登陆注册
19968400000100

第100章 CHAPTER THE SIXTH(8)

Benham found himself, refreshed and tended, sitting beside a wood fire in an inner chamber richly flavoured by humanity and listening to a discourse in evil but understandable German.It was a discourse upon the wrongs and the greatness of the Jewish people--and it was delivered by a compact middle-aged man with a big black beard and long-lashed but animated eyes.Beside him a very old man dozed and nodded approval.A number of other men crowded the apartment, including several who had helped to hold off the rioters from the court.Some could follow the talk and ever again endorsed the speaker in Yiddish or Russian; others listened with tantalized expressions, their brows knit, their lips moving.

It was a discourse Benham had provoked.For now he was at the very heart of the Jewish question, and he could get some light upon the mystery of this great hatred at first hand.He did not want to hear tales of outrages, of such things he knew, but he wanted to understand what was the irritation that caused these things.

So he listened.The Jew dilated at first on the harmlessness and usefulness of the Jews.

"But do you never take a certain advantage?" Benham threw out.

"The Jews are cleverer than the Russians.Must we suffer for that?"The spokesman went on to the more positive virtues of his race.

Benham suddenly had that uncomfortable feeling of the Gentile who finds a bill being made against him.Did the world owe Israel nothing for Philo, Aron ben Asher, Solomon Gabriol, Halevy, Mendelssohn, Heine, Meyerbeer, Rubinstein, Joachim, Zangwill? Does Britain owe nothing to Lord Beaconsfield, Montefiore or the Rothschilds? Can France repudiate her debt to Fould, Gaudahaux, Oppert, or Germany to Furst, Steinschneider, Herxheimer, Lasker, Auerbach, Traube and Lazarus and Benfey?...

Benham admitted under the pressure of urgent tones and gestures that these names did undoubtedly include the cream of humanity, but was it not true that the Jews did press a little financially upon the inferior peoples whose lands they honoured in their exile?

The man with the black beard took up the challenge bravely.

"They are merciful creditors," he said."And it is their genius to possess and control.What better stewards could you find for the wealth of nations than the Jews? And for the honours? That always had been the role of the Jews--stewardship.Since the days of Joseph in Egypt...."Then in a lower voice he went on to speak of the deficiencies of the Gentile population.He wished to be just and generous but the truth was the truth.The Christian Russians loved drink and laziness;they had no sense of property; were it not for unjust laws even now the Jews would possess all the land of South Russia....

Benham listened with a kind of fascination."But," he said.

It was so.And with a confidence that aroused a protest or so from the onlookers, the Jewish apologist suddenly rose up, opened a safe close beside the fire and produced an armful of documents.

"Look!" he said, "all over South Russia there are these!"Benham was a little slow to understand, until half a dozen of these papers had been thrust into his hand.Eager fingers pointed, and several voices spoke.These things were illegalities that might some day be legal; there were the records of loans and hidden transactions that might at any time put all the surrounding soil into the hands of the Jew.All South Russia was mortgaged....

"But is it so?" asked Benham, and for a time ceased to listen and stared into the fire.

Then he held up the papers in his hand to secure silence and, feeling his way in unaccustomed German, began to speak and continued to speak in spite of a constant insurgent undertone of interruption from the Jewish spokesman.

All men, Benham said, were brothers.Did they not remember Nathan the Wise?

"I did not claim him," said the spokesman, misunderstanding."He is a character in fiction."But all men are brothers, Benham maintained.They had to be merciful to one another and give their gifts freely to one another.

Also they had to consider each other's weaknesses.The Jews were probably justified in securing and administering the property of every community into which they came, they were no doubt right in claiming to be best fitted for that task, but also they had to consider, perhaps more than they did, the feelings and vanities of the host population into which they brought these beneficent activities.What was said of the ignorance, incapacity and vice of the Roumanians and Russians was very generally believed and accepted, but it did not alter the fact that the peasant, for all his incapacity, did like to imagine he owned his own patch and hovel and did have a curious irrational hatred of debt....

The faces about Benham looked perplexed.

"THIS," said Benham, tapping the papers in his hand."They will not understand the ultimate benefit of it.It will be a source of anger and fresh hostility.It does not follow because your race has supreme financial genius that you must always follow its dictates to the exclusion of other considerations...."The perplexity increased.

Benham felt he must be more general.He went on to emphasize the brotherhood of man, the right to equal opportunity, equal privilege, freedom to develop their idiosyncrasies as far as possible, unhindered by the idiosyncrasies of others.He could feel the sympathy and understanding of his hearers returning."You see,"said Benham, "you must have generosity.You must forget ancient scores.Do you not see the world must make a fresh beginning?"He was entirely convinced he had them with him.The heads nodded assent, the bright eyes and lips followed the slow disentanglement of his bad German.

"Free yourselves and the world," he said.

Applause.

同类推荐
  • 佛点头脉诀

    佛点头脉诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说净业障经

    佛说净业障经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说弥勒成佛经

    佛说弥勒成佛经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Shakespearian Sonnets

    The Shakespearian Sonnets

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 麻疹备要方论

    麻疹备要方论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 东北野仙奇闻录

    东北野仙奇闻录

    湘西被人误解的赶尸,真实的面纱到底是什么?为何他们要昼伏夜出,为何会人见人厌,难道真的仅仅是因为他们常年与尸为伍吗?夜郎古国、蚩尤秘境、苗疆秘闻,到底隐藏着怎样的惊世骇俗的秘密,这一切都是因为一个男孩无意间被卷入这场漩涡,慢慢的揭开了他们神秘的一角!接下来,他又将会遇到怎样的惊心动魄之事,知道什么不被人知的秘密?
  • 诡弓

    诡弓

    昏暗的世界,空洞的生命,我的存在,还剩余什么?又或者说,为了什么?是那个游戏的世界吗?在那里,是否拥有绚丽的色彩?——————————————————————————喜欢的朋友请挪下鼠标,收藏和推荐,巷子这边谢过了。
  • 甜蜜暴击:竹马是老师

    甜蜜暴击:竹马是老师

    “叫一声老师来我听听。”他嘴角挂着矜贵而耀眼的笑容半眯着眼问。从汐无语望天,一字一顿道:“你,休,想!”面前这个顶着一张纯洁无公害小受脸无比傲娇的少年是谁啊喂她可爱的小竹马哪去了啊为什么他成了她的英语老师…这个世界一定是疯了!“好,不叫是吧,”他坏笑着把她壁咚在墙上,笑的异常妖孽,“我现在要惩罚你了哦。”唔…混蛋!一言不合就吃她豆腐?从汐瞪大了眼睛,一脸懵圈。“我不介意吻到你叫为止。”她立马求饶:“夏老师,我错了啊!”
  • 枪神之路:葵年代记

    枪神之路:葵年代记

    何为枪神?爬上No.1就是神!为何而战?为了荣誉而战!NONONO!对于菜鸟来说这样的要求实在太高了!但是呢,小葵,有她自己的枪神之路。不是只有男生才会泼洒热血,不是只有男生才能奋战到底!巾帼不让须眉!她的游戏生涯就要开始喽!
  • 重生魔君

    重生魔君

    一代魔道邪君,重生少年时代,凭借领先千年的巅峰魔技与精妙剑法,逆转天命!前世全家灭门之仇,报回来!心爱女人惨死之痛,杀回来!修为止步之恨,补回来!波澜壮阔的魔修之路,慷慨激昂的男儿战歌,神州大地的群雄并起,星辰外域的霸主之争,干脆!直接!以一个男人的方式,杀过去!无论大族小派,宗岛异海,何处有战斗,何处就有他一剑斩去的头颅,一气喝碎的尸身!魔罗神州,腥风血雨。在这个杀人越货,实力为尊的残酷世界中,弱者没有生存的空隙,唯有强者,才有说话的权利!正邪如何,是非如何,谁还在乎?还有何可在乎?且看重生归来的无上魔君,如何登上那号令天下,群魔俯首的巅峰王座!
  • 腹黑小竹马诱拐小青梅

    腹黑小竹马诱拐小青梅

    从小时候就认识的他们彼此莫过于知根知底,他们之间的爱情故事虽没有轰轰烈烈却是幸福而甜蜜如同我们憧憬的爱情小剧场一:某一天一只腹黑大灰狼把刚刚诱拐地小萌妻扑倒在床,暖暖问:云景哥哥你要干什么。大灰狼自豪地说当然是索取我这么多年的利息呀......
  • 御天化龙

    御天化龙

    我欲化龙,谁人争雄?我若御天,无人成仙!
  • 命中注定:盛宠妖娆

    命中注定:盛宠妖娆

    一场邂逅,他为她沉沦,她为他倾倒,却因种种原因终成陌路。几番辗转,却发现他们的命运似乎早已被缠在了一起,无从挣脱……【“喂,你不知道这是本小姐的地盘吗?”“不知道”“现在知道了?”“应该。”“……”】
  • 废材惊天下:王爷约么

    废材惊天下:王爷约么

    她原是天才变废材,妹妹和未婚夫的双重背叛将她推入深渊。当二十一世纪的作死女穿越到了含恨而终的她身上,当沉睡的血脉被唤醒,当惊世天才再度出现在众人面前,她一雪前耻的把负心汉扔到海里喂鱼。他是人人避而不及的傻王,纵使拥有天下绝色之颜亦改变不了因痴傻而遭人嫌弃,唯独她慧眼识珠,上演一出女追男也隔座山的追逐。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 英雄联盟之有情剑

    英雄联盟之有情剑

    青春是一段让人微笑着潸然泪下的回忆。含笑的带泪的不悔的眼,诉说着那些激情洋溢的故事。我们的回忆不仅仅是游戏。让我们一起穿越去瓦罗兰大陆做我们心中最喜欢的英雄。