The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

EXTRACTS FROM MR. NOAH'S ORATION, Delivered at Buffalo on the occasion of the foundation of the City of ARARAT.

"Two thousand years have nearly elapsed since the dissolution of the Jewish government, and no period has presented itself more auspiciously than the present for its reorganization. Peace exists among civilized powers, the march of learning and science has been rapid and successful, and mankind are at this day better qualified to estimate the blessings of toleration and liberal views, and better disposed and capacitated to encourage and enforce them, than at any former time. Religion generally, though divided and subdivided into various sects, assumes a milder aspect and feelings, and universal love and charity have superseded the darkness and bigotry of former ages. The nations of the old and new world, including the children of Africa, have had their rights acknowledged, and their governments reorganized. The oldest of nations, powerful in numbers and great in resources, remains isolated, without a home, a country or a government.

The Jews have been destined by Providence to remain a distinct people. Though scattered over the face of the globe, they still retain their homogeneousness of character--the peculiarity of their tenets, the identity of their faith. In their prosperity and adversity they have uniformly been the chosen people--proud of their God, proud of their distinction, and even proud of their sufferings. Bending before the tribunals of power, yielding to persecution and torture, tranquil in misfortune, and resigned to fate, they patiently endured, not meanly surrendered, they bravely defended their rights and the rights of their country, and have never despaired of divine protection, or given up hopes of human justice.

Looking forward to a period of regeneration and the fulfilment of the prophecies, the Jews have preserved within themselves the elements of government in having carefully preserved the oracles of God assigned to their safe keeping, and the time has arrived when their rights as a nation can be recognized, when, in the enjoyments of independence, the lights of learning and civilization, and the obligation of industry and morality, they can cultivate a friendly and affectionate understanding with the whole family of mankind, and have no longer enemies on earth.

In calling the Jews together under the protection of the American Constitution and laws, and governed by our happy and salutary institutions, it is proper for me to state that this asylum is temporary and provisionary. The Jews never should, and never will relinquish the just hope of regaining possession of their ancient heritage, and events in the neighbourhood of Palestine indicate an extraordinary change of affairs.

The Greeks are almost independent of the Ottoman Porte. The Turkish sceptre becomes weaker daily. Russia will march upon Constantinople. The Egyptians are cultivating the useful arts, and are encouraging commerce and agriculture. The Turks, driven beyond the Bosphorus, may leave the land of Canaan free for the occupancy of its rightful owners; and the wealth and enterprise of the Jews may make it desirable for them to reclaim their former possession by and with the consent of the Christian powers, who, more enlightened, and consequently more tolerant, may be duly impressed with a sense of justice due to an injured and oppressed people.

Called together to the Holy Land by the slow but unerring finger of Providence, the Jews, coming from every quarter of the globe, would bring with them the language, habits and prejudices, of each country. Assimilating only in religious doctrines, and divided on temporal affairs, they would present innumerable difficulties in organising under any form of government, and the diversity of opinions and views would create factions as dangerous and difficult to allay as those fatal ones which existed in the time of the first and second Temples. It is in this country that the government of the Jews must be organized. Here, under the influence of perfect freedom, they may study laws, cultivate their minds, acquire liberal principles as to men and measures, and qualify themselves to direct the energies of a just and honorable government in the land of the Patriarchs.

Conforming therefore to the constitution and laws of the United States, there is no difficulty in organizing and concentrating the Jewish nation. Originally we were a race of shepherds; each man governed his own family, and to the enjoyment of domestic happiness they added the blessings of a pure religion. Israel accumulating in strength was led to Egypt, delivered from bondage, and conducted to the promised land, by the illustrious legislator of the Jews and the great benefactor of mankind. The moral, political and ecclesiastical code of laws, which the Almighty through Moses presented to the children of Israel, forms, even at this day, the basis of every civil and religious institution. The victorious Joshua settled the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and divided it according to tribes. After a short interregnum, on his death, the government of the Judges commenced, which existed 300 years, until it was merged in the kingdom which commenced with Saul, and terminated, after a brilliant epoch, in the captivity. The government of the High Priests succeeded and continued 428 years, followed by the Maccabean Kings of Judah, and the nation became finally dispersed under Herod the Idumean.

In selecting from the primitive, the judicial, the regal and sacerdotal governments, a form best adapted to the times, and also to the condition of the Jewish people, I have deemed it expedient to reorganize the nation under the direction of the Judges.

The authority of the Judges extended to all religious, military and civil concerns--they were absolute and independent, like the kings of Israel and Judah, without the ensigns of sovereignty. The Judges were immediately from the people, mingling in their deliberations, directing their energies, commanding their armies, and executing their laws. The office, which was not hereditary, conforms in some respect to that of chief magistrate, and is in accordance with the genius and disposition of the people of this country.

The Hebrew nation, with its sublime Theocracy, its moral laws, its warlike character and powerful government, originated in a family of shepherds. From an ancestry not more illustrious arose the heroes and sages of Greece, and to the neglected children of the forest was Rome, once mistress of the world, indebted for existence. From origins the most humble, and from projects the most doubtful, the world has been indebted for signal benefits and blessings. A few pilgrims, driven to our continent by European persecution, have laid the foundations of a splendid empire. We have less difficulties to encounter, because we are surrounded by civilization; and a few Jews in this happy land, admonished by the past, and animated by anticipations of the future, may increase rapidly and prosperously, and, under good government and wholesome laws, may fall back in time towards the Pacific Ocean, and possess a country the most fertile, as it is capacious and valuable. We have long been captives in a land of strangers: we have long anxiously expected a temporal deliverance; but throughout the most terrible periods of calamity, we have done nothing for ourselves. The Almighty, who has covered us with the shield of his paternal love, has given us moral agents, by which, with his divine aid, we are to effect our own deliverance. We have senses, judgment, power of self-government, energy, capacity and wealth. If with all these great requisites we still "hang our harps upon the willow," we still cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashes, and do not make one effort for independence, how can we reasonably continue to supplicate God for our restoration, who made man on his own image, and proclaimed him free? Why should the parent of nations, the oldest of people, the founders of religion, wander among the governments of the earth, intreating succor and protection, when we are capable of protecting ourselves?

The time has emphatically arrived to do something calculated to benefit our own condition, and excite the admiration of the world; and we must commence the work in a country free from ignoble prejudices and legal disqualifications--a country, in which liberty can be insured to the Jews without the loss of one drop of blood.

The present condition of our people throughout the world is not without interest and instruction. The rightful possessors of Palestine are slaves in their own territory, and the pious attachment of the resident Jews of the Holy Land, gives them the highest claims on our charity and protection. There are several hundred families in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias, three of the most ancient congregations in the world, and the number in the Holy Land may be computed at 100,000. Those on the borders of the Mediterranean are engaged in trade and manufactures; those in the interior, and particularly in Jerusalem, are poor, and dreadfully oppressed. They are the great sentinels and guardians of the law and religion, and amidst the severest privations and the most intense sufferings, they have for centuries kept their eye upon the ruined site of the temple, and said, "the time will come--the day will be accomplished."

The Samaritan Jews, which formerly were numerous and scattered over Egypt, Damascus, Ascalon, and Cesarea, are now reduced to a few hundred poor inoffensive persons, principally residents of Jaffa and Nablous. As there is no essential difference between their doctrines and the rest of our brethren, the distinction between them should cease. The Caraite Jews, who are numerous, are principally residents of the Crimea and the Ukraine, and are a respectable body of men. They reject the Talmud and rabbinical doctrines, adhering closely to the precepts of our divine law. On the borders of Cochin China, we have a large colony of white and black Jews. Their numbers are computed at 10,000. The white Jews reside on the sea coast, and the blacks in the interior. The blacks, who call themselves Beni Israel must have existed at the time of the first temple. The researches in the interior of Africa may, at some future period, give us immense colonies of Jews, which emigrated at an early period from Egypt. There are on the coast of Malabar and Coromandel, and in the interior of India, a considerable number of wealthy and enterprising Israelites. Measures will be adopted to ascertain their force and condition.

Upwards of a million and a half of Jews reside in the dominions of the Ottoman Porte, including the Barbary States. In Constantinople and Salonichi, there cannot be less than one hundred thousand. They suffer much from the oppression of the Turks--are severely taxed, and treated with undisguised severity: but their skill in trade and their general quickness and intelligence as bankers, brokers, and merchants, give them the command of important confidential stations in the empire. The same character and condition may be likewise attributed to those numerous Jews residing in Egypt and in Persia; they have many wealthy men in Alexandria, Cairo, Ispahan, and the numerous cities beyond the Euphrates."