S10 J E 
obtained, in the Seventh year of James I. an aft, which 
prevented all perfons from being naturalized, unlefs they 
firli: received the facrament of the Lord’s Supper accord¬ 
ing to its own peculiar mode of commemoration. This 
aft effeftually excluded the jews from being naturalized ; 
till, in the year 1753, a bill was brought into the houl'e 
of lords, and palled there without oppolition, which pro¬ 
vided, that all perfons profeffmg the Jewilh religion, who 
have reiided in Great Britain or Ireland for three years, 
without being abfent more than three months at one 
time during that Space, may, upon application for that 
purpofe, be naturalized by parliament, without receiving 
the facrament of the Lord’s lupper. But all perfons pro- 
fefiing the Jewilh religion are, by this aft, difabled from 
purchafing, or inheriting, any aitvowfon,. right of patro¬ 
nage, &c7 to any benefice, or ecclefiaftical promotion, 
fchool, hofpital, or donative, whatfoever. On the 16th of 
April, this bill was fent down to the houfe of commons, 
ordered to be printed, and on the 7th of May read a fe- 
cond time, when a motion was made for its being com¬ 
mitted. Lord Barrington, lord Duplin, Robert Nugent, 
efq. and Henry Pelham, efq. were among its molt elo¬ 
quent advocates; lord Egmont, fir Edmund Ilham, among 
its more zealous opponents. The bill was fupported by 
the petitions of a few merchants, chiefly diflidents, and 
countenanced by the miniftry; who argued : That it would 
increafe the numbers and w'ealth ofthe people, upon which 
depend the national ftrength, the ability to encounter fu¬ 
ture difficulties, and achieve ufeful undertakings; and 
by which pofterity would eftimate the wifdom and utility 
of our frame of government. That, by receiving the 
jews into our community, and admitting them to a par¬ 
ticipation of our civil rights, they would contraft a warm 
attachment to our conftitution and country, and gladly 
divide with us the public burdens. That, a great portion 
of the funds belonging to foreign Jews, it was our obvi¬ 
ous intereft to induce them to follow their property, and 
to expend here an income which was yearly exported to 
a clear lofs. That, connefted as the Jews were with the 
great bankers and moneyed interelt of Europe, their reli- 
dence here would, in future wars, give us a great com¬ 
mand of capital, and facilitate our loans. That even their 
prejudices, as a feft, would operate .in our favour, and oc- 
cafion ourmanufaftures to be difperfedamong the multitu¬ 
dinous Jew-lhopkeepers inEurope, who now recurred tothe 
Jew-merchants of Holland and the other tolerant countries. 
That Poland had never rifen to fo high a pitch of civil, lite¬ 
rary, and commercial, diffinftion, as when her policy was 
moll liberal toward Socinians and Jews; and that the feft: 
itfelf had always abandoned its offenfive prejudices in 
proportion to its good ufage. On the other fide, it was 
urged, That, born as we are to privileges and exclufive 
• rights, we did not, by this bill, fell our birth-right, like 
Efau,for any confideration, however inadequate; but fool- 
ifhly gave it away. That, if the Jews about to be natu¬ 
ralized belonged to the numerous clafies, we Ihould im¬ 
port vagrants and cheats to burden our rates, or fupplant 
the indultry of our lefs parfimonious poor; if to the 
wealthy clafies, who cannot procure a fettlement elfe- 
where, they would become the higheft bidders for our 
landed eftates, difpoflefs the Chriitian owners, attraft 
around them their butchers, bakers, and poulterers, (for 
they can eat nothing of our killing,) and, by and by, 
would endanger our religion itfelf. That the rites of the 
jews will for ever refill their incorporation with other na¬ 
tions, for any common purpofes, while their early mar¬ 
riages and frequent divorces promote fo rapid an increafe 
of their numbers, that they, might become, like the bitch 
in the kennel, too llrong for their hofpitable patrons. 
That it had a tendency to embroil us with foreign pow¬ 
ers ; we muft reclaim, for inftance, as a Britifh fubjecl, 
any Portuguefe jew who Ihould come over to be natura¬ 
lized, and, by indifcretions, expole hitnfelf to the inqui¬ 
sition That the Jews were not given to manufaftures 3 
w. 
and, if they fliould open (hops, would interfere with' ffie 
profits and maintenance of Chriftians; for the number cf 
Ihops, being adequate to the confumption, could only be 
increafed with injury to the-eltabliflied. That Jewilh na¬ 
tionality would intrigue all their trade into their own 
hands ; that they were enemies upon principle to all 
Chriftians ; and that it was flying in the face of the Al¬ 
mighty to gather together a feft, of which the bible fore¬ 
told the difperfion. 
The bill, however, was palled; but a zeal, the moft fu¬ 
rious, continued to be vociferated in the pulpits and cor¬ 
porations againft it; and, by the next feflions of parlia¬ 
ment, inftruftions were fent to almoft all the members to 
folicit a repeal of -it. The minifter did not attempt to 
refill the torrent, but was among the foremoft who ipoke 
in favour of the repeal; he was anfwered, with much 
force of realoning, and a truly liberal Spirit, by Thomas 
Potter, efq. to wliofe fpeech a very elegant reply was de¬ 
livered by fir George Littleton ; and the Jew-bill was re¬ 
pealed, by an aft which received the royal affent the fame 
felfion. From that time, the legal condition of Jews in 
England has not altered ; but the people no longer view 
them with rancour, miftruft, or unbrotherly emotions. 
There has been lately eftablilhed in London a Society 
for promoting Chriftianity among the Jews. In the year 
1809, it appeared that they had made about thirty con¬ 
verts. They have alio opened a fchool for the reception 
and inftruftion of fuch children of Jewilh parents as may 
be delivered to them or fliall voluntarily prefent them- 
felves. As this inftitution is yet in its infancy, Ihould its 
progrefs, or any circumftances attending it, become in- 
terelling to the Chriftian world, we fliall relume the fub- 
jeft under the article Society. 
By our ancient cuftoms (we ought not to call them 
laws), the Jews and all their goods were at the difpolal of 
the chief lord where they lived ; who had an abfoltUe 
property in them; and they might not remove to another 
lord without his leave: and we read that king Henry III. 
fold the Jews for a certain term of years to earl Richard 
his brother. They were diftinguilhed from the Chriftians 
in their lives, and at their deaths; for they wore a badge 
on their outward garments, in the fliape of a table, and 
were fined if they went abroad without fuch badges; and 
they were never buried within the walls of any city, but 
without the lame, and anciently not permitted to burial 
in the country. Matt. Paris, 521, 606, &c. 
There were particular judges and laws by which their 
caufes and contrafts were decided here, and there was a 
court of jultice alfigned for the Jews. 4 Inji. 254. A Jew 
may be wfitnefs by our laws, being fworn on the Old Tes¬ 
tament. According to our ancient books, jews, Heretics, 
&c. are adjudged out of the ftatutes allowing benefit eff 
clergy. But this doftrine is now exploded. 
A plaintiff had leave given him by the court to alter 
the venue from London to Middlefex, becaufe all the fit¬ 
tings in London were on a Saturday, and his witnels was 
a Jew, and would not appear that day. 2 Mod. 271, A 
Jew brought an aftion, and the defendant pleaded that 
the plaintiff was a jew, and that all Jews are perpetual 
enemies of the king and our religion. But, by the Court, 
“ A Jew may recover as well as a villain, and the plea is 
but in disability So long as the king Shall prohibit them 
to trade.” Judgment for the plaintiff. L. P. R. 4. cites 
Mich. 36 Car. II. B. R. A Jew was ordered to fwear his 
anfvver upon the Pentateuch,and that the plaintiff’s clerk 
fliould be prefent to fee him fworn. 1 Vcrn. 263. 
In the beginning of the fe venteenth century an inftance 
occurred, where a Jew of irnmenfe riches turned out of 
doors his only daughter who had embraced Chriftianity; 
and, on her application for relief, it was held lie could not 
be compelled to afford her any. Lord Raym. 699. But, to 
prevent fuch inhumanity in future, the flat. 1 Anne, c. 30,' 
ordains, that, if Jewi'fh.parents refufe to aliow their pro- 
teftant children a fitting maintenance Suitable to the for- 
1 u m 
