as the basis for a settlement of our claims, and who speech, recited the offensive propositions he had time made, such as the withdrawal of our minis court of St. James's, the repeal of the neutrality law tion of our neutrality between England and Abyss said that "the sixty thousand veteran soldiers of Mich the contract to take possession of the Canadas in Indeed, Mr. Chandler, who proposed to seize Can voting to remove Mr. Sumner for desiring only a I sition, with full consent of England, and of Canada an interesting spectacle! Surely he was not one o Senators." Nor could there have been among the already given, Messrs. Conkling, Howe, Hamlir Anthony. Who, then, were the nameless, undesig Senators" to whom Mr. Fish made known the which, as now alleged, he then thought a fatal ol important negotiation-a secret, kept so well for now first revealed by Mr. Davis?

If it were true that Mr. Fish ever made the c Senators which Mr. Davis now alleges, such com also have been made, first of all, to the Preside was mentioned to a Senator. But General Gra fications of Mr. Sumner's removal, puts fort pigeon-holing" and "the non-speaking" ones tion with Mr. Curtis in the summer of 187 and in his interviews in Scotland in Septe Cairo in January, 1878, without ever makin sion to the reason which Mr. Davis now others have failed.

Again, and finally, as showing that no about Canada ever prompted a vote for hi remembered that the removal was attemp the session, in December, 1870, and thre cember

cover the continent "from the frozen sea to the tepid waters of the Mexican Gulf;" but, referring to the whispers of territorial compensation for our claims against England with territory as the consideration, he rejected such a solution altogether, except with the full concurrence of Canada herself, declaring with emphasis, "Territory may be conveyed, but not a people." Is there anything in this aspiration unworthy, visionary, or impracticable? Rather is there not something in it lofty and inspiring? Everywhere races of common origin and speech are gravitating to oneness and solidarity. Such is the lesson of history, and such also is the spectacle of our era. This generation has seen Italy rise from a geographical expression to a national entity-her various kingdoms, duchies, pontifical states, provinces of a foreign dynasty, all becoming one country, which stretches the length of the historic peninsula. It has seen likewise Germany, no longer a mere dream of patriots and idealists, at last consolidated as one people, and realizing the Fatherland of patriotism and of song. At this hour it sees in the far East the Greek race, in whose language mankind has found its culture, its philosophy, and its religion, yearning for a nationality commensurate with the common speech, and centred in a renowned capital on the Ægean or the Bosporus. Such a generation will respond with sympathy to Sumner's thought of Canada joining speedily the sisterhood of American States, even if, with a seer's instinct, he anticipated, as he often did, the fullness of time. In the final week of his life, even on the very day he left the Senate for the last time, at whose close he was smitten with mortal agony, he was finishing his "Prophetic Voices concerning America," in which he had gathered what from age to age had been foretold of her greatness and destiny; and among these he placed his friend Cobden's contemplation of the coming union of Canada with us. What nobler epitaph can be written of an American statesman than this: That after an illustrious career of devotion to universal liberty, carrying into age the fresh hopes of youth, he died, cherishing fondly the vision that the country he had loved and served was to grow in peace to an empire wide as the domains of the English-speaking race on this continent !

EDWARD L. PIERCE.

V.

THE POSITION OF THE JEWS IN AMERICA.

SECOND ARTICLE.

THE tide of Hebrew immigration, which set in strongly after 1848, brought hither Israelites of various mental conditions, mostly drafted from German and Slavonic countries. These had either suffered downright oppression, or been held in political tutelage. They had been subject to the pettiest interferences of governments, which had made the name paternal a by-word and a hissing. The abrupt transition from such a mode of life to one of civil liberty such as the United States offers, produced its natural results. Not that the Hebrews were ever troublesome to their new governors-this they never were; but they could not all at once realize the distinction between self-government and mere self-assertion. They found it hard to obey self-made laws when they became inconvenient to them. Untrained to parliamentary forms of discussion, they not only often failed in their attempts at combining for religious and charitable objects, but broke out in bitter feuds and personal animosities, which drew upon them the censure and ridicule of their new surroundings.

Fortunately, there were among them even then men of clear heads, liberal education, and ample experience, who perceived that help was needed, and that it was theirs to procure it. Intellectually above their brethren, their hearts had remained loyal to them. These men felt that if the Jews were ever to attain the respected position which was within the reach of their capacities and opportunities, they would require a political education which their old homes had not afforded them; and that the instruction ought not to be theoretical, but practical. This was the primary idea that led to the foundation of the first Hebrew Order, under the name of "B'nai B'rith." On its pattern three other fraterVOL. CXXVII.-NO. 263. 6

nities have since been organized, all of which are in a flourishing condition.* In the annual message of the President of the "B'nai B'rith," for the year 1873, the intentions of the founders are stated as follows:

"The leading idea of the project was to school the members of the new society by strict discipline, by inculcating the necessity of a constant watch over their conduct toward each other and society. An impressive method was to be found, which would bring into prominent view the higher and nobler objects of life, and, above all, to indoctrinate the great principle that men may differ in religious belief, and yet unite and work together harmoniously under the great laws of humanity, as expressed by the great teachers of the Jewish religion.

"The fundamental law of this religion, as expounded by 'brotherly love,' is the strong foundation upon which our edifice has been erected; benevolence and harmony are its main pillars.

'Only in this sense is the order a Jewish institution: it rests upon the broad doctrines of humanity and brotherhood, embodied in the spirit, the history, and literature, of the Jewish religion; but it carefully excludes from its laws and regulations all that could possibly be objected to as dogmatical, doctrinal, or sectarian. The platform of principles, while sufficiently broad to admit of the widest latitude, establishes such necessary restrictions as will exclude all who would come in conflict with the fundamental idea of the order. Attempts heretofore made to introduce questions which would infringe, in one direction or the other, upon this broad highway, have been emphatically repudiated by grand-lodges and conventions, as well as by the Judicial Tribune of the order; and these questions should, in the future, be kept out of our councils and deliberations. They only contribute to mar the harmony of our proceedings, and are calculated to jeopard the progress of our order in its mission, as an engine of civilization and enlightenment.

"To bind its members more closely together, and to use the order as a promoter of their material welfare, a system of mutual aid in case of need, after the model of existing charitable institutions, was introduced, and, following their example in still another direction, the seal of secrecy was stamped upon all its proceedings. This not only created a greater attraction to uncultured minds, but gave the young society a weight and importance which, under the

* For statistics, see the previous article.