THE MENNONITE BROTHERHOOD IN RUSSIA (1789 - 1910), P. M. Friesen, 1911

them, however, from all other taxes of another kind. But loans, advanced to them, will have to be repaid in equal parts after the expiration of the aforesaid privilege by those remaining after ten years ; by those who will be resettled, after twenty years. “Tenth: In the conclusion of this Our Imperial Charter, granting Most Graciously the rights and advantages to Mennonites, We instruct all Our military and civil administrators, as well as the local authorities of the said Mennonites and their descendants not only to leave them in the peaceful possession of their settlements, lands and conveniences belonging to them and not to hinder them in the implementation of all Preservation of Independence 645 privileges granted by Us, and also to render to them in all instances every help, defence and protection. ‘‘Granted in the city of Gachin in the year one thousand eight hundred, on the sixth day of September, the fourth year of Our reign, and the second of our being Grand Master. Paul Prince Rostoptschin. “Sealed in the College of Foreign Affairs on the tenth day of September, eighteen hundred.” "That this copy is authentic in all respects with the original is certified by the Chortitza Volost Office, Ekaterinoslav District and Province by signatures and affixing of the seal. August 24, 1910. No. 5690. For the Volost Elder: Wallmann. (Seal.) Volost Secretary: Jakob Klassen.” 3. The General Mennonite Conference on October 26 and 27, 1910, 26 and its Consequences. a) This conference accepted the proposal— given under #295 (see “Wishes,” etc.)— with minor corrections (as given in the following minutes under #299). The way in which this conference was composed, the official approval of the composition, and the way in which it carried out its business, was of great significance and had major consequences. Earlier already (and that for many years) “brother-elders” had occasionally and by private initiative been invited, by influential "church-elders”, especially by those of the Molotschna who were tolerant towards the Brethren. Of those invited, possibly one or more ministers would come. As a rule, these would not fail to reveal a reserved, anxiously suspicious disposition. One preferred to think of himself as a martyr and as a member of the special “Church of God” in the framework of the church-register of the M.B. Church. Here, however, one was in the assembly of the representatives of the “completely” secularized “church” (of unbelievers— or were there believers among them?!). This artificially pious and reserved attitude was one of the most repulsive aspects of the M.B. Church until recent times. If, for instance, a Mennonite minister, feeling in his heart that he was a brother of these “Brethren”, would come to them, it could happen in spite of everything (after brief whispering, questioning glances, and shrugging of shoulders among the leadership), that the guest was quietly and cordia