r than those which are or may be imposed upon native subjects.

(Bernhardt: _op. cit._, pp. 721, 724-725.)

* * * * *

_Interpretation by Great Britain, 1862 and 1881. Despatch from Lord
Granville to H.B.M. Ambassador at St. Petersburg._

_Earl Granville to Sir E. Thornton._

FOREIGN OFFICE,

_December 28th, 1881_.

SIR,--In my preceding despatch of to-day I have discussed the question
whether Mr. Lewisohn, in the arbitrary expulsion from Russia to which he
was subjected in September of last year, was treated in accordance with
the Russian law as applied to foreign Jews. It now remains to be
considered whether Her Majesty's Government are entitled to claim for a
British subject of the Jewish faith immunity from the operation of these
laws, under the Treaty between Great Britain and Russia of 1859.

It will be seen that Article I of that Treaty secures to foreigners the
same rights as are enjoyed by native subjects generally, but the
stipulations of that Article are not to affect the laws, decrees, and
special regulations regarding commerce, industry and police in vigour in
each of the two countries, and applicable to foreigners generally; and
again, by Article XI, they are not to be subjected to imposts or
obligations of any kind whatever other and greater than those which are
or may be imposed on native subjects.

The Treaty is no doubt open to two possible constructions: the one, that
it only assures to British subjects of any particular creed the same
privileges as are enjoyed by Russian subjects of the same creed; the
other that the privileges accorded to British subjects are accorded to
all alike, without regard to the religious body to which they belong.

If the latter construction be adopted, British Jews in Russia would be
entitled to be relieved from the disabilities to which native Jews are
liable, but such a construction would also involve the supposition that
Russia had agreed to create a state of things inconsistent with the
traditions of her Government, which could not fail to be a source of
embarrassment to her.

Upon an examination of the archives of this Department, it has been
found that the position of the Jews in Russia formed the subject of a
complaint from certain British subjects of that religion at Warsaw in
1862, and that Her Majesty's Government then came to the conclusion that
they would not be justified in claiming exemption for British Jews in