belloc_(02)_anti-semitism.

Let us look at the lines of argument Belloc presents in his 1922 book THE JEWS. I have the Third Edition (paper) With a new Introductory Chapter. The new edition dates from 1937 -- four years after Hitler came to power. The paperback is a 1998 reprint by OMNI PUBLICATIONS of Palmdale, California. ISBN is 0-88418-010-7. The book's frontispiece has the Hebrew text with which Belloc concluded his work in both editions, "But for my part I say, 'Peace be to Israel.'" (p. 242) The book is not currently in print but can be found on line via amazon.com and other booksellers.

Some English history to remember: in the year 1290 King Edward I (father of 19 children by two royal wives) expelled all Jews from England under penalty of death. (For an overview of his reign see on line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England).
Belloc gives the context for this expulsion in CHAPTER X "The Present Relation Between The English State and the Jews" (183 - 192). He also speculates from this example and, by implication, from other examples on what are the causes that regularly bring ruin on Jews in European states.

Hilaire Belloc, writing in 1922, saw a tragic cycle in the behavior toward Jews in every single country of Europe. Every nation first welcomed, then tolerated, persecuted, attempted to exile, often actually exiled -- welcomed again and on and on (183). Spain was extreme in this regard. Only England was more extreme: "the only country which absolutely got rid of the Jews for hundreds of years" (Ibid.)

Significant numbers of Jews entered England from Northern France after the Norman conquest and its almmost immediate conomic upswing. As elsewhere in Europe Jews in England were the special charge of the Kings, personally protected by the State. So much so that to attack Jews was to attack the King himself. Jews were powerful in financing kings and others and were permitted to practice "usury." (184) That is, the usurer is permitted to take interest on unproductive loans. On the usurer's death his liquid profits from such loans were to go to the King (185). Rates of interest were often enormous: 50%, even 80%. From the early 13th Century, for reasons Belloc had not been able to tease out, Jewish wealth in England sank quickly and deeply.

In an aside (185) Belloc noted "that the misfortunes of the Jews in any country never begin until their financial position is shaken. ... Popular passion is let loose and disaster follows."

This happened in 13th Century England and rulers reacted viciously against the Jews. Roughly 17,000 Jews were expelled in 1290, being permitted to carry their money and movable property (186). For 350 years England, alone in Europe, "would not tolerate the Jews upon any terms whatsoever." Jews returned under Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s. By coincidence or not this was a time for novel financial experiements and new institutions in the British Isles. As England became the world's greatest trading and commercial nation a natural alliance with Jews became taken for granted (187).

[COMMENT: Belloc speaks of an "alliance between the English and the Jews" from the late 17th century into the 19th century. (187) Alliance? One makes alliances primarily with "aliens," does one not? Why does he think of Jews this way?]

According to Belloc, English Protestants made natural allies of Jews. Both disliked Catholics. And both pored over the Old Testament. And middle class Englishmen did not relish learning of Jews being kicked around abroad. Moreover, until recently, there were not many poor Jews in England. The English were global traders and needed global finance. By the late 1800s Jewish financial and English commerical interests were close to identical (188). Each side loved what the other was doing. All antgonism to Jews had died down in the U.K. Jews entered every institution. Intermarried with the English. By the 1900s few aristocratic English families lacked Jewish blood (189).

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(B) THE CHARACTER OF AARON LEVINA/ARTHUR LAWSON

IN THE 1932 NOVEL "THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL"