The Russian public was inclined to attach extraordinary importance to the appointment of the Tzar's brother.

It was generally felt that his selection was designed to serve as a preliminary step to the transfer of the imperial capital from St.
Petersburg to Moscow, symbolizing the return "home"-- to the old-Muscovite political ideals.

It is almost superfluous to add that the contemplated change made it necessary to purge the ancient capital of its Jewish inhabitants.
The Jewish community of Moscow, numbering some thirty thousand souls who lived there legally or semi-legally, had long been a thorn in the flesh of certain influential Russian merchants.

The burgomaster of Moscow, Alexeyev, an ignorant merchant, with a very shady reputation, was greatly wrought up over the far-reaching financial influence of a local Jewish capitalist, Lazarus Polakov, the director of a rural bank, with whom he had clashed over some commercial transaction.

Alexeyev was only too grateful for an occasion to impress upon the highest Government spheres that it was necessary "to clear Moscow of the Jews," who were crowding the city, owing to the indulgence of Dolgoruki, the former governor-general.