The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-06-26 00:00:00

fulfilment Of
right to

Municipal or

Parliamentary, is it not puerile to say that the
Jew has no right to a vote in the Senate which he
helps to elect? But we will pass over for an
instant the right of the Jew, and glance at the
anomalous position in which the oath of abjuration

places a Christi:An constituency, who return a
Jew to Parliament. The electors of England may
return a pagan, Mussulman, idol worshippers,
men who have never read the Scriptures, or heard

THE

gpspel preached, and they nialce_ excellent legis-
lators when they do not object to tale an oath of
abjuration ! •

Suppose the Jew was to answer the request of
a Christian legislature, by saying : " Swear not at

" all." The rebuke would fall heavily on all but the
Quaker, who will not swear, and who always has a
smile to bestow on such human folly as that of
asking a man to abjure a. traditional hobgoblin•
The, man who takes the oath of allegiance to a
ruling sovereign, must, we need not say as a logical
consequence, abjure all pretenders. If a man
swears he will support the Crown and
Constitution, what more can be demanded
him in reason ? And what becomes
e Constitutional right of a constituency

to return whom they please, when the representa'
tive they have chosen is ready to abjure all that is
dangerous and objectionable, except " on the true

" faith of a Christian"—household words of Par-
liament, which admit, at the present day, of as
many heretical and Apostolic interpretations, as
they did in CRANMER'S time, and for ages before
his life was taken, for what .was considered
blasphemy. Reason must interpose, and settle
these monstrous absurdities ; and the Peers, by
their opposition, are only provoking a discussion
in which they will loose much of the popularity
which is so essential to the preservation of that
harmony which ought, at all times, to exist be-
tween the Upper. and Lower Houses of Parlia-
ment.

The people have espoused the cause of the
Jew, and the measure of justice they seek for
their Jewish fellow-citizens cannot be much
longer withheld. . As Legislators, they would
be found on the vantage ground in all matters
relating to our foreign policy. On financial ques_
tions they would be esteemed high authorities. On
civil topics they would take the lead on the side
of liberty; and if they voted on religious matters,
it would be in favour of perfect equality. Here,
then, we should find them sitting on the benches
of diplomatic demi-gods, saints of mammon and
disciples of purity. In fact, the perfection of our
spiritual and political Babel will never be attained
until the Jew is admitted into Parliament ; and
there can be no legislative millenium until the
Jews are allowed to take part in the making of the
laws under which they live. Some of our Peers
seem to be afraid that giving them such a high privi-
lege would interfere with the rebuilding of Jerusa-
lem ; but, if we are to believe prophets, they need
not be at all apprehensive on that point. There
are many millions of Hebrews ready to embark on
such an enterprise, and, as Christians and philan-
thropists, we ought to be rejoiced—nay, we
ought to work might and main for their deliverance
from the hands of their cruel and sanguinary
oppressors throughout Christendom. It is high
time that the persecution of the Jews ceased, and
we know of no surer way of securing their amelio-
ration abroad, than raising them at home to the
rank of Parliamentary Representatives, and
bestowing upon them all the political privileges
and moral weight enjoyed by British subjects

IT is but little over 1,500 years since Britain
threw off the Roman yoke, and became an inde.
pendent Empire, and the race whose territory
formed a part of the 1,700,000 square miles which
the ancient Romans had subjugated, can now
boast of having over 8,000,000 of square miles for a
national domain. Acquiring sovereign control over
such a vast extent of the earth's surface will be
found to have been an easy task, compared with
its good government and general advancement.
The immensity of our grasp of dominion appears
beyond all human powers of retention. Our
daring and enterprise have selected the remotest

corners of the globe for conquest and civilisation.
Turn into whatever dangerous channel, towards
isolated bays, creeks, rivers, any distant sea, rugged
mountain range, desert or sun-burnt plain, and
there the Anglo-Saxon is to be met on his onward
course. It would be rampant infidelity to deny
the Deity the authorship of this onward movement
of our race—that great and visible "design—the
consummation of which will be the full measure of
man's greatness. Had physical obstructions and
human laws to impede the world's progress
as we find it, been wanting—if the face
of this planet could be slipped over like
a chaulked floor—had there been no difficulties to
encounter, and no dangers to overcome; the strides
the Britishers have made, would leave no amaze_
ment after them. But, here we are, after 1,500
years of comparative independence, masters of
fully 8,000,000 square miles of territory !
We dare not boast of these triumphs, for full
success depends on how we use good fortune. The
wisest heads amongst us have never foreseen the
heavy responsibilities our restless spirit was bring•
ing upon us. The man who could reduce our
wants and obligations to a minimum, has always
been esteemed the cleverest fellow. Those who
would throw Colonies to the winds, and depen-
dencies of other kinds to the waves, carried away
the palm from the council chamber and the senate.
Those who could do the most for the few, and the
least for the many, were supposed to have the
philosopher's stone in their pockets Who ever
heard a statesman declare that, the spread of
Christianity was the march of subjugation, and the
advance. of civilisation the fulfilment of the
promised universal amelioration of mankind.
Fancy JONES 'LoYD talking in this strain, or
PEEL'S attributing England's progressive great-
ness to anything but a bank charter, or an
advance in the rates of discount, . and " a fall

" generally in the prices of all commo-
dities to bring back gold." Fortunately, while
politicians are dreaming about trifles and abortions,

and diplomatists are wearing their brains with
notes, letters, despatches and intrigues, the great
and good work is going on apace. Dame Progress
is no longer bound to the chariot
.wheels of
orotcheteers, or the dogmas of the bullion wor•
shipper. No Bank Charter Act, conceived in '44
abandoned in '47, dreaded by a mighty. Empire in
'54, and the parent of -the most abominable
usury and fiscal extortion in '55.. and. '56, can
thwart the onward course of the great Providential
design on which we are endeavouring to fix the
public mind.

The promised scheme of universal civilisation
must have a centre, and the instruments where-
with to carry it out. Has Great Britain been
chosen as that centre, and the Britishers as the

History must answer these
questions. Our duty is to see that the part
assigned to us is performed with becoming though t-
fullness and care—that we hold together that
Empire, the sovereignty of which no one can
dispute, in the bonds of friendship and manliness
—that we may be prepared to meet the changes,
which are essential to the maintenance of our
dominion, to say nothing of the extension of our

instruments?

rule, as becomes a nation worthy of the trust which
time has brought upon us. Civilisation has to
prepare.fora
It change of a positive and organic
impossible to read the accounts
from the gold
is
fields of California and Australia,
without discovering that incalculable changes in