ed to the Committee on Foreign Affairs:

_Resolved_, That the members of the House of Representatives of the
United States have heard with profound sorrow, and with feelings
akin to horror, the reports of the persecution of the Jews in
Russia, reflecting the barbarism of past ages, disgracing humanity,
and impeding the progress of civilization.

_Resolved_, That our sorrow is intensified by the fact that such
occurrences should happen in a country which has been, and now is,
the firm friend of the United States, and in a nation that clothed
itself with glory, not long since, by the emancipation of its serfs
and by its defense of helpless Christians from the oppression of the
Turks.

_Resolved_, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the
Secretary of State, with a request that he send it to the American
Minister at St. Petersburg, and that said Minister be directed to
present the same to his Imperial Majesty Alexander III., Czar of all
the Russias. [1]

[Footnote 1:_Congressional Record_, Vol. 22, p. 705.--The resolution
was reported back on February 5, 1891, in the following amended form
(loc. cit., p. 2219):

_Resolved_, That the members of the House of Representatives of the
United States have heard with profound sorrow the reports of the
sufferings of the Jews in Russia; and this sorrow is intensified by
the fact that these occurrences should happen in a country which is,
and long has been the friend of the United States, which emancipated
millions of its people from serfdom, and which defended helpless
Christians in the East from persecution for their religion; and we
earnestly hope that the humanity and enlightened spirit then so
strikingly shown by His Imperial Majesty will now be manifested in
checking and mitigating the severe measures directed against men of
the Jewish religion.]

In the meantime the Department of State was flooded with protests
against the Russian atrocities.

Almost every day--Secretary of State, James G. Blaine, writes to Charles
Emory Smith, United States Minister at St. Petersburg, on February 27,
1891--communications are received on this subject; temperate, and
couched in language respectful to the Government of the Czar; but at the
same time indicative and strongly expressive of the depth and prevalence
of the sentiment of disaprobation and regret. [1]

[Footnote 1: _Foreign Relations of the United States_, 1891, p. 740.]

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