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The Southern Israelite
Arthur James Balfour
The Man Who Made Political Zionism
By MEYER W. WEISGAL
Arthur James Balfour, au
thor of the Balfour Declara
tion and one of the most not
able figures of contemporary
history, died on March l ( Jth,
1930, in his eighty-second
year. World Jewry will
mourn him as it has mourned
few men. Lord Balfour
stands forth as the most
eminent advocate of Zionism
in the Gentile world. His
name will be inscribed in the
Golden Book of Jewish His
tory as that of the man who
made the realization of Theo
dor Hcrzl’s dream a poli
tical possibility. Mr. Meyer
W. Weis gal, author of this
resume of Lord Balfour’s
career and analysis of his
place in Jewish history, is
himself an important figure
in the Zionist movement in
America as well as one of the
outstanding Jewish Journal
ists—The Editor.
The picture of Arthur James Bal
four that will live in the history of
the Jewish people as eternally as our
ancient prophets is the one which Sjr
Herbert Samuel, the first High Com
missioner of Palestine, described aft
er the dedication of the Hebrew Uni
versity at Jerusalem on April 1,
1926: “I recall Lord Balfour at that
memorable ceremony, a tall, silver-
haired figure in the scarlet robe of
his degree, outstanding in the midst
of a vast assembly. We were gath
ered under the setting sun, in a great
amphitheatre, below us on the one
hand the city, on the other the valley
of the Jordan, in the distance the
mountains of Moab. He stood there
in the evening of his own days and
spoke of the new day that he saw
dawning in the life of a deathless
people. And as the sun was descend
ing in the west its rays lit up the
peaks of Mount Pisgah.”
A commanding personality personi
fying the very best that the English
people have produced in the realms
of statesmanship and pure thought,
Arthur James Balfour will remain, in
Jewish history, the man who lifted
Zionism out of the Jewish debating-
class atmosphere into the arena of
world politics. The general historian,
of course, will point him out as one
of the most notable figures in Brit
ish affairs during the last twenty-
five years of the nineteenth and the
twenty-five years of the twentieth
century. In the annals of world his
tory his name will be written as that
of perhaps the last representative of
the glorious British Imperialistic era
of Disraeli and Gladstone. His po
litical record will be discussed by
many historians, for no student of
British affairs can avoid meeting the
stately figure of Arthur James Bal
four at every significant turning of
British history during the past fifty
years. The Jews of the world, how
ever, will visualize him standing on
Mount Scopus, handing down to the
Jewish people the Declaration that
bears his name.
The Balfour Declaration, which has
assumed the proportions of a Magna
Charta in the course of the Inst
twelve years, which pledges the co
operation of the British government
in the establishment of a national
home for the Jewish people, was the
result of Arthur James Balfour’s es
pousal of the Jewish cause. Dr.
Chaim Weizmann, President of the
World Zionist Organization, was of
course the instrument selected by des
tiny to win the understanding and
enthusiasm of the great Christian
statesman. Weizmann’s part in this
political triumph of Zionism cannot
be overestimated; but at this time,
when we mourn the passing of the
great British sage, whose devotion to
the Jewish cause has endeared him
to us for all time, I prefer not to
speak of Dr. Weizmann’s role, how
ever glorious. It is Balfour who, as
far as history is concerned, will be
remembered as the creator of the
Balfour Declaration.
It is not my intention in this ar
ticle to dwell on the political signifi
cance or historical importance of the
Balfour Declaration. Jews the world
over are fully aware of this signifi
cance. The governments of all civ
ilized countries, all the post-war in
ternational pacts—such ns the San
Remo Conference’s treaty—have duly
recognized the Balfour Declaration
as a binding diplomatic agreement
between Great Britain and the Jew
ish people; as such it was ratified by
the League of Nations. The death of
Lord Balfour affects in no way the
permanency of the Balfour Declara
tion. And when world Jewry laments
the passing of the great British
statesman it does so because it had
come to love and venerate the man
Balfour for himself, aside from his
authorship of the Balfour Declara
tion.
That man Balfour: he was a prod
uct of Eton and of Trinity College,
Cambridge. P. W. Wilson, a man well
versed in English affairs, writes as
follows of Balfour’s background:
“With a Scot as father and a Cecil
as mother, Balfour was born and bred
at once as a Presbyterian and a Con
servative. But neither Presbyterian
ism nor Conservatism has furnished
him with a faith. Whether as mystic
or as citizen, Balfour was reared an
aristocrat. Men are unequal; the
best of them must rule and among
the best none was better than he.
Anybody who failed to perceive that
was a person lacking perception.”
Balfour’s uncle was the third Mar
quis of Salisbury, thrice Prime Min
ister. Thus the young Balfour’s en
trance into the political arena was
an organic progression. He began
by becoming the private secretary of
his uncle, and soon after was ap
pointed Chief Secretary of Ireland—
a most delicate and responsible po
sition. In this post he revealed him
self a man of untiring energy, great
diplomatic skill and of a daring made
possible only by unbounded self-con
fidence. Subsequently the long, slim,
yet athletic figure of Balfour was
seen in many important positions of
the British Government, including
the Prime Ministry.
Balfour’s interest in Zionism was
always a source of profound amaze
ment for most of his friends. They
were unable to make it fit in with the
intellectual and psychological make
up of the man. For essentially Bal
four was a skeptic. He never read a
newspaper, and as a philosopher he
always made it clear that he had
nothing to offer except a few doubts.
Practical political routine bored him.
He had a particular knack for keep
ing his mind free of details and sta
tistics. It is told that when, one day,
he was asked what the population of
the British Empire was, he turned to
a colleague and repeated the ques
BAI.FOUR DECLARATION
FOREIGN OFFICE,
November 2nd, 1917.
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of
His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of
sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been
submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:
“His Majesty's Government view with favour the
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to
facilitate the achievement of this object, it being
cl earl n understood that nothing shall be done which
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing
non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights
and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other
country.”
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration
to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR.
a Reality
tion. He had never bothered to
the exact figures and did
urgent to know them, even if it ^
he who was entrusted with the * 0T
eming of that same Empire.
This anecdote is indeed charar.
teristic of the man Balfour. To mt
it explains why he never cared to
know statistical data about Palestine
The idea of a national home for the
Jews had gripped the imagination of
this skeptic. Some say that he w w
won by Jewish wit or by some Jewish
personality; others claim that then
was something of a mystic in this
unbelieving Balfour and that the vis-
ion of Israel returning to its ancient
home enflamed his fancy; still others
may insist that Balfour, the British
Imperialist, w-as quick to understand
the advantages of a Jewish Palest ne
as a buffer state in the Near East.
I suppose that historians will be
spilling a lot of ink discussing the
reasons that prompted Balfour to be
come the most eminent advocate of
Zionism in the Gentile world. Thej
will marshall a lot of arguments to
prove that it was Balfour the British
statesman, or Balfour the mystic or
Balfour the war leader who became
converted to Zionism. But anyone
who has taken the trouble to read
Balfour the philosopher and Balfour’s
views on Zionism will understand
that the Zionism of Balfour was an
integral part of his Weltanschauung
Arthur James Balfour was, above
all, an ethical personality. The Jew
ish problem bothered him as an in
stance of social and political injus
tice. He once wrote: “I have always
been greatly interested in the Jew.sk
question, and when, in the ear.y
years of the twentieth century, ant>
Semitism in Europe was in an acu:»
stage I did my best to support »
scheme devised by Mr. Chamberlain,
then Colonial Secretary, for creatirj
a Jewish settlement in East Africa
under the Jewish flag ”
But Lord Balfour possessed just
that philosophic spirit which enab.e
him to grasp, as few non-Jews ha'*,
the inner meaning of Zionism. on
cerning the offer of the British '
ernment to give a settlement ir
Africa to the Jews, he added, su se ‘
quently: “It was certainly well-n-
tentioned and had, I think,
But it had one serious defect,
not Zionism.” And, explaining «
statement, this eminent non e
exponent of Zionism goes on ®
“That scheme attempted to in
home for men of the Jewish re 1
and the Jewish race in a r ‘ ,?lon . J{
removed from the country w iere
race was nurtured and "
religion came into being. 1
cannot thus be ignored,
was to be found for the ' • s
pie, homeless for nineteen. “
it was vain to seek it a:. eJ .
in Palestine.” These v:ev
pressed by Balfour in l Jb ; tion
the war and the Balfour - ’ -’ t
long before there came ii ex
(Continued on Fag<?