As was shown by Duma Deputy Skobelev, “the question of the Pale was brought up in the Council of Ministers =only when the wave of Jewish refugees had already swept away this medieval dam!”=[4] Another deputy, an Octobrist, Rostovtzev, declared in the Duma: =“What Pale is this you are speaking of? There is no Pale; Kaiser Wilhelm has abolished it!”= If any further evidence were needed to demonstrate that the abolition decree was not a voluntary act of emancipation but was forced upon the government by conditions beyond its control, the inspired editorial in the semi-official government organ, the “Novoe Vremya,” of August 9 (22), 1915, supplies this evidence. It declares flatly that the reception of the measure by the general press as “the first rays of a new dawn” is entirely unwarranted; that =the question of removing all Jewish disabilities was never discussed; it is not particularly important anyway; it was not even worked out for presentation to the Duma.[5] Certain conditions, created by a state of affairs already existing, had made it necessary to modify some of the regulations with respect to the Pale. That is all. No permanent statute will be enacted=. =2. The decree was issued in the hope of facilitating a foreign loan.= Count A. Bobrinski, a Conservative member of the Imperial Council, declared, in a statement to the editor of the “Dehn”:[6] “The conservative members of the Imperial Council raised no objection whatsoever against the recent Government measure granting permission to the Jews to reside outside of the Pale. I believe that we shall have to become accustomed to the idea of seeing the Jews dwell in all parts of Russia after this war is over. There can be no return to the old conditions. “The necessities of the war must lead us also to sanction future concessions toward the Jews whenever the need thereof will be recognized by the Government =in order to be able to place a Government loan in America.”= The attitude of “Kolokol,” the organ of the Holy Synod, reflects this with perfect frankness: