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No. 52. Vienna, 27th December 1901. 5th Year

The Fifth Zionist Congress.

The First Day.

(Original telegram of "Die Welt".)

— From our Special Correspondent. —

Basle, 26 December, 10 o'clock 10 min. at night.

The fifth Zionist Congress was opened this forenoon, in the presence of 278 delegates and 900 guests, amid indescribable enthusiasm. Among the delegates are representatives of South Africa, New Zealand and Manchuria. To the presidium were elected the following gentlemen: Dr. Herzl, Dr. Nordau, Tschlenoff and Sir Francis Montefiore. Thousands of addresses and telegraphic messages of greeting lie before the Congress. Dr. Herzl's opening speech was received with jubilation. The architect Marmorek delivers the general report of the Actions Committee. He notes a tremendous growth of the movement and emphasises in particular the formation of Zionist groups in Amazonas, Chile, Persia, Further India, Siberia, Australia, South and North Africa. North Africa promises the Palestinian workers help out of its own strength. In the afternoon the rapporteurs of the several national federations supplement the report upon the spread of the movement. A considerable increase is recorded especially in Germany, South Africa, Bulgaria and Algeria. An exceedingly lively debate develops upon the relation of eastern to western Jewry. The Actions Committee is unanimously granted its discharge. In the night sitting Sir Francis Montefiore speaks upon the Jewish Colonial Bank and scourges its adversaries in sharp words, showing that they fight with dishonest weapons. The bank, he said, is a people's bank and a Palestine bank, and rests upon a sound and firm basis. Great caution is called for at the beginning of its business activity; the money of the Jewish people must be surrounded with securities. Only in this way can the Jewish Colonial Bank accomplish what is fruitful for the future of our people, for the future of Palestine.

*

Dr. Herzl's Opening Speech.

Honoured Members of the Congress!

We assemble this year for the fifth time — for the fourth time in Basle — where our movement is regarded with a goodwill for which we are sincerely grateful. It may also be said that hospitality shown to a movement which seeks to relieve distress has only increased the ancient renown of this city.

Already much that was hard for us is half past, and other things half attained. But one thing above all let me greet: that we find one another again in loyalty, and that the years have not cooled our enthusiasm for a noble aim. Death has taken many a good man from us. Age, bodily suffering or professional duties have hindered several, but they too are present in spirit. Those dwelling in other parts of the world could not easily travel at this season, yet such have appeared as well; and new fellow-workers have accrued to us in gratifying measure — and not Jews only! It is not in the blindness of a party man that I say that the helpers who come to us from other confessions and nations belong to the best and the noblest. Let it be permitted to cite the words which the English poet Hall Caine lately spoke at a meeting in London: "If I were myself a Jew, I should be exceedingly proud of that fact — proud to belong to an ancient race which has brought forth some of the greatest men; proud of a nation which still has a strong share in the affairs of the world, although it calls neither throne, nor king, nor soldiers, nor even an inch of earth its own; proud of a literature which in the Holy Scriptures attained a sublimity unequalled by other masterpieces of the human spirit; I should be proud of the opportunity of taking part in an effort which is to raise Palestine from the condition of a barren desert to a land of rich fertility and welfare; but prouder than all would the great possibility make me which now lies before the Jews: namely, that they may be active for the poor, and in many lands the oppressed, of their people