heir views, seeing that they have
since become one of the permanent elements of the situation. The formula
into which this policy was thrown by the members of the Conference,
whose countries it affected, and who regarded it as fatal to the peace
of eastern Europe, was this: "Henceforth the world will be governed by
the Anglo-Saxon peoples, who, in turn, are swayed by their Jewish
elements."

It is difficult to convey an adequate notion of the warmth of
feeling--one might almost call it the heat of passion--which this
supposed discovery generated. The applications of the theory to many of
the puzzles of the past were countless and ingenious. The illustrations
of the manner in which the policy was pursued, and the cajolery and
threats which were said to have been employed in order to insure its
success, covered the whole history of the Conference, and presented it
through a new and possibly distorted medium. The morbid suspicions
current may have been the natural vein of men who had passed a great
part of their lives in petty racial struggles; but according to common
account, it was abundantly nurtured at the Conference by the lack of
reserve and moderation displayed by some of the promoters of the
minority clauses who were deficient in the sense of measure. What the
Eastern delegates said was briefly this: "The tide in our countries was
flowing rapidly in favor of the Jews. All the east European governments
which had theretofore wronged them were uttering their _mea culpa_, and
had solemnly promised to turn over a new leaf. Nay, they had already
turned it. We, for example, altered our legislation in order to meet by
anticipation the legitimate wishes of the Conference and the pressing
demands of the Jews. We did quite enough to obviate decrees which might
impair our sovereignty or lessen our prestige. Poland and Rumania issued
laws establishing absolute equality between the Jews and their own
nationals. All discrimination had ceased. Immigrant Hebrews from Russia
received the full rights of citizenship and became entitled to fill any
office in the state. In a word, all the old disabilities were abolished
and the fervent prayer of east European governments was that the Jewish
members of their respective communities should be gradually assimilated
to the natives and become patriotic citizens like them. It was a new
ideal. It accorded to the Jews everything they had asked for. It would
enable them to show themselves as the