then grand duke in his diary in a manner fully coincident with the
official views of the Government:

[Footnote 1: After the death of Alexander I. the Russian crown fell to
his eldest brother Constantine, military commander of Poland.
Accordingly, Constantine was proclaimed emperor, and was recognized as
such by Nicholas. Constantine, however, who had secretly abdicated some
time previously, insisted on resigning, and Nicholas became Tzar.]

The ruin of the peasants of these provinces [1] are the Zhyds. [2] As
property-holders they are here second in importance to the landed
nobility. By their commercial pursuits they drain the strength of
the hapless White Russian people.... They are everything here:
merchants, contractors, saloon-keepers, mill-owners, ferry-holders,
artisans.... They are regular leeches, and suck these unfortunate
governments [3] to the point of exhaustion. It is a matter of
surprise that in 1812 they displayed exemplary loyalty to us and
assisted us wherever they could at the risk of their lives.

[Footnote 1: Nicholas is speaking of White Russia. Compare Vol. I, pp.
329 and 406.]

[Footnote 2: See on this term Vol. I, p. 320, n. 2.]

[Footnote 3: See on this term Vol. I, p. 308, n. 1.]

The characterization of merchants, artisans, mill-owners, and
ferry-holders as "leeches" could only spring from a conception which
looked upon the Jews as transient foreigners, who, by pursuing any line
of endeavor, could only do so at the expense of the natives and thus