434 POLITICAL CAREER. 



In the July of 1847 came the long-expected dis- 

 solution, Parliament having all but lived out its 

 full period. When the contest was over, it was 

 found that the relative strength of both parties 

 remained pretty much what it had been before. 

 Among the members elected to the new Parliament 

 was included Baron Lionel Rothschild, who was 

 returned for the City of London. This circumstance 

 revived the question of the removal of Jewish dis- 

 abilities, which had been long and frequently dis- 

 cussed. From 1830 to 1840 a Jew was a sort of 

 pariah in the body politic. He was not allowed to 

 vote if he refused to take the elector's oath ; he 

 could not practise at the bar, or be an attorney, or 

 keep a school, or be employed as an usher or tutor 

 in public. Gradually concessions were made until, 

 in 1847, the only civic privilege from which a Jew 

 was excluded was the right to sit in Parliament. 

 When Baron Rothschild was returned in that year, 

 Lord John Russell, then Prime Minister, brought 

 in a Bill to enable the Baron to take his seat. It 

 was opposed by the Conservative party generally, 

 but, as on previous occasions, Lord George Ben- 

 tinck voted for it, giving great dissatisfaction to 

 many of his followers. They conveyed to him 

 " their keen sense of disapprobation," and his 

 haughty spirit immediately took fire at the re- 

 buke. Towards the close of the year he resigned 

 the leadership of the Opposition a post which 

 he had never sought, and was beginning to find 



