ould surely equal the number of those who are
already settled in the interior, and their fate cannot
be any other than epidemic, disease, destitution, and
starvation. This, as I had the honour of hearing
personally from your Excellency, is not and never can be
the intention of that great and most benevolent Monarch
whose anxiety for the welfare of all his faithful
subjects is so well known to all the world.

"With respect to commerce, the above-named space of land
of seventeen thousand square miles, if available to the
Israelites, as was originally intended, would, in the
opinion of most of them, afford sufficient scope for
securing a flourishing state of commerce amongst them.
There are, however, some disadvantages against which the
Hebrew merchants have daily to contend, and unless these
be removed, the mere extent of land constituting the
field for their exertions would not insure to them those
advantages which they might have expected to realise
from the benevolent intentions of their illustrious
monarch. Merchants professing any other faith, either
purchase their stock in the interior of Russia, or
proceed to foreign countries and import it from them.
But the Hebrew merchants have no permission to travel
into the interior of Russia, with the exception only of
those of the first and second guilds, whose privilege is
restricted to making one journey for goods in the course
of the year to Moscow; their sojourn in that city being
limited--as respects the former to six months, and the
latter to three months. Were they permitted to visit
Moscow and other places at such times as their business
might require, they would thus have sufficient
opportunity for the necessary replenishment of their
warehouses with the newest fashions in proper season
during the year, which they cannot do if they are bound
to lay in at once a stock for the whole year; and it is
often the case that the purchases they have made in
Moscow by the time they arrive at their destination are
out of fashion. The Hebrew merchant is obliged to appear
personally at Moscow, and dares not send his agent there
to transact his business.

"Your Excellency will be pleased to consider the great
expenses he must incur before he has the opportunity of
offering his goods for sale, and the impossibility of
his becoming prosperous in business whilst he is obliged
to repair t