tihvaxy of trhe Cheolojfcal ^tminavy PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY ■ PRESENTED BY John Stuart Conning, D.D BNTTSSTATe 1902a Magnus, Laurie, 1872-1933. Aspects of the Jewish question ASPECTS OF THE JEWISH QUESTION ASPECTS OF TH ^v JEWISH QUESTION BY A QUARTERLY REVIEWER CbTl JoubeTt WITH A MAP NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 1902 Printed in Great Britain PREFACE This book is reprinted, with alterations and considerable additions, from the article on " Zionism and Anti - Semitism," which I contributed to the Quarterly Review, April 1902. I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the editor and to the proprietor of that periodical for the necessary permission which they have kindly conceded. My chief object in expanding and re- publishing the essay has been to make an impartial survey of the Jewish question in Europe. All the books and pamphlets — and they are many — which have been written in various languages on the subject err by the common defect of narrowing the outlook. The writer in each instance sets out to prove something, and he selects his facts in order to suit his conclusion. It is natural enough that Jewish writers should seek to justify their race, and it is comprehensible at least vi PREFACE that the detractors of the Jews should confine their record to evidences making for anti- Semitism. Unfortunately, the result has been that, instead of one Jewish problem, there seem to be half-a-dozen. There is the problem of the conversionist associations, with their somewhat hysterical propaganda, who profess to admire the Jewish race, and to desire above all things that it should embrace Christian dogma. There is the problem of the philosophic Radicals, who would let the Jews practise any form of religion that pleases them, as long as that form does not require the maintenance of a separate race. Then there is the Tory problem of the statisticians and economists, who avoid in their speeches calling a spade a spade, and to whom we owe a Jewish question under the name of an anti- alien movement. And there is a party of surrender among the Jews themselves, who make a glory of the title of alien by asserting their national unity. It is obvious that, though these opinions may co-exist, they are not compatible. Vou cannot assimilate a population which is con- spiring with the Turks for a grant of territory in Palestine. You cannot open churches for a people whom you turn back from your ports. PREFACE vii You cannot expect the Jews to develop their best powers peacefully, amid simultaneous shouts of "Be Christians ! " "Be Aryans I " ^'Be Zionists!" and "Be off!" The confusion of remedies points to an imperfect diagnosis. It is conceivable that, when the Jewish question is reconsidered in the broader aspect which 1 have tried to present, the need of a violent method will