The persecution of the Jew to which Disraeli re¬ fers is that of the Spanish Inquisition, which rested on religious grounds. Tracing the Sidonia family through a troubled period of European history, our Jewish author notes:
“ During the disorders of the Peninsular War * * * a cadet of the younger branch of this family made a large fortune by military contracts, and supplying the commissariat of the different armies” (p. 212.) Certainly. It is a truth unassailable, applicable to any period of the Christian Era, that “persecuted” or not, “wars have been the Jews’ harvests.” They were the first military commissaries. If this young Sidonia in supplying “the different armies” went so far as to supply the opposing armies, he would be following quite perfectly the Jewish method as history records it.
“And at the peace, prescient of the great financial future of Europe, confident in the fertility of his own genius, in his original views of fiscal subjects, and his knowledge of natural resources, this Sidonia * * * re¬ solved to emigrate to England, with which he had, in the course of years, formed considerable commercial connections. He arrived here after the peace of Paris, with his large capital. He stakes all that he was worth on the Waterloo loan; and the event made him one of the greatest capitalists in Europe.”
“No sooner was Sidonia established in England than he professed Judaism * * * ”
“Sidonia had foreseen in Spain that, after the ex¬ haustion of a war of twenty-five years, Europe must require capital to carry on peace. He reaped the due reward of his sagacity. Europe did require money and Sidonia was ready to lend it to Europe. France wanted some; Austria more; Prussia a little; Russia a few millions. Sidonia could furnish them all. The only country which he avoided was Spain * * * ”