t was being
perpetrated upon the Jews in the Empire of the Tzar.

While decimating the Jews, the Russian Government was at the same time
anxious that their cries of distress should not penetrate beyond the
Russian border. Just about that time Russia was negotiating a foreign
loan, in which the Rothschilds of Paris were expected to take a leading
part, and found it rather inconvenient to stand forth in the eyes of
Europe as the ghost of medieval Spain. It was this consideration which
prompted the softened and ambiguous formulation of the Moscow expulsion
decree and made the Government suppress systematically all mention of
what happened afterwards.

Notwithstanding these efforts, the cries of distress were soon heard all
over Europe. The Russian censorship had no power over the public opinion
outside of Russia. The first Moscow refugees, who had reached Berlin,
Paris, and London, reported what was going on at Moscow. Already in
April, 1891, the European financial press began to comment on the fact
that "the Jewish population of Russia is altogether irreplaceable in
Russian commercial life, forming a substantial element which contributes
to the prosperity of the country," and that, therefore, "the expulsion
of the Jews must of necessity greatly alarm the owners of Russian
securities who are interested in the economic progress of Russia." Soon
afterwards it became known that Alphonse de Rothschild, the head of the
great financial firm in Paris, refused to take a hand in floating the
Russian loan of half a billion. This first protest of the financial king
against the anti-Semitic policy of the Russian Government produced a
sensation, and it was intensified by the fact that it was uttered in
France at a time when the diplomats of both countries were preparing to
celebrate the Franco-Russian alliance which was consummated a few months
afterwards.

The expulsion from Moscow found a sympathetic echo on the other side of
the Atlantic. President Harrison took occasion, in a message to
Congress, to refer to the sufferings of the Jews and to the probable
effects of the Russian expulsions upon America:

This Government has found occasion to express in a friendly spirit,
but with much earnestness, to the Government of the Czar its serious
concern because of the harsh measures now being enforced against the
Hebrews in Russia. By the revival of anti-Semitic laws, long in
abeyance, great numbers of those unfortunate people