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We continue from our No. 42.—Whether it be
practicable or not to induce a large number of Israelites to embrace an
agricultural life, is a matter which can only be established by time. To
all appearance there are at present many obstacles to such a transition
from former habits, not the least of which is the great poverty existing
in many thickly settled Jewish communities, superinduced by the oppression
of European and Asiatic governments. Exactions of every sort have from
time immemorial been laid upon our people, and it appeared as if they
merely laboured for the aggrandizement of their enemies. Hence the spirit
of enterprise has become broken, by the extinguishment of the means
necessary to follow out a new line of business or labour. Persons born in
England, France, America, or countries blessed with similar institutions
to those which govern them, can form no idea of the crushing effect of
governmental interference in every act of life, an interference which
extends to food, to clothing, to industry, and at last to thought. You
cannot eat without a tax; you cannot dress yourself according to your
taste, because the emperor wants you to adopt his fashions; you cannot
enter into a walk of life which suits your mental capacity and natural
bias, because the ruling powers have decreed that that particular branch
belongs to the favoured classes, the members of the Christian state; and
your thoughts,—they must be moulded as the law directs; you may not
perhaps be able to think as your rulers do; but never mind, you must keep
all such things to yourself, not breathe them aloud in your private
meetings
even, much less give them tongue through means of the public press, an instrument which the enemies of light and
reason dread
more than any thing else, since it is to them a monitor that they too will
be held accountable, equally with the meanest labourer, for their doings
and omissions at the bar of public judgment, a tribunal which, however
derided at first, will at some time assert its all-powerful influence. To
give our readers some idea of the nature of the yoke which weighs down our
spirit, we will give a few extracts from the Jewish Intelligence of
October,
now before us. First as to Russia:—
“Jewish Schools In Russia. Petersburgh,
August 1.—The measures proposed by Government in the year 1843, for
the purpose of remodelling the system of instructing the Jewish population
in the Imperial States of Russia, are now unremittingly brought to a close
by the Minister of Public Instruction. In order to ascertain the exact
number of all Jewish Schools and their respective teachers throughout the
Empire, which, according to the new order of things, are under the
superintendence of that minister: temporary offices, and commissioners
for the district schools, are already appointed by him, furnished by the
ministry with the desired instructions. There are now in the western
provinces, and in the districts of Odessa generally, ninety-seven such
school commissions, which have already supplied nearly ten thousand
teachers with certificates, confirmed by the ministry, uninterruptedly
to pursue their instruction to the Hebrew youths. For the maintenance of
the Hebrew schools, government calculates upon the light or candle-tax,
which is very considerable, and produces a large annual revenue, as well
as upon the sum paid for the lease of Hebrew printing-offices. Of these
printing-offices, there is at present only one, that in Wilna, carrying on
business, and even this one is ordered to complete the printing of their
manuscripts, just commenced, within three years hence.”—Deutsche
Allg. Zeitung.
Now here are lights and shadows beautifully, though
not harmoniously, mingled, and both mark stronger than any thing we
could exhibit, the nature of the government to which the immense masses of
Jews in Russia are subject. We have no question that there are defects in
the system of education as conducted in the rabbinical schools in Poland
and Russia; doubtlessly too little scientific instruction has been
afforded to our youth, and too little attention has been paid to the
language of the country. It may be, but we do not wish to speak with too much confidence of
a subject with which we have not data enough to become familiar, that some
of the enlightened, scientific Israelites have made complaints to
government about these defects. There may be accordingly some show of
reason for the interference of the state in matters, which in the
relations the rulers bear to the people in Russia, are altogether
governmental affairs. But who would have dreamed to carry on an apparent
benefit to the people, by yet enhancing their already too heavy burdens?
“Straw shall not be given you, but the usual number of bricks shall ye
furnish nevertheless.” They are taxed for the support of the state; for
the support of schools; for the pay of officers who rule over them; but
instead of others aiding them as they aid others, they are to be
additionally taxed to support their schools. It is well, however, that
even this boon is guaranteed to them, that their children may be educated
by persons of their own faith, that the Hebrew language may yet be
perpetuated to them as the language of their religion. But how long is this to continue, if the train of measures now
pursued is to be carried out as now they threaten to be? A part of the
taxes arise from the light or candle-exactions, no doubt, as in Austria,
(of which more anon,) for the privilege of having light in our dwellings
on the eve of the blessed Sabbath and festivals; but who knows, who can
assure us that the exactions thus unjustly levied, may not, will not find
their way into the imperial treasury for other and far different purposes
than the education of Jews as Jews? Our readers must understand that all
the acts of tyranny which our people have suffered of late years in the
dominions of the Czar, are not mere accidental decrees, adopted
without thought or on immature reflection; on the contrary, the emperor
and his advisers have proposed to themselves a system, which only can
become known abroad through its effects. No more is made public at any one
time than suits the convenience of the rulers; and when one blow has been
well felt, when one step of the policy has been well defined, then
follows a new blow, then a new step is taken. So now with the new school
system, which as yet is only known through through its new tax and new
prohibition. The government, by the enumeration of the Hebrew teachers,
knows to a man how many of these there are in the country; consequently
they become a species of troops in the imperial pay scattered in every
town or hamlet where there are a few Israelites. It must not be supposed
that the branches of education will be left to the option of parents or
teachers to determine; oh no! that would be a boon too great to be
bestowed upon the abject Jews; and thus before long, it is to be
dreaded, that the branches to be taught by governmental authority will be
such as must tend to denationalize the Jews, or that gentile, nay perhaps
apostate, teachers will be appointed to instil into the youthful mind
ideas totally at variance with Judaism. But
admitting that the government is more honest, and aims only to improve the
Jews by enlarging their intellect, and giving them a scientific training;
still the deadly blow aimed at Jewish literature is a sign which cannot be
lightly regarded or passed over with indifference. First, the
printing-offices are to be taxed, in other words books are to be enhanced
in price, and this to a people who are too poor now to purchase the
necessaries of life; and for fear that under all circurnstances and
hardships the Israelites would still encourage their own literature, the
printing of new works is to cease at the only press at their command, in
the course of three years. How are the men of mind among these
unfortunates to make known their thoughts, reflections, and labours to
the people? Will they even be permitted to make transcripts by the slow
process of the pen, for the circulation of their works among their
friends? We doubt it greatly; and sure we are, that if they were printed
abroad, the vigilant police on the frontiers would not permit them to
enter the well-guarded limits of the empire. There is, therefore, under
the guise of establishing Hebrew schools, a frightful danger hanging
over the Russian Jews, nothing less than the extinguishing of Jewish
education on orthodox principles, and the substitution therefor of what
the enemies of Judaism may permit to be inculcated. The Emperor will not probably order a wholesale conversion of Jews,
as this was formerly done in Spain, and France, and other countries; he
knows full well that our
brothers would sooner perish by thousands than submit to such a fate; but
he hopes to undermine gradually the stronghold of the faith, by tincturing
the spirit of the young, first, with a dislike for their ancient teachers,
and then probably by engrafting, through hired instructers, anti-Jewish
doctrines.
We know that we shall be met with the objection, that
we are needlessly alarmed; that the objects of the government are truly
and solely the improvement of the Jewish part of the community, and that
confessedly there is room for improvement. We sincerely hope that this
may be so, and that the dark shadows which now envelope the future, may
give place to an unclouded and resplendent light. But the march of events
of late has given us no favourable opinion of the good intention of Russia
towards any other idea of government and religion than autocracy,
in which the chief of the state is all in all, the first in the council of
the government, the sole director of the civil and military affairs, and
the only authority in ecclesiastical matters. Russia is a pure despotism;
no one is permitted to raise his voice against the will of the Emperor;
even in his own household he is the absolute sovereign. And can it then be
expected that the presence of a population of near two millions, with more
than ten thousand active teachers “who all obey not the statutes of
the king,”' is not a flat contradiction to the undisputed sway of the
latter? And in addition, can it be supposed that efforts will not be
attempted at least, to amalgamate this mass with the other portions of the
state, so that there may be but one will in the whole empire, and
this the pleasure of the irresponsible sovereign who wields the
sceptre at the distant St. Petersburgh, but whose whisper is repeated
thence over a great portion of Europe, Asia, and America? It is then this being consistent, which is so much in character
with the present emperor, which we dread; and our only hope is that the
One who so often has stood our defence in the rage of the gentiles, may at
the present time also stretch out his arm to snatch the brand from the
fire, which otherwise threatens to destroy both the dried branches with
the green and vigorous boughs. It is, however, no idle expression of
fanaticism
or cant on our part, that we despair of human interposition.
We, with others, indeed hailed the mission of the
good Sir Moses Montefiore, to plead our cause before the tribunal of an
earthly king. But from the first we entertained a distrust of his success;
and since his return we have waited in vain for any indication of the
least good result in the public papers. It was a noble thing in this
worthy Israelite to hasten forward now as on a former occasion, to speak
in behalf of the oppressed, and those who only looked on the hardships we
had to endure in both instances, imagined that equal success would
attend both cases. But we repeat, that those who thought so, do not know
the temper of the Russians. You might as well ask a tiger to let go his
prey, when his tongue is licking the warm blood issuing out of the wound
he has just inflicted; you might stop an infuriated elephant by striking
him with a willow wand, or command the anaconda to let go her hold when
she has entwined herself around the helpless deer, as to beg for mercy of
the imperial Russian, when he purposes to inflict a severe blow. One who
knows something of his manner, but whom we cannot now name, told us that
if you were to tell him that such a measure was inflicting a terrible
injury upon any one, he would answer, that he knew it, and had therefore
issued the very decree, the relaxation of which you pray for. With such a man it is useless to reason, it would be worse than folly to
entreat him to be kind to the oppressed. And as to fearing the voice of
public opinion, though it be re-echoed from the Chambers of France, the
Parliament of England, or the Congress of the United States, he is
indifferent to this as to idle wind. Only look how Poland has been
despoiled, how her people have been slaughtered, how her best sons have
been driven into exile or banished to Siberia; and then reflect the
immense amount of public sympathy uselessly spent, and the high-sounding
speeches uttered by men of the greatest influence; and what has Nicholas
cared? He laughs at the weakness of the friends of humanity, and he still
deems himself “the great monster who lies securely in his river,”
heedless
of the impotent threats of those who only gaze at him from afar. But
different was it with Turkey. The very dissensions in that country render
it, so to say, a play-ball in the hands of European cabinets; both the
Sultan and Mehemet Ali are compelled to listen to the advice of
other potentates; a mission therefore of high-minded Israelites, backed by
the intervention of European consuls, obtained a favourable reception; and
the horrors of the Damascus persecution were soon terminated by the orders
of the Egyptian Pacha. Still,
after all, great as was the universal feeling of horror excited by the
barbarities exhibited at Damascus, it was but an isolated act of
oppression which had to be checked; and both the rulers of the land, and
those who interfered, could soon come to a perfect understanding of the
subject in question. Yet how different is the case of the Jews in Russia
at the present moment! It is not one town or a few individuals whom the danger threatens, but a great and numerous people; it is
not an impotent and timorous government that means to do evil, but the
most powerful state the sun ever shone upon; and are we not then right to
ask aid of Him who alone is able to save? As far as human foresight goes,
we see only one means of extricating our brothers from the snare, and that
is to ask of the Emperor to let all, who can establish themselves
elsewhere, leave the country. Perhaps this boon also may be refused;
perhaps he may wish to retain them within his grasp, on account of their
importance to the greatness of the state. Still it is worth trying to do
something for the oppressed. Those who felt so deeply and keenly when a
false accusation caused innocent blood to flow at Damascus, ought surely
to be active now, when not one town but many hundreds are threatened with
evil. Let it not be said that then life was at stake, but now no such
bodily harm is threatened. But are we so apathetic that we regard as
nothing the danger to our religion which is so imminent? Is it nothing,
that many thousands are prospectively threatened with a compulsory
apostacy, or the alternative, death—perhaps from starvation? Or are we
only to be aroused when the danger is so evident that even the enemies of
the Jews will cry out “Shame!” against the persecutors?
We repeat, then, that now some effort should be made
to provide a home for our northern brothers; not alone by the Jews of
America, but also by those in England and the Continent of Europe; and
we call upon those who have the means to enable them to assist the needy,
and those who have influence in the community, to form committees of
relief and correspondence, for
the purpose of establishing emigration on a large
scale, and to settle the emigrants upon some of the fertile lands
indicated before, either in America, Palestine, or even Australia. We do
not mean a more alms-giving to individual poor who may come away from
Russia; but to act upon the masses, so that these may be enabled to help
themselves, and aid those of their friends who are yet left behind. In
this manner only can relief be possible, and to this plan of amelioration
alone will Nicholas under any circumstances, if we may judge from the
past, give his consent. It is, let it be understood, possible enough that
a prejudice may exist against the Jews in Russia, from one cause or the other. We cannot
therefore expect that their situation at home can become tolerable at all
by any favours from the ruling powers; but the case must evidently be
different if they could emigrate; for in that case these persons
themselves, would not alone be enabled to improve their condition, but
their absence would enable those left behind to obtain a better
livelihood, should the over-crowded pursuits of industry to which Jews are
confined have less competitors than before. As we said in the beginning of this article, the great poverty of
the great numbers, is the chief cause of the low state of industry among
them; but when a new field of labour and exertion be opened to many it
leaves the others more room for a development of an industrial character,
restricted as they are as to branches which they may pursue.
We hope that our words may find an entrance into the
heart of those whose talents, means, and influence enable them to be
effective in accomplishing good. We at least discharge a duty in calling
public attention to the sorrows of Israelites abroad; and having said thus
much at present, we are compelled to break off in the midst of our
subject, but with a promise to resume it soon, with a detail of other
oppressions to which we are liable in other countries besides Russia,
though this is the greatest, both for the acts of government and the
numbers that are suffering. We trust that American and English Israelites
who are themselves free, will not therefore feel the less for their
brothers in other lands; but declare to all by their acts and words, that
every wound inflicted on one portion of Israel is felt by sympathy in
every land where we are scattered.
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