748 



JEWS. 



Jews. -was argued, that it would increase the numbers and 

 ^-V"" wealth of the people ; that a great portion of the funds 

 belonging to foreign Jews, it would be highly politic 

 to induce them to follow their property ; that, connect- 

 ed as the Jews were with the great bankers and monied 

 interests of Europe, their residence in England would, 

 in future wars, give the nation a great command of ca- 

 pital, and facilitate loans ; that, even their prejudices as 

 a sect would operate in our favour, and occasion our 

 manufactures to be dispersed among the Jew-shopkeep- 

 ers in Europe, who now had recourse to the Jew 

 merchants of Holland and other tolerant countries ; 

 and lastly, that Poland had never risen to so high a 

 pitch of prosperity, as when her policy was most liberal 

 to the Jews ; and that the sect itself had always aban- 

 doned its offensive prejudices in proportion to its good 

 Against it. usage. On the other side it was urged, that by natu- 

 ralizing the Jews, we should import vagrants and cheats 

 to burden our rates, and supplant the industry of our 

 labouring classes ; that the rites of Jews would always 

 prevent them from incorporating with the nation, 

 or becoming any real addition to its intrinsic, strength ; 

 while their early marriages and frequent divorces would 

 occasion such a rapid increase of their numbers, that 

 in the end they might become troublesome or even dan- 

 gerous ; that Jewish nationality would intrigue all the 

 trade into their own hand ; that they were enemies upon 

 principle to all Christians ; and that it was endeavour- 

 ing to oppose the plans, and to frustrate the prophecies 

 of the Almighty, to gather together a sect of which the 

 Bible foretold the dispersion. 



Petition! The lord mayor, aldermen, and livery of London, 



against it. fi rs t presented a petition to parliament against the pro- 

 posed naturalization, in which they expressed their ap- 

 prehension that the bill, if passed into a law, would 

 tend greatly to the dishonour of the Christian religion, 

 and endanger the constitution. Alarm and prejudice 

 spread rapidly and powerfully ; a zeal, the most furious, 

 vociferated in the pulpits and the corporations against 

 the bill ; and by the next sessions of parliament, instruc- 

 tions were sent to almost all the members to solicit a 

 repeal of it ; the minister yielded, and the bill was re- 

 pealed by an act which received the royal assent the 

 same session. 



By the 10th of George III. cap. 10, whenever any 

 Jew shall present himself to take the oath of abjura- 

 tion, the words " upon the true faith of a Christian," 

 shall be omitted out of the oath. In courts of justice, 

 they are sworn according to their peculiar rites. If 

 Jewish parents refuse to allow their Protestant child- 

 ren a suitable maintenance, the lord chancellor may 

 make such order as he may think proper. 



Society A few years since a society was formed in London 



for convert- f or promoting Christianity among the Jews, and branch- 

 ing them. eg O f tne goc i e ty have been established in different parts 

 of the kingdom. They have published several reports ; 

 but the utility of this society has been questioned, and 

 it has been alleged, we hope without reason, that they 

 have not been sufficiently attentive to the investigation 

 of the character and probable motives of their converts. 

 Our limits will not permit us to dwell long on the 

 history or present state of the Jews in other countries ; 

 nor are we in possession of materials sufficient to ena- 

 ble us to enter into detail on these points. In France, 

 the prejudices of Voltaire against the Jewish religion, 

 for a long time prevented the philosophic sect in that 

 country from extending their liberal ideas of toleration 

 towards the Jews. In 1788, however, the academy at 



Repealed. 



Lavs re- 

 garding 

 them. 



Metz proposed as a prize question, " Are there means of Jews. 

 rendering the Jews in France usefuller and happier ?" s "Y""" 1/ 

 A Polish Jew, a counsellor of Nancy, and the celebrated Jews in 

 Abbe Gregoire, shared the prize. The work of the Fiance. 

 Abbe on the moral, physical, and political regeneration 

 of the Jews, is an admirable performance. In the con- 

 stituent assembly, Mirabeau, Clermont, Tourere, and 

 Rabaud, advocated their cause. The attention of the 

 French government, however, does not seem to have 

 been directed towards them till the year 1 806, when 

 Bonaparte issued a decree regarding them, in which he 

 appointed an assembly of deputies from them at Paris 

 in the month of July : when they met, they were at- 

 tended by commissioners on the part of Bonaparte. 

 After assurances of liberty and protection on the one 

 hand, and of gratitude and obedience on the other, it 

 was agreed that a grand Sanhedrim should be opened 

 at Paris, at which should be preserved as much as pos- 

 sible the ancient Jewish forms and usages. This was 

 announced to the Jews in France and Italy, in an ad. 

 dress, which advised them to choose men known for 

 their wisdom, in order to give to the Sanhedrim a pro- 

 per degree of weight and consideration. The Sanhe- 

 drim assembled on the 9th of February 1807: they 

 drew up 27 articles for the re-organization of the 

 Mosaic worship ; and passed several regulations on the 

 subjects of divorce, polygamy, marriage, moral, civil, 

 and political relations ; useful professions, loans among 

 themselves, and loans between Israelites, and those who 

 are not Israelites. At their second meeting in March, 

 a law for the condemnation of usury was passed. Bo- 

 naparte soon found, however, that he was not likely to 

 accomplish his object of constraining his Jewish sub- 

 jects to assist in the cultivation of the land, and in fur- 

 nishing their quota of conscripts. In March 1808, he 

 issued another decree respecting them, in which he calls 

 upon them to follow the pursuits of honest industry, 

 and to purchase landed property. This decree also an- 

 nuls all obligations for loans made by Jews to minors, 

 without the sanction of their guardians ; to married 

 women without the consent of their husbands ; or to 

 military men without the authority of their officers. 

 There were also severe regulations respecting usury. 

 At this period, the following return was made to Bona- 

 parte of the number of Jews in all the different parts 

 of the habitable globe, viz. in the Turkish empire, 

 1,000,000 ; in Persia, China, and India, on the east 

 and west of the Ganges, 300,000 ; and in the west of 

 Europe, Africa, and America, 1,700,000, making an 

 aggregate population of 3,000,000. It would appear, 

 however, from subsequent enquiries on this subject, 

 that this number is very far below the truth. Indeed, 

 in Poland alone, recent and well-informed travellers 

 reckon that there are 2,000,000 Jews. The Prince Pri- 

 mate of Frankfort, following the example of Bona- 

 parte, put an end to every humiliating distinction be- 

 tween the Jewish and Christian inhabitants of that city. 

 Since the overthrow of Bonaparte, however, the inha- 

 bitants of Frankfort are said to have displayed great 

 illiberality and intolerance against the Jews : and, in- 

 deed, this feeling has manifested itself generally through- 

 out Germany. In this part of Europe, the popular I D Germa- 

 prejudice against Judaism was attacked some years ago ny. 

 by Lessing in his plays of Nathan the Wise and the 

 Monk of Lebanon ; and, at the same time, Moses Men- 

 delsolm published an excellent defence of general tole- 

 ration, under the title of Jerusalem. C. W. Dohm, a 

 Prussian, in the year 1781, published in German, Re* 



