82
WEST SHORE.
misery caused by thli decree. Tbe record! of the timet u made by the
non-Jewish pent, and most of them by servants of tbe dominant church,
blot to all eternity tbe pagei of Spanish history with tbe tortures, indigni
ties and atrocltlM endured by thli people, with none to condemn tbe out
rages, none to protest against them. Tbe question has been asked : Can
tbe Jew be" patriotic? We have become to Inured to being considered as
of different flesh, disposition and temperament to tbe rest of humanity that
we seldom note these questions, save In the silent protest of the misrepre
sented soul. We know that none can form deeper, more lasting attachment
to borne and country than those of our race. Hpain bad passed from a land
of adoption to a land of inheritance to them. It had been for centuries the
borne of their ancestors who bad been consistently and conspicuously de
voted to its interests. Parents, children, brothers, sisters had been born
there, lived there, died there, and in Caatllian ground their loved remains
were lying. They bad reared their homes of comfort and content, cultiva
ted the fine arts, reached the most advanced standing in the professions
and sciences of the day. I'rescott and Mlllman both declare that even the
humblest among them were possessed of a marked degree of Intelligence
and dexterity In various skilled pursuits. And now they were to leave their
homes, all the fond ties of memory and hope, forbidden to carry either gold
or silver with them, given over to the pleasure of a blood-thirsty, greedful
mob and the fearsome silent halls of the Inquisition chambers, to depirt
whither T Oh, pregnant spectacle! Look at it now with the light of four
hundred years of history shed upon It I Faitb inspired, with constancy and
courage, they started forth, God their hope, bis promises their berittge.
Clinging to a religion which taught charity universal, they fled from the
barbarity of those who raised the black fltg in the name of abundant mercy
and sharpened the sabre of assassination on the stones of love, peace and
good will. Four hundred years have passed, and how wonderfully has tbe
course of events been directed. Upon the shores discovered the very year
our Hpanlsh ancestors were given to torture, spoliation and death, has been
established a government may heaven bless and preserve it which ac
knowledges equality of man and protects his personal and religious freedom.
The influence of the example of this just and generous government hss
broadened the humane views of the contemporary world, has shed the lus
tre of Uie divine light of man's Inherent liberty, replacing with Its radiance
the darkness of contracted views and prejudiced opinions. Thought and
reasoning have, through it, taken tbe place of blind acceptance of tradi
tional error and conceptions clouded by the superstitions of periods averse
to investigation or the regeneration of fixed ideas. But alas, with some ex
ceptions. The spirit rampant in France, Germany and Kngland in the
twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, culminating In Hpain in the
fllteenth, still flourishes with added complexities and dissimulations. Dire
ful Is that spirit to-day In the land governed by a despot who trusts not his
own flesh and blood, pieces no confidence In the sons of bis own mother.
Who sees conspiracy In every line traced by tbe hand of Intelligence, who
reads revolt In every expression of individual opinion. Shall we trace tbe
parallels to be drawn between the Russia of to-day, imieding with all its
absolute power the courts which knowledge and the love of liberty always
pursue together, and the Hpain of four hundred years ago, controlled by an
element jealous of the spread of general Information, stunted In soul and ab
solutely heartless in regard to human rights T No! I feel that the mere
suggestion It sufficient Whatever the pretext, if pretext be made, Uie real
cause of persecution is to-day as It was (our hundred years ago, as It always
hat been agreed, bigotry, bate, dense, unreasoning Ignorance and natural
brutality. The lot of Uie Jews living beneath Russian rule bat never been
happy and many have been the periods when their treatment hat been bar
barous and cruel In Uie extreme. At no Ume have they been regarded as
possessing any rights or priveleges save Uiose of sufferance, and even these
at Uie caprice of petty officials and (rtqnently at Uie will and pleasure of an
ignorant, unreasoning mob, auUioriied to plunder to ravish and to kill.
They have been deUrred from following agricultural pursuits, forbidden to
rent, own or occupy lands. They have been restricted In all other evoca
tlont, shut out totally from all Uie recognised Industrial guilds, and bur
dened with arbitrary and exorbitant tribute, obliged to purchase Uie very
air Uiey breathe. Educational Institutions have been closed to them, Uie
practice of the liberal professions prohibited and Uielr dwellings fixed with
in limits subject to Uie change and whim of those vested with irretonsible
authority. And Uien Uie world hu been called upon to point at them Uie
Anger of scorn, and taunt Uiem with following Uie only pursuits left Uieui
to eke out an existence. Hut the ever-Increasing severity, Uie Inhuman re
strictive measures and compulsory edicts, which, In 1HS2, forced eighty
Uiouaand of Uieee people Impoverished from Uielr homes before Uie protest
of civilisation were heard and recognised, and which have now been re
vived with additional severities not then conceived, arise from Uie (act thai
Instead of being reduced to Uie level desired by Uie government, Uie level
of Ignorant and mere animal existence, Uiey are held high above It through
powers as inexplicable to Uieinaelves as to Uie world at large. Miraculous
as It may appear, large numbers of Uiem have gained knowledge and ac
quired an Intelligence which makes Uiem marked In Uielr surroundings.
They have attained professional prominence and ability, and although only
ton and in me district, five and even three per cent of the students at
SJZ onal institution can be Jews, one of the preeen
to. revived persecution is that this five per cent, dominate the remaining
J five r cent., to the detriment and injury of the great poputa and
Absolute monarchy of the Romanoff, and the established religionof toe
powerful Greek cburcb. All the other charge, are worthy of precisely toe
.credence. Permit me to analyze them. But final i,note signet
the (act that tbi. autocratic and determined power, with it. traditional pol
icy of quick, silent and effective cruelty to all whom it would strike, ha.
designed to make any charges at .11. In a brief notice, however of toe pro
test, of England recently vouchsafed through the columns of toe Impend
organ of Russia, three cause, are stated for the oppressive measures against
Uie Jews. First, Uiat Uiey remain as alien, in the country and endeavor to
shirk army duty. Secondly, that they loan money to the peasants and con
sequently render Uieir debtors dissatisfied and engender hate. Thirdly,
that they spread nihilistic doctrines among the students, if allowed in any
of tbe colleges, and become, thereby, a dangerous element to toe estab
lished form of government.
As to the first charge, statistics show a fair proportion of Jewish sub
jects in the army and show also that their treatment there and the special
rules and regulations applied to the Jewish soldiers alone, are hardly such
ss to impel their voluntary influx into the ranks. No matter what their
bravery or services may be, and there are many instances of exceptional
qualities recorded, they can never advance-promotion is an absolute im
possibility. Nor do they rank with the common soldiers who are not Jews.
They are a specially degraded class, without right of appeal. Their live,
are considered of no value, and no hesitation is felt in putting them to tor
ture or death either for avowed cauBe or through official caprice. Can they
be expected to enthusiastically enter a slavery more abject than that en
dured by Uieir Egyptian predecessors, without that hope of bettering their
condition which sometimes renders a temporary servitude bearable T But
admitting that Uiey may endeavor to escape this service they are not per
mitted to do so. If the Jewish recruit, when called for, doe. not appear,
all his relatives, paternal and maternal, in all their branches, are liable to
punishment and floe for bis failure, and Uieir liability is exacted to its full
est extent and dltcomfiture. This count of Uie Indictment against them
also terms them " aliens." Oh, how bitter is the mockery of that word as
Uius applied. Aliens Indeed I Born beneath the skies destined always to
be cold to tbem; drawing in Uieir first breath, air to which they have no
title ; lifting up baby bands to a sun which shines not for them ; doomed to
skulk along the byways of lite, shunned and despised by those of happier
fate who may walk boldly along Uie joyous highways. Aliens! Denied
that precious, elevating feeling which makes the scent of certain flower, so
sweet to us, the blades of grass io green, the sky so beautiful, became they
are the flower., Uie grasses and the skies of our native land. Bitter Indeed
is the fate of the man without a country; stunted hi. heart; all the blos
soms of love, loyalty, hope and pride nipped In the bud by the frosty breath
of Uiat cruel mandate " You shall have no life with us." Aliens 1 lean
speak to you of the love of Uie Jew for Uie land in which he is born ; of the
loyalty which Is a very part of hi. nature. Only permit him to love your
flag, let him feel that you do not grudge him a share in toe common weal,
and to Uie day of hi. death unswerving is his patriotism, and toe lesson
and example which he displays to his children. The Russo-Jewish ques
tion would be speedily settled if Uie government did not force these people
to be .(rangers and aliens to Uieir native land and heap still farther indig
nity upon them in holding them up to the derision of the world as what this
attitude compels them to sppear.
In Uis second charge tbe Jew. are accused of lending money to the
peasants and taking therefor mortgages on their personal property. It is
far from my desire to utter a word of harshness concerning the Russian
peasant. My heart harbors Uie deepest pity and consideration for his con
dition. Not upon his sou) rests the guilt of the evil which through him
finds its expression and culmination. I will simply sum up these state
ments upon which those who are competent to express the tacts agree. As
a rule he Is licentious, Intemperate and Improvident. The Jew i. none of
Uieee. lie marries in Russia very early in life and devotes himself from
the very threshold of hit manhood to Uie ties of family life. Although bur
dened with .peclal taxation and subject at all Umes to the legalized robbery
of officials, without rights of remonstrance except at the risk of liberty, he
does somehow manage, through thrift, industry and frugality, to save a few
poor coins year by year. And 1. It not a sad commentary upon to. human
sense of fustic, to note in U.i. connection that what is considered a virtue
n U.e Christian Is made to appear a hideou. vice in Uie Jew ? He pays all
the taxes demanded of the most severely Uxed classes, and in addition a
tax for wearing his hat in hi. synagogue, a tax for placing candles upon his
ilkiSn ' S4b,rh ' ta D"r tabling its cost agnail
meau killed and prepared according to Jewish rites, a special Ucens. tax
or perfuming any religious ceremony in hi. horn.; andVo offseUU toi.
two great pnvileg,, are otTerM to hi. raee-w tbwlate div