Three months ago a schoolboy named Winter was murdered at
Konitz in West Prussia. The Anti-Semitic Press at once &dared that it was a Jewish ritual murder, and as a result of their efforts riots have taken place, and the Jewish synagogue was recently wrecked in Konitz. In reply to an appeal from the Rabbi, the Professors of Old Testament Theology at the Protestant Theological College at Halle have declared that there was no written or spoken tradition among the Jews not accessible to well-informed Christians, thus endorsing the resolution denouncing the charge of ritual murder as a senseless calumny passed by the Congress of Orientalists last year. But the most trenchant condemna- tion of the "ritual murder" agitation comes from the Cologne Gazette, which expresses amazement that these charges have not led to any public prosecution. Such action is demanded "for the sake of the German nation, and the honour of the German name abroad." Other- wise "how can we make it a matter of reproach for the Chinese that they accuse Christian missionaries of murder- ing Chinese children for ritual and medicinal objects?" Certain writers go still further, and charge the Emperor with Anti-Semitism. That is a charge we cannot bring ourselves to believe on mere rumour. But the Kaiser Wilhelm might do worse than follow the example of his Roman Catholic brother Francis Joseph, who has publicly testified his abhorrence of the Judenhetze.
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