Read Ebook: A modern exodus: a novel by Guttenberg Violet

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Ebook has 892 lines and 60265 words, and 18 pages

Montella put the letter away as Mrs. Whiteside was shown into the room. To the old nurse every chair in the place was familiar, and she entered with the air of one who knew her way about. She remained standing, however, and refused to be seated. She did not wish to detain Master Linie and her ladyship; she had only come to make a request. Lionel expressed his willingness to grant it whatever it might be. He thought she might want to change her abode, or to have some improvements made to the cottage, or something of a like nature. He was always ready to meet the wishes of his tenants, including this one, in spite of the fact that she lived rent free. But Mrs. Whiteside's desire lay in another direction altogether; she was quite satisfied with the present condition of her house.

"Is it true that if Parliament persecutes the Lord's ancient people you will go and live in the Holy Land?" she asked, in her quaint way. "Mr. Bell, the policeman, said you might; but I said you would never leave Burstall Abbey for good."

"It will be a case of needs must, I am afraid, Anne," Montella replied, noticing the look of concern on her face. "If it comes to being false to Judaism or leaving the country, Lady Patricia and I will have to go. But I will not sell the Abbey except to some good and responsible man, and you need have no fear that you will suffer by the change. Your house belongs to you, nurse, and no one shall rob you of it. I will tell my solicitor to prepare a document to that effect."

The dame's eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, I wasn't thinking of that, Mr. Linie," she said quickly, with a touch of reproach. "Only it will nearly break my heart to see strangers in the old place. It was your grandfather who first got me a situation down here, and I've been here ever since. I remember every birth, marriage, and death in the family, and I've just counted time by those events."

"You have always been a faithful retainer, nurse," he rejoined kindly. "It is gratifying to know that our departure will be regretted."

"Ay, it will be regretted by every man, woman, and child in the place, but by me most of all. Mr. Linie, will you do me a favour--the greatest I've ever asked of you? Will you take me and my boy with you when you go?"

It was out at last, and the old woman's form quivered with excitement. If he were to refuse, it would be the greatest disappointment she had ever received. She was so devoted to the very name of Montella that she could not bear to be left behind. She watched Lionel's face as she put the question, and awaited his answer in an agony of suspense. Lady Patricia drew forward a chair, and made her sit down. She could see that the nurse was intensely moved.

"We intend dismissing our staff of servants both in London and down here if we go," the young man replied thoughtfully. "We shall be expected to employ Jewish labour as much as possible in the new land."

"But you will have to employ some Gentile servants to work for you on your Sunday, sir," she interposed eagerly. "I could see to that for you, and I could do all sorts of odd jobs for your lady and Lady Montella. I am getting old, maybe, but I can get about just as well as ever I could. I am sure you could manage the matter, Mr. Linie, if you were to try."

The pleading in her manner touched Patricia.

"Say yes, Lionel," she said to her husband, in a quiet voice. "As Mrs. Whiteside seems so anxious to accompany us, it would be a pity not to take her with us if we go."

Lionel smiled.

"The Queen hath spoken: so be it," he returned lightly. "Very well, nurse, I will promise you this. If we go, you shall go with us."

"And Tom, too, sir?"

"Yes, certainly. We should not think of parting you from your boy."

The old nurse was not effusive in her gratitude, but her eyes shone as she thanked them and went away.

"I believe that woman would be faithful to the death," Lionel said, as the door closed behind her. He felt that it was good to be the possessor of such loyal allegiance.

This loophole consisted of a certificate of assimilation granted by every local magistrate on certain conditions. Any Jew or Jewess over the age of fifteen was eligible as a candidate, and children could be signed for by their parents. In order to obtain it, certain statements had to be declared on oath in the presence of a commissioner and three witnesses, and once the oath was taken, the penalty for breaking it would be extremely severe. The conditions were embodied in the following form of declaration:

"I ............ hereby declare that I am a Jew by birth only, and not by religion; that I totally renounce Judaism, and everything connected therewith; that I will mix freely with Gentiles, and do my best to dispel all clannishness and cliquism of race.

"I further undertake to make the Christian Sunday my day of rest, and to celebrate socially the great Christian festivals; also to partake of ordinary Gentile food, and to cease to observe the Jewish dietary laws; to refrain from speaking or reading Hebrew, and from the use of Jewish idioms. I promise to abstain from every Jewish rite, to attend either a Christian, Theistic, or Unitarian place of worship, and to associate myself religiously and socially with either of these three bodies.

"I undertake to marry one of Gentile birth only, and to bring up any children of the said union in the faith of their Gentile parent.

"I undertake to teach all my children, both now and in the future, the religion of the Church I intend to make my own.

....................."

Here was to follow the full name address, and description of the candidate, with photograph attached.

This certificate was granted only to those who were already British subjects either by birth or by naturalisation of five years' standing. No "greener" was therefore eligible, and foreign labour in Whitechapel was thereby done away with. The formula had been drawn up by Mr. Lawson Holmes, M.P., the ardent advocate of assimilation in its most thorough form. To him it seemed fair and just, and the only means of refining the Jewish element of the English nation to its due proportion. He considered that from the point of view of utilitarianism, mere sentiment must be put aside. He was not an anti-Semite, and he disagreed on many points with the Premier; he was undoubtedly a man of sound common sense.

As was to be expected, however, his formula evoked a storm of indignation in the Jewish press. Eloquent appeals to the patriotism of the race were issued and disseminated amongst the British Jews throughout the land, and meetings of protest were held despite the vigilance of the police. What People--were they ever so irresponsible--would renounce their race and religion, together with their ancient and illustrious past, at the mere word of command? The very thought of persecution was enough to make men cling to their cherished traditions with a new and greater strength. Such a result--the deepening of their peculiar unity--had been proved in the annals of history over and over again.

"I shall go and see Holmes to-night," Montella said to his wife, as soon as he had received notice of the formula. "I cannot rest until I have made him see the absurdity of the whole thing. He used to be a friend of mine."

"Ask him what would be his answer if he were commanded to give up his birthright as a freeborn English Christian," advised his mother, with heat.

"But don't make matters worse by quarrelling with him, dear," added Patricia gently.

Montella promised to use his discretion; he was not of a fiery temperament. He met Mr. Lawson Holmes in the lobby of the House of Commons, and adjourned with him to his club. His friend insisted on dining first before entering on the subject, and Lionel consented to partake of a vegetarian repast. It was when they lingered over their wine that the Cabinet Minister began his defence. He could not help being impressed in spite of himself by Lionel's reproachful mien.

"Now, my dear fellow, let us survey the question from an economic standpoint," he began, as he puffed away at a cigar. "I shall proceed to dissect you metaphorically, if you have no objection?"

"None at all, so long as you leave the ego--that which is my real self--intact," Lionel replied.

"Very well, then, let us begin." The Minister removed his cigar from his lips, and placed it between his fingers. "First of all, I take it that you are one of the units of which the English nation is composed: that you are by birth and education an Englishman, and a subject of the King?"

Montella acquiesced.

"That being so, then, your tastes are naturally British, and your interest is to a great degree monopolised by the country of your birth. This is proved by the mere fact of your being an ex-member of Parliament, in which capacity I know you desired to exercise your influence for the national good."

"Certainly."

"Yet when you are told that a certain legislation concerning the question of the Jews is for the national good, you steadfastly set your face against it, and resent its introduction. Being hemmed in by the narrowness of your creed, you are unable to get outside yourself, so to speak, and look at the matter from a rational and utilitarian point of view. That is the great difference between you and your parliamentary colleagues."

"Exactly," put in Montella eagerly. "I am a Jew."

"A Jew, yes; but I wish to discover how much of the Jew there is in you--the real Jew, according to the Oriental sense of the term. That there is an element of Hebraism in your moral and intellectual nature I do not dispute; but there are other and Occidental elements which you have inherited to a greater degree. Do you think your forefathers, when they left Palestine and lived in the West, were not affected by the influences of Hellenism, of Chivalry, of the Renaissance, of the Reformation, and of the Christian ethics in general, with which they came into contact? My dear fellow, the Occidental Jew--such as yourself--is no more like the Hebrew of old than I am! Do you think that if you were forced to live in strict accordance with the Talmudic law, you would feel that you were fulfilling the obligations of your race? I assure you that you would feel nothing of the kind; you would know that you were returning to darkness, shutting out civilisation and light."

"Perhaps so," replied the young man thoughtfully, "but for all that, I am a Jew, and not all the Occidental influences in the world have been able to break the bond which unites me to my forefathers. Blood is thicker than water, Mr. Holmes; and when once the blood of an Israelite flows in a man's veins, it is impossible for him to forget his heritage. He may renounce it as he likes, but by his looks, his temperament, his associations, his very tricks of gesture, he betrays it. That I have nothing in common with the typical Jew of tradition, and that I am a thorough Englishman at heart I am glad to admit; nevertheless there is a difference between myself and you, for instance. Small and indefinable though it may be, you know that it is there."

He had drawn his chair back from the table in his ardour, and leant back with a flush on his brow. His dark eyes glowed with the intensity of feeling, and about the youthful, clean-shaven face, with its splendid forehead, sensitive nostrils, and firm, yet gentle mouth, there was a nobility which it was hard to resist. Holmes secretly considered Montella a perfect specimen of his race, but he was loath to believe that he had inherited a single good quality from his Hebrew ancestors.

"As long as you remain an idealist, my dear boy, you will never be able to take a dispassionate view of the matter," he returned, with deliberation. "It is that sentimental clinging to tradition which is your people's bane. My standpoint, however, is simply this: A Jewish element in a nation is a desirable and almost an essential thing to have, but as soon as that element preponderates--as now--it becomes a danger to the State. Therefore it must be kept within bounds, and those Jews who refuse to conform to the customs of this country must be weeded out. The only way out of the present crisis, it seems to me, is absorption, for as long as you Jews remain separatists you have no right to the full privileges of the land of your adoption. Therefore the Government has thought fit to take stringent measures to bring about this result; and although I admit that those measures seem unnecessarily harsh, I know that they are for the benefit of the nation at large. Let those Jews who cherish the scriptural tradition and maintain their clannishness return to the land of their fathers. There must be either assimilation or a separate Jewish state."

"And you think this justifies the persecution of two hundred and seventy thousand people, the majority of whom are loyal subjects of the King?"

The Minister frowned.

"I do not call it persecution when the alternative is such a reasonable one," he replied. "It is not as if we were compelling you to become Christians. You can retain your religious belief in the Absolute Unity by declaring yourselves Theists or Monotheists instead of Jews; the change is only in the name."

"But we are to give up our customs and our Sabbath, our fasts and our feasts, and everything which throughout the centuries has made Judaism the bond of union twixt Jew and Jew!" He sighed, knowing that they might argue till Doomsday, and yet remain as far asunder as the poles. Mr. Lawson Holmes was well informed concerning the Jews, and indeed possessed more knowledge than the average Gentile; but he was not capable of putting himself in the position of a Jew; he could not understand the racial claim.

Haifa, the most modern city in Palestine, lay at the southern point of the Bay of Acre, about fifty miles north of Jaffa. Situated amid palm-trees, it retained its Eastern character whilst bearing witness to the innovations of the West. During the two years which had elapsed since the English Edict of Expulsion, the great army of Jewish artisans had laboured well. Rows upon rows of white bungalows had sprung up almost, as it seemed, in a night; and although they could not boast of the substantiality of their construction, they could be improved by degrees. The greater part of the population consisted of British refugees, who, linked together by the same home ties, concentrated themselves as much as possible in one quarter, leaving their brethren of other nationalities to settle in different parts of the country. Therefore, although it was an accepted rule that Hebrew was to be learnt and spoken, they instinctively clung to their native tongue.

They were very aristocratic, these exiled English Jews. Like many English people who travel abroad, they considered themselves vastly superior to all the foreigners with whom they came into contact. They looked down on their poor Polish and Roumanian brethren, who in their turn considered the English as irreligious moderns, scarcely worthy of the name of Jews. The brotherly feeling of equality which their leaders endeavoured to instil within them was as yet entirely lacking. Although of identical race and religion, and gathered together under one banner, the distinctions of class and nationality held them aloof.

In a sequestered corner of a city roof-garden were Lionel Montella and his wife. Above them the moon shone with dazzling splendour, making the numberless hills stand out as sentinels on guard, and causing the waters of the bay to sparkle like myriads of jewels. Patricia reclined against the cushions of her chair, and inhaled the fragrance of the breeze with keen enjoyment. She found the Syrian climate so trying that she was thankful for every breath of air.

The two years in Palestine had changed her little, and she was still a delicately fair and beautiful girl. Devotedly attached to her husband and baby boy, she found no occasion to pine for her friends in the West. She had always possessed the power of adapting herself to her surroundings, and she soon became accustomed to the strangeness of her new life. Recently the Princess Charles von Felsen-Schvoenig had arrived to "do" Palestine, and was at present in Haifa, so that she was not entirely destitute of friends.

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