responded to the resolutions adopted on that occasion. The following
dispatch, dated London, February 9, appeared in the Russian papers:

In the House of Commons, Gladstone, replying to an interpellation of
Sir John Simon, stated that reports concerning the persecutions of
the Jews in Russia had been received from the English consuls, and
could not but inspire sentiments of the utmost pain and horror. But
the matter being an internal affair of another country, it could not
become the object of official correspondence or inquiry on the part
of England. All that could be done was to make casual and unofficial
representations. All other actions touching the question of the
relations of the Russian Government to the Jews were more likely to
harm than to help the Jewish population. [1]

[Footnote 1: On this occasion Gladstone merely repeated the words of
the Russian official communication which had been published on the
eye of the Mansion House Meeting in the hope of scaring the
organizers of the protest: "The Russian Government, which has always
most scrupulously refrained from interfering in the inner affairs of
other countries, is correspondingly unable to allow a similar
violation of international practice by others. Any attempt on the
part of another Government to intercede on behalf of the Jewish
people can only have the result of calling forth the resentment of
the lower classes and thereby affect unfavorably the condition of
the Russian Jews." In addition to this threat, the _Imperial
Messenger_ endeavored to prove that the measures adopted by the
Government against the pogroms "were not weak," as may be seen from
the large number of those arrested by the police after the
disorders, which amounted to 3675 in the South and to 3151 in
Warsaw.]