, 1877-03-11
THE JEWISH NATIONALITY.

THE JEWISH NATIONALITY.
The London Saturday Recic.e, in discuss
ing the doctrine of race with special refer
ence to the mutual influences Of religion anc
nationality, brings out some interesting
j points in regard to the distinctness will
which the Jews retain their national charac-
| ter. It calls attention to the fact that the
| phenomenon Of the Jew is characteristic
! phenomenon Of the East, where the perma-
nenco of national distir: :ctions is carried out
to its fullest development. The Indian Par
sees come the nearest to them, and yet the
preservation Of their nationality is slight as
compared with them, although the time of
their separate existence is shorter than that
of the Jews, they are not scattered all over
the world, and are only par: of a nation.
From the time Of the return from Babylon
% The jew has been distinguished by the
fierce tenacity with which he cleaves
to his nationality, and to his
religion us the badge of his nation
a1ity." They stand alone Us q nation dis
persed to the ends of the earth by Roman
nnd other conquests, aud yet remaining
nation and this in the face of the most re-
markab1e persecution and cruelty known in
the annals of mankind. The Jew was perse-
cuted for his religion md hisnationality alike.
He was not rebel, for lie had never rebelled
He was not q hereto, for he had never be-
longed to the fold that prosecuted him. He
could not recant, because he had never wan
4Eo
81 He was the Kings bondman, with whom
the King might deal as he plcased, and with
whom the people. in any moment Of popular
outbreak, deemed they might deal as they
pleased also." He was q common enemy,
because he was stranger wherever he So
journed, because lie was the traditional
enemy of Christianity, and because, being
debarred from owning or tilling land and hnv-
ing all his wealth in gold and silver, he lived
by lending it and exacting usury. This has
all passed, and Jewish persecution is now
matter Of history alone and of shameful re~
membrance. The tendency now is to place
the jew upon the same civil and political
level as the Christian; and where the oppor-
tunity is offered the jew places himself upon
that level by virtue of his intelligence, his
character, his culture, his enterprise, and his
brains. Even then the national feeling re.
mains as strong as ever. The purity Of the
race remains absolute. Its blood is un-'
touched by conversion or by intermarriage. !
He becomes citizen, and yet is sojourner.
He fills Offices Of trust and honor in America, |
and yet is not an American As the Sutur- |
aqy Recieao says: " The Jew may be sure Of |
his own stock in a way in which none of the |
rest of US, Dutch, Welsh, or anything else,
can be sure. The ge,'s remains gems by
birth, and not by legal fiction"
The fact is not more remarkable as
purely historical phenomenon than when
considered in the light Of what the
Jew has accomplished outside of citizenship
With the world, and in the face of centuries
If prescription, intolerance, and persecution.
he has borne.himself steadily on against the
storm, bending before it, but not breaking.
Crushed down to the earth, he receives new
strength from it, and rises again. With in
lomitable tenacity of purpose, he rises su-
'erior to MI accidents, and, scattered to every
1%~>eAeNA ~ |
mark upon the worlds progress, and
controls in large part the worlds des-
inies, shaping the tastes of ma
ion, holding the reins that direct
mpires. The son Of Jew literateur
ules England, and the daughter of aJew leads
he world of British fashion. 4 Jew con-
rols the destinies Of Europe by holding in
us hands the sinews of war. The Jew is
lie monarch in the great banking capitals of
he world. His domination is equally su-
RENE in the world of nrt, taste, and culture.
n literature, philosophy, romance, music,
I'D the drama, be stands uncha1lenged. Of
ausic he is the supreme rnler,-in compost
ion, in singing, in playing, in directing and
l managing. Wherever We turn, the Jew ap-
ears, shaping, molding, and influencing the
orld's progress. As the Saturday Reciczo
'ys: *'The phenomenon is one Of the !
rangest in all history; the more it is thought
T, the more its thorough strangeness comes !
at."