The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-04-16

the Jews must be told The outburst in
Odessa, the details of which we gave in the
HERALD yesterday. proves that In certain
parts of the world the old Middle Age sentl-
ment exists, a "a that the Jew Is made to feel
he is under the curse, If not Of God, at least
of MN. Ths OIessa outblrss does not sur
| prise us, for the reason that Eastern Europe
| is still in darkness and that the Jews in the
| south Of Russia and in the Danubian Princi-
palties arc proportioaally more numerous
| than in any other part Of tho world. We are
not disposed to blame the Greek Church or
| the Catholic Church; but we cannot refuse to
admit that in that portion of the world where
Jews most do congregate-the border
lines of Mohamm ,ianism and Carts
! tianity-the descendants Of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob are the reverse of comfortable.
For some time past the sorrows OF the chill
dren of Israel in the Russian empire and in
the Danubian provinces have been appearing in
our news columns. So much 80, indeed, has this
been the cas-, that General Grant, yielding to
the pressure of public opinion in this country,
not loag since demonstrated with the govern
which augured well for the future Of the Jews
| in the empire Of Russia. That the Jews in
Odessa have suffered severely on the occasion Of
the Easter festival we cannot deny bnt we do
not feel that we have any right to blame the
government Of the Car, and we are more dis
dice than to the direct inf renee Of either the
Greek or the Catholic faith. All over the
Eas. of Europe the darkness of the Middle
Ages reigns, and no one who has ever ira
yelled In those regions can deny that occa
sional religious strife is natural life ITSELF
Believing as we do that the history of
Judaism is the history of Christianity, for the
founders of the Christian faith were one and
all Of them soas of Abraham and, knowing as
we do that thousands upon thousands Of our
readers regres this fresh outburst of medieval
sentiment, we feel it to be our duty, as the re-
| preventative of the broad religious sentiments
of the American people, to denounce this
Odessa riot, and to say that enlightened
Christianity Of all shades of opinion, from
Rome to Plymouth church, washes its hands
clean of this latest religious sin.
II there is any one reason which compels us
to think and speak kindly of the Jews it is
thatthey have suffered as no people have ever
suffered. For well nigh two thousand years
they have been without country-strangers
AMI sojouraers in all lands and among all
peoples. Ii they sinned who will deny that
they sirped in accordance with the pur-
poses of Heaven? Whether they sinned or
did not sn-wnether they have been the
victims Of Divine vengeance or the victims of
an ignorant and misguided public sentiment
the fact mus. be admit ed that they have for
two thousand years been drinking cup of
sorrow, deep and bitter Bsyond the expert
ence of any other nationality. What Ian
guage can add intensity to the story
K Of Josephus? The razing of the famous
Temple, the blooi-red streets, the mercless
I massacre of young and old without distinction
of sex, the extinction of the nation and the
expulsion Of the people-no such story has
ever been written. The fall Of Jerusalem
and the destruction Of the kingdom did not
mark the end Of Jewish sorrow; they only
marked its commencement. Scattered abroad
in all lands, compelled to struggle for exist
ence among all peoples, the J-wish people
never until recent years found sympathy-they
seldom found encouragement. Some of the
grandest chaptees in that grandest Of all his
tories-the history of the ''Decline AMI Fall OF
the Roman Empire"-are devoted to the wan
derings and sorrows Of the so-called murder
| ers of the Son Of God. The Roman empire,
kind to all, generous to all, was cruel only to
the Jew. When the old Roman empire fell
and the Western empire, established by Char
lemagne and consolidated by the First Ohio,
became fact, the condition of the Jew was
worse than ever. To trample upon him was
right; to rob him was duty; to spit upon
him was every mans privilege. When the
| Western empire went the way Of its prede-
cessors and the modern States system took
shape, the Jew felt that the hands of the tyrant
were but multiplied, and that his condition
was more wretched than ever. In Italy, in
Spain, in France, in Germany, in England he
raised his piteous cries to Heaven; but
Heaven had no answer. The agony con-
tinued; the wrong remained; the walls of
wrath, apparently iaexhaustible, still poured
forth vengeance. If blood ever cried for
vengeance, the blood OF martyred Jews
cries for vengeance to-day against the Holy
Catholic Church. All through the Middle
Ages, during the dominAncy OF Spain and up
until the Reformation, the poor, wandering
Jew, true to the instincts Of his race, and
carrying with him wherever be vent wealth,
industry and economy, looked to God and
man in vain for mercy. Tae Reformation
scarcely relieved him; for TO the Jew Pro-
testAnt Christianity has not until recent years
been more merclul than the Christianity of
Rome or the Chris.ianity OF Const ,ntinnnla