wish to recall this case to my readers. A small Jewish boy named Rutenberg was caught picking up strawberries in a garden in Bialystok, by the owner of the garden, Dr. Granowsky. The physician first locked up the boy in a closet, then he imprinted on the lad's forehead the word "thief," in Russian, German, and Jewish, burning the characters into the skin by means of caustic. As the news spread through the city, a dense throng of Jews, indignant at the barbarous treatment of a child, assembled before the doctor's house, but was dispersed by the police. In the mean time false rumors were spread by the doctor that his little daughter had been murdered by the Jews, and steps were taken by him to excite the railroad workingmen to an anti-Jewish riot, fortunately without effect. The attitude taken in the case by the government was of great significance. Was the doctor tried and condemned according to the law? Quite the reverse. But Rabbi Marcus and Dr. Chasanovitch, the representatives of the Jewish community who made an attempt to prosecute the physician, were exiled from the city by order of the governor-general of Wilno, for exciting disorder and disturbing the peace. The same governor-general, in an address to the aldermen of Wilno, threatened the Jews with "severe punishment without trial," and the same threat has been repeatedly expressed in recent decrees of the chief of police of Clessa and of the governor of Mohilev, charging the Jews in vague, yet sharp terms, with general depravity and corruption. The wickedness of the Jews is manifested, in the opinion of the above-named dignitaries of the state, by disturbing order, by crowding the streets and sidewalks, as well as by disrespect toward superiors, which means failure to remove their hats on meeting officials. The end aimed at by these declarations is openly to put the Jews in the position of a lower, despised caste, that can be insulted with impunity by any one belonging to the "predominant nation." The brazenfacedness of the persecutors culminates in a kind of voluptuousness of cruelty when we find a district attorney declaring to a Jewish delegation: "We shall flay you in the market without any more ado!" or a marshal of nobility as

*"Sudebnaya Gazeta," No. 5, 1891.

serting that for such purpose, "the most honorable members of the Jewish community will be chosen to set an example." *

A press despatch of June 29th, to the effect that "serious anti-Semitic riots have occurred near Kherson," came as if on purpose to show the influence produced by similar official utterances upon the minds of the ignorant masses. The bulk of the "genuine Russian people " are brought up in the spirit of "knownothingism" hostile to every stranger. The same "national" policy as applied to Jews, although without the spirit of cruelty manifested toward the Jews, is pursued against the Baltic Germans, against Poland, and recently against Finland.

Thus it appears clear that the persecution of the Jews is a constitutent part of a calculated and well-planned scheme on the side of the government. By instigating the Ests and Lettonians against the Baltic Germans, the latter and the Poles against the Jews, and the orthodox Russian "nation" against all, the government intends to put one half of the population of the empirethe orthodox Russians-in the position of a "predominating nation" prevailing over all the rest through their all-powerful national autocratic government. "Divide et impera!"

ISAAC A. HOURWITCH.

* These declarations were made by Prince Meshchersky, marshal of nobility, and Mr. Sushkov, district attorney of Mstislavl, province of Mohilev. ("Niedielnaya Chronika Voskhoda,” No. 27, 1890.)

REFUGE FOR RUSSIAN JEWS.

I SHOULD gladly grant the request of the editor of the FORUM to write at length my views on the present situation and the probable future of those Jews who live under political disabilities in European states, if I did not fear that through activity as a publicist I might be taken from my chief occupation of philanthropy, and that if I should devote myself to the former occupation, it would be at the expense and to the detriment of the latter.

Besides, to take up the subject thoroughly one would have to write an historical study of the settlement and spread of the Jews in the several European states, and to collect statistical data of their numbers, for which tasks my occupation allows me no time, and it would be to no purpose, since all such information is accessible in statistical works. I refer, besides, to the two articles that M. Leroy-Beaulieu has recently published in the Revue des Deux Mondes."

But I took occasion lately to express my views with regard to this question in the following statement, published through Reuter's agency, which explains in particular my plans with regard to the sad condition of the Russian Jews:

"The measures now being enforced against the Jews, which are equivalent to the wholesale expulsion of the race, do not appear to me to be altogether a misfortune for the Russian Jews. I think that the worst thing that could happen to these unfortunate people would be to continue, for an indefinite period, the wretched existence which they have led up to the present time, crowded together in narrow streets, merely vegetating without hope and without a future, reduced to a condition incompatible with the dignity of human beings. The only means to raise their condition is to remove them from the soil to which they are rooted and to transport them to other countries, where they will enjoy the same rights as the people among whom they live, and where they will cease to be pariahs, and become citizens. What is going on in Russia to-day may be the prelude to this beneficent transformation, and this is why, while I am filled with horror at the atrocities that are being committed, I hope to find a possi

bility of deriving from them some advantage for the unfortunate victims of oppression, and of facilitating their expatriation, which is their only means of salvation. It is true that the Jews have lived and labored for ages under the Russian empire, and that they have consequently acquired an incontestable right to the soil on which they live. But all this is a matter of pure theory which avails nothing against fact or against the indomitable will of a government like that of Russia, which is persuaded that Jews ought not to be tolerated within the limits of the empire, and that their presence is literally a desecration of the country. There exists among Russian statesmen a rooted conviction to that effect, not merely arising from antipathies due to race, but based, at the same time, on religious belief. A proof that such is the case is furnished by the fact that dissenters from the Orthodox faith are liable to measures which, if less violent than those applied to the Jews, are analogous to them in form.

"In the presence of this principle of exclusiveness transformed into a dogma I am of the opinion that all endeavors to moderate the resolutions of the government must inevitably fail, and, I repeat, I consider the necessity in which the Jews in Russia are placed, of leaving a country where they are subject to such treatment, as not an unmixed misfortune. But the treatment to which the Jews are now being subjected is such as to excite the indignant reprobation of the entire civilized world. The facts that have been recorded by the most trustworthy witnesses recall to mind the most terrible episodes in history, and should be branded as an outrage upon all feelings of humanity. People against whom there was not the shadow of reproach, who went about their business quietly, have been aroused from their beds at night, driven with whips from their dwellings, loaded with chains, and plunged into the deepest misery. Women, young girls, and children have been subjected to outrages such as I should have refused to believe possible, were they not attested by absolutely trustworthy witnesses, whose statements I do not even venture to reproduce. Hundreds of families, expelled from their homes and deprived of any kind of shelter, have been compelled to wander for days and nights in cemeteries, suffering from hunger, and exposed to all the inclemency of the climate. Women have brought forth children in the open fields, and have died from exposure. These barbarous doings may more fitly be called a terrible misfortune for the Jews than the principle of expulsion which the Russian government has decided to enforce against them. Their expulsion is unjust; still, I accept it as an accomplished fact; but the needlessly cruel manner in which it has been carried out is a dishonor to the age in which we live.

"But admitting that the principle of expulsion is irrevocable, I perceive a means—indeed, two ways-of alleviating the miserable lot of the Russian Jews. The first is to make the Czar acquainted with the truth respecting the cruelties that are perpetrated in his country and in his name. I am convinced that it would not be in vain to appeal to the sentiments of justice, humanity, and mercy of the sovereign who occupies the throne of Russia, and who is assuredly unaware of the acts of persecution committed under

the shield of his authority upon a section of his subjects. If His Majesty could be made fully aware of what is going on, I am certain he would not hesitate to put a stop to such barbarity, and that, while maintaining the principle that inspires the policy of his government in regard to the Jews, he would give the necessary orders for the application of this policy in a humane, gradual, and moderate manner.

"This brings me to the second means-the establishment of a certain degree of order and method in the expatriation of Jews from Russia. The government of the Czar means to get rid of five millions of Jews who inhabit Russian territory. Let it allow the many who, like myself, are interested in the fate of these victims of persecution, and who will certainly be prepared to make the greatest sacrifices on their behalf, to save them. Without such help it would be impossible for the government to get rid of five millions of Jews except by slaughtering them in a mass. The Jewish nation has often been compelled to emigrate; let those of the Children of Israel who dwell in Russia bow to the same destiny, but let us be allowed time to look about to seek new homes for them in other regions. Perhaps the Czar, who combines with his religious zeal a sincere spirit of integrity and justice, will himself take the initiative in granting the Jews the time they require to leave Russia by degrees, quietly, and in good order. Let a period of twenty years, let us say, be fixed; let it be agreed that every year a certain number of Jews will leave the country; but let them be left in peace until the hour of their departure arrives. If the Czar will order a measure of this character to be adopted, those who are interested in the fate of the Russian Jews will do what is necessary to provide funds for conveying to their new country the number of emigrants ordered to leave yearly. By this means it will be possible to carry out, without any great hardship and with a minimum of suffering for those concerned, the principle of expulsion decided upon by the Russian government.

"I am under no delusion. I have no hope that the expression of my ideas will reach the eye of the Czar. But possibly these explanations may find favor with the supreme Russian authorities, and they may take upon themselves to submit to their sovereign the necessary measures for carrying them into effect. The entire civilized world, and above all the poor persecuted beings in whose behalf I speak, will render homage to the generosity of the Czar, if he will, by the exercise of his imperial will, put a stop to the acts of the lower officials who abuse the powers placed in their hands for the purpose of misinterpreting his intentions, and if he will enact that the edict of exile against several millions of his subjects shall cease to be, practically, the condemnation of an entire nation to pitiless persecution, misery, and death."

"Last year I sent a commission to the Argentine Republic to prosecute an investigation as to the practicability of my scheme. Some members of the commission came back this year to report, and the information they brought me was so far satisfactory that I have sent them out again with instructions to purchase land. This is being done now, but nothing is