The inquiry of the Ministry of the Interior regarding the feasibility of such an “assortment” met with a strongly-worded rebuttal from the governor-general of New Russia, Vorontzov.  While on a leave of absence in London, this Russian dignitary, who had evidently been affected by English ideas, prepared a memorandum and sent it, in October, 1843, to St. Petersburg with the request to have it submitted to the Tzar.

I venture to think—­quoth Vorontzov with reference to the projected segregation of the “useless” Jews—­that the application of the term “useless” to several hundred thousand people who by the will of the Almighty have lived In this Empire from ancient times is in itself both cruel and unjust.  The project labels as “useless” all those numerous Jews who are engaged either in the retail purchase of goods from their original manufacturers for delivery to wholesale merchants, or in the useful distribution among the consumers of the merchandise obtained from the wholesalers.  Judging impartially, one cannot help wondering how these numerous tradesmen can be regarded as useless and consequently as detrimental, if one bears in mind that by their petty and frequently maligned pursuits they promote
  not only rural but also commercial life.

The atrocious scheme of “assorting” the Jews is nailed down by Vorontzov as “a bloody operation over a whole class of people,” which is threatened “not only with hardships, but also with annihilation through poverty.”

I venture to think—­with these words Vorontzov concludes his memorandum—­that this measure is both harmful, and cruel.  On the one side, hundreds of thousands of hands which assist petty industry in the provinces will be turned aside, when there is no possibility, and for a long time there will be none, of replacing them.  On the other side, the cries and moans of such an enormous number of unfortunates will serve as a reproach to our Government not only in our own country but also beyond the confines of Russia.

Since the time of Speranski and the like-minded members of the “Jewish Committee” of 1803 and 1812[1] the leading spheres of St. Petersburg had had no chance to hear such courageous and truthful words.  Vorontzov’s objections implied a crushing criticism of the whole fallacious economic policy of the Government in branding the petty tradesmen and middlemen as an injurious element and building thereon a whole system of anti-Jewish persecutions and cruelties.  But St. Petersburg was not amenable to reason.  The only concession wrested from the “Jewish Committee” consisted in replacing the term “useless” as applied to small tradesmen by the designation “not engaged in productive labor.”

[Footnote 1:  See Vol.  I, p. 340.]