[8] The Government, nevertheless, remained as stubbornly
determined as ever, and unable to turn all the children into Cantonists,
it decided to have those who remained at home gradually converted by
means of a method worked out by the Minister of Education, Uvarov. They
were forced to attend what became known as Government schools, though
maintained exclusively with Jewish funds. In order to win the confidence
of the Jews for the project, Doctor Lilienthal, whose speech at the
dedication of the Riga School secured him a diamond ring as a token of
the czar's approval, was sent from St. Petersburg on a mission of
investigation, more especially of persuasion.
For more than three years Lilienthal was one of the most popular
personages in Europe. The eyes of all who had the amelioration of the
lot of the Russian Jew at heart, it may be said the eyes of the
civilized world, were fixed upon him as an epoch-maker in the history of
the Jews. Nature had formed him, physically and mentally, to be a leader
among his people, and his training and temperament made it easy for him
to ingratiate himself into the favor of the great.
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