The Committee of Jewish Affairs of the
year 1803 plainly established this regulation: "the maximum of freedom
and the minimum of limitations." The second Committee, whose
activities fall in the period from 1807 to 1812, proved even more
thoroughgoing, for it was more familiar with the conditions of Russian
life. It asserted that the Jews are useful and necessary for the
Russian village. It added, furthermore, that the negative, dark
phenomena which are attributed by some to the presence of Jews in the
villages, in reality are characteristic of Russian life in general,
and cannot be said to be due to the Jewish influence. This was also
the opinion of the minority of the Imperial Council in 1835. In 1858,
the Minister of the Interior himself demanded equal rights for the
Jews, and the reactionary Committee on Jewish affairs agreed to the
demand on the sole condition that the disabilities should be removed
gradually, from various Jewish groups. The new Committee of 1872 acted
even more vigorously.
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