Notes

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 47, 23 November 1905, Page 18

Notes

The New 'Bulgarian Atrocities'

The late Mr. Lceky, writing in 1893, adopted the theory that the persecution of the .Jews in Russia was set in motion by ' three of the most poweiful elements that can move mankind— the spirit of religious intolerance ; the spirit of exclusive nationality ; and the

jealousy that springs from trade or mercantile occupation.' According to M Analole Leroy-Bcaulicu, a recognised authority on the subject, religious intolerance contributed least to the anti-Semitic movement in the lealms of Muscovy ; racial hate was a far more powerful factor in the persecutions to which the hapless Hebrews were subjected , while 'in the midst of many idle, drunken, and ignorant populations the shrewd, thrifty, and sober Jew stands conspicuous as the most successful trader.' It may, in a general way, be stated that the \irtnes of the Jev^ arc the very qualities that, by convmanding commercial success, excite against them the biliere.st jealousies and animosities It would probably be rasy to stow— and, for the British Isles, the columns of London ' Truth ' seem to amply demonstrate it week by week— that, in comparison with nominal ' ( hnstians,' Jews aie comparatively light offenders in the money-lending business, in the small ' credit ' trade, and m such-hke unpopular occupations But Jews, like Catholics, h&\ c long ago learned that one man may steal a sheep, while another may not look over the fence.

In Russia the Jews arc deprived by law of the rights of citizenship and compelled to herd together in the wretched Pale of Settlement, which stretches along the froniier from the Black Sea to ihe Baltic, and is described by Baiham as ' a hell of seething wretchLMlness ' A tew are allowed on sufferance in Courland and Livonia, beyond the boundaries- of the Pale It was only in ls><)7 that members of the ancient race were— provided they had a university education— allowed freedom of residence within the Empire As to the rest, ' Jews who have lived eight yeais m a village,' says Barium, ' may he interned therein, and may not move, even walking distance, without leave Jews leaving one village tor another lose their lights, and must go to the (ihetto' (Jewish quarter) 'of the neaiest town This,' adds Ihe same wnlei, ' is practically a sentence oi death. Elocutions aie going on, not upon scaffolds, but m dusky Chettos, wheie the victims of oppression pine without hope in the woild.'

In 1881, fen the first limo in their history, the civil disabilities of 1 lie Russian Jews were aggravated a thousand lold by bn.lal (Mlumnirs, mob law, plunder, and bloodshed Kuim tluM tune to the present then pmpeily has ne\ei been •■ale ixu their lives sec me from fierce outbieaks of oiganised and iabid fanaticism Souk two veais ,i^n these deeds of mob "violence — encouraged, appan nt 'y, by ofluial mt iigue— rcsul tc d in the fearful massacies 1' t turned the astonished eyes ot Chi istendoin tovaids ki-lnneff \nd now Herod has been again ont-I iei oded , tin- wild baibaiian melncsol kishinev pale Ihen lne'lediial dies beloie the faispieading pioscupt ion a.nd plunder and massacre that seem to have involved in one common nun a great nail of a ])<issi\e and law -abiding people undei the Russian flag The Bul<j,ai uin atrocities oi I S7G pioduced what Air. Bright called 'an uprising of the English people ' 11 is to be lei'ciitly hoped thai ihe still woi'-e atrocities pel pet i dted m Russia may rouse, not England alone, but all the (Ireat Puvvois, to effectually prevent the iccuiieiue of a state ol things that has no parallel in the Tuil'sh histon ot the l.i,t hundied yeais