Ignatyev seized upon this flimsy theory, and embodied it in a more elaborate form in his report to the Tzar of August 22.  In this report he endeavored to prove the futility of the policy hitherto pursued by the Russian Government which “for the last twenty years [during the reign of Alexander II.] had made efforts to bring about the fusion of the Jews with the remaining population and had nearly equalized the rights of the Jews with those of the original inhabitants.”  In the opinion of the Minister, the recent pogroms had shown that “the injurious influence” of the Jews could not be suppressed by such liberal measures.

The principal source of this movement [the pogroms], which is so incompatible with the temper of the Russian people, lies—­according to Ignatyev—­in circumstances which are of an exclusively economic nature.  For the last twenty years the Jews have gradually managed to capture not only commerce and industry but they have also succeeded in acquiring, by means of purchase and lease, a large amount of landed property.  Owing to their clannishness and solidarity, they have, with few exceptions, directed their efforts not towards the increase of the productive forces [of the country] but towards the exploitation of the original inhabitants, primarily of the poorest classes of the population, with the result that they have called forth a protest from this population, manifesting itself in deplorable forms—­In violence....  Having taken energetic means to suppress the previous disorders and mob rule and to shield the Jews against violence, the Government recognizes that it is justified in adopting, without delay, no less energetic measures to remove the present abnormal relations that exist between the original inhabitants and the Jews, and to shield the Russian population against this harmful Jewish activity, which, according to local information, was responsible for the disturbances.

Alexander III. hastened to express his agreement with these views of his Minister, who assured him that the Government had taken “energetic measures” to suppress the pogroms—­which was only true in two or three recent cases.  At the same time he authorized Ignatyev to adopt “energetic measures” of genuine Russian manufacture against those who had but recently been ruined by these pogroms.

The imperial ukase published on August 22, 1831, dwells on “the abnormal relations subsisting between the original population of several governments and the Jews.”  To meet this situation it provides that in those governments which harbor a considerable Jewish population special commissions should be appointed consisting of representatives of the local estates and communes, to be presided over by the governors.  These commissions were charged with the task of finding out “which aspects of the economic activity of the Jews in general have exerted an injurious influence upon the life of the original population, and what measures, both legislative and administrative, should be adopted” for the purpose of weakening that influence.  In this way, the ukase, in calling for the appointment of the commissions, indicated at once the goal towards which their activity was to be directed:  to determine the “injurious influence” of the Jews upon Russian economic life.