JEWS IN ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1337, 25 January 1881, Page 3

JEWS IN ENGLAND.

The deliberate discusson of the propriety and expedience of the 'Jew-baiting,' which is just now a popular amusement in certain parts of the German Empire, roveals the existoaco of a st»t© of feeling which it is almost impossible for the Englishman or Englishwoman of to-day to realise. Jews are to Germany very much what Scotohmon aro to England. They come, they see, they conquer. They invade the country at every point ; begin their career in a garret, and terminate it in a palace. Many of the most successful merchants, Lawyers, and physicians in London are of Scotch extraction. Lord Mayor McArthur is an Irish Scot. Dr. Andrew Clarke is a Scot So is Mr. John Peuder, and so are a score of other equally eminent «nd opulent individuals, whom it is unnecessary to partioulariso. The Scot haa au awkwardly persistent manner of standing in the Briton's aunlight. and of being the foremost to seize the prizes and the different good things of life. His. nationality is quite as clearly defined, and his instinct is quite us aggressive and Erehensile, as in the case of the veritable [ebrew ; lie lias fewer amiable qualities by way of compensation ; and he has infinitely leas sense of humour. Yet Englishmen, when they have been hopelessly distanced by the canny aliens from beyond the Tweed, try to live in peace and amity with their rivals, and have no more notion of making the home counties too hot to hold them than they have of repealing the Civil Disabilities Relief Acts. In ,ivt, literature, money-making, the Israelite can beat the Teuton, just as the Scot frequently does the Ikiton. Frank-fort-on-the-Maiu, the second commercial city in the Fatherland, i,s far more of a Hebrew capital than Jerusalem. At Bonn, Berlin, Heidelberg, some of the most distinguished professors are of the seed of Abraham. It has always been so, and it appears equally natural to us as that the stiunuous .stranger from Aberdeen should take the train to London, and secure all that is best worth having. In our hearts Me may iiate him, but no one has yet thought of resorting here to the tactics of the Jtrdai-hco,. As for the condition of the chosen people themselves among us, is it not enough to h,iy thai we have found their Sion, newly «ilt and painted, in the King' broad, Brighton, mid that, wherever they plot and labour in these Wos, the Land of Promise opens, to them 'i But, if we do not persecute, becauso it ia nut the custom of the country, can it be said that there exists in a suppressed state among tho English people anything of the sentiment which in Germany is now gratifying itself by overt acts of persecution? Iv other words, is the prejudice, which has unquestionably existed before now in England against Jews, completely extinct ? There is no need to go back upon historical instances of this antipathy. Whatever it has been, whatever it is now, theie is very little donbfc that the feeling of race-hatred is loss powerful in England than elsewhere. The Englishman dislikes the ways and habits and manners of foreigners, but not tho personality of the nation, or the foreigner himself. One of the reasons of this is that the true-born Briton is never quite rertain of the purity of his own descent. We are the most mixed nation under the sun. Ethnologists ha- c not quite made up their miuds whether wo come from the Eastor the West— whether we arc hybrid Hollanders, or whether we are not sprung from the stock of the lost tiibes. Again, there is much more which is really demociatic in English life than in any other European society. 80 long as a man conducts himself well, and has money in his puise, we do not care if his father was a costei monger or a pawnbroker. It is, therefore, natural that we should be an exceptionally tolerant peo' pie ; and we may reflect with satisfaction that, during many years past, we have done our beat to make the Hebrew gentlemen and ladies who thrive and prosper amongst v.-> as comfortable as circumstances allow. We ha\ c specially legislated in their interests. We have made them Cabinet Ministers. We have entrusted to them the task of forming Governments. We have prostrated oniselvos before their triumphal car. Lord Beaconsfield has satinsed the flvtnoscd Franks and pelted the English aristociaey with ridicule. He has not only had fair play irom the first ; he has lived to receive an amount of homage which has scarcely ever fallen to th« lot of an iiidhidnal. There c.in be no doubt that his Avatar has much contributed to the estceom m which his compatriots are held in the United l£insrdom : iinu Geoifre Eliot would probably not havo embodied so much Jewish research in her last novel if lur attention had not bcon fixed by the cm cor of the author of Jiiitly niton. Still it may he asked— notwithstanding 1 tho popuhuitv and e\on tho f.wrination with which Lord Beaconsfield, both by his public achievement* and hi-< social ficcompliilimPTits, has invested the liebrew character — must it not be admitted that thore is a. widely-spioad prejudio 1 against tho^c of the posterity of King D i\id who have fixed their homes in (ire.it Britain ? A little consideration will .show that this question m.iy be answeicd in the negative. It is true there are mmy instances o f an invincible repugnance on the part of individual Biiton to Jews. But so there is of lepugnance to people of a certain type of conritenai.co or of a particular tone of voice or manner, or to special dishes and special colours. Tho inference, however, would not theicforc bo legitimate that the English public was consumed with hatred for persons who squinted or stammcicd for pork-chops or lamb-cutlete, Again, there are many varieties of Jews nmona? us — from the comic Hebrew as he may lie seen on the boards of Drury Lane to the sleek, well-mounted, well-bred gentlemen who play polo at Hurlingham, and own the bp.st coaches of the Four-in-Hand Club. But then there are just as many varieties of Englishmen, and some of them quite as unlovely. We speak occasionally of an Oriental turn of mind, and we very often say that we detect the barbaric traces of Asiatic influence in individuals, or establishment!, of Rtriotly indigenous growth. A taste for ornamont is one of the innate and traditional properties of the Israelltish character, and the Jew who procloims his nationality by a tendency to florid excess is not unknown in English society, But it is a decorative age, and the floridity of the Hebrew may at any turn be matched by the floridity of the Briton. Sir Gorgius Midas at home and abroad is, on the whole, much more demonstratively vulgar than Mr. Isaac Moses with his fingers covered by diamond rings. Some well-to-do Jews struggle desperately hard to acquire a social footing, and fail ; but a good many well-to-do Englishmen do just the same. These are facts which suggest the conclusion that, whenever Jews among ua are not as triumphantly siiccessf ul as they may fancy they nave a right to be, the cause is to he looked for, not in the nationality, but in the individual. The Israelites are far too powerful H raoa in London not to be taken 'everywhere on their own merits nor can hay3kiton himself have fairer play.-- World.

From analysis ' made * et the various American and Australia^ tinned meats and vegetables, Wigner 'donoludßß that these artioles of diet > are. ilightly < if at all inferior to ra\r moat *nd fre»h TegetaWes. " , j ■ '"' "