The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1891. RUSSIAN JEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2187, 11 April 1891, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1891. RUSSIAN JEWS.

Fob years western Europe has been shocked by the brutal treatment to which Jews are subject in Russia. They have been driven from their homes, plundered, harassed, murdered in cold blood, and hunted literally speaking to-deatb. It appears too that there is not the slightest disposition on the part of the Russian authorities to mitigate the severity of the regulations made for their punishment. Recently the Lord Mayor of London addressed an ifluentially signed petition to the Czar of Russia on the subject of the persecution of the Jews and the reply he recived was as follows;—“ My Lord, —The Russian Ambassador has requested the Marquis of Salisbury to cause to be returned to your Lordship the letter which you addressed to bis Majesty the Emperor of Russia on the 24th ult., with the memorial which accompanied it respecting the position of the Jews in Russia, and I am accordingly directed by his Lorhship to transmit to you those papers herewith.” This was signed by a clerk in the British foreign office, and it is practically as much as to say “ mind your own business” This shows plainly that it is very little use for outsiders to intercede with the Czar on behalf of the Jews, unless such intercession is backed up by a powerful army. It is not probable that any power will undertake such a task and therefore the Jews of Russia must continue to bear their very heavy burdens. One of the latest regulations made for Jews is that they shall not travel from place to place except on foot, and under police surveilance. Writing on this subject the Sfc, Petersburgh correspondent of the London Times says:— “ One can imagine what power this gives the police over the Jews, and what a field if offers for the development of bribery and corruption. If the Russian Jews received equal rights with all other Russian subjects, the police would lose one of their most lucrative sources of income. I bis is a point too often forgotten among the friends of the Russian Jews in England.”

Thus in addition to other persecutions they are put in the way of being swindled by the police. It is very often that European powers entered, upon wars less just than one to compel Russia to treat her subjects honestly.