apital into the central
governments and at the same time safeguard the latter against the
excessive influx of Jews, who, for the sake of settling there, would
register in the first guild and, under the disguise of relatives, would
bring with them, as one of the members of the Council put it, "the whole
tribe of Israel." After protracted discussions, a resolution was adopted
which was in substance as follows:

The Jewish merchants who have belonged to the first guild for not
less than two years prior to the issuance of the present law shall
be permitted to settle permanently in the interior governments,
accompanied by their families and a limited number of servants and
clerks. These merchants shall be entitled to live and trade on equal
terms with the Russian merchants, with the proviso that, after the
settlement, they shall continue their membership in the first guild
as well as their payment of the appertaining membership dues for no
less than ten years, failing which they shall be sent back into the
Pale. Big Jewish merchants and bankers from abroad, "noted for their
social position," shall be allowed to trade in Russia under a
special permit to be secured in each case from the Ministers of the
Interior and of Finance.

The resolution of the Council of State was sanctioned by the Tzar on
March 16, 1859, and thus became law.

In this manner the way was opened for big Jewish capital to enter the
two Russian capitals and the tabooed interior. The advent of the big
capitalists was followed by the influx of their less fortunate brethren,
who, driven by material want from the Pale, were forced to seek new
domiciles, and in the shape of first guild dues paid for many years a
heavy toll for their right of residence and commerce. The position of
these merchants offers numerous points of contact with the status of the
"tolerated" Jewish merchants in Vienna and Lower Austria prior to 1848.

Toleration having been granted to the Jews with a proper financial
status, the Government proceeded to extend the same treatment to persons
with educational qualifications. The latter class was the subject of
protracted debates in the Jewish Committee as well as in the Ministries
and in the Council of State. As early as in 1857 the Minister of Public
Instruction Norov had submitted a memorandum to the Jewish Committee in
which he argued that "religious fanaticism and prejudice among the Jews"
could only be exterm