History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II | Page 4

Alexander I's reign, and had
caused a great deal of alarm among the Jewish communities. Nicholas I.
was now resolved to carry this plan into effect. Not satisfied with
imposing a civil obligation upon a people deprived of civil rights, the
Tzar desired to use the Russian military service, a service marked by
most extraordinary features, as an educational and disciplinary agency
for his Jewish subjects: the barrack was to serve as a school, or rather
as a factory, for producing a new generation of de-Judaized Jews, who
were completely Russified, and, if possible, Christianized.
[Footnote 1: See Vol. I, p. 318.]
The extension of the term of military service, marked by the ferocious
discipline of that age, to a period of twenty-five years, the enrolment of
immature lads or practically boys, their prolonged separation from a
Jewish environment, and finally the employment of such methods as
were likely to produce an immediate effect upon the recruits in the
desired direction--all this was deemed an infallible means of dissolving
Russian Jewry within the dominant nation, nay, within the dominant
Church. It was a direct and simplified scheme which seemed to lead in
a straight line to the goal. But had the ruling spheres of St. Petersburg

known the history of the Jewish people, they might have realized that
the annihilation of Judaism had in past ages been attempted more than
once by other, no less forcible, means and that the attempt had always
proved a failure.
In the very first year of the new reign, the plan of transforming the Jews
by "military" methods was firmly settled in the emperor's mind. In
1826 Nichola instructed his ministers to draft a special statute of
military service for the Jews, departing in some respects from the
general law. In view of the fact that the new military reform was
intended to include the Western region [1], which was under the
military command of the Tzar's brother. Grand Duke Constantine [2],
the draft was sent to him to Warsaw for further suggestions and
approval, and was in turn transmitted by the grand duke to Senator
Nicholas Novosiltzev, his co-regent [3], for investigation and report. As
an experienced statesman, who had familiarized himself during his
administrative activity with the Jewish conditions obtaining in the
Western region, Novosiltzev realized the grave risks involved in the
imperial scheme. In a memorandum submitted by him to the grand
duke, he argued convincingly that the sudden imposition of military
service upon the Jews was bound to cause an undesirable agitation
among them, and that they should, on the contrary, be slowly "prepared
for such a radical transformation."
[Footnote 1: The official designation for the territories of Western
Russia which were formerly a part of the Polish Empire.]
[Footnote 2: Constantine was appointed by his brother Alexander I,
Commander-in-chief of the Polish army after the restoration of Poland
in 1815. He remained in this post until his death in 1831. See also
above, p. 13, n. 2.]
[Footnote 3: He was the imperial Russian Commissary in Warsaw, and
was practically in control of the affairs in Poland. See below, p. 92 et
seq.]
Novosiltzev was evidently well informed about the state of mind of the
Jewish masses. No sooner had the rumor of the proposed ukase reached

the Pale of Settlement than the Jews were seized by a tremendous
excitement. It must be borne in mind that the Jewish population of
Western Russia had but recently been incorporated into the Russian
Empire. Clinging with patriarchal devotion to their religion, estranged
from the Russian people, and kept, moreover, in a state of civil
rightlessness, the Jews of that region could not be reasonably expected
to gloat over the prospect of a military service of twenty-five years'
duration, which was bound to alienate their sons from their ancestral
faith, detach them from their native tongue, their habits and customs of
life, and throw them into a strange, and often hostile, environment. The
ultimate aim of the project, which, imbedded in the mind of its
originators, seemed safely hidden from the eye of publicity, was
quickly sensed by the delicate national instinct, and the soul of the
people was stirred to its depths. Public-minded Jews strained every
nerve to avert the calamity. Jewish representatives journeyed to St.
Petersburg and Warsaw to plead the cause of their brethren.
Negotiations were entered into with dignitaries of high rank and with
men of influence in the world of officialdom. Rumor had it that
immense bribes had been offered to Novosiltzev and several high
officials in St. Petersburg for the purpose of receiving their
co-operation. But even the intercession of leading dignitaries was
powerless to change the will of the Tzar. He chafed under the red-tape
formalities which obstructed the realization of his favorite scheme.
Without waiting for