The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07

some cases NOTABLY in France during
the last few years have either remained
supinely Indifferent when Jewish ques-
lions were before their several Parlia
ments. or have even aided those whose
agitation was directed against their fell
low Jews In England. on the contrary.
the Jewish Members of Parliament have
never forgotten that, in addition to their
interests as citizens of England. they
have a duty to perform to the Jews.
whom they also represent. and they have
therefore been able, while giving their
best services to the State, to be also use
ful to their co-reIigionists. 1t may be
due to this cause that the emancipation
of Jews on the Continent has in no way
been able to stem the recrudescence of
anti-Semitism; while it has undoubtedly
done this in England. The opposite eff
feet is most clearly seen in Algiers,
where the wholesale emancipation OF the
Jews in 1870. through the efforts of Gre
mieuX, that bold champion of his people,
has in a large measure contributed to
make the riots possible which have in
late years been witnessed in that French
colony. Neither the population of Algeria
nor the Jews there We're at that time
ready for such measure; 1t did not
therefore, come the result of devel-
opment among the people, but as some
thing imposed upon them by the Govern
ment.
In addition to Roumania. Russia is prac-
tically the only country which has re-
fused to enter the European Concert. and
which by means of laws and ordinances
represents still the dark period of the
Middle Ages. It has turned the prov
inces on its western borders into a ire
mendous Ghetto, and driven the Jews to
exile by making life within that pale
practically impossible. Even Portugal in
1921. and Spain in 1868 (the two countries
from which the Jews had been banished
for a great number Of years., opened
their doors to them once more; though
few Jews have ventured to return to the
Peninsula, despite the fact that in 1856 a
committee was formed in Madrid for the
promotion of Jewish immigration into
Spain
THE WANDERING JEW.
The Wandering Jew is not the Jew of
legend, but the Jewish people of history.
The dslocation of large Jewish bodies
which was characteristic of the Middle
Ages, has been kept up during the nine
teenth century; and this dislocation has,
as in former times, profoundly modified
Judaism in the various countries. From
the fifteenth century on to the nineteenth
hostile legislation on the part of Western
Europe had been continually driving the
Jews to the East. The expulsion from
Spain and Portugal, at the end of the
fifteenth century, forced several hundred
Thousand into Turkey; while the hard
ships which they had to suffer in the
smaller German States and in Austria
caused large numbers to seek a refuge in
Poland and Russia. The tide commenced
TO turn westward about the middle OF the
eighteenth century. though bands Of Jews
from Poland had been driven into Ger
many, Italy. and Holland in the terrible
years Of the Chmelnicki prosecutions
q6is-165D. The readmisslon of Jews into
England. the relative kindness of Fred
erick William of Prussia and of Fred
continuous infltration from Poland, so
that at the end of the eighteenth or the
first half of the nineteenth century these
Polish Jews we're to be found in all parts
of Germany, Holland. and England. This
slow migration back again to Western
Europe took on, however, much larger
proportions in the latter part of the nine
teenth century; but before this could
happen a strong movement still farther
westward had already taken place. Jews
were among the earliest settlers on the
American continent. They were in nearly
every case Of Spanish or Portuguese de-
scent having come from Holland and
England TO the possessions which these
Powers held on the new continent In the
middle of the nineteenth century, when
the tide of immigration from Germany
was at It's height, a large number of
Jews from the southern States and the
Rhine region found their way to these
shores The Russian atrocities of 1882 and
the following years caused n greater
shifting of the Jewish population west
ward than can be paralleled at any pre-
vious time II has been estimated that
between the years 1882 and 1900 fully one
million Russian Jews left their homes in
the pale of settlement, finding new dwell
ing places in England, Germany, and
France. The largest number probabIy
half a million came to the United States
and Canada. Untoward economic condi-
outbreaks of anti-Semitism there, forced
out during the 90s a large number Of Cali
clan Jews; and in 1893 and 1900 the hos
tility of the ROumanian Government has
made 1t impossible for thousands Of Jews
to remain in a country in which most
of them had been born: and under cir
cumstances the like which has hardly
ever before been seen bands of the Rou-
manian jews have been wandering over
Europe, seeking the means by which to
come to the American continent in or
der there to establish themselves anew.
There are between ten and eleven million
Jews today In the world OF these about
100000 live in Europe; 100000 in the
United States and Canada; $50, 900 in AZ
RIGA; $4,000 in Asia. and 5000 I'm Austra!-
asia.
COMMUNAL ORGANIZATION.
All these changed circumstances vari-
ously modified the Organization of the
Jewish communities. Napoleon's attempt
i'll 1851, as the result of the Sanbedrin
which he had convened in Paris. to found
this organization upon modern basis.
dividing the Jews Of France into certain
consistories and ACCOMPLISHMENTS, had
an effect not only upon France, but also
upon those countries which for n time
were under his influence Holland, Bel
GUM. etc), and even upon many Of the
German States. In 1868 such consistories
were established In Westphalia and Cas-
sci; in 1903, an Oberrath was created in
Baden; and in 1873 and 1881, an Oberkirch-
enbehoerde in Wurtemberg. 1t was due
also to Napoleon that in France and Ger
many the Jews were obliged to adopt
family names. thcY hnYina In rnnsf "a Cos.