“It has been observed, of late, in connection with the military situation, that Jews are migrating _en masse_ from the theatre of war and are gathering in certain interior governments of the Empire. This is explained, on the one hand, by the endeavor, on the part of the Jewish population, to depart in good time from the localities threatened by the enemy, and, on the other hand, =by the order, issued by our military authorities, to clear certain localities in the line of the enemy’s advance.= The further concentration of these refugees, whose number has been growing ever greater, in the limited area now available to them, is causing unrest among the local native population and may lead to alarming consequences in the form of wholesale disorders. This excessive accumulation of Jewish refugees also impedes the Government seriously in its efforts to provide food, work and medical attention for them. Under these circumstances, deeming it urgently necessary to take prompt measures to avert undesirable possibilities, the Acting Minister of the Interior has made a representation with respect to this matter before the Council of Ministers. “Taking up this immediate subject for deliberation and =without touching upon the question of the general revision of laws now in force concerning Jews,= the Council of Ministers has found that the most advisable way out of the situation created would be to grant the Jews the right of residence in cities and towns beyond the Pale of Settlement. This privilege, =established because of the exigencies of the military situation,= must not, however, affect the capital cities,[2] and the localities under the jurisdiction of the Ministries of the Imperial Court and the Minister of War.” The appalling facts back of this dry official statement were already known to all Russia. =Hundreds of thousands of Jews had been expelled from their homes overnight by act of the military authorities.= At a previous session of the Council of Ministers, Prince Shcherbatoff, himself a Conservative, had presented the terrible condition of these refugees. He pointed out that they were perforce driven into forbidden territory, that it was difficult to direct them anywhere, each one naturally seeking some place where he had friends or relatives in the hope of finding some means of livelihood, and that because of the residence restrictions they found themselves outlaws against their will, and poured in petitions and telegrams in tremendous numbers, begging for official permission to reside legally in their new homes. These people, he pointed out, cannot be turned away from places beyond the Pale, because they cannot possibly go back to their old homes.[3]