Nicholas I., who was originally intended for a military career, was placed on the Russian throne by a whim of fate.[1] Prior to his accession, Nicholas had shown no interest in the Jewish problem.  The Jewish masses had flitted across his vision but once—­in 1816—­when, still a young man, he traveled through Russia for his education.  The impression produced upon him by this strange people is recorded by the then grand duke in his diary in a manner fully coincident with the official views of the Government: 

[Footnote 1:  After the death of Alexander I. the Russian crown fell to his eldest brother Constantine, military commander of Poland.  Accordingly, Constantine was proclaimed emperor, and was recognized as such by Nicholas.  Constantine, however, who had secretly abdicated some time previously, insisted on resigning, and Nicholas became Tzar.]

The ruin of the peasants of these provinces [1] are the Zhyds. [2] As property-holders they are here second in importance to the landed nobility.  By their commercial pursuits they drain the strength of the hapless White Russian people....  They are everything here:  merchants, contractors, saloon-keepers, mill-owners, ferry-holders, artisans....  They are regular leeches, and suck these unfortunate governments [3] to the point of exhaustion.  It is a matter of surprise that in 1812 they displayed exemplary loyalty to us and assisted us wherever they could at the risk of their lives.

[Footnote 1:  Nicholas is speaking of White Russia.  Compare Vol.  I, pp. 329 and 406.]

[Footnote 2:  See on this term Vol.  I, p. 320, n. 2.]

[Footnote 3:  See on this term Vol.  I, p. 308, n. 1.]

The characterization of merchants, artisans, mill-owners, and ferry-holders as “leeches” could only spring from a conception which looked upon the Jews as transient foreigners, who, by pursuing any line of endeavor, could only do so at the expense of the natives and thus abused the hospitality offered to them.  No wonder then that the future Tzar was puzzled by the display of patriotic sentiments on the part of the Jewish population at the fatal juncture in the history of Russia.

This inimical view of the Jewish people was retained by Nicholas when he became the master of Russian-Jewish destinies.  He regarded the Jews as an “injurious element,” which had no place in a Slavonic Greek-Orthodox monarchy, and which therefore ought to be combated.  The Jews must be rendered innocuous, must be “corrected” and curbed by such energetic military methods as are in keeping with a form of government based upon the principles of stern tutelage and discipline.  As a result of these considerations, a singular scheme was gradually maturing in the mind of the Tzar:  to detach the Jews from Judaism by impressing them into a military service of a wholly exceptional character.