The Jews are seldom to be met with anywhere but in Courland, for in Livonia and Esthonia a Jew is actually prohibited from remaining more than twenty-four hours in any town or city. In Courland, however, they are found everywhere, in the towns., villages, and Edelhqfen, where they occupy themselves in agriculture, and in different mechanical arts, as smith?, carpenters, masons, &c. In the towns they are also tailors, tinkers, glaziers, shoemakers, brokers, and shopkeepers ; but the hackney-coachmen in the towns, and the innkeepers and brandy-dealers in the country, are almost exclusively Jews. They practise a variety of cunning and artful tncks in dealing out tlieir brandy to the peasants, and induce them to drink by taking credit, receiving various little goods and chattels in payment for their spirits, and so on. In this way they often completely ruin the poor Lettes and Esthonians.
More than a third of the beggars and mendicants of Courland are Jews, and the depth of want and misery into which these Jewish beggars are sunk, is fearful to contemplate. As smugglers, the Jews on the frontiers of Courland and Lithuania, are so expert, as often to defy the most rigorous precautions of the Russian government.
The old ordinances of the dukes of Courland a^i-ainst this mifortunate race, are ridiculous enough, and aim at notlnng less than the immediate and total annihilation of Judaism in the country. They are generally entitled " Ordinances for the total abolition of the Jews," and some of them commence thus: "It is our earnest will and pleasure, that in six weeks no Jew shall anywhere remain within our dukedom." How little the Jews troubled themselves about the ducal will and pleasure, is proved by the fact, that instead of six weeks, one hundred years have passed without even decreasing their numbeis. Another ducal edict comm.ands : ' that all Jews caught in the streets, shall have their horse and cart and all their property taken from them, shall be severely flogged, and then ignominiously expelled from the town." It is also added that all persons receiving, sheltering, or succom-ing Jews, " shall be punished in the most exemplary manner."
Tliese edicts, though they doubtless banished many Jews from the country, had no lasting effects, for all the gaps were soon filled agair.. The Russian govennnent, though it has not attempted total abolition, or banishment in six weeks, has yet attempted to curb, restrain, and put down the poor Jews in various ways. At one time all Jews were to be cajoled or forced to confine themselves to agriculture ; at another time all Jews without property were to be transported to Siberia, where government would provide them with property. The last attack was made in 1840. All poor Jews were to be collected, and brought together out of every town, by their respective liafhsherim, to JMitau. There the Rabbins assembled them, and set forth to them the condescending grace of their emperor, whose wish it uas that they should hencefoiih be employed in agriculture — an occupation so much to be preferred to all others, and so peculiarly adapted for preserving men in the paths of morals and rehgion. " Endowed with rich presents by iQ charitable citizens of Mitau," we are told, " and full of gratitude to their generous benefactors, the
370 ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION.
emigrants set forth, followed by the tears and prayers of the compassionate." The Rabbins no doubt endeavoured to persuade the poor creatures that they were going to a land of promise, but unfortunately the province of Kherson, their destination, lias a very different character.
The emigrants were very numerous ; they amounted to 2530 souls ; 1314 males, and 1216 females; in all 341 families.
The Russians of the Baltic provinces may be divided into those who only wander for a time about the country, and those who are completely domesticated. The Russian serfs easily obtain permission of their lords to wander out into the world and seek their fortunes, provided they pay a certain yearly sum as obrok. Quick and shrewd in every thing, though they never do any thing thoroughly well, they are very useful in provinces like those of the Baltic, where industrious and intelhgent workmen are scarce, and where they supply the deficiencies of the indolent and unskilful natives. The strong, lively, active serf of Russia will perform three times as much work in a given time as a Lette or Esthonian. In all labours which require skill and expedition, such as the laying out of a garden, the building of a house, &c., the German noblemen will rather employ Russian workmen than their own serfs. They are particularly expert as carpenters, and make a good deal of money wandering from estate to estate with their tools slung at their girdles.