Speech #630084163

The subjects and citizens of all the powers. traders or others. shall he treated in Roumanla without distinction of creed on a footing of perfect equality. Such were the terms offered by the Congress of Berlin to Rolmana as a condition of the recognition of her independence. Strangely and unfortuntaely the powers were once again persuaeded to agree to a conmpromise. "That only Christians may obtain naturalization" was a iprovision of Article VII of the Roumanian constitution of 1866. Acting upon the arbitrary and illegal assumption that all Jews were aliens. Roumania contended that the only disability imposed upon them was exclusion from naturalization under this article. and she consequently proposed to revise Article VII of her constitution as a satisfaction of Article XLIV of the treaty of Berlin. The offer of Roumania. in other words. was to open the door of naturalization to the Jews. the inference then being. of course. that all other blessings would flow from citizenship. The powers pointed out in reply that by the Roumanian naturalization law the "equality of citizen" could only be obtained after a probation of 10 years. and then by individual act of Parliament. which was liable to be defeated by the Cha mbers. and the offer of compromise was consequently declined. Roumania then changed her ground by deserting her legal position and urging a plea of expediency. She insisted that if the Jews were not aliens in law they were aliens in fact. "not only by their religion. but by language. custom. manners. aspirationsin a word. by all that constitutes distinctive character in a man as a member of society." She contended. further. that the Jews were "illiterate and fanatical." and that they were " peculiarly accessible to foreign influences. and that. owing to their large numbers. they were calculated to strike a fatal blow at the homogeneity of the Roumanian national character." And as a final plea it was urged that " the nation was strongly opposed to an immediate and wholesale emancipation. and that if the powers insisted upon it the effect would be that the cause of religious liberty in Roumania would be endangered rather than promoted." The powers seem to have been somewhat impressed by the force of these contentions. but. nevertheless. they still declined to admit that a revision of Article VII of the Roumanian constitntion would. in full measure. meet the requirements of Article XLIV of the treaty of Berlin. It was then that Roumania. fearing the shipwreck of her hopes to become an independent nation. gave the most solemn assurances that if the proposed solution was accepted. it would be made to apply at once to all assimilated Jews. and that the naturalization of unassimilated Jews would be provided for and accomplished within a reasonable time. Sir William White was told by Boeresco. the Roumanian foreign minister. "that If the present bill could only become a law. a more complete measure of emancipation would be actepted by the electorate later on when the present agitations had subsided." But more specific and emphatic than this were the promises contained In a circular dispatch sent out by Boeresco under date of August 31. 1879. a document that he himself described as "a sort of expos6 des motifs of the measure we are about to submit to the Chambers.". The essential passages of this dispatch are the following: Will the Jews who do not immediately obtain naturalization remain foreigners? No. they will remain what they always have beenRounmanan. But in the measure that they identify themselves with the population of the country. in the measure that by schools and other means of preparation they become enlightened men and attached to the country. they will be able to obtain and exercise political rights.