be in favor of North America, however, we must hasten. If one considers that in the last thirty-eight years the population of the United States of America has risen from seventeen millions to fifty millions, and that the increase in population for the next forty years will probably continue in the same proportion, we can well understand that immediate action is necessary, if we do not desire to eliminate for all time the possibility of establishing in the New World a secure refuge for our unhappy brethren.
Every one who has the slightest judgment can see at first glance that the purchase of lands in America would, because of the swift rise of that country, not be a risky undertaking, but a lucrative enterprise.
prise. Whether this act of national self-help on our part would be a more or less productive enterprise, however, is of little importance in comparison with the great significance which such an undertaking would have for the future of our unsettled people; for our future will remain insecure and precarious so long as a radical change in our position is not made. This change cannot be brought about by the civil emancipation of the Jews in this or that state, but only by the auto-emancipation of the Jewish people as a nation, the foundation of a colonial community belonging to the Jews, which is some day to become our un-alienable home, our fatherland.
There will certainly be no lack of objection to our plans. We will still be charged with reckoning without our host. What land will grant us permission to constitute a nation within its borders? At first glance, our building would appear from this standpoint to be a house of cards to divert children and wits. We think, however, that only thoughtless childhood could be diverted by the sight of shipwrecked voyagers who desire to build a little boat in order to leave an inhospitable country. We even go so far as to say that we expect, strangely enough, that those inhospitable peoples will aid us in our departure. - Our “friends” will see us leave with the same pleasure with which we turn our back upon them.
. Of course, the establishment of a Jewish refuge cannot come about without the support of the governments. In order to attain the latter and to insure the perpetual
We should not persuade ourselves that humanity and enlightenment will ever be radical remedies for the malady of our people.
In order that we may not be constrained to wander from one exile to another we must have an extensive, productive place of refuge, a rendezvous which is our own.
The present moment is more favorable than any other for the plan unfolded.
A way must be opened for the national regeneration of the Jews by a congress of Jewish notables.
Help yourselves, and God will help you!
existence of a refuge, the creators of our national regeneration will have to proceed with patience and care. What we seek is at bottom neither new nor dangerous for anyone. Instead of the many refuges which we have always been accustomed to seek, we would fain have one single refuge, the existence of which, however, would have to be politically assured.
be politically assured.Let "Now or never!" be our watchword.Woe to our descendants, woe to the memoryof our Jewish contemporaries, if we let thismoment pass by!
We may sum up the contents of this pamphlet in the following sentences:
The Jews are not a living nation; they are everywhere aliens; therefore they are despised.
The civil and political emancipation of the Jews is not sufficient to raise them in the estimation of the peoples.
The proper, the only remedy, would be the creation of a Jewish nationality, of a people living upon its own soil, the auto-emancipation of the Jews; their emancipation as a nation among nations by the acquisition of a home of their own.
The lack of national self-respect and self-confidence, of political initiative and of unity are the enemies of our national renaissance.
The international Jewish question must receive a national solution. Of course, our national regeneration can only proceed slowly. We must take the first step. Our descendants must follow us in measured and not over-hasty time.
No sacrifices would be too great in order to reach the goal which will assure our people's future, everywhere endangered.
The financial accomplishment of the undertaking can in the present state of the case encounter no insuperable difficulties.