With an imperfect knowledge of the facts we are hardly in a position to judge of the action which the Russian Government has seen fit to take against its Jewish subjects. On the surface it certainly appears that a great wrong has been done, a wrong which is also a blunder, but we must remember that we have not yet heard what there is to be urged on the other side. We can scarcely be expected to credit without adequate proof all the hearsay tales of Russian oppression. Isolated instances do not suffice. If a Russian were to make a collection of all the instances of murder, outrage, and misery which unhappily still stain the annals of our law-courts, he would hardly present to his compatriots a faithful picture of English life. Is there not just a possibility that we may be condemning Russia on somewhat similar evidence? It is said,--one cannot say how truly,--that the system of usury and extortion practised by many of the Russian Jews upon the peasantry has, in a large measure, tended to bring about the present state of things. Again we are told that the increase of Russian Jews has of late been so rapid that there is a danger, if things go on at the present rate, of the orthodox Slavs being swamped by a section of the population little in sympathy with the Government under which they live. These are some of the reasons, we are informed, which have led to the adoption of harsh measures against the Russian Jews. On the surface such reasons seem very inadequate, and with the measures which are said to flow from them no right-thinking man can have sympathy. For her difficulties with her Jewish population Russia has only herself to thank. The long years of oppression to which they have been subjected have degraded them, until their ignorance and dislike of their masters have become a danger to the State. Anything which savours of a religious persecution is abhorrent to all liberal-minded men; and if it be true, as alleged, that the present sufferings of the Russian Jews are inflicted upon them because of their faith, then our sympathies with the victims of such an unholy persecution cannot be too great. At the same time we are not in a position to dictate to Russia. Some zealous and well-meaning people tried the experiment at a meeting at the Mansion House last year, with the result that they were virtually told to mind their own business. The "protest," however, had one unfortunate consequence. The repressive measures were made more drastic than before, and the unfortunate Hebrews, naturally interpreting the sympathy shown to them as an inducement to come here, have since arrived upon our hospitable shores in greater numbers than before. In support of this opinion may be quoted the following paragraph which appeared in the supplement of the _St. Petersburger Zeitung_ last June.