it will be a country; it will be the country of the Jews. That is the
meaning of the letter which we publish to-day written by Mr. Balfour to
Lord Rothschild for communication to the Zionist Federation. It is at
once the fulfilment of an aspiration, the signpost of a destiny. Never
since the days of the Dispersion has the extraordinary people scattered
over the earth in every country of modern European and of the old
Arabic civilization surrendered the hope of an ultimate return to the
historic seat of its national existence. This has formed part of its
ideal life, and is the ever-recurring note of its religious ritual....
For fifty years the Jews have been slowly and painfully returning to
their ancestral home, and even under the Ottoman yoke and amid the
disorder of that effete and crumbling dominion they have succeeded in
establishing the beginnings of a real civilization. Scattered and few,
they have still brought with them schools and industry and scientific
knowledge, and here and there have in truth made the waste places
blossom as the rose.... The British victories in Palestine and in the
more distant eastern bounds of the ancient Arab Empire are the presage
of the downfall of Turkish power; the declaration of policy by the
British Government to-day is the security for a new, perhaps a very
wonderful, future for Zionism and for the Jewish race.... In declaring
that ‘the British Government view with favour the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use its
best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object,’ the
Government have indeed laid down a policy of great and far-reaching
importance, but it is one which can bear its full fruit only by the
united efforts of Jews all over the world. What it means is that,
assuming our military successes to be continued and the whole of
Palestine to be brought securely under our control, then on the
conclusion of peace our deliberate policy will be to encourage in
every way in our power Jewish immigration, to give full security, and
no doubt a large measure of local autonomy, to the Jewish immigrants,
with a view to the ultimate establishment of a Jewish State.”
(_Manchester Guardian._)
_The Manchester Daily Dispatch_ published a sympathetic interview with
Sir Stuart Samuel, Bart., on the subject of the pronouncement of the
Government.
Both _The Liverpool Courier_ and _The Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury_
devoted leading articles to the subject on the 9th of November. The
former said:――
“Mr. Balfour’s letter stating the attitude of the British
Government towards the establishment of a National Home for
the Jews in Palestine may well be regarded as one of the most
historic documents in the 5678 years of Jewish history. Its
terms are eminently well considered, and the re-establishment
of the Jewish National Home is to be accomplished on
lines which are reasonable and just. Indeed, we note with
satisfaction that the points to which we have already made
reference in our consistent advocacy of the claims of Zionism
(which has been thrust to the fore by world-shaking events
of the past year or two) have been covered by the terms of
the Government declaration.... Zionism has made a great step
forward, and the world has now reason to look forward to the
rise of an old-new nation in its natural home, where some of
its ancient greatness may be revived in a national sense.”
The views of _The Post_ took the following form:――
“The important official letter from Mr. Balfour, as Foreign
Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, as representing the Jews, more
than justifies the suggestion we lately made in a leading
article that our Government might be expected to encourage the
Jewish national aspiration for a home in Palestine. We further
said at that time that a ‘Palestine re-peopled by a Jewry
bound to the Allies, and not least to Britain, by ties of
affection for righting the oldest national wrong, would be
a friendly neighbour to Egypt and to the newly enfranchised
territories abutting upon the Holy Land.’”
_The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch_ expressed the following views:――
“The aspirations of the Jewish race to return to the Holy Land
seem not unlikely of fulfilment. Scattered over the face of
the earth, they daily turn their eyes towards Jerusalem and
pray for the day when they will be restored to the land of
their origin. We are fighting to-day not for aggrandizement,
not for the acquisition of territory, but for the liberation
of peoples crushed by the tyrant, and there is no just
and reasonable demand which would not be sympathetically
considered by the British Government. Our progress in
Palestine has awakened in the breasts of the ‘chosen people’
fresh hopes of re-establishment in their Fatherland.”
_The Glasgow Herald_, writing in a similar vein, said:――
“From their aeroplanes British aviators may have obtained a
glimpse of the white domes and towers of the Holy City, high
upon the crest of the Palestinian ridge. That possibility is
symbolic of the effect upon the Jewish world of the British
Cabinet’s declaration in favour of Zionism. What has long been
the dream of virtually the whole Jewish race――even of those
whose inward despair expressed itself outwardly by a cynical
dismissal of Zionism as the mirage of over-heated fancy――has
now taken definite shape on the horizon of practical politics.”
In the further article in the same issue the Government adoption of the
Zionist policy was further commented upon:――
“With singular timeliness, for it coincides with the victories
of _Gaza_ and Tekrit, Mr. Balfour has written a letter to Lord
Rothschild announcing the adhesion of the British Government
to Zionism. With the reservation of the civil and religious
rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and
without prejudice to the rights and political status enjoyed
by Jews in any other country, Palestine, when it has been
conquered, is to become a national home for the Jewish people.
With numerically small exceptions this decision――on which we
comment more fully elsewhere――will be accepted with joy by all
the Jews of the Dispersion throughout the world. It will have
an immediate political effect in America and in Russia, no
less than in Poland and Hungary. It will tell to the advantage
of the Allies even in Bagdad. In the Levant generally it
should unite the Jews with the Arabs, Greeks, and Italians in
revolt against the Turks. But its great ultimate influence, as
all will pray, will be to affect for the better in many subtle
ways the relations of Christian and Jew throughout the world.
If that should happen one of the most insidious diseases from
which civilization has suffered will have been cured.”
According to _The Aberdeen Free Press_:――
“This is the first time that any Government has definitely put
itself in touch with Zionist ideals, and the new departure is
as important as it is timely.”
“... In many ways the moment appears to be a peculiarly
favourable one for preparing to launch the scheme for
providing ‘a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine’
in the sphere of the practical. The Zionist idea has passed
through many changes, and may pass through many more....
Never until now have time and place and opportunity been in
accord with the dream of returning and building up _Zion_. Mr.
Balfour’s letter, read in the light of General Allenby’s march
upon _Hebron_, may well sound like the long-postponed answer
to the prayer of the exiled and persecuted race, ‘_Next year,
O Lord, in Jerusalem!_’” (_Scotsman._)
_The Dundee Advertiser_ also put itself in line with its contemporaries
which commented on the Government’s pronouncement:――
“Palestine will, therefore, be a suitable field for
immigration, and by tradition and inclination the Jews are
the people to occupy it. Already before the war a number of
colony settlements had been established, chiefly by Jewish
immigrants from Eastern Europe, and without exception these
settlements were thriving. One and all they were agricultural,
and contradicted the prevailing belief that the Jew is bound
to become a trader or an artisan, and will never undertake
the tillage of the soil. The Jewish colonies were models
of up-to-date agricultural enterprise, in which the best
scientific knowledge of irrigation and dry-farming was applied.
A very pleasing prospect is therefore opening up.... In the
fulness of time a new page in the history of the Holy Land is
being opened by Allenby’s army.”
_The Irish Times_ expressed its views in the following passage:――
“These fortunate circumstances invest with especial
significance the important declaration of British policy in
Palestine which we printed yesterday... . In this endorsement
of Zionist aspirations at a moment when Jerusalem can hear the
distant thunder of British guns the Government has declared
a policy of great and far-reaching importance. It is at last
an attainable policy, and it is from every point of view a
desirable policy. From the British point of view the defence
of the Suez Canal can best be secured by the establishment in
Palestine of a people attached to us, and the restoration of
the Jews under British auspices can alone secure it in this
way. From the European point of view it would be a great gain
that the Jews should become, in the words of _The Jewish
Chronicle_, ‘a nation, and not a hyphenation.’”
A leading article in _The Western Daily Press_ ran in part as follows:――
“... There is no other solution so much demanded by historical
association and living sentiment as that, if it be possible,
the Jewish people should retake possession of the small but
intensely interesting country over which they ruled, with some
interruptions, for nearly two thousand years. Mr. Balfour’s
declaration has delighted many influential British Jews. It
can hardly fail to delight equally the Jews of Poland and
Russia, who have suffered so much from the ‘religious’ bigotry
of ignorant people, and the Jews of Germany and Austria, often
very wealthy and influential, will be forced to ask themselves
why they are at present helping to preserve Turkish rule over
a country which the British are anxious to restore to the
Jewish race.”
_The Hull Daily Mail_ said:――
“It is a wise and sagacious offer, and has given great
satisfaction in Jewish communities. It will be a great
thing if Palestine is delivered from the blighting, blasting
influence of the Turk, and he must never again be given
possession if it is finally won from his grasp. The Jews were
a pastoral people, and, once they were in possession, this
land, under the blessing of Providence, would again flow ‘with
milk and honey,’ and blossom as the rose under the protecting
hand of Britain and other guaranteeing Powers.”
And _The Newcastle Daily Journal_:――
“The Zionist project has, at last, the prospect of achieving
its purpose, under the very highest auspices, humanly
speaking. It looks like a first step towards the restoration
representatively of the long-persecuted and widely-scattered
Jewish race.”
Other provincial newspapers that commented on the Government’s
announcement were _The Dublin Express_, _The Northern Whig_, _The
Belfast Newsletter_, _The Bulletin_, _The South Wales Daily News_,
and _The Northern Daily Telegraph_.
_The African World_ also welcomed the proposals whole-heartedly:――
“The announcement yesterday that the British Government ‘view
with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people’ and the Cabinet’s intention to further
the scheme cherished by Zionists is an event of world-wide
importance. A home for Jews on the soil traditionally sacred
to them, and under British auspices and protection, is the
happiest outcome of the dream of ages.”
_The Shipping World_ said:――
“For a number of decades there has been a movement, partly
idealistic, partly practical, for restoring the Jewish race
to their ancient territorial home. That movement is known as
Zionism, and is strongly supported in the Jewish communities
both in Europe and in America. Assisted by funds subscribed by
the wealthier members of the race, some settlers had already
formed under Turkish rule Zionist settlements in the Holy Land.
But colonization under Turkish tolerance is a precarious thing.
Now appears the dawn of promise, and Mr. Balfour has just
addressed a letter to Lord Rothschild expressing the sympathy
of the Cabinet with Jewish Zionist aspirations. The Government
favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home
for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours
to facilitate the achievement of that object. What form
the endeavour is to take is, at this point, left obscure,
purposely, no doubt. But we may in this hint perhaps see the
nucleus of a free State where the children of Israel, gathered
once more from the ends of the earth, shall again possess the
land of their ancestors and live free from alien oppression.”
_The Near East_ devoted its leading article to “The Land of Promise”:――
“On the other hand, Palestine is for all true Jews a spiritual
centre, and deep down in their being they associate with it,
if not their own individual place of residence, at least the
home of a sufficient number of Jewish people to make it the
focus of Jewish life and Jewish civilization. Such a Jewish
commonwealth can only grow up to fulfil its destiny under the
protection of a strong and ordered State, which will guarantee
it immunity from outside interference, security of life and
property, and the impartial administration of justice. For
its own material development it must look to itself, and in
this connection it will be recalled that Jewish agricultural
and urban settlements already exist in Palestine, and are a
nucleus ready to hand for the new commonwealth. They point
to the probable lines on which the development of the country
will take place, expedited or retarded, according to the
degree of assistance on which Zionism can count. The valley is
full of bones, and, lo! they are very dry; many stages have to
be passed through before these dry bones stand upon their feet,
an exceeding great army. Of Palestine it will then be true
that ‘This land that was desolate is become like the Garden
of _Eden_, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are
become fenced and are inhabited.’ Towards that consummation
it would seem that Great Britain in the dispensation of
Providence will have played no small part.”
_Palestine_, the organ of the British Palestine Committee, was, not
surprisingly, filled with enthusiasm and eloquence, for the Government
pronouncement is the culmination of all its efforts:――
“The decision of the British Government marks a turning-point
in the history of the Jewish people, and will, we believe, be
for ever memorable in the history of the British Empire....
The declaration is complete in form and substance. It can
provoke no opposition from any quarter, and it will bind the
Jews of the world in sympathy to the country which has thus
taken the lead in their national redemption.... And when the
Declaration becomes an act, when a Jewish Palestine from being
an aim becomes a fact, then all the complex of strategic,
political, and commercial interests which are concentrated for
the British Empire in the Suez Canal and Palestine will have
found their solution. This declaration is a memorable event in
the history of the British Empire as it is in the history of
the Jewish people and of humanity. We may be of good hope that
it will at no very distant date become a fact, for the army of
England has even now battered in the gates of Palestine. The
statesmanship of this declaration of the Jewish nation’s right
to Palestine is a statesmanship of deed, not of words.”
The Church, Catholic, and Nonconformist papers have devoted much space
to the Government decision. In the opinion of _The Challenge_:――
“If there is a considerable part of the Jewish people eager
to make Palestine again their home, then we are glad that
the Allied Governments should have made it possible for them
to do so, supposing that the course of the war leaves that
possibility still open. It must be for the Jewish people
themselves to decide how much or how little advantage they
will take of the offer which is made to them. Meanwhile no one
can avoid feeling a thrill at a prospect so closely affecting
the destiny of the chosen race. That wonderful people pursues
its way through all the history of the world, and whatever
concerns them is of universal interest.”
According to _The Christian_:――
“By this dramatic declaration an age-long dream comes within
the view of actual fulfilment. It ought to be apparent
to everybody that the persistence of a people like the
Jews during two thousand years――a fact unparalleled in
history――despite every attempt to crush them, holds a meaning
far deeper than that which the secular historian offers. The
purposes of God are being worked out, and we can begin to see
light.”
In _The Church Family Newspaper_ the Rev. E. L. Langston, under the
heading “Jews and Palestine: Epoch-making Announcement,” said:――
“The declaration of His Majesty’s Government as to the future
of Palestine must have far-reaching and vital effects....”
In the words of _The Catholic Times_:――
“The settling down of Jews from Great Britain, America, and
the Continent of Europe in the Holy Land is something like a
romance of a war in the main features of which scarcely any
romantic element has, so far, appeared.”
_The Christian Commonwealth_ said:――
“The historical interest and the religious importance of this
promise will appeal nearly as much to non-Jewish people as
to the Jews themselves.... We may yet live to see Palestine
become the centre of trade and travel for the three continents
of the Old World. The early colonization movement has
crystallized into something more dramatic――the re-establishment
of a whole people on the soil of the land where their national
history began. Their long exile is drawing to an end. From
this redeemed and rejuvenated people what new message may we
not expect, seeing that their faith has so manifestly been
justified and the vision of their prophets realized!”
“We are quite unable to find words,” said _The Life of Faith_,
“wherewith to express the wonderful importance of the above declaration
made by His Majesty’s Government.... It is not too much to say that
this great declaration contains the making of history, even as it forms
a new epoch for the Jewish race.... We welcome the declaration all
the more because we, too, have an inborn love for the Holy Land, and
because we can so deeply sympathize with the Jewish people, whose
passionate affection for the land of their fathers has never been torn
from their hearts, in spite of centuries of persecution and wanderings.
There is, after all, some little excuse for the sentimental yearnings
of the Rabbis who expressed their heartfelt passion in such sayings as:
“‘The very air of Palestine makes one wise.’¹
“‘To live in Palestine is equal to the observance of all the
commandments.’²
“‘He that hath his permanent abode in Palestine is sure of the life to
come.’”³
¹ אוירא דארץ ישראל מחכים.
בבא בתרא ד׳קנה ע׳ב׃
²...ישיבת ארץ ישראל שקולה כנגד כל המצות שבתורה׃
ספרי דבי רב פסקא ראה פ׳׃
³”... כל מי שקבוע בארץ ישראל ... יהא מובטח שבן העולם הבא הוא׃“
תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת שקלים פרק שלישי׃
_The Methodist Times_ said:――
“Naturally this declaration, which will be celebrated in
history, has given the liveliest satisfaction to Jewry
throughout the world. The pledge is as sagacious as it is
opportune.” And prints in addition a long article by Mr.
C. W. Andrews, entitled: “Palestine for the Jews: the Triumph
of Zionism.”
And in the words of _The Sunday School Chronicle_:――
“For two thousand years the Jews have been wandering among the
nations. It looks as though a new day were dawning for them
and for the world.... Apart from the moral significance of
such a return, an independent Jewish State would make the
Holy Land a centre of commercial and political influence of
far-reaching importance to the British Empire and to the Far
East.”
_The British Weekly_, _The Church Times_, _The Christian World_,
_The Inquirer_, and _The Guardian_ also commented editorially on the
Government’s pronouncement.
_The Jewish Chronicle_, in a leading article, said:――
“... It is the perceptible lifting of the cloud of centuries,
the palpable sign that the Jew――condemned for two thousand
years to unparalleled wrong――is at last coming to his right.
The prospect has at last definitely opened of a rectification
of the Jew’s anomalous position among the nations of the earth.
He is to be given the opportunity and the means whereby, in
place of being a hyphenation, he can become a nation. Instead
of, as Jew, filling a place at best equivocal and doubtful,
even to himself, and always with an apologetic cringing
inseparable from his position, he can――as Jew――stand proud
and erect, endowed with national being. In place of being a
wanderer in every clime, there is to be a home for him in his
ancient land. The day of his exile is to be ended. In this
joyous hour we English Jews turn with feelings of deepest
pride and reverence to great and glorious Britain, mother of
free nations and protectress of the oppressed, who has thus
taken the lead in the Jewish restoration. The friend of our
people for generations, who has raised her voice times out of
number for our suffering martyrs, never was she truer to her
noble traditions than to-day――never more England than now!
In the time to come, when Jewry, free and prosperous, lives
a contented and, as we all hope, a lofty life in Palestine,
it will look with never-failing gratitude to the Power which
crowned its centuries of humanitarianism by a grand act that
linked Jewish destinies with those of the freest democracy in
the world.”
The Jewish people all over the world was deeply impressed by the
Declaration. As the correspondent of the _London Jewish Chronicle_ puts
it, “The Jewish masses were literally dazzled.” A great demonstration,
unparalleled for enthusiasm, occurred at Petrograd, and was addressed
by M. Boris Goldberg and M. Aleinikoff, who styled England the
“advanced guard of humanity.” He spoke in the highest praise of the
English Labour Party for its sympathetic attitude toward the movement,
and of the American Zionists for their defence of the Jewish colonies
in Palestine since the outbreak of the war. Tributes were paid to
the memory of Dr. Theodor Herzl and other leaders of the Movement who
have passed away, of the British soldiers killed in the Campaign in
Palestine, and to the _Hashomerim_ who have died in defence of the
Jewish colonies. Two soldiers, Levitzky and Kotlarevsky, greeted the
Declaration on behalf of the Jewish Soldiers’ Union.
Tremendous enthusiasm prevailed throughout Russian Jewry because of
the British Declaration; and reports received from Moscow, Minsk,
Ekaterinoslav, Kieff, Kharkoff, Odessa and Kherson are to the effect
that tens of thousands of Jews who had hitherto been either neutral or
inimical, joined the Zionist Movement. Special services of thanksgiving
were held in many synagogues and many mass meetings, vieing with one
another in enthusiasm, were held almost everywhere. Many organizations
of Jewish youth signified their intention to make whatever sacrifices
might be demanded of them for the Zionist ideal. The Russian Press,
with practical unanimity, spoke of the great importance of the
Declaration, and described it as a momentous event for the Jews,
offering the longed-for opportunity to build a national Jewish homeland
in Palestine.
The enthusiasm in America found expression in thousands of telegrams,
public meetings, resolutions, thanksgiving services. At the Baltimore
Zionist Conference on December 15th a resolution was passed thanking
the British Government for the Declaration, which stated, “Deeply we
rejoice in the triumph of the British arms in Palestine, and the taking
over of Palestine as another step in the march of the Allied Forces
which is to establish throughout the world the principle of the liberty
of smaller nationalities.” In all other countries the Declaration was
discussed by public opinion in a most favourable sense.
On November 18, 1917, a reception was held by the English Zionist
Federation at which Lord Rothschild officially communicated to the
Federation the Declaration of the English government. Hundreds of
congratulatory telegrams received from all parts of the world aroused
enthusiasm. Lord Rothschild, Dr. Tschlenow, Dr. Weizmann, Mr. James de
Rothschild, and the author delivered addresses in commemoration of this
historic event in the life of the Jewish people.
LONDON OPERA HOUSE DEMONSTRATION
Some account must be given of the Demonstration at the London Opera
House of the 2nd December held in order to express gratitude to the
British Government. This great demonstration was attended by thousands
of persons. The resolution read by Lord Rothschild, who presided over
the meeting, expressed gratitude from all sections of Anglo-Jewry
for the Government declaration in favour of establishing in Palestine
a national home for the Jewish people. Every member of the audience
seemed to feel the greatness of the occasion.
Lord Rothschild said they were met on the most momentous occasion in
the history of Judaism for the last eighteen hundred years. They were
there to return thanks to His Majesty’s Government for a declaration
which marked an epoch in Jewish history of outstanding importance.
For the first time since the Dispersion the Jewish people had received
its proper status by the Declaration of one of the great Powers. That
Declaration, while acknowledging and approving of the aspirations of
the Jewish people for a National Home, at the same time placed Jews
on their honour to respect the rights and privileges not only of their
prospective non-Jewish neighbours in Palestine, but also of those of
their own people who did not see eye to eye with the Zionist cause.
Feeling as he did that the aims of Zionism were in no way incompatible
with the highest patriotism and loyal citizenship of the Jews in
the various countries in which they were dwelling, he would like the
meeting in passing the resolution which would be submitted to them to
assure the Government that they would, one and all, faithfully observe
both the spirit and the letter of their gracious declaration. He felt
sure that the principal aim of the Zionists was to provide a National
Home for those portions of the Jewish people who wished to escape
the possibilities in the future of such oppression and ill-treatment
as they had endured in the past, and he therefore held that all and
every section of opinion in the Jewish people could work together
for the establishment in Palestine of such a home, so as to make it
a triumphant success.
It had often been said that the repeopling of Palestine by the Jews was
bound to fail in so far as they were not an agricultural people, but
they might dismiss that fear from their minds in view of the success
of the great Jewish agricultural colonies which were established in
Palestine before the war. The only thing necessary to achieve success
in the movement was a thoroughly up-to-date organization for the
development of the land, and for the guidance and selection of the
settlers, who must act as pioneers. The aims of what now appeared
to be antagonistic bodies of opinion, seemed to him to be so similar
that he felt sure that when those objects had been properly examined
in the light of experience they would find, sooner or later, that a
common ground would present itself for all of those professing these
apparently divergent opinions to work together in a common effort to
make the re-settlement of Palestine a great and lasting success. Lord
Rothschild then moved the following resolution:――
“That this mass meeting, representing all sections of the
Jewish Community in the United Kingdom, conveys to His
Majesty’s Government an expression of heartfelt gratitude for
their Declaration in favour of the establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the Jewish people. It assures His
Majesty’s Government that their historic action in support of
the national aspirations of the Jewish people has evoked among
Jews the most profound sentiments of joy. This meeting further
pledges its utmost endeavours to give its whole-hearted
support to the Zionist cause.”
The Right Hon. Lord Robert Cecil, P.C., K.C., M.P., who was received
with loud cheering, said: “I have come here with the greatest possible
pleasure at the request of those who represent, or who have led the
representation of the Zionist movement of this country, to offer to
you, and to all Zionism, my hearty congratulation on the event which
you are celebrating to-day. And perhaps you will allow me to mention in
connection with these congratulations, not only your Chairman, but also
Mr. Nahum Sokolow and Dr. C. Weizmann, who have done so much for the
cause that we all have at heart this afternoon. Surely all of us must
feel what a very striking gathering the present one is. The keynote
of our meeting this afternoon is liberation. We welcome among us not
only the many thousands of Jews that I see, but also representatives
of the Arabian and Armenian races who are also in this great struggle
struggling to be free. Our wish is that Arabian countries shall be for
the Arabs, Armenia for the Armenians, and Judea for the Jews. Yes, and
let us add, if it can be so, let Turkey, real Turkey, be for the Turks.
I should like to be allowed to say that the part that this country is
taking in this movement is not a new thing. I venture to claim for this
country that in supporting Zionism it has been merely carrying out its
traditional policy. To me, at any rate, it seems that there are two
great foundations upon which the policy of this country has always
been based. I believe that they are often described by the two words
‘Liberty and Justice.’ Perhaps, more accurately they may be called
the supremacy of the Law and Liberty, for, be well assured, if we are
ever to obtain that security which we have been recently told is so
important for us, if we are ever to lift European civilization and
national relations in Europe out of the anarchy in which they at
present are, it must be by the same means by which we have secured
liberty and happiness in each country, namely, by the supremacy of Law.
And it was because the invasion of Belgium, the lawless invasion of
Belgium, was felt by the true instincts of the British people to be an
attack upon the principle of Law, because they recognized that that was
a real blow at the heart of civilization, that they felt then, and they
feel now, that until that outrage has been expiated it is impossible
even to think of talking of the terms of peace. As for the second
foundation of which I have spoken, and which has more practical bearing
on our proceedings this afternoon, may I say this, we hear a great deal
of a new word: ‘self-determination. ’ Well, I don’t know that it is a
new thing. It certainly is not new in the British Empire. The Empire
has always striven to give to all the peoples that make it up the
fullest measure of self-government of which they are capable. We
have always striven to give to all peoples within our bounds complete
liberty and equality before the Law. We are adjured to respect the
principle of self-determination, but I say that the British Empire
was the first organization to teach that principle to the world, and
one of the great causes for which we are in this war is to secure to
all peoples the right to govern themselves and to work out their own
destiny, irrespective of the threats and menaces of their greater
neighbour. One of the great steps――in my judgment, in some ways the
greatest step――we have taken in carrying out this principle is the
recognition of Zionism. This is the first constructive effort that we
have made in what I hope will be the new settlement of the world after
the war. I do not say that that is the only thing involved. It is not
only the recognition of a nationality, it is much more than that. It
has great underlying ideals of which you will hear this afternoon,
and of which it would be impertinent of me to speak. It is, indeed,
not the birth of a nation, for the Jewish nation through centuries of
oppression and captivity have preserved their sentiment of nationality
as few peoples could; but if it is not the birth of a nation, I believe
we may say it is the re-birth of a nation. I don’t like to prophesy
what ultimate results that great event may have, but for myself I
believe it will have a far-reaching influence on the history of the
world and consequences which none can foresee on the future history of
the human race.”
The Right Hon. Herbert Samuel, M.P., who received an enthusiastic
welcome, said: “I rejoice whole-heartedly in the pronouncement that has
been made by the British Government with respect to Palestine. It is
a policy which for nearly three years I have urged in the Cabinet and
out of the Cabinet at every opportunity that arose. The fears and the
doubts which this policy has evoked are, I firmly believe, unfounded.
Three conditions must indeed be observed in any new development that
may take place in Palestine. In the first place, there must be full,
just recognition of the rights of the Arabs, who now constitute the
majority of the population of that country. Secondly, there must be a
reverent respect for the Christian and Mohammedan holy places, which
in all eventualities should always remain in the control and charge
of representatives of those faiths. In the third place, there must be
no attempt now or in the future to establish anything in the nature
of political authority from Palestine over the Jews scattered in other
countries of the world, who must probably always remain the great
majority of the Jewish race. There should be no disturbance, large
or small, direct or indirect, in their national status or in their
national rights and duties in the countries of which they are, or
should be, full and equal citizens. On all these matters there is no
divergence of opinion in any quarter, and the controversies that have
taken place, I venture to think, are disputes over differences that do
not exist. The reason why, for my own part, I support the policy which
we are here to-day to approve and celebrate, are chiefly these. First,
it may be that the genius of the Jewish race will again be able to give
the world a brilliant and distinctive civilization. The richness of
mankind lies in its diversity. We do not want the world to be like some
great library, consisting of nothing but innumerable copies of one and
the same book. The Jewish mind is a distinctive thing. It combines in
remarkable degree the imaginative and the practical, the ideal and the
positive. This combination of qualities enabled it for one thousand
five hundred years in Palestine to produce an almost unbroken series of
statesmen and soldiers, judges and poets, prophets and seers――thinkers
and leaders who have left for all time their impress upon the world.
The Jewish mind is tenacious and persists, and now, when all the
powerful Empires that over-ran that land have been overthrown and
almost forgotten, the Jewish people exists and is more numerous to-day
than it ever has been at any period of its history. Who knows, I say,
but that if it again finds a spiritual centre of its own, soundly based
on an industrious population, untrammelled, self-contained, inspired
by the memories of a splendid past, it may again produce golden fruits
in the fields of intellect for the enrichment of the whole world. And
my other reason is this: If this comes to be, what a helpful effect it
would have upon the Jewish proletariat that will still remain scattered
in other countries of the world. I see in my mind’s eye those millions
in Eastern Europe all through the centuries, crowded, cramped,
proscribed, bent with oppression, suffering all the miseries of active
minds denied scope, of talent not allowed to speak, of genius that
cannot act. I see them enduring, suffering everything, sacrificing
everything in order to keep alight the flame of which they knew
themselves to be the lamp, to keep alive the idea of which they knew
themselves to be the vessel, to preserve the soul of which they knew
themselves to be the body; their eyes always set upon one distant point,
always believing that somehow, some day, the ancient greatness would
be restored; always saying when they met in their families on Passover
Night, ‘Next year in Jerusalem.’ Year after year, generation following
generation, century succeeding century, till the time that has elapsed
is counted in thousands of years, still they said, ‘Next year in
Jerusalem.’ If that cherished vision is at last to be realized, if
on the Hills of Zion a Jewish civilization is restored with something
of its old intellectual and moral force, then among those left in the
other countries of the world, I can see growing a new confidence and
a new greatness. There will be a fresh light in those eyes, those bent
backs will at last stand erect, there will be a greater dignity in
the Jew throughout the world. That is why we meet to-day to thank the
British Government――our own Government――that has made all this possible,
that we shall be able to say, not as a pious and distant wish, but as a
near and confident hope:
“‘לשנה הבאה בירושלם.’ ‘Next year in Jerusalem!’”
The Chief Rabbi said it was indeed a rare privilege to take part in
that wonderful meeting called together to express the heartfelt thanks
of British Jewry for the striking sympathy of His Majesty’s Government
with Jewish aspirations. The epoch-making Declaration on Palestine was
an assurance given by the mightiest of empires that the new order which
the Allies are now creating at such sacrifice of life and treasure
shall be rooted in righteousness, and broad-based on the liberty of,
and reverence for, _every_ oppressed nationality. It was a solemn
pledge that the oldest of national tragedies shall be ended in the
coming readjustment of the nations which shall console mankind for the
slaughter and waste and torment of this terrible world-war.
In the face of an event of such infinite importance to the Jewish
people, ordinary words of appreciation or the usual phrases of
gratitude were hopelessly weak and inadequate. For the interpretation
of their true feelings to-day they must turn to Scripture. Twenty-five
hundred years ago Cyrus issued his edict of liberation to the Jewish
exiles in Babylon; and an eye-witness of that glorious day had left
them in the 126th Psalm a record of how their fathers received the
announcement of their deliverance:――
“When the Lord brought back those that returned to Zion,
We were like unto them that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing;
Then said they among the nations:
‘The Lord hath done great things with these.’
The Lord hath done great things with us;
We are rejoiced.”
Theirs was a similar feeling of joy and wonder. With them likewise
it was the astonishment of the nations, the reassuring approbation of
statesmen and rulers that caused them to exclaim: “We will see it done,
and done consummately, the thing so many have thought could never be
done!”
The spirit of the Declaration was that of absolute justice, whether
to Jews out of Palestine, or to non-Jews in Palestine. They especially
welcomed in it the reference to the civil and religious rights of
the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. That was but a
translation of the basic principles of the Mosaic legislation. But it
was the substance of the Declaration――the promise of a National Home
for the Jewish people――that filled their souls with gladness. For only
on its own soil could the Jewish people live its own life, and make, as
in the past it had made, its characteristic and specific contributions
to the spiritual treasure of humanity.
After the proclamation issued by Cyrus, the mass of the Jewish people
still remained in Babylon. All told, only forty-two thousand men, women
and children took advantage of the king’s proclamation and followed
Ezra back to Zion, the land of their fathers. But that handful of
Zionists and their descendants, because living on their own soil,
changed the entire future of mankind. They edited and collected the
Prophets, wrote some of the fairest portions of the Scriptures, formed
the canon of the Bible, and gave the world its monotheistic religions.
Now, as then, שאר ישוב “A remnant shall return.” But now, as then, it was
the national rejuvenation of that remnant that is to open a new chapter
in the annals of the human spirit.
Difficulties? Of course there were difficulties. The task of laying the
foundations of a new Israel must be one of long toil and severe trial.
But a people that for twenty-five centuries had stood victoriously
against the storm of time, possessed vitality enough, patience enough,
idealism enough, with the help of God, to rise to the level of this
unique, world-historic opportunity.
Lieut.-Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., M.P., said: “My lords, ladies
and gentlemen, I should like to say, before I say one other word, that
the reason I am interested in this movement is that I met one some two
years ago who is now upon this platform, and who opened my eyes as to
what this movement meant. He is on the list of speakers; you will hear
him presently; his name is known to most in the records of Zionism: I
mean Dr. Gaster. I speak as one from without, as a watcher, but I feel,
as everyone present must feel, that this meeting here to-day marks
not a turning-point in the history of your own race, but I think
certainly a turning-point in the history of the whole world. When
one thinks of the years that have passed, of the immense spaces of
history which stand between what was――and now is――promised, one is
truly dazzled by the possibilities and prospects which open before us.
I see, speaking to you as a watcher――now you, in a sense, are perhaps
watchers also――perhaps you see something, perhaps you see three nations
stricken with plague, cumbered with ruin, and Europe a welter of blood.
Perhaps you see these three nations, and you realize that it may be
your destiny to be a bridge between Asia and Europe, to bring the
spirituality of Asia to Europe, and the vitality of Europe to Asia.
That I firmly believe is the mission of Zionism. I see here something
which is greater than a dream or a League of Nations. It is a league
of continents, a league of races, and finally a league of ideals. That
is a great vision. That is what I believe lies before you, but no one
present realizes more than I do――I know the ground, some of it――and
boldly I dare to say that there lie before you dangers, difficulties,
possibly obstructions, but, ladies and gentlemen, your time of
probation has been long, you are schooled in adversity, you can look to
difficulties with calm, and you will overcome them. I do not look for
a sudden magic transformation, but I believe you are beginning a great
beneficial and irresistible transition. That is what you are beginning.
Now, I believe, I hope you are going to set up a power that is not the
domination of blood, not the domination of gold, but the domination of
a great intellectual force. I believe you will see Palestine the great
centre of ideals, radiating out to every country in the world where
your people are, and if there is one thing that gives me pleasure to be
here to-day, it is to feel that at this turning-point of your history,
when the Government made its Declaration, you not only thought of
yourselves but you thought also of others, and you will always look
back with joy to the fact that when the promise, when the hope was
held out to you of redemption, you thought not only of yourselves,
but thought of your fellows in adversity, the Armenians and the Syrian
Arabs. It is said that the Jewish people have a long memory. I believe
that you remember Cordova, where your influence on modern civilization
was at its zenith, and I think you remember what you owed to the Arabs
in Cordova. You remember in the days when the Jews were so oppressed
in Russia what you owed to the Armenians, who were your companions
in oppression. These tragedies are very different in their nature,
and three tragedies destined to unite in one triumph. If all three
hold together, the realization of your ideal is certain. There are
evil people who will desire that you should fail. If these three
forces should be dismissed, there will be the danger of any one of
them becoming the prey of a political adventurer, militarist, or the
financier. For Palestine to be a success you must have a satisfied
and tranquil Syria. For liberty to be certain in Palestine, you must
have guarantees that no savage races shall return there. You want to
see Armenia free because you want to know that all people are free.
You want to know the Arab is free, because he is, and always will be,
your neighbour. Lastly, I would also say this: I look forward through
difficulty and through pain to see Armenia free, and to prove the
inevitable triumph of right over the greatest might there may be. I
look to see the Arab civilization restored once more in Bagdad and in
Damascus, and I look to see the return of Israel, with his majesty and
tolerance, hushing mockery and dispelling doubt; and all three nations
giving out to the world the good that God has infused into them.”
Dr. M. Gaster said he stood before them not as a new Zionist, but as
an old friend. He stood before them, the old Zionist, deeply imbued
with the spirit of faith, believing in the truth of the word of God
and the glorious promise in store for our people, a dreamer of visions,
if they would. People had mocked at their visions and ideals, at
their aspirations and their hopes, and yet they continued their work,
unswerving in their enthusiasm. What appeared to so many as a dream had
now become a reality――and they were gathered there to begin to reap in
joy what they had sown in tears and sorrow. He had originally acclaimed
Herzl as the leader of the movement, and he had had to bear the burden
of the difficulties, but he had been true to the trust and had kept the
flag of Zion flying, and it was now for him, and for all of them, a day
of joy to see the fruits which they had so long wished for. They had
come together to thank the British Government for _le beau geste_, in
the inimitable French, for their declaration of sympathy with their
national aspirations. But Zionism was neither a local question nor did
it affect English Jewry, except in a very small proportion. It was a
movement which affected the whole of the race. Every Jew, therefore,
wherever he might be, was united in that sentiment of gratitude. They
were there, representing the feeling which animated the Jews of all the
world. Therein lay the greatness of the British Government――that it had
lifted the problem from its local geographical character and given to
it that universally valued importance which they attached to it. But
what Zionism stands for must be clearly apprehended, and also what the
Declaration of the British Government was expected to embody. The term
“National Home” was a circumlocution of the original word which formed
part of the Basle programme, the foundation-stone of Zionism, and
that word had been chosen when no definite political meaning could
be assigned to it. Circumstances had changed. It was for them to give
to the word its true original meaning. What they wished to obtain in
Palestine was not merely a right to establish colonies, or educational,
cultural, or industrial institutions. They wanted to establish in
Palestine an autonomous Jewish Commonwealth in the fullest sense of the
word. They wanted Palestine to be Palestine of the Jews and not merely
a Palestine for Jews. They wished the land to be again what it was in
olden times and what it had been for Jews in their prayers and in their
Bible――a land of Israel. The ground must be theirs. They stood, indeed,
as a people for the same programme as British statesmen were standing
to-day in a larger sphere. Jews stood for reparation, restitution,
and guarantees, and it was in the very application of those principles
that the greatness and importance of the Declaration of the British
Government stood out so luminously. England owed to Jews no reparation.
Here they had liberty, full freedom, equality of right and equality
of duty, and they had risen to the responsibility which had thus
been placed upon them. For many of them there had their children now
fighting the battles of England. But the British Government had now
made itself the champion of reparation to the Jewish people for the
wrongs done to them by the world. It had made itself a champion, too,
of the restitution of the land to our nation for whom it is the old
inheritance, and it had given them a guarantee――security of tenure,
independence, right and freedom of action as a people, in their ancient
land. The establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in the land of their
fathers would also consolidate and clarify the position of the rest
of the Jews throughout the world. He believed that a new world was
to arise in which the Jew as Jew would find himself a free man. In
conclusion, he reminded them of an old legend which told that when the
Temple was destroyed the stones were split into splinters and each one
entered the heart of a Jew. It was this memorial of our fallen nation
which the Jew carried in his bosom, and which bent his back. But they
were coming together once again as a nation in Palestine, and they
would take the splinters of the stones from out of their hearts――“and,”
exclaimed Dr. Gaster, “I feel the stone in my heart already loosening.”
Sheikh Ismail-Abdul-al-Akki then addressed the meeting. He spoke in
Arabic, which was translated by Mr. Israel Sieff, who mentioned that
the speaker was under sentence of death by the Turkish Government
for having joined the Arab national movement. Sheikh Ismail said he
desired to tender deep gratitude to the British nation and the British
Government for affording his countrymen and himself help and asylum in
their hour of persecution. His country was held in chains by the Turks,
who were supplied with German gold, and he looked with confidence to
England and France to deliver them from bondage, as he believed in the
ultimate good over evil, and was confident in the victory of the Allies.
He not only spoke as an Arab, but as a “Moslem” Arab, having studied
five years in theological schools and being granted a degree, and it
was the duty of every Moslem to participate in the movement for the
liberation of their countrymen. The meeting was to celebrate the great
act of the British Government in recognizing the aspirations of the
Jewish people, and he appealed to them not to forget in the days of
their happiness that the sons of Ishmael suffered also. They had been
scattered and confounded as the Jews had been, and now began to arise,
fortified with the sense of martyrs. He hoped that Palestine would
again flow with milk and honey.
M. Wadia Kesrawani, another Arabian representative, spoke in French,
also to the effect that his countrymen appealed to England and France
for their liberation, and applauded the Declaration of the Government.
Mr. Israel Zangwill, in supporting the resolution, said: “In my
capacity of President of the Jewish Territorial Organization, I have
been honoured with an invitation to appear on your platform on this
momentous occasion. In that capacity I have often criticized your
leaders. But to-day I am here not for criticism, but for congratulation
and co-operation. I congratulate them, and especially Dr. Weizmann and
Mr. Sokolow, upon their historic achievement in the region of diplomacy.
To see that this is followed by a similar achievement in the more
difficult region of practice is the duty of all Israel. Particularly
is it the duty of the Ito, founded as it was to procure a territory
upon an autonomous basis. For the Ito to oppose any really practicable
plan for a Jewish territory would be not only treason to the Jewish
people, but to its own programme. And as a first-fruit of the friendly
negotiations with Zionism, which began in July, I am happy to be
able to join with you this afternoon in welcoming the sympathy of the
Government with Jewish aspirations.”
Mr. Zangwill, of whose speech the above were the opening words, spoke
at great length, and with even more than his usual brilliancy. It is
with great regret that we are unable, owing to lack of space, to
include the rest of his oration, with the exception of the concluding
paragraph, which ran as follows:――
“And though our goal be yet far, yet already when I recall how
our small nation sustained the mailed might of all the great
Empires of antiquity, how we saw our Temple in flames and were
scattered like its ashes, how we endured the long night of the
Middle Ages, illumined by the glare of our martyrs’ fires, how
but yesterday we wandered in our millions, torn between the
ruthless Prussian and the pitiless Russian, yet have lived
to see to-day the bloody Empire of the Czars dissolve, and
the mountains of Zion glimmer on the horizon. Already I feel
we may say to the nations: Comfort ye, comfort ye, too, poor
suffering peoples. Learn from the long patience of Israel that
the spirit is mightier than the sword, and that the seer who
foretold his people’s resurrection was not less prophetic when
he proclaimed also for all peoples the peace of Jerusalem.”
Capt. the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, M.P., said he was particularly glad
the Zionist Declaration had been made by the British Government at
a moment when British arms were saving that land, because it showed
that the British Government was not out for gain. The Jewish claim to
Palestine was, to his mind, overwhelming, and he rejoiced to see what
an overwhelming mass of British representative opinions in the House
of Commons was now supporting the movement. He supported it as a member
of the Church of England, as Sir Mark Sykes had supported it as a Roman
Catholic. In the return of Palestine to be the Jewish home, he held
out the hand of friendship to the Zionists, who sought to bring it into
effect. He felt that behind it all was the finger of Almighty God. From
the moment he met their Zionist leaders, whether in Egypt or in this
country, he felt there was in them something so sincere, so British, so
straightforward, that at once his heart went out to them. They had in
their leader in this country a man of great qualities, a statesman who
had shown a skill, a determination, and a patience which had endeared
him to everyone. He (the speaker) had done what little he could to help
forward the movement, and in the future, if they were looking out for a
friend, they could count him as one of them.
Mr. H. N. Mostditchian, a member of the Armenian delegation, said he
availed himself of the opportunity of giving their Jewish brethren the
heartiest greetings of the Armenians and sincerest congratulations for
the dawn about to break upon the glad valleys of their ancestral land.
He made a comparison of the two nations, who had gone through the same
persecutions, but who notwithstanding were not willing to die, and had
not died, and who stood to-day hand-in-hand on the eve of a new era,
when both of them would be able to live once more their national lives,
of which they had given good evidence in the past. They all knew that
Armenia was one of the first countries mentioned in the History of
the Jews, and there had reigned one thousand two hundred years ago a
Dynasty of Armenian Kings who had in their veins a good deal of Jewish
blood. After the loss of their independence the Jews had continued to
live a life of captivity and exile, and the Armenians, after the loss
of their independence, had suffered the same exile. It was not the time
to say what the Armenians had suffered during the last three years,
a state of things to which the worst pogrom was a heaven, but they,
as well as the Jews, looked towards ‘to-morrow’ with great fervour as
a result of the Declaration. They had waited long enough with their
Jewish brethren, for centuries and centuries, and these two nations,
as well as the Arabs, would make Palestine another promised land and
a garden of Eden――a centre to which humanity might look up.
The author then proceeded to read a statement in behalf of the
Executive of the Zionist Organization. The text of that statement is
given later.
Mr. James de Rothschild said he stood there as the son of one who
had spent his life in endeavouring to bring about what they were
celebrating that day. Jewish ideals up to that time had been met at
the gate, but they could not get through. With one stroke of the pen
the English Government had flung open these gates. Therefore in every
Jewish heart gratitude was overflowing, and they must not forget that
all their aims of the future had been strengthened by the country whose
Government had framed the generous and just Declaration.
Dr. Ch. Weizmann, President of the English Zionist Federation, referred
to the many good and brilliant words which had been said about the Jews,
and he hoped that the Jews of to-day and the Jews of to-morrow would
rise to the occasion in the needed power and dignity, and give their
answer to the great resolution, not only in words, but in deeds. It was
a fact, and no metaphor, that twenty centuries looked to see if their
actions were worthy of the opportunity which the British Government had
given them. The present generation had upon its shoulders the greatest
responsibility of the last two thousand years, and he prayed that they
might be worthy of that responsibility.
He then called upon the meeting to rise, and with hands uplifted to
take the old historic oath――each man and woman of them――
אם־אשכחך ירושלם תשכח ימיני.¹
¹ “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning.”
(PSALM cxxxvii. 5.)
The meeting rose _en masse_, repeating the words of the psalm amid
great enthusiasm, which culminated in the singing of “Hatikvah” (the
Jewish national song) and “God Save the King” by the Precentors’
Association.
Lord Rothschild, in rising to put the resolution, said it was a great
honour for all of them to feel that they as Jews had met with a sincere
welcome that day from representatives of no fewer than five different
religions. He then read the resolution, which was carried with
acclamation, the whole audience rising.
Among those who sent messages to the meeting were the following:――
From the Right Hon. VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODEN, K.G.¹
I am in entire sympathy with the Declaration made by Mr.
Balfour, and am very glad that this has been announced
publicly as the view of the British Government.
¹ Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1905‒1916.
From the Right Hon. WALTER LONG, M.P.¹
Mr. Long desires me to thank you for your letter of the 14th ult., and
to say that he wishes all success to the Zionist movement.
¹ Secretary of State for the Colonies.
From the Right Hon. ARTHUR HENDERSON, M.P.¹
Labour recognizes the claims generally of Jews in all
countries to the elementary rights of tolerance, freedom of
residence and trade, and equal citizenship, that ought to be
extended to all the inhabitants of every nation’s territory.
Further, it trusts that an understanding may be reached at
the close of the war, whereby Palestine may be set free and
form a State under an International Agreement, to which Jewish
people may return and work out their own salvation without
interference by those of alien race or religion.
¹ Member of the War Cabinet.
From the Right Hon. the MARQUESS OF CREWE, K.G.¹
I have long hoped that it would be possible to make such a
Declaration; and it is now pronounced in terms that should
be equally welcome to those Jews who have found happy homes
on friendly shores, and to those who have longed for the
re-establishment of their race in the ancient land. Within its
borders even now triumphs are being won, and noble lives laid
down, for the common cause of which this hope forms part.
¹ Secretary of State for India, 1910‒1915.
From the Right Hon. VISCOUNT BRYCE.¹
For years past, and especially since my visit to Palestine in
1914, I have been in cordial sympathy with the movement for
re-establishing the Jewish population in its ancient home,
and rejoice to see that His Majesty’s Government have recently
expressed their approval of the idea, which will, I hope, take
practical shape in measures to be put through after the war is
over. It will be a great benefit to the Jewish race everywhere
to have this ancient home to look to as the centre of its
national life, even though a comparatively small part of the
race can actually find room to dwell in Palestine. The country
seems to have been recently terribly devastated, but when its
resources have been developed, it can support a much larger
population than it has under the blighting rule of the Turk.
Syrians, Arabs and Armenians are also interested in being
delivered for ever from the alien domination of the Turkish
invaders.
¹ H.M. Ambassador at Washington, 1907‒1913.
From the Right Hon. the EARL OF SELBORNE, K.G., G.C.M.G.¹
I warmly and altogether adhere to the policy of His Majesty’s
Government, in sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations as
announced by Mr. Arthur Balfour.
¹ High Commissioner for South Africa, 1905‒1910.
From the late JOHN EDWARD REDMOND, M.P.¹
I am in complete sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations as I
understand them.
¹ Chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
From the Right Hon. LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH, K.T., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.¹
I am in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a National
Home for the Jewish people, and sincerely trust the policy
will be successfully carried out.
¹ Secretary for Scotland, 1895‒1903.
From the Right Hon. JOHN HODGE, M.P.¹
I fully sympathize with the view expressed in Mr. Balfour’s
letter to Lord Rothschild, and further, may I express the hope
that the end of the war may speedily see the realization of
the Zionist dream.
¹ Minister of Pensions.
From LORD HUGH CECIL, M.P.
... I very cordially sympathize with the purpose of it, and
heartily rejoice that there is good prospect of securing to
the Jewish people a National Home in their own country.
From LORD SYDENHAM of Combe, G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., G.C.S.I.¹
... I am in fullest sympathy with the object, and I am glad
to know that Palestine may again become the National Home of
the Jewish people. This would be one of the many happy results
which, we may hope, will arise from the appalling sacrifices
and the abiding sorrow which the war has brought upon the
world.
¹ Governor of Bombay, 1907‒1913.
From the Right Hon. LORD EMMOTT, G.C.M.G.¹
... The movement for the establishment in Palestine of a
National Home for the Jewish people is one which has my most
cordial sympathy, and I sincerely hope that your demonstration
may be a success.
¹ Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1911‒1914.
From the Right Hon. LORD TENNYSON, G.C.M.G.¹
... It seems to me that the establishment in Palestine of a
National Home for the Jewish people would make for the peace
of the world. This Jewish State should be, as George Eliot
finely says, “a republic where the Jewish spirit manifests
itself in a new order founded on the old.”
¹ Governor-General of Australia, 1902‒1904.
From the Rt. Rev. JAMES COOPER, D.D., Moderator of the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland.
The Church of Scotland cordially endorses the Declaration
of the Cabinet in favour alike of the establishment in
Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and of the
maintenance of the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish
communities in a land so dear to Christians and Jews, rejoices
in the prospect of this double honour being given to Great
Britain, and prays that it may usher in a day of the richest
blessings to the whole Israel of God.
From HIS EXCELLENCY BOGHOS NUBAR PASHA, President of the Armenian
National Delegation.
On the occasion of the Zionist meeting, organized by your
Committee, I am happy, as President of the Armenian National
Delegation, to renew the sincere congratulations of the
Armenians for the Declaration which His Britannic Majesty’s
Government has made to you. We participate in a great measure
in the joy which the powerful support gives you which permits
us to hope that in the day of victory of those who are
fighting for the liberation of oppressed peoples, the Armenian
aspirations will be realized at the same time as the Jewish
people will attain the reconstruction of its nationality
and the realization of its historic claim to the soil of its
ancestors.
The _Jewish Chronicle_ gave a list of several hundred Jewish
institutions in England which sent congratulatory messages to the
meeting, as well as of an immense number of such institutions which
were represented at the meeting in person.
An overflow meeting, over which Mr. P. Horowitz presided, was held in
the Kingsway Theatre, which was crowded in every part. Among those who
addressed the audience were the Chief Rabbi: Lord Lamington, G.C.M.G.,
G.C.I.E., Mr. Israel Zangwill, Mr. Joseph Cowen, Dr. Selig Brodetsky,
Dr. David Jochelmann, and Mr. Israel Cohen.
In the course of his observations, Lord Lamington, who was very
cordially received, expressed his pleasure at the opportunity afforded
him to express his sympathy with and support of the Zionist movement.
He cordially agreed with the statement made by Lord Robert Cecil at
the Opera House, that the Declaration represented the first act of
constructive statesmanship which the allied nations had so far carried
out on the basis of the great principles of freedom and justice for
the smaller nationalities, for which they stood. The Declaration was
as much in the British interest as in the Jewish interest. Both races,
as well as the East in general, stood to gain, and gain substantially,
from an active British and Jewish co-operation in the Near East.
A resolution in identical terms with that carried at the London Opera
House was passed with much enthusiasm.
The Author’s statement ran as follows:――
The Zionist Organization in the Entente countries which I have the
honour of representing is filled with feelings of the deepest and
keenest satisfaction caused by the Declaration of His Majesty’s
Government of November 2nd. The Zionist masses are grateful to His
Majesty’s Government for their official and formal statement of their
intentions in clear and unmistakable terms. Posterity will praise the
qualities which are revealed by this historic document; the strength of
will, the sentiment of uprightness, the unshakable fidelity to the
spirit of Justice, and the beneficent and generous sympathy for the
oppressed.
But the feeling of joy evoked by the Declaration is much more than
the legitimate satisfaction aroused by the successful result of our
representations to the British Government. Quite apart from and above
all written conventions, we realize that the Declaration symbolizes
that harmonious union of spiritual ideals and political considerations
which have made and will make of the Zionist Movement a precious
instrument working for civilization and for the brotherhood and
emancipation of all oppressed peoples and for their final deliverance
from the sad heritage of age-long hatreds and misunderstandings, which
have dismembered them and subjected them to the forces of oppression.
Three problems confront the world at this hour: the problem of
nationality, the problem of territory, and the problem of liberty.
Nationalities are being reconstituted; peoples are seeking one another,
joining together, or separating from one another; territories are being
redistributed; the spirit of freedom is spreading, seeking incarnation
in new forms, and giving a new lease of life to ancient peoples.
Everywhere is instability, ferment, movement; from all sides are heard
complaints, demands, claims; all things are being recast in new moulds;
everywhere new groupings are forming round new interests. The world
is fighting for the untrammelled self-expression of nations and races,
for an unaggressive international order; the hundreds or thousands
of years’ old aspirations, purposes, and aims of nations have become
the demands of the moment and the programmes for the future. He only
would be certain of harvesting nothing who had not sown during the
present world storm. In this noise, in this welter, in this struggle,
ancient Judea awakes, claiming her right to live again. This right is
inalienable and unalterable. All the force of the indestructible Jewish
race is in it. All the sadness of the two thousand years of Jewish
martyrdom is in it. Is this right to be denied because of its being so
old? Humanity, real humanity, will not extinguish old rights. It has
not extinguished it in the case of Greece; neither will it extinguish
it in the case of Judea.
History has demonstrated that a nation deprived of its heritage and
liberty, which is determined to live and regain her lost country, no
matter how long she suffers, cannot be exterminated by any conceivable
means employed by her persecutors. And the Jewish people is determined
to live and to work for all that is good and ennobling, believing
firmly that justice would be but a word of mockery if the sun of
liberty could not shine over it again.
In the midst of universal war, amid grief and desolation which go
beyond the most tragic imaginings, Great Britain has proclaimed the
idea of creating a centre of the arts of peace, and a model of justice.
The idea is not only extremely practical, it is profoundly poetical. We
are living in the most critical time in history. It is our fate to be
spectators of and actors in the greatest drama ever known to humanity.
The present war will take its place in history as one of the events
which irrevocably divide two epochs. The Jewish people is fortunate
in being able to consider itself one of the models which have inspired
the noble initiative of Great Britain and her Allies. It is still more
fortunate in having been found worthy of the generous protection of His
Majesty’s Government, manifested in so striking a manner by the recent
Declaration. And what glory awaits, on the other hand, Great Britain
and her Allies, if they will be instrumental in the creation of a
Jewish National Home in Palestine!
What is it that we wish to preserve in our National Home? Our own
precious heritage. You all know it. The sacred Jewish home-life, the
intimately personal sentiment of our qualities and of our inner freedom.
That is our heritage which we have been able to preserve intact during
the eighteen centuries of our Dispersion, untouched by the ambition
and hatred which sought to undermine them. We wish to live and to
live by our labour and untiring efforts. We want to be invigorated
by that force which the children of the soil absorb from contact with
it. We want to give form and visibility to our mental conceptions. We
desire to perform Israel’s allotted part in the purpose of the eternal
progress of humanity in all branches of life, in all human activities.
The Jewish National Home will stand out in the world as an inspiring
symbol of the triumph of justice over tyranny, as a proof of the right
of nationality to be itself. It will be a priceless monument to the
future at a time when ruins of the past are everywhere, and the whole
world stands in need of rebuilding.
Our object in establishing the Jewish National Home on the sacred soil
of our fathers is to carry on the noblest traditions of our race in all
their beauty and plenitude. Judea it was which revealed to humanity the
path of progress, it was Judea which taught the greatest and noblest
lessons in the life of nations――the lessons of Freedom and Right――and
it is Judea which will become a centre of liberty and a blessing for
the nations. Palestine is not to be weighed down by military powers.
She is a home for a small and free nation, and not for a troop of
subjects. The glory of invaders is to be conquered by humanity. The
glory of tyrants is to yield to civilization. The glory of the land of
shadows is to receive the lamp of light. The cloud passed and the star
reappeared. And this star is not one of wrath. Nor is it one of hatred,
or fanaticism. Christendom has its great sanctuaries in Palestine.
Islam has there some of its important sanctuaries. All our glorious
holy places are there. They will be respected and safeguarded with
reverence and devotion, in peace and mutual love. But around the
places of worship life will spring――honest, simple, pure life. We are
a peaceful people. We are going to cultivate the soil; we are going to
cultivate our ideas. Our future is the ploughshare, and not the sword;
the book, and not the bullet. The beneficent spiritual influence of
a regenerated Palestine is undoubted; its future, which is boundless,
belongs to you; each of you already possesses a portion within himself.
Let us but work together so that our people may preserve and improve
its title to be considered the conscience of the human race.
We realize, however, that our position needs to be clearly defined.
We must be fully conversant with every side of the problem. Vague
complaints or expressions of yearning are not enough. There is,
first of all, the problem of Emancipation. We have been accused of
endangering by our aspirations towards a National Home the position
of the Jews in the various countries of the world. We have racked our
brains in trying to discover how the establishment of a National Home
in Palestine could possibly harm the emancipation of Jews in the world.
We have failed to solve this mystery. The British Government in their
Declaration have put to flight this fear, which is a pure figment
of the imagination without foundation in theory or fact. It would
undoubtedly be a great elevation of the Jewish character in the eyes
of the world at large, could the Jews prove themselves capable of
conducting a Commonwealth harmoniously and successfully; and we are
sure they will be able to do so. This is our belief, our ambition,
our Jewish optimism. It is because we believe in Israel’s genius that
we are Zionists. This will help emancipation. The Jews of the various
countries who do not wish to participate actively in the work, who do
not desire to take advantage of the right to settle in Palestine, can
remain where they are at the present time. We are not emigration agents.
We are apostles of a historic ideal, and we want the Jewish people to
help in its realization.
It would be a crime at a stage of Jewish history like the present to
paralyse by internal dissension a movement which may be productive of
so much good. This should not be. Unity of Judaism before all, above
all! The majority will support the efforts of their fellow-Jews with
great enthusiasm for Judaism, and those who refuse to take any part
(a type which is doomed to disappear, like the mammoth, from the face
of the earth) must keep the peace. The least we can demand of them
is not to disturb us or hinder us in our efforts. Where is the Jew
who could neglect this duty which is inspired no less by reason and
well-understood interest than by conscience and honour? Where is the
Jew who would fail to offer the tribute of his humble share of effort,
of help, and of faith to the old land of Israel, now so downtrodden,
but all the greater and more beautiful, as its sufferings and
trials――so heroically endured――are approaching their end and leading
to its renascence which, far from being a mere satisfaction of national
egoism, is an exaltation of the noblest Jewish and human ideal?
The attempt has also been made to put forward the non-Jewish population
of Palestine and the neighbouring countries as an obstacle in our
way. The breath of intriguers tends to poison every noble aspiration;
they seek to create among us also a spirit of dissension, a spirit of
destruction. We are firmly resolved to refuse them this satisfaction.
In vain do they raise this kind of bogey. The deep sense of the
realities before us guards us from any error of this kind. We have work
to do which will prevent our interests from clashing with those of the
Arabs. Are we, then, anti-Semitic?
The relations between the Jews and the Arabs have hitherto been scanty
and spasmodic, largely owing to mutual ignorance and indifference.
There were no relations whatever between the two nations as such
because the oppressive bureaucracy did not recognize either of them,
and whenever points of connection began to develop they were destroyed
by intrigue to the detriment of both nationalities.
We believe that the present hour of crisis and the opening of a large
perspective for epoch-making developments offers a fruitful opportunity
for a broad basis of permanent, cordial relations between the peoples
who are inspired by a common purpose. We mean a real _entente cordiale_
between the Jews, the Arabs, and the Armenians. Such _entente cordiale_
has already been accepted in principle by leading representatives
of these three nations. From such a beginning we look forward
with confidence to a future of intellectual, social, and economic
co-operation. We are one with the Arabs and Armenians to-day in the
determination to secure for each of us the free choice of their own
destinies. We look with fraternal love at the creation of an Arab
kingdom re-establishing the ancient Semitic nationality in its glory
and freedom, and our heartfelt wishes go out to the noble, hardly-tried
Armenian nationality for the realization of their national hopes in
their old Armenia.
Our roots were united in the past, our destinies will be bound together
in the future.
This is our declaration to our future neighbours. And now, one more
word to our brethren. We Jews, we who hoped for a better future,
an era in which moral rights would count, what were we before the
present situation? Dreamers and madmen. Material power believed itself
unconquerable. It produced an atmosphere of indifference in which all
hope seemed Utopian. We slept in the general decadence. Now we arise,
endowed with an unconquerable moral force by the Declaration of His
Majesty’s Government. Our first and immortal leader, Theodor Herzl,
insisted, many years ago, in having the institutions of Zionism
established in this great, blessed country, for which every Jew has
a warm corner in his heart. Was he a statesman or a prophet? I think
he was both a statesman and a prophet. There is an old Talmudical
saying:――
הניחו להן לישראל אם אין נביאים הן בני נביאים הן׃
פסחים סו׃¹
¹ “Leave Israel alone!――If they are not Prophets, they are
the sons of Prophets.”――_Pesachim_, 66_a_.
Twenty years ago 220 Jews from all the countries of the world met at
the First Zionist Congress at Basle. They possessed, though everything
else was wanting, that wonderful power of improvising things. And such
was the power of right these 220 men, having nothing to support them
but the goodness of their cause, made headway against millions of
opponents among their people. During the long duration of the struggle,
a struggle without truce, where all the strength and rage was on one
side and all the right on the other, not a single section of those 220
men failed to respond to the call of duty, and, although divided in
their views, not one section drew back from the fundamental national
idea, not one gave way. They increased in numbers and they increased
in activity. Let me, at this solemn hour, render honour to those men,
to that insulted, calumniated and misunderstood Zionist Organization
which always stepped gallantly into the breach, which never took rest
for a single day, and which defended Zionism even when abandoned and
momentarily hopeless, and that not only with tongue and brains, but
also with heavy sacrifices. Thanks to them we exist, and thanks to
the progress we made here new life and new energy will enter not only
into our Zionist Organization, but into the whole Jewish people. Mr.
Balfour has sent the Declaration to Lord Rothschild for the Zionist
Organization. We received and accepted it joyfully; but, I am afraid
――or I am rather glad――that we shall have to re-address it to the
Jewish people, and I hope they will receive and accept it as joyfully
as ourselves, the Zionists. This is perhaps the greatest achievement
of the British Government that before having given us Palestine they
already gave us something which is very precious and very necessary
――Jewish unity. History will record that Mr. Balfour was the greatest
peace-maker among the Jewish people, greater than many Rabbis and
Conjoint Committees.
We were divided, distracted; and now we are indissolubly united, all
one band of brothers in arms for Liberty! I welcome the representatives
of the Jewish Territorial Organization, with their famous leader,
Israel Zangwill. I welcome the oldest Jewish organization of this
country, the Board of Deputies, and all other organizations which are
represented at this meeting. The opponents of yesterday are our allies
of to-day, and the opponents of to-day will be our allies of to-morrow,
if they will read the signs of the time. Much is still to be done
in this direction, but much has already been done. Yes; this is the
miracle which has brought about our spiritual rebirth.
What does this mean if not that wrong has always feet of clay: that
right, truth and liberty are from this time forward the true paths of
the earth, the only ways which no physical force will ever dishonour?
Friends, brothers, our new society makes of you new men. This is a day
of alliance and of reconciliation. Old words――Virtue, Love, Liberty
――which had lost their brightness by long disuse have regained their
lustre as on the day when they were first engraved on the heart of man.
Awake from the long night. It is a new dawn which arises. The Jewish
people which has endured, and will still endure, with great firmness
of heart the heaviest sacrifices, rising to the heights of the great
arguments of this War of Nationalities, affirms that it is ready and
determined to work with all its power and full loyalty for Governments
and peoples until the realization of its destiny. May this destiny be
one in which Liberty will triumph――one from which man and humanity,
the individual and the Nation, will derive benefit, one bringing to the
Jewish people as to every oppressed people the possibility of living
and of realizing its ideal. It is in this spirit that the Zionist
Organisation recommends to you the resolution.
On the 14th of December the Zionist representatives, Lord Rothschild,
Mr. James de Rothschild, Dr. E. W. Tschlenow, Dr. Chaim Weizmann,
and the Author, were received by the War Cabinet. They offered to
the British Government the gratitude of the Jewish people for the
Declaration of the 2nd November and at the same time expressed their
congratulations on the occasion of the capture of Jerusalem. Mr.
Bonar Law, who replied to the deputation on behalf of His Majesty’s
Government, thanked them for the kind sentiments they had expressed.
The following Manifesto was issued shortly after the British
Declaration:――
TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE.
The 17th of _Marcheshvan_, 5678 (2nd November, 1917), is an important
milestone on the road to our national future; it marks the end of an
epoch, and it opens out the beginning of a new era. The Jewish people
has but one other such day in its annals: the 28th August, 1897, the
birthday of the New Zionist Organization at the first Basle Congress.
But the analogy is incomplete, because the period which then began was
Expectation, whereas the period which now begins is Fulfilment.
From then till now, for over twenty years, the Jewish people has
been trying to find itself, to achieve a national resurrection. The
advance-guard was the organized Zionist party, which in 1897 by its
programme demanded a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured
by public law. A great deal was written, spoken, and done to get this
demand recognized. The work was carried out by the Zionist Organization
on a much greater scale and in a more systematic manner than had been
possible for the _Chovevé Zion_, the first heralds of the national
ideal, who had tried to give practical shape to the yearning which
had burnt like a light in the Jewish spirit during two thousand years
of exile and had flamed out at various periods in various forms. The
_Chovevé Zion_ had the greatest share in the practical colonization.
The Zionist movement wrestled with its opponents and with itself. It
collected means outside Palestine, and laboured with all its strength
in Palestine. It founded institutions of all kinds for colonization
in Palestine. That was a preface, full of hope and faith, full of
experiments and illusions, inspired by a sacred and elevating ideal,
and productive of many valuable and enduring results.
The time has come to cast the balance of the account. That chapter of
propaganda and experiments is complete, and the glory of immortality
rests upon it. But we must go further. To look back is the function of
the historian; life looks forwards.
The turning-point is the Declaration of the British Government that
they “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a National
Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to
facilitate the achievement of this object.”
The progress which our idea has made is so colossal and so obvious
that it is scarcely necessary to describe it in words. None the less,
a few words must be addressed to the Jewish people, not so much by way
of explanation, as to demand the new and greater efforts which are
imperative.
The outstanding feature of the Declaration is, that what has been a
beautiful ideal――and according to our opponents an empty dream――has
now been given the possibility of becoming a reality. The aspirations
of 1897 now find solid ground in the British Government’s official
Declaration of the 2nd November, 1917. That in itself is a gigantic
step forward. The world’s history, and particularly Jewish history,
will not fail to inscribe in golden letters upon its bronze tablets
that Great Britain, the shield of civilization, the country which
is pre-eminent in colonization, the school of constitutionalism and
freedom, has given us an official promise of support and help in the
realization of our ideal of liberty in Palestine. And Great Britain
will certainly carry with her the whole political world.
The Declaration of His Majesty’s Government coincides with the
triumphant march of the British Army in Palestine. The flag of Great
Britain waves over Jerusalem and all Judea. It is at such a moment,
while the army of Great Britain is taking possession of Palestine,
that Mr. Balfour assures us that Great Britain will help us in the
establishment of a National Home in Palestine. This is the beginning
of the fulfilment.
To appreciate and to understand accurately is the first essential, but
it is not all. It is necessary to go further, to determine what is the
next step. This must be set forth in plain words.
The Declaration puts in the hands of the Jewish people the key to a new
freedom and happiness. All depends on you, the Jewish people, and on
you only. The Declaration is the threshold, from which you can place
your foot upon holy ground. After eighteen hundred years of suffering
your recompense is offered to you. You can come to your haven and your
heritage, you can show that the noble blood of our race is still fresh
in your veins. But to do that you must begin work anew, with new power
and with new means――the ideas and the phrases and the methods of the
first period no longer suffice. That would be an anachronism. We need
new conceptions, new words, new acts. The methods of the period of
realization cannot be the methods of the time of expectation.
In the first place, the whole Jewish people must now unite. Now that
fulfilment is displacing expectation, that which was potential in
the will of the Jewish people must become actual and reveal itself in
strenuous labour. The whole Jewish people must come into the Zionist
Organization.
Secondly, a word to our brothers in Palestine. The moment has come
to lay the foundations of a national home. You are now under the
protection of the British military authorities, who will guard your
lives, your property, your freedom. Be worthy of that protection,
and begin immediately to build the Jewish National Home upon sound
foundations, thoroughly Hebrew, thoroughly national, thoroughly free
and democratic. The beginning may decide all that follows.
Thirdly, our loyal acknowledgment of the support of Great Britain must
be spontaneous and unmeasured. But it must be the acknowledgment of
free men to a country which breeds and loves free men. We must show
that what Great Britain has given us through her generosity, is ours by
virtue of our intelligence, skill, and courage.
Fourthly, we must have ample means. The means of yesterday are
ridiculously small compared with the needs of to-day. Propaganda, the
study of practical problems, expeditions, the founding of new offices
and commissions, negotiations, preparations for settlement, relief and
reconstruction in Palestine――for all these, and other indispensable
tasks, colossal material means are necessary, and necessary forthwith.
Small and great, poor and rich, must rise to answer the call of this
hour with the necessary personal sacrifice.
Fifthly, we need discipline and unity. This is no time for
hair-splitting controversy. It is a time for action. We ask for
confidence. Be united and tenacious, be quick but not impatient, be
free men, but well-disciplined, firm as steel. From now onwards every
gathering of Jews must have a practical aim, every speech must deal
with a project, every thought must be a brick with which to build the
National Home.
These are the directions for your work to-day.
Worn and weary through your two thousand years of wandering over desert
and ocean, driven by every storm and carried on every wave, outcasts
and refugees, you may now pass from the misery of exile to a secure
home; a home where the Jewish spirit and the old Hebrew genius, which
so long have hovered broken-winged over strange nests, can also find
healing and be quickened into new life.
M. SOKOLOW.
E. W. TSCHLENOW.
CH. WEIZMANN.
DECLARATIONS OF THE ENTENTE GOVERNMENTS
After this most important achievement which is considered as the
foundation-stone of future policy in and regarding Palestine, it was
found necessary to come into closer political relations with the other
Entente countries, in the light of the new situation created by the
British Declaration.
Negotiations were carried on with the proper authorities in the French
and Italian Governments: the negotiations were crowned with success,
and the official endorsements by France and Italy of the British
Declaration were communicated to the world in the following official
documents:――
The following is the text of the French Government’s Declaration
communicated in a letter to the author:――
République française.
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères:
Direction des Affaires Politiques et Commerciales.
Paris, _le 14me février, 1918_.
MONSIEUR,
Comme il a été convenu au cours de notre entretien le Samedi 9 de ce
mois, le Gouvernement de la République, en vue de préciser son attitude
vis-à-vis des aspirations sionistes, tendant à créer pour les juifs en
Palestine un foyer national, a publié un communiqué dans la presse.
En vous communiquant ce texte, je saisis avec empressement l’occasion
de vous féliciter du généreux dévouement avec lequel vous poursuiviez
la réalisation des vœux de vos co-religionnaires, et de vous remercier
du zèle que vous apportez à leur faire connaître les sentiments de
sympathie que leurs efforts éveillent dans les pays de l’entente et
notamment en France.
Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, l’assurance de ma consideration.
(_Signed_) PICHON.
M. SOKOLOW,
Hôtel Meurice, Paris.
Le Communiqué.
Monsieur Sokolow, représentant des Organisations Sionistes, a été reçu
ce matin au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères par Monsieur Stéphen
Pichon, qui a été heureux de lui confirmer que l’Entente est complète
entre les Gouvernements français et britannique en ce qui concerne la
question d’un établissement juif en Palestine.
[_Translation._]
République française.
Ministère des Affaires Étrangères:
Direction des Affaires Politiques et Commerciales.
Paris, _14th February, 1918_.
SIR,
As arranged at our meeting on Saturday, the 9th of this month, the
Government of the Republic, so as to make definite its views on the
subject of Zionist aspirations with regard to the creation of a Jewish
national home in Palestine, has sent a communication to the Press.
In sending you this text, I wish to take the opportunity of
congratulating you on the splendid devotion with which you are
furthering the aspirations of your co-religionists, and of thanking
you for the way in which you have made known to them the sympathy with
which all the countries of the Entente, and especially France, are
watching their efforts.
Please accept assurances of my most cordial sympathy.
(_Signed_) PICHON.
M. SOKOLOW,
Hôtel Meurice, Paris.
Mr. Sokolow, representing the Zionist Organizations, was this morning
received by Mons. Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was happy
to inform him that there is complete agreement between the French and
British Governments in all matters which concern the establishment of
a Jewish national home in Palestine.
Illustration: (‡ Portaits of French Diplomats)
The following is the Declaration which was made by the Italian
Government to myself as representative of the Zionist Organization,
through the Italian Ambassador in London:――
LONDRA,
_li 9 Maggio, 1918_.
PREGIATISSIMO SIGNORE,
D’ordine di Sua Eccellenza il Barone Sonnino, Ministro per gli Affari
Estri del Re, ho l’onore d’informarla che, in relazione alle domande
che gli sono state rivolti, il Governo di Sua Maestà è lieto di
confermare le precedenti dichiarazioni già fatte a mezzo dei suoi
rappresentanti a Washington, l’Aja e Salonicco, di essere cioè disposto
ad adoperarsi con piacere per facilitare lo stabilirsi in Palestina
di un centro nazionale ebraico, nell’intesa pero che non ne venga
nessun pregiudizio allo stato giuridico e politico delle già esistenti
comunita’ religiose ed ai diritti civili e politici che gl’ Israeliti
già godono in ogni altro paese.
Gradisca, Pregiatissimo Signore, gli atti della mia Distintissima
considerazione.
(_Signed_) IMPERIALI.
SIGNOR NAHUM SOKOLOW,
35‒38 Empire House,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
[_Translation._]
ITALIAN EMBASSY, LONDON,
_9th May, 1918_.
MY DEAR SIR,
On the instructions of His Excellency, Baron Sonnino, His Majesty’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have the honour to inform you that with
reference to your representations His Majesty’s Government are pleased
to confirm the Declaration already made through their representatives
in Washington, The Hague, and Salonica, to the effect that they will
use their best endeavours to facilitate the establishment in Palestine
of a Jewish National Centre, it being understood that this shall
not prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine or the legal or political status enjoyed by
Jews in any other country.
Pray accept, my dear sir, the assurance of my distinguished
consideration.
(_Signed_) IMPERIALI.
_M._ NAHUM SOKOLOW,
175 Piccadilly, W. 1.
In ♦President Wilson’s address to Congress of January 8th, 1918, a
speech commonly regarded as a complete statement of the objects for
which the Allied Powers were fighting, the twelfth of the articles in
the programme of the world’s peace was stated thus:――
♦ “President’s” replaced with “President”
“The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured
a secure sovereignty, but _the other nationalities which are now under
Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an
absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development_, and the
Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to ships and
commerce of all nations under international guarantees.”
This statement was regarded by Zionists as signifying the sympathetic
attitude of the American Government, and especially of its President,
to the Zionist movement. President Wilson is regarded as the spokesman
of the Entente principles, and it is well known to Zionists that his
attitude is favourable to the realization of Zionist aims, because
the latter are in complete harmony with the principle of justice to
small nationalities, of which President Wilson is the clearest and
most outspoken exponent. His address makes no specific reference to the
Jewish question or to Palestine, but his intention is perfectly clear.
In August, 1918, President Wilson wrote the following letter:――
“I have watched with deep and sincere interest the
reconstructive work which the Weizmann Commission has done
in Palestine at the instance of the British Government, and
I welcome an opportunity to express the satisfaction I have
felt in the progress of the Zionist Movement in the United
States and in the Allied countries since the Declaration by Mr.
Balfour on behalf of the British Government of Great Britain’s
approval of the establishment in Palestine of a National
Home for the Jewish people, and his promise that the British
Government would use its best endeavours to facilitate the
achievement of that object, with the understanding that
nothing would be done to prejudice the civil and religious
rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine or the rights and
political status enjoyed by Jews in other countries. I think
that all Americans will be deeply moved by the report that
even in this time of stress the Weizmann Commission has been
able to lay the foundation of the _Hebrew_ University at
_Jerusalem_ with the promise that that bears of spiritual
rebirth.”
Illustration: _Dover Street Studios_
_President_
THOMAS WOODROW WILSON
Public opinion in America regarded this letter as a precious document
embodying full American support of the Zionist aims, in harmony with
the British Declaration.
Many opportunities have been taken by British statesmen to refer to
the British Declaration in terms which show that they attach the very
greatest value to it. Thus, the Rt. Hon. George N. Barnes said, in a
speech delivered on the 14th of July, a full extract of which appears
below:――
“The British Government proclaimed its policy of Zionism
because it believed that Zionism was identified with the
policy and aims for which good men and women are struggling
everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies in the
war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is the policy
which we believe accords with the wishes of vast numbers of
the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful eyes to
Palestine as again destined to be their national home.”
Lord Robert Cecil, in regretting his inability to be present at the
meeting held on July 14th to welcome the American Zionist Medical Unit,
wrote:――
“The Zionist movement represents a great ideal which may have
incalculable consequences for the future welfare of the world.”
The Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, in his address to a deputation of the
Medical Unit (given in full further on), said:――
“The destruction of Judea that occurred nineteen centuries ago
is one of the great wrongs which the Allied Powers are trying
to redress.”
Mr. Lloyd George wrote to the Author, on the 29th of June, in
connection with the Government declaration safeguarding the rights of
the Roumanian Jews:――
DEAR SIR,
I am desired by the Prime Minister to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 21st inst., and the enclosure. Mr. Lloyd
George wishes me to thank you for what you say in regard
to the friendship which exists between this country and the
Jewish people, of which there has lately been such abundant
evidence, and to reiterate the hope that the triumph of the
Allies’ cause will make possible the realization of your
people’s aim to establish for themselves once again a national
home in Palestine.
Yours faithfully,
(_Signed_) F. L. STEVENSON.
N. SOKOLOW, ESQ.
On Wednesday, September 11th, the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George,
visited Manchester for the purpose of receiving the freedom of
that city and of other towns. The Zionists took the opportunity of
presenting to him the following address:――
“The undersigned representatives of the Jewish Community of
Manchester, headed by our distinguished Zionist leader, Mr.
Nahum Sokolow, gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of
your visit to Manchester to place on record the gratitude
which the Jewish people feels for the interest shown by the
Government, of which you are the head, in the fulfilment of
Jewish national aspirations.
“We are confident that the Government’s historic declaration
of 2nd November, 1917, expresses not only its own considered
policy at the present time, but the permanent attitude of the
British nation to our people. We look forward to the early
fruition of the hopes which we build on that declaration, and
we know that in the brighter days of peace the restored and
revived _Hebrew_ nation will show in practical form its regard
for Great Britain and for the British tradition of help and
justice to small nations. For the sake of the Jewish nation
and of the cause of the free peoples throughout the world,
struggling to escape from the pitiless desire for conquest of
the German people, who have been intoxicated with the belief
that their army can override all obstacles and all rights,
we trust that Great Britain and her Allies will, at an early
date, see the downfall of the German power as an indispensable
preliminary to the commencement of the new era of peace and
justice, foretold by our national prophets and seers in that
great Jewish Bible which has become part of the patrimony of
the peoples of this great Empire.
“We venture to think that among the many triumphs which
it will be your privilege to recall in after days you will
remember, with, perhaps, a unique pride and pleasure, that
it was under the guidance of your statesmanship that Great
Britain extended its right hand in friendship to the Jewish
people to help it to regain its ancient national home and to
realize its age-long aspirations.”
The Zionists’ address was signed by Mr. E. H. Langdon, the _Rabbi_ Dr.
Berendt Salomon, Mr. Nathan Laski, J.P., Mr. S. J. Cohen, Councillor
S. Finburgh, Mr. L. Friedson, Captain Dulberg, and Mr. Simon Marks.
Illustration: _Vandyke, photo._
_Rᵗ. Hon._ DAVID LLOYD GEORGE
Mr. Lloyd George gave the following reply:――
“It is with feelings of the greatest satisfaction that I
accept the address which you have done me the privilege
of presenting to me. The aspirations which you share with
multitudes of your race scattered throughout the world found
a natural response in the minds of those responsible for the
government of this country, because they are in permanent
accord with the sentiments of the people of Great Britain.
I have to-day had the honour of receiving addresses from the
representatives of three elements most intimately concerned
in the establishment of a rule of order and justice in an area
which has hitherto been the prey of tyranny and outrage. The
fulfilment of the historic hopes and aspirations to which you
refer in your address is, I believe, an essential corollary to
the necessary enfranchisement of the oppressed peoples of the
Near East.”
Considerable interest was taken everywhere in the evidences of the
effect produced in America by the political success of the Zionist
movement. The Zionists of America, unable to participate in many of the
Zionist activities of the day, owing to the fact that America was not
at war with Turkey, conceived the idea of helping in the reconstruction
and extension of the Jewish colonies after they were relieved from
disasters due to the war, by sending a Medical Unit to the Holy Land.
The Unit was organized by and at the expense of American Zionists,
the principal promoters being a group of women Zionists who are banded
together under the name of the _Hadassah_. It consisted of about
forty-five persons――doctors, nurses, mechanics, chemists, specialists,
secretaries, dentists, a social expert, an administrator, and a
representative of the _Hadassah_. The Provisional Executive Committee
for General Zionist Affairs in America voted a sum of fifty thousand
pounds from their Palestine Restoration Fund for its equipment.
The plans in Palestine will necessarily depend upon the conditions
prevailing in that country at the time of the arrival of the Unit,
but the present intention is to set up a central hospital of one
hundred beds in _Jerusalem_, a branch hospital in _Jaffa_, as well as
dispensaries and a nursing school, and several travelling hospitals,
which will be equipped for service in the colonies and wherever needed
and will be supplied from permanent dispensaries in the large cities.
A hospital in _Jerusalem_, originally owned by a German society, the
_L’maan Zion_, was handed over to this Unit, as well as the _Shaare
Zedek_ Hospital. In connexion with the equipment of these “Red Cross”
ambulances for the relief of civilians, the _Hadassah_ collected
quantities of clothes, bed-linen and towels, as well as medical stores
for the use of the destitute of Palestine. Eighty-six cases, containing
twenty-four thousand garments, one thousand pairs of boots, thirteen
thousand men’s socks, and two tons of soap, have been sent out. Mrs.
Mary Fels contributed largely to this stock.
The Unit is under the general control of Mr. Lewin Epstein, Treasurer
of the American Zionist Organization.
On its way to Palestine the Unit passed through London, where it was
welcomed by a great meeting at the London Opera House, on July 14th.
The Right Hon. George N. Barnes, a member of the War Cabinet, in a
speech then delivered, said:――
“Palestine has for three hundred years been under the tyranny
of Ottoman oppression, and I take it that it is now ready for
the word of the teacher, and the knowledge of the scientist,
to make the desert places again into smiling villages. Our
visitors will take part in that transformation. They will link
together the knowledge, the science, and material resources of
the present and the future. It is a great thought and a happy
augury that the first definite act of Zionism is to go East
and to take part in the realization of a great ideal for the
uplifting of all the people, irrespective of class or creed,
or condition of any kind whatsoever. That is indeed a great
ideal, and I congratulate our visitors in being pioneers in
its achievement. They are going to help to lay in Palestine
that basis of sanitation and conditions of healthy life which
are the chief foundations of civilization. It is a work not
only of interest to the Jewish race; it is a work which is of
interest and value to the whole world, because the prosperity
of Palestine is the concern of us all. Irrespective of race
or religion, we look to Palestine as the Holy Land. From it
there came those great moral inspirations which still guide
the life and conduct of half the world. From it there issued
forth those wondrous influences of which the mind of man
can scarcely yet conceive the full meaning. It has been
the inestimable privilege of the Allies in this war to have
rescued this land, consecrated by religion and history, from
the sacrilegious hands of the German and the Turk, who have
slain and enslaved the people. It will be their greater
privilege to rebuild the holy places, to create conditions
under which opportunities will be given to all peoples to live
together in tolerance and mutual help. It will be the aim of
Zionism once more to make Palestine a fountain of knowledge
and idealism, and by the creating of places of knowledge and
education, open to all, again to clothe ancient truths in
modern garb. The British Government proclaimed its policy
of Zionism because it believed that Zionism was identified
with the policy and aims for which good men and women are
struggling everywhere. That policy is the policy of the Allies
in this war. It is the policy to which we are pledged; it is
the policy which we believe accords with the wishes of vast
numbers of the Jewish people, many of whom have cast wistful
eyes to Palestine as again destined to be their national home.
Using the word in its largest and best sense, they are going
on an errand of mercy, being the harbingers of health and
happiness to a people who have been long oppressed and heavy
laden. They have, I doubt not, many difficulties in front of
them――perhaps a long road to travel, but I feel sure they will
be borne up by the consciousness of what they are doing, and
that they have the good wishes of all good men and women.”
In addressing the Unit in Paris, _M._ Tardieu, High Commissioner of the
Government of the French Republic in the United States, said:――
“Vous savez avec quel intérêt sympathique le gouvernement
français a suivi le progrès de l’idéal sioniste. De cet
intérêt, le gouvernement français a donné des preuves dès le
printemps de 1916, aussitôt que l’amélioration de la situation
en Palestine nous a permis de regarder du côté de l’avenir.
J’ai à peine besoin, ensuite, de vous rappeler la déclaration
publique et officielle que le Ministre des Affaires Étrangères,
_M._ Pichon, publiait si heureusement l’année dernière. S’il
existe une nation naturellement faite pour comprendre la cause
des Juifs et l’idéal juif, cela a été assurément toujours la
nation française.”