Telegrams from the Vienna correspondent of the Times in the
issue of this day week and of Wednesday record an in- stance of enlightened and humane intervention on the part of a Roman Catholic Bishop in Hungary. An effort having been made with the aid of the local Ultramontane paper to get up a new trial at Nameszto for the alleged murder by Jews of a boy of twelve, the Bishop of Zips, in whose diocese the incident occurred, has addressed a pastoral letter to thE dean and vicars within his jurisdiction, denouncing and de. molishing the theory of ritual murder on which the charge rests. He points out that it derives no sanction from the Jewish Scriptures, which expressly forbid the Jews to taste the blood of animals in their food. How then, he argues, would they touch human blood? He further earnestly warns his clergy against the sad consequences which, to judge from past experience, must result from such an agitation, and declares that the aim of the writer of the articles has been to stir up popular feeling by reckless statements, void of any substantial basis. This courageous and sensible letter is none the less worthy of credit for having followed the Emperor Francis Joseph's recent communication to the Jewish Rabbi. We wish, however, that Mr. Zangwill would explain to us the constant recurrence of this strange and absolutely baseless charge.
Previous page
