The last
five years of his reign had surpassed the preceding in cruelty and
tyranny. The "Don Quixote of Politics," finding that his attempts to
quarantine Russia against European influences had proved futile, that
the nationalities constituting the empire remained as distinct as ever,
and the desired homogeneity was still far from becoming a reality,
finally had lost patience and had determined to execute his
conversionist policy at all hazards. He had increased the conscription
duties, already unbearable (January 8, 1852; August 16, 1852),
restricted the study of Hebrew and Hebrew subjects still further in the
Government schools, and, as if to embitter the lives of the Jew by all
means available, insisted on the use of the Mitnaggedic ritual even in
communities exclusively or largely Hasidic.[4] Even the blood accusation
had been revived, and the statements in the pamphlet entitled
_Information about the Killing of Christians by Jews for the Purpose of
Obtaining Their Blood_, which Skripitzyn, "the manager of Jewish affairs
in Russia," published in 1844, found many believers in Government
circles, and caused the Saratoff affair which, though suppressed, ruined
numerous Jewish families, and made the breach between Jew and Gentile
wider than ever.
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