Page 27 - Balfour100-E

✡ Preparations War Cabinet 1917 27

supported the Declaration was a South ‘Smuts regarded the Jewish repatriation
African, Jan Smuts. In 1917, he declared
that he hoped to see “…in generations as an act of moral reparation due from
to come, a great Jewish State rising
there once more.” Smuts was taught Christendom to the Jewish people.’
the Bible in the Reformed Church in
South Africa. He said in 1919, “The Old
Testament has been the very marrow 1917, when Lord Rothschild and other of these two Labour MPs in the Cabinet
of Dutch culture here in South Africa.” Jewish Zionists met the Cabinet to is a reminder that all three political Par-
He regarded the Jewish repatriation thank them for the Declaration, Bonar ties supported the Declaration.
as an act of moral reparation due from Law personally received the Jewish George Curzon was the son of an
Christendom to the Jewish people. committee. Anglican minister. In the Cabinet he
Edward Carson was an Ulster Arthur Henderson was a promi- raised objections to the Declaration,
lawyer who was raised in an observant nent member of the Labour Party. He which was understandable since he
Presbyterian family. As an adult, Car- became a Christian at age 16 and even- was the only Cabinet member to have
son was a spiritual leader to the Prot- tually became an ordained Methodist visited Palestine. He spoke of the small
estants of Ulster. He was ruthless in his minister. Even though he left the Cabi- size of Palestine and the inhospitable
pursuit of justice. During the Cabinet net before the Declaration was issued, terrain. Despite his practical concerns,
debates of 1917, Carson put his support Henderson supported Zionism. When he gave his approval.
behind the Declaration. he turned his Cabinet Labour seat over Alfred Milner was a career politi-
Other members of the Cabinet to his colleague, George Barnes, both cian committed to the Empire. He
are less well known, but their support men endorsed the Declaration. Chaim believed a Jewish National Home would
was essential. Andrew Bonar Law was Weizmann claimed that Barnes ‘advo- be of great benefit to Britain. He ap-
raised in the home of a Presbyterian cated our cause very strongly’. In his proved of the Declaration, telling the
minister in New Brunswick, Canada. autobiography, Barnes wrote that he House of Lords in 1923, “I was party to
As a young man he moved to Britain, intended to give the Jews, “a right of the Balfour Declaration. Personally I
entered politics and was respected for asylum and citizenship in the country believe the policy to be a good one and
his honesty. Bonar Law supported the which to them had a peculiar interest that, steadily persisted in, it will lead to
Balfour Declaration. On 14 December as a cradle of their race.” The presence good results.”

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