expelled therefrom. Nevertheless, the committee of the
year 1899 not only refused to ratify this measure, but, on the
contrary, it recognised the necessity of relaxing even the old
Temporary Regulation of 1882. And, in fact, in 1903 we find the Jewish
settlements in 158 villages. At the same time, the Jewish rural
population within the limits of the "Pale of Settlement" grew
considerably. In 1881 there lived in the villages 580,000 Jews; in the
year 1897 they reached the number of 711,000.

Thus did our legislation concerning the Jews fluctuate and vacillate.
And amidst these hesitations the thought of a complete removal of all
the Jewish disabilities never died. Here is another historical
excursion covering a century. The Committee of Jewish Affairs of the
year 1803 plainly established this regulation: "the maximum of freedom
and the minimum of limitations." The second Committee, whose
activities fall in the period from 1807 to 1812, proved even more
thoroughgoing, for it was more familiar with the conditions of Russian
life. It asserted that the Jews are useful and necessary for the
Russian village. It added, furthermore, that the negative, dark
phenomena which are attributed by some to the presence of Jews in the
villages, in reality are characteristic of Russian life in general,
and cannot be said to be due to the Jewish influence. This was also
the opinion of the minority of the Imperial Council in 1835. In 1858,
the Minister of the Interior himself demanded equal rights for the
Jews, and the reactionary Committee on Jewish affairs agreed to the
demand on the sole condition that the disabilities should be removed
gradually, from various Jewish groups. The new Committee of 1872 acted
even more vigorously. It believed that the abolition of Jewish
disabilities is, in general, nothing but an act of justice, and that
this abolition must be carried out not gradually, but immediately i.e.
it must include all the groups of the Jewish population. Again, the
Committee of 1883 comes to the same conclusion that it is necessary to
give the Jews equal rights. That was the opinion even of Von Pleve,
who is known to the world for his persecution of the Jews. In the
period from 1905 to 1907 the revision of the legislation concerning
the Jews for the purpose of abolishing the prohibitive measures was
considered but a question of time and was left to the consideration
of the people's representatives in the Imperial Duma which had ju