23. ALLIANCE ISRAELITE UNI. VERSELLE. An organization with head quarters at Paris, France, having for its purpose the protection, improvement •and edu cation of the Jewish people. Its activities have been directed, in the main, toward safeguard ing and educating Jews in eastern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. During the first half of the last century several attacks made on the Jews by fanatical mobs, owing chiefly to false charges of ritual murder, evoked fervent ap peals for organization, to which apparently lit tle heed was at first paid. Public sentiment be gan to crystallize after the Damascus blood ac cusation in 1840. A temporary cessation of dif ficulties produced indifference to the needs of organization when, on 23 June 1858, the world was startled by the announcement of the de tails of the Mortara case. Edgar Mortara, aged six, a son of Jewish parents, was forcibly ab ducted from his parents' home in Bologna by papal soldiers on the grounds that four years earlier, during a supposed spell of sickness, a servant, Anna Morisi, had secretly baptized the child.
Origin of the Alliance.—Public sentiment now became inflamed. The need of some cen tral organization to watch over Jewish interests was keenly felt and the (Alliance Israelite Uni verselle," founded in 1860, was the result. Six Parisian Jews, at that time but little known, but whose names have since become almost house hold words in were chiefly instrumental in founding the society. They were Aristide Astruc, later chief rabbi of Belgium; Isidor Cahen, editor of the 'Archives Israelites); Jules Carvallo, civil engineer; Narcisse Leven, law yer; Prof. Eugene Manuel; Charles Netter, merchant.
Objects.—The object of the Society is: To defend the honor of the Jewish name whenever it is attacked; to encourage, by all the means at our disposal, manual labor and the pursuit of useful trades and professions; to combat, whenever necessary, the ignorance and vice resulting from oppression; to contend, by the power of persuasion and moral influence, for the emancipation of our brethren who still suf fer under the oppressive burden of exceptional legislation; to advance and promote the com plete enfranchisement of our brethren by in tellectual .and moral regeneration." Article I of the Society's Statutes states its object: 6 ( 1 ) To toil everywhere for the emancipation and moral progress of the Jewish people; (2) To extend effective help to those who suffer persecution because they are Jews; (3) To en courage all publications calculated to promote these ends.° Management.— The Alliance is managed by a central committee of 62 persons, 23 of whom reside in France and 39 in other countries. Its headquarters are located at 35 Rue de Trevise, Paris. The central committee is elected for nine years, one-third of the members retiring at the end of three years, being, however, eligible for re-election.
Methods.— The modus operandi of the Al liance is solely along lines of moral force. The results achieved have, therefore, been slow of growth. They are, however, permanent in char acter and are beginning to hear fruit in the most unmistakable manner. The work has nat urally divided itself into three branches, (1) political; (2) educational; (3) literary. Politi• cal activity has not been resorted to with a view of intertneddling in the affairs of the powers, but of appealing to political leaders to secure justice. The necessity for such work arises from the fact that the Jews are followers of a religion which has no government to support it. Political Activities.— While the undertak ings of the Alliance in this direction have not been uniformly successful, they have served to stir the world's sluggish moral sense and in many important respects to improve the politi cal status of the Jews. Switzerland and Sweden
first yielded to the appeals of the Alliance and after these initial successes, Russia and the Bal kan provinces were the European countries in which the strongest efforts were made, because in these lands the Jews suffered most from all kinds of disabilities. At the time when this society was formed the lot of the Jews in the Balkan provinces was most unfortunate. At its instance remedial legislation was promised and when Adolphe Cremieux went to Bucharest in 1866 and pleaded with the Rumanian authori ties, it was believed that Jewish emancipation had been effected. But conditions went from bad to worse, until in 1878 the Berlin Treaty in Article 44 (inserted in the main through the in fluence of the Alliance), demanded recognition of the political rights of Jews in the Balkan provinces. Serbia and Bulgaria have been faithful to the terms of the treaty, but to this day Rumania considers the Jews as aliens, al though the government in 1917 promised re forms. Rumania remains the scene of great activity on the part of the Alliance, large sub ventions being annually granted for charitable and educational purposes. In spite of persist ent representations to the Russian government little success has been achieved in Russia. The political status of the Jews is that of aliens. Social, economic, civil and religious disabilities of every character menace the progress of about 6,000,000 Jewish souls. Daring the famine of 1869, when Poland and the west-Russian provinces suffered, the Alliance came to the res cue of the unfortunate, provided funds for the purchase of food, helped many to emigrate to Occidental lands, took charge of several hun dred orphans and founded trade-schools for Russo-Jewish children in western Europe. When the persecutions of 1881-83 were inau gurated, when the *May Laws' were put into operation and the Pale was again made the compulsory residence of millions of unhappy Jews, the Alliance again. became an angel of mercy for them. Kishineff, Odessa, Kieff are names which recall the barbaric massacres of many helpless jews, and during 1905 the Alli ance became the agent of the world's bene ficence, distributing over 3,000,000 francs among the sufferers. The soldiers wounded during the Russo-Japanese War, widows and orphans de prived of their natural protectors during the massacres, 8,000 workmen rendered penniless through riots and mob violence, emigrants who sought opportunity and liberty in foreign lands. have all been efficiently assisted by the minis trations of this °universal" agent. With the ex pulsion of the Tsar in 1917, a happier outlook was predicted for justice for the Jews of Rus sia. In Mohammedan countries Jewish disabili ties are of a different character. Here the peo ple suffer from poverty and lack of education, rather than from political inequality. Still, large sums of money have been spent by the Alliance iv Morocco, Tunis, Egypt, Persia and Turkey to protect the Jews from the violence of the mobs incidental to tire misrule prevail ing in most of these countries. Its representa tions have been strengthened by the interven tion and support of the British and French, and, in recent years, of the American, consuls, with gratifying results. In 1914 Spain gave grants to schools in Tetuan, Larache and Al cazar in return for making Spanish the lan guage of instruction.