nanimous Monarch. I entreat your Excellency to
consider that the number of Hebrews who maintain
themselves by commercial enterprises is but a small
portion of the whole, for, as I had the opportunity of
seeing, most of them are either mechanics or common
labourers; they do not appear to be of idle disposition;
on the contrary, they seek work as far as they are
permitted to extend their movements. In all those
Guberniums where Israelites have the privilege of
settling, there are some of them who are tailors,
shoemakers, farriers, glaziers, &c., &c., others who
employ themselves with a more laborious occupation, as
that of a blacksmith, locksmith, bricklayer, carpenter,
&c. There is a class which may be reckoned amongst the
artizans, such as watchmakers and goldsmiths, and
another, which may be considered as a most numerous one,
is that which consists of people who break stones on the
chaussees, cut wood for fuel, or dig the ground and
carry water, or remove heavy loads from one place to
another. Your Excellency will, I believe, bear me out in
this statement, for the Israelites to this very day
remember with gratitude when your Excellency, in the
spring of 1845, feelingly expressed your approbation to
General Bulmering of his having allowed the Israelites
to break stones on the road. There is also another
instance which speaks favourably for the Israelites in
this respect. I allude to two of the finest houses at
Wilna, the one belonging to Count Teschkewetz, and the
other to the nobleman Wilgatzke, but inhabited by the
present civil Governor, both of which were entirely
constructed by the Israelites. This, I venture to say,
is a satisfactory proof of their being most anxious to
work, and if the fact of their being seen walking about
the streets without any occupation be urged against my
assertion, I may be permitted to answer in their defence
that want of work (within the boundary of those places
where they are authorised to live) may be assigned as
the cause of it; for the Israelite cannot, like his
Christian neighbour, quit one Gubernium and repair to
another, where he may be sure to find occupation.

"Indeed there are often a great many Christian labourers
to be seen in the Jewish Guberniums, in consequence of
their business being slack in their own district.

"Your Excellency will now permit me to state my humble
opinion w