abbi Itzele, journeyed to the capital. He managed to get
the ear of the Chief of the "Third Section" [2] and to acquaint him with
the horrors which were being perpetrated by the authorities in
Mstislavl.

[Footnote 1: A townlet in the neighborhood of Mstislavl.]

[Footnote 2: See above, p. 21, n. 1.]

As a result, two commissioners were dispatched from St. Petersburg in
quick succession. On investigating the matter on the spot, they
discovered the machinations of the over-zealous officials and
apostasized informers who had represented a street quarrel as an
organized uprising. The new commission of inquiry, of which one of the
St. Petersburg commissioners, Count Trubetzkoy, was member, disclosed
the fact that the Jewish community as such had had nothing whatsoever to
do with what had occurred. The findings of the commission resulted in an
"Imperial Act of Grace": the imprisoned Jews were set at liberty, the
penal conscripts were returned from service, several local officials
were put on trial, and the governor of Moghilev was severely censured.

This took place in November, 1844, after the Mstislavl community had for
nine long months tasted the horrors of a state of siege. The synagogues
were filled with Jews praising God for the relief granted to them. The
community decreed to commemorate annually the day before Purim, on which
the ukase inflicting severe punishment on the Jews of Mstislavl was
promulgated, as a day of fasting and to celebrate the third day of the
month of Kislev, on which the cruel ukase was revoked, as a day of
rejoicing. Had all the disasters of that era been perpetuated in the
same manner, the Jewish calendar would consist entirely of these
commemorations of national misfortunes, whether in the form of
"ordinary" persecutions or "extraordinary" afflictions.

CHAPTER XV

THE JEWS IN THE KINGDOM OF POLAND

1. PLANS OF JEWISH EMANCIPATION

Special mention must be made of the position occupied by the Jews in the
vast province which had be n formed in 1815 out of the territory of the
former duchy of Warsaw and annexed by Russia under the name of "Kingdom
of Poland." [1] This province which from 1815 to 1830 enjoyed full
autonomy, with a local government in Warsaw and a parliamentary
constitution, handled the affairs of its large Jewish population,
numbering between three hundred to four hundred thousand souls,
independently and without regard to the legislation of the Russian
Empire, E