uccess of the Polish cause,
accompanied by the singing of the national Polish hymn _Boze cos
Polske_. [1] When, as a protest against the invasion of the churches by
the Russian soldiery, the Catholic clergy closed all churches in Warsaw,
the rabbis and communal elders followed suit, and ordered the closing of
the synagogues. This action aroused the ire of Lieders, the new viceroy.
Rabbi Meisels, the preachers Jastrow and Kramshtyk as well as the
president of the "Congregational Board" were placed under arrest. The
prisoners were kept in the citadel of Warsaw for three months, but were
then released.

[Footnote 1: Pronounce, _Bozhe, tzosh Polske_, "O Lord, Thou that hast
for so many ages guarded Poland with the shining shield of Thy
protection!"--the first words of the hymn.]

In the meantime Marquis Vyelepolski, acting as mediator between the
Russian Government and the Polish people, had prepared his plan of
reforms as a means of warding off the mutiny. Among these reforms, which
aimed at the partial restoration of Polish autonomy and the improvement
of the status of the peasantry, was included a law providing for the
"legal equality of the Jews." Wielding considerable influence, first as
director of the Polish Commission of Ecclesiastical Affairs and Public
Instruction, and later as the head of the whole civil administration of
the Kingdom, Vyelepolski was able to secure St. Petersburg's assent to
his project. On May 24, 1862, Alexander II. signed an ukase revoking the
suspensory decree of 180 1808, [1] which had entailed numerous disabilities
for the Jews incompatible with the new tendencies in the political and
agrarian life of the Kingdom. This ukase conferred the following rights
upon the Jews:

[Footnote 1: See Vol. I, p. 299.]

1. To acquire immovable property on all manorial estates on which
the peasants had passed from the state of serfs into that of
tenants.

2. To settle freely in the formerly prohibited cities and city
districts, [1] not excluding those situated within the twenty-one
verst zone along the Prussian and Austrian frontier. [2]

3. To appear as witnesses in court on an equal footing with
Christians in all legal proceedings and to take an oath in a new,
less humiliating form.

[Footnote 1: See above, pp. 172 and 178.]

[Footnote 2: See above, p. 95.]

Bestowing these privileges upon the Polish Jews in the hope of bringing
about their amalgamation with the local Christ