Less horrifying, but equally aiming at disintegration, was Nicholas's
scheme of colonization. What better means was there for "diminishing the
number of Jews" than to scatter them over the wilderness of Russia and
leave them to shift for themselves? This, of course, was necessarily a
slow process and one involving some expense, but it was fraught with
great importance not only for the Russian Church, but for Russian trade
and agriculture as well.

"Back to the soil!" Was not this the cry of the romantic Maskilim in
Germany, in Galicia, and particularly in Russia? And have not country
life and field labor been depicted by them in the most glowing colors?
Here was an opportunity to save the honor of the Jewish name and also
ameliorate the material condition of the Russian Jews. The permission
given to them by Alexander I to establish themselves as farmers in the
frigid yet free Siberian steppes was greeted with enthusiasm by all.
Nicholas's ukase was hailed with joy. Elias Mitauer and Meyer
Mendelssohn, at the head of seventy families from Courland, were the
first to migrate to the new region (1836), and they were followed by
hundreds more. Indeed, the exodus assumed such proportions that the
Christians in the parts of the country abandoned by the colonists
complained of the decline in business and the depreciation of property.
The movement was heartily approved by the rabbis; the populace, its
imagination stimulated, began to dream dreams and see visions of
brighter days, and all gave vent to their hopefulness in songs of
gladness and gratitude, in strains like these:[37]

Who lives so free
As the farmer on his land?
His farm his companion is,
His never-failing friend.

His sleep to him is sweet
After a hearty meal;
Neither grief nor worry
The farmer-man doth feel.

He rises very early
To start betimes his toil,
Healthy and very happy
On his ever-smiling soil.

O blessings on our czar,
Czar Nikolai, then be,
Who granted us this gladness,
And bade the Jews be free.

Alas, this joy was of short duration! Very soon Nicholas became
suspicious of his Siberian colonization scheme, that it was in reality a
philanthropic measure, and in place of saving the Jew's soul it only
promoted his physical well-being. This suspicion grew into a conviction
when he learned that the Jewish community at Tomsk, still faithful to
the heritage of Israel, applied for permission to a