Imatges de pàgina
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stranger who might go to reside in their 'towns, it is still more strictly for them a religious principle to nourish those feelings towards the individuals of every nation which has received them in her bosom, which protects them by her laws and arms, permits them to worship God according to the rites of their faith, and admits them, as is now the case in France and the kingdom of Italy, to a participation in all civil and political rights. The grand Sanhedrim declares that every Israelite, born and educated in France and in the kingdom of Italy, and admitted to the rights of a citizen by the laws of these States, is bound by his religion to consider them as his country, to serve them, to defend

in all his transactions, to the regulations

His hon. friend was in a lamentable state of ignorance on this subject, as many Members present were aware, who could testify, from personal experience, that the cookery of the Jews was not the worst thing about them. But the whole argument which proceeded to exclude the Jews from civil office on the ground of antipathy was a complete non sequitur. If you do not like the Jews, that may be a very good reason for banishing them the country, but it is bad logic to say, " we dislike the Jews in private life, and, therefore, will not admit them into public offices." Now, with respect to the supposed anti-social principles of the Jews, the most sacred of their books had told them to "Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be car-them, to obey the laws, and to conform, ried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it; for in the peace thereof shall ye of the civil code.' Again, in a "Catehave peace." This principle was fully re- chism of the Elements of the Jewish Faith” cognized by the Jews in the time of Napo- for the use of the youth of that persuasion, leon, who, wishing to confer the rights of he found the following answer to the quescitizenship upon the Jews, consulted some tion, "whether allegiance is due to the of the leading men among them in order sovereign and laws of the country in which to ascertain whether their tenets would they reside?" "Certainly; as long as the warrant him in adopting such a measure, Messiah, our Redeemer, is not come, the and the result was satisfactory in all re-king under whose protection we live must spects. The report made to him by the be esteemed as a king of Israel; and the great Council or Sanhedrim, dated Paris, country in which we live and are main1812, contained the following assurances: tained, and under the shadow of whose That the law given by Moses to the government we enjoy security and comfort, 'children of Israel enjoins it as their duty must be considered in the same light as the 'to consider as their brethren the individuals land of our forefathers." But it might be ' of all those nations which acknowledge a said, that their practice was opposed to their 'God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, precepts; he was prepared, however, to show ' and among which they enjoy the advan- that the experience of past ages proved that 'tage of civil society, or even hospitality this was a mere prejudice, and that there was and protection. That the Holy Scripture no ground for asserting that the Jews did commands us "to love our neighbours like not become good members of that commu'ourselves;" and that since we regard it nity in which they might reside. as in conformity with the will of God was prepared to show, that the opinion (which is justice itself), "to do to others that the Jews are precluded by their as we would that others should do to us," faith from becoming as good citizens 'it would be contrary to these sacred maxims as any other class, was founded on igno' not to consider our fellow-citizens both in rance of the facts of their history. The France and Italy as our brethren. That, Jews were to be found in every nation; ' according to this doctrine, of which the and in every nation they were conspicuous truth is universally recognized both by for the manner in which they performed 'those teachers who have most authority their duties as members of the community. ' among the Israelites, and by every Israelite The Jews were a scattered people; but ex'who is not ignorant of the principles of perience proved, in every instance, that his religion, it is the duty of all to help, where they had been allowed, they had to protect, and to love their fellow-citi- become a part of the people among whom zens, and to treat them as they would they dwell. This was not merely the case treat their co-religionists in every thing in modern times, but instances of it were ⚫ that concerns the civil and moral relations to be found in the earliest period of their of life. That since the Mosaic religion history. He would not take up the time 'commands the Israelites to receive with so of the Committee by referring to history 'much benevolence and respect every for many instances. One or two circum

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stances, however, he must glance at: he
need not refer to that memorable example
familiar to every one, which occurred to one
eminent individual of this people, who ful-
filled all the duties of a citizen in the
country in which he resided, without for-
getting the land of his fathers. He would
not refer to other instances in the early his-
tory of this people, but pass on to the time
of their captivity, when they were severed
from their native land, and had to reside in
a country, the feelings and opinions of the
inhabitants of which were entirely opposed
to their own. But, during the period of
the Babylonish and Persian captivities, it
would be found that the most eminent
offices in those two nations were filled by
the Jewish captives in such a manner as to
command the reluctant admiration of the
states in which their lots were cast. At that
period, too, the objection of the anti-social
nature of the feelings and doctrines of the
Jews was urged upon the sovereign of
Persia in nearly the same language that
was used in the former House of Commons.
The King was told, "There is a certain
people scattered abroad, and dispersed among
thy people, in all the provinces of thy king-
dom; and their laws are diverse from all
people, neither keep they the King's laws;
therefore it is not for the King's profit to
suffer them. If it please the King, let it
be written that they may be destroyed."
Now, this was following up the argument
properly; but the king, so addressed, was
Artaxerxes, who was as good a logician as
the great man who addressed him; but,
instead of destroying the people objected
to, he hanged the objector, and so put an
end to the argument. He should be sorry
that the precedent should be acted upon,
with respect to his hon. friend, the member
for the University of Oxford, who, he
hoped, would long live to urge-if not his
objections to the relief of the Jews-his
complaints at their emancipation. But the
case he had referred to was not a singular
case. Under the Ptolemies of Egypt, and
the Seleucide of Syria, the Jews served in
the highest civil and military offices. He
could adduce many instances to show, that
notwithstanding the affection which the
Jews always manifested for the soil, the
country, and the institutions of their fore-
fathers in Palestine, they always acted the
part of good citizens in those countries in
which they sought protection. At last the
final dispersion took place which reduced
them to the state in which they had been
for nearly 1,800 years. Proceeding from

that period, he met with one fact which
was the more curious, because a sort of
parallel case had occurred in our own time.
It was perfectly well known that the em-
peror Julian called-justly, though harshly,
by the name of " apostate," was exceedingly
anxious to conciliate the Jews, with a view
to the accomplishment of a particular ob-
ject. He promised to restore them to their
country-he attempted to rebuild the
Temple of Jerusalem--and he opened
his armies to the Jews. This was done
partly from aversion to the Christians;
but he was also actuated, in part, by a
His great, in-
great political motive.
deed almost his only rival in the world,
was the Persian monarch; and Julian so
acted principally for the purpose of facili-
tating his meditated attack upon that
mighty monarch. The frontier provinces
of Mesopotamia were full of Jews; and
it was with a view to ensure their good
will, and to attach them to his interest,
that he treated the Jews with so much dis-
tinction.

However, the Mesopotamian
Jews had been kindly treated by the Per-
sian monarch, and rejected all the blandish-
ments of the Roman emperor, notwith-
standing his great and admitted kindness to
their brethren. They fought the army of
Julian; they impeded its progress, and in
the sound citizenship of the Jews of Me-
sopotamia, Julian met the first check which
interrupted his progress, and tended to his
final discomfiture, and the overthrow of all
his plans. The same result was exemplified,
in modern times, in the case of Napoleon.
In consequence of his liberal treatment of
them, the Jews of France rallied round his
standard, and almost hailed him as their
appointed deliverer; but on coming to states
wherein their brethren had been protected
by the Russian sovereigns, notwithstanding
the admirable conduct of Napoleon towards
the Hebrews, the Jewish citizens of those
states continued firm in their allegiance to
their original protectors. He would not
drag the House through a long historical
detail; but there were one or two points
which he could not refrain from alluding
The golden period of the Jewish cap-
to.
tivity (as it had been called by Mr. Mil-
man) was when many of them were called
to sit in the councils of the sovereign, in
whose territories they resided. At that
period the Jews were protected by the
greatest sovereigns of Europe; and well
repaid the favours shown them, by evincing
more citizenship than the original inhabi-
tants of the countries into which they

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were received, by serving their patrons with greater fidelity, and filling office with more efficiency than the natives. About that period, also, the emperor Charlemagne, when he sent on a great occasion an ambassador to the Caliph, Haroun Alraschid, employed as his ambassador a Jewish subject. The same was the case with the celebrated Pope Gregory the Great, who employed them in offices of trust and honour, and encouraged them to become cultivators of the land. But perhaps the most remarkable scene of their glory was Spain, where they not only were admitted to high places, but were the chief agriculturists of the country, and under the Moorish Sovereigns obtained a great name and power in the land. Under the Christian Sovereigns, though excluded from many occupations, the Jews were found amongst the eminent men of the country. After that period began the crusades, which though the dawning of civilization for Europe, were the commencement of persecution for the Jews, and he was sorry to say, that in this persecution France and England led the way. That commenced the iron age of the Jews, as Mr. Milman said; the iron age not from their crimes but from their miseries and their sufferings. The iron of oppression then entered deeply into their souls, and they were exposed to persecution from one end of Europe to the other-they were exposed to atrocities so atrocious, to miseries so miserable, that he would not dwell upon the description, but content himself by this passing allusion to those cruelties, and to state one of its consequences. Their present situation was in part the result of those cruelties. This was a consequence perhaps almost as much to be regretted as the cruelties themselves. The feelings then generated remained to this day, and were indulged to the prejudice of that people. They were no longer exposed to martyrdom; they were not tortured or put upon the rack, but they were exposed to indignities and insults. It was by referring to the cruelties of the nations of Europe at a former period that we defended the insults which were still practised towards the Jews and were among their remaining effects. He had mentioned the conduct of the Jews in Europe, and he would quote a specimen from the farthest part of Asia. Some of them had found refuge in China among a semi-barbarous people when they had been driven from Europe by persecution. The historian of the Jews in recording this fact observed, they were employed in agriculture

and traffic. They had cultivated learning with success; and some of them, as is attested by extant inscriptions, had been highly honoured with the imperial favour, and had attained the rank of Mandarin. One of these inscriptions, bearing date in 1815, praised the Jews for their integrity and fidelity in agricultural pursuits, in traffic in the magistracy and in the army; and for their punctual observance of their own religious ceremonies. It was to be remarked, in particular, that this inscription bore testimony to the industry of the Jews in agricultural pursuits, though here it was said that they were unfit for such pursuits, and only fit to engage in trade or in money lending. He had three or four more proofs of the good conduct of the Jews when emancipated, to which he would advert. It had been found that the emancipation of the Jews in France had answered very well. Napoleon himself had stated that, and it was so well known that it was only necessary to allude to it. A remarkable testimony, however, was borne to the Jews in the Chamber of Deputies, on December 4th, 1830, by M. Merilhou the Minister of public instruction who said " But since the Constituent Assembly placed the Israelites on a footing with other citizens, they have partaken of our glory and misfortunes their blood has flowed in the same fields of battle as ours,-their children have been brought up in the same schools with those of their Christian brethren, they have imbibed the same principles-adopted the same habits-and have become most deserving citizens." He would add one other testimony, that of M. Charles Dupin, who was well known in this country. In one of his books that gentleman had this passage, "The Hebrews naturalized on our territory by the benefit of our laws, have acquired all the rights of other citizens. The exercise of these rights gives them virtues; they addict themselves to study; for the pursuits of usury they substitute those of industry; and they are Frenchmen in heart as well as by blood." Prince Hardenburgh, the enlightened prime minister of Prussia, had emancipated the Jews in that country in 1811 or 1812. In 1814, two years after the emancipation, Prince Hardenburgh had, in an official letter to the Prussian consul at Hamburgh, borne the highest testimony to their merits. The right hon. Gentleman quoted a part of this letter which stated, "The history of the last war against France, has proved that by the most faithful attachment they

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have rendered themselves worthy of the I tie in this country by conferring upon the Jews the rights of citizenship. Wherever that had been done the Jews had lost that strong bond of union which was made by oppression and become attached to the country which gave them protection. He would appeal to the highest testimony in proof of the admirable conduct of the Jewish soldiers in the Dutch army during the siege of Antwerp; that testimony was at second hand from General Chassé himself. That gallant officer stated that the Jews under his command were ready to blow up the citadel if he desired them to do so, and that in fact, there were not better soldiers in the army. He could quote innumerable testimonies to the same effect from history past and recent, but he was sure that at the present day it was not necessary for him to heap evidence upon evidence to show that the Jews if admitted to those rights of citizenship which their other fellow-subjects enjoyed, would exhibit in their demeanour and conduct a proper sense of their duties to the Government under which they lived and to the country to which they belonged. What were the arguments by which those just claims of the Jews were met and opposed? He had heard indeed of some arguments against those claims; he had seen them in print, which had shocked him so much that he would not allude to them at present or hereafter, unless he should be compelled to do so by a reiteration of such arguments within the walls of that House. There was, however, one argument which had been pretty extensively advanced against the claims of the Jews, and which, as it was advanced by persons who conscientiously believed in its force, he was anxious to draw the attention of the Committee to it. That argument was founded upon a fact with regard to which all Jews and Christians were agreed-namely, that the Jews were set apart as a peculiar people by Divine Providence, and hence it was argued that as this whole class of persons were, in fulfilment of the Divine prophecies undergoing a special punishment and dispersion, it would not be proper for this House to treat them as other nations of the world, and to admit them to the rights of citizenship. Now, in reply to that argument, he would say, that it was one that proved infinitely too much, for, according to those persons who used it, the proscription which was predicted as affecting this people, and to which they appealed, would not go merely to the extent of civil disabilities, but would go to the sanction of the

state which has incorporated them in its 'bosom. The youth of the Israelite con'fession have been the brethren in arms ' of their Christian fellow-citizens. They 'have also afforded examples of true heroism '-of a glorious contempt for the perils of war; and the other Israelite inhabitants, especially the women, have rivalled Christians wherever it was necessary to 'make sacrifices for their common country." He would quote a similar testimony in favour of them given by the Senate of Hamburgh in 1814. That document stated that during the period that the Jews had enjoyed the rights of citizenship there, and of a perfect equality with the other inhabitants of the state, they had been distinguished for their laudable conduct, and for their great exertions for the public welfare. The testimony which he had already quoted as to their good conduct as subjects and citizens in Prussia was given in 1814. Similar testimonials could be produced as to their good conduct in that kingdom up to the present moment. The House would allow him to quote a testimony of that description in the words of a near relation of his own, writing from Berlin in 1830, when a similar motion to the present was about being brought forward in Parliament. He stated, and this was the evidence of an individual upon whom every reliance could be placed, that there was no portion of the subjects of Prussia better conducted or more deserving citizens than the Jews; that previous to their emancipation there they had, in numerous instances, amassed large sums of money, which they had, since permission was granted them, exchanged for land; that at the present moment a large portion of the land of Prussia was in their hands, and that he would say the Jews in Prussia, were Prussians par excellence. One objection-a constant one to the enfranchisement of the Jews-was, that they were not like other subjects,-that the Jews of all countries were bound together by one tie, by a general spirit of common nationality, and that they were therefore not fit persons for admission to the rights of citizenship. He was ready to admit that they were bound together by the tie of oppression, but that tie had been broken in Prussia and in other States, where, upon an admission to an equality with their fellowsubjects, the Jews had proved themselves not unworthy of the concession, and the proposition which he was now about to submit to the Committee was to break that

rack, the stake, the torture, and all other I was unnecessary, he was sure, for him to do horrible inflictions to which the Jews were so. He would trouble the House with subjected in past times, and therefore if it only one quotation more upon the subject was a right argument to say, that because from the writings of an individual well the Jews, being in a peculiar state of pro- known to many Members of the House, bation, were exposed to certain evils, we, and one who was worthy of the highest in fulfilment of the prophecies relating to admiration, though a dissenter from the them, had a right to inflict those evils upon Established Church-he alluded to the them. But then we ought not to stop at reverend Robert Hall. That celebrated the mere imposition of civil disabilities, but man stated that a large arrear of guilt had we should go back to those horrible tortures been contracted by the nations of Christenand abominations which were in former dom, on account of the manner in which times put in practice against this unfortu- they had hitherto, in past times treated the nate people, when men took into their Jews, and that in the present age of libehands the fulfilment of the predictions of rality, when such mighty efforts were made the Almighty, but which abominable cruel- to procure the repeal of civil disabilities on ties the humanity and sense of religion that account of religion, it was time to free the prevailed in modern times would not for a oppressed children of Israel from the bondmoment endure. But, in point of fact, the age which they had endured. He (Mr. argument was in every respect a false one, Grant) advocated this proposition upon the which appealed to the prophecies relating grounds of justice and toleration alone; but to the Jews, to show that we were thereby if he were to appeal to feelings, there were prohibited from doing any thing that might strong and powerful feelings to which he tend to their worldly advantage or promo- could appeal on behalf of the Jews. It tion. He had, when he addressed the should never be forgotten that an immense House upon a former occasion upon this debt of gratitude was due from the nations question quoted the words of Bishop New- of Christendom, and from the professors of ton, which effectually destroyed the sort of Christianity, to the Jews, and it behoved barrier which was thus attempted to be us to discharge that debt in the true spirit raised against the admission of the Jews to of Christianity, in accordance with the civil rights. That eminent ecclesiastic, speak- divine and charitable precept of doing to ing of those prophecies, said that though the others as we would be done by. It would Jews were to be dispersed and persecuted, more than one hundred times reward the that would not be a justification for those efforts which he had made on behalf of this nations which would inflict sufferings upon cause if he should happen to be the humble them, that the nations which inflicted instrument of inducing this great and evils upon them would suffer for doing so, Christian country, acting upon the true while all good nations would support them and genuine principles of Christianity to in their days of calamity and misfortune. communicate to this long oppressed people The words of Bishop Newton were, that their just rights and privileges. Doing so charity was greater than faith, and that it would open the eyes of the Jewish people, would be worse for us to be cruel and un--it would show them that Christianity and charitable than to be unbelievers. The persecution should not be connected, as they extract on this subject which he had had, with some reason, hitherto connected formerly read from the celebrated work of them,-it would prove to them that we Bishop Newton on the prophecies, was an were determined to act up to the principles unanswerable refutation of the pretended and spirit of that religion which we proargument drawn from the prophecies fessed, and that one of the leading principles against the admission of the Jews to the of that divine creed, the establishment of civil rights of citizens. He would also good-will amongst men, would be our guide quote the authority of Dr. Buchanan, so and our director for the future. Religion well known for his antiquarian researches and justice called upon us to adopt such a in Asia, and for his extraordinary labours course, and perhaps the future fortunes of as a missionary, who remarked that the time this country depended upon our now exwas come when Parliament should restore tending emancipation to this illustrious and the Jews to the franchises of their fellow-long ill-used and oppressed nation. In their citizens for it could certainly do so without contravening the Divine will. He could add, he said, many more quotations to those from the writings of eminent divines, but it

former journey through the wilderness to the land of promise, those nations that afforded them sustenance and relief received the blessing of the Almighty, and now,

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