Friday 20 December 2013

PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA.


The Government of Moldavia, wishing to reduce the number of Jews residing in that country, has adopted severe measures against persons of that persuasion. For the future no Israelite is to be admitted into the country without a regular passport, and in case of contravention, the offender is to be sent to the salt mines of Okna. The names of all Jews arriving each day in a town are to be sent to the authorities. A permission will be required to enable a Jew to reside, and any person of that body not sending in regularly the address of his place of residence will be punished as a vagabond. This order has been communicated to the various consuls to be by them forwarded to their governments.-Leipsic Gazette.
The Sydney Morning Herald 27 June 1844

Continental Influence of the Jews.

If the position of Christian nations is peculiar, that of the Jews is altogether unprecedented. They are now fairly within the stream of European history. They are exerting almost the same influence now on politics and literature which they have done for centuries on commerce. They are everywhere to be seen on the foreground, taking the place which their great natural abilities and energy of character are sure to procure for them in such an age as the present. Jewish money and Jewish talent have been at work in all the late revolutions. Nay, out of the mouth of a Jew came the word which set Europe in a blaze. As is well known, Cremieux was the means of preventing the proclamation of the young Duke of Orleans in the streets of Paris immediately on the abdication of his grandfather. He counselled, that this should take place with the consent, and through the medium, of the Chambers. He then hurried off through byeways, and communicated the intelligence that the throne was empty, before the Duchess and her son appeared. The impression which, in all probability, would have been produced on the deputies by their sudden appearance among them to receive the testimonial of their allegiance, was destroyed. And when they did arrive, it was the same Jew who pronounced the fatal words—"Too late,"—which decided the cause of monarchy in France, and perhaps on the whole continent of Europe. In Germany, the leading and most active revolutionists are for the most part Jews. Thus Jacobi and Waldeck in Berlin,—the former author of the celebrated " Four Questions,"—the latter a baptized Jew, who unites in himself the most opposite tendencies, being at once a Socialist and an ultramontane Papist, exhibiting perhaps on a small scale, and in an individual, what we are to expect as the characteristics of a great party, yet to arise out of the boiling cauldron of Continental opinion. In Cologne, we find Dr. Gottschalk, head of the Socialist movement; in Dusseldorf, Lasalle, leader of the ultra-Republicans there ; and in Vienna the well-known Smolka. But these are but a few specimens taking up at random. Similar cases are to be found everywhere throughout the Continent. If we turn to the department of literature, we might almost say that the periodical press, which is at present wielding the destinies of Europe, is in the hands of Jews. In a vast number of newspapers Jews are the chief editors, and where that is not the case they are sub-editors and correspondents, More especially in the latter branch,—that of correspondence,—the communication of facts on which so much depends, Jews are employed. The extraordinary position assumed by the Jews, is beginning to attract the attention even of the Romish Church.

In a monthly periodical, published in Munich by the ultramontanist party, there appeared lately a remarkable article on this subject, from which I shall give you a short extract. "The pantheistic philosophy, originating with Spinoza, a Jew, is being proclaimed by renegade Christians and Jews as the new universal religion. In science and periodical literature, Jews are the men of might. They are the great preachers of immorality in poetry. Jews govern Mammon, and through it the world. The Christian state has ceased to be, and the whole efforts of the united enemies of Christianity are directed to blot out the mark impressed by God himself on the brow of a faithless people, by melting down Jews and infidel Christians into one anti-Christian mass, and thus, if possible, defeat the purpose of God, and set at defiance the voice of the prophets. In a word, the condition and the power of the Jews are already such as we might expect them to be, on the eve of those last times, when with their Messias, the Antichrist, they shall venture on a fearful struggle with the Church of God. for a time obtain the mastery, and then be consigned to endless destruction."

This is the Romish doctrine of Anti-christ. They say that God will give the Jews a Messias according to the lusts of their own hearts, and that he is the Anti-christ of the New Testament, who is to rend the Church and trample it under foot, till he is destroyed by the brightness of the coming of the true Messiah. They thus put in juxtaposition and contrast Christ and Antichrist,—the false Messiah and the true.—Letter from the Rev. R.  Smith, published in the Edinburgh Witness'.
 7 September 1849

 SECRET SOCIETIES,
 —The New Prussian Gazette, of Berlin, in an alarmist article, affirms that the following secret societies for promoting a general revolution in Europe are in existence :-
 1. The Central Democratic German Committee, under Kinkel, Ruge, and Ronge.
 2. The Secret Socialist Society, under Marx.
 3. The Society of Austrian Agitators, under Tausenau.
 4. The National Hungarian Committee, under Kossuth.
 5. The Republican Magyar Society, under Perczel.
 6. The National Italian Committee, under Mazzini and Saffi.
 7. The True Democracy, under Ledru Rollin.
 8. The Revolution, under Louis Blanc.
 9. The Central Military Republican Committee, under Charras.
 10.The Fraction, under Victor Hugo.
 11. The Polish Literary Society.
 12. The Polish Committee, under Worcel.
 13. The Society of Polish Socialists under Sawasz Kiewicz.
 14. The Russian Committee of Agitation, under Hertzen.
 15. The Society of Sclavonian Brethren, under Hertzen and Stojecwiez.
Launceston Examiner 3 January 1856

At a meeting of the Jewish board of Deputies held last week letters were read from Moldavia, giving a heart rending account of the state of the Jews at Galatz, in consequence of those sanguinary scenes which were reported in the newspapers, and which  had arisen from those charges so often refuted and again revived, viz., that the Jews required human blood for the celebration of their Passover. In the course of discussion on the subject, the president, Sir Moses Montefiore, startled the board by stating that he himself had once nearly become the victim of such an absurd and horrible accusation. He said that whilst travelling in the East with Lady Montefiore, one night, whilst sleeping in his tent, the tents of Colonel Gawler and Mr. Emmanuel Myers respectively at his right and left, he was suddenly awakened in the middle of the night by loud yells, shouts, and firing, which drew near his tent, then receded, subsided for about half an hour, then broke out more fiercely than before, and at last left off. In the morning, when he inquired, he learned that a native woman who had missed her child had roused the neighbourhood, asserted that it was under his (the president's) bed. Had his tent not been well guarded it is impossible to say what the consequence might have been. The child might have been brought secretly into his tent, fanatic witnesses might not have been wanting, and a terrible charge trumped up against him. He must add that the child was found at the distance of about half a mile from his tent. Another fortunate circumstance was that the governor was an enlightened man, and instead of giving countenance to any such stories, had the woman imprisoned for a fortnight, despite his (the president's) earnest intercession. All that his entreaties could effect was that the punishment was not likewise extended to the child, of course under the control of its mother.—'Jewish Chronicle.'
The Goulburn Herald 26 November 1859

 PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS IN MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA.

M. Cremieux, of the French bar, has addressed the following letter to the editor of the Siecle: -

Your number of the 23rd announces that I am at Bucharest, pleading the cause of my co-religionists. But at this moment it is not at Bucharest, but in Paris, in London, throughout the civilised world, that this cause ought to be pleaded. In Romania, the liberal party—the party which loudly professes the most advanced opinions, and which sympathises most warmly with the revolution of 1848—is,I am forced to confess, as regards religious and social questions, on a level with the fifteenth or sixteenth century. I leave you to imagine what must be the mental condition of a people whom public journals,calling themselves republican, excite daily in the most unmerciful manner against the unfortunate Jews. One impious organ of the press, La Trompetta, writing with a pen dipped in gall, preaches without disguise the spoliation and destruction of the Israelites, and the Government allows this to go on. Moldavian professors, to whom is entrusted the education of the country, instil, through means of public lectures, into the docile minds of their pupils, hatred and anger against the Jews, and these professors are allowed to retain their offices, while the youth of Moldavia, acting in accordance with their teaching, incite the youth of Wallachia to a crusade against the Jews.

The ministers, just emerging from a revolution, and having no power over the masses, have not sufficient strength to resist, and one of them, the avowed loader of the revolutionary party, on hearing the tumult of the riot outside the House of Parliament, exclaimed, during the sitting of the 25th of June, "What have you to fear from the Jews—those disinherited pariahs, who possess neither moral authority nor material power ? Yet the ministers desire that all Roumaas shall, without distinction of creed, enjoy civil and political rights, and in 1848 this principle was proclaimed without raising the least opposition either in Moldavia or Wallachia, the young Prince, whom Roumania had just unanimously elected, has said to me, " These prejudices are disgraceful; I shall consider it a matter of honour to combat them; the complete emancipation of the Jews shall find in me an active and devoted advocate and promoter.'' And I have met In the Parliament, particularly among those members who are called conservative aristocrats, enlightened minds, on a level with the times in which they live. The President, one of these men, assembled deputies, who had consented to listen to me, and who one day in one of the committee rooms more than fifty while professing the   greatest esteem for myself, and the liveliest interest in my co-religionists, gave me almost certain hope that the vote of the Chamber would be in favour of the Jews. I will one day give you an account of this curious meeting. Yes, princes, ministers, enlightened men, the constituent assembly, all assured me of their co operation. The journal La Trompetta, in its report the next day of the meeting which had given me so cordial a reception, announced the probable loss of the majority to the cause it advocated, and asked if "the future prosperity of Roumania was to be sacrificed to the eloquence of M. Cremieux, and to be offered as a holocaust to the great orator ?"

Such being the state of things, recourse was had to riots, which were got up on the day that the Chamber was discussing the question of the Jews, First the mob made a furious and threatening onset against the House of Parliament. The courtyard was invaded, the sitting distorted, and frightened, by the tumult outside, and the cries demanding the abolition of the article of the constitution which proclaimed the equal rights of all religions persuasions, the Chamber gave way. Elated by their great success, the mob then rushed towards the square in which a new synagogue, one of the most remarkable monuments in Bucharest, had been erected, and only just finished. This was sacked, and the fury of the mob then turned against a more ancient synagogue, which was likewise pillaged, the silver vases and other religious ornaments being carried off, and the sacred rolls trodden under foot.

All was done before the guardians of public order appeared on the scene to disperse the mob. Not one arrest was made, and the unhappy Jews had no resource but to seek shelter and protection in the various foreign consulates, and under the roofs of hospitable Christians. . . .
Empire 25 October 1866

BARBAROUS PROSECUTION OF JEWS.

M. Bratiane, Minister of the Interior of Roumania, and the present persecutor of the Jews of Moldavia, was, and probably still professes to be, a Liberal of the first-water. He had studied law in the schools of Paris, and contributed various articles to the Republican National and Revue Independante, under the signature "Regnault." He fought on the barricades of  February, 1848, for liberty, equality, and fraternity, and after having contributed as much as he could to the overthrow of the Orleans Government, he returned with his experience to his native country. He then became a member of the revolutionary committee, and was sent to Transylvania and Hungary to offer the aid of the Rouman Liberals to the Magyar movement. He then formed part of the commission sent to Constantinople to present the now Rouman Constitution to the Sultan. Alter the entry of the Russians into the Principalities, he fled to Transylvania, and then proceeded to London. He made acquaintance with leading Liberals, and succeeded in having the grievances of his oppressed countrymen brought before Parliament. He was allowed to return to Wallachia together with ether patriots exiled in 1818. He was named member of the Divan ad hoc, and in this character drew up a memorandum explanatory of the resolutions adopted by it, and came to Paris to defend them before the Congress. One of the first things which this ultra-Liberal does when he gets into power is to prove the sincerity of his Liberalism by his conduct towards the unoffending Jewish population of Moldavia.

When the intelligence of these atrocities reached Paris three or four days ago by telegraph it was not believed. It was not believed, because it was thought impossible that the Roumans, who have clamoured so long and so loudly against the oppression to which they were subjected by the Turks, would, in turn, when they had gained their independence, become the persecutors of others, for no other reason, apparently, than that they wore of a different persuasion ; and it was disbelieved that a Minister who had signalised himself as the defender in other countries of liberty, equality, and fraternity would the moment he got into the Government became a tyrant and a persecutor. All doubt, however, is removed, for M. Cremieux, member of the Provisional Government in 1848 himself a Jew, has received a despatch from the Jewish community of Jassy to the following effect: —

"The Minister of the Interior, Bratiano, interpreting, falsely, in a circular addressed to the Prefects, laws and regulations which had long become obsolete, and which were actually repealed by the Constitution and the now Civil Code, orders that the whole of our co-religionists shall be instantly expelled from the farms, lodging-houses, and carbarets of the villages, to the contempt of public and private rights ; and he annuls at one stroke of the pen the contracts which the Government had concluded in respect of ti e domaine of the State, an well as of private persons, with the Jewish farmers. The same Minister has signalised his arrival at Jassy by an ordinance still more barbarous : he has ordered the police to make a sweep of all Jews, as rogues and vagabonds; and the police, before the eyes of the said Minister, have gathered together crowds of Jews in the streets, without any power of law, without distinction of age or condition, and, with unprecedented brutality, put them in irons and transported them beyond the Danube. This sad spectacle, accompanied on the one hand by the jeers and laughter of the populace, and on the other by the screams of distress from the women and children of our unfortunate co-religionists, is repeated every instant in the streets of Jassy, and becomes day after day more menacing. With such a persecution ordered by the Minister Bratiano, and encouraged by certain party lenders who excite the fanaticism of the populace, we are threatened with a general massacre. We implore your protection, and we supplicate you to interfere in our behalf by all the means you deem proper to rescue your wretched co-religionists of Jassy from that fate which is hanging over them. This despatch will be sent to you from Sereth, for it is not possible to send it direct from Jassy."

. . . . Soon alter M. Cremieux received another despatch, thus worded :— 

" Since our last telegram matters are become worse. In all the streets nothing is heard but the shrieks of the women and the weeping of the children of the banished Jews. We continue to be hunted down on all sides. The aged and the sick are hound in chains and dragged to some unknown destination. All our prayers for the protection of the laws are rejected by the authorities. We are declared outlaws. The mob are encouraged to exterminate us. It is only by means of prompt and efficacious succour that we can be saved from a frightful fate. Our eyes are turned to you, our illustrious co-religionists. Save, save your wretched brethren of Moldavia !"

On the receipt of this second despatch M. Cremieux decided on demanding audience of the Emperor Napoleon. The audience was at once granted. M Cremieux found his Majesty already informed of the details of what had passed at Jassy, and expressing in no measured terms his astonishment and indignation, and M. Cremieux asked for his personal intervention. The following is M. Cremioux's account of what passed at the interview:—

"'This moment,' the Emperor said, 'I will write by telegraph to Prince Charles, as I intended to do this every day. To tolerate such persecution would be to place one's-self under the ban of Europe."

"I observed, 'Prince Charles is animated by the most liberal intentions. He declared to me that he should consider it a point of honour to proclaim civil equality in favour of the Jews of his States ; add he gave out of his own purse a large sum for the rebuilding of the synagogue, which was demolished during the last year's troubles. The man who deserves to be put under the ban of nations is this Minister Bratiano, who calls himself a Liberal and a Democrat ; and public indignation will exact from him an account of this barbarity."

The Emperor then asked me what could be the cause of an event so incredible."

" I answered, 'Sire, there are many interests which serve as the pretext for troubles in Roumania. What I can assure your Majesty is, that the Rouman people did not know some years ago what religious hatreds were. In 1848 the equality of all forms of worship was recognised unanimously.' 
" 'I promise you,' said the Emperor,' immediate intervention.'             
. . . . . .
The Jewish Alliance of Paris at once addressed the English Government, through Mr. Francis H. Goldsmid, and the other Governments of Europe; and there is no doubt they will interfere on behalf of the democratic M. Bratiano's victims.
Empire 2 September 1867

THE JEWS IN MOLDAVIA.- Directly the rumours got abroad of the persecution of the Jews in Moldavia, Berthold Auerbach, the German writer, and an influential Israelite, wrote to the Prince of Hohenzollern, at Dusseldorf (the father of the reigning Prince of Moldo-Wallachia), in reference to the condition of the Jews in the Principalities. A portion of the Prince's reply is published in the Independance Belge. He assures M. Auerbach that he was so touched with the reports of the cruelties exercised towards the Jews that he took the greatest point to ascertain if there was any truth in them, and he finds there is not. They have been circulated by perfidious intriguants. His son, the reigning prince, has never sanctioned persecution; perhaps "terrorist measures have been taken by subaltern agents," but these agents shall be punished. Civilisation, he admits, is not quite so fully developed in the Principalities an in the other States of Europe ; but then the position of the Principalities must be borne in mind. Separated, as they are, on the one side by the Carpathians from the best Transylvanian influences, exposed on the other to the inevitable contact with the profoundly degraded provinces of Russia and Turkey, no wonder their moral advance is a little tardy. The Prince then leaves the subject of the Jews, and explains that his son's object in scampering incognito through the Austrian territory to take possession of the Moldo-Wallachian throne was in no way hostile to Austria.

 Empire 3 July 1868

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