Such was the attitude of the Russian _Government_ towards the Jews. But what was the attitude of the Russian _people_? Considering the character of the age, in which public opinion was not able to express itself even in political literature, an answer to this question would be entirely impossible, had not the revolutionary movement of the Decembrists[278] disclosed the frame of mind of the most progressive section of Russian society in its relation to the Jewish question. Taken as a whole it was an unfriendly attitude. It reflects the utter estrangement in language, in manners, and in culture between Jews and Russians at that time, an estrangement which breeds suspicion and hostility. The Russian knew no more of the life of the secluded Jewish populace than he did of the life of the Chinese. The educated Russian looked with suspicion upon the exclusiveness of patriarchal Jewish life, the unintelligible religious ceremonies which surrounded it, the rigorism of the rabbis, the ecstasy of the Tzaddiks, the strange emotionalism of the Hasidic masses. If he turned to books for an explanation of these strange phenomena, he would find it in the current pamphlet literature of Germany or Poland, with its hackneyed phrases about the fanaticism of the "chosen people," a "state in a state," etc. The attitude of the Decembrists[279] towards the Jewish problem reflects the conventional ideas of an age of reaction. The "Russian Truth" by Pestel contains a chapter entitled "On the Tribes Populating Russia," in which the Jewish problem is described as an almost indissoluble political tangle. Pestel enumerates the peculiar Jewish characteristics which, in his opinion, render the Jews entirely unfit for membership in a social order. The Jews "foster among themselves incredibly close ties"; they have "a religion of their own, which instils into them the belief that they are predestined to conquer all nations," and "makes it impossible for them to mix with any other nation." The rabbis[280] wield unlimited sway over the masses; they keep the people in spiritual bondage, "forbidding the reading of all books except the Talmud" and other religious writings. The Jews "are waiting for the coming of the Messiah, who is to establish them in their kingdom," and therefore "look upon themselves as temporary residents of the land in which they live." Hence their passion for commerce and their neglect of agriculture and handicrafts. Since commerce alone is unable to provide the huge masses of Jews with a livelihood, cheating and trickery are considered permissible, to the injury of the Christians. Pestel has no eye for the heavy burden of Jewish disabilities, and even considers the Jews a privileged class of the population, since they do not furnish any recruits, have their own rabbinical tribunals, possess "the right of educating their children in whatever principles they like," and "moreover enjoy all the rights of the Christian nations"(!).