62 



the Heview of Reviews. 



July I, 1305. 



DESIRABLE ALIENS. 



British Men of Letters ox the Jews. 



Mr. Israel Zangwill publishes in the April Fort- 

 nighlly Rroicw a very interesting sheaf of letters 

 from well-known men of letters, English for the most 

 part, on the subject of the proposed half-way house 

 to Zionism. Mr. Zangwill submitted his scheme to 

 them in the following sentences : — 



The scheme in a nutshell is to build up an autonomous 

 Jewish State out of the refugees from Ru&sian persecution — 

 a State which w:ll likewise attract a numter of prosperous 

 and idealistic Jews. In our quest for a territory we wish, 

 if possible, to take advantage of England's offer of a virgin 

 soil under British sizerainty. 



What do you think of that ? he asked his literary 

 friends, and, with one or two exceptions, they tell 

 him that they like the notion right well. Mr. J. M. 

 Barrie leads off, by virtue of his alphabetical prece- 

 dence, with a declaration that the scheme seems to 

 him the finest and the biggest that has been con- 

 ceived for the help of mankind for many a day. 

 Mr. Bryce approves of it as a pis aller if Zionism 

 be impracticable. Mr. Hall Caine sympathises most 

 sincerely. 



IIE. JOHN DAVIDSONS VIEWS. 



Mr. John Davidson takes alarm at Mr. Zangwill's 

 hope that religious Jews would find in a Jewish 

 colony a far better environment for their religion 

 than elsewhere. He says: — 



If that were certain I would be against a Jewish colony. 

 I wish the Bib e to be laii upon the shelf tor a hundred 

 years at least, and to be taken down again only when all 

 men can regard it as what it is. tl e remarkable literature 

 of a remarkable people. 



He comforts himself, however, by the belief 



that the Hebiew mind and imagination would soon tran- 

 scend an effete mythology. 



He is against Zionism, although he thinks that 



the onlv thing to do with Christ was to kill Him. I would, 

 myself, hrve shontei for Barabbas. Nevertheless, the Jew 

 cannot return to Calvary and the Mount of Olives. The 

 thing is ekmental, and is felt the moment it is stated. 



But he is in favour of an autonomist Jesvish colony 

 elsewhere, and he would rejoice to see an adventure 

 of such utmost hardihood. 



ME. FREDERIC HAREIONS ANATHEMA. 



Mr. Frederic Harrison's spirit is stirred within 

 him by a proposal which he regards with abhor- 

 rence. He says : — 



on general grounds of history and sociology I regard the 

 perpetuation and accentu.ation of any rate movement — as 

 mischievous, anti-social, and Irrational. I include Anglo- 

 Saxon race movements in all forms. As for making these 

 obsolete creeds the basis of a new nationality, I think un- 

 reason and confusion can go no farther. I look on any 

 attempt to f"rm in the twentieth century a Jewish naUonality 

 of the smallest kind, on any spot on earth, as retrograde, 

 anti-sccinl, as well as utterly imoracticable. The anti- 

 s^cial attempt to form a nation within a nation leads to 

 the reaction of infamous retaliation. 



MR. THOMAS HARDY'S BLESSING. 



Mr. Thomas Hardy rejoices in the prospect of the 



formation of a Jewish Colony which in loo vears 

 might make a bid for Palestine: — 



Nobody cutside Jewry can take much deeper interest than 

 I do in a people of such extraordinary history and charac- 

 ter — who brouglit forth, moreover, a young reformer who, 

 though only in the humblest walk of life, bec^ame the most 

 fa.mous personage the world ha.« ever known. 



VARIOUS VIEWS AND SCGGESTIONS. 



Sir A. Conan Doyle warns Mr. Zangwill that — 



But after you had settled your c<»lony in Africa, I expect 

 within five years every one of your colonists would find 

 himself in Johannesburg, 



Mr, Coulson Kernahan covets the Jewish colonists 

 for Ireland, He says: — 



I wish my own forlorn sonntry. Ireland, could coant such 

 sous as you. I wish, too, that it were to Ireland you Jews 

 could come to found your colony. 



Mr. M. Hewlett says : — 



My reading of history constrains me to point out that 

 never since tliis world was first put in order has a commu- 

 nity been permanently established by means of pamphlets 

 or the opinion of philosophers, to say nothing of literary 

 men. 



To this Mr. Zangwill really retorts by referring to 

 New Zealand and South Australia. Mr. Max Pem- 

 berton is most enthusiastic: — 



This City of Refuge for which you are working must 

 remain one of tlie supreme ideas of our timesr If it 

 emerges from the Nebulje and stands to bear witness in 

 brick and mortar, it will be by the faithful devotion and 

 the final perseverance which you have brought to its 

 building, 



Mr, Jerome K, Jerome says: — 



Let the Jews regard this proposed settlement as a training 

 ground where the nucleus of the nation may be re-created. 



M. VAMBERY'S WARNING, 



M. Arminius Vambery reminds Mr. Zangwill that 



the Sultan is against Zionism. Palestine is already 



occupied, and, even if it were not, " if the Christians 



should show indifference to Jewish rule over the 



grave of Christ, the Mohammedans certainly would 



not do so," He is, however, stronglv in favour of a 



Jewish Colony in the British Empire: — 



And _ if so many semi-barbarous and savage people are 

 marching towards a bet.er future, led by the sheltering 

 hand of Gre.it Brita-n. I do not see why the enterprising, 

 energetic, and persevering Jews should not find their way 

 to salvation. There ma.y be nations of greater learning 

 and of higher wisdom than the English, but in matters of 

 liberty and toleration none is equal to them. 



Besides these, Mr, Zangwill has letters of sym- 

 pathy from Mr. H, G. Wells, Mrs. Huraphn- Ward, 

 Mr. Gilbert Murray, Mr. Anthonv Hope Hawkins, 

 Mr. W. S. Gilbert, Mr. Richard Whiteing, Mr. 

 Andrew Lang, and Sir Gilbert Parker. 



The correspondence is a remajkable demonstra- 

 tion of the very high opinion entertained of the 

 Jews by British men of letters. 



In the Boudoir for March, Mr. Cosmo Wilkinson 

 has an article on Royalty and Widowhood — Adeliza 

 of Louvaine, Isabella of Angouleme, Katherine of 

 Valois, Katherine Parr, Queen Adelaide, Queen 

 Victoria, Marie Theresa, Marie Antoinette, etc. 



