human history. And
again, a varied, impartial observation of the Jews in different
countries tends to the impression that they have a predominant
kindliness which must have been deeply ingrained in the constitution of
their race to have outlasted the ages of persecution and oppression.
The concentration of their joys in domestic life has kept up in them the
capacity of tenderness: the pity for the fatherless and the widow, the
care for the women and the little ones, blent intimately with their
religion, is a well of mercy that cannot long or widely be pent up by
exclusiveness. And the kindliness of the Jew overflows the line of
division between him and the Gentile. On the whole, one of the most
remarkable phenomena in the history of this scattered people, made for
ages "a scorn and a hissing" is, that after being subjected to this
process, which might have been expected to be in every sense
deteriorating and vitiating, they have come out of it (in any estimate
which allows for numerical proportion) rivalling the nations of all
European countries in healthiness and beauty of _physique_, in practical
ability, in scientific and artistic aptitude, and in some forms of
ethical value. A significant indication of their natural rank is seen in
the fact that at this moment, the leader of the Liberal party in Germany
is a Jew, the leader of the Republican party in France is a Jew, and the
head of the Conservative ministry in England is a Jew. And here it is
that we find the ground for the obvious jealousy which is now
stimulating the revived expression of old antipathies. "The Jews," it is
felt, "have a dangerous tendency to get the uppermost places not only in
commerce but in political life. Their monetary hold on governments is
tending to perpetuate in leading Jews a spirit of universal alienism
(euphemistically called cosmopolitanism), even where the West has given
them a full share in civil and political rights. A people with oriental
sunlight in their blood, yet capable of being everywhere acclimatised,
they have a force and toughness which enables them to carry off the best
prizes; and their wealth is likely to put half the seats in Parliament
at their disposal."

There is truth in these views of Jewish social and political relations.
But it is rather too late for liberal pleaders to urge them in a merely
vituperative sense. Do they propose as a remedy for the impending danger
of our healthier national influences getting ov