States, if not incompatible with the public service, report to this House any further correspondence in relation to the Jews in Russia not already communicated to this House.” [1] [Footnote 1:  Congressional Record, Vol. 13, p. 6691.]

The resolution, which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, was finally passed by the House on February 23, 1883.

The sentiments of the broad masses of the American people had found utterance somewhat earlier at a big protest meeting which was held in February, 1882, in the city of New York, where the first refugees from Russia had begun to arrive. [1] A resolution was adopted protesting “against the spirit of medieval persecution thus revived in Russia” and calling upon the Government of the United States to make energetic representations to St. Petersburg.  One of the speakers at the New York meeting, Judge Noah Davis, said, amidst the enthusiastic applause of the audience: 

[Footnote 1:  The meeting was held on Wednesday, February 1, 1882, on the same day as the Mansion House Meeting in London.  The chair was occupied by the Mayor, William R. Grace.  See the American Hebrew of February 3, 1882, p. 138 et seq.]

Let them come!  I would to Heaven it were in our power to take the whole three million Jews of Russia.  The valley of the Mississippi alone could throw her strong arms around, and draw them all to her opulent bosom, and bless them with homes of comfort, prosperity, and happiness.  Thousands of them are praying to come.  The throne of Jehovah is besieged with prayers for the powers of escape, and if they cannot live in peace under Russian laws without being subject to these awful persecutions, let us aid them in coming to us. [1]

[Footnote 1:  See Proceedings of Meetings held February 1, 1882, at New York and London, to Express Sympathy with the Oppressed Jews in Russia.  New York, p. 20 et seq.]

These words of the speaker, uttered in a moment of oratorical exultation, voiced the secret wish cherished by many enthusiasts of the Russian ghetto.

3.  THE PROBLEM OF EMIGRATION AND THE POGROM AT BALTA

In Russia itself a large number of emigration societies came into being about the same time, which had for their object the transfer of Russian Jews to the United States, the land of the free.  The organizers of these societies evidently relied on some miraculous assistance from the outside, such as the Alliance Israelite of Paris and similar Jewish bodies in Europe and America.  Under the immediate effect of Ignatyev’s statement to Dr. Orshanski in which the Russian Minister referred to the “Western frontier” as the only escape for the Jews, the Russian-Jewish press was flooded with reports from hundreds of cities, particularly in the South of Russia, telling of the formation, of emigrant groups.  “Our poor classes have only one hope left to them, that of leaving the country.  ‘Emigration, America,’ are the slogans of our brethren”—­this phrase occurs at that time with stereotyped frequency in all the reports from the provinces.