His fellow champions were
representatives of different nationalities such as Bruce, Bauer,
Repnin, Menshicov and Yaguzhinsky. As to Catherine the Second, our
code of laws still retains the expression of her wish that all the
peoples of Russia, each according to the precepts of its religion,
should pray to the Almighty for the welfare of its rulers, and should
all be equally benefited by its government.
In his "Principles of the Russian Governmental Law" Professor
Gradovsky says: "In the reign of Peter the Great there were no general
regulations concerning the Jews." Measures against the Jews date from
the reign of Catherine the First. During the reign of Catherine the
Second, little was added to the existing array of limitations. In the
districts in which the first Partition of Poland found them, the Jews
at that time enjoyed almost all the rights of the native Russian
citizen. Although the Empress recognized the "Pale of Settlement"
created in the reign of Peter the Second, she, nevertheless, stretched
its boundaries to include not only Little Russia but also the
Vice-Royalty of Ekaterinoslav and the province of Taurida, wherein the
Jews were granted all rights of citizenship.
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