It must be added, however, that the opinions voiced by the Commission in its memorandum were by no means shared by its entire membership.  For while the majority of the Commission were in favor of gradual reforms, the minority advocated the continuation of the old repressive policy.  Owing to these internal disagreements, the Commission was slow in submitting its conclusions to the Government.  One more attempt was made to procrastinate the matter.  At the end of 1888 the Commission invited a group of Jewish “experts,” being desirous, as it were, to listen to the last words of the prisoner at the bar.  The choice fell upon the same Jewish notables of St. Petersburg, who had displayed so little courage at the Jewish conference of 1882. [1] The cross-examination of these Jewish representatives turned on the question of the internal Jewish organization, the existence of a secret Kahal, the purposes of the “basket tax,” [2] and so on.  Needless to say the replies were given in an apologetic spirit.  The Jewish “experts” renounced the idea of a self-governing communal Jewish organization, and pleaded merely for a limited communal autonomy under the strict supervision of the Government.  True, a few of the questions referred besides to the legal position of the Jews, but this was done more as a matter of form.  Everybody knew that the opinion of the majority of the Commission, favoring “cautious and gradual” reforms, did not have the same prospects of success as the views of the anti-Semitic minority which advocated the continuance of the old-time repressive policy.

[Footnote 1:  See p. 304 et seq.  In addition to those mentioned, M. Margolis was invited as an expert.]

[Footnote 2:  See above, p. 61, n. 1.]

Soon the worst apprehensions proved to be true.  Count Tolstoi, the reactionary Minister of the Interior, blocked the further progress of the plans formulated by the Pahlen Commission which should have been submitted in due course to the Council of State.  There were persistent rumors to the effect that Alexander III., being decidedly in favor of continuing the policy of oppression towards the Jews, had “attached himself to the opinion of the minority” of the Pahlen Commission.  According to another version, the question was actually brought up before the Council of State, and there, too, the anti-Semites proved to be in the minority, but the Tzar threw the weight of his opinion on their side.  The project of the Commission, being out of harmony with the current Government policies, was disposed of at some secret session of leading dignitaries.  The labor of five years was buried in the official archives.