And when the murderous hand of the "Third Section" [1] descended heavily upon the champions of liberty, the youthful revolutionaries retorted with political terrorism which darkened the last days of Alexander II.

and led to his assassination.
[Footnote 1: See above, p.

21, n.

1.] The complete emancipation of the Jews was out of place in this atmosphere of growing official reaction.

The same bureaucracy which halted the march of the "great reforms" for the country at large was not inclined to allow even minor reforms when affecting the Jews only.