One hundred years ago
Nothing can be more horrible than the account given in The Times of the outrages of which the Jews in Russia have been the victims during the past year. It is natural to suspect that, in some particulars, the crimes committed have been exaggerated in the too just belief that unless popular passion is positively inhuman in its manifestations, it will, nowadays, be passed over as scarcely worthy of notice. But there can hardly be anything more than exaggera- tion in The Times' account, even if there be as much as that. For example, the number of outrages upon women may be put down as greater than it actually was, but the prominence which this class of crime assumes on every occasion in- dicates that it was not regarded as an im- probable accompaniment of an anti- Jewish riot in Russia. Even if we take the facts as given in The Times with a large allowance for inaccuracies of this kind, the residuum will still be sufficient to make the narrative one of singular and lurid significance. The incidents of these riots show what an ordinarily gentle and kindly people can become in a revolu- tionary paroxysm. Taken in conjunction with the similar light thrown on the Rus- sian character by the deeds of the Nihilists, the omen is a bad one. A Rus- sian Professor was once heard to boast that when the Reign of Terror did come in his country, the French Reign of Ter- ror would be nothing to it. The events of the last year give some colour to the amiable vanity of this simple soul.
Spectator, 14 January 1882
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