the physiologist
(1810-1883), and Moritz Lazarus (1824-1903) and Heymann Steinthal
(1823-1899) the national psychologists. In politics, too, Edward Lasker
(1829-1884) and Ludwig Bamberger (1823-1899) had shown how Jews could
put their country before party, when, at the turning-point of German
imperial history in 1866, they led the secession from the
_Fortschritts-Partei_ and founded the National Liberal party, which
enabled Prince Bismarck to accomplish German unity. Even their
financiers were not behind their Christian fellow-citizens in
patriotism. Prince Bismarck himself confessed that the money for
carrying on the 1866 campaign was obtained from the Jewish banker
Bleichroeder, in face of the refusal of the money-market to support the
war. Hence the voice of the old Jew-hatred--for in a weak way it was
still occasionally heard in obscurantist corners--was shamed into
silence, and it was only in the European twilight--in Russia and
Rumania--and in lands where medievalism still lingered, such as northern
Africa and Persia, that oppression and persecution continued to dog the
steps of the Jews.

The signal for the change came in 1873, and was given unconsciously by
one of the most distinguished Jews of his time, Edward Lasker, the
gifted lieutenant of Bennigsen in the leadership of the National Liberal
party. The unification of Germany in 1870, and the rapid payment of the
enormous French war indemnity, had given an unprecedented impulse to
industrial and financial activity throughout the empire. Money became
cheap and speculation universal. A company mania set in which was
favoured by the government, who granted railway and other concessions
with a prodigal hand. The inevitable result of this state of things was
first indicated by Jewish politicians and economists. On the 14th of
January 1873, Edward Lasker called the attention of the Prussian diet to
the dangers of the situation, while his colleague, Ludwig Bamberger, in
an able article in the _Preussischen Jahrbucher_, condemned the policy
which had permitted the milliards to glut the country instead of being
paid on a plan which would have facilitated their gradual digestion by
the economic machinery of the nation. Deeply impressed by the gravity of
the impending crisis, Lasker instituted a searching inquiry, with the
result that he discovered a series of grave company scandals in which
financial promoters and aristocratic directors were chiefly involved.
Undeterre