JEWS. 



of their foolish credulity, and the Chris- 

 tian prophecies with additional confirma- 

 tion. 



The last of the pretended Christs, that 

 made any considerable number of con- 

 verts, was one Rabbi Mordecai, a Jew 

 of Germany. He made his appearance 

 in the year 1682. It was not long before 

 he was found out to be an impostor, and 

 was obliged to fly from Italy to Poland to 

 save his life. What became of him after, 

 wards is not known. 



After this the most intelligent among 

 the Jews seem to have turned their ex- 

 pectations rather towards a moral and 

 political regeneration, than to their re- 

 storation, as a people, to the city of Je- 

 rusalem, and to the actual repossession 

 of Palestine, as their inheritance, though 

 there are doubtless multitudes among 

 them who still expect even this local 

 restoration, and live constantly looking 

 for some person to be raised up as their 

 king and deliverer. Whatever may be 

 the ideas of the Israelites in this country, 

 it is certain their brethren on the Conti- 

 nent look up to the French Emperor, 

 as their great promised deliverer and 

 Saviour. " The time of our trial," say 

 they, " is expired, the period of our ca- 

 lamities is ended ! All the persecutions 

 we have sustained have only tended to 

 unite us the more closely together. We 

 have at all times remained faithful to 

 the commandments of the Lord our 

 God : for our recompense, he has deter- 

 mined in his wisdom that we shall be re- 

 ceived into the bosom of other nations, 

 to enjoy the happiness of our forefathers : 

 but, to fulfil this object, it was necessary 

 to find a man, whose virtues, whose va- 

 lour and wisdom, should exceed every 

 thing which had been before admired by 

 mortals ! Napoleon appeared ! and God 

 Almighty immediately supported him 

 with the arm of his power. He recalled 

 him from Egypt, while he subjected the 

 tempestuous ocean t his divine laws : 

 he sent his angels to guide his steps, and 

 to watch over his precious life : his di- 

 vine spirit inspired this hero in the field 

 of battle as in the midst of his palace : 

 from the summit of the hills and moun- 

 tains he showed him his enemies, dis- 

 persed in the plains of Austerlitz and 

 Jena." Thus are the riches and fire of 

 oriental genius, conjoined with the 

 warmth of adulation, peculiar to the 

 French people, made to express the 

 hopes and enjoyments of the children of 

 Israel ! This is art epoch in the Jewish 

 history deserving a more minute detail, 



and worthy of being preserved from the 

 perishing annals oi newspapers and pam- 

 phlets. Posterity will see how far these 

 flattering prospects have been built on a 

 permanent or a sandy foundation. 



In May, 1806, was issued by the French 

 Emperor, the following very extraordina- 

 ry decree concerning the Jews. 



"Palace of St Cloud, May, 30, 1806. 

 " Napoleon, Emperor of the French and 



King of Italy. 



" Accounts having reached us, that in 

 several of the Northern Departments of 

 our empire, certain Jews, not exercising 

 any other profession than that of usury, 

 have, by extorting an enormous interest, 

 reduced a number of farmers to a state of 

 very great distress, we have conceived it 

 our duty to succour such of our sub- 

 jects, as have been reduced to these sor- 

 rowful extremes by an unjustifiable ava- 

 rice. These circumstances have, at the 

 same time, furnished us with an opportu- 

 nity of knowing the urgent necessity of 

 re-animating the sentiment of civil morali- 

 ty among those persons, who profess the 

 Jewisk religion in the countries under 

 our jurisdiction ; sentiments which un- 

 happily have been extinguished among a 

 great number of them, in consequence of 

 tiie state of debasement under which they 

 have long languished, which it has never 

 entered into my views either to maintain 

 or renew. For the accomplishment of 

 this design, we have resolved to collect 

 the principal persons among the Jews in 

 an assembly ; and then through the means, 

 of commissioners, whom we shall nomi- 

 nate for the purpose, to communicate our 

 intentions; and who will at the same 

 time learn their wishes, in respect to such 

 manner as they may deem most expedient 

 to awaken among their brethren the ex- 

 ercise of the aris and useful professions of 

 life, in order that an honest industry may 

 take the place of those scandalous re- 

 sources, to which many persons among 

 the Jews have given themselves up, from 

 the father to the son, for several years 

 past. To this end, and upon the report 

 of our Grand Judge, Minister of Justice, 

 our Minister of the Interior, our Council 

 of State, &c. we declare as follows : 



" 1. The execution of all contracts or 

 actions against farmers, not merchants, 

 shall be suspended for one year, reckon- 

 ing from the date of the present decree, 

 simple conservatory acts excepted, such 

 farmers belonging to the departments of 

 Le Sarre, Roer, Mont Tonnere, Haut and 

 Bas Rhin, Rhin and Moselle, Moselle and 



