The Jews of each state are already more at home there than strangers can become in a long time. They know no other fatherland than the one given to them now and do not long for a far-away homeland. They are not uncivilized and savage gypsies, nor ignorant and unmannerly refugees. Many of them in every state have the same property, and many more have excellent gifts of intellect and skill. If it is permissible to draw conclusions from the majority of a nation about its essential qualities, no one can deny that the Jews possess excellent intelligence, industry, and the capability to adjust to all kinds of situations. If Jews are made use of in public business, one is almost always very satisfied with their zeal and sagacity. Their luck in commerce and manufacture is well known, and often those who envy them ascribe to fraud what is only a consequence of their greater industry and application. Where they are allowed to be artisans and workers, they usually do excellent work. The oppression under which they have lived until now is at fault if they have not done more in the sciences and fine arts; they certainly do not lack the capability. Most of those who occupied themselves with these interests have made good progress, even if they are not known to the public like a Moses Mendelssohn and a Pinto.

Among their greater merchants one finds perhaps more broad view and skill in coordination, and among their common people, more intelligence and industry than among an equal number of Christians. As regards the moral character of the Jews, it is like that of all men: capable of the most lofty development and of the most unfortunate deterioration, and as I remarked already, the influence of the external environment is quite clearly visible. If one admits however, that Jews are in certain points morally corrupt, the impartial observer has to admit that their fine traits show even greater excellence in other points. I dare to count as a fine trait of the Jewish character the steadfast adherence to the Law given to their fathers by the Deity himself, and I hope to have in this, the agreement of all who do not demand that they should share with them the belief of their childhood, and who are not so hampered by the prejudices of their upbringing that they cannot be just toward these same prejudices in others. What seems clear and undeniable to the Christian looks dark and contradictory to the Jew; what the Christian calls blindness and stiff-necked stubbornness to the Jew is steadfast adherence to what he believes to be a divine Law. And if we want to be impartial, can we blame him if he remains for so long steadfast and faithful to the truth as he sees it, until he finds the happiness to be convinced of a better truth, a happiness which according to the unanimous teachings of Christians and philosophers nobody can bring about by himself, and which according to Christian teaching is portioned out from above? The faithful adherence to principles one holds to be true is the measure of a man's moral worth, and who can deny honor to the Jew, whom no torture can make eat what he thinks God himself has forbidden him, and who despises the low renegade, who for financial profit tears himself away from the holy faith of his youth, from his relatives and from his people, and who debases the holy faith of the Christians by professing it without being convinced of its divine truth.

This adherence to the ancient faith of their fathers alone gives the character of the Jews a firmness, which is also very advantageous for the formation of their general morality. The strict observation of many burdensome commandments and customs nourishes, it is true, a certain pettiness, makes them set too much store in the observation of ceremonies, but on the other hand it keeps them from many misdeeds, and in general prepares them for a more precise fulfillment of their duties.