.

In the special part, which is divided into three principal sections, I
shall describe its execution. These three sections are: The Jewish
Company, Local Groups, and the Society of Jews. The Society is to be
created first, the Company last; but in this exposition the reverse
order is preferable, because it is the financial soundness of the
enterprise which will chiefly be called into question, and doubts on
this score must be removed first.

In the conclusion, I shall try to meet every further objection that
could possibly be made. My Jewish readers will, I hope, follow me
patiently to the end. Some will naturally make their objections in an
order of succession other than that chosen for their refutation. But
whoever finds his doubts dispelled should give allegiance to the
cause.

Although I speak of reason, I am fully aware that reason alone will
not suffice. Old prisoners do not willingly leave their cells. We
shall see whether the youth whom we need are at our command--the
youth, who irresistibly draw on the old, carry them forward on strong
arms, and transform rational motives into enthusiasm.

_II. The Jewish Question_

No one can deny the gravity of the situation of the Jews. Wherever
they live in perceptible numbers, they are more or less persecuted.
Their equality before the law, granted by statute, has become
practically a dead letter. They are debarred from filling even
moderately high positions, either in the army, or in any public or
private capacity. And attempts are made to thrust them out of business
also: "Don't buy from Jews!"

Attacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in
the street, on journeys--for example, their exclusion from certain
hotels--even in places of recreation, become daily more numerous. The
forms of persecutions varying according to the countries and social
circles in which they occur. In Russia, imposts are levied on Jewish
villages; in Rumania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they
get a good beating occasionally; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise
terrorism over all public life; in Algeria, there are travelling
agitators; in Paris, the Jews are shut out of the so-called best
social circles and excluded from clubs. Shades of anti-Jewish feeling
are innumerable. But this is not to be an attempt to make out a
doleful category of Jewish hardships.

I do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our behalf. That
would be foolish, f