JEWS. 
v *• 
Our account of this people must be con- 
fined to their modern history, and to a 
brief statement of their present improved 
condition on the Continent, chiefly under 
the auspices of Buonaparte one of the most 
extraordinary characters that ever appear- 
ed in the world. 
From the reign of Adrian, emperor of 
Rome, to the present day, the people of 
the Jewish nation have often been the dupe 
of some pretender to Messiahship, who 
has risen* up to promise them that restora- 
tion to their former dignity and importance 
from which they have been driven by the 
imperious decrees of a righteous provi- 
dence. It appears that about twenty-four 
false Christs have, at various times, excited 
the hopes and disappointed the expecta- 
tions of this credulous and superstitious 
people. The most important of these 
Messiah’s was one Zabathai Tzevi, who, 
in the year 1666, a year of great expecta- 
tion by many, made a considerable noise 
at Smyrna, and other places. He was a 
man of much learning, and promised fairly 
to realize their expectations of being re- 
stored to their ancient inheritances and 
6f becoming, once more a great and pros- 
perous nation. Thousands of the Jews 
listened to his pretensions; but all his 
schemes were rendered abortive by an 
unfortunate difference that arose between 
him and one Nehemiah, who pretending 
to be the son of Ephraim, and whom he 
said was to be a kind of secondary Messiah, 
reproved his superior in the office of 
Messiahship, Zabathai, for his too great for- 
wardness in appearing as the son of David, 
before the son of Ephraim had led him 
the way. Zabathai could not brook this 
doctrine, and therefore excluded his offici- 
ous forerunner from any part or share in 
flie matter. Nehemiah, mortified at his 
degradation, reported Zabathai to the Grand 
Seignior, at Adrianople, as a person dan- 
gerous to the government. Zabathai, de- 
jected and fearful, appeared according to 
a summons for that purpose, before the 
Grand Seignior, who requiring a miracle, 
which was that the pretended Messiah 
should be stripped naked, and set as a 
mark for the archers to shoot at; and if 
the arrows did not pierce his flesh, he 
would own him to be the true Messiah. 
Zabathai’s faith failed him ; he sacrificed 
his pretensions to his life ; and preferring 
the faith of the Musselmans to the arrows 
of the executioners, he furnished his dis- 
appointed followers with another proof of 
their foolish credulity, and the Christian 
prophesies with additional confirmation. 
The last of the pretended Christs, that 
made any considerable number of converts, 
was one Rabbi Mordechai, a Jew of Ger- 
many. He made his appearance in the 
year 1682. It was not long before he was 
found out to be an imposter, and was oblig- 
ed to fly from Italy to Poland to save his 
life. What became of him afterwards is not 
known. 
After this the most intelligent among the 
Jews seem to have turned their expecta- 
tions rather towards a moral and political 
regeneration than to their restoration, as 
a people, to the city of Jerusalem, 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 con- 
stantly 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 it certain their brethren on the 
Continent look up to the French Emperor, 
as their great promised deliverer and savi- 
our. “ The time of our trial,” say they, “ is 
expired, the period of our calamities is 
ended ! AH the persecutions we have sus- 
tained have only tended to unite us the 
more closely together. We have at all 
times remained faithful to the coramaild- 
ments of the Lord our God : for our re- 
compense he has determined in his wisdom 
that we shall be received 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 vir- 
tues, whose valour and wisdom should ex- 
ceed every thing which had been before 
admired by mortals ! Napoleon appeared ! 
and God Almighty immediately supported 
him with the arm of his power. He re- 
called him from Egypt, while he subjected 
the tempestuous occean to his divine laws : 
he sent his angels to guide his steps, abd to 
watch over his precious life : his divine 
spirit inspired this hero in the field of battle 
as in the midst of his palace : from the 
summit of the hills and mountains he shew- 
ed him his enemies, dispersed 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 an epoch in the Jewish 
history deserving a more minute detail, 
and worthy of being preserved from the 
