Between the Lines

The century of Jewish emancipation in Great Britain is now being celebrated by the Jews in England.

A hunrred years ago the Jews in England were poor and despised. A Jew was then not allowed to sit in Parliament. Not even Baron Lionel de Rothschild, who was elected Member of Parliament for the City of London. Bills to allow Jews to sit in the Chamber were passed in the House of Commons several times, but were always thrown out by the Lords.

Then, in 1858, the ice was broken. The consent of the Lords was finally obtained and on July 26 of that year Lord Rothschild took his seat. He was so delighted over the end of the long fight that he endowed a scholarship in the City of London School.

THE FIRST JEWISH MAYOR

But the actual emancipation of British Jewry does not start with Lord Rothschild’s becoming a member of the Parliament. It starts with the appointment of David Salomons as Mayor of London in 1835. Salomons was the first Jew ever to be so honored by the city of London. His election was the first step towards removing all the civic and political disabilities of British Jewry.

The progress made by British Jewry during the Victorian reign towards its emancipation and the gaining of equal rights was chiefly due to the liberal attitude of Queen Victoria herself. The great Queen of England had no animosity whatsoever towards Jews. A few months after her accession to the throne she made history by knighting the first Jew. This was Sir Moses Montefiore, who received the title from the Queen personally on November 9,1837.

With the bar removed, Sir Isaac Goldsmid was the first Jew to be made a baronet in 1841. The first to receive a peerage water was Lionel Rothschild.

THE KING AND THE JEWS

The pro-Jewish sentiment introduced by Queen Victoria has become a tradition in the British Court. The King of England today has a great admiration for the Jewish people and though he has not so many personal Jewish friends as his father, King Edward VII, he has met nearly all the leading British Jews. His warm sentiments for the Jews were displayed best by him only a few weeks ago when on his Silver Jubilee he surprised Whitechapel—the Jewish section of London—with a special visit.

The complete emancipation of the Jews in England has not been regretted by the English people to this very day. The services rendered to Great Britain by such Jews as Lord Reading, the late General Sir John Monash, Sir Herbert Samuel, Sir Philip Sassoon, the late Lord Melchett and other outstanding figures in Jewish life in England and the acknowledgement received by these Jewish statesmen from the English people are the best proof that the anti-Semitic feeling now raging in Germany and other countries will find no root in England.

The Jews in England today are playing an honored and prominent part in almost every sphere of British life, without any handicap. They had to fight stiffly for their rights during the last century, but they have proved well worthy of these rights. Enjoying complete emancipation, the Jews in England are at the same time devoted to Jewish interests, and no movement to convert them to Christianty has so far been successful.