savagery since the Black Death massacres in the 14th century. As the
facts gradually filtered through to the western capitals they caused a
thrill of horror everywhere. An indignation meeting held at the Mansion
House in London, under the presidency of the lord mayor, was the signal
for a long series of popular demonstrations condemning the persecutions,
held in most of the chief cities of England and the continent.

Except as stimulated by the Judeophobe revival in Germany the Russian
outbreak in its earlier forms does not belong specifically to modern
anti-Semitism. It was essentially a medieval uprising animated by the
religious fanaticism, gross superstition and predatory instincts of a
people still in the medieval stage of their development. This is proved
by the fact that, although the Russian peasant was supposed to be a
victim of unbearable Jewish "exploitation," he was not moved to riot
until he had been brutalized by drink and excited by the old fable of
the Blood Accusation. The modern anti-Semitic element came from above
and followed closely on the heels of the riots. It has been freely
charged against the Russian government that it promoted the riots in
1881 in order to distract popular attention from the Nihilist propaganda
and from the political disappointments involved in the cancellation of
the previous tsar's constitutional project (Lazare, _L'Antisemitisme_,
p. 211). This seems to be true of General Ignatiev, then minister of the
interior, and the secret police (Semenoff, _The Russian Government and
the Massacres_, pp. 17, 32, 241). It is certain that the local
authorities, both civil and military, favoured the outbreak, and took no
steps to suppress it, and that the feudal bureaucracy who had just
escaped a great danger were not sorry to see the discontented populace
venting their passions on the Jews. In the higher circles of the
government, however, other views prevailed. The tsar himself was at
first persuaded that the riots were the work of Nihilists, and he
publicly promised his protection to the Jews. On the other hand, his
ministers, ardent Slavophils, thought they recognized in the outbreak an
endorsement of the nationalist teaching of which they were the apostles,
and, while reprobating the acts of violence, came to the conclusion that
the most reasonable solution was to aggravate the legal disabilities of
the persecuted aliens and heretics. To this view the tsar was won over,
partly by the c