THE PRESERVATION OF THE JEWS. 



163 



same street, and professing substan- 

 tially the same religion. Let him 

 also turn to India, where the castes 

 have kept themselves distinct from 

 each other from time immemorial, 

 but certainly not by " superhuman " 

 means. Humble Scotch people 

 would indeed be surprised if told 

 they were " preserved " distinct 

 from " thae Irish " by " superhu- 

 man " means ; and they would be 

 astounded if asked to turn them- 

 selves -flesh, bones and blood, phy- 

 siognomy, mind and religion into 

 Jews, like those they have living 

 among them ; or that these should 

 or could turn themselves, in the 

 same way, into common Scotch. 



In Scotland are to be found 

 Scotchmen extracted from members 

 of most of the European nations, 

 who are always more or less recip- 

 rocating the favour. Such is the 

 genius of Europeans in regard to 

 nationality, which is exhibited in a 

 striking manner in the United States 

 of America. But it is not so in the 

 East. Englishmen born there do 

 not become Hindoos, Chinese, Ja- 

 panese, Hottentots, or Negroes, as 

 the case may be. Nor do Asiatics 

 amalgamate and get lost among each 

 other, although by despotism and 

 slavery, polygamy and concubinage, 

 some of the more powerful races or 

 families absorb a little of the blood 

 of others. It has been the genius 

 of almost all, if not all, Asiatic races, 

 from time immemorial, to live sepa- 

 rate from each other, as tribes or 

 nations, while dwelling in the same 

 community or country -Jews and 

 Samaritans, Turks and Greeks, Par- 

 sees and Armenians, and others un- 

 necessary to mention and no one 

 ever thinks that these races are kept 

 apart by " special providence " or 

 " superhuman means." And if Asiat- 

 ics do that among themselves, is it 

 to be supposed they would do other- 

 wise when they come in contact with 

 the races of another continent ? It 

 is therefore not trtfe when the Duke 

 asserts that the separate existence 



of the Jews is " at variance with all 

 other experience of the laws which 

 govern the amalgamation with each' 

 other of different families of the hu- 

 man race."* It is precisely the con- 

 trary, for the isolation of the Jews 

 is in exact harmony with the cus- 

 toms and genius of that part of the 

 world where they originated and 

 had their existence as a people ; and 

 which has been increased immeas- 

 urably by the special genius of their 

 nation, from the call of Abraham, 

 that it was to exist distinct from all 

 others, and to continue so forever. 

 And the Jews have been so perse- 

 cuted or disliked by other nations, 

 that they have never, as a people, 

 had the opportunity of " amalga- 

 mating and becoming lost among 

 others," assuming that they ever had 

 the wish to do it. 



The fact of the Jews keeping dis- 

 tinct from others is a simple ques- 

 tion, that is easily understood when 

 investigated inductively and on its 

 merits. It is neither miraculous, a 

 special providence, wonderful, nor 

 remarkable. There is no occasion 

 for the special interference of Provi- 

 dence in a matter that is settled by 

 the Jews on the one side, and by 



* Abb6 Dubois says : " In every coun- 

 try of the Peninsula, great numbers of 

 foreign families are to be found, whose 

 ancestors had been obliged to emigrate 

 thither, in times of trouble or famine, 

 from their native land, and to establish 

 themselves amongst strangers. This spe- 

 cies of emigration is very common in all 

 the countries of India ; but what is most 

 remarkable is, that in a foreign land, these 

 emigrants preserve, from generation to gene ^ 

 ration, their own language and national 

 peculiarities. Many instances might be 

 pointed out of such foreign families, set- 

 tled four or five hundred years in the dis- 

 trict they now inhabit, without approx- 

 imating in the least to the manners, fash- 

 ions, or even to the language of the na- 

 tion where they have been for so many 

 generations naturalized. They still pre- 

 serve the remembrance of their origin, 

 and keep up the ceremonies and usages 

 of the land where their ancestors were 

 born, without ever receiving any tincture 

 of the particular habits of the countries 

 where they live." Preface, xvii. 



