When Prince Ourousov was appointed Governor of Bessarabia he says that he knew no more about that province than he did of New Zealand. The foreign newspapers had been full of the Jewish Pogrom which had occurred in Kishineff from 7th April to 9th April 1903. They had openly accused the Russian Government of having instigated the disorders, and a letter was published in an English newspaper, said to be written by Plehve, then Minister of the Interior, to the Governor of Bessarabia, von Raaben, containing clear hints not to interfere with the doings of the anti-Jewish rioters. I will quote Prince Ourousov’s appreciation of this letter later on. Before leaving for Kishineff Prince Ourousov was received by Plehve. The Minister’s final injunction to him, he says, was, word for word, the following: “I give you no advice and no directions. You are entirely independent. Act as you please, as long as the results are good. I will say only one final word: Let us have as few speeches as possible, and as little sentimental Hebrophilism.” These words, Prince Ourousov adds, proved Plehve’s perspicacity, since during his Administration he made several speeches, and he left Kishineff with the established reputation of being a Hebrophil. When Prince Ourousov arrived in Kishineff he was met by his predecessor, General von Raaben. In mentioning him Prince Ourousov writes as follows: “I wish before all things in the clearest possible manner to refute the accusations made against Raaben of complicity in the Jewish Pogrom, and to explode the legend of the letter which he is said to have received on this subject from the Minister of the Interior. Apart from the fact that Plehve insisted on the peremptory dismissal of Raaben, it is improbable that the Minister would have relied in such a case on a man whose gentleness and straightness would have excluded all possibility of his executing such a cruel, diabolical plan. I do not mean to imply that I consider the Minister capable of having been the initiator of the Pogrom. On the other hand, I think that Plehve was too clever and too experienced to have recourse to such means in his struggle with the Jews, in spite of his hatred towards them. But if Plehve might consider that the Pogrom would have disagreeable consequences for the Government, Raaben was incapable, owing to his character and his qualities, of organising and executing a massacre. This is not only my own conviction, but it is shared by all his fellow-workers, and by the local representatives of the Jewish commune whose opinion is of special weight.”