The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MAY 1, 1858.

take notoriety for celebrity. But the appear-
ance of Mr. E. JAMES on the stage gave a
graver character to an otherwise farcical
performance. Ho is a man of acknowledged
ability, and has attained considerable profes
sional eminence, if not of' the most desirable
kind. He had very recently done his worst
to give to what we doubt not was the con-
scientious verdict of an English jury the air
of a deliberate affront to a great continental
Sovereign. Yet, ill-judged and out of taste as
had been his harangue on the trial of
Dr. BERNARD, we tried to make allowance for
his position as an advocate, and for the strong
temptation to say anything, however remote
from the real issue, which might possibly in-
fluence the feelings of a juror in favour of the
prisoner. But Mr. JAMES in " St. Martin's-
hall" is no longer a privileged person : ho
can plead neither haste nor excitement in ex-
cuse of intemperate language, and his vulgar
claptrap and arrogant self-laudations degrade
the legal profession, without even the chance
of serving a client. In the name of the legal
profession we protest against the whole tone
and spirit of his proceedings at the " demon-
stration" aforesaid. After acknowledging the
cheers of the enlightened assembly, which he
styled "an ovation," on the same principle
as DICKENS'S Bath footmen called the leg of
mutton and turnips " a swarry." Mr. JAMES
proceeded to say :—" It was known that he
" had refused the offer of the Crown to prose-
" cute Mr. BERNARD, and that he had received
" much less remuneration," &e., &a. Let that
pass ; perhaps he merely intended to relieve
his client from an overwhelming burden of
gratitude. As the old epigram has it—

To James T owe great obligation ;
Bat John unhappily thought fit
To publish it to all the nation.
Sure James and I are more than quit.

But after these few preliminary flourishes,
Mr. JAMES forgets, not himself—that might
have its advantages—but the demands of public
decorum, and the etiquette of a profession
which he does mot adorn. " The judge never
"dared to tell the jury what the law of England
" was," &c., &c. In fact, Mr JAMES denied the
jurisdiction, about which Lord CAMPBELL had
no doubt, and the full benefit of the doubts so
raised was reserved to the prisoner. By what
a gross, what an invidious misstatement does
" the learned counsel" distort this fact! But
" we shall have more anon " " He took the
"first opportunity of telling the public that Mr.
" BERNARD was innocent of the crime laid to his
"charge " Touching candour I amiable frank-
ness We " take the first opportunity" of
telling Mr. JAMES that his declaration is super-
fluous or impertinent. What his notion of
innocence may be, is by no means clear. But
those who 1131 d that BERNARD was justly ac-
quitted on the evidence will not think that such
a declaration adds much to the weight of the
verdict; while those who hold that the jury
were unconsciously misled by political sympa-
thies, will feei their opinion strengthened by
Mr. JAMES'S evident inability to disentangle his
Radicalism from his law. If, however, Ile
means, not that the evidence was insufficient
to convict the prisoner, but that he had not
done what was laid to his charge, we say that
the statement is as unwarrantable in substance
as it is irregular and unprofessional in form.
The Learned Gentleman's word may be as
good as his bond ; hut he will find his
endorsement quite insufficient to give cur-
rency to Dr. BRRNARD'S ridiculous defence,
that he prepared half a dozen infernal
machines, not with a view to any particular
attempt, but as a sort of material subscription
to the cause of Revolution in general !
We shall not follow Mr. JAMES through his
programme of • the lecture which he was
" going to deliver before a special jury and
" Lord CAMPBELL," or sound the abysmal
bathos of his announcement " that the ap-
" plause which had been accorded him that
" evening was the most gratifying acknowledg•
" ment an advocate could receive." But we
must avow the pain—we had almost said the

IR
disgust—with which we read that Dr. BER*
NARD was the next star of the evening--.“ called
" for and enthusiastically cheered" while the
tones of his unscrupulous advocate were yet
" rife and perfect " in the ears of the assembly.
The whole affair wears too much the aspect of
concert and prearrangement; betrays too
much of political sympathy between the Eng.
lish Queen's Counsel and the professed conti-
nental conspirator. We protest against this
mode of identifying the advocate with the
prisoner—it is a step cowards the " handy-
" handy, which is the justice, which is the
" thief?" Still more earnestly do we protest
against educated men, holding a recognized
social status, lending a sanction, by proceed-
ings like those on which we have commented
to that unfortunate misconception which leads
our neighbours and allies to regard us not
merely as giving involuntary asylum to con-
spirators and mauvau sujets, but a 3 en-
couraging them by our countenance and our
sympathy.

A JEWISH ENGLISHMAN, OR AN
ENGLISH JEW?

THE two opinions, with regard to this an-
cient nation, which divide the Conservative
party, may be, we fancy, described by the two
phrases we have placed at the head of
thin article. There are those who expect,
and desire, that the Jews wit.) reside
in England should gradually become Eng-
lishmen ; and there are those who do not
expect, or wish, that they should ever be any
thing else than Jews. In Tuesday's debate,
the Marquis of LONDONDERRY and the Bishop
of CASHEL seemed to represent these two
classes. We will describe the two views
somewhat more at length.
The English nation is a mass compounded
of various races. Some we have who appear
to be of the blood and family of the Ancient
Britons. Others bear unmistakeable marks of
belonging to the Saxon race, and date their
origin, doubtless, from the times of the Hep-
tarchy. Many families bout of their Norman
lineage, and are proud to think that they
" came in with the Conqueror." Others date
from the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,
when their forefathers were among the French
refugees who landed on our shores. The
accession of Wicciast 111. brought us some
Dutch families, and a few Hanoverians came
over with the Elector. All these different
races are now merged into one nation, and all
lay claim to one general title, " the people of
England." Now, it is apparently thought, by
some friends of the Jews, that they too may
follow the same course, and become, in a few
generations, entirely fused into the general
mass known as " the British nation."

The second class, however, while they take
an entirely opposite view, would not willingly
admit that they fall at all behind the former
class in regard and veneration for the Hebrew
people. They think, indeed, as the Bishop of
CASFIZI. said, that they love and honour th•
Jews far more than some of their warmest
political supporters. But they have derived
certain views from Holy Scripture, of the
future destiny of this anaent nation, which
are altogether at variance with the idea of
making them Members of Parliament, Mayors,
or even Churchwardens.

As to " fusion," which is evidently expected
and desired by many who advocate their ad-
mission to Parliament, the teaching of I-101)'
Scripture seems wholly opposed to such an
idea. Even ERSKINE could emphatically cite
the isolation of the Jewish people, through

eighteen centuries, as a triumphant proof of
the Divine inspiration of the books of Moses.
Yet some persons seem to expect, and to de-
sire, that that isolation may shortly cease.
The class of which we are now speaking hold
that that isolation will never cease; that Israel
will never lose its national character, and that
its last days will be its best days. On this
point many passages of Scripture seem to be
most clear and conclusive. Such as Isaiah,
xi., 11, 12:—
" And it shall come to pass in that day, that
the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people,
which shall be left, from Assyria, and from
Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and
from Elam, and from Shiner, and from
Ilamath, and from the islands of the sea.
"And he shall set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
Israel, and gather together the dispersed of
Judah from the four corners of the earth."
And Isaiah, 11., 9-15:—

"Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the
ships of rarshish first, to bring thy sons from
far, their silver and their gold with them, unto
the name of the Lord thy God, and to the
Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified
thee.

" And the sons of strangers shall build up
thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto
thee : for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my
favour have I had mercy on thee.
" therefore thy gates shall be open con-
tinually ; they shall not be shut day nor night;
that men may bring unto thee the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
"For the nation and kingdom that will not
serve thee shall perish ; yea, those nations
shall be utterly wasted.

"The sons also of them that afflicted thee
shall come bending unto thee; and all they
that despised thee shall bow themselves down
at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call
thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the
Holy One of IsraeL

" Whereas thou halt been forsaken and
hated, so that no man went through thee, I will
mike thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many
generations."

Anil if it be said that these were prophecies
uttered before the coming of CHRIS:, and that
in the Christian Church all these things have
been figuratively fulfilled, the answer is plain.
St. PAUL, writing after the formation of the
Christian Church, still alludes to the return of
the Jews as a great event, still future, and
still to be greatly desired. He says (Romans,
xi., 11, 12, 15, 25, 26) :
" I say then. Have they stumbled that they
should fall? God forbid: but rather through
their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles,
for to provoke them to jealousy.
"Now ifthe fall of them be the riches of the
world, and the diminishing of them the riches
of the Gentiles; bow much more their ful-
ness ? For if the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the re-
ceiving of them be, but life from the dead?

"For I would not, brethren, that yo should
be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be
wise in your own conceits ; that blindness in
part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. Awl so all Israel
shall be saved : as it is written, There shall
come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall
turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

Thus, harmonizing ISAIAH and ST. PAUL,
those who adopt this view arrive at the
distinct conclusion, that a great and glorious
destiny remains for Israel in their own
land And, so believing, it is natural
that they should not favour any plan, which,
by rooting them in the English soil,
and conforming them to English habits and
English institutions, would tend to bind them
to this "land of their exile," and to divert
their thoughts from that inheritance which is
inalienably and for ever their own.
These views are naturally said to be roman-
tic, by those who have not much entered into
the subject. But, in truth, every thing con•
netted with the history of this wonderful
people is romantic. What is it but romantic to