The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-08-07
Checkered History Of the Jews
in Russia.

IA LsuSD4ds
The Jew is of comparatively recent
date in Russia. The race was admit.
ted into MuscoVite territory first Of
all by Peter the Great Ia the days
OF the Empress Elizabeth and about
the year 1743, when they bad In.
creased to The number of some Sc 600,
they came under the dlsp!easure q
the people and of the government
and we're expelled in g BODY They
were resdmltted by the Empress
Catherine Ii. TIE Jews mad always,
at least since the days of Oasimir the
Great, whose production for a Jew.
ish beauty. caused him to grant her
people many immunities, been
numerous in Poland. During the
greater portion OF the fourteenth and
seventeenth centuries the trade oil
that country was in their hands. To
this day the Jews are more
numerous in Poland than in any
part OF the Russian empire. In the
Russian empire there are slightly
over 100000 of the Jews. ana they
are to be found almost exclusively in
Poland, and the provinces of the west
and southwest. Alexander l. greatly
befriended the Jews and granted
them full liberty Of trade and COM
meree. The liberties granted by
Alexander were revoked by Nicholas,
who treated them hershly. They
were put under severe restrictions In
regard to trade; were not permitted
to possess land, to give evidence in
civil suits, to baVe synsgogues. or &c
inhsbit the holy cities of Kief and
Moscow, were compelled to wear q
particular and distinct dress, aud what
was more cruel ard humiliatIng still,
the state took from every Jewish fam
lily one child TO be educated In the
Christian faith at the expense Of the
parent. Ameliorations began again
under Alexandes II. Greater fscili-
ties were given them TO carry On
trade and commerce. Many unjust
restrictions we're removed, and some
OF the more obnoxious inequalities TO
which they were compelled to submit
were discontinued. Some of the
Jewish merchants in Russia have be
come quite rich, but in Russia rich
Jews are not numerous. In Russia.
as 1t was elsewhere, in earlier times.
the Jews were hated and dreaded by
the ignorant populace. They are
credited With all the evils that sfiIict
the country, and one OF the principal
CAUSES Of the late outbreak Of popular
feeling against them was the belief,
which was commonly entertained by
the villagers, that they were the muT-
derers ottheir late beloVedCzsr as they
were Of the Christ It is this feeling
OF irreconc!lable enmlty which is lelt
on both sjdes that constitutes the real
difficulty to be combstt3d and over
come by the Russian government.
Better and wiser laws are necessary.
but better and wiser laws will not
work an immediate change. Time
and education are required as we'll as
wiser legislation to give the Jew IL
Russia that peace, comfort and seenr-
ity which he enjoys 10 France, In
and, most Of all, 10 these
United States. Il IS certainly to be
hoped that Russia will enter without
delay on a course of progress more IN
harmony with the requirements of
the age, and that, IL the general anne
lioratlon OF the Jews, will benefit all.
Che state of feeling IN Northern Ger
many and elsewhere, however, re-
gsrdlpg the Jews raises the question
whether there is not something to be
done or undone by the Jews them
selves IN order to bring about state
of Things in which q healthier senti-
ment will prevail. If the Hebrew
persists in his exclusiveism be must
bear the consequences.
In this brief and eursozy glance at
the Jew, past and present, in Europe
the representative nations only have
been mentioned. 1t is only just
however, to say that in spite OF unjust
laws and occasional cruel exactlons,
Jews in large numbers have contriVed
to live and prosper IL the Turkish
empire. In Switzerland, where they
were long the objects of persecution,
some Of the cations have lately been
moving In a liberal directlsn and re-
moving obnoxiousa laws. In Holland
hey have had the rights OF citizen
ship since 1896. In Denmark they
have been on a footing of equality
with native Danes aimee 1914. Into
Sweden the Jew was not permitted TO
enter unil 1776. aud then only mo
specified towns; and there even
no " citizenship is conferred As a
favor. AS late ss 1910 the laws OF
Norway excluded Jews from the
country. There they are few in
number and Insignificant Nelc York
Herald