of conscription,
at least, the Jews were, in a certain measure, granted equal rights. The
operation of the general statute concerning military service was
extended to them, with a few limitations which were the heritage of the
past. The old plan of the "assortment of the Jews" is reflected in the
clause of the Manifesto, providing for increased conscription from among
"those unsettled and not engaged in productive labor," i.e., of the mass
of the proletariat, as distinct from the more or less well-to-do
classes. Nor was the old historic crime made good: the Jewish cantonists
who had been forcibly converted to the Greek-Orthodox faith were not
allowed to return to their kindred. As heretofore, baptism remained a
_conditio sine qua non_ for the advancement of a Jewish soldier, and
only in 1861 was permission given to promote a Jewish private to the
rank of a sergeant for general merit, without special distinction on the
battlefield which had been formerly required. Beyond this rank no Jew
could hope to advance.

2. "HOMEOPATHIC" EMANCIPATION AND THE POLICY OF "FUSION"

Following upon the removal of the "black stain" of conscription came the
question of lightening the "yoke of slavery," that heavy burden of
rightlessness which pressed so grievously upon the outcasts of the
Jewish Pale. Already in March, 1856, Count Kiselev, a semi-liberal
official and formerly the president of the "Jewish Committee" which had
been appointed in 1840 [1] and which was composed of the heads of the
various ministries, submitted a memorandum to Alexander II. in which he
took occasion to point out that "the attainment of the goal indicated in
the imperial ukase of 1840, that of bringing about the fusion of the
Jews with the general population, is hampered by various provisionally
enacted restrictions which, when taken in conjunction with the general
laws, contain contradictions and engender confusion."

[Footnote 1: See above, p. 49 et seq.]

The result was an imperial order, dated March 31, 1856, "to revise all
existing regulations affecting the Jews so as to bring them into harmony
with the general policy of fusing this people with the original
inhabitants, as far as the moral status of the Jews may render it
possible." The same ministers who had taken part in the labors of the
Jewish Committee were instructed to draft a plan looking to the
modification of the laws affecting the Jews and to submit their
suggestions to the Tzar.

In thi