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Page 4 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<?