ernment, that they speak with enthusiasm of the
magnanimity of their mighty Sovereign; and declare their
readiness at all times and under all circumstances to
serve their country to their latest breath.

"It did not, however, escape my notice that there exist
some obstacles which prevent the benign rays of His
Majesty's mercy from imparting to His Hebrew subjects
the full measure of comfort to which the wise and just
general laws of the Russian Government would entitle
them; I therefore, with your Excellency's permission,
will now briefly repeat the advantages granted to them
by their excellent Monarch, and venture to describe
briefly to what extent and by what measures they are
administered to the Israelites. I shall, at the same
time, not withhold from your Excellency some
observations upon the charges preferred against them,
which I will leave to the wise and profound judgment and
candid and indulgent consideration of your Excellency.

"In the document your Excellency was pleased to hand me
it is stated to the effect--That the union of the Polish
Provinces with Russia was for the Israelites a new
epoch; that the Imperial Government not only allowed
them, like its other subjects, to partake of all civil
rights, and granted them permission to be received in
the corporation of the body of town merchants, but also
accorded them the privilege of taking part in the
elections, and of being themselves eligible to become
members of common councils, and to fill other local
offices. Besides this, they were permitted to acquire
immoveable property, and to settle as agriculturists,
either on their own estates or on the lands of the
crown, in which latter case Government also granted them
support and freedom from all taxes, the Israelites also
enjoying the right of settling in seventeen Governments
(a superficies of 17,000 square miles) among a
population of twenty millions of inhabitants, in
countries where, by means of the harbours of the Black
Sea (and in part through those of the Baltic), a lively
commercial intercourse is kept up both in Russia and
with foreign countries, have had, it is stated, all
possible means in their hands of turning their activity
to useful objects, and of establishing their prosperity
upon a safe basis.

"The knowledge that such privileges have been accorded
cannot but excite a deep and universal gratitud