POLISH JEWS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3052, 7 April 1881, Page 3

POLISH JEWS.

The principal literary opponent of the Jews in Germany has said, in depreciation of them, that they arrive from Poland as old-clothes men, and twenty years afterwards are bankers, newspaper proprietors, and deputies. This accusation is one which could not with justice be brought against most immigrants into Germany; and it would perhaps be difficult to verify it in regard to the great mass of the immigrants from Poland. Doubtless many Jews of Polish origin—members, that is to say, of Jewish families long resident in Poland— have of late made for themselves a good position in Q-ermany ; and this, but for the disabilities pressing upon them —not to speak of persecution of a more positive kind —they would probably have done years ago. The injustice and severity, however, with which the Jews were treated in Q-ermany, caused them to take refuge in free countries such a 9 England, Holland, and contiguous Poland ; and though in Poland, as everywhere else, they were excluded from political privileges, they soon contrived to get a considerable portion of Polish commerce of the lowest kind, into their hands. A Jew in the days of the old Polish. Republic, or rather Mes publica, could not very well have been entrusted with rights which were specially reserved for members, of the nobiliary order. There would at least have been something droll in making him the companion of those who prided themselves on being descended from Crusaders, and who gloried in the character, deserved or not, of Christian knights. The Poles in the present day speak with justifiable complacency of the toleration extended to the Jews in Poland at a time when they were treated with the greatest harshness in most other parts of Europe. But neither by the noble nor by the boor, neither by the proprietor nor by what Hamlet calls the "peasant-slave," were they regarded on a footing of social equality; and no sooner were they relieved in Germany of the civil and political disabilities that had weighed so heavily upon them than they began that movemant towards a richer and more prosperous land of which so many Germans now complain. The Jews profited, of course, in Poland by the contempt with which commerce was looked upon by the nobles. A proprietor has always been at liberty, without loss of caste, to sell the produce of his estate, in no matter what form ; also, with the view of deriving the greatest possible profit from it, to establish factories, distilleries, and works of all kinds. Trade did not become disgraceful until it involved buying as well as selling; and here the Jews stepped in. Even to the present day in Austrian Poland the great proprietors retain the right of selling drink distilled from their own corn ; and this is retailed to the peasantry by Jews who, very abstemious themselves, sell intoxicating liquor without scruple to others. In Poland generally taverns are for the most part kept by Jews ; and it is said of the French officers who took part in the "Russian campaign that after traversing Poland and Lithuania they had learned precisely three words of Polish— Dai votki, Jud (" Give brandy, Jew"). To Western ears there i 3 something strangely offensive in the Polish manner of addressing the Hebrew innkeeper. He is called neither by his proper name nor by any name denoting his occupation, but is simply addressed as " Jew : " " Come here, Jew," " What is there to eat, Jew ?" "Put the horse in the stable, Jew," and so on. Even a Jewish banker in Poland will often be treated by a high-spirited though impoverished nobleman with a familiarity bordering upon contempt. We have seen a pi-opriefcor in want of funds send for the local banker, and, on his arrival, dig him in the ribs with a stick, after the manner of Charles Surface in the " School for Scandal" dealing with " Little Mo." The Hebrew capitalist expressed himself when his transaction with the temporarily impecunious nobleman had been brought to an end and the nobleman had departed, with great severity on the subject of the Polish nobility in general —saying that they -were light-minded, improvident, inconsiderate in tLeir treatment of those who wished to " make their peace with God " in accordance with their traditional belief, and likely, for many reasons, to come to even worse grief than they had yet experienced. The intelligent and apparently kind-hearted usurer uttered these words with great gravity ; but it must be admitted that he had received the light comedy advances of the hard-up proprietor in what might have been mistaken for a congenial spirit. The Polish Jew is not distinguished by personal courage. This may arise partly from the fact that ho has hitherto had but little to fight for, and Jews have had to boar with insults for so many centuries that their habit of not quickly taking offence is easily accounted for. It would be ridiculous, however, to suppose that the Jew is absolutely without warlike qualities ; and a certain number of Jews of the better class —Jews who had acquired political rights—fought bravely under Kosciusko. Partly, perhaps, for this reason, but principally no doubt from the sense of justice by which his woi'ds and acts were alike distinguished, he stipulated, among other things, when propositions were made to him in 1814 on the subject of the restoration of Poland, that the peasantry should be liberated from serfdom and the Jews relieved from political disabilities. And during the insurrection of 1863 the Polish Jews showed a Readiness to run risks such as a good many of the bi-avest insurgent leaders might have hesitated to incur. In the immediate presence of danger they showed extreme fear; but they were willing to carry compromising letters, to introduce arms and ammunition, and to assist the in-sui-rection in a variety of ways when the penalty for discovery would have been exile or death.

The Jews in Poland have been treated by the Russian Government with a characteristic want of sagacity. Besides being very numerous ; besides having nearly_ all the commerce of the country in their hands, they are in constant relations with the peasantry as usurers, and with the proprietors,'if not as usurers, at least as agents and factotums ; there is no sort of corn-

mission from the highest to the lowest that the Polish Jew will not undertake and to the best of his ability execute. Their influence, then, is considerable; and if the Enssians had understood the art of government they might, combining justice with policy, have relieved their Jewish subjects in Poland and Lithuania of the numerous disabilities weighing upon them, and thus won them in a great measure, if not entirely, to their side. The Polish Jews, however, profited nothing by the partition of Poland.

Thsir position, indeed, became in several respects worse under the Russian domination. They were subjected, for instance, to the conscription, and in the large towns they found themselves restricted to particular quarters, and fined if they did not, return to them at night by a fixed hour. They wore even at one time (under tho Emperor Nicholas) forced to _ shave their beards. During the insurrection of 1863 the Polish Jews, without believing much in tho ultimate success of the movement, showed more sympathy for the insurgents than for tho Russian Government.

One cause of offence presented by Jews of Poland, as of other countries, is their excessive industry combined with rigid economy. This 'combination gives them obvious advantages over their Christian fellow-citizens, who, unless they wish to be defeated in the race the Jews are now leading them, must spend less and work more. The Polish Jews are accused, moreover, of a hatred of regular litigation, which except perhaps among lawyers, ought not to tell against them. Asa matter of fact they avoid the tribunals and settle their disputes among themselves under the direction of some trusted person of their own creed. Their enemies say that they thus separate themselves from the people among whom they live and form a government within a government. Probably, however, their chief object is to avoid law expenses. —St. James' Gazette.