-regent [3], for investigation and report. As an experienced statesman,
who had familiarized himself during his administrative activity with the
Jewish conditions obtaining in the Western region, Novosiltzev realized
the grave risks involved in the imperial scheme. In a memorandum
submitted by him to the grand duke, he argued convincingly that the
sudden imposition of military service upon the Jews was bound to cause
an undesirable agitation among them, and that they should, on the
contrary, be slowly "prepared for such a radical transformation."

[Footnote 1: The official designation for the territories of Western
Russia which were formerly a part of the Polish Empire.]

[Footnote 2: Constantine was appointed by his brother Alexander I,
Commander-in-chief of the Polish army after the restoration of Poland in
1815. He remained in this post until his death in 1831. See also above,
p. 13, n. 2.]

[Footnote 3: He was the imperial Russian Commissary in Warsaw, and was
practically in control of the affairs in Poland. See below, p. 92 et
seq.]

Novosiltzev was evidently well informed about the state of mind of the
Jewish masses. No sooner had the rumor of the proposed ukase reached the
Pale of Settlement than the Jews were seized by a tremendous excitement.
It must be borne in mind that the Jewish population of Western Russia
had but recently been incorporated into the Russian Empire. Clinging
with patriarchal devotion to their religion, estranged from the Russian
people, and kept, moreover, in a state of civil rightlessness, the Jews
of that region could not be reasonably expected to gloat over the
prospect of a military service of twenty-five years' duration, which was
bound to alienate their sons from their ancestral faith, detach them
from their native tongue, their habits and customs of life, and throw
them into a strange, and often hostile, environment. The ultimate aim of
the project, which, imbedded in the mind of its originators, seemed
safely hidden from the eye of publicity, was quickly sensed by the
delicate national instinct, and the soul of the people was stirred to
its depths. Public-minded Jews strained every nerve to avert the
calamity. Jewish representatives journeyed to St. Petersburg and Warsaw
to plead the cause of their brethren. Negotiations were entered into
with dignitaries of high rank and with men of influence in the world of
officialdom. Rumor had it that immense bribes had been offered to
Novo