History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 2 [of 3]: From the Death of Alexander I until the Death of Alexander III (1825-1894)Dubnow, Simon
Religion
History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 2 [of 3]: From the Death of Alexander I until the Death of Alexander III (1825-1894)
Dubnow, Simon
Jews -- Poland -- History; Jews -- Russia -- History; Poland -- History; Russia -- History
[Footnote 4: An account of Foster's conversation on the problem of
Russian Jewry with de Giers, the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Loris-Melikov, the Minister of the Interior, and "the Minister of
Worship" is found in his dispatch of December 30, 1880, _loc. cit._, p.
43 et seq.]
On May 22 of the same year a resolution was passed by the House of
Representatives requesting the President to lay before it all available
information relating to the cases of expulsion of American citizens of
the Jewish faith from Russia, and at the same time "to communicate to
this House all correspondence in reference to the proscription of Jews
by the Russian Government." [1]
[Footnote 1: Compare _Congressional Record_, Vol. 13, part 7,
_Appendix,_ p. 651. The same request for information was repeated by the
House of Representatives on January SO, 1882 (_loc. cit._., Vol. 13, p.
738; see also p. 645). In reply to the latter resolution President
Arthur submitted, under date of May 22, 1882, all the diplomatic papers
on the subject which were printed as _Executive Document_ No. 192. These
papers were reprinted on October 1, 1890, as part of _Executive
Document_ No. 470, under President Harrison]
The pogroms of 1881, and the indignation they aroused among the American
people induced the United States Government to adopt a more energetic
form of protest. In his dispatch to the United States Minister at St.
Petersburg, dated April 15, 1882, the new Secretary of State, Frederic
T. Frelinghuysen, takes account of the prevailing sentiment in the
country in these words: "The prejudice of race and creed having in our
day given way to the claims of our common humanity, the people of the
United States have heard with great regret the stories of the sufferings
of the Jews in Russia." He therefore notifies the Minister "that the
feeling of friendship which the United States entertains for Russia
prompts this Government to express the hope that the Imperial Government
will find means to cause the persecution of these unfortunate beings to
cease." [1]
[Footnote 1: _Executive Document_ No. 470, p. 65.]
A more emphatic note of protest was sounded in the House of
Representatives by Samuel S. Cox, of New York, who, in his lengthy
speech delivered on July 31, 1882, scathingly denounced the repressive
methods practiced by the Russian Government against the Jews, and, more
particularly, the outrages which had been perpetrated upon them during
the preceding year. [1] He makes the former directly responsible for the
latter. In his opinion the pogroms were not merely a spontaneous and
sudden outburst of the Eussian populace against the Jews, but rather the
slow result of the disabilities and discriminations which are imposed
upon the Jews by the Russian Government and are bound to degrade them in
the eyes of their fellow-citizens:
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