wly annexed provinces
and elsewhere. But they remained in full force in relation to the
Jews, living in towns. But since all the Jews were registered as
townspeople, this restriction coincided with the limits of their
nationality. Hence arose the "Pale" which assumed the character of a
national disability. Thus, the problem of Jewish disabilities was
practically solved before the legislator ever formulated the Jewish
question.

For this reason, in the times of Catherine II, when the main features
of the future Jewish disabilities were becoming a fact, the Government
did not solve the general Jewish question in principle. Likewise,
during the entire century which followed Catherine's reign, that is,
all through the nineteenth century, our legislation was in a state of
constant indecision.

A brief historical survey will show plainly the accuracy of this
statement. In 1795 the Jews who lived in the villages of the Province
of Minsk were ordered to move to the towns. In the following year they
were permitted to stay in the villages, because the landed proprietors
employed them as agents for the sale of whiskey. In the year 1801 a
new edict again expels the Jews from the villages. In 1802 the Senate
rules that they must stay in their former places of residence. In
1804--the year that saw the first Regulation concerning the Jews--they
are ordered to be expelled within three years from the villages
throughout the country. But in 1808 before the term expires the law is
found impracticable. The Jews again remained where they had been
established, their status being subject to further regulation. Then
the Committee of the year 1812 came to the conclusion that the law of
1804 must be completely abrogated, in view of its being unjust and
dangerous. Between 1812 and 1827 the mood of the legislation is again
altered and prohibitive measures follow one another. In 1835, these
measures are once more found to be useless and inefficient. In 1852,
expulsions are renewed, but a few years later, with the beginning of
the liberal reign of Alexander II, this policy is again abandoned and
an interval of rest and quiet, covering a quarter of a century, is
inaugurated. Then the temporary Regulations of 1882 undertake to
prohibit new Jewish settlements outside of towns. Former settlements,
although illegal, were legalised and exempted from persecution. But in
1893 all the Jews who had illegally settled in the villages were again
ordered to be