the Jewish Passover, when in
the synagogues of Moscow which were filled with worshippers an alarming
whisper ran from mouth to mouth telling of the publication of an
imperial ukase ordering the expulsion of the Jews from the city. Soon
afterwards the horror-stricken Jews read in the papers the following
imperial order, dated March 28:

Jewish mechanics, distillers, brewers, and, in general, master
workmen and artisans shall be forbidden to remove from the Jewish
Pale of Settlement as well as to come over from other places of the
Empire to the City and Government of Moscow.

This prohibition of settling in Moscow _anew_ was only one half of the
edict. The second, more terrible half, was published on the following
day:

A recommendation shall be made to the Minister of the Interior,
after consultation with the Governor-General of Moscow, to see to it
that measures be taken to the effect that the above-mentioned Jews
should gradually depart from the City and Government of Moscow into
the places established for the permanent residence of the Jews.

At first sight it seemed difficult to realize that this harmless surface
of the ukase, with its ambiguous formulation, [1] concealed a cruel
decree ordering the uprooting of thousands of human beings. But those
who were to execute this written law received definite unwritten
instructions which were carried out according to all the rules of the
strategic game.

[Footnote 1: The Byzantine perfidy of this formulation lies in the
phrase "above-mentioned Jews," which gives the impression of referring
to those that had "removed" to Moscow from other parts of the Empire,
i.e., settled there _anew_, whereas the real object of the law was to
expel _all_ the Jews of the "above-mentioned" categories of master
workmen and artisans, even though they may have lived in the city for
many years. This amounted to a repeal, illegally enacted outside the
Council of State, of the law of 1865, conferring the right of universal
residence upon Jewish artisans. Moreover, the enactment was given
retroactive force--a step which even the originators of the "Temporary
Rules" of May 3 were not bold enough to make. In distinction from the
May Laws, the present decree was not even submitted to the Council of
Ministers, where a discussion of it might have been demanded; it was
passed as an extraordinary measure, at the suggestion of the Ministry of
the Interior represented by Durnovo and