Notes on the Diplomatic History of the Jewish Question / With Texts of Protocols, Treaty Stipulations and Other Public Acts and Official Documents - Lucien Wolf

La Diète prendra en considération les moyens d'opérer de la manière la plus uniforme, l'amélioration de l'état civil de ceux qui professent la Religion Juive en Allemagne, et s'occupera particulièrement des mesures, par lesquelles on pourra leur assurer et leur garantir dans les États de la Confédération, la jouissance des Droits Civils, à condition qu'ils se soumettent à toutes les obligations des autres Citoyens. En attendant les Droits accordés déjà aux Membres de cette Religion par tel ou tel État en particulier, leur sont conservés.

(British and Foreign State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 132-3.)

At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the question was once more brought before the Great Powers. This time the initiative was taken by a well-known English conversionist, the Rev. Lewis Way, of Stanstead, Sussex. There was, however, no trace of conversionism in his efforts on this occasion, and there can be no question that the Jewish Community owe him a great debt of gratitude. He proceeded to Aix some weeks before the Congress met, and presented to the Tsar Alexander a short scheme of Jewish emancipation. The Tsar encouraged him to amplify it, and this he did in two elaborate memoirs, one describing the situation of the Jews, and the other embodying a scheme under which they might be invested with civil rights. To this he added a short memorandum drawn up at his request by Dohm, the veteran champion of the Jews, who came to Aix for that special purpose. By command of the Tsar, these documents were presented to the Congress at its sitting on November 21, 1818, and were made the subject of a special Protocol, in which sympathy was expressed for "the praiseworthy object of his proposals." The plenipotentiaries further declared that the solution of the Jewish Question was a matter which should "equally occupy the statesman and the friend of humanity."[20] It is interesting to note that in his scheme Way declares himself to be a believer in Jewish Nationalism, and it is for this reason that he does not ask for more than civil rights for the Jews, as he regards their exile in Europe as an intermediate stage of their history. In this he was probably influenced by the prevalent anti-French atmosphere, inasmuch as the French Jews, in their compact with Napoleon, made by the Sanhedrin in 1806, had solemnly repudiated Jewish Nationalism, and had thus rendered themselves eligible for political, as well as civil, rights.[21]

DOCUMENT.

For the texts of the documents referred to above see "Mémoires sur l'état des Israélites, dédiés et présentés à leur Majestés Impériales et Royales, Réunies au Congrès d'Aix-la-Chapelle" [by the Rev. Lewis Way, A.M.], Paris, 1819.

The Protocol of the Congress at which these "Mémoires" were considered runs as follows:—

Protocole.

Séance du 21 Novembre, 1818.
Entre les cinq Cabinets.

Messieurs les SS. de Russie ont communiqué l'imprimé ci-joint, relatif à une réforme dans la législation civile et politique en ce qui concerne la nation juive. La conférence, sans entrer absolument dans toutes les vues de l'auteur de cette pièce, a rendu justice à la tendance générale et au but louable de ses propositions. MM. les SS. d'Autriche et de Prusse se sont déclarés prêts à donner, sur l'état de la question dans les deux monarchies, tous les éclaircissements qui pourraient servir à la solution d'un problème qui doit également occuper l'homme d'état et l'ami de l'humanité.