The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-08-24

them. IL ~ the theory Oh sOhe peopi'
that the Jews are only excellent in
commerce and finance. In reality, it
NAV be doubted whether the Jews have
any special gift that way beyond the
possession of what the Americans call
remarkably level heads. In Biblical
times the Israelites were as much war
riors as traders, and shepherds more
than either: and even their first cousins.
the Phenicians. were conspicuous
rather as sailors and carriers-the
Dutch or the English of the Mediterra-
Lean than as men OF business. IL was
the ban which the Medl@val Church
cast over them that drove them to the
counter. Excluded from the court,
the camp, the university, deprived Of
all contact with the liberal education Of
the age. they were driven back TO petty
finance and the useless learning OF their
Rabbinical books. They became ped
dlers and bucksters on tine large or
small scale according to circumstances
because they could not get the chance
of being anything else; aud such they
are still in countries where custom. II
not law. denies them their fair oppor-
tunlt,es In life.
But since their emancipation IN
Western Europe which is not yet n
century old there is scarcely depart
ment IN which the IsTaelltes have not
gained conspicuous, and. indeed, al
most unrivaled success. Jews. by race
or religion, have ruled England,
France, and several of our self-govern-
ing colonies: one Jew has been almost
the ablest Judge on the English bench
in recent years, and another has been
the leader of the English bar; and II
ISRAEL is not entitled To claim credit for
her recreant son, Heinrich Heine, she
has sweet singers enough to make up
for his loss. 1t is proof of the versa
tility of which we have spoken that the
race which in Germany produces IT'S
Meyerbeers. and MendelssOhns, and
Joachims. gives economists and Stats
ticiaus in France, while in England II Is
rapidly turning out most uneXcep-
tional line of country gentlemen.
''The meeting at the Central Syna-
gogue was presided over by the head OF
the greatest of financial houses, who Is
also in English peer and legislator, and
It reeds DO effort TO call to mind the
names of half dozen of his co-rellg-
ionisis whom one might point to as
almost typical representatives of that
Opulent squirearchy which we used once
to consider native 70 the soil of England.
They are the lords OF fat prize oxen
and of sheep sportsmen, orchld-grow-
ers, owners Of race horses, amateur
farmere. devoted to the pursuits ami
the Inequalities of the country, which
they are able to exercise on something
like the profuse scale of the past. Moth
ing less like the popular idea Of a He
brew financial maguate's ways and
habits could well be conceived than the
Eugllsh social environment of some OF
these sons and grandsOns Of Frankfort
bankers and Amsterdam bill discoun-
teTs.
In word. the higher ranks Of Eng
lish Judaism have successfully accom-
modated themselves TO the life about
them. But it is question Of consld-
cradle interest just now whether their
less fortunate cO-religiOnists will be
able to follow suit. Israel in Piccadilly
or in Malda-vale is quite English in
some respects ultra EUglish. VIII 1t
20 the same way in Spitalfelds and
Whitechapel? 1t is question which
is naturally asked with come anxiety
by the wealthy and influential leaders
of the community, and it Is 10 be noted
that at the meeting there was an almost
unanimous cOncensus Of opinion that
the new chief rabbi should constitute
himself sort Of Jewish bishop of East
London. HIS episcopal residence-li
we may so put it's to be placed some
where east of Cheapside. 1t was felt.
and rightly, that his spiritual ministra
tions are less needed by the fashionable
members of the Berkeley Street cor.
gregation than by the crowded pOpula-
ton which awarms about Houndsdltch
and the Minories and the Commercial
road. Nobody will be inclined to deny
that the well-to-do Israelites Of the
metropolis have legitimate cause for
concern in this outcast and semi-ioreign
population. To their credit, be 1t said.
the benevolence of the rich Jews is &C
tive. untiring, and judicious, and the
so.called Jewish Board of Guardians
might give many lessons to some OF our
local authorities.
But when all is done the East End
Jews remain a serious and disquietine
problem. for they constitute au ever
increasing mass of poverty and H.
norance in the midst OF a vast indu-
trial population. itself fiercely strus
Cling under the stress Of fearful com
petition. The evidence taken before
the Royal Commission on Sweating has
gone far to show that part Of the out
cry raised against the Jews as the chief
agents and supporters of the y stem II
undeserved: the Jewish sweater is no
worse than his Christian rival, and
both of them are as often as not the
victims OF a condition of things which
they would gladly alter if they could.
But the evidence also showed that
wear by year a fresh accumulation Of
poverty-stricken immigrants from the
East and centre Of Europe is shot upon
our shores. there to struggle and staTye
as they can.
ut would be false to say that these
strangers are, as rule. either vicious
or depraved. But they are the product
of half-barbarous society, ana they
rise upon US, as 1t were, out OF the Mid
die Ages. bringing with them such
ideas Of order. cleanliness and domestic
comfort as the Englishmen OF that era
might have been supposed TO possess.
They sprung straight from a regime of
repression aud injustice, full OF the
ideas which repression and injustice ma
turally engender. What viii be the
future of this population? Will 1t re-
main species OF pariah caste, entitled
to all the privileges aud benefits OF
English citizenship, but IN language.
religion and social usages as widely
separated from us as the Chinaman is
from the white man in sydney or San
Francisco ? Or will it gradually merge
with the mass of Englishmen. as the
Frisians. the Huguenots, the Wal
looms, and all the other strains
of foreign immigration eventually
did? The answer to these questions will
depend TO some extent on the action of
these who, like the new chief rabbi.
will be responsible for the spiritual and
social welfare of the Israelite commu-
nifty. For our part, we are inclined to