accomplishments would outweigh in the -selfish plans of domestic government the anti-Semitic feeling which -appealed to the despotic expediency of exceptional laws. Inside this -economic Siberia, the poorer Jews would have their chances of employment -greatly diminished, while the struggle for existence must become by -degrees a contest between a growing population and a narrower area of -industrial opportunity.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span></p> - -<p>Unnatural social and economic conditions necessarily engender -correlative abuses and evils. Poverty, illegal pursuits, the smuggling -and sale of liquor, evasion of coercive laws, bribery and corruption, -protested against the causes which begot them, until finally an Imperial -Commission had to be appointed to inquire into and report upon the -measures necessary to remedy this state of things. This Commission -issued its report in 1812. The report is so tersely summarised in Prince -Demidoff’s book, and the matters dealt with are so intimately connected -with the inherited injustices of the Russian Jew, that I cannot forbear -adding the following extract to this brief historic sketch of -anti-Semitic legislation and its results:</p> - -<p>“Firstly, the Commission was of opinion that the impossibility of -carrying out the provisions of paragraph 34 of the Law of 1804 ‘did not -arise from the obstinacy of the Jews and remissness of the authorities, -but from the natural and political condition of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> those provinces to -which residence of the Jews is restricted.’ The report then states that -while the Jews retained their political independence and lived in their -own country, they were an agricultural people. Subsequently, when they -were dispersed over the whole world and everywhere subjected to the -bitterest persecution, unrecognised as regular citizens of the countries -in which they were domiciled, agriculture became to them an inaccessible -pursuit. They were thus necessarily obliged to have recourse to trade as -the sole means of occupation according with their new condition of life.</p> - -<p>“In Poland the Jews were so numerous that the pursuit of trade alone was -insufficient for their subsistence. On the one hand, the Polish -landlords, owing to constant wars and internal strife, were not able to -manage their own estates in a proper manner. They were, therefore, -obliged to seek special means for increasing the revenue of their -properties, for instance, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span> distilling brandy, lease of farms, etc. -The correlation of these two causes led to the utilisation of the Jews -by the landed proprietors in their domestic concerns. The Jews became -indispensable to the landed proprietors, and as they did not possess the -right to acquire land and engage in agriculture, they were obliged, -while residing in villages, to confine themselves to a retail sale of -spirits as a main pursuit.</p> - -<p>“When White Russia was annexed to Russia, the Russian Government -recognised all the previously existing rights of the Jews. The ukase of -the Senate of 1786 confirmed their right of residence in provincial -districts, and their faculty of holding estates on lease. The immediate -object of this law was the suppression of drunkenness among the rural -population. The distillation of brandy, however, is a privilege of all -landed proprietors, and forms a necessary adjunct to the process of -agriculture. With the departure [expulsion from villages] of the Jews -the retail sale of spirits<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> would be carried on by tapsters of the -native rural class, so that drunkenness would not diminish, but only a -decrease would take place in the number of agriculturists. A peasant had -previously been in the habit of selling his corn on the spot to a Jew, -but now he was obliged to proceed to the nearest town, at a loss in time -and labour, to sell his produce to a Jew, and the money realised he -would still spend on brandy, bought from the same Jew. The same result -would ensue in the purchase by the peasant of articles required by him, -such as iron, salt, etc.</p> - -<p>“The Commission also found it unadvisable to allow the Jews to reside in -villages under the prohibition of their not engaging in the retail sale -of brandy; this opinion being founded on the following consideration: -The Jews who inhabit the villages belong to the poorest class, and if -not allowed to sell spirits they would be deprived of all means of -subsistence. The poverty of the peasantry of White Russia<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span> is not caused -by the Jews, and this is proved by the fact that there are also many -Jews in the southwestern provinces, yet the peasantry there are in a -more prosperous condition than those populating White Russia. So long as -the landlords of this latter region continue to adhere to their present -system of working their estates, which encourages drunkenness, the evil -will spread, be the village tapster who he may, either Jew or peasant. -This is confirmed by the example of the provinces of Petersburg, -Livonia, and Esthonia, where there are no Jews and yet drunkenness is -very prevalent.</p> - -<p>“Should the Government adopt the proper measures for making the sale of -brandy less lucrative, the Jews would be obliged to turn to other -pursuits, perhaps to those of husbandry, especially if they are accorded -the right of purchasing land. If the Jews be interdicted to sell brandy -such sale would be carried on by the peasants, who, in order to increase -their landlor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span>d’s revenue, will be obliged to do the same as the Jews. -It should also be borne in mind that the Jews, with all their aptitude -and experience in matters relating to the sale of spirits, never -enriched themselves by this calling, but only earned enough for their -subsistence. It would also be impossible to convert all Jews into -traders and artisans; firstly, because they would not find sufficient -occupation in the towns and hamlets, where there is no demand for a -great supply of services of this kind; and secondly, because great -injury would be inflicted on those Jews who are unable to find -alternative sources of livelihood. As a matter of fact the retail sale -of spirits in the western provinces is only carried on by those Jews who -are unable to find any other means of existence. The Jews adhere to -their present occupations because, owing to the want of means, the -Government is unable to effect any radical change in their condition. -Lastly, the Commission arrived at the conclusion that it was necessary -to re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span>scind entirely paragraph 34 of the Law of 1804.”</p> - -<p>This paragraph of the law thus cited ordered the removal of all Jews -from villages and hamlets into the towns.</p> - -<p>The recommendation of the Commission was not acted upon. On the -contrary, the law of 1804 was continued. Though not vigorously enforced -it remained as a potential agency for rendering residence of employment -outside the Pale a source of insecurity to the Jews, and a means by -which police, business rivals, and others could at any time put the -ukase of expulsion in operation against them. Trading communities were -most active in appealing for the application of this law. Petitions -calling for expulsion from cities and towns in which Jews were rival -workers and dealers are constantly recurring features of the tyranny, -official and commercial, to which they were subjected during the next -half-century.</p> - -<p>General Levashoff, Governor of Kiev, re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span>porting to the Government in -1833 upon a petition asking for the banishment of all the Jews from that -important city, laid bare the motives and condemned the selfish purpose -of the petitioners, in honestly saying:</p> - -<p>“It is desirable on the ground of public utility to allow the Jews to -remain in Kiev, where, by the simplicity and moderation of their mode of -life, they are able to sell commodities at a cheap rate. It may -positively be asserted that their expulsion would not only lead to an -enhancement of prices of many products and articles, but that it will -not be possible to obtain these at all. Under these circumstances the -interests of the mass of the inhabitants must be preferred to the -personal advantages which the Christian trading class would derive by -the ejection of the Jews.”<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> - -<p>Opposed in cities and towns in this manner, after being turned out of -country districts in obedience to a similar spirit, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span> authors of -these coercion laws began to find it a serious administrative problem -what to do with subjects for whose systematic oppression they were alone -responsible. Agricultural colonies were planned in Cherson (Southwestern -Russia) and even in Siberia, to which Jews were induced to go in order -to escape from the intolerable hardships of incessant wrong. Failure -followed these benevolent designs of the Government; not from the -reluctance or incapacity of the migrating Jews to work the land, but -owing to the corruption and incompetence of officials who were charged -with the superintendence of these colonies. Money advanced for the -building of dwellings and purchase of stock was disbursed in the -erection of unsuitable houses, in most unsanitary places, and in other -wasteful and ignorant directions. Great hardships were thus entailed -upon the unfortunate victims of this crass official stupidity; a cruelty -of deliberate neglect adding, in the instances of the migrations to -Siberia, its penalties of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> suffering and death to the bitter -disappointments and the blasting of hopes caused by the callous -miscarriage of the well-meant enterprise of the Government by its -blundering officials.</p> - -<p>One unexpected good result followed both to Russia and to large numbers -of Jews by the failure of these contemplated agricultural settlements in -the Governments of Cherson and Ekaterinoslav; where, at a later time, -similar colonies grew and flourished. Odessa, to-day the richest and -busiest maritime city of the Empire, owes its prosperity and progress -largely to Jewish enterprise. Both the forced and voluntary migration -from the north to the south of the Pale brought this resourceful race -near where they were to find an outlet in a young and rising commercial -centre for qualities essential to its rapid development which Russians -do not themselves possess in any marked degree,—commercial genius. The -city and its varied opportunities attracted both those who succeeded and -those<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> who had obtained no fair chance of thriving as agriculturists, -and to-day over two hundred thousand of the Jewish population of Odessa -embrace the wealthiest and most enterprising bankers, merchants, -brokers, contractors, and business men of the Empire.</p> - -<p>From the codification of the ukases and laws relating to Jews in 1835, -down to the Ignatieff or “May Laws” of 1882, the treatment of the Jews, -as regulated by these measures, is consistent with their experience as -already briefly described. In some of these laws, Jews would appear from -the text to be on a footing of theoretic equality with other citizens, -while again special provisions are made to limit the application of -these general rights to residence within the selected sphere of -domicile, and to be further curtailed within this area, in the light and -meaning of the law of 1804. There is a bewildering mass and maze of -contradictory purpose in this code of special laws which no summary can -hope intel<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span>ligently to disentangle. It is obvious, however, that the -vigour of direct persecution is meant to be modified to the extent of -promoting the utilities of the State by Jewish abilities, while -reserving all the powers necessary to dispense with the objectionable -artisan, trader, or mechanic when his services or example are no longer -needed in hamlet or village. This is one of the most objectionable -features of indefensible laws. It wears a character of state meanness -which can well compare in odious rivalry with the methods and morals of -Jewish usury. The spirit of fair play is totally absent from regulations -which give the state, by virtue of permissive coercion, the benefits of -subjects’ services which are ultimately repaid in penalties and -expulsion.</p> - -<p>In 1843 the Pale of Settlement was further contracted by a law -forbidding Jews to reside within a distance of fifty versts (about -thirty-three miles) of the Austrian or German frontiers. The neces<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span>sity -for this regulation was said to be the smuggling operations of the Jews. -They probably excelled in this as in other illegal practices, to which -they were driven on being denied the chances of living by more reputable -means. The injustice of punishing thousands of families who had resided -in these frontier districts for generations, for the wrongdoing of a few -people, would not be calculated to lessen the feeling of settled -disloyalty which persistent oppression must inevitably create in the -minds of an intellectual race. And, these accumulating measures of an -insensate injustice are now responsible for the existence of four -millions of disaffected subjects adjacent to the frontiers of Russia’s -two most formidable rival powers, Germany and Austro-Hungary. The Pale -of Settlement has thus become, by the <i>lex talionis</i> of a poetic -justice, the most vulnerable part of the Russian Empire. It is not alone -the seed-bed and centre of Socialism, born of persecution, it is a -military weakness well<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> measured and noted in the army bureaus of Berlin -and Vienna.</p> - -<p>Under the Emperor Alexander II., the emancipator of the serfs, the Jews -obtained a respite from many of the most oppressive and vexatious of the -penal ukases. Schools hitherto closed to Hebrew children were thrown -open to their admission. Restrictions upon attendance at fairs in the -interior were removed, while in many other respects the original plan -and purpose of the Pale were forgotten, and the dawn of happier days -began to rise above the troubled and darkened horizon of the Russian -Jew. The freedom of the peasants gave rise to the hope that the same -liberal-minded Tsar would break the bonds of his Semitic subjects, when -there fell upon all this promise of brighter times the bolt of Nihilist -vengeance, in the assassination of the best of Russia’s rulers. The -abominable deed, which shocked the world by its terrible character and -results, shattered the hopes of Hebrew emancipation, and led to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span> -savage onslaught which was made upon the objects of peasant fury in 1881 -and 1882, in many parts of the Empire.</p> - -<p>Beyond doubt there were some Jews concerned in Nihilist plots. The man -who attempted to kill General Loris Melikoff was of Jewish blood. The -women Lewinsohn and Helfman, who were sent to Siberia for complicity in -murder conspiracies, were Jewesses, while several prominent Nihilists -were believed to be half Hebrew in parentage. But the history of human -oppression always explains, even where it may not justify, deeds of -savage political vengeance. No race can be denied the ordinary -franchises of personal freedom—the right to live secure from the insult -and intrusion of a tyrannical law, and the unfair infliction of -exceptional burdens—without rousing into dangerous activity passions -which appeal to the wild impulse of revenge. The assassination of -Alexander II. had nothing to do with the coercion of the Jews. He was -not their enemy; he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> was their friend. But the revolutionary spirit -which germinates under despotic rule is generally blind in selecting the -objects of its unreasoning fury; just as many Governments are deaf to -the pleadings of an enlightened justice in the rule of a country until -the shock of some desperate deed compels them to think of that which, if -listened to in time, would protect both subjects and monarchs from the -fear and consequences of criminal acts. If some Jews were guilty -accomplices in the murder of a humane Emperor, so were Russians. And it -would have been no greater wrong to punish guiltless peasants for the -acts of the Nihilists than to wreak vengeance upon equally innocent -Jews.</p> - -<p>In Warsaw, Kiev, Rostov, and elsewhere Jews were killed, their houses -wrecked, and their shops looted. Outrages occurred throughout the whole -Pale of Settlement, and thousands of terrified people fled across the -frontiers into Germany, Bohemia, and Roumania. These outbreaks occurred -near<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> the end of 1881 and early in the following year and, like the -recent massacres in Bessarabia, aroused a widespread expression of -sympathy in Europe and America for the hapless objects of Russian -popular fury. Manifestations of international feeling greatly impressed -the Tsar’s Government, and earnest efforts appeared to have been made to -curb the lawless conduct of the mobs. This action, however, instead of -being a promise of better things, turned out to be but a prelude to -sterner measures than ever against the victims of exceptional laws.</p> - -<p>On the 3d of May, 1882, General Ignatieff obtained the Emperor’s -sanction and signature to what have since been known as the “May Laws”; -the purpose of these being to add more rigorous provisions, as a -supplement to the law of 1804. This latter law ordered all the Jews of -the Empire to retire within the Pale of Settlement, excepting those who -possessed special permits, passports, or privileges to live outside. -The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> May Laws ordered Jews living inside the Pale to remove from the -villages into the towns within that area. In a word, General Ignatieff -created a Pale within a Pale, and contracted the territory of life and -livelihood for upwards of four millions of people within the boundaries -of the cities and towns inside the already limited domain of legal -domicile. These measures read as follows:</p> - -<p>“The Committee of Ministers, having heard the report of the Minister of -the Interior on the execution of the temporary orders concerning the -Jews, resolved:</p> - -<p>“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 -henceforth to settle outside the towns and townlets, the only exceptions -admitted being in those Jewish colonies that have existed before and -whose inhabitants are agriculturists.</p> - -<p>“2. To suspend temporarily the completion of instruments of purchase of -real<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span> 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.</p> - -<p>“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, in the same -way, apply to places of business owned by Jews.</p> - -<p>“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 3d of May, 1882.”</p> - -<p>These Laws did not apply to the Jews of Poland.</p> - -<p>These “temporary measures” remain to-day the potential law of Russia -regarding<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> Jews. They were not immediately enforced. Russia is never in -a hurry in matters of this kind. She waits and notes the material -results of such enactments at home, and the moral effects upon opinion -abroad. In the case of the May Laws, there was a universal chorus of -condemnation in Western Europe. It was felt everywhere that any attempt -to put such savage measures into operation must either lead to the -flight of hundreds of thousands of wretched Jews over the borders, or to -their death within the crowded towns of the Pale, from starvation -induced by an overwhelming congestion of labour without means of -employment. The laws were, therefore, left inoperative, but <i>in -terrorem</i>; General Ignatieff being conveniently superseded, while a -Commission presided over by Count Pahlen was appointed by the Emperor to -prepare a report upon the whole Jewish question.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> -<small>FROM THE IGNATIEFF LAWS TO THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">P</span>RINCE DEMIDOFF SAN DONATO was a member of the Pahlen Commission, and in -his admirable work “<i>La Question Juive en Russie</i>” (published at -Bruxelles, 1884,) he gives, in his own proposed solution of the problem -of the Russian Jew, the broad and liberal measures which forced -themselves upon the Commission as an essential basis for a settlement of -the question on just and rational lines. He recommended the three -following proposals:</p> - -<p>“(1) For the re-establishment of more healthy relations between the Jews -and the other inhabitants and counteracting Jewish industrial and other -exploitation in the western region [the Pale of Settlement],<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span> it is -necessary to grant the Jews complete civil equality and freedom of -choice of residence. This would lead to a greater dissemination of the -Jewish population, which is now crowded together in particular -districts; to the alleviation of the poverty and hopeless condition of -the Jewish masses, and would relieve the part of the country they now -occupy from excessive industrial and other competition.</p> - -<p>“(2) In order to destroy Jewish exclusiveness and to facilitate the -fusion of the Jews with the rest of the population it is necessary to -incorporate the Jews with the local rural and urban communities, and to -subject them completely in fiscal, administrative, and other respects to -the rules and regulations established for these communities. Those Jews -who would wish to settle in the interior provinces should be allowed to -enjoy the right of joining peasant and burgher communities in the places -of their domicile in the ordinary way.</p> - -<p>“(3) It is at the same time necessary that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span> serious attention should be -directed towards the organisation of elementary schools for the juvenile -Jewish population, inasmuch as the school must always be one of the -principal instruments for the moral training and Russification of the -Jewish masses.”</p> - -<p>These were the common-sense recommendations of an enlightened mind for -the cure of a growing social and political malady in Russian life. They -would have effected that cure, had there been a statesmanship in the -Government of the Empire capable of rising above anti-Semitic prejudice -in the rendering of a great service to the country. In fact, there are -but three Russian remedies for this growing danger to Russia, and two of -them are impossible; the third being the rational one outlined by Prince -Demidoff San Donato. Extermination cannot be thought of. Emigration is -out of the question, where poverty is almost the normal condition of two -or three millions of people who have inherited the evils asso<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span>ciated -with social wretchedness, religious intolerance, and race persecution. -No other country will consent to receive them. The third remedy is, -therefore, that alone which the nature and extent of the evil demand, -and which, if wisely and courageously adopted, would make Russia the -stronger through the only effective remedy applicable to a growing, -deadly danger.</p> - -<p>The facts of the economic and social conditions within the Pale of -Settlement are so objective that the warning they give of a coming -catastrophe cannot be ignored. It would be like leaving an epidemic of -smallpox to cure itself by neglect. This condition of things is fully -explained and expressed by the term, unnatural. It is analogous to a -situation which would result from a Federal law compelling every -European-born artisan and labourer within the whole United States to -reside inside of Pennsylvania, and to be forbidden to seek employment -outside the cities and towns of that state. The murderous competition -for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span> employment, the deadly rivalry for existence, the bad blood between -opposing races, the poverty and social wretchedness which such a -condition of things would create—apart from the operation of coercive -laws—can readily be imagined by the American reader. But this is no -overdrawn picture of the economic anarchy prevailing within the Russian -Pale of Jewish Settlement.</p> - -<p>The present estimated population of the Tsar’s dominions in Europe and -Asia is 145,000,000. The territory of legal domicile for the Russian Jew -is embraced in the fifteen “governments,” or provinces, of Kovno, -Vitebsk, Vilna, Mohilev, Minsk, Grodno, Volhynia, Chernigov, Poltava, -Kiev, Podolia, Bessarabia, Cherson, Ekaterinoslav, and -Taurida—extending south from near the Gulf of Riga, on the Baltic, to -the Crimea and the Sea of Azov, and forming the western provinces of the -Empire; having Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Roumania as frontier -barriers. Poland is not included in the Pale. The Jews have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> more -freedom of movement there, and are not subject to some of the coercive -restrictions imposed within the above provinces.</p> - -<p>The Pale itself is again narrowed by the law which forbids a Jew to -reside within thirty-three miles of the western frontier. It has a total -area about equal to that of France.</p> - -<p>The population of the fifteen provinces of the Pale, including Poland, -will be about 26,000,000. There are some 4,000,000 Jews comprised in -this population, but these, excepting 1,000,000 in Poland, are compelled -under the “May Laws” to reside within the “cities, towns, and townlets” -of the Pale. The united population of these urban centres will probably -not exceed a total of 5,000,000; so that the Jews number three out of -every five of the inhabitants of the urban centres within the fifteen -provinces.</p> - -<p>The percentage of Jews to non-Jews in the towns and townships of the -province of Mohilev, is estimated at 94; for those of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span> Volhynia, 71 per -cent.; Minsk, 69; Kovno, 68; Podolia, 62; Vitebsk, 61; Grodno, 60; -Vilna, 56; Kiev, 49; Poltava, 43; Bessarabia, 38; Chernigov, 29; -Cherson, 28; The Taurida, 19; and Ekaterinoslav, 15 per cent.</p> - -<p>In the provinces of Russia in which Jews are not permitted to reside the -town inhabitants average 59 persons to every 1000 of the rural -population. In the population of the Pale the urban inhabitants average -222 for every 1000 of the rural residents and workers. Within the -industrial centres of the Jewish Pale to which they are confined there -are about 2730 Jews to every square mile of residential area.</p> - -<p>These facts and figures show how impossible it is, under such economic -conditions, for any healthy or hopeful prospect of industrial life to -exist. The towns are crowded with artisans and traders, and as these are -out of all proportion to the producers and consumers of an agricultural -country they necessarily become more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span> destitute and wretched as their -numbers increase. They are too poor to emigrate. They are prohibited -from migrating. They cannot seek work on land. They are not permitted to -engage in several occupations. Municipal and Government posts are -practically closed to them. They have to compete with Russian workers -for such means of existence as can be found; and in face of these facts -they are reproached for their poverty and made subject to special -taxation.</p> - -<p>It is also a charge against these people that they are exploiters of -labour and not producers. The taunt comes from the apologists for the -Ignatieff laws. The charge is not true. In proportion to population, -there are relatively more artisans among Jews in Russia than among -non-Jews. According to statistics obtained by the Pahlen Commission, the -artisans and labourers averaged 15 per cent. of the total Jewish -population of the Pale. In England the proportion of labourers and -artisans is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span> over 20 per cent.; about 12 per cent. in Belgium; 10 per -cent. in France, and 9 in Prussia.</p> - -<p>In Kishineff, where the Jews number 50,000 of the city population, the -Hebrew artisans, and wage-earners generally, would number fully 10,000 -before the recent anti-Semitic outrages.</p> - -<p>Nor can the injustice of the “May Laws” be defended or explained by the -equally unfounded assertion that the Jew will not work the land. He -refuses to do so in Russia only where he is prohibited. Whenever he has -obtained access to the land, on fair terms, he has readily embraced the -chance, and invariably improved his condition. This has been proved by -the records of the Jewish agricultural colonies in the provinces of -Vilna, Minsk, Grodno, Kovno, Volhynia, Cherson, and in Ekaterinoslav. -There are colonies of more than 50,000 land-workers among the Jews of -the southwestern provinces who have more than held their own in every -branch of agricultural industry<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span> with their Russian or Moldavian -neighbours. This taunt is, consequently, no explanation of the Ignatieff -laws.</p> - -<p>The evils—both to Russia and to the Jews of the Pale—arising out of -the economic conditions which these laws must stereotype, would have -been swept away or modified in the ten years following the killing and -despoiling of the Jews in 1882, had the proposals of the Pahlen -Commission been acted upon. The recommendations of provincial governors -were preferred instead. Biassed officialism prevailed over the -courageously wise counsels of Count Pahlen, Prince Demidoff San Donato, -Count Strogonoff, and their colleagues, with the result that M. -Pobédonostsev became the virtual administrator of the Ignatieff laws, -and the murders, crimes, and expulsions of 1891 followed, in decadal -sequence, the outrages of 1882; not, by any means, as a desired or -necessary measure of the policy adopted by the famed Procurator of the -Holy Synod. M. Pobédonostsev would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span> as averse to the killing of Jews -as General Ignatieff. Both are far above suspicion in this respect. The -instigator of the “May Laws” probably believed, as a soldier and -diplomat, that such measures were needed the better to subdue a -suspected revolutionary tendency among a non-Russian race, and thought -they might be enforced according to his plans, without any serious -explosion of anti-Semitic feeling. What followed, however, ought to have -been a warning to the keeper of the Tsar’s conscience on combined -religious and national concerns. The Procurator’s plans would be as -religious in their ultimate object as Ignatieff’s policy was the -reverse; but both sought the accomplishment of a tyrannical purpose by -means which led to such suffering, injustice, and bloodshed as will ever -be associated with their records and names.</p> - -<p>The Russian Jew was a domestic menace to the mind of Ignatieff; to M. -Pobédonostsev he was tainted with the unforgivable sins of heterodoxy, -and a religious persecu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span>tor is always relentless in proportion to his -fanatical sincerity. No one can justly question the honesty of the -Procurator’s zeal for Church and State in Russia, and this is why the -infidel Israelites have found in him the most implacable of their -powerful foes.</p> - -<p>The measures resorted to in 1891, at the instance of the influence -exerted by the Procurator of the Holy Synod, had for their end the -carrying into effect of the provisions of the “May Laws.” Thousands of -Jews were still scattered throughout the provinces beyond the Pale; -tolerated in centres of trade and enterprise for utilitarian reasons. -Most of these were artisans who had by residence, and membership of -trade guilds, acquired the privilege of living and working in various -provinces of the Empire. Large numbers of these had been specially -encouraged in previous years to settle in cities and towns where their -proficiency in crafts was necessary to the development of local -industries or manufacture. Suddenly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> in 1891 an Imperial decree was -issued, and all these sober, industrious, skilled, and, in many -instances, respected citizens were ordered to quit their homes, -property, or employment, within a given time, and take themselves within -the Pale of Settlement or outside of the Russian Empire.</p> - -<p>The orders issued by the Chief of Police of Moscow to his subordinates, -contained the following instructions:</p> - -<p>“You must personally verify in all the shops and factories kept by Jews -the number of the assistant artisans; also, what category the Jews -belong to, and the time of their arrival in Moscow for residence; and -then take their signature to a notice of voluntary [!] departure from -the Capital; warning them that the computation of their terms of stay -will begin on the 14th of July next. Also, take a registry of names, in -alphabetical order, of Jewish artisans and, second, of Jews living in -Moscow under the right of Circular No. 30 issued by the Minister of the -Interior in 1880,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> specifying in separate columns the time of arrival in -Moscow, number of assistant artisans, number in family, and the -expiration of the term of departure. In reference to Jews residing -according to Circular of 1880, specify their occupations, also the names -of commercial houses where they were employed, and present them to me -within two weeks.”</p> - -<p>The penalty for refusing to sign the paper suggested by General -Yourkoffsky, was immediate expulsion. The “voluntary” alternative gained -only a little time for preparation. It offered, however, some chances to -wealthy Jews to come to an arrangement with lower police officials, -whereby the general order of expulsion might be evaded, for a -consideration.</p> - -<p>The attack by Government and people upon the Jews in 1891 was a -deliberate proceeding. Prince Dolgorouki was an able and a fair-minded -Governor-General of Moscow. Neither Russian nor Jewish complaint had -been lodged against him during<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span> his tenure of office. His duties had -been performed with care and competency, and his administration of the -ancient capital and province left no room for official faultfinding at -St. Petersburg.</p> - -<p>Coincidently with a notification to all Governors of Provinces in the -Emperor’s name, that all permits to allow Jews to reside outside of the -Pale should be withdrawn on a certain date, an order for the removal of -the Governor-General of Moscow was also made, and the Tsar’s brother, -the Grand Duke Sergius, was nominated to supersede General Dolgorouki. -General Kostanda was to act as Deputy Governor; pending the arrival of -Duke Sergius, and to this officer, along with the equally zealous -anti-Semite, Yourkoffsky, Chief of the Moscow Police, was left the -congenial task of “clearing-out” the Jews. Never was an odious work more -brutally performed. The quarter in which the poorest Jews resided was -surrounded in the night time by the police and fire-brigade forces, and -the un<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span>happy creatures were routed from their dwellings as if they were -so many noxious animals. Some who had been warned a few hours beforehand -fled to the <i>Cemetaires</i> of the city for protection, while it has been -placed on record that several fathers of families took their daughters -to houses of ill-fame for the night, presumably to find protection where -they would be least suspected of seeking refuge.</p> - -<p>All this being done in the name of the Tsar, the populace were -encouraged to co-operate in executing what they were led to believe to -be the Emperor’s wish. Massacres, raping, and looting became once more -the direct results of barbarous decrees. Some 3000 Jews were driven from -Moscow after many had been killed. Hundreds of business men were ruined, -being compelled to close their establishments, and to dispose of -valuable stock at prices which could not realise enough to discharge -their obligations. Those who were able to purchase transport to America -emigrated, but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> mass of the expelled victims wended their way toward -the Pale, there to add still more to the congestion of life and labour -which had already rendered the vast Ghetto of the Empire the home of -poverty, suffering, and despair.</p> - -<p>The example set in Moscow was followed in Kiev and other cities, and -encouraged police and mobs elsewhere to emulate the inhuman work of -hunting the hated race from villages and towns. Throughout the year 1891 -outrages were perpetrated in various provinces, despite some apparently -earnest efforts on the part of the Government to stop the more violent -outbreaks which had been provoked by its own orders. Several villages -where Jews resided were burned down. Fully 70,000 Jews emigrated during -the year; this fact confirming, in part only, a saying attributed to a -conspicuous personality in the Tsar’s confidence, that the Russian -Jewish question would be ultimately solved by the action of the “May -Laws” as these would force one-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>third of the Jews to emigrate; one-third -more would become converted to the Orthodox Church; while the other -third would perish of hunger!</p> - -<p>Whatever may be the desire of the more violent anti-Semitic Russians to -see such an unparalleled programme realised in results, there can be no -doubt as to the efficiency of the anti-Jewish code of Russian laws to -work out such a solution, if it were a task legally possible of -accomplishment.</p> - -<p>Allusion has already been briefly made to the tangle of contradictory -laws which the ukases, decrees, promulgations, and provisions relating -to the Russian Jew have created. Many of these measures appear to have -been adopted under the pressure of unreflecting prejudice or -apprehension. Some bear the impress of wise and humane intentions, born, -however, in the minds of Ministers or Monarchs too weak to carry out the -enlightened impulse which gave them birth. But the vast proportion of -these repressive and oppressive laws are frankly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span> tyrannical in -inspiration and purpose, and the spirit that could suggest measures -which are a deliberate violation of the fundamental principles and -rights of civilised existence would be a feeling worthy to animate the -task of carrying the above programme into execution.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> -<small>A MURDER-MAKING LEGEND</small></h3> - -<p><span class="letra">M</span>. DE PLEHVE and the Tsar can accomplish one good and blessed work, if -so minded, without altering a single anti-Semitic Russian law. The -Emperor can destroy, in Russia, the atrocious legend about the annual -killing of Christian children by Jews as an alleged part of the Blood -Atonement in Hebrew Paschal rites. In this humane and Christian task he -is entitled to the co-operation of the Emperor of Austria, the King of -Roumania, and the heads of other Balkan States, where this story of -ritual murder is constantly circulated, and not infrequently as a part -of political propaganda. There ought to be a truly Christian crusade -waged against this infamous product of ancient, insensate, sectarian -hate. It was the inspiration of the most horrible of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span> the Kishineff -murders; the driving of nails through the eyes of a woman, the cutting -out of the tongue of a two-year-old child, and of nameless sexual -mutilations. Thousands of innocent people have been done to death in the -centuries through which these crimes have been the bloody fruit of a -monstrous invention, born of a spirit of superstitious savagery, which -no age has yet made any honest civilised endeavour to exorcise out of -ignorant and fanatical Christian minds.</p> - -<p>The Jews of Kishineff believe with all right-minded people everywhere -that no one deplores these shocking crimes more than the Emperor. His -humanity is beyond question in popular belief, and, should a suitable -opportunity be given, or be forthcoming, while the recollection of this -great stain on his country’s reputation remains in the public memory, he -may be counted upon, it is to be hoped, to place on record his honest -condemnation of such abominable deeds.</p> - -<p>Let His Majesty the Tsar add this task to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> other noble duties with which -his name is associated. A special ukase, reciting his own disbelief in -the ritual-murder legend, and forbidding under severe penalties its -circulation anywhere, and, by any means, in Russia; ordering that this -ukase shall be read, in the Emperor’s name, in every church in the -Empire, a fortnight before Easter each year for the next five years; let -this be done, and the good work is virtually accomplished for -Christianity, for civilisation, and for Russia, too.</p> - -<p>A similar obligation lies upon the governments of Austria and of the -Balkan States. Roumania is at present the worst of sinners in this -matter. This legend is in constant circulation through the anti-Semitic -press there, being used, in fact, as an argument in political campaigns -for driving the Jews out of the country.</p> - -<p>A few months ago, a Roumanian paper, the <i>Vocea Tutovei</i> of Berlad, -openly incited the populace to kill the Jews. In a series of articles, -subsequently reprinted in pamphlet<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> form, popular ignorance and passion -were appealed to by stories of alleged Hebrew murders of Christian -children. One extract from this organ of Roumanian opinion will -illustrate at once the savage sentiments of the writer and the culpable -conduct of a government which could permit such appeals to assassination -to be openly made in a civilised land:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“The recent ritual murders committed by Jews in Austria, Bohemia, -Hungary, Germany, and Russia must still be fresh in everyone’s -mind. And how many children have disappeared in our own country! -How many mutilated bodies have been found, while the criminals have -remained undiscovered! Who are these criminals—these bloodthirsty -murderers of our prattling babes? They are the fanatical Jews that -infest our land. These monsters are the slayers of our Christian -children. They are the criminals—the Jews who have invaded our -country like locusts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span></p> - -<p>“The time for peaceful and legal restrictions is passing away. Let -all good Roumanians raise their heavy sticks and kill these -parasites of their country.”</p></div> - -<p>Roumania is the western boundary of Bessarabia. Before the Berlin Treaty -of 1878, a portion of this now Russian province belonged to Roumania. -Moldavians live on each side of the frontier. The pamphlets circulated -by the anti-Semites of Berlad, containing the above and other murderous -appeals to fanaticism, would inevitably find their way into the -Moldavian community of Kishineff, where Pavolachi Kroushevan, himself a -Moldavian, was carrying on a similar bloodthirsty propaganda in the -<i>Bessarabetz</i> against the Jews of Bessarabia. The Governments which -continue to permit this kind of press savagery are themselves morally -responsible for the crimes which find their instigation in such -writings. Nor can diplomatic denunciation, after the occurrence of deeds -of infamy such<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span> as those of Kishineff, atone in any way to the outraged -sense of civilised human feeling for what Leo Tolstoy rightly terms the -“permitted assassinations” of innocent people. For the law or Government -which encourages by indifference the circulation of these atrocious, -fabricated tales of the slaughtering of Christian children by Hebrews, -is either the indifferent guardian of citizens’ lives or the cowardly -accomplice of a fanatical ruffianism which it is unable or unwilling to -grapple with and put down.</p> - -<p>There is another and a higher authority that can deal with the -propagation of this crime-stained legend, especially in Catholic -countries like Austria and Poland. This is the authority of the Holy -See.</p> - -<p>A few years ago a parish priest of Vienna revived the old story of the -alleged murder of the boy Simon of Trent, for ritual purposes, by Jews -in the fifteenth century. He republished particulars of what purported -to be the crime so named, but unfairly sup<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span>pressed the facts associated -with the accusation, which would explain the whole charge away. The Jews -who had confessed to the murder of the boy did so under the application -of torture; a pretty common method of extorting desired “information” of -trumped-up charges by the various authorities in the Middle Ages. The -confession thus wrung from the accused by the application of the rack -led to their execution, but it is on record that Pope Sixtus IV. -denounced their conviction and death as a murder.</p> - -<p>The reverend anti-Semite tried his hand again, in the same line, in -conjunction with a renegade Jew, and came to grief. One Paul Meyer -“revealed” how a Christian boy, to his (Meyer’s) own knowledge, was -kidnapped and slaughtered for the purposes of Paschal rites by the hated -Hebrews. The sensational story was published in an anti-Semitic Vienna -newspaper. This was a deliberate challenge to inquiry and refutation. -The challenge was accepted by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> Jews of the city, in a prosecution of -the <i>Vaterland</i>, when Meyer confessed in open court that the whole story -was an invention of his own, palmed off on both the priest and the -public.</p> - -<p>An ex-professor of Hebrew in the University of Prague, an enthusiastic -student of Eastern cabalistic writings, has contributed very materially -to the revival in Poland, Bohemia, and Austria of these miserable -inventions. He has written a work in Latin on the subject, and he gives -the impression of an honest fanatic who is in the grip of a mysterious -investigation. He also falls back upon a converted Jew as a guide, and -is led to believe in the authenticity of certain cabalistic writings -shown to him by this man, Brimamo. He quotes from one of these books, -the “Ha-likkutim,” a passage which the credulous <i>padre</i> is convinced -proves the employment of the blood of Christian maidens in these -unhallowed Hebrew ceremonies. This quotation is found, on critical -examination, to refer to a passage in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span> the Bible dealing with the -supernatural world, in which the colour of the blood of a virgin is -taken as emblematical of the Day of Judgment. There is nothing whatever -beyond this in Brimamo’s work to justify the inference that Christian -maidens’ blood is sometimes used in Jewish sacrifices.</p> - -<p>In the same book Canon Röhling draws upon other cabalistic documents for -suggestions and innuendoes tending to uphold his case, but in every -instance in which he quotes passages to support his propositions, they -are found, on close inspection, to convey no such meaning as he attempts -to attach to them. There is not, in fact, a solitary authenticated -instance of this sanguinary sacrifice given in his two works, “My -Replies to the Rabbis,” and “The Controversy and the Human Sacrifices of -Rabbinism,” both published in 1883. Still, these writings have been -widely read, and have done much harm in misleading minds that look for -truth and Christian guidance from clerical authors.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span></p> - -<p>Can nothing effective be done to kill this legend? I quote in an -appendix, some pronouncements from Bulls issued by Popes Innocent IV., -Gregory X., Martin V., Nicholas V., and Paul III., all reprobating this -blood accusation as being a groundless and monstrous invention, and a -general pretext for the plundering of Jews. These enlightened words of -denunciation were addressed to the rulers, prelates, and people of the -Middle Ages, some of them so far back as six hundred years ago. Can this -example not be followed now when the reputable press of all civilised -countries would willingly co-operate in a just crusade against this -hoary-headed, crime-stained infamy?</p> - -<p>It has been urged that as anti-Semitism in France, Austria, and Germany -is a political movement, a denunciation of the use of the murder-legend -calumny would probably be misconstrued. This is a highly sensitive but -very inconsistent position. Surely, when Socialism—which is a far -greater and nobler political movement in each of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span> countries—can -be vigorously condemned, on assumed moral and Catholic grounds; an -agitation relying upon literature and legends, convicted of forgery and -lies, and condemned again and again by the Holy See itself; and which -has the killing or torture of fellow beings as its <i>ultima ratio</i>, -should claim some measure of earnest repudiation and moral censure at -the hands of Catholic Powers, temporal and spiritual.</p> - -<p>His Holiness Pope Pius, the Emperor of Austria, and the Tsar could -easily draw the fangs of this murder legend. To no other minds in -Christendom could the consequences of this horrible calumny of long and -infamous vitality be more odious or hateful. It is a reproach and -disgrace to Christianity that certain notorious clerical organs in -France and Austria persistently circulate these incitations to fanatical -outrage, and a stain upon the political life of Austria, Roumania, and -Russia, whose governments tolerate this poisonous propaganda. It is a -pestiferous evil that could be readily<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> stamped out if the wish and will -to rid Europe of its baleful influence could overcome the opportunist -counsels of a spiritless <i>entourage</i>, which prevent the three best and -greatest potentates in Europe from realising all the evils, religious, -moral, and political, that spring from this perennial source of -shameless sectarian rancour, bloodshed, and crime.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> -<small>RUSSIA’S ATTITUDE</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE absolute truth about the plan and purpose of the massacres at -Kishineff in April may be difficult to determine amidst the conflicting -accounts of Russian officials, and of Jewish witnesses of what actually -occurred. The wronged and the wrongers seldom or ever agree as to -disputed facts. But there can be no doubt upon any mind conversant with -the state of Russian feeling, and the trend of Russia’s domestic policy, -as to the intolerable position of the Hebrew subjects of the Tsar. No -facts are concealed in this connection. They are as objective and -undisguised as the Russian policeman, and as patent to every inquirer -from Odessa to Warsaw as the rivers Dniester and Vistula. I brought away -with me after a journey through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> Jewish Pale, the conviction that -there is no horizon of hope for the Russian Jew in any prospective era -of future emancipation. He is and will remain an alien until the -politically impossible comes to be a reality—until the Empire of the -Tsar elects to adopt a government of constitutional liberty.</p> - -<p>He is under no personal or political restraint, it is true, in the -matter of emigration. The Jews are free to leave Russia to-morrow. Such -freedom of action, however, is like the tempting waters which only -aggravated the thirst of Tantalus by the mockery of a nearness made -impossible to reach. The poverty of the vast mass of these unfortunate -people renders the thought of finding refuge in America or the Argentine -a hopeless dream. And, as an educated Russian official said, in -discussing this question with the writer, “What can we do with them? -They are the racial antithesis of our nation. A fusion with us is -impossible, owing to religious and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> disturbing causes. They will -always be a potential source of sectarian and economic disorder in our -country. We cannot admit them to equal rights of citizenship for these -reasons and, let me add, because their intellectual superiority would -enable them in a few years’ time to gain possession of most of the posts -of our civil administration. They are a growing danger of a most serious -nature to our Empire in two of its most vulnerable points,—their -discontent is a menace to us along the Austrian and German frontiers, -while they are the active propagandists of the Socialism of Western -Europe within our borders. The only solution of the problem of the -Russian Jew is his departure from Russia.”</p> - -<p>This is the conclusion to which one is irresistibly driven by a full -survey of the cruelly anomalous position occupied by the Jew in relation -to all the dominant factors of Russian life and government. He is under -the obligations of citizenship, military and otherwise, without its -privileges or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span> full protection. Special taxes are imposed upon him. He -is confined by law within a kind of economic concentration camp. The -legal difficulties put in the way of the full exercise of his industrial -capacities are both the source of his poverty and of his oppression. He -cannot own land, within the Pale, or work it; but he must live. -Therefore, he is compelled to exploit those who will hate him all the -more on account of a resourcefulness which conquers some of the -obstacles purposely placed in the way of his livelihood. His faith is -assailed by almost every form of human temptation, including the -terrorism of such periodical crimes as those perpetrated a few weeks -ago. And the very fidelity which enables him to resist both the powers -of proselytism and of persecution, only adds one more prejudiced ground -to the many which appeal against him to the religious side of an -autocratic regime which decrees that an invulnerable heterodoxy is one -of the worst of crimes in Russia.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span></p> - -<p>The Jew has no friend outside his own race in Russia, while not -infrequently those of his own household are the worst paymasters of his -talent and industry. The peasant dislikes him for his race, his -religion, and his exploiting propensities. The artisan and labourer in -urban centres of the crowded Pale look upon him as an economic -black-leg, because he is compelled to work at anything for the wages of -bare subsistence, in order to live. He is, by the cruel decree of his -fate, and not by choice, the cause of low wages. This is one reason why -a great number of the sanguinary rioters at Kishineff were Russian and -Moldavian workingmen.</p> - -<p>The shop-keeper and petty dealer see in their Hebrew rival a competitor -who outclasses them in all the dexterous tricks of trade, and who can -succeed where the business capacity of the Slavonic gentile is wanting -in perseverance and resource. Here hatred is born of a sordid jealousy.</p> - -<p>As rich merchant and banker he is toler<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span>ated. The wealthy Russian Jew -is, at present, a Russian necessity. Odessa, one of the richest cities -of the Empire, is “run” by the superior abilities of the proscribed -race. Its commercial prosperity would collapse to-morrow if they were -expelled; just as the business and progress of Kishineff have been all -but paralysed by the outbreak against them at Easter.</p> - -<p>Anti-Semitic prejudices grow as we proceed from the rivalries of -economic pursuits to the classes and interests associated with the -administration of the Empire. The policeman knows the Jew is made an -alien by law, and that the necessity he is under to evade the legal -disabilities to which he is subject renders him a profitable source of -blackmail. Where his poverty repels the exercise of this corruption, the -guardian of the peace looks upon the Jew with all the mixed -antipathy—racial, religious, and economic—of the superstitious, -uniformed Mujik.</p> - -<p>In the lower and middle grades of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> civil service the Jew is feared -as well as disliked. He is known to be far more intellectual, more -industrious, and more capable than the average Russian, and there is a -dread lest employment in the innumerable posts of a vast administration -should, at some future period, be thrown open to a race so versatile, so -sober, and so ambitious to succeed. In every Royal School or Gymnasium -to which a Jewish youth is admitted—the number must never exceed 10 per -cent. of the whole attendance, in some schools not 5 per cent.—the son -of Abraham is certain to eclipse his rivals, and to walk off with -whatever honours are to be won.</p> - -<p>I have already indicated the feeling, candidly expressed, of the higher -branches of the public service on the subject of the Jew as a possible -rival in that department of the state. An equality of opportunity would -mean a monopoly of posts by sheer force of mental and general equipment.</p> - -<p>The Russian officer is not averse to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> Jew as a soldier, but he must -never be—a Russian officer.</p> - -<p>Finally, the Government of Russia looks upon the Jew as the most -dangerous of disturbing factors in the rapid development of the -industrial life of the Empire, and as a political enemy within the ambit -of its most vulnerable western frontier. He is believed to be the active -propagandist of Socialism, and he is known to have powerful political -and financial allies among the pressmen and financiers of France, -England, and Germany—allies who can strike at Russia’s financial -credit, external policies, and moral prestige, in retaliation for the -legal outlawry of their race within the dominions of the Tsar.</p> - -<p>Against these governmental, religious, industrial, social, and national -forces of a huge empire combined, what chance has a proscribed race, -alienised by law, of obtaining redress? It is a hopeless struggle, look -at it how we may. The duties and obligations of civilised rule may be -put before the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span> Russian Government, and the pleas of an enlightened -jurisprudence advanced in behalf of the Russian Jew, but with what -result? Russia makes answer, “These people are not of us, any more than -the Chinese of San Francisco, or the ten millions of emancipated -Negroes, are free citizens of the United States Republic. They are a -danger to the Empire from within, more so than the existence of the Boer -Republics of South Africa ever was a menace to the prestige of the -British Empire, the removal of which, nevertheless, required a great and -costly war. We claim the right to resort to our own measures, as other -Powers have done, as France is doing to-day, to safeguard the peace of -the realm, and to minimise the risks involved in having an unfriendly -element, composed of five or six millions of an unpopular race, located -where a German or an Austrian attack might some day be made upon our -Western frontier. We cannot expect, or induce, other countries to open -the gates of emigra<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span>tion to these undesirables, but we will not permit -any Power or people to coerce us to admit this race to the common rights -of Russian citizenship or nationality.”</p> - -<p>This may be despotic, irrational, and all the rest, but it is the answer -which every external attempt to nationalise the Semitic alien will -obtain from the Russian Empire. The voices of Maxime Gorky, and of -Tolstoy, and of a few other noble spirits to the contrary are but moral -foils which exhibit by contrast the omnipotent strength of the resisting -and resistless ruling influences behind the Tsar; military, religious, -social, and industrial; which stand remorseless and irremovable between -the Russian Jew and justice and equality.</p> - -<p>Russia’s point of view must be understood if she is to be rightly judged -in this matter, and if the friends of a persecuted people are to be -persuaded to concentrate their sympathetic energies upon some feasible -remedy for an intolerable wrong. Socialism has, as yet, about as much of -a hold and of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span> hope in Russia, as Protestantism has in Spain, or -Catholicity in Turkey. The soil is not congenial; but the propaganda is -a most serious danger which the Russian powers that be fear more as a -potential future element of industrial and political agitation than as a -present trouble to the forces of law and order. Socialism is like the -Jew, an unwelcome intruder, and both are inseparably associated in the -ruling and official mind of the Empire.</p> - -<p>Russia’s industrial development, like the extension of her power and -prestige, must be along lines selected by herself. She wants no external -tutelage, and will have no outside meddling in her domestic affairs. -Nor, is she taking this stand out of any unwillingness to see labour -rightly rewarded, or from any desire that a favoured class or protected -interest shall sweat or treat unjustly the growing industrial population -of her manufacturing centres. Any such imputation would be untrue and -unfair. There is scarcely a practicable reform in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span> the social and -industrial programme of Trades-Unionism which some department of Russian -administration is not trying its best, at the present time, to put into -operation, in some tentative way, for the benefit of the mill, and -foundry, and general workshop hands of Russia’s manufacturing -activities;—old-age pensions, profit-sharing, sanitation of mills and -mines, healthy housing of workers, even to the copying of the -<i>Arbeiterstadt</i> of Mülhausen, in the <i>Cité ouvrière</i> of Dago-Kertell. -But there shall be no Trades-Unionist combination in Russia except what -emanates from and is sanctioned by a paternal government.</p> - -<p>In many respects and ways Russian autocracy is ahead of constitutional -countries in enlightened efforts to solve the complex labour problem of -our day. The manifold evils of overcrowded urban centres are recognised -and guarded against in the encouragement of rural manufacturing -villages. Plans for enabling artisans to acquire the ownership of their -homes are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span> the work of Commissions and Societies subsidised by the -Government for this special task. There are apprenticeship schools for -the children of mechanics, “public workshops” for the unemployed in -times of distress, and other progressive schemes having the social and -moral betterment of the worker in view. These and kindred reforms are -engaging the serious and earnest attention of the Tsar’s ministerial -advisers.</p> - -<p>In one other most important respect the Russian Government is setting an -example in beneficent industrial enterprise which more progressive -countries might follow with marked advantage to their labouring classes. -This is the national encouragement offered to the “Koustari,” or rural, -industries. These play an essential part in the national economy of the -Russian people. They help to keep families together, and to minimise -migratory labour. These cottage industries give remunerative employment -during slack seasons and winter months to several million people, and -yield<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span> an addition to the general wage fund of the country averaging -five hundred million roubles a year. All these industries have direct -economic relation to the greatest of all Russian industries, that of -agriculture. They, therefore, play a doubly profitable part in the -social welfare of the people, in helping to maintain a due economic -balance between rural and urban labour, and in upholding the primary -importance of land industries to the physical and moral health of the -nation.</p> - -<p>Russia, unlike England, recognises the national danger of physical -degeneracy through overcrowded manufacturing cities. Knowing how the -prospect of better wages in these centres attracts the workers of the -soil to the employment of mills and foundries, she sets herself the task -of encouraging the growth of such counter-industries as will tend to -minimise the extent of this movement. Not alone does she want to remove -mills from the unhealthy environment of crowded towns by placing them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span> -amidst rural surroundings, she also wisely tries to add to the -necessarily scant money earnings of farmers’ families the profits of the -Koustari occupations, the better to preserve the home influence and the -healthy atmosphere of village industrial life for the general benefit of -the people’s physique and to the great moral advantage of the Russian -masses.</p> - -<p>All this is necessary to be understood in order to comprehend the -antipathy, economic and political, which the Russian Jew excites in the -official and the general Russian mind.</p> - -<p>And, above all, this one additional fact must, in like manner, be -grasped in any useful discussion of the problem of the Russian Jew.</p> - -<p>The enormous development of the industrial resources and energies of -Russia is too frequently ignored in an unfriendly foreign press, which -finds space and speculation only for the external policy and generally -exaggerated plans of the Tsar’s Gov<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span>ernment. What Russia is accused of -coveting in Manchuria, or of devising in Persia, and not what she is -strenuously and rapidly achieving in the sphere of her vast domestic -activities, exercises the critical attention of West-European and -American journalism. And yet, the wide and sure and extraordinary -progress that is being made in the economic development of a great -empire, as self-contained in its measureless natural resources as the -United States, and with an assured domestic market for most of her -manufactured products in a population of fully 140,000,000—growing at a -rate of upwards of 2,000,000 annually out of a natural increase—ought -to be a subject of infinitely greater concern to the public thought of -commercial rivals like Great Britain and the United States—as it -undoubtedly is to the keener sense of German competition—than what -Russian policy may or may not mean in its diplomatic trend in the Far -East.</p> - -<p>Russia is at the beginning of an enor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span>mous manufacturing career. Her -surplus urban population will be drawn upon for the needs of her mills -and factories. An artisan class, in a comparatively new sphere of -industrial energy, is rapidly growing, made up of young men who must -inevitably gather new ideas of social life among the influences of -associated labour; a class to be recruited from an uneducated peasantry, -susceptible to new impressions of capital and labour, of wages and -economic rights, of citizenship and political teachings, and of the -contending human rivalries of class interests for wealth and influence -and power in the rule of the state.</p> - -<p>In a word, the government of a country in which freedom of the press is -limited, and the right of public meeting denied; where no Parliament, or -Congress, exists for the ventilation of theories, the discussion of -reforms, or the chances of legislative redress, finds itself confronted -with the problem of a huge working class, soon to number millions, and -to be emancipated<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> from peasant ignorance; a class, too, which must -contribute its quota of strength to Russia’s enormous army. And this -autocratic guardian of an Empire’s destinies says: “The enemy of my -household is the Jew. I have treated him badly, and he naturally resents -it. He retaliates by preaching Socialism in my industrial centres. He is -in alliance with the avowed enemies of the Empire in Western Europe. For -all these reasons, out he must go! Let him be off to any country whose -Constitution may admit him to equal citizenship with people who are -ruled by other systems and laws than ours. In Russia the Jew is both a -domestic and an Imperial danger, and it is our duty to rid ourselves of -its cause.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> -<small>THE ZIONIST SOLUTION</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">N</span>O truer general statement of the case of the Russian Jew, or nobler -appeal to enlightened humanity in his behalf, has been made in our time -than by Cardinal Manning, in a letter addressed to a London meeting in -December, 1890. Every word of this superbly Christian epistle is as true -and as applicable to-day as it was thirteen years ago, and I quote the -concluding sentences of it here as being both a powerful argument in -behalf of an oppressed people, and as a testimony to the liberty-loving -spirit of a Cardinal of the Catholic Church:</p> - -<p>“Six millions of men in Russia are so hemmed in and hedged about by -penal laws as to residence, and food, and education, and property, and -trade, and military service, and domiciliary visits, and police -in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span>spection as to justify the words, that ‘no Jew can earn a -livelihood,’ and that ‘they are watched as criminals.’ The narratives -before us may be highly coloured, they may be overcharged; but, all -deductions made, they show both a violent and a refined injustice, which -is perpetually as ‘iron entering the soul.’</p> - -<p>“And, further, when the cry of such a multitude of suffering is wafted -through the commonwealth of Europe, it is surely a part of the comity of -nations that we should, with all due respect, make known what we have -heard, in the confidence that, if things be so, the first to seek out -and to treat such evils would be the supreme authority of the Realm from -whence those wailing voices came.</p> - -<p>“We show no disrespect in believing that what reaches our ears may not -have reached the ears of those who are most highly exalted. Knowledge -travels more readily on lower levels, and often does not ascend to the -highest regions; the highest are, as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span> rule, the last to know the -excesses and malpractices of their local authorities. We, therefore, -with all due reverence, petition the Imperial Ruler of all the Russias -to take account of all the Governors of the Jewish Pale; and even this -we should not venture to do, if the sufferings alleged were not of such -a kind and of such an extent as to violate the great and primary laws of -human society. On this broad and solid base of natural law the -jurisprudence of European civilisation rests. The public moral sense of -all nations is created and sustained by participation in this universal -common law; when this is anywhere broken, or wounded, it is not only -sympathy but civilisation that has the privilege of respectful -remonstrance.</p> - -<p>“I am well aware of the counter allegations, not only of the -anti-Semitic press, but of guarded and responsible adversaries; -nevertheless, it is certain that races are as they are treated. How can -citizens who are denied the rights of naturalisation be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> patriotic? How -can men, who are only allowed to breathe the air, but not to own the -soil under their feet, to eat only a food that is doubly taxed, to be -slain in war, but never to command—how shall such a homeless, an exiled -race live the life of the people among whom they are despised, or love -the land which disowns them?</p> - -<p>“It would seem to me that if such were the sufferings of any nation, -even in Central Africa, we should be not only justified, but called on, -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 -reverence; a race with a sacred history of nearly four thousand years; a -present without parallel;, dispersed in all lands, with an imperishable -personal identity, isolated and changeless, greatly afflicted, without -home or fatherland; visibly reserved for a future of signal mercy.</p> - -<p>“Into this I will not enter further than to say that any man who does -not believe in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span> their future must be a careless reader, not only of the -old Jewish Scriptures, but even of our own. It is not our duty to add to -their afflictions, nor to look on unmoved, and to keep the garments when -others stone them.</p> - -<p>“If we know the mind of our Master who prayed for them in His last hour, -we owe to them both the justice of the Old Law and the charity of the -New.”</p> - -<p>I have come from a journey through the Jewish Pale, a convinced believer -in the remedy of Zionism. I failed to see any other that can offer an -equal hope of success. It is a necessity of the actual situation, and -faces the growing perils of the position of the Russian Jew with a -courageous plan of repatriation. Hope for partial or ultimate -emancipation in Russia there is none. Other countries cannot be expected -to relieve Russia of the unhappy victims of oppression and poverty. -Where, then, are they to go?</p> - -<p>Russia has a direct responsibility in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span> impoverishment and -discontent, and this fact demands at her hands every help which the -Zionist plan requires in its execution, financial co-operation with the -wealthy Jews of Christendom in providing the cost of emigration, the -purchase of suitable land in Palestine, and in obtaining the necessary -rights of settlement and guarantee of protection from the Turkish -Government. This latter provision is generally believed to be an affair -of money, to be arranged with the Sultan; but, in any case, the moral -help of other great Powers would not be refused in such a chivalrous, -humane enterprise when once the influential Jews of Europe and America -made it, as they easily could do, an appeal for assistance to the sense -of justice and of reparation of the nations of Christendom.</p> - -<p>It is some eighteen years since I rode from Mount Carmel to Nazareth, -thence to Tiberias, and back through the beautiful plain of Jezreel, -down to Nablus in Samaria on the way to Jerusalem. Jericho,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span> the wilds -of Judea, the country to the west, across the pastoral lands of Sharon, -were also visited. I found the German Templer colonies at Haifa, Nablus, -and Sarona wearing all the appearance of comfortable clusters of garden -and farming homesteads. The Jews of Bessarabia are as sober and as -industrious and, at least, as intelligent as these German emigrants. -They have progressed in South Russia when permitted to cultivate the -land. Why should they not be able to grow grain in Galilee, fruit and -olives in Samaria, meat in the mountains of Judea, and wine and other -products congenial to the soil and climate in the vale of Sharon, and -elsewhere, in a land which once flowed rich with milk and honey?</p> - -<p>Christendom is prejudiced against this race because its sons are -generally non-producers of wealth, and mere exploiters of the fruits and -necessities of direct industry. This is largely, but by no means wholly, -true, while the taunt bears with it the spirit of Pharisaical virtue -unconscious of self-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span>accusation. Twenty per cent. of the Jews of -Bessarabia are artisans and labourers working for wages. But, if the -race generally are exploiters and extortioners, who made them so? Are -not historical conditions and centuries of deliberate oppression in -every Christian land (Ireland honourably excepted) answerable for the -Hebrew predilection to profit-seeking by other than the methods of -immediate production? And are the Gentiles of the lofty moral school of -critics so much above the doctrine and practice of the commercial greed -of buying in the cheapest, and selling in the dearest, market? -“Expedients of every kind and shade,” writes Herbert Spencer -(“Philosophical Essays,” vol. ii., on “Commercial Morality”), “from -innocent deception to anything you please, excepting open robbery, -prevail even in the higher grades of the commercial world. Innumerable -frauds, untruth, both in words and in principles of business, and -carefully devised subterfuges are generally in vogue, while many<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span> of -these have become established as commercial usages.”</p> - -<p>It is on record somewhere that no Jew has ever become a millionaire in -Scotland or in the United States. His powers of dextrous money-mongering -are blunted in some pronounced Christian lands by methods as expert and -morals as accommodating as his own. But, whatever ground there may be -for the somewhat general feeling prevailing against the Hebrew race for -its financial unscrupulousness ought to make for and not against the -Zionist movement, which seeks to find a place of refuge and of safety -for those whose present sufferings and unhappy prospects appeal to the -best side of our common humanity.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Manning’s noble words, quoted in support of this humble -advocacy of the cause of an oppressed people, will surely find a direct -response in every kindly heart and head which may reflect upon the story -and the sufferings of the Russian Jew.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II<br /><br /> -<small><i>THE KISHINEFF MASSACRES</i></small></h2> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> -<small>I. ORIGIN AND AGENCY</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">K</span>ISHINEFF is the capital of Bessarabia, the seat of its government, and -the chief centre of its trading industry. It has a present population of -130,000, of a mixed ethnological community. The Russians number about -8000; the Moldavians, 50,000; the Jews, 50,000, with Bulgarians, Serbs, -Greeks, Macedonians, and Germans accounting for the balance.</p> - -<p>In the time of the Romans, Bessarabia formed part of the Imperial colony -known as Dacia, and the Moldavian peasantry, who form the greater part -of its present population, are said to be descendants of Roman -“undesirables” who were forcibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span> exiled to the Balkan regions. From -thence they emigrated, in time, to the rich lands lying west of the -Dniester. The succession of conquering and colonising peoples who fought -for the possession of this most fruitful region is historically -bewildering. Cymri and Scythians, Greeks and Getæ, Romans and Goths, -Huns and Avars, Bulgars and Slavonians; until, in the seventh century, -the Bessi arrived, and gave the country its name of “Bessarabia.” Then -came, in due course, Ugrians, Kumans, Polovtzians, and Mongolians. In -the Middle Ages the Republic of Genoa founded colonies along the -Dniester, which in turn gave way to an invasion of Turks. During the -eighteenth century Russian power asserted itself in the land, and -portions of the southern provinces which belonged to Turkey were, in our -own time, ceded to the great Empire, thus completing Russian possession -of the most fought-for country embraced within the wide dominions of the -Tsars.</p> - -<p>Thirty years ago Kishineff was on a level<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> with an average Turkish town. -According to its present Mayor, M. Karl Schmidt, the city owes its rapid -rise and prosperity, and its present flourishing trade, solely to the -Jews. They built up its commerce, organised its banks, developed its -general business, and made it the handsome, thriving city it is to-day.</p> - -<p>The country around the city is a great wine-growing region, and the -Moldavian peasants are the chief producers of this most marketable -commodity. They are not an intelligent race, and are even more -superstitious, if possible, than the average Russian Mujik. They do not -migrate from their villages in search of labour, like Russian workers in -the central provinces. Their spare time is spent in eating sunflower -seeds, and in drinking vodka during the winter months.</p> - -<p>The economic relations between these Moldavian wine-growers and the Jews -of Kishineff are most intimate. They have no business capacity whatever, -and they dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span>pose of their produce to the Jew brokers and dealers, who -make, at least, a ten per cent. profit on such transactions.</p> - -<p>These intimate trading connections have not led, as recently alleged, to -any marked ill-feeling against the intermediaries; though it is only -natural to assume that the profits of the skilled exploiter are not -always a source of satisfaction to the mind of the peasant producer. -What I was assured of, in this connection, from all sources of -information sought by me in Kishineff, was that the origin of the -outbreak at Easter was not, in any sense, traceable to these dealings -between the Jew merchants and brokers of the city and the surrounding -Moldavian farmers.</p> - -<p>The genesis of the recent massacres is to be found in the special -legislation which gives the Jew the mockery of civil rights within a -pale of legal domicile. There are, at least, a hundred laws, ordinances, -and special regulations having for object the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span> coercing of him in all -his religious, social, and industrial rights; even within this Pale of -Settlement.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> He is crowded into urban centres and denied, under -penalties, access to where conditions of work and location might relieve -him of his poverty and wretched home. Fines are levied upon him for -infringements of these coercive regulations, and this fact induces him -to circumvent such restrictive measures, while it appeals also to the -police to help him to do so—for a consideration.</p> - -<p>The first serious trouble experienced by the Jews of Bessarabia began -about eight years ago. A <i>sous-prefect</i> of police, named Von Oglio, -appointed in the Beltzy district by the present Vice-Governor, -Ostrogoff, harassed the Jews by exactions and blackmail until they -“struck” against being further bled in this manner. He retaliated as -follows:</p> - -<p>On the Hebrew festival of Yom Kippur, one of the most solemn ceremonies -of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> year, Von Oglio entered the local synagogue, seized the Torah, -or sacred writing, flung it on the floor, ordered a policeman to pick it -up, to seal it, and then had it conveyed to—the local prison! He next -expelled the small congregation, and placed his seal upon the lock of -the place of worship.</p> - -<p>He then applied the “May Laws” in all their rigour, and forced all who -had not special permits to leave the town, even men who had lived there -in peace for thirty years; taking proceedings against them under -circumstances which led to the death or injury of their cattle and the -ruin of their crops. This conduct on the part of the local head of the -police excited a corresponding feeling of hostility among the local -peasants. They saw the guardians of the law ill-treating those whom they -were supposed to protect, and they followed the example thus set them.</p> - -<p>Suits for reparation and damages were brought by some of the wealthier -victims of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span> this police tyranny, but no redress was obtained. Von Oglio -was removed, without degradation or punishment, to another district, and -no further steps were taken by the authorities.</p> - -<p>The chief instigator of the recent massacres now appeared on the scene. -Up to 1894 the only paper in the province of Bessarabia was the -<i>Bessarabsky Viestnik</i>, a journal of a moribund existence. In this year -one Pavolachi Kroushevan, of Moldavian origin, acquired the dying sheet, -and amalgamated it with a new daily paper, the <i>Bessarabetz</i>. The -Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff, was press censor, in virtue of his higher -post, and he extended his patronage to Kishinev’s only daily organ in -the most marked manner.</p> - -<p>Kroushevan commenced at once a vicious anti-Semitic campaign. He singled -out for special attack municipal offices in which Jews were employed as -clerks and in other capacities, and demanded that the hated Hebrews -should be driven out to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> room for Christians. This was done. -Popular feeling was worked up in this manner to such a heat that the -paper became the dominating force in the public life of the city. It was -the only paper read in Kishineff. Its circulation reached 20,000, and -its articles against the Jews were directly addressed to the police, -soldiers, workingmen, Seminarists (Kishineff possesses half-a-dozen -Royal and Ecclesiastical Colleges, Gymnasiums, and High Schools), and to -all the lower employés of the Governor’s, Post Office, Telegraph, and -other public departments.</p> - -<p>From fiery denunciation the Editor progressed to deliberate incitations -to violence. Articles headed “Death to the Jews!”—“Crusade against the -Hated Race!”—“Down with the Disseminators of Socialism!” followed each -other, while Kroushevan organised a society under the patronage of his -paper, in which the most rabid of his pupils in the anti-Semitic war -were enrolled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span></p> - -<p>All this was ostentatiously tolerated by the present Vice-Governor, -Ostrogoff.</p> - -<p>Kroushevan got into financial difficulties a few months ago, and removed -to St. Petersburg, leaving the paper in charge of the deputy-editor, but -continuing himself as directing head of the staff. Its ferocious -anti-Jewish spirit and propaganda were in no way abated by this -arrangement.</p> - -<p>This brings us down, in the matter of time, to a few weeks before the -recent massacres.</p> - -<p>There next happened two events that gave the <i>Bessarabetz</i> a match with -which to explode the mine of popular fury it had been building in the -popular mind for four years. One was a murder of a boy at a village -south of Kishineff, called Doubossar; and the other the suicide of a -girl within the city itself. These were at once seized upon by the -Kroushevan organ as “proofs” that they were instances of Semitic ritual -murder! They were deliberately declared to be cases of the sacrifice of -Christian blood in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span> the performance of Hebrew rites at Passover! Steps -were taken at once to put the true facts before the people, in public -inquests and declarations; but the match had already ignited the end of -the <i>Bessarabetz</i> fuse, and those who were resolved to strike terror -into the “Socialist Jews” of Bessarabia and Southwestern Russia paid no -heed to the documents and evidence which told the truth about the -Doubossar boy’s death and the girl who took poison and who passed away -in the Jewish Hospital in Kishineff. The plot was ripe for execution, -and the Paschal time, associated by the atrocious legend with the -kidnapping and killing of Christian children, was fixed upon for -action.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> -<small>II. LETTERS FROM KISHINEFF<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>O arrive at definite conclusions as to the immediate and the -contributory causes of the sanguinary outrages perpetrated upon the Jews -of Kishineff on the 19th and 20th of April, was a tedious and painful -process, beset with innumerable difficulties. To try to find the truth -amidst a mass of conflicting testimony, where murder and rape and rapine -are charged against one side, and where the actual perpetrators of these -deeds are supposed to be all in prison awaiting some form of trial, -would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span> be a formidable task even where the law and popular feeling were -on the side of justice. But in a city where the injured class are placed -almost beyond the protection of the law of the land, and where public -passion is alike the author of outrage and the apologist of partisan -officials, it is necessarily much more difficult for the searcher after -unbiassed evidence to secure the object of his quest.</p> - -<p>Disregarding entirely the accounts which have been published in the -Russian and foreign press, I adopted the following means of reaching -something approximating to the real facts as to the outrages; their -instigators, cause, and extent, and the measure of representative -Russian feeling in relation thereto:</p> - -<p>On arriving at Odessa I interviewed Count Schouvaloff, the retiring -Civil Governor of South Russia, and I reproduce from memory (not having -taken notes of the conversation) what he was courteous enough to say. I -also obtained expressions<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span> of opinion from Russian and other merchants -in Odessa upon anti-Jewish feeling in South Russia; and these views, -frankly biassed as they were, will speak for a very large class of -Russian and of resident foreign Christian opinion about the Jews and -their racial and commercial character, as developed in this country.</p> - -<p>Immediately upon reaching Kishineff, I called upon the responsible -leaders of the Jews to whom I carried letters of introduction from -London, Paris, and New York. They are prominent citizens, and are -largely of the medical profession. I obtained from them and others, -including the three Rabbis of the city, a very copious statement of all -that occurred there on the 19th and 20th of last month.</p> - -<p>Resolved to compare this <i>ex parte</i> testimony with such Russian evidence -as might be least tainted with anti-Semitic prejudice in this now -somewhat demoralised place, I solicited and secured interviews with two -Christian doctors of Russian blood; also<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span> with one of the highest civil -functionaries in the district, who is a noble of great wealth, of unique -local influence, whose name I am not permitted to use, but for whose -<i>bona fides</i> I can absolutely vouch; and, in addition, I was privileged -to hold fully an hour’s conversation on the subject of the riots and -outrages with M. Karl Schmidt, who has been Mayor of the city for the -last twenty-five years without interruption; the strongest possible -evidence to his popularity with all classes of his fellow-citizens, and -to his worth and capacity as a Russian municipal ruler.</p> - -<p>I then met by appointment in the Jewish Hospital all the medical men, -Jews, who had professionally attended to the persons brought there -during and after the riots, who could speak as to the number of killed -and wounded, and the extent of the injuries inflicted upon the -unfortunate victims of the mob’s fury. The statements made to me by -these doctors I repeated to the two Russian doctors I have already -referred to,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span> and I have noted down their comments upon the accounts -given me by their Hebrew medical <i>confrères</i>.</p> - -<p>My next step was to visit the scenes of outrage in the city, and in the -Skulanska Rogatka district, where the most atrocious of the crimes were -committed, and to obtain from the living witnesses of the outrages an -account of what they saw and experienced, some of them from women and -girls who went through the saturnalia of ruffianism as victims of -outrage and of rape.</p> - -<p>From these tales of revolting deeds I proceeded to the Jewish Cemetery, -where I saw and counted the forty-four newly made graves of the -massacred men, women, and children, whose freshly turned mounds stand -there to-day with their simple Hebrew wooden marks of identity, as an -appeal to the God alike of Christian and of Jew against deeds done in -the pretended name of religion which might even shame devils to -perpetrate.</p> - -<p>I have taken pictures of these graves, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span> the shed in which the young -girl of thirteen was assaulted, and killed with four men, of groups of -little girls and women who passed through the two nights of horror in -the quarter where the Moldavian fiends committed the worst deeds, and of -houses in which numerous murders were committed.</p> - -<p>Knowing how unlikely it would be for me, or for any man, to obtain from -modest maidens and respectable married women any account, or even -admission, of their having been violated, I sought the Rabbis of the -city, and got from them and from some of the victims whom I met there -particulars of the outrages to which they and others were subjected. -These will, as far as the subject can permit it, be dealt with in -subsequent letters.</p> - -<p>Let me to this extent forestall what I shall have to say about the -violation of women. All the worst of these crimes were the work of -Moldavians, and not of Russians. This, I am convinced, is absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span> -true. Many of these Moldavians are descended from the colony of convicts -and criminals founded by Pagan Rome in the country now known as -Roumania; and the several centuries’ experience by the race of Turkish -rule, before being inflicted as subjects upon more civilised -governments, has not morally improved the original taint in the blood of -their present-day representatives.</p> - -<p>Two letters,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> one signed by Count Tolstoy and the other from Maxime -Gorky, addressed to the committee in charge of the labour of relief in -Kishineff, express the hateful feeling of indignation and of abhorrence -with which the cultured Russian mind looks upon these revolting deeds of -mediæval savagery in our day.</p> - -<h4><i>Letter I</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Kishineff</span>, May 21st.<br /> -</p> - -<p>The first survey of the situation here satisfies me there is no -likelihood of any<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span> further serious outbreak for the present. The -military precautions seem fully adequate to the task of dealing with any -emergency.</p> - -<p>The Jews, however, are still terror-stricken, and in fear of renewed -violence. Wealthy families have fled the city, but the vast mass of the -Hebrew community, numbering fully fifty thousand souls, are too poor to -purchase the means of seeking protection in flight.</p> - -<p>All the Russians I have met, from Odessa to this city, condemn the -abominable acts of the anti-Semitic mobs as strongly as other people.</p> - -<p>The true origin of the massacres will need patient and careful inquiry, -but it can in a general way be put down to combined racial, economic, -and other factors, inflamed by violent incitations of the local -anti-Jewish press.</p> - -<p>The latest list of the killed and wounded, and accounts of looting and -destruction, gives these figures: Killed, 44; badly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span> wounded, 83; -injured, 500. Houses wrecked, 700; shops and small stores looted and -damaged, 600; 2000 families are said to be ruined in their business and -employment, and 10,000 people require relief.</p> - -<p>The wealthy Jews of the City and Pale have subscribed about forty-five -thousand dollars, while donations from Germany, France, England, and the -United States amount, so far, to some thirty thousand dollars more.</p> - -<p>All the vengeance of the mobs seems to have been directed against the -very poorest of the Jews. Shops were only looted, but artisans were -killed.</p> - -<p>Much greater help than that already received will be required to prevent -starvation.</p> - -<h4><i>Letter II</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Kishineff</span>, May 25th.<br /> -</p> - -<p>During a brief halt in the South Russian capital, Odessa, I availed -myself of an opportunity of visiting the retiring Civil<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> Governor, -Lieutenant General Count P. P. Schouvaloff, elder son of Count Paul -Schouvaloff, formerly Russian Ambassador at Berlin, and subsequently the -most popular Viceroy of Poland who reigned in Warsaw since the stormy -days of 1863. The Count received me with courtesy and affability at his -private palace, on the Nicolai Boulevard. His Excellency had, he -informed me, been abroad during the last two months, and had only just -returned to take adieux of the local officials and citizens of Odessa -before assuming the functions of his new post in the Ministry of the -Interior. Had he been in Odessa during the terrible events in Kishineff -he would, <i>ex-officio</i>, have been in possession of intimate knowledge of -the tragic occurrences, upon which he should have had no hesitation, he -was good enough to say, to have given me the frank expression of his -views. As it was, the Count regretted he could say very little indeed. -Like the rest of his countrymen who had a jealous regard for the good -re<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span>pute of Russia abroad, his Excellency sincerely deplored the -frightful popular <i>émeute</i> in the Bessarabian capital. But there were -one or two things to be borne in mind by a foreign observer and -commentator, he was anxious to point out. He need not, perhaps, he -remarked, dwell upon the unsophisticated condition of the Russian -peasant or artisan; his simplicity, ignorance, and the practically -unlimited credence he gave to sinister and plausibly mischievous -counsellors. Against these qualities in the simple Russian, there was to -be set, he insisted, the vastly superior intelligence of the Jew, of all -grades and conditions. It was, unfortunately, an indisputable fact, in -his opinion, that the Jews, more especially where they were numerically -equal to their orthodox neighbours—and in South Russian centres they -formed the predominant elements—exploited the Christians in a hundred -unscrupulous ways, to their own aggrandisement. The Jew not only knew -the law<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span> better than his Christian neighbour, but he was an adept in -circumventing it. Consequently the exploited Russian failed to obtain -legal redress, and occasionally the ignorant people, instigated by the -worst class of criminals, whose only object was plunder, took the -law—according to their own primitive conception of it—into their own -hands, with such frightful results as were lately seen in Bessarabia.</p> - -<p>In his Excellency’s opinion the limitations placed upon the Jews in this -country should be made somewhat more stringent, in the protective -interests of the Jews themselves. That was to say, he remarked, they -should be deprived of much of the immunity under which they now -exploited the uneducated Christians. On the other hand, improvement -might be effected by a more careful choice being made in the appointment -of Governors in Jewish centres. Younger and more active men are -required, who will keep themselves fully and exactly <i>au courant</i> with -every latent movement<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span> among the people under their jurisdiction. They -should be just, intelligent, and alert Governors, his Excellency said, -upon whom it would be practically impossible to spring any sudden -outbreak, and they should be prepared to apply instantly repressive -measures at all time.</p> - -<p>Count Schouvaloff would not enter into any discussion of the Jewish -question in Russia, but he might be permitted to observe that it was, in -his opinion, one for Jews themselves, in the main, to solve. Generally -speaking, he had little hope in any change for the better in the -inimical feeling between Jew and Christian in Russia, so long as there -existed no standard of commercial rectitude among Jews. There was no -question of religious intolerance, although, unfortunately, it was no -difficult thing for <i>agents provocateurs</i>, whose object, as already -said, was plunder, to arouse the fanaticism of simple people on -occasions like Easter festivals.</p> - -<p>Such is the view, briefly expressed, of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span> Russian Governor whom I -believe to be, from the evidence of my own countrymen in Odessa, as well -as from common repute, a singularly honest and high-minded member of the -gubernatorial class in this country.</p> - -<p>Count Schouvaloff, on parting, cordially expressed his great admiration -for “the most progressive and enlightened nation in the world,” and -fervently trusted the United States and Russia, as the two great Pacific -powers, would ever remain the firmest of good friends and neighbours.</p> - -<p>Interviews with three prominent Russian merchants—all men of good -social standing and repute—failed almost entirely to elicit any more -friendly expression towards the Jews. They denounced as inhuman the -iniquities of the ignorant, savage mob at Kishineff, but could not shut -their eyes to “the trade trickeries and treacheries,” to use their own -words, which, at the hands of grossly ignorant, lower-class Russians, -brought such terribly retributive punish<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span>ment upon the Jews. None of -these gentlemen could, or would, admit that religious hatred or Paschal -rancour were the incentive motives of the terrible outbreaks against the -Hebrews. There were exceptions, of course, they were careful to remark, -but, generally speaking, the Russian Jew was very largely the author of -his own persecution.</p> - -<p>It is alike disappointing and depressing to find with what remarkable -unanimity this unfavourable view is taken by an otherwise fair-minded -class of Russians, in the South Russian capital. Considering that nearly -the whole of the trade and commerce of the city and port of Odessa is in -the hands of Jews, it is only natural that the Christian merchant’s -opinion of his Hebrew rival and neighbour should be strongly tinctured -by competitive prejudice and jealousy. Much allowance must, therefore, -be made for that; but, on the other hand, ’tis no less remarkable that -among, for example, the resident foreign Consular corps and other -independent and impartial observers in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span> same city, it is almost -equally difficult to elicit a favourable opinion of the Jews, although -the majority of these authorities were solicitous to qualify their -opinions by pointing out to me that it is not against the Jews -themselves, but against Jewish methods and their shady commercial -<i>morale</i> generally, that public feeling and sentiment run so strongly.</p> - -<p>There is a comparatively large English colony in Odessa, and the -shipping is almost entirely in the hands of British ship-brokers, and, -as the exporters are all Jews, these agents have intimate knowledge of -the latter. Here, again, one hears the same condemnatory opinions of the -Jew’s want of commercial morality. This is not, I regret very much to -say, a pleasing picture of the Jewish element in this great Russian -centre, but my duty and resolve is to give a faithfully accurate record -of the opinion and views I am seeking from authentic sources and -representative people of all classes. Among educated and enlightened -Russians<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span> one finds anti-Semites who are not one whit less rancorous -than the ignorant and benighted Mujik. But the former would never dream -of murdering his Jewish neighbour.</p> - -<p>The only other comment that suggests itself in connection with this -matter, especially in reference to Count Schouvaloff’s implied -suggestion that the Kishineff massacres are mainly due to Jewish -exploitation of artisans and peasants, and to their customary commercial -trickery, is this: The rioters of April last were not peasants, nor were -the victims of their licensed brutality usurers or profit-mongers. The -murderers and looters were chiefly labourers and artisans, led by -Seminarists; and the victims were, almost in all instances, Hebrew -workingmen and their families. The sinister influence of the local -anti-Jewish press is also a factor in the origin of the riots which his -Excellency overlooked, and which others in Odessa did not refer to when -expressing their views upon the Kishineff reign of terror at -Eastertide.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span></p> - -<h4><i>Letter III</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Kishineff</span>, May 27, 10 P. M.<br /> -</p> - -<p>An attempt to renew disorder near the market place this afternoon was -promptly dealt with and suppressed by the military. A large crowd -gathered about five o’clock, near the scene of the first outbreak on -Easter Sunday, when, as on that occasion, some boys were made use of to -test the disposition of the police and military by throwing stones at -some Jewish residences. In this instance there was no hesitation on the -part of the authorities. The military rode round the crowd at once, and -hemmed them in, when forty of the leaders and instigators were -immediately arrested and taken to the prison.</p> - -<p>Hundreds of families fled from the city last night, owing to threats -that the deeds of Easter would be repeated to-day. The trains to Odessa -were packed with fugitives, while all the hotels in Kishineff were -crowded by Jews whose wives and daughters<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span> could not leave the city, and -dare not remain in their homes.</p> - -<p>The more I make myself acquainted with the measures which seem to be -imperatively ordered by the central Government, the more I am convinced -that the authorities here will not hesitate for a moment to employ the -sternest methods to preserve order. Fifty ball cartridges have been -served out to each soldier. At every dangerous point in the Jewish -quarters soldiers are posted with fixed bayonets, while cavalry patrols -are constantly moving from one quarter to another, day and night, in -vigilant surveillance of the situation.</p> - -<p>I visited the Jewish districts in the city and suburbs twice to-day, and -found everything quiet.</p> - -<p>The city is still paying dearly, in the virtual suspension of all work, -for the riots in April. Business is completely disorganised through the -injuries done to shops and warehouses, and the flight of Jewish dealers -and employers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span></p> - -<p>I desire to appeal most urgently for assistance for the future of the -girls and married women who were savagely violated during the riots at -Easter. These girls have now no hope of marriage where the facts of -their dishonour are publicly known. Under the rigorous moral law of -Moses married women who are outraged must be divorced from their -husbands. There are several such cases among the victims of the mob’s -brutality, and their misfortunes, along with those of the young girls -referred to, make a peculiarly pathetic appeal to the sympathy of those -who may be blessed with the means by which the future of these unhappy -creatures might be made less miserable and hopeless.</p> - -<p>There are also from fifty to one hundred orphans, children of murdered -fathers and mothers, who are to be provided for. Some of the money -subscribed from abroad ought to be specially ear-marked for alleviating -these three classes of exceptional suffering and wrong.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span></p> - -<h4><i><a name="Letter_IV" id="Letter_IV"></a>Letter IV</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Berlin</span>, June 3d.<br /> -</p> - -<p>Finding it impossible, on account of the Russian censorship of all -telegraphic messages relating to the Kishineff outrages, to forward this -despatch from that city, I do so from this point.</p> - -<p>I have completed an investigation as to the origin, authors, and extent -of the recent massacres and looting, while I have also traversed almost -the whole of the Jewish Pale of Settlement, from Odessa to Warsaw, -inquiring into the present state of anti-Semitic feeling arising out of -the outbreak at Easter.</p> - -<p>The origin of the sanguinary riots at Kishineff, on the 19th and 20th of -April, was not, as reported in the Russian official press,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> an assault -by a Jew proprietor of a merry-go-round upon a Christian woman, whereby -a mob of peasants were incited to attack the Jews. There is no truth in -this account.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span></p> - -<p>The real origin of the outbreak was this:</p> - -<p>The only daily paper in Kishineff is the <i>Bessarabetz</i>. It is a -violently anti-Semitic organ. Its chief editor is Pavolachi Kroushevan, -of Moldavian origin. He has systematically inflamed the popular feeling -against the Jews, as the foes of Russia, as the propagandists of -Socialism, and as the enemies of the Christian religion. These attacks -have been continuous for the last six years. Merchants and employers -giving work to Jews were held up to public odium, and the expulsion or -extermination of the race was openly urged. The <i>Bessarabetz</i> has a -circulation of 20,000, chiefly among the police, municipal employés, and -workmen generally.</p> - -<p>Two events occurring shortly before Easter were seized upon by -Kroushevan to incite the mob to murderous violence. One was the murder -of a boy belonging to the village of Doubossar, situated between -Kishineff and Odessa, by his relatives for gain. The other was the -suicide of a girl<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span> and her death at the Jewish Hospital of Kishineff. -The <i>Bessarabetz</i> declared them to be both ritual murders by the Jews, -and summoned the Russian Christians to punish the authors of the alleged -crimes.</p> - -<p>The chief Rabbi of Kishineff, fearing from past experiences the results -of these ferocious appeals, hastened to the Greek bishop, and implored -him to calm the popular mind by giving an episcopal assurance that no -such ritual was practised, and no such crimes committed, by the Jews. -The bishop’s reply was that he feared there was some Semitic sect which -really did indulge in the use of Christian blood in the Paschal -ceremonies, and he refused to intervene.</p> - -<p>Ten days before the riots broke out a body of representative Jews -visited the Governor and warned him that Kroushevan’s incitations would -lead to murder, unless restrained. General Von Raaben assured the -deputation that all necessary precautions would be taken, but no attempt -was made by him to stop the appeals of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span> <i>Bessarabetz</i> to the popular -anti-Semitic hatred.</p> - -<p>Chief of Police Tchemzenkov was also requested to act in the interest of -peace, and curb the diatribes of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>. He replied that it -would “serve the Jews right if they were driven from the city for -encouraging the propaganda of Socialism.”</p> - -<p>Having by the blood accusation articles, and through the circulation of -a Roumanian anti-Semitic pamphlet purporting to give instances of -numerous murders of Christian children by Jews, roused the Kishineff -populace to a state of savage fury, Kroushevan’s local accomplices -planned an attack for the Easter holidays. Kishineff Jews declare that -Kroushevan came to the city, in disguise, from St. Petersburg, on the -eve of the outbreak, to plan the riots. This statement I could not get -verified. A meeting was held and a plan of attack decided on. A few days -previously a band of strangers arrived at Kishineff, comprising thirty -Albanians and some Macedonians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> believed to be brigands brought -especially for an attack on the Jews.</p> - -<p>The chief instigators of the riots were Kroushevan and the staff of the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>; a doctor who is of Greek origin; a Moldavian doctor; a -Moldavian engineer; a notary; two sons of a prominent merchant; two -students, sons of prominent citizens; two Odessa students; two minor -officers, and several well-known citizens.</p> - -<p>The actual leaders of the riots were students and Seminarists from the -Royal School and the city religious colleges.</p> - -<p>All the statements made to me agree that the Seminarists directed the -movements of the mob on both days, disguised as labourers and strangers. -The rioters comprised thirty bands, averaging fifty each, with a -Seminarist on a bicycle directing the attack. Some of the bands were -composed of the lower employés of the various departments of the -municipality—the telegraph, post office, and other municipal offices, -but artisans and labourers, and Moldavians from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span> the suburbs, formed the -greater body of the rioters, with the Albanian strangers above -mentioned.</p> - -<p>These bands, with sticks and stones, but no firearms, attacked the -Jewish quarters at thirty different points simultaneously, thus proving -a deliberate plan of operation.</p> - -<p>All the evidence that I have gathered during eight days of searching -inquiry in Kishineff convinces me that the riots were not a casual or -accidental uprising of a mob against the Jews, but formed a carefully -planned attack by the local anti-Semitic leaders, with the passive -connivance of the Chief of Police and the active encouragement of some -of his officers. Von Raaben’s deplorable weakness in not employing his -military force to quell the riots during the first day is responsible -for the horrors of that and the massacres and the violations of women -and girls of the second day.</p> - -<p>The majority of the rioters were of Moldavian origin. These Moldavians -are as numerous as the Jews in Kishineff and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span> constitute the most -ignorant and brutal element of the populace.</p> - -<p>The rioting began with the looting of the Jewish shops and the -demolition of houses. The mob, finding the military not employed against -them and the police witnessing the attacks sympathetically—many of the -police taking part and participating in the looting—passed from murder -and massacre to the violation of Jewish women and girls.</p> - -<p>I have two detailed statements, carefully prepared by eye-witnesses of -the scenes. One is a copy of the indictment of the authors of the -massacres, which has been lodged with the Procureur; the other is a -specially prepared statement by two Christian ladies, one Russian and -one Russo-French, who investigated a certain class of outrages for my -information. Here are a few instances of the worst crimes:</p> - -<p>The Feldstein family is one of the most respectable in Kishineff. The -mob attacked their saloon on the corner of Armenia Street at noon on the -first day, Sunday, April 9.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span> The police barracks are some forty paces -away. The soldiers and police patrolled the street during the five hours -occupied by the mob in demolishing the saloon and destroying fifteen -thousand roubles’ worth of wines. A safe containing a large sum of money -was also broken open and robbed. While that section of the mob was thus -employed, the leader of the gang found in the kitchen of the family -residence the meat for the family’s dinner. He put it on a stick, -mounted to the roof of the saloon, which is of one story, and, -addressing the mob, the police, and the military in the street, -declared, “Here are the remains of a Christian child found in the house -of the wealthy Jew, Feldstein.”</p> - -<p>The members of the household were saved by a Russian employé of -Feldstein and a humane gendarme, from the fury of the mob. On completing -the destruction of the place, the leader drank to the health of Editor -Kroushevan from the roof of the looted premises.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span></p> - -<p>At No. 13 Asia Street in the Bender Rogatka quarter some of the worst -outrages were perpetrated. Twelve families, all Jewish artisans, lived -in the yard. A mob of Moldavians, some Russian workingmen, and a few -Albanians attacked the occupants of the yard. The majority of the Jewish -men escaped, while the women and girls, numbering sixteen, concealed -themselves in a loft under the roof of a one-story house. Four Jewish -men tried to defend the place, and were murdered. Their wives and -daughters, with a dozen women and children, had taken refuge in a loft -under the roof of No. 13. It was from some of these I obtained the facts -here recorded.</p> - -<p>One Mottel Greenspoon, a glazier, was stunned by a blow from a bludgeon, -and the Albanians mutilated him while still alive. They then choked a -child, two years old, and cut out its tongue, while alive.</p> - -<p>The other three men were killed and then had feathers put on their -faces. As an act<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> of desecration of the dead, two drunken women, one -Moldavian and one Bulgarian, trampled on the body of Greenspoon as it -lay mutilated in the yard. The mob then found its way to the loft where -the women were concealed, and remained several hours. All the women and -girls were violated.</p> - -<p>All this time the police and soldiers were patrolling the open space in -front of the house where these fiendish crimes were committed. I saw -blood spattered on the walls of the rooms and yard, and picked up a -child’s schoolbook on which some murderer had wiped his hands.</p> - -<p>At the household Foudyn, No. 33 Gostinna Street, four men and one woman -were killed. Sixteen families lived in this yard, all those of artisans. -The mob came the first day and demolished the windows and doors. It -returned the next day for massacre. Sixteen women and eight children -were concealed in the loft. The first killed was a boy of sixteen, who -begged piteously for life,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> saying he had done no wrong, was a scholar -of the state school, and wanted to live. His father, at the other end of -the yard, heard the boy’s cries, but could not save his life. They -killed him while the father lay stunned, unable to make an effort to -save the boy’s life. It was Mr. Baranovitch, the father of the boy, a -most intelligent and respectable man, who told me the story of his son’s -murder. As at the house in Asia Street, the women and girls who had -concealed themselves in the loft were discovered and violated by the -mob. One married woman escaped through the roof, leaped to the ground, -ran to the nearest police station, and implored help, but she was driven -out by the officer, who said the Jews were only receiving what they -deserved. Another married woman named Feya Katzap was bludgeoned to -death in the yard of this house.</p> - -<p>The scene of the most diabolical crimes and violations committed by the -mob was the Skulanska Rogatka suburb, eighty per cent. of the population -of which are Molda<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span>vians, the Jews forming the remainder. This is the -residence of the poorer class of the workers of both races. The mob -broke into the yard on the evening of the second day, Monday, April 20. -Twenty-five persons, mostly women and children, hid themselves in a -carpenter’s shed owned by one Grillspoon. The houses in the yard were -demolished, and the mob was going away when the cry of a child in the -shed indicated the place of concealment of the women. The shed was -instantly attacked by Moldavians, led by a father and son, who were -neighbours of the Jews. Grillspoon, the owner of the shed, was killed, -together with four other artisans, who were defending the place, and one -woman, the wife of the owner, was murdered after violation. The mob also -found a pretty girl, named Feya Wouller, aged thirteen, and her fate is -so awful that I can only state that after having been violated by more -than a dozen of these Moldavians they fought for her body like famished -wolves after life was extinct.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> When found the next morning by her -relatives the body was seen to be literally torn in two.</p> - -<p>The sister of Feya Wouller, whose brother died trying to defend the -women and children, assured me that the Moldavian leader and his son, -who led the mob in his district, are walking about free at this moment. -Three brothers, well-known in the city, are implicated in several of the -murders. A car-driver and his two sons took part in four murders and -general looting, but none of these men are now in prison. The Jews -killed by the car-driver and his son are Eydel Drochman, one Galantor, -one Kantor, and the boy Baranovitch.</p> - -<p>During the worst stages of the riot the chief police officer, -Tchemzenkov, drove through the city smoking cigarettes. At one period of -the disturbance, on the morning of the second day, the Jews of the New -Bazaar organised a body of about 150 to defend themselves, but Police -Officer Dobroselsky, on finding them able to drive the mob away,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> -arrested several of the defenders and broke up the body.</p> - -<p>Among the prominent looters of the Jews’ shops was the soldier servant -of a military surgeon; and a son of a murdered woman, Keyla Konza, -declares that among those who violated and killed his mother were four -common soldiers.</p> - -<p>Joseph Newman testifies that his father was killed in the presence of -Policeman Stepanovitch.</p> - -<p>A Christian Russian says that he heard the students from Odessa shout to -the mob, “Kill the Jews!”</p> - -<p>A prominent employé in the municipal office in the city was declared to -be an active director of the mob, showing where the Jews lived, and -shouting, “Kill the Jews!”</p> - -<p>Several police officers did their duty and saved many lives in the -Jewish districts. Among these was Officer Sloutschevsky, of Bender -Rogatka, who, with twelve men, drove the mob away. They went from this -to the Asia Street district, where another<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> police officer was -patrolling, and he allowed them to commit the murders described. Some -artillery officers, who were off duty, manfully saved several Jewish -women.</p> - -<p>On the morning of the first day’s outbreak large crosses were chalked on -the houses of the Christians living in streets inhabited by the Jews, -and none of these dwellings or shops were injured. Ikons (images) were -shown in the windows of other houses, and thus indicated places not to -be attacked. During the progress of the first day’s outrages the Bishop -of Kishineff, while on his way to dinner with a rich noble, passed in -his carriage through the mob, giving his blessing to the crowd. Upon -hearing of this incident, I refused to believe it possible, and resolved -to interview the nobleman, who is Michael Nicolavitch Kroupensky. He -received me courteously, and said:</p> - -<p>“Bishops in Russia always give blessings to people when passing through -the streets. This was purely an accidental coincidence. The Bishop is a -humane man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>So that the fact remains that the Bishop did pass through the mob on his -way to dinner, and uttered no word to persuade the mob to stop its -murder and pillage.</p> - -<p>The Jews are convinced from every evidence that the outbreak was a plan -of the local anti-Semitic leaders to punish and terrorise the Jews for -their supposed propaganda of Socialism in conjunction with the leaders -of the Socialists of Western Europe. The fanaticism and superstition of -the Moldavian and Russian mob were then excited by the fabricated -stories of Jewish ritualistic murders of Christian children, to cover -the organised political plot against the local Socialist movement. I was -informed by Nobleman Kroupensky that on the day following the riots -thirty young Jews were arrested, and that five of them were found to be -in possession of pamphlets appealing to the workingmen of Russia to -demand a constitutional government like that of England. Some officials -of the municipal department, some police officers, and others connived -at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span> the attack in order to crush the alleged Jewish Socialist -propaganda. The artisans and labourers had been appealed to by the -<i>Bessarabetz</i> to drive out the Jew workers, who labour for low wages, -and thus do much injury to Christian families. No evidence was adduced -for me to implicate the Government at St. Petersburg in a responsibility -for the outbreak which had covered Russia’s name with shame, but -Minister de Plehve must have known that some kind of manifestation was -contemplated. Thinking, probably, the affair would not culminate in -massacres, but might assume the character of an anti-Socialist -demonstration, he took no steps to meet the emergency which actually -arose until too late. The present Vice-Governor of Bessarabia, -Councillor of State Ostrogoff, is a notorious anti-Semite. This fact, -coupled with threats of the police and the murderers at large that the -next attack will be a St. Bartholomew for the Jews of Kishineff, -explains the flight of nearly all the Jewish leaders and wealthy members -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> the race from the city, leaving only the poor members of the Hebrew -community apprehending a renewed attack.</p> - -<p>The military measures to preserve order were adequate when I left -Kishineff on Friday morning, but if these are relaxed in any way, no -protection remains for the terrorised men, women, and children against -further violence, The journal edited by Kroushevan is still circulating -in the city, and, while more restrained in its language than before the -massacres, it is keeping alive the racial animosity against the -defenceless Jews. I would urge the following measures to afford some -immediate protection for the Jews of Bessarabia and the Pale:</p> - -<p>First, that the Government at St. Petersburg issue a ukase declaring -there is no truth in the horrible fiction of Jewish ritual murders of -Christian children; second, that the bishops and clergymen of all -cities, towns, and villages be compelled to read the same from their -pulpits, thereby stopping the circulation of these atrocious legends<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span> -within the borders of Russia; third, that a conference of the leading -Jews of Western Europe be held without delay, to consider the best means -to solve the problem of the Russian Jew, and how best to help the Jews -of the Pale to protect themselves under the existing Russian laws.</p> - -<p>Unless some action of this nature is taken soon, more outrages will -follow. I found the feeling in the larger cities, where the Jews are -strong, very excited and apprehensive. In one city the Jews have -purchased 9000 revolvers to protect themselves. There is a constant -panic in Kiev, from which most of the wealthy Jews have fled to Cracow, -while Jewish refugees from Kishineff were refused shelter on their -arrival at Kiev by the terrified Jews of that city.</p> - -<p>In Warsaw I found more confidence than elsewhere, as, in this large -city, with its quarter of a million of Jews, the Polish Socialists, who -are a strong organisation, have promised to aid the Jews if any attack -should be made on them by the anti-Semites.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span> The Governor, General -Tchetverikoff, is a capable officer, free from anti-Semite prejudices, -and he has made it plain, in the measures already taken, and in some -straight talk, that he will deal promptly and sternly with any attempt -to repeat the Kishineff ruffianism in the city under his control.</p> - -<p>Throughout the whole Pale the police and peasants are told by the -anti-Semites that the Tsar has issued an order to kill all the Jews or -drive them from Russia.</p> - -<h4><i>Letter V</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">London</span>, June 6th.<br /> -</p> - -<p>The situation at Kishineff at the present time is this: The military -measures in force are fully adequate for an instant repression of any -attempted renewal of outrages. Owing, however, to the notorious -anti-Semitic leanings and record of the Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff, the -Jews who have fled the city, and the poorer class who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> suffered most and -who cannot leave for lack of means, dread another outbreak.</p> - -<p>They likewise note the indulgent punishments inflicted upon the -directors of the riots, while several men known to have committed murder -and to have been implicated in the tortures of women were actually -liberated from prison after a few days’ detention, on the ground of -alleged lack of sufficient evidence of their guilt. The feeling in -Kishineff is general that the rank and file of the rioting bands were -retained in custody, while the instigators and ringleaders were -permitted to go free.</p> - -<p>I do not credit the statement going the round of the press which alleges -that Governor Von Raaben telegraphed to St. Petersburg for permission to -use the military in Kishineff in dealing with the mob, and that he -waited vainly for an authoritative reply. No such permission was needed -from either Minister de Plehve or the head of any other department. The -criminal code armed the local Governor with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span> the fullest power and -discretion for the employment of soldiers within his government or -province as a supplementary force to the police to preserve order. There -were 8000 military and 350 police at Von Raaben’s command during the -first day’s riot, and he was as much in absolute control of those forces -in the task of dealing with the outbreak against the Jews as the -Governor of New York State would be of the State militia in a similar -emergency.</p> - -<p>As to the question of remedy: What can be done to safeguard the men, -women, and children within the Jewish Pale, from Odessa to the Baltic, -from periodic outrage; and free the name of a great empire from the -reproach of such organised Christian barbarism as that of Kishineff? -This question cannot be dismissed on the plea that American and European -opinion is concerned only with the humane task of relief. The best -possible measure of relief that could be offered to the victims of -anti-Semitic oppression in Russia, at this crisis,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span> would assume the -character and form of a friendly mediating influence exercised with the -Tsar in behalf of the Jews of his Empire.</p> - -<p>I have discussed this idea with a high Russian official during my tour, -and I briefly summarise our conversation.</p> - -<p>In reply to my question as to what could be done by the friends of -Russia in the United States to procure some better protection for the -Russian Jew, this official, who is thoroughly conversant with both -American and British politics, said:</p> - -<p>“It is no use appealing to Russia through the medium of indignation -meetings. This is not how to exercise a friendly influence such as is -desired. We resent attempts to meddle in our domestic affairs through -the agency of political demonstration. It is an unwarranted interference -by other countries in our internal concerns. How, may I ask, would your -Government and press consider our action if we organised great -gatherings and delivered violent speeches in pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span>test against, say, the -burning alive of American citizens, not alone without trial, but -independent even of the form of legal indictment? You must look at the -position of our Government in relation to the hateful crimes of -Kishineff from many points of view. Our system of administration differs -radically from yours, while the civil position of the Jews here has no -parallel in civil and political conditions in America except, perhaps, -in your treatment of the Negro and the Chinaman. Whatever faults our -system may possess in your eyes, we consider it as being adapted to the -domestic requirements of Russia, and to the social temperament of our -people. We are not in any sense a cruel or a persecuting nation, nor do -we hate the Jews on any religious ground. But we never will admit a -people so foreign in every respect to the Russians in racial traits and -character, in faith and in general reputation, to an equality of -citizenship. You might as well ask the American people to permit -China<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span>men to become Mayors of San Francisco or members of Congress. -There is something more to be said in relation to Kishineff; not in any -sense by way of palliating the horrible outrages which I condemn as -strongly as you do, but in the way of, say, such an explanation as a -Governor of Alabama or Carolina would try to account to civilised -opinion for some act of a mob of Christian citizens in burning a -fellow-citizen at the stake. The Jew in Russia is the disciple and -propagandist of Socialism. He has introduced this menace to our -Government and system from abroad. He is believed by the tens of -thousands of our people who are employed in our departments to be their -racial enemy, and the foreign plotter inside our gates against the Tsar, -who is the head of the system which gives them their means of livelihood -and some prospect of future positions for their sons.</p> - -<p>“These are the class of Russians who hate the Jews most, and the hatred -is begotten<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span> of the same human selfishness which stirs up strife between -rival classes in other countries.</p> - -<p>“It is necessary to know all this in order to understand the fact that -many persons above the rank of artisans and labourers took part in the -shameful outrages at Kishineff.</p> - -<p>“Allow me now to reply direct to your question:</p> - -<p>“I can only make a suggestion, which is this: Let some prominent -statesman or highly respected citizen of the United States visit St. -Petersburg and seek an interview with the Emperor. This would be -welcomed as an act of friendship, and could not be considered as an -intrusion even by our Government officials. The Tsar would be sure to -receive such a visitor as the spokesman of friendly American feeling.</p> - -<p>“No kinder-hearted man lives to-day than the Emperor. No one in your -country deplores the outrages of April more than he does. Moreover, like -all Russians, he holds the great American nation in high esteem,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> and -cherishes the friendly relations which have so long subsisted between -the two countries. If, then, some one of your leading men, commanding -wide respect, would undertake such a mission, he would accomplish a -thousand times more to guarantee the Jews against further outrage than -10,000 public meetings organised by the Jews of your cities or on the -suggestion of Russia’s kind friends on the London press.”</p> - -<p>I most urgently beg your advocacy, and that of the American press -generally, of this proposal. It would be a mission worthy of a -statesman, and its certain fruits would be the Tsar’s protection for the -Jews from Odessa to Warsaw against further organised outrage during his -lifetime.</p> - -<p>The public man in the States eminently qualified for this humane mission -is ex-President Cleveland. Such an ambassador on a friendly visit to St. -Petersburg would attract the world’s attention, and success would be -sure to crown his undertaking.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span></p> - -<p>I attended several meetings of the Central Relief Committee while in -Kishineff. The last one was on the eve of my departure, last Friday. The -committee meets daily to examine applications and distribute assistance -in money, food, and clothing. Kishineff is divided, for relief purposes, -into twenty-two districts. Each has its local committee, who report to -the Central Executive Committee of Fifteen, whose chairman, Dr. J. S. -Mutznik, is a leading physician and one of Kishineff’s wealthy -residents. Assisting him are several equally representative Jews, like -Dr. Kohan-Bernstein, Rabbi Ettlinger, S. M. Grossman, E. Galperin, S. -Perelmutter, I. Kipperwasser, E. Reidel, M. Kligman, Z. Rosenfeld, -Israel Pappervasses, and several other well-known citizens.</p> - -<p>A Ladies’ Committee gives valuable co-operation, attending to and -reporting upon the women, girls, and orphans requiring aid. These ladies -showed me over the food, clothing, and general assistance departments -of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> the Central Committee Headquarters. I found everything well -organised and efficiently executed. The Rabbis and leading members of -the Ladies’ Committee have founded an asylum for the orphans of -massacred parents.</p> - -<p>I visited this temporary asylum and photographed the orphans and their -guardians. Up to the date of my departure the Central Relief Committee -had expended a total of 130,000 roubles; one-fourth of which was used in -the purchase and distribution of food for the people whose homes had -been destroyed, and for others made workless by the riots. Small sums of -money had been advanced to the owners of shops and little stores to -enable them to renew business; 1000 roubles were given in several -instances.</p> - -<p>This action of the Committee was severely criticised by the friends and -representatives of the Jews who were killed. These complained that the -money contributed from abroad ought to be apportioned according<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span> to -relative loss, and that the subscribers would not estimate the injury -done to a tailor’s or shoemaker’s store at three or four times the value -of a murdered father, mother, or brother.</p> - -<p>In this connection, I pointed out to Dr. Mutznik that, as those whose -stores were looted could, under Russian law, claim adequate compensation -from the city or the government, it would be more equitable to devote -the major portion of the funds received to the present and future -assistance of those who have suffered the greater wrong and injury in -the loss of parents, of employment, and in other ways. To this view he -agreed, though he was very doubtful if the claims for compensation -already lodged in behalf of the store-owners will be fairly dealt with, -or even considered, by the authorities.</p> - -<p>Under the law as it stands, three independent witnesses must depose, not -alone to the injury done to a particular store or business, but to the -person or persons ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span>cused of being guilty of the looting or -destruction. And no blood or marriage relative of the person seeking -redress is permitted to testify! Under such conditions, and in view of -the fact that most of the male Jews fled and hid themselves when the -outbreak occurred, many of the claims for compensation will fall to the -ground for want of sufficient evidence as to the names and complicity of -the actual perpetrators of the destruction.</p> - -<p>Dr. Mutznik believes that the relief work must be continued during the -coming winter, to the larger number of artisans and labour applicants. -Most of the Jewish merchants and employers have fled to Odessa, Cracow, -and other cities. They will not return until they are assured of safety, -and in their absence those whom they employed will, in all probability, -remain without work.</p> - -<p>My appeal through the press in behalf of the violated women and girls, -and for the orphans, was warmly endorsed by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span> Ladies’ Committee and -the Rabbis. Mesdames Mutznik and Hornstein, leading members of this -committee, with true matronly feeling, pleaded the exceptionally hard -cases of the young girls and of the violated married women. The case of -the orphans speaks for itself, and needs no advocacy apart from the -cruel facts which plead so forcibly for their utter helplessness.</p> - -<p>When visiting these little ones in their temporary shelter, and while -learning from the girls and women, whom the Rabbi assembled in his house -to meet me, the stories of the irreparable wrongs done them, and their -fears of the future now before them, I could not help indulging in the -hope that some wealthy Jewish merchant or banker in New York, London, or -Paris might have the heart and head to bring himself a life’s happiness -in the humane task of aiding these orphans and terribly wronged girls -and women which all the wealth of all the Jews in any one of these -cities could<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> not purchase in palaces, banks, or pleasures.</p> - -<p>A Warsaw paper having published an account of the appeal in behalf of -the Kishineff sufferers, my hotel soon became a centre of attention and -of supplication. Hundreds of poor creatures of both sexes came to beg to -be enabled to emigrate. They had heard that the <i>American</i> was proposing -to devote some of the money subscribed in New York and elsewhere to the -task of taking a few thousand families away from the city of blood to -the United States or to the Argentine. No matter what was the proposed -destination, they were willing to go, if it were only to some country -where Christians did not kill Jews. One petition, signed in behalf of -122 families, was presented to me to be forwarded to the <i>American</i> in -the hope of having an early consideration of their claims.</p> - -<p>No explanation by my most capable dragoman would disabuse the minds of -these poor people of the forlorn belief that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span> escape from a dreaded -recurrence of the horrors of April might lie in such a petition.</p> - -<p>Among my most persistent callers were two matronly-looking ladies, who -also begged to be sent to America. On the first occasion they did not -disclose the nature of their calling, or the extent of their losses. I -pressed them on these points when they came again. One of them replied, -“Our business has fallen off entirely since the riots.”</p> - -<p>And what was the business, inquired my dragoman.</p> - -<p>“We are midwives,” was the answer. The petition had, of course, to be -refused.</p> - -<h4><i>Letter VI</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">London</span>, June 6th.<br /> -</p> - -<p>A few facts concerning Kishineff will be essential to the right -comprehension of the causes which led to the perpetration of the black -deeds of April, and to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span> proper understanding of a story of -deliberately plotted political crime.</p> - -<p>The last census, that of 1897, gave to Kishineff a population of 108,296 -souls. Of these over 50,000 were males. The present estimated population -may be put down at or about 130,000. These are divided racially as -follows: Jews, 50,000; Moldavians (Christians), 50,000; Russians, 8000, -with the residue comprising Bulgarians, Serbs, Greeks, Macedonians, -Albanians, and Germans. These figures and estimates are given me by Dr. -Kohan-Bernstein, a leading physician of the city, and are confirmed by -one of the Rabbis, who holds some kind of a government position in -connection with the special taxes levied on the Jews.</p> - -<p>The Jews are thus numerically in excess of the Russians and of all other -Christian sects combined, excepting the Moldavians, who are equally -strong in numbers, and even more bitter in their anti-Semitic feeling -than those of Russian blood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span></p> - -<p>Fully fifty per cent. of the Jews of Kishineff are artisans and -labourers, and in the great majority of cases they are wretchedly poor. -The stern needs of daily life, the want of bread and the shelter of a -home, compel them to work for any pay that may be offered to them.</p> - -<p>The Jewish artisan is far and away more intelligent and skilled than his -Moldavian or Russian neighbour of like occupation. He is more expert in -technical details, and more ambitious to do better and to perform more -work for his employer. Poor as he may be he reads more newspapers, and -is an all-round formidable rival to workers who dislike him for his -race, and who dread him as an increasing and competing factor in the -industrial world of Kishineff.</p> - -<p>These facts will account to some extent for the part which Christian -workers took in the organised riots of April.</p> - -<p>One fact more in this connection has an important bearing upon another -feature of the outbreak—the pillaging of shops and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span> saloons. Kishineff -is the capital of Bessarabia, and is its largest trading and commercial -centre. There are rival Christian and Jewish interests at work in -catering for the needs of so large a place, and these interests collide -in competitive activity in almost every branch of business life.</p> - -<p>There are shops, warehouses, and saloons where Christian and Jewish -rivalry conflicts, and in such a combat the Gentile is nowhere, in trade -competition, with the fertile and adroit Jew. Hence, there is as strong -a commercial antipathy toward the unpopular Hebrew in fairly educated -Russian and Moldavian circles as is found on other grounds among the -anti-Semitic artisans and labourers.</p> - -<p>These circumstances account for the complacency—to put it no -stronger—with which merchants and leaders of the Christian community -looked on at the pillaging of shops and the destruction of saloons which -belonged to their Jewish rivals. And they also explain why saloons and -stores of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span> Jewish ownership were alone the objects of the mob’s -attention; for the riot was not an affair of blind, popular fury, bent -upon indiscriminate lawlessness. Nothing of the kind. It was -deliberately organised and intelligently directed from start to finish -by leaders who knew what they were about, and how to discriminate -between Russian and Moldavian property and Semitic belongings, in the -matter of looting, and between Jewish and Christian women in another and -more infernal business.</p> - -<p>Kishineff, in its central and chief business parts, is a handsome town. -Its leading boulevard, Alexandra Street, would do credit to any American -city. It is more than twice the width of Broadway, New York; is planted -on both sides with acacia trees, and can boast of imposing public -buildings, substantial shops, banks, and jewellers’ stores.</p> - -<p>The municipal headquarters, built, like most of the prominent structures -of the city, with a whitish stone, is situated near the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span> middle of the -leading thoroughfare and wears a stately and striking appearance. The -streets are all wide and run as in American cities, at right angles to -each other in uniform arrangement. They are nearly all planted; a -feature which adds greatly to the beauty of the city, in combining the -light green foliage of the acacia trees with the bright, clean look of -the houses and public buildings.</p> - -<p>The Royal Gardens and People’s Park are in the centre of the city. -Military bands play each evening in the former, and attract large crowds -of well-dressed citizens, officers of the garrison, youth, and -particularly ladies.</p> - -<p>The city, in its chief business and fashionable districts, has the look -of a comfortable, fairly wealthy, up-to-date bourgeois centre, and a -well-governed municipal community; a most unlikely place, in the eyes of -a visitor, to offer itself as a theatre for one of the most abominable -tragedies in modern times.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span></p> - -<p>Kishineff owes its success and prosperity almost exclusively to the -Jews. Thirty years ago it was little more than a rough Bessarabian -village. To-day it ranks, in South Russia, next to Odessa—where there -are over 200,000 of the same race—in population, commercial standing, -and wealth, and all this is freely admitted by educated Russians.</p> - -<p>Jews in Russia are compelled by law to reside inside a Pale of -Settlement, or territory comprising some fifteen governments, or -provinces, of western and southern Russia, extending south from the -coast of the southern Baltic to the Crimea, and westward from Charkov -and Smolensk to the borders of Roumania, Galicia, and Prussian Poland. -The area thus embraced in the Jewish Pale is about equal to that of -France, and the number of people of this section of Russia is upward of -27,000,000.</p> - -<p>Under the ukase of 1882, which compelled Jews to leave the villages and -live within<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span> the towns, these centres became crowded inside of what thus -became virtual economic concentration camps.</p> - -<p>Within these limits of legal domicile the density of Hebrew population -is at the rate of some 2800 per square mile. In the non-Jewish towns of -Russia the average is about 60 of urban to 1000 of rural population. -Within the fifteen provinces included in the Jewish Pale, the average is -close upon 230 of urban to every 1000 of country population.</p> - -<p>The effects of this crowding of Jews into the towns of the Pale are as -obvious as they are inevitable. There is a dense population, restricted -by necessity and disposition to certain pursuits and occupations, in -places where the economic conditions do not provide opportunities for -the healthy exercise of one-fourth of the industry or abilities which -could under normal conditions find opportunities for profitable -employment.</p> - -<p>There are towns in which Jewish tradesmen and artisans are 50 per cent. -of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span> total population. They are literally penned in within these -places.</p> - -<p>This is the economic side of the problem of the Russian Jew. The -political side is even more serious to the Russian administration, and -here we are approaching the consideration of what was the real -underlying cause of the outbreak of a month ago.</p> - -<p>All the Jews of the Pale are not poor. Quite the contrary. Despite the -restricted area allowed them, large numbers of them are wealthy through -successful trading. Another and larger section exploit inferior Russian -intelligence and capacity, and earn money in legally forbidden ways by -making it fairly profitable for the obliging Christian to act as a -shield or deputy for the legally boycotted Jew.</p> - -<p>Saloons are owned in this way by Jews, and are worked for them by -Christians.</p> - -<p>The Jew must not own land. But he can organise a company, place a -Russian in nominal headship of the concern, and in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span> manner make a -profit out of Russian agriculture.</p> - -<p>In many other ways the keen intelligence, the inherited racial capacity -for financial undertakings, the greater natural ability and better -education of the business Jew, and also of the higher artisan Hebrew -section, enable them, even in the face of all the obstacles put in their -way, to give their sons and daughters an education which is gradually -evolving out of an oppressed and degraded race a people of progressive -thought and of political aspirations, who are deemed to be a most -dangerous menace to the government and administration of an -autocratically ruled country.</p> - -<p>The educated Jew in Russia is more than an accidental ally of what may -be termed Russian liberal tendencies. He occupies within this huge -empire a semi-penalised political and racial status.</p> - -<p>None of the higher state schools must admit more than 5 per cent. of Jew -pupils, even where, as in Kishineff, the Jews are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span> five times more -numerous than the Russians proper.</p> - -<p>The Jew cannot buy land.</p> - -<p>He is debarred from administrative positions, except in lower grades of -employment, and while he is compelled to serve in the army, he cannot -claim the usual rewards or aspire to the ordinary ambition of men who -make no greater sacrifice than he in the common military service of the -empire.</p> - -<p>All these facts, disabilities, and oppressive and depressing conditions, -acting upon the thoughts and ideals of a brainy people, are producing a -powerful anti-Russian political force along the southwestern portion of -the Tsar’s most vulnerable frontier—that bordering upon the Austrian -and Germanic empires. In other words, the Jewish Pale is becoming the -nursery of revolutionary Socialist ideas and the active centre of an -anti-autocratic propaganda.</p> - -<p>The riots and terrorism of April, with their attendant horrors, were -deliberately planned, not by robbers or murderers, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span> on account of -religious bigotry, but for the reasons I have just given—namely, the -feeling of hostility in the minds of administrative employés to a race -believed to be plotting against the Empire, combined with the jealousy -of local artisans and proletarians of the cheaper, better, and pushing -Hebrew workingmen, compelled by absolute necessity to earn a living -within a legally circumscribed sphere of industrial activity.</p> - -<p>Hence, on the direct incitation of the local anti-Semite <i>Bessarabetz</i> -newspaper, edited by a Russian, who is really a Moldavian, and which is -the only paper published here and read by administrative employés, -Seminarists, and other enemies of Jews, it was resolved, in an organised -riot, to strike terror into the Jewish community of Kishineff, with the -double object of punishing what is believed to be a hostile element -conspiring against the Government, and of forcing the Jews to leave the -city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span></p> - -<h4><i>Letter VII</i></h4> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Dalkey</span>, June 9th, 1903.<br /> -</p> - -<p>The hideous realities of the actual outrages committed during the two -days’ inferno of murder and outrage surpass in the naked horror of their -details almost anything which the imagination could invent. I hate to -return to further reference to these deeds. It has become a horrible and -repugnant subject, but I convince myself that some good will come of it -in tending to keep alive the sympathy of the American people in the -future of the victims who escaped with life, but also with broken hearts -and the outlook of a dismal future.</p> - -<p>Meyer Weissman had a very small store in one of the poorest Jewish -quarters of the city. He had lost an eye, by an accident, when young. -The mob attacked and demolished his little grocery on Easter Sunday. He -offered them all the money in his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> possession to spare his life. It was -a sum of sixty roubles. The leader took the money, and then said: “Now, -we want your eye; you will never again look upon a Christian child.” He -implored them to kill him instead of making him blind for life. They -gouged out his eye with a sharpened stick, and left him. Amidst sobs and -suffering he told me his story in the Jewish Hospital.</p> - -<p>Near the bed of poor blind Meyer Weissman was that of Joseph -Shainovitch, whose head had been battered with bludgeons, and the victim -left for dead. He told me that it was this same gang who killed his -mother-in-law, by driving nails through her eyes into the brain. This -story I refused to believe, thinking it might be born of some horrible -nightmare following the poor fellow’s terrible experience. But from no -less than six different sources, one of them being a Christian doctor, I -learned that the facts were as stated by Joseph. Among the other -witnesses were the men who dug the unfortunate woman’s grave.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the female ward of the same hospital there were still upwards of a -dozen girls and married women, when I visited the place, whose injuries -were too serious to allow of their discharge. I heard their stories: at -least those which could in part be related to a man.</p> - -<p>One of the girls, aged about seventeen, was a perfect type of Jewish -beauty, with a face which a painter would envy as a model for a Rachel. -Her head was covered with bandages. She had been alone for three hours -in the hands of a dozen men, who had killed her father and mother, and -they left her for dead. A young Jew, evidently her lover, sat at her -bedside while the tale of her sufferings and losses was being told.</p> - -<p>In the next bed was a married woman, a mother of four children. She had -not fully recovered consciousness, and all the events of the night of -her agony were as yet not completely known to her. She, too, had been -beaten and left for dead, after having been assaulted by many men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span></p> - -<p>At the Rabbi’s house, as already related, I met several more victims of -the mob’s nameless infamies. One was a girl of sixteen, named Simme -Zeytchik, very pretty, and childish-looking for her years. She said that -all her assailants were Russians, mainly Seminarists, and told the Rabbi -that fifteen of these young ruffians had outraged her.</p> - -<p>She was one of twenty women who had sought refuge in the loft of the -house No. 11 Nicolaievskai Street, and who were discovered by the mob, -as were several other groups of women and girls in similar -hiding-places.</p> - -<p>I have before me a record of thirteen girls and women of ages ranging -from seventeen to forty-eight, who were assaulted by from two to twenty -men, and in many cases left for dead.</p> - -<p>Six young girls who are known to have undergone similar violence were -ashamed to come to the Rabbi’s house to tell their tale of wrong and -ruin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span></p> - -<p>The foregoing list does not exhaust the number of women who were -subjected to the greatest wrong that can be done to their sex.</p> - -<p>All house-breaking and robbery were suspended in the night-time during -the outbreak, and the younger men of the thirty or forty gangs of -rioters went in search of the hidden girls and married women. Those who -can do so naturally hide the narrative of their wrong, and suffer in -silence. The actual number of the mob’s victims in the most ruffianly of -their crimes will therefore never be fully known.</p> - -<p>Apart from the desperate and hopeless efforts of the forty murdered men -to save wives and daughters, and the solitary attempt at organised -resistance described in a previous letter, the 10,000 or 12,000 Jewish -men of Kishineff offered little or no resistance to the 1500 or 2000 -Moldavian and Russian assailants of their women, homes, and property. -Ninety per cent. of them hid themselves, or fled to safer parts in and -out of the city for refuge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span></p> - -<p>A thousand determined men, even in spite of the action of the Chief of -Police in virtually protecting the mob, could have saved many lives and -averted most of the outrages on the women and girls. One plucky little -Jew, Leon Koulberg by name, a member of the Kishineff Fire Brigade, with -only a few helpers, faced a band of fifty-six Moldavians and drove them -from his district.</p> - -<p>Many Russians of both sexes nobly exerted themselves to protect the -women from the mob. But from no quarter in the city, and from no source, -did I learn of any attempt being made by Russian or Moldavian clergymen -(with one solitary exception) to perform a similar Christian duty.</p> - -<p>Instances of incredible baseness on the part of the Moldavians were -given me by various witnesses.</p> - -<p>Mordka Mynduik was escaping from a gang of ruffians in the Skulanska -Rogatka suburb. He was invited into a Moldavian neighbour’s house, and -murdered by those<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span> who had offered him hospitality and protection.</p> - -<p>Israel Ullman fell a victim to a similar act of Moldavian perfidy.</p> - -<p>Three men and a woman with a child were fleeing from pursuers, and were -directed to take a certain course over a field towards the railway -station. They ran into an ambush, and two of the men were killed, the -woman and child, however, escaping.</p> - -<p>Another woman and her child sought the house of a converted Jew for -safety, after her home had been demolished. The “Christian” Jew holds a -position under the City Government. He knew the frightened woman well, -and had been on terms of the closest intimacy with her family before -climbing into office as the reward of his “conversion.” He shut the door -in the face of the terrified wife of his former friend.</p> - -<p>What impressed one most painfully in Kishineff, after the narratives of -outrage, was the seeming indifference of the mass of the Russian and -Moldavian people over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span> whole infernal business. They had to -recognise the great injury done to the city by the riots and their -results. That was too patent to be ignored. But, with the exception of a -comparatively small number of Christians, already alluded to, there -appeared to be neither regret nor remorse among the citizens generally -over the deeds which had riveted the world’s attention upon them as a -community capable of perpetrating acts so base and inhuman. This callous -bearing I attribute mainly to the tactics of the anti-Semitic press, -combined with the amazing silence maintained by the Greek Church -prelates and clergy in relation to these crimes.</p> - -<p>The <i>Bessarabetz</i> and <i>Znamya</i>, the only papers circulating in -Kishineff, audaciously blamed the Jews for what had occurred, and -carefully abstained from reproducing the comments of foreign journals -upon the rioting at Eastertide. By this means the people were prevented -realising the extent and character of the external indignation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span> aroused -by the reports of the events of April, and they were left by these -means, or by their own indifference, a community apparently unconcerned -about the massacres and infamies which had found victims only among -Jews.</p> - -<p>As far as I could learn, there had not been a solitary word spoken or -act done by any of the prominent ecclesiastical authorities of Kishineff -which could be construed, even charitably, into a condemnation of the -killing of harmless men and the ravishing of innocent girls beneath the -shadows of the many Christian churches which adorn the capital of -Bessarabia. The sufferers were only Jews.</p> - -<p>Each evening during my stay in this soulless city large crowds gathered -in the Royal Gardens to enjoy the music of the fine Dragoon Band which -performed Polish polkas, and the Hungarian “Chardash” and Russian -marches in faultless fashion. Throngs of gaily dressed ladies, under the -escort of the young officers of the garrison, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> always in evidence, -along with students from the colleges and Seminarists supplied by the -religious high schools of the city. It was fashionable Kishineff’s -rendezvous for evening enjoyment, recreation, and social gossip, and the -tables of the cafés rang with laughter when the groups of visitors were -not drinking in the music of some operatic selection or of an inviting -waltz from the band.</p> - -<p>Not a single Jew had been seen in this place of popular resort since -April 19th.</p> - -<p>One evening my dragoman called my attention to a group of young -Seminarists sitting at a table near to ours. They were boisterous in -their merriment, and appeared to be enjoying the recital of some -unusually piquant incident or adventure, amidst the smoke of their -cigarettes and the relish of their coffee.</p> - -<p>“That gang,” observed my dragoman, “judging from what I have heard some -of them say, must have been among those who violated the girls and women -in the loft of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span> No. 11 Nicolaievskai Street, where Simme Zeytchik was -outraged by a number of young students.”</p> - -<p>It was only that morning we had seen this girl of sixteen at the Rabbi’s -house, and heard her story.</p> - -<p>The Mayor of Kishineff, M. Karl Schmidt, received me most courteously -when I called upon him in the fine municipal buildings on the Alexandra -boulevard. He has been burgomaster of the city for a quarter of a -century, almost in unbroken succession. A man of some sixty summers, of -tall and commanding appearance and of cultured manner, he impresses you -at once with the feeling that you are in the presence of a strong, -capable, and upright personality.</p> - -<p>He willingly accorded me an interview, but answered my questions in a -manner suggesting a reserve which was more official than personal:</p> - -<p>“What was the origin of the outbreak, Mr. Mayor?”</p> - -<p>“The writings in the anti-Semitic press,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span> and their effect upon the -minds of ignorant people who dislike the Jews both for their race and -religion. The alleged murder by Jews of the Christian boy at Doubossar -and of a girl here in Kishineff, who committed suicide, inflamed the -populace. When the real facts were published, the truth was believed to -be an invention to cover up a Jewish crime, and the frequenters of cafés -and the workingmen, who are hostile to the Jews, remained convinced that -Christian blood had been actually obtained in this way for ritual -purposes.”</p> - -<p>“Do you find the Jews of the city a turbulent or provocative people?”</p> - -<p>“No. They resemble most other people, in having good and bad numbered -among them. There has been nothing whatever in their behaviour, as far -as my many years’ experience of Kishineff goes, to explain or in any way -to palliate the attacks made upon them. The great mass of them are very -poor, but they are most patient and never disorderly.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Have they any secret or revolutionary society here?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing, in my belief, worth serious attention. Some of the younger -Jews call themselves Socialists, but there are not many, and I do not -think they need cause the authorities any serious anxiety.”</p> - -<p>“Is there any similar organisation, under any name, among the Russian or -Moldavian workingmen?”</p> - -<p>“There is some kind of a society which scatters pamphlets about and -things of that kind from time to time. Its members were among the -rioters and against the Jews.”</p> - -<p>“Do you take the reports of the riots in the matters of the killed, -wounded, and looting as having been exaggerated?”</p> - -<p>“No. I am sorry to say there were more people killed than the -forty-three reported deaths. A few bodies have been found since the last -report was issued. The number of persons wounded is difficult to find -out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span> Many poor Jews who want to obtain a share of the relief funds -declare they were injured, but they carry no traces of wounds or hurts, -when examined. The accounts of the destruction of dwellings and stores -have not been overstated. Enormous damage has been done, and both the -city and the actual sufferers will feel the great loss for years to -come. I understand you have been visiting the scenes of the disorders, -and you can judge for yourself as to the extent of the damage and -mischief done.”</p> - -<p>“Do you anticipate any recurrence of the trouble on the Emperor’s day?” -(Date of the Tsar’s Coronation, May 27th.)</p> - -<p>“I have seen the Vice-Governor on the matter, owing to the rumours you -mention, and I am satisfied he will act promptly and severely if any -attempt of the kind should be made. He will post soldiers at all points -of danger near where the Jews reside, and these will be under officers -who will have orders to fire on any persons who may try to renew the -riots.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>“Is it true, as reported, that the police were, to some extent, -participators in the Easter outrages?”</p> - -<p>“That is not an easy nor yet a pleasant question to answer. I have no -control of any kind over the police force of the city, and I was not a -witness of the disgraceful events in April. Some loot was, I believe, -found in the possession of a few policemen, and this fact has given rise -to the charge to which you refer. But it is most unfair to impute to all -the force of the city and to its officers conduct so disgraceful, owing -to the very few who were mixed up with the disturbers and their -looting.”</p> - -<p>“What forces, military and police, were in the city in April?”</p> - -<p>“Probably about seven or eight thousand troops and three hundred police -and officers.”</p> - -<p>“Surely, there were in these forces means enough to have dealt promptly -and effectively with the bands of rioters?”</p> - -<p>The Mayor showed evidence of painful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span> hesitation before replying to this -question, but ultimately said:</p> - -<p>“Oh, there was a most lamentable and unfortunate misunderstanding!” -Whereupon he politely handed me another cigarette, to indicate that it -would be no use to pursue that subject any further.</p> - -<p>“Can you suggest any remedy to prevent these anti-Semitic outbursts, Mr. -Mayor?”</p> - -<p>“I fear not. The Government measures promulgated, from time to time, -with regard to the Jews, are deemed necessary for the preservation of -order. I cannot discuss the worth or wisdom of these measures, but I can -understand why the Jews should think them unjust.”</p> - -<p>“One question more, sir: Do you think that the Zionist movement offers -any feasible or effective solution of the question?”</p> - -<p>“As the Mayor of Kishineff, I would consider the loss of the Jewish -community as a commercial calamity for the city. But, I confess, if I -were a Jew, I would be a Zionist.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> -<small>III. M. DE PLEHVE’S VERSION</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HE official explanation from the Russian Government was made by M. de -Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, to Mr. Arnold White. The -following is the full text of the document, which was sent to Mr. White -in the English language, and published in <i>The Times</i>, June 13, 1903:</p> - -<p>“Russia’s agricultural and labour population is ill at ease, living -common life with Jewish inhabitants of wide-developed commercial -instinct. Hence constant antagonism, material racial religious character -coming to verge of frenzy at least possible occasion. Strained relations -between Russians and Jews of Bessarabia were made the worst by fact of -finding outlying village murdered Christian boy, murder attributed by -population to ritual Jewish habits.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> Official denials ritual murder not -given credit by peasants, attributing other murders of Christians in -towns Kiev and Kishineff likewise to Jews. On Easter Day, on market -place of Kishineff, workers holiday-making saw a Jew proprietor of -carousing machine strike a Christian women, who fell to the ground, -letting go her infant baby. This incident was nearest cause of outburst. -Workers began breaking windows, pulling down Jewish stores as sign of -protest. Police, which always gives much to be desired in provincial -towns, failed to make efficacious intervention, the many thousand mass -of onlookers and holiday-makers approving riot, hindering policemen’s -actions. After demonstrators came plunderers’ outbreak, lasting from -five in the afternoon to ten evening, and leaving nine Jewish bodies on -place. Night brought disturbance to end what goes far to prove momentous -character of outbreak letting loose popular passions with strength -natural forces. On Monday<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span> morning Jews wishing intimidate and inflict -punishment on Christian workers, began on market place, assembling in -groups armed sticks and weapons; Jews being more numerous had best of it -in two first encounters, and a Christian was seen to fall, receiving -bullet wound. This called forth popular passion in all its abject force -and abomination. Russian peasants driven to frenzy, excited by race -religious hatred, under influence of alcohol, being worse than South -Americans lynching negroes. Unfortunately Governor of Bessarabia did not -make appearance in person. Easter Sunday and Monday gave over command to -military men what he had no right of doing, as he, in consequence, had -put the police aside, and on the other hand, left the military forces -without actual guidance. Troops can take towns by assault, but cannot -carry out police duties without special instructions. In the end, the -town being divided in districts, with a special military command in -each, the disturbances ceased<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span> on Monday evening. By this time the -Minister of the Interior had ordered by wire to proclaim martial law, -and—an unprecedented fact—had sent the Director of Police Department -to investigate as to the responsibilities of local officials. In -consequence the Governor, the chief of the town police, and some other -officials were dismissed outright. Many hundreds of rioters are in -prison with hard work in the Siberian mines awaiting them after trial. -The Minister of the Interior has issued a circular to the Governors all -over Russia authorising them to make immediate use of firearms in case -of anti-Jewish disturbances.</p> - -<p>“The Russian Government is the first to disapprove of such horrid acts -of violence, but it cannot, in compliance with the requests of the -Radical and revolutionary Press, give the Jews new rights of -citizenship, as this is sure to drive the Russian population to new -excesses against the Jews, who are hated by peasants with such -extraordinary force.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span>”</p> - -<p>A further statement was made by M. de Plehve to Mr. White<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> in reply to -a communication calling his Excellency’s attention to the statement -“from our Russian correspondents” in <i>The Times</i> of June 6th, that -General Von Raaben, the Governor of Kishineff, telegraphed three times -to the Minister of the Interior during the riots for permission to use -force before he received any reply:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">St. Petersburg</span>, June 7 (20).<br /> -</p> - -<p>The former Governor of Bessarabia, the General Von Raaben, had not, -when in office, sent to the central Government authorities any -request whatever, asking for authorisation to use force against the -Kishineff miscreants. All communications with the Governor of -Bessarabia relating to the disturbances in Kishineff were limited -to the following proceedings:</p> - -<p>1. Having received in the night on the 7th of April a telegram -announcing the out<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span>break of disturbances, the Minister of the -Interior, who was at the time staying in Moscow, had made, on the -7th of April, a personal report of this news to his Majesty, and -had received the Emperor’s instructions directing him to send to -the Governor von Raaben an implicit order to put an immediate end -to the disturbances by any means at his disposal, however they may -be resolute and harsh. The Minister, accordingly, sent to the -Governor of Bessarabia an urgent telegram giving this order.</p> - -<p>2. The same day the Minister of the Interior, of his own accord, -sent to the Governor of Bessarabia another telegram declaring the -town Kishineff and its district in the state of enforced security -(something of a state of siege), and this was made in order to give -the Governor the means of inflicting, by way of administrative -power, punishment on persons who assemble in crowds on the streets.</p> - -<p>3. On receiving the report of the Director of the Police Department -who was sent by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span> the Minister to Kishineff in order to investigate -in person as to the cause of the disturbances, and the means taken -to quell them, and render their recurrence impossible, the Minister -of the Interior had written to the General Von Raaben a letter, -requesting him to dismiss the chief of the town police in Kishineff -for failing to make an effective use of the power he was invested -with as an official responsible for the security of the town -inhabitants. And, lastly,</p> - -<p>4. The Minister of the Interior had, by telegram, informed the -General Von Raaben that his Majesty had, for the same reasons, -ordered him to be dismissed.</p> - -<p>No other communications had passed, on the question of the -Kishineff riots, between the Minister of the Interior and the -Governor of Bessarabia.</p></div><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> -<small>IV. AN IMPARTIAL ACCOUNT</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span>T will be observed that M. de Plehve ignores altogether the part played -by the <i>Bessarabetz</i> in the period which led up to the massacres. He -makes mention of the fact that he sent the chief Director of Police to -investigate the origin of the assassinations and the conduct of the -officials. But he omits all mention of the petition presented to the -Director-General Lopoukhine, in behalf of the relations of victims, in -which the responsibility of this paper was clearly demonstrated in no -less than thirty-five marked copies, handed to the Director-General, -containing in citations to murder the Jews, and to drive them from -Russia.</p> - -<p>M. de Plehve next asserts that the “nearest cause of the outburst” was -the striking of a Christian woman on Easter<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span> Day in the market place “by -a Jew proprietor of a carousing machine.” Here again the Minister has -been badly informed by his subordinates.</p> - -<p>I sought for and found the proprietor of this identical carousing -machine (a merry-go-round). He was not a Jew, but a Christian, German by -nationality, and Reinhold Mergert by name. He told me he saw no -Christian or other woman struck by any Jew on the occasion, while no -such act was committed by himself or anyone in his employment.</p> - -<p>Had any such injury been done to a Christian woman by a Jew, would the -carousing machine have been spared by the mobs which wrecked seven -hundred Jewish homes, and five or six hundred Jewish shops the same day? -Or would the Jew be alive to tell the story?</p> - -<p>I saw this very machine in full swing, with its loads of laughing -children, on several days during my stay in the city.</p> - -<p>“Workers then began breaking windows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> pulling down Jewish stores, as -sign of protest,” continues M. de Plehve, in his official explanation.</p> - -<p>My information, gathered on the spot from eye-witnesses—Russian and -Jewish—tells a far different story. It is this:</p> - -<p>A few nights before the outbreak, members of the society organised by -the <i>Bessarabetz</i>, a large number of Moldavian and Russian artisans, and -several Seminarists and students, assembled in the “Moscow” hall. -Speeches were made in which it was declared that the Tsar had given -permission to kill Jews for a period of three days, beginning on the -coming Sunday!</p> - -<p>The conveners of this meeting were the leaders of the mobs of Sunday, -April 19th, and Monday, the 20th.</p> - -<p>That there had been plan, premeditation, and organisation for all this, -there is not a shadow of doubt. It was no sudden uprising, as M. de -Plehve had been informed, but a carefully prepared and officered -arrangement to strike terror into the “Jewish<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> Socialists” of Kishineff, -and, through them, into the alleged propagandists of revolutionary -doctrines throughout the cities and towns of the Pale, from Odessa to -Warsaw.</p> - -<p>One more fact establishing the case of preparation:</p> - -<p>A fortnight before the riots the band of thirty Albanians referred to in -Letter IV arrived in Kishineff. They were strangers and evil-looking. -They all took part in the riots, and the mutilations of a child and of -two of the four Jews murdered at 13 Asia Street, Bender Rogatka -district, were the work of these imported brigands. They were not -imprisoned after the riot. They were expelled the city.</p> - -<p>The various bands of rioters referred to above proceeded with absolute -impunity, in presence of the police, to destroy Jewish homes and smash -and loot Jewish shops, until darkness set in, on the Sunday night. In -places where Christian citizens lived among Hebrews, a cross marked in -black was found on the front of the house, or an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> ikon was displayed in -a window. Not one of the dwellings thus indicated as non-Jewish was -injured. I counted over a hundred such houses marked and protected in -this manner during my stay in the city. At the junction of Podolian -Street and Armenian Street, looking out upon an open space, with a -police station forty paces away, and a military barracks some two or -three hundred yards distant, the Feldstein premises were in possession -of the looters for fully five hours, owing to the trouble they found in -breaking open Mr. Feldstein’s safe, where they found fifteen thousand -roubles. All this time police and soldiers were in the street, actually -looking on at the “sport.” The looters were grateful for this official -neutrality, and brought up out of the Feldstein cellars bottles of -champagne which they shared freely with the officers of the peace and a -few of the soldiers, one leader of the gang, mounting the roof of the -saloon, and asking the crowd of spectators to drink with him “the -health<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span> of Kroushevan, the Editor of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>, and terror of -the Jews.”</p> - -<p>Before this festive toast had been proposed the incident of the meat -took place, which had such a fiendish influence upon the subsequent -proceedings of these patronised ruffians.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<p>The attack on the Feldstein saloon and home occurred near the dinner -hour, and some meat was being prepared for the family meal. The family -fled, or rather was rescued by a humane gendarme, a neighbour, when the -mob assailed the premises. The rioters found the meat alluded to in the -kitchen, whereupon the leader of the band fixed it upon the end of his -stick, mounted the house-top (a building of one story), and, holding up -the meat to the gaze of the people and police below, shouted, “Behold -the remains of a Christian child which we found in the home of the rich -Jew, Feldstein!”</p> - -<p>By eleven o’clock that night ten Jews had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span> been murdered, and hundreds -of homes and shops broken into and looted.</p> - -<p>Over twenty thousand roubles’ worth of costly wines was destroyed in the -Feldstein premises. After eleven at night dozens of vehicles were seen -carting away goods and property from places visited by the mobs, and -articles of furniture, which had been flung into the streets. The -vehicles were owned and led, in every instance, by virtuous -anti-Semites.</p> - -<p>During all these hours General Von Raaben, the Governor, remained -indoors. No orders of any kind were issued by him, or by the -Vice-Governor, either to the police or military. The mobs were left in -possession of the city, with not alone the indirect encouragement by the -non-action of the authorities, in face of assassinations and looting, -but with the knowledge that the head of the police of the city, -Tchemzenkov, or “Baroda,” as he was popularly called, had been seen -driving round the streets during the day, smoking, as if thoroughly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span> -enjoying the whole infernal saturnalia of sanguinary ruffianism.</p> - -<p>Seeing that there was no protection offered them by the authorities, -some Jews organised themselves during the night of Sunday, and on the -“sport” being renewed at eight on Monday morning, they gathered, to the -number of 150, at the New Bazaar, and easily drove away one or two of -the gangs, one shot only having been fired, which inflicted a slight -wound upon a rioter. Instantly the police and military were on the -scene; the Jews were dispersed, and their leaders arrested and lodged in -the prison.</p> - -<p>The deeds of Sunday were more than surpassed, in character and in -number, on the second day. Over thirty more men, women, and children -were butchered; some of the unfortunate victims being mutilated in a -manner more barbarous than anything recorded against the customs of -African savages. Then, at the hour of seven on Monday evening, the city -was declared in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span> state of siege, and the military cleared the centre -of the town of the murderous bands in a few moments. But only to drive -them to the Bender Rogatka, Skulanska Rogatka, and other districts and -suburbs, where they sought out the women and girls who were concealed in -lofts and in other hiding-places the previous day.</p> - -<p>It is not possible to describe the outrages perpetrated during this -night. Women and girls who went through it all told me their stories in -the house of the Rabbi and elsewhere, and it was impossible to doubt the -statements which, in depicting the infamies resorted to by “Christian” -men, recorded their own sufferings and dishonour.</p> - -<p>One statement must, however, be put on record. A number of women and -girls, some twenty in all, were discovered concealed in a loft at No. 11 -Nicolaievskai Street. For four hours the moral pupils of the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>, and of the religious and other colleges of Kishineff, -held their victims in this dark place; several of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span> being girls -under seventeen. A married woman, who succeeded, after being violated by -six ruffians, in breaking away from her captors, ran to the nearest -police station, and implored an officer to rescue the women, including -her daughter, Simme, aged sixteen. She was driven from the station and -told that “the Jews are only getting what they deserve.” The woman’s -name is Chane Zeytchik, and the gallant officer in question is one -Maretzky.</p> - -<p>There were many exceptions, however, among the police; the dictates of -decent humanity asserting themselves where the connivance of their chief -had outraged their sense of moral manhood. Among these was officer -Sloutschevsky, of one of the Bender Rogatka streets, who with twelve men -drove a mob of seventy out of his district. Several artillery officers -off duty also helped to save families and women. These instances of -Samaritan kindness were gratefully mentioned to me by both men and women -who had witnessed such acts. Among the com<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span>paratively few Christians who -were conspicuous in this humane service were the citizens Dorianov, -Demtchenks, Dr. Doroschevsky, Dr. Wolsky, the pope Laschkov, and M. -Georgior. Many Russian women also saved the girls of their Jewish -neighbours by giving them shelter in their homes.</p> - -<p>The mobs were composed mainly of Moldavian and Russian workingmen; the -former being five-sevenths of the whole. The Albanian contingent has -already been referred to. A few Macedonian refugees, and some -Bulgarians, were also among the gangs. All the accounts given to me -agreed in one particular—that the worst crimes were the work of the -Moldavians. In the murders inside the carpenter’s shed in the Skulanska -Rogatka suburb, all the assassins were Moldavians resident in the very -district. The sister-in-law of little Feya Wouller<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> told me that the -Moldavian father and son who led the mob in this work, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span> in the -murder of her husband, who tried to save his little sister, were walking -about free during my stay in Kishineff, having been released from prison -after a few days’ detention.</p> - -<p>A brace of other assassins, a car-driver and his son, who were concerned -in no less than four murders, were pointed out to me in the streets!</p> - -<p>One feature of the massacres is most significant, and is not mentioned -by M. de Plehve in his official account, namely: All the Jews who were -killed, with one exception, were workingmen, regular or casual; -carpenters, masons, smiths, clerks, and a few very poor jobbing dealers. -The exception was one Galantor, a cattle dealer, who was known to have -fifteen thousand roubles in his possession. He was assassinated and -robbed by the driver and his son alluded to above.</p> - -<p>The women and girls who suffered were the wives and daughters of Jewish -artisans. Those females who were killed were also,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span> like the male -victims, of the same class. A few young ladies of richer families -suffered too, but their names, for obvious reasons, were not made known -to their families. No rich Jews were killed or wounded.</p> - -<p>The leaders of the gangs, in almost every instance, were Seminarists, -disguised as workingmen. There were two students from Odessa, sons of -wealthy Kishineff families, prominent among the captains of the mobs; -but to the seminaries of the city belonged the shame and dishonour of -having contributed mostly all the directors, guides, and active -instigators of the two-days’ carnival of crime, lust, and looting. -Employés of the post office and telegraph departments were along among -the rioters, but chiefly for loot.</p> - -<p>Among the organisers of the plot, but not in the actual execution of it, -were a notary of the city, an engineer, a well-known wealthy citizen, -two minor officers, two sons of a rich merchant, and members of the -staff of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span></p> - -<p>None of these had been arrested when I left Kishineff, on the 30th of -May last.</p> - -<p>The question of official responsibility has been raised, and a circular -alleged to have been issued by M. de Plehve has been published which -would tend to connect the Minister of the Interior with an intimate -knowledge of the intended outbreak. No one in Kishineff with whom I came -in contact knew of any such circular. Charges of complicity were freely -made against the Government by many leading Jews, but no proofs of any -kind were adduced. These charges were entirely based upon the culpable -inaction of Governor Von Raaben, and the all but active participation of -the head of the City Police in the riots, along with the well-known -anti-Semitic record and feeling of the Vice-Governor, Ostrogoff.</p> - -<p>Official responsibility might be deduced from these facts, but I failed -to discover any evidence, outside these circumstances, which could even -indirectly bring home to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span> Government the charge of guilty connivance -in the <i>Bessarabetz</i> plot.</p> - -<p>The Governor was, beyond all doubt, the person most to blame for the -crimes which were allowed to disgrace the capital of his province and a -civilised city during two whole days. And he was forewarned in time of -what was coming.</p> - -<p>Ten days before Easter he was waited upon by leading Jewish citizens and -his attention called to the incendiary appeals of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>, in -connection with the murder of the boy at Doubossar. General Von Raaben -assured them that they need not dread any disturbance, as he would not -hesitate to employ all the military force at his disposal in order to -preserve law and order. He fulfilled this promise on Easter Sunday and -Monday by refusing to leave his house during the forty-eight hours in -which the slaughter of forty-five victims of the anti-Semitic crusade -was carried out.</p> - -<p>It has been alleged that the Governor, on realising the gravity of the -first day’s events,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span> wired to St. Petersburg for authority to declare a -state of siege. This I believe to be untrue. M. de Plehve’s explicit -statements, as given in his second communication to Mr. Arnold White, -dispose of this allegation. In face of the clear language of the -Criminal Code it would be an absurd and unnecessary proceeding on the -part of the Governor.</p> - -<p>Clause 340 of this Code, and Clauses 1 and 8 of the supplement to -Section 316, of Vol. II., give, I am informed, the fullest powers to the -administration of any province or city to take all necessary measures -for quelling riots or disturbances which threaten to become a menace to -life or property. There could, therefore, be no excuse or ambiguity in -the language of the law necessitating such a message, as that alleged, -to the central Government. What happened, in all probability, was this: -Someone in lower authority, seeing the criminal neglect of the Governor -in presence of such a situation as was developed on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span> Monday morning, may -have telegraphed to M. de Plehve an account of what was taking place. -This would necessarily have to be verified, in reply to messages from -the Minister, and in this way, as he relates in his despatch to Mr. -Arnold White, he ordered martial law to be proclaimed on Monday evening; -unfortunately after most of the murders and other outrages had been -committed.</p> - -<p>In an official sense only M. de Plehve is answerable for the conduct of -his subordinates, as all Ministers are, under similar circumstances, -even in constitutionally governed countries; but without evidence, which -has not yet been forthcoming from any quarter, I refuse to credit -accusations of direct cognisance of, or complicity in, the plot which -owed its origin to the indications of a powerful local paper; its plan -and purpose to local anti-Semites; and in the execution of which several -minor officials of the local administration, some police officers, -employés of public departments, stu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span>dents, Seminarists, and Moldavian -and Russian artisans were notoriously engaged. In character it was a -savage anti-Semitic outbreak, and in purpose a terrorising demonstration -against the Jews as advocates of Socialism and suspected enemies of the -Tsar’s Government.</p> - -<p>M. de Plehve’s borrowed version of the origin and objects of the -outbreak is the concoction of incriminated local officials, and members -of the <i>Bessarabetz</i> staff. It is therefore, and on that account, -prejudiced and untrue.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br /> -<small>V. DOCUMENTS</small></h3> - -<p>(I) <i>Petition addressed by the Jews of Kishineff to the Director-General -of the Police Department sent from St. Petersburg by M. de Plehve to -investigate the causes of the massacres.</i></p> - -<p class="c"><span class="smcap">To His Excellency the Director of the Police Department</span>:</p> - -<p>We, the numerous Jewish inhabitants of the town of Kishineff, having -suffered from an inhuman and sanguinary outburst which resulted in -unprecedented plundering on the part of an unrestrained mob on the 6th -and 7th (19th and 20th) of April, perceive in the arrival of your -Excellency into our town an unmistakable sign that the Supreme -Government takes an interest in the causes responsible for the sad -event, and in the conditions which made the occur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span>rences assume such -terrible proportions. In this case we, the Jewish population of the town -of Kishineff, are convinced that your Excellency will not refuse to -listen to our complaints as sufferers.</p> - -<p>It is impossible, in our opinion, to attribute the causes of the present -outbreak to the economical exploitation of the Christians by the Jewish -inhabitants. Hitherto there has been no friction between Jews and -Christians, in Bessarabia in general and in Kishineff in particular. -This state of affairs is explained partly by the peaceful character of -the local population, partly by the favourable economic condition of the -province. The result has been that for the last twenty years there has -been no collision whatever between the two groups of the population in -the province of Bessarabia; and whilst in the South and Southwest of -Russia several outbreaks against the Jews have occurred, peace and order -reigned at Kishineff.</p> - -<p>When in the eighties the whole South was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span> ablaze with attacks against -the Jews, not a single spark found its way into Bessarabia. During all -those years the province suffered on several occasions from failure of -crops, and yet the Christians never thought of attributing the cause of -economical troubles to their Jewish neighbours. The present year, -following upon a very good one for Bessarabia, could offer no reason -whatever for hostile feelings between Jews and Christians on economical -ground.</p> - -<p>We are therefore of opinion that the economical question must be -entirely excluded from a consideration of the recent massacres. Not only -does the rich and fertile province of Bessarabia secure an easy -existence for every kind of work, but it is also quite free from the -vagabond element of the rabble in seaports, from whom the rioters are -usually recruited. The recent outbreaks, unequalled even in the history -of attacks on the Jews, are so entirely out of harmony with the usual -social life and habits of the province, that we must<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span> necessarily look -for the reasons not in the relations existing between Jews and -Christians, but in special events which have taken place during the last -few years, and in certain occurrences immediately preceding the -outbreak. Among such events we count, in the first instance, the -influence of the local press, the only representative of which is the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>. This paper has been established for over five years. -Before its existence there was no local organ in the province (with the -exception of the short-lived <i>Bessarabsky Viestnik</i>). Thus the -<i>Bessarabetz</i> was bound to begin its activity upon virgin soil, and its -influence was, for this very reason, considerable from the commencement. -In the second year of its existence the paper began a systematic -campaign of Jew-baiting, which took a much more monstrous form than that -in any other paper. The <i>Bessarabetz</i> evidently made a special feature -of Jew-baiting. We could quote articles which plainly incite the mob to -exterminate the Jews. The local popula<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span>tion, with only one paper, the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>, at its disposal, the Censor having refused to authorise -another organ, were told day by day that “<i>the Jews are enemies</i>,” and -that “<i>the Jews must be destroyed</i>.”</p> - -<p>The local Censor, in the person of the administrative power, evidently -found such a tendency useful from some other point of view, otherwise -his attitude remains quite incomprehensible. It naturally followed that -the average reader, and especially the half-educated mass, had in the -end to adopt the views of the press which told them that the -extermination of the Jews was not only desirable but also possible. This -is one phase of the state of affairs,—the preparatory stage, consisting -in the endeavour to influence the local population towards one end and -in one particular direction. The absence of any other local organs, the -attitude of the Censor, and the daily activity of several individuals -under the leadership of the editor of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>, helped forward -the movement. There is hardly a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span> number of the paper which did not -contain an attack on the Jews. Phrases like “<i>death to the Jews</i>,” “<i>all -the Jews must be killed</i>,” were suggested regularly as the means of -solving the Jewish question. Being the only local organ the -<i>Bessarabetz</i> is read in all the taverns and teashops, and it is evident -to what an extent this paper could foster the hatred of the Christians -towards the Jews and how all-pervading its influence upon the passions -of human nature must have been.</p> - -<p>In order to convince his readers of the necessity of solving the Jewish -question, especially in the spirit advocated by the paper, the editor of -the <i>Bessarabetz</i> availed himself of the circumstances, inexplicable at -the beginning, attending the murder of a lad living in Doubossar. As -insinuatingly as possible he attributed the disappearance of the lad to -ritual murder by the Jews, and to the alleged requirement of Christian -blood. The official denial of the accusation by the competent judicial -authorities was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span> purposely worded in such a way as to be only half -convincing.</p> - -<p>All these circumstances, together with the general attitude of the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>, could not but create such a state of mind in the mob that -one stone thrown into a Jewish window was sufficient to call forth a -regular attack. We are unable to trace the source whence came the -circulars read in the taverns and according to which: “the Tsar had -ordered the extermination of the Jews during the three days of Easter.”</p> - -<p>We must, however, remark that under the conditions existing, it was -impossible for the mob not to consider these circulars as the logical -sequel to the campaign of the <i>Bessarabetz</i> extending over a course of -years.</p> - -<p>If we now turn to the lesson which the population of Kishineff could -take from the action of the local administrative authorities towards the -Jews, we see that the mass could not but come to the conclusion that -what was unlawful with regard to any other section of the inhabitants, -was legal and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span> permissible where Jews were concerned. These acts include -the expulsion of Jews from various localities, subsequently recognised -as unjust by the Senate; and the actions of individuals, as, for -instance, the <i>Pristav</i> Von Oglio.</p> - -<p>The Jewish population, becoming aware long before the festivals of the -attitude of the crowd and of the dangers that threatened them, addressed -themselves through their representatives to the Governor of the -province, and asked him to take the necessary measures to protect them -and their property. The Governor gave them a reply of a very assuring -nature, relying upon which the Jews considered it needless to think of -self-defence.</p> - -<p>Under these circumstances the Easter festival approached with danger -feared by all the population. It was talked of publicly and openly; it -was no secret even to the authorities. Strangely enough, however, not -only did the local government take no preparatory measures against a -possible<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span> outbreak, but even when the attack began it neglected to take -the steps within its power which would have prevented the massacres from -assuming unheard-of proportions, and of which it is impossible to speak -without feelings of horror and pity. Before the very eyes of the police -almost incredible havoc was worked upon human victims, and cruelties -committed unequalled in the history of Russia during the past few -decades. The military power remained inactive and, for reasons -altogether incomprehensible, the local government did not avail itself -of the rights and privileges accorded to it in such cases by the § 340 -of the Criminal Code and by § 1 and § 8 of the additions to § 316. -Remaining unmoved itself, it kept inactive the military forces and thus -encouraged the mob. The latter, perceiving the passive attitude of the -authorities, soon ceased breaking the windows and took to sacking houses -and shops, and finally to murder and violation.</p> - -<p>In their complaints addressed by the suf<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span>ferers to the public -prosecutor, they pointed to cases where the police encouraged the -rioters by the words: “Kill the Jews!” (Byei Zhidoff!). Jews who had -armed themselves in self-defence were soon disarmed by the police. The -result of such an unheard-of state of affairs has been the loss of 45 -lives, with 86 dangerously wounded and 500 slightly wounded, and the -violation of women and children—in a word, all the horrors of a -massacre.</p> - -<p>It is not astonishing that when some of the rioters were arrested they -expressed surprise, asking: “Why they were being arrested, since it had -been permitted to kill the Jews?” There was an instance in which the mob -was engaged over eight hours plundering one house, situated in a -populous street, without being stopped, although the sufferers applied -for help to all the authorities. Only towards five o’clock in the -afternoon of the 7th (20th) of April, when the military were called upon -to check the riot, did the rabble cease its terrible work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span></p> - -<p>The horrors and crimes committed have brought about a state of things -which, offering no guarantee as far as life and property are concerned, -prevents the inhabitants from resuming their peaceful occupations. The -people, deprived of their homes and property, are trembling for their -lives. The losses cannot be exactly estimated, but they amount to -several millions of roubles, and the fire that has broken out in -Kishineff is spreading all over the province. The Jewish population -therefore trusts that your Excellency will restore order and -tranquillity and protect the Jewish inhabitants from the dangers -threatening their lives and property. The arrival of your Excellency -into our town has already inspired us with the hope that definite and -energetic measures will be taken.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p class="c">(II) <i>List of the killed and those that died from wounds in the -Hospital.</i></p> - -<p>1. Seltzer, Michel Josiphov.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span></p><p>2. Makhlin, Moses Chaskelev, 45 years, Asia Street, No. 13, killed by a -bootmaker; his daughter was also killed; murderers armed with hammers.</p> - -<p>3. Berladsky, Hosea Abramovitz, Asia Street, No. 13, had hidden himself -in the attic, and was thrown into the street.</p> - -<p>4. Kainarsky, Kopel Davidovitz, 60 years old. His grandsons know the -murderer. The sons are in the hospital. Kainarsky was killed in the -slaughter-house; he lived in the Mountzeskaya road. His money was taken -from him and his abdomen was opened and filled with feathers.</p> - -<p>5. Tounik, Jacob Elchunov, killed in his own house.</p> - -<p>6. Kogan, Abraham Routor, killed in the slaughter-house; was a dealer in -fowls.</p> - -<p>7. Menduk, Mottel Davidovitz, shop-keeper in the Mountzeskaya Street, -killed in the slaughter-house in the stables; wife and children in -Berlin (?) in very poor circumstances.</p> - -<p>8. Ullman, Israel Yacoblewitz, wine-shop<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span> proprietor near the botanical -gardens; wife and children in Berlin.</p> - -<p>9. Shalistal, Israel Leiservitz.</p> - -<p>10. Baranovitz, Benja Shimenov, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33. With -him in the same house 8 men were killed.</p> - -<p>11. Fanarnei, Eiss Davidovitz (?); lived near the slaughter-house. The -daughter Fliga is in the hospital, and is ignorant of the father’s -death.</p> - -<p>12. Salapter, Ben-zion Leibov, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33; -killed; the roof was torn off by the mob who killed Galantor, cattle -dealer, and robbed him of 1500 roubles, and others with clubs.</p> - -<p>13. Goldiss, Chaim Leibov.</p> - -<p>14. Chaskelevitz, David Nisselev, smith; killed together with his -grandmother. His sister, 12 years old (violated), has since died in the -hospital.</p> - -<p>15. Wouller, Leinha; married, no children; killed defending his sister -Feya, aged 13, who was violated and killed; wife now at home.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span></p> - -<p>16. Liss, Hirsch Yankelev, killed in the courtyard; lived at the corner -of Gostinaya Street, No. 2; dealer in bread, etc. Son was in the -hospital, student of the commercial school.</p> - -<p>17. Krupnik, Idel; lived in Krovskaya Street, No. 52.</p> - -<p>18. Krupnik, Isaac, son of the former.</p> - -<p>19. Drachmann, David Moisuv; baker, worked in the bakery of Silberstein.</p> - -<p>20. Greenspoon, Mordecai; killed with a knife. The murderers mutilated -the body.</p> - -<p>21. Byeletzky, Isaac David Mendelev.</p> - -<p>22. Kantor, Joseph Abramovitz; joiner, lived in Gostinaya Street, No. -33, 28 years old, married.</p> - -<p>23. Bolgar, Hirsch Chaimov; commission agent at the railway station; -killed in the courtyard; married, 8 children.</p> - -<p>24. Nissenson, Chaim Nissinov, formerly a bookkeeper. Died in the -hospital the following day, in consequence of blows received on the head -with clubs; he was in a terrible state.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span></p> - -<p>25. Urrmann, Samuel Baruch, died in the hospital.</p> - -<p>26. Weinstein, Abraham; bootmaker, 47 years old; died in the hospital.</p> - -<p>27. Kiegel, Moshe Samuel; lived in Ismailovsk Street, shopkeeper, 27 -years old; married, no children.</p> - -<p>28. Brachmann, Aaron Isaacov; his wife is now in the hospital.</p> - -<p>29. Rosenfeld, Isaac Yankelev.</p> - -<p>30. Greenberg, Joseph Hirsch Danilov. Lived in Nicolaievskai Street, No. -33.</p> - -<p>31. Charidon, David Abrahamov, brought in a box (to hospital or -cemetery?) with parts of his body cut off; single.</p> - -<p>32. Kodja (?), Beila Leiserovna.</p> - -<p>33. Katzap, Rose Falikovna; lived in Gostinaya Street, No. 33; killed in -the yard; lived with her son.</p> - -<p>34. Papagei (?), Chaja Sarah Abramovna.</p> - -<p>35. Berger, Itlia, 52 years old; had come on a visit to Kishineff.</p> - -<p>36. Spivak, Pinya Isaacov.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span></p> - -<p>37. Fishmann, Simeon; 6 months old; smothered whilst the mother defended -herself.</p> - -<p>38. Michel Shaev Lashkoff.</p> - -<p>39. Wolowitz, Kalmann, 60 years old; died in the hospital.</p> - -<p>40. Kiegelmann, Chaya Leah, 38 years old, died in the hospital; daughter -employed in the free reading room in the professional school.</p> - -<p>[This list is not complete. It was probably prepared soon after the -massacres. A few dead bodies have been found since the first lists were -compiled.—M. D.]</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p class="c">(III) <i>Extracts from a report upon the outrages by two Christian -ladies.</i></p> - -<p>Seltzer. Gostinaya Street, No. 75. His daughter rushed to the police -station, asking for help. The police replied: “We shall do nothing.” The -father escaped, but was caught by the crowd and killed; the policeman -who took him to the hospital trampled him under his feet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span></p> - -<p>The Jews assembled on Monday, and armed themselves in self-defence, but -the police officer, Dobroselsky, ordered them to disarm.</p> - -<p>Makhlin. Asiatskaya Street, No. 13. Whilst the crowd was at its -murderous work in this place, the Jews addressed themselves to the -military, asking for help. The reply was: “We have no orders.” About 300 -Jews assembled near the barracks, when suddenly a drunken sergeant -(feldwebel) rushed in, calling out to the Jews: “Dogs, I shall kill all -of you.” The Jews rushed away, frightened, and fell into the hands of -the mob.</p> - -<p>Makhlin, Berladsky, Greenspoon, and Nissenson were killed.</p> - -<p>The daughter of Berladsky was thrown down from the attic.</p> - -<p>The daughter of Makhlin had the skin of her finger torn off, together -with the rings.</p> - -<p>Greenspoon. (The following is told by his wife.) She had hidden herself, -together with two little children and a neighbour, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span> a shed. When her -husband was being beaten in the yard she rushed out to defend him, but -one ruffian struck the child in the face and pushed her back into the -shed. She found the dead body of her husband only on the following -morning, in a neighbouring yard. In the same house there were wine -vaults, and the crowd drank, shouted, and danced upon the corpses.</p> - -<p>Myntsheskaya Road. Forty families lived here.</p> - -<p>Munduk.</p> - -<p>Meier Weismann.</p> - -<p>Kogan, Abraham, was running towards the town to save himself, when he -was caught by the crowd and struck upon the head. His wife, who was with -him, was caught by fifteen men, who violated her, in the open road, one -after the other. A daughter, 22 years old, and two sons, 16 and 18 years -old, were wounded, and when they sought refuge in the house of a retired -Colonel, who was cashier in the gut-works, he refused to shelter them. A -converted Jew<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span> showed equal cruelty with regard to the victims.</p> - -<p>Israel Ullmann. When the crowd left him, thinking he was dead, his -little son came, crying: “Father, father!” Ullmann lifted up his head, -and some of the Christian onlookers shouted: “Ullmann is still alive.” -The murderers returned and finished him.</p> - -<p>Fanorissi Siss and his wife. The wife had nails driven through her eyes.</p> - -<p>Chariton.</p> - -<p>Kainarsky.</p> - -<p>Baronowitz, Gostinaya Street, No. 33. Whilst the crowd was breaking the -windows, the Assistant Police Officer passed, but took no notice of what -was happening. The officer Goresonsky passed afterwards and showed the -same indifference. The son of Baronowitz hid himself in the closet; the -crowd tore off the roof and killed him. When the father saw that the son -was being killed, he wept and begged the murderers to take everything, -but to spare his son. The murderers replied: “Be quiet, Jew; we<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> shall -soon do the same to you.” Whilst he was endeavouring to save the other -children he was dragged back into the yard.</p> - -<p>Baronowitz fell on his knees before the officer Solovkin, kissed his -hands, and told him that his son had been killed. “Well,” said the -officer, “don’t worry; it is all over now in your house, they will harm -you no more.”</p> - -<p>Drachmann. Gostinaya Street, No. 33.</p> - -<p>Skyljanskaya Rogatka. When the Jews went to the police station to ask -for help, the inspector replied: “Serves you right, why do you use our -blood?”</p> - -<p>A little girl of ten years, having begged the officer Osovsky to protect -her from the murderers, the officer replied: “Go away, you Jewish brat.”</p> - -<p>Kiegelmann, killed; wife died in the hospital. A son and a daughter, 18 -years old, defended themselves, when six ruffians seized the girl by the -hair, dragged her out into the yard, and attempted to violate her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span> She -fought desperately, defending her honour, her clothes were torn off her -body, but at last the ruffians left her. The mother rushed to the -daughter’s assistance, but was severely injured.</p> - -<p>Weinstein. The wife was ill (she has died since) in bed. The crowd, led -by some Government officials, came into the house and beat the husband -until he fell down bleeding and motionless. The little children defended -the bedridden mother. One little girl, 10 years old, having thrown her -arms round her mother, had her arm cut off; another daughter and her -intended had their teeth broken, and their lips cut off. The murderers -were two peasants whom they knew well, and who used to be on very good -terms with the family. They left the house shouting: “Where are Itzko -and Israel [two sons], we shall kill them.”</p> - -<p>Volowitz. Killed; one daughter dangerously wounded; she begged the -murderers to kill her together with her father. A younger daughter -rushed into the streets,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span> imploring the military for help, but the -officer took no notice of her.</p> - -<p>Alexandrovskaya Street, No. 37. Golder hid himself in the cellar, having -with him a child 2 years old. There he passed the night. The child, in -consequence of the cold, died the next day.</p> - -<p>Fishmon, Solomon. The crowd was led by several men, evidently belonging -to the better class of society. The wife of F. tried to escape, holding -in her arms a child 10 months old, when somebody struck her in the back -so violently that she fell, and in her fall smothered the infant with -her own body.</p> - -<p>Not far away from the scene of the murder, the Superintendent of the -Police, the <i>Pristav</i> Solovkin, and the patrol were looking on quietly -and unmoved.</p> - -<p>A Christian boy of about 15 jumped upon a tram, asking: “Are there no -Jews here?” There was only one Jewish woman whose husband had just been -killed, and who, tremblingly, managed to hide herself behind<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span> her -neighbour, a Christian woman. At last the reply was given: “No Jews -here.” Then a gentleman, well dressed, having a hat on, and with rings -on his fingers, asked the boy: “Well, how goes it?” “Very well,” replied -the youth. “By the evening we shall have killed all the Jews.” The -gentleman encouragingly patted the boy on the cheek.</p> - -<p>The Superintendent of the Police visited the crowd on the first day of -Easter, addressed a few words to them, and went away. The crowds -shouted: “Hurray, bravo!” and at once began breaking the windows.</p> - -<p>Elie Mutshnik and 150 Jews came on the first day of the riots to the -Vice-Governor to ask for help. The latter ordered the soldiers to -disperse them.</p> - -<p>Whilst the crowd of rioters was attacking a family in which there were -little children, a lady, passing by, said to her husband, a Government -official, that she was sorry for the children. “Never mind,” said her -husband, “let them get their reward.” An <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span>eyewitness says that the -military and the police refused to help the victims, and coolly looked -on whilst houses were sacked, and men and women killed.</p> - -<p>In Asiatskaya passage (Perenlok) all the houses were destroyed, and many -women violated.</p> - -<p>Among the rioters were women, girls, students of the seminary, -government officials,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and some belonging to the better classes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br /> -<small>NOTES AND COMMENTS</small></h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HERE is another anti-Semite organ edited by Pavolachi Kroushevan. It is -named the <i>Znamya</i>, or <i>Standard</i>. Though published in St. Petersburg, -it has a large sale in Bessarabia.</p> - -<p>Both the <i>Bessarabetz</i> and the <i>Znamya</i> have studiously refrained from -alluding to the indignation excited in Western Europe and in the United -States over the consequences of their savage appeals to fanatical mobs. -No other papers being read in Kishineff by the anti-Jewish section of -the populace, these people remain unaffected by this outburst of public -reprobation in other countries. They are under the impression that the -attack on the hated Hebrews was a good work done for the Tsar, the -church, and themselves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span></p> - -<p>The credulity of the average Russian, in all anti-Hebrew matters, is -boundless. A Christian lady in Odessa told me that her servant, a very -intelligent-looking young girl, informed her a few evenings after the -horrible events at Kishineff, that the Jews of Odessa were planning the -murder of all the Christian children in the city. When the girl was -asked what information she had of this intended wholesale slaughter, she -replied: “I was told so! The Jews will put poisoned chocolate on -Christian doorsteps some night, and then, when the children come out for -school or play the following morning, they will see the chocolate, eat -it, and die. All the Jews in Odessa should be burned out!”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The popes, or Russian priests, are not in any special sense -anti-Semitic. Anyhow, they wield little, if any, influence of that or -any other kind upon even the simple and superstitious peasantry. The -Russian pope is, in fact, a man who has neither social nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> political -importance of any kind. He is not invited to the houses of the nobility, -nor is he looked up to or relied upon by the people. He is a badly -educated Mujik, as a rule, and commands neither the confidence of his -own class nor the esteem of the ruling order. When he marries, his -family ties and domestic interests are believed to be his chief -considerations, while the worldly benefits of his clerical position, -comparatively small though these may be, are believed to be his primary -concern in life. Whatever little distinction belongs to his garb and -calling arises entirely from the fact that he is, in reality, a clerical -soldier of the Tsar; earning his living as an officer of a religious -army, whose head and commander-in-chief is the great Emperor of all the -Russians. He is, in another sense, the Tsar’s moral policeman among the -Russian people.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The ordinary Russian policeman corresponds in many respects to the -average member of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span> a man of the -peasantry, of fine physique, and of unbounded self-importance. He lacks, -however, the education and superior intelligence of his Irish rural -prototype, while his reputation is on a lower moral plane. He is badly -officered, as a rule, and this accounts largely for the suspicion which -attaches to the performance of his duties in districts where the -numerous vexatious restrictions in operation against the “Semitic -malady” are so many temptations to the guardian of the law “to wink the -other eye” at evasions of legal obstructions made profitable <i>not</i> to -see. His pay is small, and this, too, is an explanation of his official -dereliction in these matters.</p> - -<p>Strenuous efforts have been, and are still being, made to induce a more -educated class of Russians to officer the police force of the Empire, -but with slow and uncertain results, so far. The nobility look upon the -army as the only honourable service open to them, apart from diplomatic -and administrative posts. Trade and commerce are, of course,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span> <i>infra -dig.</i>, and the police is even more so, from the point of view of all -sections of the aristocracy, poor and rich, fortunate and the reverse. -There is not, strictly speaking, a Russian middle class, but there will -soon be an intellectually developed class of men from a corresponding -social grade turned out of Russia’s fine colleges and gymnasiums, from -whose ranks an educated body of officials will be recruited for this and -kindred public employments. Well officered, and better paid than they -now are, the Russian police would soon rank in efficiency, as well as in -appearance, with the best peace-preserving forces of any country.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>A Russian city mob has little or no fear of the police force. Nor do the -ordinary military, as a rule, inspire rioters with any sense of serious -apprehensions. The explanation is probably due to the immediate kinship -of class and feeling between the rough elements of an urban community -and the conscript force of which they are a po<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span>tential part, and (in -anti-Semitic outbreaks) to the fact that policeman, soldier, and artisan -share a common sentiment of antipathy towards the Jew. It is -emphatically otherwise with Cossacks. The mob exhibits no hesitation -when confronted with this arm of the military power. It disperses in -double-quick time. I was told by one of the foreign Consuls in Odessa -that on one occasion, some fifteen years ago, there was a sudden -outbreak of mob violence which neither military nor police could, or -would, quell. They attacked the houses of some foreign residents, and -the Consul was called upon for protection. He went at once to the -Governor, and suggested the employment of a dozen Cossacks to clear that -part of the city of the disturbers. A troop of these splendid horsemen -was turned loose without delay, and the riots were at an end within an -hour. Nothing can stop their sweeping charge through a city’s streets. -They ride over or through obstacles, human or otherwise, knout in hand, -and spare no<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span> one who has not already cleared out of their path. As the -Consul remarked to me when discussing the action, and inaction, of the -military at Kishineff, “A dozen Don Cossacks would have settled the -whole business with the rioters on Easter Sunday in half an hour.”</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>During an attack upon a Jew’s shop in Kishineff, an artillery officer, -who was lodging in a Christian house opposite, saw a soldier enter the -premises, and join in the looting of the unfortunate Hebrew’s goods. The -officer, indignant at the disgraceful act of the soldier, rushed across -the street, and seizing the military culprit, tore off his number, with -the view of reporting him to the Colonel of his regiment. The mob turned -upon the officer, who was compelled to seek shelter in his quarters. The -windows were smashed with stones, and he was called upon to return the -badge containing the soldier’s number. This he refused to do, and -telephoned to the nearest military bar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span>racks for assistance. He was -ultimately rescued from the mob’s threatening display.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>It was difficult to obtain any reliable account of the actual number of -persons who were arrested, tried, and punished for the murders and -looting on the 19th and 20th of April. M. Polak, the Procurator from -Odessa, came to Kishineff to put the law in motion against the rioters. -About seven hundred out of the fifteen hundred or two thousand persons -implicated were lodged in prison. M. Polak had to rely upon the local -authorities to execute the orders of the Government through him. After -his return to Odessa no less than five hundred of the prisoners were -liberated, following an inquiry before the <i>Juges d’Instruction</i> which -was remarkable for the hurried manner in which it was conducted.</p> - -<p>Punishment averaging a few months’ imprisonment was meted out to about -150, by the judges of the peace, before whom the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span> cases were sent by the -<i>Juges d’Instruction</i>. Some fifty were held on more serious charges, but -the results of their trials are not yet made known. They will presumably -be tried before the Criminal Court of Assize.</p> - -<p>None of the known local instigators of the outbreak were arrested up to -the date of my departure from Kishineff.</p> - -<p>Some of the rioters protested, on arrest, that they were led to believe -that the local authorities had lent their sanction to the massacre and -looting, in order to punish the Jews for being the enemies of the Tsar’s -Government and the supporters of Socialism.</p> - -<p>The <i>Juge d’Instruction</i>, M. Davidovitch, who had to deal with the -accused in the first instance, was at one time a contributor to the -<i>Bessarabetz</i>—the active agent of the outbreak. I was informed that he -had written an article for the paper shortly after the massacres, -showing how the Jews were themselves the sole cause of the attack made -upon them at Easter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span></p> - -<p>Two especially revolting outrages, the particulars of which have been -published, one, the killing of a woman who was <i>enceinte</i>, and the -putting of feathers in her body after disembowelling her; and the murder -of a child two months old, were not included in the list of murders -which I obtained, and I am not satisfied that these two crimes were -actually committed as alleged. The Jewish doctors in the Hebrew Hospital -could not confirm the report or particulars of these two cases. In the -instance of the infant, they told me that the mother, in defending -herself, and subsequently in her flight from the mob, had let the child -fall, and that its death really happened in that way.</p> - -<p>The foundation for the other and more inhuman story was, I think, this: -A Jew named Kainarsky, a dealer in sheep and cattle gut, was attacked, -robbed, and murdered in a slaughter-house. The mob cut open his bowels -and put feathers inside; prompted, doubtless, to this act of barbar<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span>ity -by the nature of the poor fellow’s calling and business. It was an -outrage base and inhuman enough, in all conscience, but not quite so -fiendish in character as that of the account which represented a woman -with child as the object of this peculiar atrocity.</p> - -<p>The man thus murdered is included in the list of victims given to me in -Kishineff, while no woman is mentioned as having undergone such -mutilation, a circumstance which, it is sincerely to be hoped, disposes -of the story as untrue.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>“Byei Zhidoff!” the terrible cry which was the signal of slaughter at -Easter, means “Kill the Jews!” Zhidoff is a term of Russian contempt for -the Jew.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The “Narodovostvo,” or People’s Freedom Party, which is supposed to be a -growing movement in Russia, has no branch or supporters in Kishineff, at -least I failed to obtain information of its existence. It rep<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span>resents an -aspiration rather than an original force. A student who joined the -rioters on the first day’s outbreak, with the object of diverting the -mob, if possible, from resorting to extreme violence against the Jews, -began by raising a cry for constitutional freedom. The crowd did not -understand him, whereupon he shouted “Down with the Government at St. -Petersburg!” He was instantly knocked down, and would have been killed -had the police not interfered on seeing a Russian in danger. He was -taken off to prison.</p> - -<p>Ten days after the Kishineff massacres there was an attempted Socialist -demonstration at Odessa. It was in some way supposed to be a May Day -Labour affair, but assumed the form of an Anarchist turnout, of which -the police appeared to have had timely intimation. A band of some forty -men, workers and <i>prolétaires</i>, attempted to march toward the centre of -the city, with a red flag at their head. After proceeding along a small -street, and raising a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span> feeble cries, they were pounced upon by the -police and taken to prison. It was found, on examination, that nineteen -of the forty were Jews. They were all liberated after a few days’ -detention.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>One ground of objection to the Zionist movement for the repatriation of -the Jews is that the Hebrews, who are not a military people, would be -shut off from European help while being at the mercy of Turkish rule and -of Arab hostility in Palestine. The implied loss of European protection -may be an imaginary risk. The record of the Turks in the matter of -modern anti-Semitism compares more than favourably with that of the -tender feelings of European Christianity. The Arab is of the same racial -family as the descendants of Father Abraham, and even were the offspring -of Ishmael more numerous in Palestine than they are estimated to be, -they might be trusted to show no more savage propensities towards their -Israelitish kindred than Rus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span>sian Seminarists or Roumanian Christians -have done in recent years.</p> - -<p>Two or three millions of Jews in Palestine would, however, develop a -national sentiment and idea that would soon nourish a spirit of -patriotism capable of defending them from possible Arab aggression. The -Jews of the world would be their foreign friends and allies, while the -civilised nations inhabited by the scattered Hebrews could not in reason -neglect to take a sympathetic interest in the protection and welfare of -one of the oldest peoples in the world, restored again to the Promised -Land of Israel.</p> - -<p>Russia’s diplomatic common sense should see in the Zionist movement a -noble racial effort, worthy of assistance on its merits, but especially -calling for Russian help and encouragement. The creators of the Pale of -Settlement, and those responsible for the poverty and suffering which -are alone due to this cause, owe some reparation to the people who have -been thus treated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span> No ten million pounds which Russia could spend on -her army and navy would render her empire a better or more lasting -service than what would follow to her domestic peace if a sum of that -amount, or more if necessary, were devoted to the carrying out of the -great work of the Zionist leaders. If Russia will only trust and obey -her better instincts in adopting a humane policy of this kind, coupled -with a stern moral warfare against the propagation of the -blood-accusation legend inside the Empire, she will cure the “Semitic -malady,” which will otherwise grow to be an increasing and more -dangerous evil within her borders.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The Russian Jew as an emigrant to the United States is a subject which -will demand serious consideration after public interest in the Kishineff -horrors subsides. All who can find means to go will leave Bessarabia, -unless the Tsar is inclined, or induced, to speak words which will be an -Imperial guarantee against further vi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span>olence. No such words have yet -been uttered. This is much to be regretted by all who believe in the -humanity of the Emperor’s personal disposition. It tends to create the -possibly erroneous and unjust suspicion that the terror created by the -massacres in April is to be used by the Tsar’s advisers “<i>pour -encourager les autres</i>,” to lessen the extent of the “Semitic malady” by -emigrating from Russia. But, in any case, large numbers of Jews will -endeavour to quit the Pale, and their relatives and friends who fled in -1891, and who have prospered in America, may be counted upon to lend -assistance to the new aspirants for United States citizenship and -protection.</p> - -<p>It is the proletarian Jew and the members of the small huckstering class -who are the chief undesirables in Russia now. They are three-fourths of -the Semitic population of the Pale, and their numbers are increasing.</p> - -<p>I saw thousands of these in the cities and towns, from Odessa to Warsaw. -They are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span> not a drunken nor an abnormally immoral class. Russian -officials have testified to their general good conduct, on the whole; -when due allowance is made for the precarious nature of their -employments and the poverty of their lives. I observed how uniform were -the healthy looks of their children, even amidst some of the most -wretched surroundings. This is a good testimony to personal character -and civic qualities. In England the children of the lowest classes are -neglected and underfed by parents who expend in gin and beer what would -provide more nourishment for their offspring. There is no corresponding -bad trait in the average proletarian Jew of the Pale.</p> - -<p>There are, as a matter of course, traits of low cunning, of shady -subterfuge, and of other obnoxious qualities found among a people who -have been hunted and ground down for generations. It would amount to a -miracle of racial morality if such results did not follow from the -treatment and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span> experiences of the Russian Jew. They are also sufferers -from the indifferent sanitary system of towns like Kishineff, where -there is an abundance of water badly utilised in municipal management -for the health and cleanliness of the poorer quarters and suburbs of the -city.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p class="indd">Their poverty and persecution, along with the habits peculiar to the -lowest grade of Hebrew humanity in Eastern Europe, render them -singularly objectionable in appearance; carrying with them, as they do, -all the traces of social degradation which cling to a pariah people as a -physical certificate of the wrongs and hardships they have had to -endure.</p> - -<p>No country, be it ever so free, hospitable, or humane, could in reason -be expected to open its ports to such a class of emigrant in order to -relieve the Russian Government<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span> and nation of these wronged and -unfortunate undesirables. They must first be improved in the land of -their birth by more liberty and better treatment, or be sent for -change—for better conditions of industrial life and hopes—to -Palestine, where land labour could be provided for them. Transplantation -would be an effective remedy, if carried out under careful supervision. -The root qualities of the Jew—his intelligence, his faith, his intense -ambition to possess money—would, under a more favourable environment, -reclaim him from the induced vices which have naturally grown out of the -congenial surroundings of poverty, suffering, and injustice. The human -being who can succeed in living at all the semblance of a civilised -existence, under the depressing conditions obtaining for the Jew within -the towns of the Pale, could not fail in winning a better livelihood -where rural industries and <i>petit</i> culture, such as the soil and -situation of Palestine will encourage, would be open to his -intelligence, ambition, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span> energies. Such a Jew has no hope in Russia. -He could not possibly meet a worse fate in Palestine. No other country -can be expected to give him the privilege of its citizenship. Therefore, -if he is not to be improved off the face of the earth by a corroding -poverty, or by periodical outbreaks like that of Kishineff, he should be -taken by the Zionist movement to where there are both the promise and -inspiration of a new life.</p> - -<p>The Polish proletarian Jew has more virility than the Hebrew of the same -class within the Pale. He is no more prepossessing in appearance, while -it is not wronging him to say that he is less desirable, in some other -respects, as a citizen of another country. The Jews are sufficiently -numerous in Poland to enlist the co-operation of Socialist revolutionary -forces there, and thereby to obtain, by some means, a right to live. -They are not so powerless as those within the Pale, and Russia may soon -find it a wise and necessary policy to allow them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span> to have a freer -access than they now enjoy to the resources of the country, in order to -lessen their growing numbers in the ancient capital of the Kingdom of -Poland. There are over a quarter of a million of them in Warsaw. They -would be a dangerous element there if driven to extremities, or in the -event of any complications arising between the Russian Empire and -Germany. In any case, the Polish Jew will work out his own destiny. He -has lived in Poland for over seven hundred years, and this long -experience of varied forms of fortune and of oppression gives him a -tenure and a hope which may yet win him back some of the rights and -privileges he once enjoyed before he lost the tolerant protection of the -Polish people in becoming the agent and tool of the Polish landed -aristocracy.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>Since the foregoing parts of this book were prepared for the press, it -has been announced from Russia that Vice-Governor Ostrogoff has been -transferred from Kishi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span>neff to Stavropol, in the Caucasus. This action -marks the severe condemnation of this official’s conduct by the Russian -Government.</p> - -<p>The head of the <i>gendarmerie</i> at Kishineff has been retired from -service.</p> - -<p>It has also been reported from apparently reliable sources that several -persons who were at first accused of participation in the massacres, and -liberated after a short detention in prison, have been re-arrested, and -will be tried in September. It is further stated that there are to be 53 -indictments for manslaughter in addition to 34 prisoners already held -for trial, while 400 other cases are under investigation.</p> - -<p>It has likewise been published in the press that former Governor Von -Raaben had asked for, and had been denied, an interview with the -Emperor.</p> - -<p>According to reports circulated from Vienna on the 10th of July, the -special visit paid to Kishineff by the Minister of Justice was -responsible for the action of the authori<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span>ties in re-arresting suspected -culprits, and for the intention to prosecute several of the prominent -instigators of the riots at Easter who had been arrested or accused for -their connection with the massacres up to the date of the author’s -departure from Kishineff.</p> - -<p>From a similar Vienna source, it has been reported that one of these -prominent anti-Semites of Kishineff had committed suicide, as a result -of an inquiry instituted into his conduct during the disturbances.</p> - -<p>The actual murderers of the Christian boy, Ribalenko of Doubossar, who -was declared by the <i>Bessarabetz</i> newspaper to have been killed by the -Jews for sacrificial purposes, have been discovered and arrested. He was -killed by one Tischtchevko, the caretaker of the orchard in which the -body was found. The murderer confesses that the uncle of the boy took -part in committing the crime. Both the murderers are Russians and -Christians.</p> - -<p>The latest published report of the Kishi<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span>neff Relief Committee gives the -following account of the moneys received and how expended by that body:</p> - -<p>“To the end of June 735,476 roubles have been received as follows:</p> - -<p class="c">RECEIPTS</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td> </td><td align="left">Roubles</td></tr> -<tr><td>America,</td><td class="rt">192,443</td></tr> -<tr><td>England,</td><td class="rt">16,001</td></tr> -<tr><td>Germany,</td><td class="rt">35,675</td></tr> -<tr><td>Italy,</td><td class="rt">5,000</td></tr> -<tr><td>Holland,</td><td class="rt">1,000</td></tr> -<tr><td>Austria,</td><td class="rt">10,415</td></tr> -<tr><td>Roumania,</td><td class="rt">3,023</td></tr> -<tr><td>France,</td><td class="rt">9,248</td></tr> -<tr><td>Russia,</td><td class="rt">462,671</td></tr> -<tr><td> Total,</td><td class="btrt">735,476</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="c">EXPENDITURES</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td class="pdd"> </td><td class="rt">Roubles</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Provisions,</td><td class="rt">14,700</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To sufferers (directly),</td><td class="rt">273,622</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To sufferers (indirectly),</td><td class="rt">30,000</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To 35 families of those murdered or who died of wounds,</td><td class="rt">87,500</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To two families of invalids,</td><td class="rt">4,600</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To the Ladies’ Committee, for preparing linen and clothes and for a crèche,</td><td class="rt">4,000</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">To settling 50 families in Palestine,</td><td class="rt">50,000</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> Total,</td><td class="btrt">464,422</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd">Balance in hand,</td><td class="rt">271,054</td></tr> -<tr><td class="pdd"> Roubles,</td><td class="btrt">735,476</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span></p> - -<p>“The number of families who suffered from the riots is given at about -2750. Applications for relief were received from 2538 families, to the -amount of 2,332,890 roubles. The number of persons murdered, or who died -of wounds, is put down at 47; severely wounded, 92; slightly wounded, -345. Some of the latter were treated by private doctors. The killed left -behind 35 widows and 123 orphans. The number of persons rendered unfit -for work has not yet been ascertained, but is so far given as 50. The -Committee is of opinion that in order to satisfy all the losses for -which only now claims are being made 200,000 roubles will still be -required.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="APPENDICES" id="APPENDICES"></a>APPENDICES</h3> - -<h3><a name="Appendix_I" id="Appendix_I"></a><span class="smcap">Appendix I</span><br /><br /> -<small>PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND THE JEWS</small><br /><br /> -<small>(<i>From the Daily Press</i>)</small></h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Washington</span>, June 15.—Through their representative association, B’nai -B’rith, the Jews of America to-day laid their case before President -Roosevelt and Secretary Hay, and they are content to abide by whatever -the Executive decides is best for them.</p> - -<p>A statement of the proceedings given out at the White House concerning -the conference consisted of a memorandum submitted by the B’nai B’rith -on the recent Kishineff massacre, a tentative draft of a petition to the -Tsar, which it is desired this Government should unofficially or -semi-officially assist in delivering to the Tsar, and procuring a reply -thereto, and copies of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span> replies of Secretary Hay and President -Roosevelt to their callers.</p> - -<p>The memorandum says that the facts concerning the Kishineff massacre as -officially reported by the Russian Government have appalled and -horrified not only the Jews in Russia and elsewhere, but the whole -American people, who want something done, and whose hostility to Russia, -if nothing is done, will become intensified and fixed.</p> - -<p>In his reply to the memorandum Secretary of State John Hay said:</p> - -<p>“No person of ordinary humanity can have heard without deep emotion the -story of the cruel outrages inflicted upon the Jews of Kishineff. These -lamentable events have caused the profoundest impression throughout the -world, but most especially in this country, where there are so many of -your coreligionists who form such a desirable element of our population -in industry, thrift, public spirit, and commercial morality.</p> - -<p>“Nobody can ever make the Americans<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span> think ill of the Jews as a class or -as a race—we know them too well. In the painful crisis through which we -are now passing the Jews of the United States have given evidence of the -highest qualities—generosity, love of justice, and power of -self-restraining.</p> - -<p>“The Government of the United States must exhibit the same qualities. I -know you do not doubt the sentiments of the President. No one hates more -energetically than he does such acts of cruelty and injustice as those -we deplore. But he must carefully consider all the circumstances and -then decide whether any official action can be taken in addition to the -impressive and most effective expressions of public opinion in this -country during the last month. You will have observed that no civilised -government in the world has yet taken official action—this -consideration alone would bid us to proceed with care.</p> - -<p>“The Emperor of Russia is entitled to our respect, not merely as the -ruler of a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span> and friendly nation, but as a man whose personal -character is even more elevated than his exalted station. We should not -be justified in assuming that this enlightened sovereign, who has given -so many proofs of his devotion to peace and religious tolerance, has not -done and is not doing all that lies in his power to put a stop to these -atrocities, to punish the guilty, whether they belong to the ignorant -populace or to high official circles, and to prevent the occurrence of -the outrages which have so shocked humanity. In fact, all we know of the -state of things in Russia tends to justify the hope that even out of the -present terrible situation some good results may come; that He who -watches over Israel does not slumber, and that the wrath of man, now as -so often in the past, shall be made to praise Him.”</p> - -<p>The call on the President at the White House followed, and there -President Roosevelt, after the memorandum was laid before him, said:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Chairman: I need not dwell upon a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span> fact so patent as the widespread -indignation with which the American people heard of the dreadful -outrages upon the Jews in Kishineff. I have never in my experience in -this country known of a more immediate or a deeper expression of the -sympathy for the victims and of horror over the appalling calamity that -has occurred.</p> - -<p>“It is natural that while the whole civilised world should express such -a feeling, it should yet be most intense and widespread in the United -States; for of all the great powers I think I may say that the United -States is that country in which, from the beginning of its national -career, most has been done in the way of acknowledging the debt due to -the Jewish race, and of endeavouring to do justice to those American -citizens who are of Jewish ancestry and faith.</p> - -<p>“One of the most touching poems of our own great poet, Longfellow, is -that on the Jewish cemetery in Newport, and anyone who goes through any -of the old cemeteries of the cities which preserve the records of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span> -colonial times will see the name of many an American of Jewish race who, -in war or in peace, did his full share in the founding of this nation. -From that day to this, from the day when the Jews of Charleston, of -Philadelphia, of New York, supported the patriot cause and helped in -every way, not only by money, but by arms, Washington and his -colleagues, who were founding this Republic—from that day to the -present we have had no struggle, military or civil, in which there have -not been citizens of Jewish faith who played an eminent part for the -honour and credit of the nation.</p> - -<p>“I remember once General Howard mentioning to me the fact that two of -his brigade commanders upon whom he had placed special reliance were -Jews. Among the meetings of the Grand Army which I have attended one -stands out with peculiar vividness—a meeting held under the auspices of -the men of the Grand Army of Jewish creed in the temple in Forty-fourth -Street—Temple Emanu-El—to welcome the returned<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span> veterans of the -Spanish-American war of Jewish faith.</p> - -<p>“When in Santiago, when I was myself in the army, one of the best -colonels among the regular regiments who did so well on that day, and -who fought beside me, was a Jew. One of the commanders of the ships -which, in the blockade of the Cuban coast, did so well, was a Jew.</p> - -<p>“In my own regiment I promoted five men from the ranks for valour and -good conduct in battle. It happened by pure accident, for I know nothing -of the faith of any one of them, that these included two Protestants, -two Catholics, and one Jew; and while that was a pure accident, it was -not without its value as an illustration of the ethnic and religious -make-up of our nation and of the fact that if a man is a good American, -that is all we ask, without thinking of his creed or his birthplace.</p> - -<p>“In the same way, when I was Police Commissioner in New York, I had -experience after experience of the excellent service<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span> done—an excellent -work needing nerve and hardihood, excellent work of what I may call the -Maccabee type in the Police Department under me, by police officers of -Jewish extraction.</p> - -<p>“Let me give you one little incident with a direct bearing upon this -question of persecution for race or religious reasons. You may possibly -recall, I am sure certain of my New York friends will recall, that -during the time I was Police Commissioner a man came from abroad—I am -sorry to say, a clergyman—to start an anti-Jewish agitation in New -York, and announced his intention of holding meetings to assail the -Jews. The matter was brought to my attention.</p> - -<p>“Of course, I had no power to prevent those meetings. After a good deal -of thought I detailed a Jewish sergeant and forty Jewish policemen to -protect the agitator while he held his meetings; so he made his speeches -denouncing the Jews protected exclusively by Jews, which I always -thought was probably the most effective answer<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span> that could possibly be -made to him, and probably the best object lesson that we could give of -the spirit in which we Americans manage such matters.</p> - -<p>“Now let me give you another little example dealing with a Russian Jew, -an experience I had while handling the Police Department, and that could -have occurred, I think, nowhere else than in the United States.</p> - -<p>“There was a certain man I appointed under the following conditions: I -was attracted to him by being told on a visit to the Bowery branch of -the Young Men’s Christian Association that they had a young fellow -there, a Jew, who had performed a feat of great note in saving people -from a burning building, and that they thought he was just the type for -a policeman. I had him called up and told him to take the examination, -and see if he could get through. He did, and he passed.</p> - -<p>“He has only been an excellent policeman, but he at once, out of his -salary, pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span>ceeded to educate his younger brothers and sisters, and he -got either two or three of his old kinsfolk over from Russia, through -the money he had saved, and provided homes for them.</p> - -<p>“I have given you examples of men who have served under me in my -administration of the Police Department in New York and my regiment. In -addition thereto, some of my nearest social friends, some of those with -whom I have been closest in political life, have been men of Jewish -faith and extraction. Therefore, inevitably, I have felt a degree of -personal sympathy and personal horror over this dreadful tragedy, as -great as can exist in the minds of any of you gentlemen yourselves.</p> - -<p>“Exactly as I should claim the same sympathy from any one of you for any -tragedy happening to any Christian people, so I should hold myself -unworthy of my present position if I failed to feel just as deep -sympathy and just as deep sorrow and just as deep horror over an outrage -like this done<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span> to the Jewish people in any part of the earth.</p> - -<p>“I am confident that much good has already been done by the -manifestations throughout the country, without any regard to creed -whatsoever, of horror and sympathy over what has occurred. It is -gratifying to know—what we would, of course, assume—that the -Government of Russia shows the feelings of horror and indignation with -which the American people look upon the outrages at Kishineff, and is -moving vigorously not only to prevent their continuance, but to punish -the perpetrators.</p> - -<p>“That government takes the same view of those outrages that our own -government takes of the riots and lynchings which sometimes occur in our -country, but do not characterise either our government or our people.</p> - -<p>“I have been visited by the Russian Ambassador on his own initiative, -and in addition to what has been said to Secretary Hay, the Russian -Ambassador has notified me<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span> personally, without any inquiry upon my -part, that the Governor of Kishineff has been removed; that between -three hundred and four hundred of the participants in the outrages have -been arrested, and he voluntarily stated that those men would be -punished to the utmost that the law would permit.</p> - -<p>“I will consider most carefully the suggestions that you have submitted -to me and whether the now-existing conditions are such that any further -official expression would be of advantage to the unfortunate survivors, -with whom we sympathise so deeply. Nothing that has occurred recently -has had my more constant thought, and nothing will have my more constant -thought, than this subject. In any proper way by which beneficial action -may be taken it will be taken, to show the sincerity of the historic -American position of treating each man on his merits as a man, without -the least reference to his creed, his race, or his birthplace.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span>”</p> - -<h3><a name="Appendix_II" id="Appendix_II"></a><span class="smcap">Appendix II</span><br /><br /> -<small>A LETTER FROM LEO TOLSTOY</small></h3> - -<p>The following is the translation of a letter from Count Leo Tolstoy to a -Jew who had asked his opinion concerning the outrages in Kishineff:</p> - -<p>“I have received your letter. I had already received several similar -letters. All the writers request me, as you do, to express my opinion on -the events at Kishineff. It seems to me that these appeals are based on -a misunderstanding. My correspondents supposed that my words carried -weight, and I am therefore begged to express my opinion on an event so -important and so complicated in its origins as the crime committed at -Kishineff. The misunderstanding consists in demanding from me the work -of a publicist, whereas I occupy myself exclusively with a single -definite question, having nothing in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span> common with contemporary -events—viz., the question of religion and its application to life. To -request from me the public expression of my opinion on contemporary -events is as illogical as it would be to demand such expression from any -other specialist who makes use of contemporary events to illustrate his -views. I cannot, like a publicist, even if I thought it would be useful, -express my opinions on everything that occurs, no matter how important -it may be. If I did so I should have to speak hurriedly and without -reflection, repeating what has been said by others, and then my opinions -would cease to have the importance for the sake of which their -expression is sought.</p> - -<p>“As regards my views on the Jews and on the horrible doings at -Kishineff, they ought, it would seem, to be clear to all who would -interest themselves in my conception of life. I cannot regard the Jews -other than as brothers whom I love, not because they are Jews, but -because, like ourselves and every<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span>body else, they are sons of the one -God the Father. Such love needs no effort on my part, for I have met and -known many excellent people among the Jews. My attitude towards the -Kishineff outrage is likewise defined by my religion and my conception -of life. When I read the first accounts in the newspapers, even before I -knew of the horrible details which afterwards came to light, I realised -the full horror of what had occurred and was filled with a profound pity -for the innocent victims of the barbarity of the mob, mingled with -astonishment at the bestial ferocities of these pretended Christians and -disgust and loathing towards the so-called educated people who stirred -up the mob and sympathised with its doings. But what I felt most deeply -was horror at the criminals who were really responsible for all that had -occurred, horror at our Government, with their clergy, who keep the -people in a state of ignorance and fanaticism, and with their bandit -horde of officials. The outrages at Kishineff are but the direct result<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span> -of the propaganda of falsehood and violence which our Government -conducts with such energy. The attitude of our Government towards these -events is only one more proof of the brutal egoism which does not flinch -from any measures, however cruel, when it is a question of suppressing a -movement which is deemed dangerous, and of their complete indifference -(similar to the indifference of the Turkish Government towards the -Armenian atrocities) towards the most terrible outrages which do not -affect Government interests.</p> - -<p>“This is all I can say with regard to the events at Kishineff, but it -has all been said long ago by me. If you ask me what, in my opinion, the -Jews ought to do, my answer in that case, as in others, is the logical -outcome of that Christian teaching which I strive to understand and to -follow. For the Jews, as for all men, one thing, and one thing only, is -necessary for salvation; to follow as closely as may be the universal -rule, ‘Do unto others as you would that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span> others should do unto you.’ -They should fight the Government not by violence—that weapon should be -left to the Government—but by virtuous living to the exclusion not only -of all violence towards their neighbours, but of all participation in -violence, even when called upon by the Government instruments of -violence for their own advantage. This is all I can say with regard to -the horrible events at Kishineff; all this is very old and is well -known.”</p> - -<h3><a name="Appendix_III" id="Appendix_III"></a><span class="smcap">Appendix III</span></h3> - -<p>Maxime Gorky, the Russian novelist, wrote the following letter to the -Kishineff Relief Committee:</p> - -<p>“Russia has been disgraced more and more frequently of recent years by -dark deeds, but the most disgraceful of all is the horrible Jewish -massacre at Kishineff, which has awakened our horror, shame, and -indignation. People who regard themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span> as Christians, who claim to -believe in God’s mercy and sympathy, these people, on the day -consecrated to the resurrection of their God from the dead, occupy the -time in murdering children and aged people, ravishing women, and -martyring the men of the race that gave them Christ.</p> - -<p>“Who bears the blame of this base crime, which will remain on us like a -bloody blot for ages? We shall be unable to wash this blot from the sad -history of our dark country. It would be unjust and too simple to -condemn the mob. The latter was merely the hand which was guided by a -corrupt conscience, driving it to murder and robbery. For it is well -known that the mob at Kishineff was led by men of cultured society. But -cultivated society in Russia is really much worse than the people, who -are goaded by their sad life and blinded and enthralled by the -artificial darkness created around them.</p> - -<p>“The cultivated classes are a crowd of cowardly slaves, without feeling -of personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> dignity, ready to accept every lie to save their ease and -comfort; a weak and lawless element almost without conscience and -without shame, in spite of its elegant exterior. Cultivated society is -not less guilty of the disgraceful and horrible deeds committed at -Kishineff than the actual murderers and ravishers. Its members’ guilt -consists in the fact that not merely did they not protect the victims, -but that they rejoiced over the murders; it consists chiefly in -committing themselves for long years to be corrupted by man-haters and -persons who have long enjoyed the disgusting glory of being the lackeys -of power and the glorifiers of lies, like the editor of <i>Bessarabetz</i> of -Kishineff and other publicists. These are the real authors of the -disgraceful and awful crime of Kishineff. To all the shameful names -hitherto given to these repulsive men must be added another, and the -well-deserved one, of ‘instigators of pillage and murder.’ These -hypocrites, with the name of God on their lips, who preach in Russian -society<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span> hatred of the Jews, Armenians, and Finns, to-day heap base and -cowardly calumnies upon the corpses of those killed through their -influence, and they shamelessly continue their hateful work of poisoning -the mind and feeling of the weak-willed Russian society.</p> - -<p>“Shame upon their wicked heads! May the fire of conscience consume their -decayed hearts, covetous only of lackey-like honours and slavishly -obsequious to power!</p> - -<p>“It is now the duty of Russian society that is not yet wholly ruined by -these bandits, to prove that it is not identified with these instigators -of pillage and murder. Russian society must clear its conscience of part -of the shame and disgrace by helping the orphaned and desolated Jews and -assisting these members of the race which has given to the world many -really great men and which still continues to produce teachers of truth -and beauty in spite of its oppressed condition in the world.</p> - -<p>“Come, therefore, all who do not want<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span> themselves to be regarded as the -lackeys of the lackeys, and who still retain their self-respect; come -and help the Jews!”</p> - -<h3><a name="Appendix_IV" id="Appendix_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Appendix IV</span><br /><br /> -<small>FATHER JOHN OF KRONSTADT RECANTS</small></h3> - -<p>A Reuter’s telegram from St. Petersburg dated the 13th of June, stated:</p> - -<p>“The famous Orthodox priest, Father John of Kronstadt, whose fiery -condemnation of the Kishineff massacre was published in a Liberal -newspaper of St. Petersburg, has published the following statement in -the anti-Semitic journal <i>Znamya</i>, the new St. Petersburg organ of M. -Kroushevan, formerly editor of the <i>Bessarabetz</i>:</p> - -<p>“To my beloved brethren of Christ in Kishineff: From the newspaper -accounts that followed those first published about the Kishineff -catastrophe, I have come to the conclusion that the Jews themselves -were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span> the cause of those disorders and the wounds inflicted and the -murders committed on April 6 and 7 [old style]. I have arrived at the -conclusion that it is the Christians who have suffered in the end, and -that the Jews have been doubly repaid for their losses and injuries by -their own brethren and others. I know this from letters which I have -received from my people, who have lived for a long time in Kishineff who -are well acquainted with the state of things there, and who are most -trustworthy. Therefore I say to Kishineff Christians, forgive the -reproach which I cast upon you alone on account of the horrors -perpetrated. From letters of eye-witnesses I am convinced that one -cannot lay all the blame upon the Christians, who were incited to the -disorders by the Jews, and that the latter are mainly responsible for -the catastrophe.”</p> - -<p>No Russian newspaper of any influence, with the exception of the <i>Novoye -Vremya</i>, has attempted to palliate the massacre, or to lay the blame for -it on the Jews.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span></p> - -<h3><a name="Appendix_V" id="Appendix_V"></a><span class="smcap">Appendix V</span></h3> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Simon of Trent, from an article of Dr. Bloch in the -<i>Oesterreichische Wochenschrift</i>, No. 42, October the 20th, 1899. -(Freely translated.)</p></div> - -<h4>SIMON OF TRENT</h4> - -<p>The case of the alleged ritual murder of the child Simon of Trent is the -most important example of its kind, and is therefore frequently quoted -by anti-Semites. I have given the history of the case in the -<i>Oesterreichische Wochenschrift</i>. The Vienna <i>Vaterland</i> of the 17th -October, and Pastor Deckert in the <i>Deutsches Volksblatt</i> discuss my -articles, but carefully avoid mentioning the <i>Oesterreichische -Wochenschrift</i>. In May, 1893, the Vienna <i>Vaterland</i> was obliged to -publish several articles from my pen, contradicting the statements made -by Pastor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span> Deckert. In an article of May the 30th, 1893, I called -attention to a fact which throws a glaring light upon the history of the -case: Some days before the murder of the child, during the Easter week -of 1475, Bernardinus de Feltre, whilst preaching in Trent against the -Jews, expressed himself to the following effect: “And with these cursed -Jews you are on a friendly footing? You say, although without the true -faith, they are good people? But I tell you that even before the Easter -will have come to an end they will have given you a proof of their -kindness.” (<i>Cf.</i> Wadding, “Annales Minorum,” XIV. p. 132). Bernardinus -thus predicted the murder days before it happened. His prophecy was -naturally fulfilled. On Thursday in Passion Week, March the 23d, Simon, -the 28-months’-old son of the tanner Andreas, disappeared. Bernardinus -accused the Jews, and on Saturday the body of a child was discovered in -the house of Samuel. The Jews themselves informed the Bishop Hinderbach, -in conse<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span>quence of which information all of them, including women and -children, were imprisoned.</p> - -<p>In his article of the 17th of October, Pastor Deckert maintains that: -“It is not true that the confessions made by the Jews were obtained by -means of torture, and that they had been tortured whilst there were -absolutely no indications of their guilt.” Pastor Deckert is right. -There were proofs against them, proofs of a very extraordinary nature. -As soon as the bishop saw the body of the child he exclaimed: “This is -the work of the Jews!” (Acta Sanc., II., March 24, p. 497), and swore to -have revenge. He entrusted the prefect of the town, Johann de Salis, -with the conduct of the action. The latter put the richest Jews to (an -ordeal?) trial, and the wounds having begun to bleed as soon as the Jews -approached the body, which is always the case, as experience teaches -(experientia compertum est), when a murderer approaches his victim, this -fact was a convincing proof of the guilt of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span> Jews. There was also -another “proof” against the Jews. In the prison of Trent a converted -Jewish criminal, Johann de Feltre, was detained. By accusing his former -coreligionists he could hope for freedom; and he became a witness, ready -to say anything and everything against the Jews. Pastor Deckert -maintains that “it is not true that the confessions of the Jews were -obtained in consequence of tortures only.”</p> - -<p>I have refuted his statement with his own words. On p. 21 of his article -he himself states: “<i>only torture could make them confess; without -tortures they would have confessed nothing</i>.” The Jews were submitted -for several days to the most inhuman tortures, and only then -<i>confessed</i>. This is proved by the contents of the letters of the Bishop -addressed to the Pope: “The accused Jews have been tortured for several -days (per pluries dies torti et interrogati), but have confessed -nothing”; and in another place the Bishop writes: “Although much<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> has -been done against the Jews, a fortnight has passed without any result.”</p> - -<p>Had the prisoners confessed at the first, second, or third application, -the official would not have employed so many variations of torture. <i>All -the alleged confessions had therefore been obtained by means of terror -and tortures of the most cruel character.</i></p> - -<p>The sufferings of the martyrs are related in the letters of the Bishop -addressed to the Pope:</p> - -<p>“On the 30th day of March (Vienna Acts, fol. 51) Samuel was ‘examined’ -for the first time; he was, however, sent back to prison to ‘recover’ -(animum repetendi), which term means in judicial language that he had -<i>fainted</i>. On the following day (March 31st) he was undressed, and with -his feet and hands tied, hoisted up on a rope and kept suspended in the -air, his limbs being thus turned out of their joints. As, however, he -still persisted in maintaining his innocence, he received ‘una -cavaletta<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span>’ (a leap), in other words, he was quickly lowered and pulled -up again; then the cord on which he was suspended was ‘touched,’ <i>i. -e.</i>, <i>beaten</i>, and he was made to ‘leap’ several times. The victim -having swooned, the torture ceased. It was continued, with several -variations of exquisite cruelty, on the 3d of April.</p> - -<p>On the 4th day (April the 7th) the procedure was resumed; and as the -victim exclaimed: “If I were to confess my guilt, I would only be -telling a lie,” <i>a wooden peg was attached to his leg, whilst he -remained suspended in the air</i>, thus considerably augmenting the pain. -Then a <i>pan filled with fire and brimstone was held to his nose</i>.</p> - -<p>He still maintained his innocence, until at last, mad with pain and -suffering, he <i>confessed</i> that he and Tobias had <i>strangled</i> the boy. -This admission, clearly contradicting the blood accusation, was all that -could be obtained from him. Samuel was kept imprisoned for two months -(up to June the 7th) whilst the other Jews were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span> being “examined.” -Evidently Samuel must have retracted his confession of the 8th of April, -as the following excerpt from the Acts will show:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Wednesday</span>, June the 7th, in the torture chamber.</p></div> - -<p>Invited to speak the truth and informed that all his companions had -confessed their guilt, he replied that if they had done so they had told -a lie. The prefect of the town having been informed that the drinking of -holy water made criminals confess their guilt, Samuel was made to drink -a spoonful of consecrated water.</p> - -<p>He persisted, however, in maintaining his innocence. Then two hot boiled -eggs were put under his shoulder-blades. Asked to speak the truth, he -promised to do so, but in presence of the prefect and the captain of the -town only. Left alone with these two gentlemen, he asked them to promise -him, “that he would only (!) be burnt and not have to die any other -death.” That is the manner in which he was made to <i>confess</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span> his guilt. -In spite of his mad self-accusations he was asked again to tell “<i>the -truth better still</i>” (Interrogates, quod melius dicat veritatem, minante -eidam Samueli, quod si non dicat veritatem, ponetur ad cordam. Qui -Samuel respondit, quod vult dicere veritatem, quia ex quo confessus est -mortem pueri, vult confiteri aliqua), and was threatened with new -tortures. On the 21st of June he was burnt alive. All the other victims -were treated in the same manner, even those who had accepted baptism.</p> - -<p>Israel, son of Mohar of Brandenburg, was arrested on the 27th of March, -tortured from the 12th to the 21st of April, and having expressed the -wish to be baptised was freed. On the 26th of October, however, he was -again arrested, tortured several times, and killed on the wheel on the -19th of January. This sentence was due to the fact of his having given -evidence before the Papal Legate, the Bishop of Ventimiglia at Roveredo, -relating to the “examination” of the accused. In No. 128 of the Vienna<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span> -<i>Vaterland</i> (May the 10th, 1893) I proved that the Duke and the Council -of Venice sent two eminent “jurisconsults” from Padua to Trent to -investigate the manner in which the accused were examined. The learned -doctors were maltreated by the mob. An “Apostolic note” issued by Pope -Sixtus IV., on the 10th of October, 1475, prohibits, under punishment of -excommunication, the claim that the child Simon of Trent was a martyr. -It is not proved, says the “note” that the child Simon had been murdered -by the Jews (nihil adhuc certum compertumve nostro judicio aut -approbatum de quodam puero Simone Tridentino per Judæos, ut dicitur, -interfecto). The Pope appointed the Legate, Bishop of Ventimiglia, -Giovanni dei Giudici, to investigate the case. The investigation took -place at Roveredo, in 1476, and the innocence of the Jews was proved. An -Zelinus, a citizen of Trent, proved that a certain Swiss, Zanesus, -living in Trent, and an enemy of the Jews, was the actual murderer of -the child. That the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span> Papal Legate had clearly established the innocence -of the Jews is manifest by the acts of the case, dated: October the 20th -and 29th, and November 2d, 1475, and April 3d, 1476.</p> - -<p>It was natural, therefore, that with regard to this case Pope Paul III., -in a Bull of May the 12th, 1540, declared the blood accusations to be -nothing but the result of hatred and envy, and of covetousness due to a -desire to seize and appropriate the possessions of the Jews. The Bull -further prohibits, under the severest punishment of the Church, the -revival of such accusations in the future.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">INTERPELLATION ADDRESSED BY DR. BYK, DR. RAPPOPORT, AND COLLEAGUES -TO HIS EXCELLENCY, THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, VIENNA.</p></div> - -<p>The false and terrible accusation that the Jews require blood of -Christians for their religious rites and ceremonies has been -systematically disseminated, for the last few<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> months, all over Austria. -The immediate cause of the movement was the Polna case of the murder of -Agnes Hruza. A Jew has been accused of the crime, but although his guilt -has not yet been proved, the circumstance has been used by a prejudiced -party, hostile to the Jews, and ritual murder suggested. At the trial -the public prosecutor, representing the government, public morality, and -the law, placed himself under the influence of that accusation by the -use of the words, “the well-known motives of the crime.” The president -of the court found no words of protest against the blood legend, which -was made use of, in presence of an excited crowd, for party purposes. -Although there was no ground and no corroboration for the accusation, -the belief gained popularity, thanks to the attitude of these organs of -justice. That the unrestrained spread of such a terrible accusation must -bring about disastrous consequences, is self-evident. No law and no -power are strong enough to protect those<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> who require the blood of -innocent human victims for their religious rites. The whole extent of -the danger was perceived centuries ago, and Popes and temporal -(non-religious) rulers, especially kings of Poland, strongly prohibited -the raising and spread of the false accusation. This was done by the -Popes: Innocent IV. (in the “Bulls” of May the 28th, 1247; July the 5th, -1247; and September the 22d, 1258); Gregory X. (October the 7th, 1272); -Martin V. (February the 20th, 1422); Michael V. (November the 5th, -1447); Paul III. (May the 12th, 1540); who, availing themselves of their -fullest authority, most emphatically, and under pain of the severest -punishment of the Church, forbade the Christians to raise blood -accusations against the Jews. The example of the Popes was followed by -the kings of Poland: Jan Albrecht in his edict of 1496; Zygmunt I., -1514; Zygmunt II., August, 1548; Stephen Batory, 1576 and 1580; Zygmunt -III., 1592; Wladystan IV., 1663; Jan Ka<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span>zimir, 1694; Michael I., 1696; -August II., 1763; August III., 1763, and Stanislaus August, 1765; -commanded eternal silence (æternum silentium) in regard to the calumny -of the blood accusation, under the penalty of “pœna talionis.” In -Bohemia, where the case of Huelsner occurred, the Kings Ottokar II. -(March 29th, 1254; and August 23d, 1268); Wenzel II. (1300); and -Ladislav IV. (May the 15th, 1454), issued similar decrees. In other -countries special laws, relating to the blood accusation, have been -enacted. The condition of the present Austrian legislation makes the -promulgation of special laws unnecessary. Unfortunately, however, the -law is powerless against the extravagant excesses of the press; and thus -daily, in various languages, the legend of the ritual murder is spread -among all classes of society.</p> - -<p>In the face of the above facts, we beg to submit the following -questions:</p> - -<p>(a) Is your Excellency aware of the existing evil?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span></p> - -<p>(b) What measures does your Excellency propose to take, with a view to -put an end to it?</p> - -<p>Dr. Byk, Dr. Rappoport, Piepes-Poratynski, Dr. Rosenstock, Dr. -Trachtenberg, Dr. Kolischer, Yaworski, Bilinski, Dziednszycki, Gorski, -David Abrahamovicz, Dielemba, Struszkiewicz, Gizowski, Moysa, Wladimir -Gniewosz, Bogdanowicz, Pientak, Milewski, Dr. Walewski, Ratowski, -Lewicki, Roszkowski, Henzel, Popowski, Weigel, Kareis, Auspitz, -Straucher, Tittinger, Sokolowski.</p> - -<h4>POPE INNOCENT IV. (5th July, 1247).</h4> - -<div class="blockquot"><p><i>To the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany.</i></p></div> - -<p>We have received a pitiable complaint from the Jews of Germany. They say -that some nobles, lay and ecclesiastical, and other powerful and notable -men within your cities and dioceses, designing to seize and usurp their -goods unjustly, devise against<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span> them impious counsels and invent diverse -pretexts. Without considering that testimonies to the Christian Faith -have proceeded from their records and that the Sacred Scripture among -other precepts of the Law says: “Thou shalt not kill,” and forbids them -at their Passover ceremonies to touch any dead flesh, they falsely -accuse the Jews of using in these same ceremonies the body of a murdered -child, thinking that the said practice is required by their Law, whereas -it is clearly contrary to their Law. And they cast upon the Jews, with -malicious intent, any corpse that by chance is discovered at any place. -Attacking them with these and other inventions, and without formal -accusation, confession or conviction, and in despite of the privileges -conceded to the Jews by the clemency of the Holy See, they despoil them -of their goods (contrary to the law of God and to justice), and they -visit them with hunger, imprisonment, and so many calamities and -afflictions, punishing them with diverse punishments (even<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_293" id="page_293">{293}</a></span> condemning -many of them to shameful death) that the Jews, living under the rule of -the said princes, notables, and powerful men in worse plight than were -their fathers under Pharaoh in Egypt, are compelled to leave places -where they and their ancestors have dwelt from time immemorial. Hence, -in fear of extermination, they have thought it necessary to have -recourse to the protection of the Holy See. Now, therefore, being -unwilling that the Jews should be unjustly harassed (for God in his -mercy awaits their conversion, seeing that, on the testimony of the -Prophet, it is believed that the remnant of them is destined to be -saved), we order that you show yourselves favourable and well disposed -to them, and whenever you find any violent attempt made against them, -with respect to the matters mentioned above, by the prelates, nobles, -and powerful men aforesaid, you shall see that the matter is treated -according to law, and shall not in future permit the Jews to be -improperly molested on these or similar charges by any<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_294" id="page_294">{294}</a></span> persons -whatever. Those who molest them you shall summarily restrain by your -ecclesiastical censure.</p> - -<h4>POPE INNOCENT IV. (1247).</h4> - -<div class="blockquot"><p><i>To the Archbishop of Vienna.</i></p></div> - -<p>Divine justice has not cast down the Jewish people without preserving -the remnant of them for salvation. Therefore, it is an act of zeal that -deserves no commendation, or of cruelty that is worthy of detestation, -when Christians, either through greed for wealth or thirst for blood -(disregarding the merciful nature of the Christian Church, which allows -the Jews to live in its midst and to practise their own rites), plunder, -torture, and slay them without trial. Now, the Jews living within your -province have lately brought before the Holy See a pitiable complaint. -They say that certain prelates and nobles of the province, desirous of -having a pretext for cruelty towards them, have accused them of the -death of a girl who is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_295" id="page_295">{295}</a></span> said to have been found secretly murdered near -Valréas, that they have inhumanly committed some of them to the flames -without legal trial or confession, while they have despoiled others of -all their possessions and driven them away, and that—against the wont -of the Mother who, herself free, brings forth children that they may be -children of freedom—they have compelled their children to be baptised -against their will. Now, since we are unwilling to tolerate such -things—as, indeed, we could not do without transgressing the will of -God—we hereby command you to deal according to law with such attacks on -the Jews, of the nature that has been described above, as are made by -bishops, nobles, and rulers. You shall not permit the Jews to be -unjustly ill-treated on these or similar grounds, and you shall restrain -the evil-doers by the summary use of ecclesiastical censures.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_296" id="page_296">{296}</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"><h4>POPE INNOCENT IV. (25th September, 1253).</h4></div> - -<p>Moreover, in order to counteract the wickedness and greed of evil men, -we decree that no one shall harm, or trespass on, the cemeteries of the -Jews, or shall dig up dead bodies to obtain money, or shall charge them -with using human blood in their ceremonies. Though they are ordered in -the Old Testament to use no blood at all—not to mention human -blood—yet many Jews have been killed at Fulda and in many other places -on suspicion of having used human blood. By the authority of these -presents we strictly forbid such actions in the future. If any man, -having become acquainted with the purport of this decree, contravenes -it—we pray that such a thing may not happen—let him be exposed to the -danger of losing his office or rank, or let him be punished by -excommunication, unless he makes suitable amends for his presumption; -but we wish this protection of ours to be given only to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_297" id="page_297">{297}</a></span> those who use -no devices for the subversion of the Christian faith.</p> - -<h4>POPE GREGORY X. (7th October, 1272).</h4> - -<p>Since Jews cannot bear testimony against Christians, we decree that the -testimony of Christians against Jews shall be of no avail unless there -is a Jew bearing testimony among them. For it sometimes happens that -Christians lose their children, and Jews are charged by their enemies -with taking them away and killing them and using their hearts and blood -for religious purposes; the fathers of the children, or other -Christians, in hatred of the Jews, hide the children away, so that they -may cause trouble to the Jews and gain money from them for relieving -them from their trouble, and in order that they may most falsely assert -that the Jews have secretly stolen and murdered the children and that -they use the blood for religious purposes, whereas their law strictly -forbids them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_298" id="page_298">{298}</a></span> use blood for ceremonial purposes, or to taste it, or -to eat the flesh of animals with cloven hoofs, as has been many times -demonstrated at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith. On -charges of this kind Jews have often been seized and imprisoned -unjustly. We decree that in such cases the testimony of Christians -against Jews shall not be admitted; that Jews imprisoned on this empty -charge shall be liberated; that they be not imprisoned in future on this -empty charge unless (which we cannot believe) they are found in the act.</p> - -<p>(Signed by the Pope, four cardinals, and two bishops).</p> - -<h4>POPE MARTIN V. (20th February, 1422).</h4> - -<p>It sometimes happens that many Christians, in order that they may extort -money from the said Jews and deprive them of their goods and substance -and cause them to be killed, invent pretexts and assert (at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_299" id="page_299">{299}</a></span> times of -plague and other calamities) that the Jews have poisoned the wells and -mixed human blood with their unleavened bread: they say that it is in -consequence of these crimes, which they unjustly ascribe to the Jews, -that the calamities are caused. Hence the population is moved against -the Jews and massacres them and persecutes and afflicts them in many -ways.</p> - -<h4>POPE NICHOLAS V. (1447).</h4> - -<p>Some persons have ventured to make the untruthful assertion that the -Jews are unable to celebrate certain of their festivals without using -the liver or heart of a Christian.</p> - -<h4>POPE PAUL III. (12th May, 1550).</h4> - -<div class="blockquot"><p><i>To the Clergy of Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland.</i></p></div> - -<p>We have heard with displeasure, through the complaints of the Jews in -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_300" id="page_300">{300}</a></span>your parts, that various ... towns, nobles, and powerful men among you, -being jealous of the Jews and hostile to them, and blinded by hatred and -envy, or, as is more probable, by greed, and wishing to have a pretext -for depriving them of their goods, falsely charge them with slaying your -children and drinking their blood, and committing many other horrible -crimes specially directed against our faith. Thus they attempt to arouse -the feelings of simple Christians against the Jews, and it often results -that the Jews are not only robbed of their property, but are even -murdered.</p> - -<p class="fint">THE END</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_301" id="page_301">{301}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="dbl"> - -<p class="c"><i>A NOTABLE BIOGRAPHY</i></p> -<hr /> -<p class="c"><big>RECOLLECTIONS</big></p> - -<p class="c">PERSONAL AND LITERARY</p> - -<p class="c">BY</p> - -<p class="c">RICHARD HENRY STODDARD</p> - -<p class="c">(EDITED BY RIPLEY HITCHCOCK)</p> - -<p class="c">With a preface by</p> - -<p class="c">EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN</p> - -<p class="c">Illustrated. 12mo., cloth, Price, $1.50 net.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Large Paper Edition, limited to 200 copies, extra illustrated. -Printed on Japan paper, uncut, price $7 50 net.</i></p></div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">M</span>R. STODDARD was the last survivor of the time which has been called the -Golden Age of American Letters. His meetings with Edgar Allan Poe, and -their curious ending, his visits to Hawthorne, and Hawthorne’s kindly -counsel, his talks with Thackeray, his literary discussions before -Lowell’s study fire, Boker’s frank comments upon the contemporary -theatre, his golden nights with Bayard Taylor are among the pictures -which are presented in these personal and fascinating RECOLLECTIONS. The -writer’s dry humor and quaint originality of expression impart an added -charm to the most notable literary autobiography of recent years.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_302" id="page_302">{302}</a></span></p> - -<div class="dbl"> - -<p class="c"><i>A REMARKABLE NOVEL</i></p> -<hr /> -<p class="c"><big>TENNESSEE TODD</big></p> - -<p class="c">A Dramatic Story of Steamboat Life on the Mississippi</p> - -<p class="c">BY</p> - -<p class="c">G. W. OGDEN</p> - -<p class="c">12mo. with frontispiece, cloth, Price, $1.50</p> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">N</span>OT since the time when Mark Twain immortalized the Mississippi in Tom -Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, has anyone come forward to tempt comparison -with those inimitable portraits. But at last, a man who knows the life -of the river and who has caught the spirit of it, has revived the old -steamboat days during the years when the first railroad between St. -Louis and New Orleans was wresting supremacy from the river.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tennessee Todd</span> is the story of that fight between the steamboat and the -railroad, between the old order and the new, between the men who had -carried on warfare with the treacherous stream until they had become its -controllers, and the new men which the inevitable advance of commerce -brought with capital and brains to usurp the power and break the pride -of the men of the Mississippi.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_303" id="page_303">{303}</a></span></p> - -<div class="dbl"> - -<p class="c"><i>A GREAT FIRST NOVEL</i></p> - -<p class="c"><span class="smcap">The Circle in the Square</span></p> - -<p class="c">The Story of a New Battle on Old Fields</p> - -<p class="c">BY</p> - -<p class="c"><big>BALDWIN SEARS</big></p> - -<p class="c">12mo. cloth, Price $1.50</p> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">A</span> NOVEL of extraordinary power, dealing with the absorbing social and -political questions of the South which confront America to-day no less -than they confronted the government before and immediately after the -Civil War, in a different, though equally threatening, form.</p> - -<p>With sympathy, humor and strength, the life and problems of to-day in -one section of the South—which may be taken as representative of many -communities all over the South—is presented in a broader way than has -been done in any American novel. As the work of an entirely new author, -it will attract immediate attention for its remarkable literary quality -and its comprehensive grasp of a broad social and political motive.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_304" id="page_304">{304}</a></span></p> - -<div class="dbl"> - -<p class="c"><i>A STORY OF THE LAKES</i></p> -<hr /> -<p class="c"><big>HIS LITTLE WORLD</big></p> - -<p class="c">THE STORY OF HUNCH BADEAU</p> - -<p class="c">BY</p> - -<p class="c">SAMUEL MERWIN</p> - -<p class="c">Author of “The Road to Frontenac,” joint-author of “Calumet K” etc.</p> - -<p class="c">12 mo. cloth. Illustrated. $1.25</p> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span>HIS is the story of a man. Whether driving his schooner through a lake -storm, or quelling a lumber-yard mutiny, or sacrificing his love for the -sake of a friend, Hunch Badeau is every inch a man.</p> - -<p>He doesn’t preach, but unconsciously, and prompted simply by the bigness -of his heart, he exemplifies a nobility which does the reader good. Many -things happen in this story. Readers will like and they will remember -Hunch Badeau.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Observation No. 6418, “Code of Laws,” Vol. VIII.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDICES">Appendix</a></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> These letters are republished by the willing permission of -Mr. W. R. Hearst, for whose papers they were written from Kishineff and -elsewhere. They have, of course, undergone a necessary revision. -</p><p> -It is believed that by including these letters as they were originally -written, with only such changes as were necessary to a permanent form, a -more vivid realisation of the scenes of the tragedy has been afforded -than would have been possible if their facts alone had been incorporated -with the body of the narrative.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See <a href="#APPENDICES">Appendix</a>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See M. de Plehve’s version.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>The London Times</i>, June 26, 1903.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See <a href="#Letter_IV">Letter IV.</a></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> See <a href="#Letter_IV">Letter IV.</a></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> “Government officials” here would stand for telegraph -messengers, or employés of other departments.—M. D.</p></div> - -</div> -<hr class="full" /> -<pre style='margin-top:6em'> -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITHIN THE PALE *** - -This file should be named 63588-h.htm or 63588-h.zip - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/5/8/63588/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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