21 MARCH 1925, Page 2

. Lord Balfour has left England for Jerusalem to open

there the new University to which we wish all success. No fitter person could be designated for such a function. Yet the author of the " Balfour Declaration " will be on delicate ground. We have always doubted the wisdom of an inexact phrase such as " a national home " in an official document; but it is too easy now to criticise a war- time pronouncement. We earnestly hope that the University will be as liberally conducted as we are sure is intended, so that Christians and Moslems may have no excuse for shunning it as a Jewish institution. We have all heard too many rumours of Zionist preponderance • and complaints from the other parties that they cannot get the ear of authority either in the Councils of State or the Courts of Law. We cannot believe that Sir Herbert • Samuel, who reached distinction' as a Liberal in our political world, can be unaware of the need to inform himself from all sides, nor that he would wittingly favour his co-religionists. There is no keener observer than Lord Balfour, and his fresh eye may detect points on which he could give valuable advice to the Governor. One must remember three basic facts. Jews are generally cleverer than their neighbours (and certainly the European immigrant Jew is a much more able politician than the Palestinian Arab) ; the neighbours generally find this out, sometimes to their cost, and do not like it ; Jews often use their sharper wits in no conciliatory fashion. * * * *