Let no persecutor of the Jew lay the unction to his soul that he is
justified by the tragedy of Golgotha; for he who persecutes in the name
of religion is a spiritual barbarian, an intellectual savage. Let this
same persecutor not make the mistake of supposing that the Jews are
wholly responsible for the persecution that has been heaped upon them.
Before he falls into the foolish blunder of such a supposition, let him
ponder the testimony of several Gentile experts upon the subject. Let
him read "The Scattered Nation," a brilliant lecture on the Jew by the
late Zebulon Vance, of North Carolina, in which occurs this sentence:
"If the Jew is a bad job, in all honesty we should contemplate him as
the handiwork of our own civilization." Let him find Shakespearean
confirmation of this statement in "The Merchant of Venice," Act III,
Scene i. If the Jew-baiter objects that this is the imagination of a
poet, let us then point him to the testimony of a great historian and
statesman to prove to him that the Gentile is in great measure
responsible for the causes that have produced Jewish persecution.
In the British House of Commons, on April 17, 1873, a bill for the
removal of the disabilities of the Jews was the subject of parliamentary
discussion. Lord Macaulay took part in the debate and spoke as follows:
The honorable member for Oldham tells us that the Jews are
naturally a mean race, a money-getting race; that they are averse
to all honorable callings; that they neither sow nor reap; that
they have neither flocks nor herds; that usury is the only pursuit
for which they are fit; that they are destitute of all elevated and
amiable sentiments.
Such, sir, has in every age been the reasoning of bigots. They
never fail to plead in justification of persecution the vices which
persecution has engendered. England has been legally a home to the
Jews less than half a century, and we revile them because they do
not feel for England more than a half patriotism.
We treat them as slaves, and wonder that they do not regard us as
brethren. We drive them to mean occupations, and then reproach them
for not embracing honorable professions. We long forbade them to
possess land, and we complain that they chiefly occupy themselves
in trade. We shut them out from all the paths of ambition, and then
we despise them for taking refuge in avarice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account