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NOTES ON THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY
OF THE JEWISH QUESTION
NOTES ON
THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF
THE JEWISH QUESTION
WITH TEXTS OF PROTOCOLS, TREATY
STIPULATIONS AND OTHER PUBLIC
ACTS AND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS
BY
LUCIEN WOLF
PUBLISHED BY THE
JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND
_Mocatta Library and Museum_
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
(_University of London_)
GOWER STREET, LONDON, W.C. 1
1919
_All rights reserved_
PREFACE.
The substance of this volume was read as a Paper before the Jewish
Historical Society of England on February 11, 1918. It has now been
expanded and supplied with a full equipment of documents--Protocols of
Congresses and Conferences, Treaty Stipulations, Diplomatic
Correspondence and other public Acts--in the hope that it may prove
useful as a permanent record, and serviceable to those of our communal
organisations whose duty it will be to bring the still unsolved aspects
of the Jewish Question before the coming Peace Conference.
Besides helping to indicate the lines on which Jewish action should
travel in this matter, the State Papers here quoted may also serve to
remind the Plenipotentiaries themselves that the Jewish Question is far
from being a subsidiary issue in the Reconstruction of Europe, that they
have a great tradition of effort and achievement in regard to it, and
that this tradition, apart from the high merits of the task itself,
imposes upon them the solemn obligation of solving the Question
completely and finally now that the opportunity of doing so presents
itself free from all restraints of a selfish and calculating diplomacy.
It is not only that the edifice of Religious Liberty in Europe has to be
completed, but also that some six millions of human beings have to be
freed from political and civil disabilities and social and economic
restrictions which for calculated cruelty have no parallels outside the
Dark Ages. The Peace Conference will have accomplished relatively little
if a shred of this blackest of all European scandals is allowed to
survive its deliberations.
This collection does not pretend to be complete. The aim has been only
to illustrate adequately the main lines of the theme with a view to
practical questions which may arise in connection with the Peace
Conference. American documents have been only sparely quoted, for the
reason that the American Jewish Historical Society has already published
a very full collection of such documents. (Cyrus Adler: "Jews in the
Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States.") The many generous
interventions of the Vatican on behalf of persecuted Jews have also been
omitted partly for a similar reason (see Stern: "Urkundliche Beiträge
über die Stellung der Päpste zu den Juden") and partly because they have
very little direct bearing on the diplomatic activities of the Great
Powers during the period under discussion.
My grateful acknowledgements are due to the Foreign Office for kindly
permitting me to copy the documents relating to Palestine, which will be
found appended to Chapter IV, and to Lieut. J. B. Morton, who was good
enough to relieve me of much of the work of reading the proof-sheets. I
have also to thank Mr. D. Mitrani for the generous help he gave me in
preparing the Index.
L. W.
GRAY'S INN, LONDON.
_December 1918._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION
ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY GENERALLY 1
II. INTERVENTIONS ON GROUNDS OF HUMANITY 6
(_a_) PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN BOHEMIA (1744-1745) 7
DOCUMENTS--
Petition to King George II, 1744 7
Appeal of Bohemian Jews, 1744 9
The Decree of the Empress, 1744 10
Instructions to the British Ambassador in Vienna, 1744 11
(_b_) THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815) 12
DOCUMENTS--
List from Klüber 14
Art. XVI of Annexe IX of Final Act of Congress, 1815 14
(_c_) THE CONGRESS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1818) 15
DOCUMENT--
Protocol of Nov. 21, 1818 16
(_d_) THE CONFERENCE OF LONDON (1830) 17
DOCUMENT--
Protocol of Feb. 3, 1830 17
(_e_) THE CONGRESS OF PARIS (1856-1858) 18
DOCUMENTS--
Art. IX of the Treaty of Paris, 1856 21
Extracts from the Hatti-Humayoun of Feb. 18, 1856 21
Conferences of Constantinople: Protocol of Feb. 11, 1856 23
Art. XLVI of Convention of Paris of Aug. 10, 1858 23
(_f_) THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN (1878) 23
DOCUMENTS--
Extracts from Protocols of June 24, 25, 26,
and 28, and July 1, 4, and 10, 1878 25
Extracts from Treaty of Berlin: Arts. XLIV and LXII, 1878 33
Mr. White to the Marquis of Salisbury, Oct. 25, 1879 34
Identic Note to Rumanian Government, Feb. 20, 1880 35
(_g_) RUMANIA AND THE POWERS (1902) 36
DOCUMENTS--
Dispatch from Mr. John Hay to U.S. Minister at Athens,
July 17, 1902 38
American Circular Note to the Great Powers, Aug. 11, 1902 44
Mr. Bertie to Mr. Choate, Sept. 2, 1902 44
(_h_) THE CONFERENCES OF LONDON, ST. PETERSBURG,
AND BUCHAREST (1912-1913) 45
DOCUMENTS--
Conference of Bucharest: Protocol of July 23, 1913 47
Jewish Conjoint Committee to Sir Edward Grey, Oct. 13, 1913 48
Sir Eyre A. Crowe to Conjoint Committee, Oct. 29, 1913 51
Conjoint Committee to Sir Edward Grey, Nov. 13, 1913 51
The same to the same, March 12, 1914 52
(_i_) THE JEWISH QUESTION AND THE BALANCE OF POWER (1890 and 1906) 54
DOCUMENT--
The proposed Anti-Semitic Triple Alliance: Secret Russian
Memorandum, Jan. 3, 1906 57
III. INTERVENTIONS BY RIGHT
(_a_) STATUS OF JEWS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES 63
DOCUMENT--
Art. XIV, Treaty of Carlowitz, 1699 71
Interpretation by Austrian Government, Dec. 28, 1815 71
Arts. I, III, and VI of Franco-Swiss Treaty, 1827 71
Secret Note by French Negotiator, Aug. 7, 1826 72
Speech of King Louis-Philippe, Nov. 5, 1835 73
Extract from Franco-Swiss Treaty, June 30, 1864 73
Art. I, Anglo-Swiss Treaty, Sept. 6, 1855 73
Art. I, American-Swiss Treaty, Nov. 6, 1855 74
Interpretation by United States, 1857 74
Mr. Seward to U.S. Minister in Switzerland, Sept. 14, 1861 75
Art. I, Russo-American Treaty, 1832 75
Mr. Blaine to U.S. Minister in St. Petersburg, July 29, 1881 76
Resolution of U.S. House of Representatives, Dec. 13, 1911 79
Resolution of U.S. Senate, Dec. 20, 1911 79
Arts. I and XI, Anglo-Russian Treaty, 1859 80
Interpretation by Great Britain, 1862 and 1881 81
The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir Julian Goldsmid, Jan. 29, 1891 82
Sir Edward Grey to Jewish Conjoint Committee, Oct. 1, 1912 82
Art. XIII, Anglo-Moorish Treaty, 1856 83
(_b_) CONSULAR PROTECTION 83
DOCUMENTS--
Earl Russell to the Jewish Board of Deputies, Feb. 1, 1864 86
Art. III, Anglo-Moorish Treaty, 1727-28 87
Art. III, Anglo-Moorish Treaty, 1856 87
Art. IV, Anglo-Moorish Treaty, 1856 87
Franco-Moorish Règlement, Aug. 19, 1863 88
(_c_) THE CONFERENCES OF MADRID (1880) AND ALGECIRAS (1906) 88
DOCUMENTS--
Madrid: Protocols of May 20 and June 24, 1880 90
Art. VI, Treaty of Madrid, 1880 91
Edict of the Sultan of Morocco, 1864 92
Madrid: Protocol of June 26, 1880 92
Algeciras: Protocol of April 2, 1906 98
IV. THE PALESTINE QUESTION AND THE NATIONAL RESTORATION OF THE JEWS 100
DOCUMENTS--
Russian Memorandum, Oct. 1840 107
Austrian Memorandum, Oct. 1840 111
Lord Clanricarde to Lord Palmerston, Feb. 23. 1841 113
Mémoire of the King of Prussia, Feb. 24, 1841 114
Baron Bülow to Lord Palmerston, March 6, 1841 116
Lord Beauvale to Lord Palmerston, March 2, 1841 116
Lord Palmerston to Lord Beauvale, March 11, 1841 117
Further Austrian Memorandum, March 31, 1841 117
Col. Churchill to Sir Moses Montefiore, June 14, 1841 119
The same to the same, Aug. 15, 1842 121
Resolution of the Jewish Board of Deputies, Nov. 8, 1843 123
Col. Churchill to the Board of Deputies, Jan. 8, 1843 123
Art. V of Agreement between Great Britain, France and Russia,
Feb. 21, 1917 124
Mr. Balfour to Lord Rothschild, Nov. 2, 1917 124
APPENDIX.
International Anti-Semitism in 1498 126
DOCUMENT--
Sub-Prior of Santa Cruz to Ferdinand and Isabella, July 18, 1498 126
INDEX 127
FOOTNOTES
NOTES ON THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF THE JEWISH QUESTION.
I. INTRODUCTION.
ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY GENERALLY.
The Jewish Question is part of the general question of Religious
Toleration. Together with the questions relating to the toleration of
"Turks and Infidels," it raises the question of Religious Liberty in its
most acute form. It is both local and international. Locally it seeks a
solution through Civil and Political Emancipation on the basis of
Religious Toleration. Internationally it arises when a State or
combination of States which has been gained to the cause of Religious
Toleration intervenes for the protection or emancipation of the
oppressed Jewish subjects of another State. There have been, however, at
least two occasions when the interventions have taken the contrary form
of efforts to promote the persecution or restraint of Jews as such.[1]
As an altruistic form of international action the principle of
intervention has been of slow growth. It required an atmosphere of
toleration on a wide scale, and, before this atmosphere could be
created, Christian States had to learn toleration for themselves by a
hard experience of its necessity. They had, in the first place, to
secure toleration for their own nationals and the converts of their
Churches in heathen countries where the people could not be coerced or
lectured with impunity. In the next place they had to achieve toleration
among themselves.
Toleration among the Christian Churches--the so-called peace of
Christendom--became necessary owing to the struggle between the
Reformation and the Counter-Reformation; but it took the Thirty Years'
War to prove its necessity. The proof is embodied for all time in the
Peace of Westphalia--chiefly in the Treaty of Osnabruck, which was
signed in 1648, at the same time as the famous Treaty of Münster. The
ostensible effect of the Peace of Westphalia was to place Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism on an equal legal footing throughout
Europe. A secondary effect was to give a very marked stimulus to the
cause of Religious Liberty generally. We may recognise its first fruits
in, among other things, the campaign for unrestricted religious
toleration during the Commonwealth in England, and its application to
the Jews.[2]
It was not until 1814 that this principle was extended by Treaty beyond
the pale of Christendom. This was in the Protocol of the four allied
Powers--Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria--by which the union
of Belgium with Holland was recognised. The return of the House of
Orange to the Netherlands after the fall of Napoleon had entailed the
promulgation of a new Constitution, which, in view of the democratic
traditions of the French occupation, was necessarily of a liberal type.
Among its concessions was an article granting the fullest religious
liberty. When the Powers were called upon to sanction the union with
Belgium, they did so on condition that the new Constitution should be
applied to the whole country, and, in view of the religious differences
prevailing, emphasised the article on Religious Liberty. This is the
form in which it appears in the Protocol:--
* * * * *
Art. I.--Cette réunion devra être entière et complète, de façon que les
2 Pays ne forment qu'un seul et même État régi par la Constitution déjà
établie en Hollande, et qui sera modifiée, d'un commun accord, d'après
les nouvelles circonstances.
Art. II.--Il ne sera rien innové aux Articles de cette Constitution qui
assurent à tous les Cultes une protection et une faveur égales, et
garantissent l'admission de tous les Citoyens, quelle que soit leur
croyance réligieuse, aux emplois et offices publics.
* * * * *
Incidentally the legal effect of this stipulation was to emancipate the
Dutch Jews, though, as a matter of fact, the few disabilities under
which they laboured did not immediately disappear. The Protocol was
afterwards ratified by the Congress of Vienna and added to the Final Act
as part of the Tenth Annexe,[3] though in other respects the Congress
did not evince a very generous conception of Religious Liberty.
The conquest of religious liberty for Christians in heathen lands was a
more convincing object lesson than the Peace of Westphalia. It was
difficult for one Christian Church to acknowledge its equality with
another Christian Church and to tolerate heresy, but it was far more
distasteful to have to come to terms with the heathen and to accept
toleration at his hands.
This was not altogether an altruistic form of political action. It was
in some of its aspects part of the elementary duty of every State to
protect its nationals in foreign countries.
The earliest instances of this action we find in China, where, in the
thirteenth century, the Papacy concluded Treaties with the Mongol
Emperors for the protection of Christian Missions.[4] It was not,
however, until the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858 that Great Britain and
France secured religious liberty for Christians in China.
In the Mussulman Levant, toleration for foreign Christians was secured
by the so-called Capitulations. These were, in effect, treaties,
although they were in the form of grants by the Sultans. They gave large
exterritorial jurisdiction to the Ambassadors and Consuls of the States
on whom they were conferred. The earliest grant of this kind occurs in
the ninth century, when the Emperor Charlemagne obtained guarantees for
his subjects visiting the Levant from the famous Khalif Haroun
al-Rashid.[5] Later on, all the leading Christian States negotiated
Capitulations with the Sultans. The existing British Capitulations are
dated 1675, but an earlier grant was made in 1583.
One of the main objects of the Capitulations, besides personal security
and trading rights, was to assure religious liberty for the nationals
of the grantees. This benefited Jews at an early date, as the
Capitulations and similar treaties generally provided for certain
immunities for the native interpreters, servants and other employees of
the privileged foreigners. As Jews were frequently so employed, they
thus acquired protection against Moslem fanaticism.
In this way arose the system of Consular Protection which was long a
boon to Jews in the Ottoman Empire and in the Barbary States.[6]
In spite of these experiences the idea of diplomatic intervention for
the promotion of religious toleration in foreign States, especially on
behalf of non-Christians, has only prevailed within narrow limits. It
has been largely circumvented by the fact that such interventions must,
even with the best will in the world, be more or less conditioned by the
_raison d'état_. Unless they are likely to promote policy, or at any
rate to coincide with policy, the usual course when they are invoked is
to take refuge in the so-called principle of non-intervention.
It was, indeed, not until the seventeenth century that the question was
seriously discussed at all by the jurists, although Cromwell had already
laid down the splendid principle, in the case of the persecution of the
Vaudois, that "to be indifferent to such things is a great sin, and a
deeper sin still is it to be blind to them from policy or ambition." The
first impulses of the international lawyers were much in the Cromwellian
spirit. Bacon, Grotius, and Puffendorff all strongly maintained the
legality not only of diplomatic but also of armed intervention to put
down tyranny or misgovernment in a neighbouring State, and a century
later they were followed by Vattel. Sweden acted upon the principle in
her intervention on behalf of the Protestants of Poland in 1707, and, in
1792, it was given its widest scope, and was formally adopted, by the
French Revolution in the famous decree of the Convention which promised
"fraternity and succour to all peoples who wish to recover their
liberty."
The doctrine, however, lingered only anæmically through the early
decades of the nineteenth century. In face of the growing delicacy of
the international system, it was gradually abandoned for the
conservative principle of non-intervention, based on the independence
and equality of all States.[7] But even this principle has not always
been observed in regard to small States, although, curiously enough,
Russia invoked it against Great Britain for the protection of King
"Bomba" of Sicily, in the case of the Neapolitan prison horrors.[8]
Abstention from intervention in certain glaring cases of inhumanity by
foreign Governments--such as the persecution of the Russian Jews--has
been defended on the ground of absence of treaty rights, but, as a
matter of fact, this argument, too, has not been consistently adhered
to.[9] In all cases, whether of great or small States, treaty rights or
no treaty rights, the real test has almost always been the frigid
_raison d'état_. The United States has been less affected by this
restriction than the European Powers, and on many occasions has shown a
really noble example of the purest altruism in international
politics.[10]
II. INTERVENTIONS ON GROUNDS OF HUMANITY.
Long before the Peace of Westphalia an attempt was made by the famous
Jewess, Donna Gracia Nasi, to obtain protection for her persecuted
co-religionists by diplomatic action, and it proved successful. The
circumstances will be narrated presently.[11] It stood, however, alone
for two hundred years. Even after the Peace eminent Jews, who sought in
a like way to enlist the sympathy and help of European governments,
failed. Menasseh ben Israel made representations in this sense on behalf
of the oppressed Jews of Poland, Prussia, Spain, and Portugal to both
Queen Christina of Sweden and Oliver Cromwell, but although he met with
much and genuine sympathy he found the _raison d'état_--and probably
also a lingering reluctance to regard Jews as quite within the pale of
humanity--too strong for him.[12] A decade later a similar attempt was
made by Fernando Mendes da Costa, one of the founders of the
Anglo-Jewish Community, and a member of a very distinguished Portuguese
Marrano family. From a letter of his which is still extant,[13] it seems
that he was deeply concerned in helping the persecuted Marranos in Spain
and Portugal, and he had a scheme for organising an emigration of his
hapless brethren on a large scale to Italy and England. He received much
help from Don Francisco Manuel de Mello, the distinguished Portuguese
soldier, author and diplomatist, and through him interested Queen
Katharine of Braganza and Charles II in the scheme. It appears, too,
that, with the support of these eminent personages, the scheme was
brought to the notice of the Pope, but of its subsequent fate we know
nothing.
(_a_) PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN BOHEMIA (1744-45).
The earliest actual intervention of a Great Power on behalf of the Jews
on humanitarian grounds took place in 1744-45, when Great Britain and
Holland made strong and successful representations to the Government of
the Empress Maria Theresa for the protection of the Jews of Bohemia and
Moravia. The intervening Powers were allies of the Empress in the War of
the Austrian Succession which was then raging. During the war some
prejudice had been caused to the Austrian Jews through the imprudence of
some of their co-religionists in Lorraine, who had obtained "safe
conducts" from the French Military Authorities to enable them to cross
the frontier into France. Reprisals against the Jews in Bohemia and
Moravia were taken by the Empress in the shape of a decree of wholesale
banishment. The decree was enforced with the utmost severity, and over
20,000 Jews were compelled to leave Prague in the depth of winter, with
little or no prospect of finding shelter elsewhere. Appeals for help
were addressed to foreign communities, and among the recipients of them
was Aaron Franks, then presiding Warden of the Great Synagogue in
London. Together with his wealthy and influential relative, Moses Hart,
he at once petitioned King George, who consented to receive him in
personal audience. His Majesty manifested every sympathy with the
persecuted Jews, and the result was that the British Ambassador in
Vienna[14] was instructed to make representations, in concert with the
Dutch Ambassador, to the Austrian Government. The representations were
received in excellent spirit, and, in deference to them, the Empress
consented to revoke the decree and permit the Jews to return to their
homes.[15]
DOCUMENTS.
PETITION TO KING GEORGE II (_B. M. Add. MSS._ 23,819, _f._ 63).
To his Most Sacred Majesty
* * * * *
The Petition of Moses Hart and Aaron Franks of the City of London
Merchants In behalf of their Brethren the Distressed Jews of the Kingdom
of Bohemia.
Humbly Sheweth
That your Majesty's Petitioners have receiv'd a Copy of an Edict
published and Issued by Her Majesty the Queen of Hungary from their said
Brethren the Jews of the said Kingdom of Bohemia by which (together with
several letters that have been transmitted to them Requesting them to
Commiserate their distress'd condition and Interceed with his Brittanick
Majesty on their behalf) it appears that their said Brethren are to be
utterly Expelled the said Kingdom and that by the last day of January
next Ensuing No Jew is to be found in any of the Towns belonging to
Prague. That after the Expiration of six Months to be accounted from the
said last day of January No Jew is to be suffered or found in the
Hereditary Dominion of her said Majesty, and in case any should be found
they are to suffer Military Chastisement.
Your Petitioners most humbly beg leave to observe that in the said Edict
there is no reason or cause assign'd for the Expulsion of their said
Brethren who therefore Suspect that it is fomented by their inveterate
enemies for motives which they cannot account for as they have always
acted as dutiful, Faithful and Loyal Subjects to their most Gracious
Sovereign the said Queen of Hungary even during the many Revolutions
that have happened in Prague within these few Years and notwithstanding
the great Devastation and Excesses which Naturally occur'd therefrom
they have continued and still do continue firm and unshaken in their
Principles of Affection & Fidelity to her said Majesty and her most
Illustrious House.
Your Petitioners far from Vindicating any Particular Persons in the
Crimes they may have committed during the last Revolution (if any such
there are) desire Adequate Punishments to be inflicted on them; but
humbly hope that the Innocent will not be permitted to suffer for Crimes
which they have in no wise been Accessary to and humbly Remonstrate that
the Expulsion of fifty thousand Familys and upwards from their Native
Country at so critical a Juncture who (as Your Petitioners are informed
and believe) always Contributed and Concurr'd in strengthening her
Majesty's hands against her Enemies must in its consequences prove
Detrimental and Prejudicial to the true Interest of the common Cause and
more immediately so to her Hungarian Majesty.
In tender Consideration whereof Your Petitioners (in behalf of the
aforesaid distress'd people) most humbly Supplicate your Majesty in your
great & known Equity & Compassion to Interpose Your Majesty's Good
Offices upon this Occasion with the Queen of Hungary in order to prevail
upon her said Majesty to revoke the said Edict or at least to Suspend
the time of the Expulsion of their said Brethren & to establish a
Commission of Enquiry in order to discriminate the Innocent from the
Guilty and Punish those only who have deserv'd her said Majesty's
Displeasure.
And Your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray &c.
MOSES HART.
AARON FRANKS.
(Endorsed:)
MOSES HART & AARON FRANKS Petition in behalf of the Bohemian Jews &c. in
Ld. Harrington's of the 28 Decr./8 Jany. 1745. sent to Sir Thos.
Robinson 27 [_sic_] Decr. 1744.
* * * * *
APPEAL OF THE BOHEMIAN JEWS (_Ibid. f. 64_).
PRAGUE, _1st Decr. 1744. N.S._
It is Certainly very Notorious all the Callamities Which have
overwhelm'd us to such a Degree that we had hardly power to Withstand
them. but None were in Competition with this Last. by a Decree from her
Majesty our Sovereign Queen of Hungaria. To Banish all the Jews out of
the Kingdom of Bohemia. Within the Term of 5 Weeks. Which is the Latter
End of January for those in Prague. & those in Bohemia are allow'd 6
Months. as appears by the original Decree of Her Majesty--Therefore What
shall we poor Souls do, in the first place, the Children Women, infirm &
Aged. Which are not in a Condition to Walk. Especially at this present
Juncture Being Cold & frosty Weather. Likewise In the Condition we are
at Present in for the Stripd many Hundreds quite to their shirts. Not
only that. but the World Is Closed to us. by reason all Roads are filled
with Troops. Which way Soever we Turn we Can find no Relief. Neither do
we know the reason for the Decree. Excepting some false persons. Who
Contrive falsities on purpose To breed ill will against us by our Lords
Who Protected us. Which they have Done.
Therefore Brethren. We Humbly Beg you wou'd Commiserate our Condition
Considering the Eminent Danger Many Thousands Souls are in by this
Decree. & Not Delay Interceeding for Recommendations from all Courts
that we may have time allowed us. for a Commission of Inquiry.
SIMON SPIRA &c.
MOSES IZAAC.
SIMON COHEN.
MENAHEM MENDAL.
ABRAHAM.
SAMUEL SPIRA.
MEYER MOSES, &c.
(Endorsed:)
Representation from the Jews at Prague
Sent to Sir Thos. Robinson 28 Decr./Jany 8. 1744-5.
* * * * *
THE DECREE OF THE EMPRESS (_Ibid. fol. 66_).
After Mature Deliberation We have been Induced by many weighty Reasons
and Considerations to resolve and Determine that no JEW shall hereafter
be Suffered or permitted to Dwell in our Hereditary Kingdom of Bohemia,
which our Resolution, We Will Shall be put in Execution in Manner
following.
1st. That on the last Day of the Month of January 1745 next Ensuing No
Jew shall be found in any of our Towns belonging to Prague, and in Case
any shall, Military Chastisement shall be inflicted on them.
2nd. They are hereby permitted to Stay and remain in the Kingdom six
Months to be Accounted from the Latter end of December Instant and to
Determine at the latter end of the Month of June 1745 to Settle their
Affairs and in order to Dispose of their Effects Estate and Credit which
they shall not be able to Carry with them by the last Day of January.
That after their retreat from Prague (towards the Country) on the last
day of January as is aforementioned, No Jew shall be permitted to
Reenter the said City by Day (without having a Certificate from the
Commissary appointed to Execute the Contents hereof) and absolutely None
shall be Suffered to Stay a Single Night; And the Said Commissary is
hereby Directed to take the Necessary Precautions for Executing this Our
Will and Pleasure, and due Care that None of his Certificates be
Improperly made use of by Enabling them to Enter the City too frequently
excepting such as he shall grant thro' favour to the Principal Merchants
who will stand in Greater Need than others of entring the City often.
3rd. After the Determination of the said Six Months all the Jews shall
quitt all our Hereditary Kingdom of Bohemia and Shall Never more be
found on the Borders thereof, and in Case any Shall, Military
Chastisement shall be inflicted on them as aforesaid.
4th. Our Meaning and Intention is not only that the Jews of the City of
Prague and all others who live in any Part of our Hereditary Kingdom of
Bohemia shall quitt the Same within the Thirtieth day of June 1745 but
also that No Jew shall on the said Day be found in the said Kingdom or
Settle in any of our Hereditary Countrys.
5th. And we do hereby Ordain and Appoint our Trusty and Well-beloved
Privy Councellor and Vice President of the Royal Bohemian Kingdom The
Right Honourable Philip Knakowsky Count Collowrath punctually to
perform the Contents hereof hereby requiring all and Every Person whom
these Presents or the Execution thereof may Concern to aid and Assist
the said Philip Count Collowrath and Do hereby further Positively Order
that the Contents hereof be Published in the Towns belonging to Prague
and our whole Country to the End that no Intelligence be given thereof
to those who Shall have any Dealings and Transactions with Jews.
Witness Ourself
Given at Vienna the 18th day of December 1744.
* * * * *
INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR IN VIENNA (_Ibid. fols. 61-61
d._).
Separate.
WHITEHALL, _28th Decr. 1744._
SIR,--The principal Merchants of the Jewish Nation established here,
having made an humble Application to His Majesty, that he would be
pleased to intercede with the Queen of Hungary for a Reversal of the
Sentence passed upon Their Brethren in Bohemia (amounting, as They
affirm, to no less than Sixty Thousand Families), by Her Majesty's late
Edict, whereby They are ordered to depart that Kingdom in Six Months
time, and His Majesty finding that the States General have already
interposed Their Good Offices in Their Behalf; It is the King's
Pleasure, that you should join with Mor. Burmannia in endeavouring to
dissuade the Court of Vienna from putting the said Sentence in
Execution, hinting to Them in the tenderest and most friendly Manner,
the Prejudice that the World might conceive against the Queen's
Proceedings in that Affair, if such Numbers of innocent People were made
to suffer for the Fault of some few Traytors, and, at the same time,
shewing Them, the great Loss that would accrue to Her Majesty's Revenue,
and to the Wealth and Strength of her Kingdom of Bohemia, by depriving
it at once of so vast Numbers of it's Inhabitants: You will find
inclosed the Petition presented to His Majesty by the Jews here, as
above-mentioned, together with the Representation sent hither to Them
from Those in Bohemia, and I am to add to what is above, that, as His
Majesty does extremely commiserate the terrible circumstances of
Distress to which so many poor and innocent Families must be reduced, if
this Edict takes place, He is most earnestly desirous of procuring the
Repeal of it by His Royal Intercession, in such Manner that the Guilty
only may be brought to Punishment; for obtaining which, you are to exert
yourself with all possible Zeal and Diligence.
I am, Sir,
Your most obedient humble Servant,
HARRINGTON.
SIR THOMAS ROBINSON.
* * * * *
(_b_) CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815).
The next appearance of the Jewish Question in the field of international
politics was at the Congress of Vienna, sixty years later. The Congress
was not favourable to liberal reforms of any kind, either national or
religious. Its aim was to vindicate the vested interests of Legitimism
against the doctrines of the French Revolution. In its final shape the
policy of the Congress was embodied in the Holy Alliance. British
foreign policy, then under the guidance of Castlereagh, was distinctly
favourable to this policy. Nevertheless, there were curious
cross-currents at the Congress, and what liberalism there was came,
strangely enough, in large part from the Russian Tsar, Alexander I. He
had moments of liberalism so pronounced that Metternich called him "the
crowned _sans-culotte_."
It is curious to note that the Jewish Board of Deputies in England did
not move during the Congress. The reason is perhaps not difficult to
understand. They were always timid in regard to high politics, and, in
1783, when it was proposed to address the King on the American Peace,
they actually passed a resolution declaring that it was their duty to
avoid such "political concerns."[16] In the case of the Congress of
Vienna, however, they may well have felt that they could not touch the
question of religious liberty, and especially of Jewish emancipation,
without risking an imputation of Jacobinism. Moreover, the British
Cabinet then in power was a Coalition Cabinet of pro-Catholics and
anti-Catholics, and they could not well listen to any proposals that
they should champion Jewish emancipation in Vienna, while in Downing
Street the question of Roman Catholic emancipation could not even be
discussed.
Fortunately, these considerations did not apply to the German Jews.
Frankfurt and the Hansa towns sent deputations to Vienna to plead the
cause of Jewish emancipation. The Frankfurt deputation was headed by
Jacob Baruch, father of Ludwig Boerne. They managed to secure the
support of both Hardenberg and Metternich, and when it was found that
the Tsar was not averse from some concession to the Jews, they agreed to
propose the insertion of a clause--or rather half a clause--in the
Final Act of the Conference providing for the gradual extension of civil
rights to the Jews of Germany.
Unfortunately for a long time this concession remained a dead letter,
owing not only to the ill-will of the German Governments themselves, but
to an apparently harmless verbal amendment which was introduced into the
clause by the Redaction Committee at the last moment. In the final
_alinea_ it was stipulated that "the rights already conferred on the
Jews in the several Federated States shall be maintained." The object of
this was to secure to the Jews of Germany the liberties granted to them
by Napoleon during the French occupation. This design was frustrated by
the Redaction Committee, at whose instance the word "_by_" was
substituted for "_in_," the result being that the rights secured to the
Jews were not those of the French occupation, but only those which had
been grudgingly, and in very small measure, granted to them by the
Federated States themselves in the dark days before the Napoleonic
irruption.
Thus the provision of the Treaty of Vienna relating to the Jews of
Germany remained a dead letter, partly because of the amendment
introduced into it at the last moment, and partly because the
authorities had no intention of carrying it out. The Jews complained,
and both Prussia and Austria, under the influence of Hardenberg and
Metternich, protested.[17] Nathan Rothschild in London brought the case
of the recalcitrant Frankfurt authorities to the notice of the Duke of
Wellington, who persuaded Castlereagh in 1816 to make representations
with a view to their protection.[18] All these efforts, however, proved
futile, and Nathan Rothschild could only avenge himself by the public
announcement that his firm would refuse to accept bills drawn in any
German city where the Jews were denied their treaty rights.[19]
DOCUMENTS.
* * * * *
_The following is a list of the documents relating to the Jewish
Question at the Vienna Congress given in Klüber: "Akten des Wiener
Kongresses."_
* * * * *
1. Unterthänige Vorstellung und Bittschrift der Israelitischen Gemeinde
zu Frankfurt-am-Main an den hohen Kongress zu Wien mit Beilage übergeben
daselbst am 10ten Oktober 1814.
2. Schreiben des Deputierten der Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Frankfurt/M
an den Königlichen-Preussischen ersten Herrn Bevollmächtigten Fürsten
von Hardenberg wegen Erhaltung der von dem Grossherzog von Frankfurt
jener Gemeinde bewilligten Rechtzustandes. Datiert Wien, 12ten Mai,
1815.
3. Antwort seiner Durchlaucht des Fürsten von Hardenberg auf
vorstehendes Schreiben. Datiert Wien, 18ten Mai, 1815.
4. Erlass des Kaiserlich-Oesterreichischen ersten Bevollmächtigten und
Kongress-Präsidenten Herrn Fürsten von Metternich an die Deputierten der
Israelitischen Gemeinde der Stadt Frankfurt-am-Main als Antwort auf die
von diesen an den Kongress eingereichte Bittschrift. Datiert Wien, 9ten
Juni, 1815.
5. Anmerkung des Herausgebers (Klübers) zu vorstehenden Erlass an die
Deputierten der Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Frankfurt-am-Main.
6. Note des Kaiserlich-Oesterreichischen Herrn Bevollmächtigten und
Kongress Präsidenten Fürsten von Metternich, wodurch derselbe dem
Bevollmächtigten der freien Stadt Frankfurt Herrn Syndicus Danz die von
dem allerhöchsten verbündeten Mächten, neuerdings erfolgte Bestätigung
der Selbständigkeit und Freiheit der Stadt Frankfurt anzeigt. Datiert
Wien, 9ten Juni, 1815 mit einer Beilage.
7. Accessions Urkunde der freien Stadt Frankfurt.
* * * * *
(See also documents relating to the abolition of the Feudal land-tenure
System on the left bank of the Rhine, effected during the domination of
the French revolutionary Government, vol. vi., pp. 396-426.)
* * * * *
8. Erlass des Kaiserlich-Oesterreichischen ersten Bevollmächtigten und
Kongress Präsidenten Fürsten von Metternich an den Bevollmächtigten
Israelitischen Gemeinden Deutschland Doktor und Advokaten Carl August
Buchholz aus Lübeck betreffend die Verbesserung des Rechtzustandes der
Juden, vol. 9, p. 334.
* * * * *
The Article of the Final Act relating to the Jews is Article XVI of
Annexe IX, "Acte sur la Constitution Fédérative de l'Allemagne." It runs
as follows:--
* * * * *
XVI.--La différence des Confessions Chrétiennes dans les Pays et
Territoires de la Confédération Allemande, n'en entraînera aucune dans
la jouissance des droits civils et politiques.
La Diète prendra en considération les moyens d'opérer de la manière la
plus uniforme, l'amélioration de l'état civil de ceux qui professent la
Religion Juive en Allemagne, et s'occupera particulièrement des mesures,
par lesquelles on pourra leur assurer et leur garantir dans les États de
la Confédération, la jouissance des Droits Civils, à condition qu'ils se
soumettent à toutes les obligations des autres Citoyens. En attendant
les Droits accordés déjà aux Membres de cette Religion par tel ou tel
État en particulier, leur sont conservés.
(British and Foreign State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 132-3.)
* * * * *
(_c_) THE CONGRESS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (1818).
At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the question was once more brought
before the Great Powers. This time the initiative was taken by a
well-known English conversionist, the Rev. Lewis Way, of Stanstead,
Sussex. There was, however, no trace of conversionism in his efforts on
this occasion, and there can be no question that the Jewish Community
owe him a great debt of gratitude. He proceeded to Aix some weeks before
the Congress met, and presented to the Tsar Alexander a short scheme of
Jewish emancipation. The Tsar encouraged him to amplify it, and this he
did in two elaborate memoirs, one describing the situation of the Jews,
and the other embodying a scheme under which they might be invested with
civil rights. To this he added a short memorandum drawn up at his
request by Dohm, the veteran champion of the Jews, who came to Aix for
that special purpose. By command of the Tsar, these documents were
presented to the Congress at its sitting on November 21, 1818, and were
made the subject of a special Protocol, in which sympathy was expressed
for "the praiseworthy object of his proposals." The plenipotentiaries
further declared that the solution of the Jewish Question was a matter
which should "equally occupy the statesman and the friend of
humanity."[20] It is interesting to note that in his scheme Way
declares himself to be a believer in Jewish Nationalism, and it is for
this reason that he does not ask for more than civil rights for the
Jews, as he regards their exile in Europe as an intermediate stage of
their history. In this he was probably influenced by the prevalent
anti-French atmosphere, inasmuch as the French Jews, in their compact
with Napoleon, made by the Sanhedrin in 1806, had solemnly repudiated
Jewish Nationalism, and had thus rendered themselves eligible for
political, as well as civil, rights.[21]
DOCUMENT.
For the texts of the documents referred to above see "Mémoires sur
l'état des Israélites, dédiés et présentés à leur Majestés Impériales et
Royales, Réunies au Congrès d'Aix-la-Chapelle" [by the Rev. Lewis Way,
A.M.], Paris, 1819.
The Protocol of the Congress at which these "Mémoires" were considered
runs as follows:--
* * * * *
PROTOCOLE.
_Séance du 21 Novembre, 1818._ _Entre les cinq Cabinets._
Messieurs les SS. de Russie ont communiqué l'imprimé ci-joint, relatif à
une réforme dans la législation civile et politique en ce qui concerne
la nation juive. La conférence, sans entrer absolument dans toutes les
vues de l'auteur de cette pièce, a rendu justice à la tendance générale
et au but louable de ses propositions. MM. les SS. d'Autriche et de
Prusse se sont déclarés prêts à donner, sur l'état de la question dans
les deux monarchies, tous les éclaircissements qui pourraient servir à
la solution d'un problème qui doit également occuper l'homme d'état et
l'ami de l'humanité.
Signé: METTERNICH.
RICHELIEU.
CASTLEREAGH.
WELLINGTON.
HARDENBERG.
BERNSTORFF.
NESSELRODE.
CAPODISTRIAS.
* * * * *
(_d_) THE CONFERENCE OF LONDON (1830).
The growing symptoms of an impending break-up of the Ottoman Empire
visibly extended the practical applications of the doctrine of religious
liberty in the field of international politics. In emancipating the
Christian feudatories of the Porte, account had to be taken of the large
Moslem and Jewish minorities inhabiting those States. It was impossible
to emancipate the Christians and at the same time to place
non-Christians under disabilities, especially where they had governments
of their own faith to whom they might appeal and who might resort to
reprisals. Hence, the parity of all religions in the Levant had to be
recognised.
The point first arose in the settlement of the Greek question in 1830.
In this question it was not only the Moslems who had to be considered.
France renounced in favour of the new Kingdom her Protectorate over the
Catholics, which she derived from her capitulations with Turkey. Hence,
besides the Moslems, guarantees had to be exacted for the religious
liberty of Catholics in Greece. These guarantees were the subject of the
third Protocol of the Conference of London, February 3, 1830. At the
same time it was stipulated that there should be perfect equality for
the subjects of the new State, whatever might be their religion. Neither
Moslems nor Jews were expressly mentioned, but it is in virtue of this
Protocol that the Jews of Greece enjoy their present status as Greek
Nationals. The Jews of Greece were thus the first Jews of the Levant to
be fully emancipated.
DOCUMENT.
* * * * *
PROTOCOL _No. 3 of the Conference held at the Foreign Office, London, on
3 February, 1830_.
Present: The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France and Russia.
The Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg having been called, by the united
suffrages of the three Courts of the Alliance, to the Sovreignty of
Greece, the French Plenipotentiary requested the attention of the
Conference to the particular situation in which his Government is
placed, relative to a portion of the Greek population.
He represented that for many ages France has been entitled to exercise,
in favour of the Catholics subjected to the Sultan, an especial
protection, which His Most Christian Majesty deems it to be his duty to
deposit at the present moment in the hands of the future Sovereign of
Greece, so far as the provinces which are to form the new State are
concerned; but in divesting himself of this prerogative, His Most
Christian Majesty owes it to himself, and he owes it to a people who
have lived so long under the protection of his ancestors, to require
that the Catholics of the continent and of the islands shall find in the
organization which is about to be given to Greece, guarantees which may
be substituted for the influence which France has hitherto exercised in
their favour.
The Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and Russia appreciated the
justice of this demand; and it was decided that the Catholic religion
should enjoy in the new State the free and public exercise of its
worship, that its property should be guaranteed to it, that its bishops
should be maintained in the integrity of the functions, rights and
privileges, which they have enjoyed under the protection of the Kings of
France, and that, lastly, agreeably to the same principle, the
properties belonging to the antient French Missions, or French
Establishments, shall be recognized and respected.
The Plenipotentiaries of the three Allied Courts being desirous moreover
of giving to Greece a new proof of the benevolent anxiety of their
Sovereigns respecting it, and of preserving that country from the
calamities which the rivalry of the religions therein professed might
excite, agreed that all the subjects of the new State, whatever may be
their religion, shall be admissable to all public employments,
functions, and honours, and be treated on the footing of a perfect
equality, without regard to difference of creed in all their relations,
religious, civil or political.
(Signed) ABERDEEN
MONTMOREN Y-LAVAL.
LIEVEN.
(Holland: "The European Concert in the Eastern Question," pp. 32, 33.)
* * * * *
(_e_) THE CONGRESS OF PARIS (1856-1858).
The Jewish Question was more expressly discussed twenty-six years later,
at the Congress of Paris, and the subsidiary conferences which had to
settle the great political problems arising out of the Crimean War.
Meanwhile, under the influence of Sir Moses Montefiore, and more
especially of his jealousy of M. Crémieux, the Jewish Board of Deputies
had plucked up a measure of courage, and had begun to take a more active
interest in the larger political questions which involved the future of
their foreign co-religionists. In the international discussions of the
question of religious liberty which preceded the outbreak of war, the
Powers only concerned themselves with the Christian communities. The
French Jews at once took alarm, and the Central Consistory addressed the
Emperor Napoleon III and applied to the Board of Deputies in London to
make similar representations to the British Government. Both bodies had,
however, been anticipated by the personal activity of the Rothschilds in
Paris and London. Baron James, through his gifted friend and co-worker,
Albert Cohn, had already entered into direct negotiations with the
Turkish Government, and Baron Lionel and Sir Anthony de Rothschild had
interviewed Lord Clarendon, who, at their instance, had given
instructions to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe to take special note of the
Jewish Question. Thus, when the letter of the French Consistory was read
at the Meeting of the Board of Deputies on April 24, 1854, that body
found that it had little to do. Nevertheless, it addressed a formal
letter to Lord Clarendon on May 10, and, five days later, received an
assurance from him that it might rely on a favourable consideration of
the situation of the Jews of Turkey at the hands of His Majesty's
Government.[22]
Nevertheless, the Treaty of Paris of 1856, which more or less settled
all the questions arising out of the war, does not mention the Jews in
any of its articles. This is not to say that it did not fulfil Lord
Clarendon's pledges. As a matter of fact, it deals with both the
situation of the Jews in Turkey and with that of the Jews in the
liberated Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Thus, Article IX,
which takes note of the Turkish _Hatti-Humayoun_ of February 18, 1856,
is intended to refer to the Jews as well as to all other non-Mussulmans.
The history of this aspect of the Article is a little curious. Shortly
after the outbreak of the war in 1854, Turkey prepared a draft treaty of
peace containing an article providing for the religious liberty of
Christian communities. Through the inter-position of Baron James de
Rothschild of Paris, this article was reconsidered, and another was
inserted granting equal rights to all Ottoman subjects, without
distinction of creed. This was the germ of the famous _Hatti-Humayoun_.
That the latter was intended to deal equally with Jews and Christians is
shown by its Article II, in which the same privileges are expressly
granted to the Turkish Grand Rabbis as to the ecclesiastical heads of
the Christian confessions.[23]