The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-19


mine were princes and scholars and the pos
SCISSORS of an art, science and literature aud
splendid civilization, the equal OF that which
We now enjoy
Introduce this illustration more especially
TO show that once a Jew always q Jew. Iwouid
not have You think thai We desire to escape
from IL. for there IL no true Israelite who feels
Ike laying down the mark OF his race. the badge
OF his tribe, until ell men shall be brought to
recognize one God, the creative energy Of the
universe.
This ege teaches the lesson OF the common
fatherhood Of God and the universal brother
hood OF men, From this height of moral con-
ception can sob through my smiles and laugh
through my tears at the changes which have
taken place, not only since the inauisition
drove the Jews from Spain, but since Jesus
Christ, the reformer, came into the world to
emphasize the more ethical teachings pro-
mnigated by the Jewish rabbis who had pre-.
coded him
Other races have appeared upon the stage of
the worlds history, have played their parts IN
the drama of the ages, the last act of which Is
YET anperformed, and have disappeared, leaving
scarcely more than the historical record OF their
destruction. Other religions have been tried
which were the products of mans ambition and
mental power, but none have survived which
oid not build upon the moral foundations OF
Judaic truth. Philosophic systems by the score
have poked their heads above the surface, bus
Moses and the Taimud have covered the field,
ana the modern scientist, IL he will but delye
into ancient Jewish lore. will find that Hebrew
scholars. even in the dark ages had already
solved many of their puxxliDg problems.
Darwins announcement of the doctrine OF
evolution started the world to discussion. II
mankind had been familiar with Hebrew kuowi-
edge this need not have been. II evolution,
plainly and simply stated, is the theory OF the
development OF the higher from the lower in all
things. then modern Judaism is the clearest
and most forcible illustration of the theory that
can be found. Judaism began with Abraham,
who destroyed his fathers trade of idol manu-
featuring Moses broadened it into a national
character. while the prophets no are really the
authors of modern Hebraism universalized the
faith. With Abraham it was one God. With
Moses it was God and the Jewish people. With
the prophets, graudest and noblest of all, 1t
grew to be God, the wOi Id and all msnl The
FIRST dim outline of a faith. the next stage q
faith for people, and lastly q faith based upon
the redemption of humanity. Could there have
been q higher form of development than this?
Ii 50 would be grateful to have it shown me.
Yet have we survived. and those publicists
who would fiatter our racial pride pirate about
this preservation as the most wondrous enigma
OF all history. / refuse to accept such sophistry
as truth. The Jew exists today by the inevita-
bic logic OF events. He is not SO religously Wig
orous as when the pressure of persecution in
epiret him to die upon the altar OF his faith, but
still moral force that permeates every avenue
of modern activity leaving its impress upon all
other races In the world.
We owe our salvation to the fact that our an
cestors were men capable OF being stirred by
historic memories, of striving for tho attain
ment OF spiritual ends that animated the aspira-
tons of all Such men felt the responsibility
which history imposed. They were moved by
the struggles OF patriots and the death of mar
tyrs They behaved themselves az though pos
terity had some claim upon the conduct of the
present George Eliot, the Shakespeare of the
nineteenth century, called it national conscious.
ness, and shall not attempt to find better
expression. Impregnatsd thus, ever conscious
that the past looked down upon them, feeling
az a nation of priests with lofty aims of future
redemption, in which not alone the He
brews, but all men were to share, my an
cestors Tor centuries resisted religious encroach
ment, suffered misery and prvation, were &C.
quainted with naught save humility ana grief
and experienced an agony which alone the
giant feels when tied and harrassed by q million
Liliputian pigmies. without this national con-
sciousness there could have been but one result
for the Jew, assimilation with the strong sur
rounding nations, aud the utter destruction of
the Jews distinctiveness. Fortified by national
memories, inspired by the hope of ultimste re-
demption. solaced by the philosophy that
wrongs carry with them aud in them the seed
OF their own inevitable punishment they
pressed onward buoyed up by q feeling of in
nate superiority, that brute power, rank, title,
royalty itself, could not weaken wress away,
and that made the Jew cling to the faith of his
fathers through centuries of distress which
would have dried up the soul, the ambition, the
hope of a race less hardy and tenacious
The temptation to linger at this stage OF nv
address is great. but must hasten lest weary
you. Our place III literature. art aud science 10
q proud one, ever bearing in mind the fact that
scarcely more than half a century has elapsed
since the dawn of racial liberty first broke forth
from the clouds. If dared 1 might spend
hours in presenting the record of the Jews in
this day aud generation who have shed luster
and honor upon the race and have benefited
the world. During the last decade our people
have been written about largely in the news-
papers and leading magazines of this and other
countries. The articles, as general rule, have
been favorable but there 10 one Goodwin Smith
who seemingly spends his talents in the attempt
to see how much misinformation he can convey
to the pubic concerning US. Among other
illogical things he puts forth the statement that
Spain, which in the past SO grossly prosecuted
the Jews, loses fewer of its citizens through
emigration than Germany, which country has
accorded the Hebrews liberal treatment He
sets up from this the theory that those nations
have prospsred which have .persecuted the
Jews. The answer to this is that in Spain the
people are contented because ignorant. igno-
rant because they lazy and uneducated
lazy and uneducated because they lack the
restless spirit and intelligence which Jewish
thought and commerce would inculcate And
do know that the people of Spain have sought
time and again 10 induce the Jews to settle
again among her vine-clsd hills and lovely val
leys. In Germany the people are advanced, and
men long for life in q country that gives them
larger opportunities and more liberties and
thus it is that emigrstian is heavier from that
country than from spain. We do not exult in
the fact, but if Mr.. Goodwin Smith was fully
mindful OF the truths of history he would con-
fess that misfortune has steadily pursued every
nation that maltrssted the Jews
Al the outset / said that modern statesman
ship took shape largely FROM my people Modern
craftsmanship dates largely from the creation
OF the German empire through the efforts of
Bismarck 1t is not generally known but never
theless true, that behind the iron chancellor
there stood man who supplied him with the
policy and means to carry out his ambitious
projects. lie was Jewish banker Again the
German people owe much of their liberty to a
Jew who, in the reschtag, battled with the
grea, soldier politician and whipped him. This
man was Eduard Lasker. who died in 1854 in
New York city while on a visit TO this country
He lead the parliamentary fight agains, the sys-
tern of governmental psriernalism under which
Bismarck sought TO enslaye the empire ana
Lssker saved the Germans from the curse The
next man Of Jewish blood who outmatched
Bismarck was Disraei and he did ii Ia the Berlin
continental congress of 1875. / may add to this.
that in the politics OF every country, the Jew ia
gradually winning his way, not so much AZ a
Jew but as a citizen He cannot be stayed The
race must and will move onward and upward.
To prove that the education of the world is in.
Nueucei Largely by the mind ,a..