The Irish standard., 1895-06-08
u & /. tl3s
The HEBREW IN HISTORY
What the Jew Has Done for Sci-
ence, for Art, for Literature
and Humanity.
IN the patrists.r si q War r and
a. Peace His Record Has Been
Conspicuous.
Lord Beaconsfiesd, Prime Minister
Of England, Was Renegade
From the Faith,

of England, Was Renegade
From the Faith.
At the recent graduation exercises Of
the High School in Brooklyn, n. Y, Ern-
est Paris Seelman, one of the graduates,
read the following:
: ftWe are wont, in this age Of progress,
to maintain that prejudice is no longer a
factor in the development Of nations;
that today reason, and not sentiment,
governs the: world. Yet, in this land Of
freedom, a society has been formed to
prevent the participation Of Roman
Catholics in politics; while in Germany,
the home Of enlightment, movement
has arisen whose object is the degrade
former we leave to the calm judgment
of thoughtful men; how unfair, how un-
founded, how utterly contemplate those
of the latter are, a glance at the history
OF the Jews will show. Eighteen hum
dred yeras have rolled away since Titus
stood upon the ruins of Jerusalem, taken
after one Of the most desperate strug-
giles which the Roman vulture had ever
seen; 1900 years since Israel was scat
tered to the four corners Of the globe
and her nationality destroyed; 1,S0O
ioh
OF Christendom have pandered to pop
ular prejudice and have maligned the
Jews; during which the saintliest Popes
yea, in the very acme of holiness have
issued innumerable eldest for5.their con-
version or determination; during which
the most Christian kings have forgot
ten their Christianity and have taken
from them their goods, their children
and their lives; 1900 years during which
every occupation, save trading, has been
closed to their marvellous activity; 1900
years Of enforced herding together in
narrow, filthy oyercrowded quarters, in
which they were locked at sunGoWn like
peeti1ence- breeding beasts. 4s.is. -
u Sand now the men in whom flows the
blood Of the Teuton, whose ancestors
have been free from time immemorial to
live and labor as they willed, point at
the Jew, recovering from the oppression
of centuries, and cry: Behold the Jew!
The Cowardly, unpatriotic, money-lov-
Ing Jew! What has he done for science,
for art, for civilization, for humanity? 2
Whence springs the patriot? From
among the slave or the free? From
among those who are denied the barest
rights of life-nay, even plundered and
tortured and burnt, or from among those
who enjoy all the blessings of home and
Of liberty? With the answer to this
question In our minds, let lis glance at
the Jew in Palestine before dispersion.
+ Yes who have studied the pages of
! Josephus and tie bible need not be told
how the Jew fought the enemies of his
native land, always his superior in NUM-
bers, with a desperation and a valor lln-
surpassed; how, under the leadership of
Maccabees. he threw off the Syrian yoke;
how, in the defense of his capital, he fell
Y without groan before the Roman col
umns. 'slaughtering ifslaughtered. These
surely are no coward deeds. But when
ever in the persecution that he has en-
dured since his dispersion there came
some slight cessation, some brief res
pite, the heart OF the Jew was filled with
love for the land of his adoption. Nap
! les he defended valiaQtly though in vain,
against Belisarius, He fell by the side
of the Saracen conquering Spain; and
when prosecuted he rose with a heroism
In comparison with which the rash braV-
cry of battle pales into insignificance,
and walked without murmur to the
stake. a5,.s@s s
4 Massena, Napoleon's child Of victory,
and Soult We're Jews. In the Franco
Prussian war the Jew was in the front.
In the American revolution, not only do
we learn of. seven officers of note and a
regiment of Jews, but also thatth main
stay of our provincial government WAS
Haym Solomon, a Jew. Even President
Madison calls himself Ma pensoner OF
the favor of this man, who he says,
"obstinately rejects all recompense.' .
The Jew served in the war Of 1872 and
+ in the civil war, and today he may be
found in all the armies of Europe. But
there is a patriotism Of peace which ex-
cells the patriotism Df war; for if men
lived nobly there were no need Of war.
In this patriotism the Jew is foremost.
Go search your jails, the records of your
4 criminals, your Wife-beaters, your muir
4 lderers and find the Jew: ou will search
/ in vain. Sheer at this traditional parsi-
mon,,, his soraidness, IL you will; true
4 he does charge interest on the money
I that he lends; but first tell me In what
to the enlightened lnind of the Nine
& teenth century, lies the crime Of charg-
+ ing interest; TIL en- tell me how your mil
lionaires gain their riches, and through
what channels do ley distr ibute their