The Russian Government “had adopted a series of protective measures against the Jews,” without producing any marked effect.  Even the Conscription Statute “had succeeded to a limited extent only in altering the habits of the Jews.”  Mere promotion of agriculture and of Russian schooling had been found inadequate.  The expulsions from the villages had proved equally fruitless; “the Jews, to be sure, have been ruined, but the condition of the rustics has shown no improvement.”

It is evident, therefore—­the Council declares—­that restrictions which go only half way or are externally imposed by the police are not sufficient to direct this huge mass of people towards useful occupations.  With the patience of martyrs the Jews of Western Europe had endured the most atrocious persecutions, and had yet succeeded in keeping their national type intact until the governments took the trouble to inquire more deeply into the causes separating the Jews from general civic life, so as to be able to attack the causes themselves.

After blurting out the truth that the Government’s ultimate aim was the obliteration of the Jewish individuality, and modestly yielding the palm in inflicting “the most atrocious persecutions” upon the Jews to Western Europe, where after all they were receding into the past, while in Russia they were still the order of the day, the Council of State proceeds to consider “the example set by foreign countries,” and lingers with particular affection over the Prussian Regulation of 1797 issued by that country for its recently occupied Polish provinces—­the Prussian Emancipation Edict of 1812 the memorandum very shrewdly passes over in silence—­and on the system of compulsory schooling adopted by Austria.

Taking its clue from the West, the Council delineates three ways of bringing about “a radical transformation of this people”: 

1:  Cultural reforms, such as the establishment of special secular schools for the Jewish youth, the fight against the old-fashioned heders and melammeds, the transformation of the rabbinate, and the prohibition of Jewish dress.

2. Abolition of Jewish autonomy, consisting in the dissolution of the Kahals and the modification of the system of special Jewish taxation.

3. Increase of Jewish disabilities, by segregating from their midst all those who have no established domicile and are without a definite financial status, with a view of subjecting them to disciplinary correction through expulsions, legal restrictions, intensified conscription, and similar police measures.

In this manner—­the memorandum concludes—­it may be hoped that by co-ordinating all the particulars of this proposition with the fundamental idea of reforming the Jewish people, and by taking compulsory measures to aid, the goal of the Government will be attained.

As a result of this expose of the Council of