[114] This is analogous to the English office of Sheriff.
[115] This list was already published by the writer in an article on The Civil and Military Status of American Jews, in Menorah Monthly, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, pp. 256-7.
JEWS IN THE ARMIES OF EUROPE.
The purpose of the present volume, as its title indicates, is a review of the record and the status as patriot, soldier and citizen of the American Jew. But the Jew is co-extensive with civilization, not only historically but geographically as well, and wherever civilization makes its way, there the Jew will be found exerting a positive influence in furthering its progress. He will be found at the nucleus and core of conservatism and order wherever order is akin to right, but he has never been wanting at the front of Revolution when wrong could no longer otherwise be righted.
Avoiding more than a passing advertence to Jewish military achievements in the beginning of Israel's history, in the later struggles against the Greeks and subsequently against the Romans; stopping but a moment to remember Joshua, and Gideon, and Deborah, the successive Maccabæan heroes, and the last desperate struggle for freedom that was led by Bar Cochba against Hadrian; passing down through all the martyrdoms of the Dark Ages to the present "nineteenth century," we come face to face with the fact that Jews have been present in European armies since the time of the Napoleonic wars. They were to be found in the ranks of all the combatants during that bloody prelude to the great political regeneration that is yet going on before us, and they have risen as far above the ranks as the prejudices of the Christianity-professing majority would admit.
In the successive Polish uprisings, in all the great political upheavals of 1848, and especially in the Hungarian revolution of that time, the Jews of their respective nationalities took a vigorous and aggressive part.[116] Their position in this regard was so positive and unmistakable that when those great socio-political disturbances had been quieted through the partial concession of popular rights by the monarchies of Europe, the Jews of Germany and Austria had reached a position where they could logically demand their political enfranchisement and the abolition of the mediæval restrictions which remained imposed on them. That they did not obtain a full measure of citizenship until after the establishment of the German Empire in 1871, is indeed true, and even yet the spirit of the Dark Ages is so far prevalent in Germany and in Austria (leaving Slavic Europe out of consideration as not yet modernized) as to preclude the advancement of Jews to the higher posts of the army. In France, however, since the French Revolution, and in Italy since the consolidation of the Kingdom, Jews have been advanced to the highest military commands. In both countries and especially in France, several Jewish soldiers at present hold the rank of General of Division, and quite a number, proportionately, that of Brigade and Regimental Commander.[117]
FOOTNOTES:
[116] ... "It is a gratifying proof of progress that the President of the Magyars (Kossuth) has promised freedom to those who equally with himself are struggling for the independence of their country, since it is said that there are no less than 35,000 Israelites in the Hungarian army." Extract from a French newspaper reprinted in "The Occident," August, 1849. Phila.; Edited by Isaac Leeser.