the 18th of January as a day of
mourning to be observed by fasting and by holding religious services in
the synagogues. This public mourning ceremony proved particularly
impressive in St. Petersburg. On the appointed day the whole Jewish
population of the Russian capital, with its numerous Jewish
professionals, assembled in the principal synagogue and in the other
houses of prayer, reciting the hymns of perpetual Jewish martyrdom, the
_Selihot_. In the principal synagogue the rabbi delivered a discourse
dealing with the Jewish persecutions.

When the preacher--an eye-witness narrates--began to picture in a
broken voice the present position of Jewry, one long moan, coming,
as it were, from one breast, suddenly burst forth and filled the
synagogue. Everybody wept, the old, the young, the long-robed
paupers, the elegant dandies dressed in latest fashion, the men in
Government service, the physicians, the students, not to speak of
the women. For two or three minutes did these heart-rending moans
resound--this cry of common sorrow which had issued from the Jewish
heart. The rabbi was unable to continue. He stood upon the pulpit,
covered his face with his hands, and wept like a child.

Similar political demonstrations in the presence of the Almighty were
held during those days in many other cities. In some places the Jews
observed a three days' fast. Everywhere the college youth, otherwise
estranged from Judaism, took part in the national mourning, full of the
presentiment that it, too, was destined to endure decades of sorrows and
tears.

2. THE VOICE OF ENGLAND AND AMERICA

The political protest, which could not be uttered in Russia, was soon to
be heard in England. During the very days on which the Russian Jews were
weeping in their synagogues, their English coreligionists, in
conjunction with prominent English political leaders, organized
indignation meetings to protest against the horrors of Russian
Judaeophobia. Already at an earlier date, shortly after the pogrom of
Warsaw, the London _Times_ had published a series of articles under the
heading "The Persecutions of the Jews in Russia," containing a
heartrending description of the pogroms of 1881 and an account of the
anti-Semitic policy of the Russian rulers. [1] The articles produced a
sensation. Reprinted in the form of a special publication, which in a
short time went through three editions, they spread far beyond the
confines of England.