61 -THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, Se ptember 12, 1958
Count Mirabeau Battler for Jewish Equality During the French Revolutionary Era
By BOB BREWER
(Standard Feature Syndicate)
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881),
the famous English historian
and essayist, calls Mirabeau
one of those men whose charac-
ters are recognized to be great
and heroic, in spite of the little
they actually accomplished.
Count Gabriel Riquetti Mira-
beau, the famous political
leader, was one of the most
powerful orators during the
French Revolutionary move-
ment. Born on March 9, 1749,
he was wild and dissolute in
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his youth, so much so that his
own father put him in prison
for his reckless conduct. Young
Mirabeau came out a soberer
man and threw himself full-
heartedly into the desperate
struggle for liberty that was
just rising in a France then in
turmoil and upheaval.
In his relentless fight for
freedom and equality for all,
Mirabeau contributed a few
important pages to Jewish his-
tory. His rare eloquence made
him the most powerful orator
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of the bloody French Revolu-
tion; he professed astonishingly
modern, humane and liberal
views long before the outbreak
of the reign of terror.
In his correspondence, his
sayings and his actions, Mira-
beau openly expressed warm
sympathy for the Jews. He was
fully convinced that their right
to citizenship in France —
denied to them at that time—
was essential for the welfare of
the country.
During his extensive travels,
he closely observed and care-
fully studied Jewish life in
Holland, England and Prussia,
where the Jews played a re-
stricted, yet far more important
role. than in France.
While in Berlin, Mirabeau
made the acquaintance of
Moses Mendelssohn, the great
philosopher and writer, whose
sharp, witty intellect fascinated
him. He soon grew fond of the
little hunch-backed writer, a
friend of Frederick the Great,
and passed many hours in his
company. He also became a fre-
quent visitor to Jewish literary
salons.
His friendship with Henriette
Herz and her doctor husband,
whose lectures on experimental
physics attracted him, brought
him in contact with many dis-
tinguished Jews.
In his interesting book "Sur
la reforme politique des Juifs"
(published in 1788), he dealt
extensively with Alendelssohn,
praising him as a great philoso-
pher and savant, far ahead of
his times; in the same book
he also commented on the
British Act of Naturalization
(1753) climaxing in the special
question of how to improve the
lot of all Jews.
He warmy defended the
Jewish religion and fought
eloquently against the un-
founded accusations hurled
against the Jews, such as the
infamous blood libel.
After the outbreak of the
Fr ench Revolution (1789),
Mirabeau continued his fight
for Jewish emancipation and
tried,. in his fiery speeches, to
influence fickle public senti-
ment in favor of Jewish
equality. Before Mirabeau was
elected deputy, a Jewish friend
once asked him what he would
do at the Assembly of the
States-General. He replied un-
hesitatingly: "I shall make a
human, being of you!"
In glowing articles, pub-
lished in his own paper "Cour-
rier de Provence," he fought
with his mighty pen for the
human rights of this much
maligned minority. In Alsace,
where the population at this
time was rabidly anti-Semitic,
he had to fight for many years
for the bitterly oppressed
Jewish minority.
Mirabeau's fight for full
civic liberties for the Jews,
prepared the way for the
emancipation proclaimed at
last on Sept. 27, 1791. But the
man who had fearlessly ad-
vocated "to help those terribly
tormented people in their fight
and support of equal rights"
and had imperiously demanded
that France grant them free
practice of their religion, and
their admission to all civic and
military offices, who had glow-
ingly advocated his liberal views
during the meetings of the
revolutionary National Assem-
bly, did not live to see his
hopes fulfilled. He died on
April 2, 1791.
Mirabeau had found great
helpers in his long uphill
struggle in the liberal Abbe
Gregoire, in Robespierre and
some other revolutionary
patriots who joined him in his
support of the Jewish cause.
By the end of 1791, France
had abolished all restrictions
and granted the jubilant Jews
liberty, e qua 1 i t y and, in
theory at least, fraternity.
The Declaration of the Rights
of Man, one of history's noblest
documents, which made all
men equal before the law, re-
gardless of birth, status or
faith, was adopted on Aug. 26,
1789, thus fulfilling the long-
cherished dream of emancipa-
tion. For the first time in more
than 1,000 years, the Jews
became citizens with equal
rights in the states in which
they lived. Thus the French
Revolution, inspired by the
humanitarian Mirabeau, inaugu-
rated a new era in Jewish his-
tory and made the Jews a
definite part in the European
world.
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