In the same year an imperial ukase declared that “the residence of civilian Jews in the cities of Sevastopol and Nicholayev was inconvenient and injurious,” in view of the military and naval importance of these places, and therefore decreed the expulsion of their Jewish residents:  those owning real property within two years, the others within one year.  By a new ukase issued in 1830 the Jews were expelled from the villages and hamlets of the government of Kiev.  Thus were human beings hurled about from village to town, from city to city, from province to province, with no more concern than might be displayed in the transportation of cattle.

This process of “mobilization” had reached its climax when the Polish insurrection of 1830-1831 broke out, affecting the whole Western region. [1] Fearing lest the persecuted Jews might be driven into the arms of the Poles, the Government decided on a strategic retreat.  In February, 1831, in consequence of the representations of the local military commander, who urged the Government “to take into consideration the present political circumstances, in which they (the Jews) may occasionally prove useful,” the final expulsion of the Jews from Kiev was postponed for three years.  At the end of the three years, the governor of Kiev made similar representations to St. Petersburg, emphasizing the desirability of allowing the Jews to remain in the city, even though it might become necessary to segregate them in a special quarter, “this (i.e., their remaining in the city) being found useful also in this respect that, on account of their temperate and simple habits of life, they are in a position to sell their goods considerably cheaper, whereas in the case of their expulsion many articles and manufactures will rise in price.”  Nicholas I. rejected this plea, and only agreed to postpone the expulsion until February, 1835, for the reason that the new “Statute Concerning the Jews,” then in preparation, which was to define the general legal status of Russian Jewry, was expected to be ready by that time.  Similar short reprieves were granted to the Jews about to be exiled from Nicholayev, from the villages of the government of Kiev, and from other places.

[Footnote 1:  See above, p. 16, n. 1.]

5.  THE CODIFICATION OF JEWISH DISABILITIES

No sooner had the conscription ukase been issued than the bureaucrats of St. Petersburg began to apply themselves in the hidden recesses of their chancelleries to a new civil code for the Jews, which was to supersede the antiquated Statute of 1804.  The work passed through a number of departments.  The projected enactment was framed by the “Jewish Committee,” which had been established in 1823 for the purpose of bringing about “a reduction of the number of Jews in the monarchy,” and consisted of cabinet ministers and the chiefs of departments. [1] Originally the department chiefs had elaborated a draft covering 1230 clauses, a gigantic code of disabilities; evidently founded on the principle that in the case of Jews everything is forbidden which, is not permitted by special legislation.  The dimensions of the draft were such that even the Government was appalled and decided to turn it over to the ministerial members of the Committee.