JEWS' GRATITUDE.

Colonist, Volume LX, Issue 14642, 21 February 1918, Page 2

JEWS' GRATITUDE.

BRITISH SCRAP OF PAPER

WORTH HAVING

New York, Dec. 27

In celebration of the British promise to give a home to the Jews in Palestine thousands of New York/Zionists packed the Carnegie Hall at a commemoration meeting, and thousands more crowded the streets around the building until long after the meeting had begun.

Inside the. American and British Zionist nags were intertwined, and with songs in Hebrew interspersed between the speeches a group of leaders of Zionism in New York'and the Old World dwelt on the significance of the British victory at Jerusalem. The last and most enthusiastically welcomed speaker was Dr Schmarya Levin, who spoke in Yiddish. He declared that the act *of Great Britain was not an'act of politics- or diplomacy, but something far deeper, a stage in the development of history which, m effect, added another chapter to the

Bible—a modern chapter by -which the' Jews of to-day could link something of then- own time to the story of the old

Jewish kingdom. Dr Levin spoke as tlio representative of the international Zionist Organisa-

tion, but the speaker who stirred the most enthusiasm next to him was a Christian, the- Rev. Dr Otis A . Uiazebrook, late American Consul at Jerusalem, who" had charge of the distribution of Jewish relief funds in the Holy City. One of the most enthusiastic outbursts of the evening occurred when Dr-Glaze-brook declared:

It is the duty of every Jew who loves; Palestine and who fosters the hope of j the lestoration of Israel to use his influence, his material wealth, and his life to see that England and the Allies win this war. We have seen the vision of the restoration of the Jewish people, and we pray that this vision may not be spoiled by the- war but may be crown ed by the war ending .gloriously in victory for the Entente Powers. If Palestine is to be restored to Israel remember that Palestine and Syria must remain in the hands of the Allies, and one of the most important lessons just now, more important than the immediate working out of the details of a Zionist State, is that you see and do your whole,;• complete duty in. this war for the success of Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States. Dr Stephen S. Wiso. the chairman of the meeting, "iSaid that what Zionists were rejoicing over was only a scrap of paper: ■

But that scrap of. paper is written in English: it is signed by the British Government, and therefore is sacred and inviolable. Jt represents not the uncon'sidered policy of a temporary Government, but all the great political parties of England, which have united in giving their adherence to this declaration, it is true to the finest traditions of the British people and is a symbol of the will of the Allies to right wrongs however ancient, to undo injustice however hoary, and to supplant theiPrussian idea of rule by might with j the ehangelessly true principles of.jasI tice and right. * ,