of his land, is perfectly groundless. There are many other
means whereby the tiller of the soil may be assured the possession of
a portion of land. In the West we have systems such as that of the
homestead, based on the inalienability of the family property (_bien
de famille_). Such systems may be traced back as far as the Middle
Ages. The mediaeval law forbids the taking away from the peasant, even
for arrearage, of his agricultural implements and the cattle necessary
for his labour,--not to speak of his land, which, however, it would be
impossible to take away, since it is the suzerain that is its rightful
owner. The indivisibility of the family estate, which only a short
time ago was recognised by the Appellatory Division of our Senate,
with reference to the Western Section, was achieving the same results
because for the sale of such property the agreement of all the members
of the family was required. Such a protection of the interests of the
peasant landowner is essential in his relation to the capitalist,
whether it be a member of the landed gentry or a wealthy peasant,
known as a _Kulak_, or a Jew who lends money at interest, or an
Armenian or, for that matter, a usurer of the Orthodox faith. In order
that the land be retained by the peasant it is far more essential that
only members of the peasant class be allowed to attend the auction
sales of land sold because of the owner's arrears. And yet our law has
permitted outsiders to attend if not the first auction sale, at least
the second. I am strongly in favour of protecting the peasant's
property, but I cannot see that to achieve this goal, it is necessary
for a body politic based on law to limit any one's freedom of moving
about, settling or choosing a profession. This view is shared by some
of the political writers in Russia who, like the late B.N. Chicherin,
Professor of the University of Moscow, have identified their names
with the defence of the idea of equal rights for the Jews.

* * * * *

THE JEWISH QUESTION AS A RUSSIAN QUESTION

_Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky occupies an important place in
modern Russian letters and religious philosophy. He is
responsible for several books of poems and for a series of
ponderous historical novels. He is also the author of numerous
critical studies distinguished by an original method and an
extraordinary brilliancy. He was born in 1866._

THE JEWISH QUE