with our wealth and our work, let us remember that we are fighting also for the cause of Israel in the world.

That is why the great movement for democratic freedom and justice in England was bound to make for the recognition and liberation of the Jewish soul. That is why Cromwell became a champion of the re-admission of the Jews to England, and namely, of their re-admission on the most honorable terms, and not, as some of his associates would have it, surreptitiously and half-heartedly. Nay, that is why, some forty years before Cromwell's effort, in the year 1614, when Leonard Busher wrote his noteworthy tract on "Liberty of Conscience", he demanded that such liberty be extended to all alike, including the Jews. That is why, two centuries later, Thomas B. Macauley could not help pleading for the removal of the disabilities of the Jews, as he did in 1830 and 1834 supporting the noble efforts of Lord Holland and Robert Grant. That is why Gladstone, at first opposed to Jewish emancipation, could not help coming over to the more liberal view. It was impossible for the democratic conscience to affirm itself and for the democratic consciousness to grow in England, without freedom being granted, and justice being done, to the Jew, seeing it is for freedom and justice that democracy stands.

Another fact is England's interest in commerce. It is well known that commerce has helped make England great. Now, the Jew throughout the ages of his history in Europe has been one of the most important factors in commerce. Everybody knows what historic conditions served to bring about this result. The fact is that the Jew became perhaps the most important commercial factor of Europe, which was responsible both for his prosperity and persecution.

England has seldom failed to recognize this side of the Jew's importance. This is why he was first asked to come to England. This is why he was so often traded about by the feudal kings. This is why they hated to see him go even when they mocked and mobbed him. This is chiefly why Cromwell wanted him to return, and it is fear of his commercial power that often arrayed against him his opponents. Often short-sighted Englishmen were afraid that by giving equality and rights to the Jews, they would make it possible for the latter, by their commercial talent, to overwhelm the rest of the population and to absorb all the wealth of Britain. It was even feared that the Jews would buy up St. Paul's Cathedral and turn it into a synagogue! "You say they are the meanest and most despised of all people," exclaimed Cromwell, at the Conference on the Re-admission of the Jews. "So be it! But in that case what becomes of your fears? Can you really be afraid that this contemptible and despised people should be able to prevail in trade and credit over the merchants of England, the noblest and most esteemed merchants of the whole world?"

Cromwell's indignant question has been justified by history. Now, years after their complete emancipation, the Jews have not yet appropriated all the wealth of England, they have not yet dispossessed the rest of Britain's population, nor yet has St. Paul's been turned into a synagogue. At any rate, England's interest in commerce has contributed greatly to the ascendency of her Jewish subjects.

Finally, there is the remarkable kinship between the English spirit and the spirit of Israel.

Leroy-Beaulieu, in his celebrated book Israel among the Nations, has pointed out that the claim of such kinship is made for many nations in regard to Israel. But surely it is not without reason that some one has called England the Israel of Europe. There is no modern country that has been saturated more thoroughly with the spirit of Israel than England.

No country, for one thing, has been so completely influenced by the Bible. The English translation of the Bible is an English classic, as well as Jewish. Insofar as the Puritans molded English civilization, it meant the introduction of a strong and unmistakable Hebrew influence. It is in England that Biblical learning, of a devout and constructive kind, has flourished as nowhere else, there that a society for the diffusion of the Scriptures first was founded, there that most has been done for the exploration of Palestine, there that some of the finest collections of Hebrew books and manuscripts are found (in the British Museum and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford), and there that even rabbinical learning has found its most earnest and sympathetic devotees among non-Jews.

It would take us far afield to trace the relationship between the English spirit and that of Israel. But we cannot think of it without realizing why some people should believe that the English in reality are descendants of the Ten Tribes, why the integration of Israel in English life should have become so complete, and why the Jew should finally have found such appreciation and happiness in England.

How about the future? What effect has the War had on the position of the Jew in England?

It is whispered here and there that the War had created an increase of anti-Semitism in England. This is impossible. It is true that in the early days of the War some sensation-mongers tried to cast aspersions on the Jews. It is true, also, that in those days a serious problem was created by the presence of many Russian Jews who would not fight for the old government of Russia, thus giving rise to some slurs upon the patriotism of the Jews. No less true it is that some few fanatical journalists seem to regard this as a good time for creating strife and spreading anti-Jewish prejudice. But the futility of such an enterprise is self-evident.

The Jews of England are as loyal as the most loyal. Their best sons were among the first volunteers and martyrs. Their ablest men are serving in all sorts of positions of trust and leadership, and are occupying posts of supreme responsibility both at home and abroad. Nay more, each and every one of them, however lowly and obscure, is ready to die for England and her cause. These facts speak for themselves, with a voice louder than fanaticism and bigotry.

As long as England remains true to herself—to her democratic spirit, to her spirit of enterprise and fair-play, to her spirit of Freedom and Righteousness, as long as she remains true to that genius for democracy that has animated her for centuries, that has kept on asserting itself within her against all handicaps and impediments, that has kept on moving her toward the democratic goal often in spite of herself,—as long, I say, as England remains true to democracy, so long will Israel be safe and happy under her flag!

III

RUSSIA AND THE JEWSToC

The ascendency of Russia as a power making for democracy is one of the miracles of the present War. Who could have foreseen five years ago that the country suffering under the most despotic autocracy of modern times would so suddenly become the champion of a most radical democracy? Yet, this is what is actually happening today. Notwithstanding the vacillations and frightful uncertainties that still beset Russia, she seems destined to play an enormous part in the future definition and direction of democracy, and the world may yet learn many a lesson from her. This is one of the miracles of the War.