d himself of a statement full of ignorant trash, which was
intended to show that "Christian blood is exactly what is needed
according to the Jewish religion"--here the witness referred to the
Bible story of the Exodus and to two mythical authorities, "the
philosopher Rossie and the prophet Azariah." He further deposed that
"every rabbi is obliged to satisfy the whole Kahal under his
jurisdiction by smearing with same (with Christian blood) the lintels of
every house on the first day of the feast of Passover." Prompted by
greed and by the desire to distinguish himself, the sergeant declared
himself ready to substantiate his testimony from Jewish literature, "if
the chief Government will grant him the necessary assistance."

The results of this "secret investigation" were laid before the governor
of Grodno and reported by him to St. Petersburg. In reply, Alexander I.
issued a rescript in February, 1817, ordering that the "secret
investigation be cut short and the murderer be found out" intimating
thereby that search be made for the criminal and not for the tenets of
the Jewish religion. However, all efforts to discover the culprit
failed, and the case was dismissed.

This favorable issue was in no small measure due to the endeavors of the
"Deputies of the Jewish People," [1] in particular to Sonnenberg, the
deputy from Grodno. These deputies, who were present in St. Petersburg
at that time, addressed themselves to Golitzin, the Minister of
Ecclesiastical Affairs, protesting against the ritual murder libel. The
trial at Grodno and the ritual murder accusations which simultaneously
cropped up in the Kingdom of Poland made the Minister of Ecclesiastical
Affairs realize that there was in the Western region a dangerous
tendency of making the Jews the scapegoats for every mysterious murder
case and of fabricating lawsuits of the medieval variety by bringing
popular superstition into play. Golitzin, a Christian pietist, who was
nevertheless profoundly averse to narrow ecclesiastic fanaticism,
decided to strike at the root of this superstitious legend which was
disgracing Poland in her period of decay and was about to fall as a dark
stain upon Russia. He succeeded in impressing this conviction upon his
like-minded sovereign Alexander I. In the same month in which the ukase
concerning "the Society of Israelitish Christians" was published [2]
Golitzin sent out the following circular to the governors, dated March
6, 1817:

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