RECENT JEWISH IMMIGRATION. 33 7 



century furnishes the first notable example. Later in the fourteenth 

 century this movement was further stimulated by the historical privi- 

 leges secured for the Jews through the influence of Esther of Opoeno, 

 the Jewess favorite of Kasimir the Great. It is here also that the 

 conception of the civil status of the Jew under Medieval Roman law 

 received its fullest development, determining in a great measure the 

 part which the Jew has played in the economic history of eastern 

 Europe and still surviving as an important factor in the Jewish 

 problem there to-day. 



In the Germanic Roman Empire of the middle ages civil rights 

 in a christian state were only for the orthodox Christian. An infidel 

 or a heretic was an anomaly that was not supposed to exist. But, 

 owing to their connection with the Roman empire and the relation 

 of their faith to Christianity, the Jews and the Jewish worship received 

 special recognition and were tolerated within certain prescribed limits. 

 In theory the Jews were regarded as being under the personal pro- 

 tection of the king, who accorded them their privileges by virtue of 

 his being the legitimate successor and representative of the Emperor 

 Titus. 



In accordance with this status the Jews spread over the Polish 

 kingdom as an alien nation, having a complete organization, a central 

 authority, a system of jurisprudence and a language ^f their own, 

 owing but a qualified allegiance to Poland and receiving their privileges 

 and the laws determining their relations with the Polish people through 

 bargains with the Polish king. 



Moreover, as individuals they brought into eastern Europe, among 

 a people not yet emerged from barbarism, intellects sharpened by 

 centuries of mental training, habits and customs which had stood the 

 test of two thousand years of civilization, and arts for which their 

 race has been famous since the days of Jacob. Tales of their perse- 

 cution, mingled with the clamoring and complaints of the Poles, 

 are early in evidence. It is needless to undertake a recital of the 

 results that have followed, for they have been no different from what 

 might be imagined and, though superficially the story is one of racial 

 prejudice and religious persecution, the underlying economic problem 

 is always discernible. 



In the meantime the Jews have shared the political vicissitudes 

 of the Polish and Lithuanian kingdom, their ancient civil status has 

 been modified, their former privileges abridged or readjusted and 

 repeated attempts have been made to limit their opportunities for 

 coming into competition with the thriftless slow-witted Slav; yet 

 at the end of the nineteenth century we find the Russian government 

 still claiming that the Jews prosper, like our trusts, to the detriment 



VOL. LXII. 22. 



