THE AMERICAN JEW AS PATRIOT, SOLDIER AND CITIZEN. [Illustration: STATUE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.] THE AMERICAN JEW AS PATRIOT, SOLDIER AND CITIZEN BY SIMON WOLF EDITED BY LOUIS EDWARD LEVY PHILADELPHIA THE LEVYTYPE COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK--CHICAGO--WASHINGTON BRENTANO'S 1895 "And Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free."--John, viii, 32. To All Who Love and Seek the Truth This Work is Dedicated BY The Author. EDITOR'S PREFACE. It were an error to suppose that prejudice is always the offspring of ignorance, inasmuch as the reverse is very frequently true. Not seldom is ignorance the result of prejudice, through a willful refusal to recognize such facts as run counter to the latter. A more accurate simile would, therefore, be the likening of prejudice and ignorance to twins, of whom either may be the precursor of the other, and either one the stronger of the two. The prejudices which follow ordinary ignorance give way readily before increasing knowledge of the truth, but where prejudice is the elder of the twin vices, it is usually the most obstinate as well. "None so blind as those who will not see" is an old aphorism whose truth is universally recognized. This obstinate kind of prejudice is usually but a form of self-conceit, as the latter, in turn, is but another form of ignorance. To combat one of the most obstinate of all obstinate prejudices, and to promote enlightenment on a subject whereof ignorance has become unpardonable, has been undertaken by Hon. Simon Wolf in the work before us. His impelling motive has been to enforce a recognition of the Jewish people as a militant factor in the upbuilding of the State, and of Judaism as a primal force in the furtherance of civilization, and he has chosen as his weapons the simple truth of history and the testimony of leaders among men. A notable French writer remarks that "La vérité historique devrait être non moins sacrée que la religion."[1] His words are just; the truth of history should, indeed, be no less sacred than that of religion. If this is true, and few or none will be found to dispute the proposition, then the records of historic truth may be regarded as part of the gospel of humanity. Such they are, in fact; as the truths of history become disentangled from the maze of sophistry and falsehood in which the passions and follies of mankind envelop them, they teach us first of all the lesson of charity and good-will to men.