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It will be remembered that about two years ago, the
legislative assembly of the Prussian Rhenish provinces passed a
resolution emancipating the Jews, which did not receive the royal
assent. We are glad to announce, however, that the movement is not laid
aside, and that the Christians themselves, in some districts, ask for an
equalization of rights between themselves and the Israelites. We extract
the following from the London Jewish Chronicle of April 18. The article
speaks for itself.
To the High Estates in the
Eighth Provincial Diet of Westphalia assembled, the Petition of the
Householders of Paderborn, for the full Emancipation, Political and
Civil, of the Jews.
There
is no civilized state, whose constant endeavours are not directed
towards attaining that position for its institutions and its laws, which
may be deservedly called the immutable, the divine. But before the
throne of the Most High there is no respect of persons; all men are
equal before Him! Equality before the law ought to be therefore the
basis of every political constitution, of every legislation. Still is
this plain truth deplorably violated in our native land, though it is
undoubtedly blessed with a high degree of civilization. In this our
native land there exists an entire class of subjects, from whom are
withheld, on considerations of religious difference, every political
right, and many an important civil privilege enjoyed by every other
native of the realm; by which disqualification, the members of that
class are stamped with the brand of degradation, and become objects of
persecution. To our grief, we must confess, that this harsh verdict of
the law of the land has become for many a Christian the rule of his
personal conduct towards towards the victims of oppression. The victims,
on whose behalf we intercede, are the Jews!
There
is a sacred Christian commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself;” and it is this first of all moral laws which all Christians
have thought it right to transgress, from the time of the institution of
their holy religion, in their dealings towards large numbers of their
fellow-men. Though, according to the words of our divine Redeemer, every
human being is our neighbour, Christian people have violently excluded
from the pale of “Humanity” a considerable number of unfortunate
brethren—have persecuted them during nearly two thousand years with
all the weapons of hate, envy, and revenge. The unfortunate brethren for
whom we plead, are the Jews!
Heavy
were the struggles which Germany (and especially our common country,
Prussia) had to sustain, ere it could release itself from the yoke of
foreign rule, and achieve its present power and prosperity. Fearful were
the sufferings through which it had to pass, ere it could conquer that
peace with which it has now, for thirty successive years, been blessed.
The ruler has returned to his liege subjects—the people have
reconquered their legitimate sovereign. Our nobility may now peacefully
enjoy their possessions; industry and the arts flourish, free from all
restraint, in our cities; and the husbandman, from being a serf, is become a free man, who independently cultivates
the ground which is his own. But a number of subjects there are, still
shut out from all the blessings of our peaceful condition. They have
been, we might say, deprived of what they formerly possessed; they
alone, of all, have nearly a right to regret that they co-operated in
rescuing Prussia from foreign thralldom. With us they fought, under the
protection of God, for our king and fatherland—with us they rushed
forward to stake their lives and their substance—equally with us they
bear all public burdens, and cheerfully contribute towards perpetuating
among us that prosperity which their fellow-countrymen have now
for thirty years enjoyed.
Well
may the feeling man inquire into the reason of the inexpressible
oppression exercised by the whole state, and by the majority of the
inhabitants towards a small number of fellow-subjects. Are they
Atheists, oppressors of the human race? Are they enemies of our land,
because they are Jews? Are these the reasons why the inalienable rights
of men are denied them?—why they are excluded from the ranks of those
whom it is a Christian duty to love?—why they are shut out from the
enjoyment of privileges for which they have paid with innumerable
sacrifices? No indeed! Their sole crime is, that they are the
descendants of a people who planted the seed from which is derived the
tree of Christianity.
The
inhabitants of Paderborn feel vividly the ignominious violation of human
dignity, these two millennia, in the persons of the Jewish people. To
delay, by one moment, the reparation of that ancient wrong, adds to the
injury. The Jews are united with us by the bonds of one common land, of
one language. In their temples are offered up prayers for our common
sovereign. They bear equal burdens with all of us; they share our
afflictions, though deprived of advantages which we enjoy; they
cultivate, in common with us, our native soil; but they reap not the
fruits of their toil. The fundamental law of their faith in their
Decalogue is the basis of the Christian religion, as of all modern
legislations; and great, indeed, is the blindness of those who have the
presumption to object, that the Jews are immersed in ignorance and
immorality.
Impelled
by these considerations, we dutifully submit our petition to the High
Diet of our estates. We petition for an act of immutable natural
justice; we appeal to the “love of our neighbour,” which is
commanded by Christianity; we request, in the name of our Jewish
brethren, as their sacred due for their great sacrifices to the public
weal, that the high
Estates be pleased, after the example of the Seventh Rhenish Diet, and
in the spirit of the speech there delivered by a noble-minded
ecclesiastic of the Catholic church, to lay an humble petition at the
feet of His Most Gracious Majesty, for the immediate grant, to all his
Majesty’s subjects of the Jewish faith, of all political, as well as
civil rights, on a perfect equality with His Majesty’s Christian
subjects.
The
signatures of the citizens of Paderborn.
Paderborn,
February, 1845.
Notwithstanding
the above appeal, the Chronicle contains in addition:—
The
“Sun” of Wednesday evening, April 16, reports, on the authority of
the “Rhine Observer,” that the Diet of Westphalia has rejected the
motion for the emancipation of the Jews. Only sixteen members voted in
favour of the motion. |
