The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-01 00:00:00

MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

The present is in almost every respect a supe-
rior number, possessing spirit, energy, sarcasm,
research, and variety. " The Opening of the
Session of Parliament," which stands at the head
of the articles, is very, powerfully written : in the
justice of not a few of the observations we cor-
dially coincide, though we think they are pushed
to the extreme verge of judgment. " The
Fourteenth, or the Ugly Man," is a whimsical
extravaganza, descriptive of the sufferings of a
man who has the misfortune to be ugly. When
we come to consider how many men are in the
same predicament we are surprised at the writer
laying such stress on the miseries of personal—
not deformity—but ugliness. On a handsome
average, strictly, impartially, and mathematically
calculated, six out of every ten men are ugly
dogs, and the seventh is a perfect fright ; yet
here we have a man lamenting through eight
closely-printed pages the disadvantages attending
his having an exuberant nose of the snub
species. As an exercise of ingenuity this
article presents claims to public favour : the
author can spin like a silk-worm, and reversing
the old proverb ex nihilo nil ft, make a strong
something out of an unpromising nothing.'
" The Existing Disabilities of the Jews" argues
very liberally and sensibly in favour of the
removal of such disabilities :
" But we can discover no sufficient reason why the
Jew, if a natural-born subject of Great Britain, should not
possess every privilege attached to so fortunate a distinc-
tion. He already exercises one office, which perhaps,
more important to society than any other that England
contemplates; he sits on juries, and thus decides on life
and fortune. We are not aware that he has exhibited any
unfitness for this important trust ; and the chief qualities
which it demands are satisfactory evidences of his fitness
for the other genenil trusts of the Commonwealth. 'We
unhesitatingly lay down the principle, that religious opi-
nions are not justifiable obstructions to puLlic employ-
ments or national privileges, except where out of those
religious opinions political prejudices or hostilities grow.—
To such exceptions the papist is as obviously exposed as
the Jew is not ; and on this ground we say, that the exclu-
sion of the Jew is not less an act of injustice to himself
than a wrong to the country which is deprived of the
public services of a portion of its people. As to any fear
that the public councils may be perverted by the overflow
of Jews into the Legislature, the idea is chimerical. The
Jews are a small community ; in general a very poor one;
and in general a very secluded and unambitious one. They
have no party stimulant to urge them to faction, and the
strong probability is, that if half a dozen of them became
Members of Parliament, it would be the full number, and
that of those the attention would be much more turned to
commercial than political details. The whole population
of Ike Jews in England is estimated under 30,000. The
religious maxim of the Jews is also directly adverse to
public disturbance, 5e4 ye the peace of the city where
ye dwell, and pray for it, foe in the peace thereof ye shall
have peace I' The Jew looks upon himself as tot
r4stinct, and perhaps of too superior a race, to make the
strugg4,l for popular rank in other nations of much in-
terest to hito hp retains a good deal of the original irn-
pression of the pstriarplial age of sojourning and pil-
grimage ; and, looking, like his great forefather, to a glo-
rious consummation in his original land, feels bpt few of
the stings that rouse other men to force their way to emi-
nence #p the perilous path of human passions. The Jew
has been often a ,victim to popular violence or to regal ra •
pacity ; but it is ronsrlcahlet that during the long period
of their residence in the British Ampfre, there has been
no Jewish insurrection. Mr. Goldsmid irs.sertv7 that there
ha pot been even a single instance of a Jew being,—f he
does not jai guilty, but even suspected, of any offence
against the state/
" If the wealth of the .Jena he a subject of alarm to
those who naturally desire to see Cbribh4PY take the lead
in a Christian Legislature, the answer is, that thp
41: a body, are, perhaps, next to the gipsies, the poorest
body' ;n England. A few of their community are always
men of great wealth. Yet even that wealth is liable to
strange fluctuations, an 4 there seems to be something in
the nature of Jewish opulence tb,-,:t re.lways and in all corm
tries prohibits it from taking the shape Usolid ga4pyblicly
irs4,2ntial property. But if alarms still exist, the Jew
is ready tp gger the strongest declaration that British law
can require, as his ,Issprance against disturbing the Reli-
gion or Constitution of Epgr:and•. He is ready substan-
tially t„take all the oaths demanded of the piFsenters—
his ,coily objecti,47! being to the phrase, the faith of
Christian'—a clause whirl; must be altogether saltier);
its to spy security in his instance, if he were to adopt it;
but wloch 44 national belief prohibits hips to a4ept."
" Tiw Progress of Physieo Piscoyery," as
its sQbject would import displays traces of iio
slight research it is also p;n,cli4ly and ,in (me
or two instances very eloluently written—r.-but is