One hundred years ago
The emigration of Jews from Russia has evidently reached considerable propor- tions. Besides some 3,000 Jews who have gone to America, and some hundreds of families on their way to Palestine, a swarm of exiles, all exceedingly poor, have poured into Hungary, Galicia, and Romania, to the dismay of the native in- , habitants. The Diets of all three coun- tries are discussing the invasion, and manifest strong antipathy to the Jews, chiefly on the old ground that they will absorb the wealth of the poorer classes among whom they settle. The Times's correspondent, who dates from St. Petersburg, estimates the total number of emigrants at 228,000 families; but there is evidently a mistake of a cypher, as a million of souls could not have been moved in the time, or with the means of the Jews. A persistent rumour attributes to Count Ignatieff a plan of compelling all Jews to emigrate, but no motive is ap- parent for such an outrage.
Spectator, 20 May 1882
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