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No 9. Vienna, 4 March 1898. 2nd Year.

Clerkenwell Town Hall.

By Benjamin Seff.

On Sunday the 6th of March there assembles in the Clerkenwell Town Hall in London the conference of English Zionists, the first great gathering of this kind since political Zionism set foot upon the soil of England. Eight days before the close of the lists of enrolment, 130 delegates had already announced themselves for the conference. These 130 delegates represent over ten thousand members of Zionist bodies of Great Britain. Delegates were sent by seven London societies, and further by associations in Birmingham, Dublin, Exeter, Glasgow, Hanley, Liverpool, Limerick, Leeds, Manchester, Norwich, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Sheffield and South-Shields.

And when we unroll this catalogue of English towns, a pride would sweep over us for the space of seconds. In all these places the thought of Zion is harboured and tended. From Plymouth in the south to Glasgow in the north, from Portsmouth by way of Birmingham to Manchester, and from Liverpool across the Irish Sea to Dublin the threads are twined, and in Clerkenwell Town Hall they are to be twisted into a stout rope. This rope, however, is itself but a single thread in comparison with the strong cable that is being brought together out of all lands, and wherewith we shall one day moor the fortunate ship of the nation, when we come to land before the promised shore.

In Clerkenwell Town Hall only a single country is represented, and not even the strongest in its proportionate share in Zionism. In many another land the Jewry furnishes a far higher percentage to our movement, for the political, social and economic situation has an undeniable influence upon the recruiting of our ranks. Nowhere in the world do the Jews now fare so well as in the British realm; it is the last happy island of the modern Jews. Until lately there were still regions which we held to be won for ever for humanity and equality of rights. That was a dream. Everywhere the Jew is a citizen of inferior worth, if indeed he counts as a citizen at all. Only in England is the Jew of full worth, and there he is still almost unassailed. We continental Jews can really take no great credit to ourselves when, at the end of all expedients, humiliated, cast out by all nations and parties and tolerated only by the most extreme as fellow-travellers, we return home to our old stock. But the English Jews, so to speak, have no need of this to-day, and yet they do it. That is a truly glorious thing, and therefore we look upon them with pride and emotion, and send an enthusiastic greeting to our brethren at Clerkenwell Town Hall. Unlike our kinsmen in France, who are now so grievously afflicted, they did not wait for the outbreak of hatred to discover within themselves their solidarity with the whole scattered people. That is a title of honour for the English Zionists, which we gladly accord them. Upon them rest many of our hopes, and these have indeed rested upon them from the very beginning of the present movement.

There was, it is true, a passing cloud when the English Chovevi-Zion declared last summer that they would not take part in the Basle Congress. To the majority of that London body the expediency of the general congress would not commend itself, and the official representation was omitted. We did not for a moment let this conduct shake us in our confidence in the reliability of the lovers of Zion. We knew that sooner or later they would reunite themselves with the core of the people, and this has indeed already come to pass — sooner even than we expected, and with a candour that redounds to their highest honour. Idle are the inquiries whether the Basle Congress has come round to the views of the London gentlemen, or the London gentlemen to the views of the Basle Congress. A dispute over priority would be senseless. We all want the same thing; One goal hovers before the eyes of us all; One longing for relief fills us all; and in the ideal for which we take the field with patient courage there is something that unites, nothing that divides.

What discerning Jew is able to-day, after two short years of political Zionism, still to deny that this movement is a beneficial one? Outwardly it has raised the deeply sunken repute of the Jews; inwardly it means a strengthening of the feeling of belonging together; and though at this hour the promises are not yet fulfilled, still, in the night of our people's destiny, a gleam of comfort shines forth. Out yonder lies freedom! Ever greater masses are seized by the recognition that there is but the one way out of our distress which we have this long while been pointing out. In this time there has grown up the anti-Semi-