THE JEWS.
WE publish elsewhere a strikingletter from Mr: Herman Cohen suggesting that' there should be an impartial inquiry into the position of: the- Jews and the reasonable- ness or otherwise of Mr. Belloe's assertion that the Jews are incapable of real absorption into- the nation. For our part, we think absorption possible, though we admit: that it might be difficult: There are- certain facts, the chief of which is- the racial and -religions exclusiveness of the Jew, which put him on a' different footing from- that of all other foreign elements that have been successfully assimilated by the British nation and have become veri socii. Mr. Cohen says that- we do not know the facts. Well, we confess that that may be true ; but we have an ardent desire to know them, and consequently we are extremely attracted by Mr. Cohen's proposal that there.' should be an inquiry.
This is not the kind of inquiry which the State could be expected to institute. It 'would have to be an unofficial inquiry, but there is no reason why, if men of known honesty and clearness of mind were- persuaded to hold an investigation, their report should not- be of enormous benefit- in settling the public mind and rebutting any unwarrantable charges or insinuations- that' may have - been made: Mr. Cohen believes that we should have no difficulty' in finding eight men of high repute--four Jews and four non-Jews--to form: a Committee of Inquiry. It might be so, but although we heartily desire to know the whole truth, we should- much prefer that- the members of the Committee were not nominated by us. We say' this for two reasons : first, because we might be• under the suspicion of running a- newspaper " stunt," and if. that suspicion - were spread about it might destroy the whole value of the Committee's work, and secondly, because it' would not be possible—and we make no com- plaint whatever of this -for, we think it would be only natural—for all Jews to feel as' . much confidence in the fairness and the good intentions of the Spectator as Mr. Cohen is generous enough to express. Nevertheless, these: objections shall not prevent from saying that nothing would please us better than that something. should come of Mr. Cohee's proposal. There is no doubt that though there has never been -a " Jewish question " in Great Britain in the sense that there has been a Jewish question in Russia. and in several other countries, problems in con- nexion_ with the Jews here are becoming much more talked about and are more acute than they used to be. It would. be all to the good if these problems could be shifted' from dangerous to safe ground. As Mr. Cohen in effect says, if such a result- seemed to be attainable it ought to be easy to find eight. men who would conduct an inquiry in the interest of honour, love of country and the public peace mincL Letus state once more the elements of the Jewish problem, as it is presenting itself to many 'thoughtful Englishmen We. shall try to state' them- in quite a detached manner* because we never -have been, we are- not, and we hope we never shall have:: cause to be,onti-Semites. The position of the Jew is peculiar, because, he: has not only an exclusive religion but an exclusive= nationality. The Jew is a, Jew first and an Englishman or any-: American or an Italian -or a German second. A strict' Jewish male does not inter- marry with any other raze ,or: creed. This , double exclu- siveness. distinguishes the. position. of the- Jew from that of: any other people- in the: Western world. The only: analogy, which occurs: to us' is' that of the Parsee or the Brahmin in. India: The Jew believes: in maintaining, his racial purity. Many, of our readers, will remember the wonderful passage in .Disraeli'vConinesby in:which Sidonia rhapsodizes upon= this racial purity, comparing. it with, that of a racehorse of undiluted- Arabian strain. Jews have, of- course, always hem-distinguished everywhere by this exclusiveness of race and faith, but the facts were not much noticed here, partly because people in the mass were less observant than they have become with the spread of education, partly because Jews did not occupy the prominent positions in the Government which they occupy to-day, and partly because there were 'fewer Jews. But now, just when the old distinguishing facts have become more noticeable to the public eye; a new distinguish- ing fact has been added. The Jews claim • in' Palestine a separate national and spiritual home. That intensifies the problem. We could imagine some Jews saying " Zionism is sure to do- us more harm, than good. It will be a constant proof that we are not like other; men' of non-British race who claim British citizenship. We shall have an extra-territorial-attachment which will tell against' us. It would be wiser to have nothing to do with Zionism or Palestine." But how many Jews would argue in that' manner ? We should like to know. If Zionism' became a great success the position of the naturalized Jew' in Great Britain who drew his inspiration from his spiritual home abroad would be rather like that of the ultraniontan- ist Englishman who though he formally acknowledges the decrees of his country must finally subject himself to the extraneous spiritual authority of the Vatican. Some• encyclical from the Vatican on questions of faith or morals• might very easily clash with the laws of his country. Perhaps the supreme example of a man who cannot well be in any final sense a verus swim of his own country is art English Cardinal. No doubt an English Cardinal who.was. a good Englishman, as he almost certainly would be, would be moved with grief and pain if a conflict between his English allegiance and his allegiance to a• spiritual authority abroad were set up. But would he, not, if he. remained a Cardinal, have to subject himself to.the foreign- authority ? . With all these elements of the problem before us we would suggest that the terms of reference to a-Committee of Inquiry might be contained in some such question as this : 'Is the maintenance of Jewish racial exclusiveness, when combined with the claims of separate religion and separate nationality, consistent with, complete citizenship in the British nation ? " We should be greatly pleased if it were possible to answer that question affirmatively. The question is really as important as it is interesting, because under modern conditions homogeneity is of . the essence of the social contract. Distinctions of race, .religion and so on matter little in themselves so 'long as they are not of such a kind as to prevent-active, co-opera- tive, • intensive, common citizenship—in a word, homo- ity hope hope that as the proposal of an inquiry- has come from a Jew other Jews will approve of it. We hope that they will suggest names of both Jews and Gentiles who would command their confidence. We shall not do more our- selves than make a few tentative suggestions for con- sideration. We should like to see an historian appointed ; also some such keen and learned observer of English life as Dr. L. P. Jacks; also a retired Ambassador well versed in foreign life or an American settled in England `;. and also, and above all, a retired Judge. Those whose opinions are -already formed strongly one way or the other, ought, of course, to be asked to give evidence, but should not lie members of the Committee. No doubt, to take well- known cases, Lord Sydenham, Mrs. Webster, the Duke of Northumberland and Mr. Belloc himself would be willing to appear as witnesses. There is a tendency,, unknown in former times, for the Jew to become unpop,ular with British • working men. If the causes of this, dislilce, so far as they rest on misunderstandings, could, be removed. the advantage to everybody would be very great. But ,even if the - main question which we have suggested. as roughly embodying: appropriate- terms of reference could not lie answered precisely in the affirmative, it would surely still be possible for Jews; when the issue had been plainly. pre- sented to them,to consider methods of modifying their exclithiveness. We are convinced that quite a conaiderablo part of their rather formidable exclusiveness is a matter as -much of appearance as of fact. Jews have been a good deal driven back upon themselves and have had some justification for feeling that they have prospered by holding together and ignoring the world which is not their world. Till that feeling is lost there will be no absorption, oven though it be theoretically possible.
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