The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-12 00:00:00

Church, to consent to reforms which at this momen

constitute its effectual strength, and, therefore, it
seems to me to be a disparagement, both of the reli-
gion and of the establishment, to contend that the safety
of either depends upon the continued exclusion from this
assembly of the Baron Rothschild, or of any other gen-
tleman of the Jewish faith.—(Cheers.) Were it ,not,
indeed, that there are internal dissensions within the
Church itsulf—(Cheers)—my firm belief is, that the
Church would be stronger at this moment, after all these
numerous relaxations of disabling laws, than ever it was,
even at the period when you required conformity to the
Protestant faith as an essential condition of being a
Member of the Imperial Parliament.—(Cheers.) And
therefore it is,—deeply regretting as I do to shock the
feelings of any man sincerely attached to his religion
and to the Protestant faith, yet believing that undue
weight and importance have been applied to those
words, "on the true faith of a Christian," which were
introduced only for a temporary purpose,—that I do not
think it just towards the Jew to continue his exclusion
merely because these words have been retained for 200
years.—(Cheers.) I rejoice that I am enabled to come
to that conclusion, and that I do not endanger the Church
or the Constitution of this country by removing these
disabilities from the Jews. This I feel most strongly,
that if ever there was a class of our fellow-beings to
whom every Christian state in Europe owed reparation
—(Cheers)--for centuries of injustice, persecution,
and wrong, the Jews are that people.—(Cheers.)
I defy you to read the early history of our country—not
as narrated by Jews, but as narrated by your own most
popular historians—without shuddering at the details of
the cruelties which were committed by our Christian an-
cestors on the Jews.—(Hear, hear.) Look at the account
which your most popular historian gives of the persecu-
tion of the Jews. Hear what Flume says of the Jews in
the time of Henry 11. Our ideas at this day cannot
possibly come up to realise the cruelties which were then
common. Hutne mentions, that John exacted 10,000
marks from a Jew of Bristol, extracting a tooth for every
day's delay ; and speaking of Henry, he says that the
King having pillaged a certain Jew of 8,000 marks
handed him over to the Earl of Cornwall, in order that,
having been flayed by one, he might be embowelled by
another. This is the account of a Christian, not of a
Jew historian. And on what account were these crimes
perpetrated ? Was it nut on account of irrational and
unjust prejudices affecting the Jews ?—(Hear, hear.)
Are we quite sure that these bad prejudices are entirely
extinct ? We deny, I know, that we are actuated by
them ; but are we quite sure that prejudices, less in
extent, perhaps, bat similar in character, are not now
influencing some of the opposition to the emancipation of
the Jews ? Of this, at least, I am quite certain, that
such prejudices did influence the Legislature at the
last period when this subject was seriously discussed,
I mean in the year 1843. I think ithe most dis-
graceful day in the annals of our Parliament was that
on which the Duke of Newcastle came down to the
House of Commons and moved the repeal of the Act for
the naturalization of Jews. That was a real concession
to popular prejudices.—(Hear, bear.) The year before,
foreign Jews having been admitted to naturalization in
our colonies, an Act was passed permitting them to be
suchnaturalized inen
ferment this ht ihsa ct otuhnet rmy .e m Tb
ehrefroer wEaxs
eat
egrrvve great f
se rcme
accused
of being a Jew, and was obliged to state in his defence
that he was in the habit of travelling upon Saturdays.—
(A laugh.) Still there was, as I have said, a great fer-
ment through the country—a general election was about
to take place ; and in the latter part of 1753 the Go-
vernment of that day, in mere deference to irrational
prejudices, proposed the repeal of the Act passed in the
previous year; and one of the greatest functionaries of
that Government, Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, conde-
scended to justify the proposed repeal by such argu-
ments as that by means of it the Jews would
be protected from open violence, that while the
people were so exasperated the Jews would
be liable to daily insult, or even to daily
injury, to such an extent that they could ,not live
in the country with ease and security, and would
in many instances be forced to quit it. Thus were the
Jews deprived of the rights which Parliament hat con-
ferred upon them in obedience to the irrational preju-
dices of the day.—(Hear, hear,) I know it may be said
that these ancient cruelties ought not to influence our
present deliberations. Such may be the ease ; but I

hold that these past cruelties do constitute a reason why
reparation ought to be granted for injuries which ought
to weigh heavily upon our national conscience.—
(Hear, hear.) Hear what another historian, Mr.
Sharon Turner, says upon the subject of the early per-
secution of the Jews. [The Right Hon. Baronet read
the passage enumerating the various massacres and
cruelties to which the Jews had been subjected in Ger-
many and in England, principally in the 12th, 13th, and
14th centuries, a passage which concluded by expressing
the wonder of the writer that the Jews could now exist
at all.] The Right Hon. Baronet continued :—But
they do exist—they have survived all these persecu-
tions, and have they not shown patience and forbear-
ance ? But suppose that they were a degraded race,
could you now plead that degradation against the re-
moval of theso disabilities.—(Cheers.) If they were
degraded, would not we be responsible, we who have
oppressed and persecuted them?—(Cheers.) If they
had been degraded—if the iron had entered into their
souls—could you attribute the result to anything but
cruel persecution?—(Cheers.) Could you taunt them
now, because the flame of patriotism had not burned
brightly in their bosoms ? Could you be surprised
that, having suffered these cruel injuries, they should
permit their minds to dwell upon the distant and the
last, and allow the future to predominate over the pre•
sent. Could you he surprised at their manifesting
attachment to foreign lands, and by alien streams
sighing for their own Sion?—(Cheers.) But admit them
to equal privileges with yourselves, then, if there is
degradation, that very elevation will improve their con-
dition. Rut I say there has been no degradation, notwith-
standing these persecutions. Still, in point of moral
character, of benevolence, of charity, and of wealth, they
arc on an equality with ourselves.—(Hear, bear.) If
such be the case, if they have been exposed to such cruel
wrongs, ought we not to hasten the removal of disabi-

lilies under which they still lie? But I have other
reasons for urging the boon. The Jews are still subject
in foreign nations to cruel injuries, still in Poland
are they an oppressed race, still in Syria are they sub-
ject to severe persecutions ; and even within the last
two or three years they have suffered on account of the
infamous calumny that they murdered Christian boys in
order to use their blood at their festivals. Sir, that man,
so distinguished for his benevolence, Sir Moses Monte-
fiore, has gone to Poland, to Syria, in order to rescue
his brethren from these dreadful persecutions. On both
these occasions he carried letters of reccommendation
from British Ministers. But would not these letters
have been more efficacious if he could have said the pre-
judices in England against the Jews have expired, and
they now stand upon the same fboting as other English
subjects 2—(Hear, hear.) Depend upon it your legis-
lation will exercise a jurisdiction and an authority in
other countries ; it will extend far beyond the limits to
which its legal operation is confined, and if you place
the Jews upon a footing of perfect equality with your-
selves, if you extend to them all the rights of British sub-
jects, then at least it is impossible that any foreign
power can ever persecute them, pleading the example
and authority of Great Britain. Your act here
will prevent persecution elsewhere; it will bring balm
and consolation to men pining in slavery. Your example
will be followed in other countries; it is not merely that
you will relieve the Jew from disabilities here, you will
rescue him from oppression and degradation in other
countries in which he is enslaved.—(Cheers.) On these
grounds, Sir, although they constitute no grounds for
impairing either the religion or the constitution of this
country, I advocate the repeal of the Jewish disabilities,
believing that that repeal will not be detrimental to
either.—(Cheers.) I shall only touch upon one more
argument, that of the Right Hon. Gentleman the
Member for Cambridge (Mr. Goulburn). The Right
Hon. Gentleman stated that there were many sincere and
pious persons actively and zealously engaged in the
conversion and promotion of Christianity among the
heathen, and he expressed a fear that their efforts
would be to a great extent neutralized, should
we, as a nation, profess our indifference to the
great truths of religion, by abolishing distinctions
between what we believe to be right and what we
believe to be wrong. I agree with my Right Honour-
able Friend, that if such were to be the consequences of
this measure, they would be consequences much to be
lamented.—(Hear.) I agree with him that we have, in
respect to our foreign empire, higher duties to perform
than the mere aggrandizement of territory and the ex-
tension of commerce.—(Hear.) These are, however,
undoubtedly means towards an end, and it is possible
that they are the means by which the light of knowledge,
the day-spring from on high, may visit those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death, and perhaps were
the passing of the present Bill to neutralise such bless-
ings, that might be a reason fur the continued exclusion
of the Jews; but no such consequences will flow from it.
Take the case of a New Zealander or a Chinese—ima-
gine an inhabitant of either of those countriet sufficiently
enlightened to understand the logical force and sequence
of argument, then if the missionary were able to say to
him that our present law was such as it existed in the
time of Edward the First, that we held no communion
with Jews, that we so abominated the crime of which

their ancestors were guilty, that we held no intercourse I
with them—if we could have used such arguments as a
missionary from the Spanish inquisition might have
used—then I could conceive it possible that the bar-
barian might consider such a refusal of intercourse a
proof of sincere religious feeling. But the missionary
can make no such appeal. lie must say that we do not
refuse to hold intercourse with Jews ; that we admit
them to great offices, and subject them to all the bur-
dens of citizens of a great State, that we borrow money
from them—(Laughter)—that in time of war we re-
...

quire their military services, that if he (the barbarian)
were to come to London next ) ear he might find a Jew
the Lord Mayor, but that still we exclude them from the
_ .

House of Commons ; then, Sir, I believe that that ap-
peal would hardly be intelligible.—(Hear, hear.) Let us
then try an appeal of another sort—let us efface these
persecuting laws to which the Jews were subject—let
us say that we have adopted another course, that we
desire to make reparation, that our constitution knows
none of those ancient prescriptions, that we profess a
religion which enjoins that we should be forbearing and
forgiving towards all men, that we worship a God whose
Almighty power is most chiefly declared by showing
pity and compassion, that we worship a Saviour whose
life inculcated and whose death sanctioned the divine
precept of mercy, and therefore we have abolished the
distinctions which have so long and so injuriously
existed between the Jew and the Christian, that we
have admitted the once proscribed race to equal pri..
vileges and equal rights with ourselves.—(Cheers.)
This is an appeal intelligible to us all, which would
bear greater weight as a proof of Christian charity than
the appeal which might have been made in the
times of Edward 1., or than any which we can

now make on their behalf. Sir, from these reasons
—because I believe it to be in conformity with the
enlarged and comprehensive spirit of the British con-
stitution that these disabilities should no longer remain
—because I rejoice in this opportunity of making re-
paration for the great injuries and unjust obloquy of
former times—because I think the Jew has fairly earned
the indulgence which it has been proposed to give him
by great patience and by great forbearance, by tried
fidelity and by tried loyalty; but, above all, not because
I atll indifferent to religion, but because I asp one of a
Christian people, and a member of a Christian legis-
lature, I will perform an act which I believe to be in
strict conformity with the spirit and injunctions of the
Christian religion.—(Loud cheers.) Therefore it is I
will perform this act, not because I am told "to forgive
them who trespass against us," but as an act as sacred
in the point of moral obligation, and more trying to
human pride, namely, to forgive them against whom we
have trespassed.—(Cheers.) Sir, on these accounts I
shall give my cordial support to the second reading of
this Bill.—(Long and vehement cheering followed the
conclusion of the Right Hon. Baronet's speech.)
Lord DUDLEY STUART proceeded to address the
House, but owing to the great impatience of the House,
and loud calls for a division, he was nearly inaudible.
The Noble Lord was understood to deny that a regular
scale of payments for obtaining signatures to the peti-
tions in favour of the Bill had been established by the
friends of Baron de Rothschild, and to state that the
Hon. Member who said so had not made a correct state-
ment to the House, though he, no doubt, believed it to
be perfectly true. The prejudices of the party to which
the Hon. Member belonged, rendered him extremely
liable to be deceived on several matters. The Hon.
Baronet (Sir R. Inglis) threw down the gauntlet when
this Bill was first introduced, and challenged the Noble
Lord to appeal to the country. At that time the peti-
tions against the Bill numbered but 7,000 signatures,
those for it 13,000; but now the signatures for were no
less than 232,000, and against it only 35,000. He denied
that it was right to say with the Right Hon. Baronet
(Sir R. Peel), that the Jews in Poland were at rest.—
(Cries for a division.) The Noble Lord concluded by
declaring his intention to support the Bill, because he
believed it to be a measure calculated to advance truth
and liberty.—(Divide, divide.)
Mr. NEWDEGATE (whose rising occasioned re-
newed cries for a division) said he would detain them
only a minute. It was stated by the Noble Lord that
he (Mr. Newdegate) has asserted what was not the fact.
He believed his statement was substantially correct,
though not in the terms in which it was reported. He
had received two petitions to present to the House in
favour of the Bill, which had been brought to him open
by the agents of the Committee for the return of Baron
de Rothschild, and it struck him as so strange a fact,
that he was prompted to inquire if there were any orga-
nized system for procuring signatures. The result avu
—that he believed persons were employed to procure
signatures in fzsvour of the Bill proposed by the Govern-
ment on the part of Baron do Rothschild's friends, and
that for the first one hundred signatures there was paid
Is. 6d. He had been wrong in stating the manner In
which signatures were procured to the petition in favour
of the Bill. The fact was, that they commenced at is.
6d., with a sliding scale terminating at 3s. the hundred,
which was afterwards converted into a fixed duty of ss.
a hundred.

The House then divided, when there appeared—
For the second reading
Against it ....
Majority -- 73
Mr. ANSTEY gave notice that he would introduce a
clause in the Bill depriving Parliament of the right to
legislate on church questions without the previous con-
sent of the Convocation in the one case, and the General
Assembly in the other.—(Great laughter.)
PRIVILEGE.
The SERGICANT.AT-ARMS appeared at the bar, and
informed the Speaker that Sir Robert Price and Mr.
Cumming Bruce were in custody.
Sir THOMAS ACLAND said that his Honourable
Friend the Member for Hereford (Sir Robert Price) was
then outside waiting the pleasure of the House. He
had desired him to say on his behalf; that he was
greatly concerned his absence should have occasioned
him its displeasure, or caused any inconvenience
whatsoever. He intended by it no disrespect to the
House, nor did ho feel any indifference respect.
1 big th• cause_he had beau appointed to try. Having

been absent from town, he was not aware until the
the arrival of the post that morning, of his appoint-
ment, and ho lost no time whatever in hurrying up to
fulfil his duties, bur, notwithstanding the speed of the
broad gauge—(Hear, hc.ar)—for some ninety or one
hundred miles, he found himself late. Having stated
these facts to the House he would move that the Hon.
Member be discharged from custody upon the PaYme"
of his fees.
Mr. A. STAFFORD seconded the motion, which Was
acceded to.

Mr. A. STAFFORD then made a similar motion nn•
behalf of Mr. Cumming Bruce, who had instructed him
to say that his absence was entirely accidental.
Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY seconded the
motion.

Mr. FOX MAULE said that, before the motion was
carried, he would once more impress upon the House
the necessity of attention to the panels. The presence of
Hon. Members at the Committees to which they were
appointed was most necessary, es- the ;parties who ap-
peared before them were put to heavy and serious ex-
penses by any delay.
The motion was then carried.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE BILL.
The Administration of Justice Bill (No. 1) was then
read a second time.

Mr. LABOUCHERE moved for leave to bring in a
Bill to make further provision for the carriage of passen..
gers by sea to North America. The necessity of addi-
tional regulations on this subject, the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman observed, would be evident from the fact that,
amongst 106,800 persons who had crossed the Atlantic
to Canada and New Brunswick. the total mortality
amounted to 17,445. The:object of the Bill was to make
more effectual provision for preserving .the health of the
emigrants.
After a short conversation, leave was given, and the
Bill was subsequently brought in and read a first time.
On the motion of Mr. FAGAN, it was ordered that
the petition of John Reynolds, Esq., M.P. (presented
10th February), relating to the recognizance entered
into in respect of the petition against the return of the
said John Reynolds for the city of Dublin, be referred to
the Committee appointed to inquire into the petition
presented by Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart., M.P.; and
that it be an instruction to such Committee to inquire
into the allegations of the first-named petition, and to
report thereon to the House.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved
for the appointment of a Select Committee, to consider
of the best mode of providing additional room for works
of art given to the public or purchased by means of Par•
liamentary grants:—Lord J. Russell, Sir R. Peel, Mr.
Flume, Viscount Morpeth, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Baring,
Wall, Mr. Charteris, Earl of Lincoln, Sir Benjamin
Hall, Marquis of Granby, Mr. Parker, Mr. Wakley,
Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Vernon Smith, and Mr. Bank...
The necessity of providing this additional room arose
from the -very munificent donation of Mr. Vernon,
who had left to the National Gallery a large collec-
tion of pictures. For the present year an apartment
had been hired to receive them; but it was most
desirable that a room should be provided for them
in the building devoted to the National Gallery. It wise
best that a Committee should be appointed for the
purpose of considering the matter, as it might involve
an extensive alteration of the present building.

Motion agreed to.
The other orders of the day bating been disposed of,
the House adjourned at half-past One °clock.

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS.

(From the Votu and Proceedings of the House of Onsmons.)

FRIDAY, FEB. 11.
JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL.

Order for Second Reading read; Motion made, and Quo.
tion proposed, "That the Bill be now read a second time:"...
Amendment proposed, to leave out the word " now," and at
end of the Question to add the words " upon this day aIZ
months." Question put, " That the word now' stand part
of the Question." The House divided

MAJORITY—AYES, 277.
Gower, Leveson Pechell, Captain
Graham, Sir James Peel, Sir Robert
Granger, T. C. Perfect, Robert
Greene, John Peto, Samuel M.
Gregson, Samuel Pigott, Francis
Greufell, C. Pascoe Pilkington, Jame'
Grenfel , Charles W. Pinney, W.
Grey, Sir G. Power, Dr.
Grey, Ralph W. Powlett, Lord W.
Grosvenor, Lord B. Pusey, Philip
Guest, Sir J. Reynolds, John
Hall, Sir;B. Ricardo, J. L.
Hardeastie, J. A. Ricardo, Osman
Hastie, Archibald Rice, E. R.
Hay, Lord John Rich, Henry
Ilayter, W. G. Robartes, T. J.
Headlain, T. E. Robinson. George
Heathcoat, John Romiily, John
Henry, Alexander Russell, Lord J.
Herbert, Henry A. Russell, Edward S.
Heywood, James Russell, F. C. H.
Hindley, C. Rutherford, A..
Hodges, T. L. Sadleir, John
Hodges, T. Twisden Salwey, Colonel
Holland, Robert Sanders, George
Hallman, Edward ' Scholefleld, W 11114132
lloward, C, W.G. Scrope, 0. P.
Hume, Joseph Scully, Francis
Ilumphery, Ald. Seeley, Charles
Ilutt, William Seymour, Lord
Jackson, William Shell, It. L.
Jennyn, Earl Shelburne, Earl of
Jervis, Sir John Sheridan, R. B.
Jervis, John Sidney. Thomas
Keogh, William Slaney, Robert A.
Keppel, George T. Smith, Vernon
Ker, Richard Smith, J. A.
Kershaw, James Smith, M. Tucker
Kildare, Marquis of Smith, John U.
King, Peter John Smythe, G.
Labouehere, Henry Somers, J. P.
Langston, J. H Somerville, Sir W.
Lascelles, W. S. Stanley, E. J.
Leonard, T. B. Statisticld, W. R. C.
Lewis, Sir T. Stanton, W. H.
Lewis, George C. Staunton, Slr G.
Lincoln, Earl of Strutt, Edward
Locke, Joseph Stuart, Lord D.
Lushington, Charles Sullivan, Michael
3l•Gregor, John Sutton, Henry
31•Taggart, Sir J. Talbot, C..R.
Areavish, C. C. Talfourd, ,ergeant
31eagikr, Thomas Tattered, 11. W.
Mahon, O'Gorman Teuison, E. K.
Marsh- li, J. G. Thicknesse, it. A.
Marshall, William Thompson, Colonel
Martin, J. 'Thompson, George
Martin, Samuel Thornely, T.
Matheson, Alex. Tollemache, F. J.
Matheson, James Towneley, John
Matheson, Colonel Townshend. John
Maule, Fox Trail, George
Melgund, Viscount Trelawuy, J. S.
31iInes, R. M. Turner, E.
Moffatt, George Tynte, Charles
Molesworth, Sir W. Vane, Lord H.
Monsell, William Verney Sir H.
Morpeth, Viscount Villiers, Charles
Morison, General Vivian, J. 11.
Morris, David Wak ley, Thome'
3iostyn, E. M. L. Wall, C. B.
Mowatt, Francis Walmsley, Sir J.
Mulgrave, Earl Walter. John
Munta, G. F. Ward, H. G.
Nugent, Lord Watkins, Colonel
Nugent, Sir Percy Wawa, J T.
O'Brien, Sir Lucius Westhead, J. P.
O'Brien, Timothy Willcox, Brodie
O'Brien, W. S. Williams, John
O'Connell, M. J. Williamson, Sir 11.
O'Connor, reargue Wilson, James
O'Flaherty, Anthony Wilson, Matthew
Ord, W. Wood, Sir Chivies
Osborne, Ralph Wool, W. P.
Oswald, Alexander Wortley, J. 8.
Owen, Sir J. Wrightson, W.B.
Paget, Lord A. Wyld, James
Paget, Lord Clarence Wyvill, Mannaduke
Paget, Lord George Yorke,
Palmer, Roundell
Palmerston, Via.
Parker, Joint
Pattison, James
Pearson, Charles

Abdy, Thomas N.
Adair, Hugh E.
Aglionby, H. A.
Alsock, Thomas
Anderson, Arthur
Anson, Colonel
Anson, Viscount
Anstey, Thomas C.
Arundel, Earl of
Bagshaw, John
Baines, M. T.
Baring, F. T.
Baring, Thomas
Barnard, E. G.
Bellew, K. M.
Bentinck, Lord G.
Berkeley, Captain
Berkeley, IL
Berkeley, Grantley
Bernal, Ralph
Birch, Sir 'Thomas
Blackall, S. W.
Blake, M. J.
Blewitt, R. J.
Bouverie, E. P.
llowring, Dr.
Boyle, Robert E.
Jirand,lThoinas
Brockman. Is:. D.
Brotherton, Joseph
Brown, W.
Buller, Charles
Bunbury, Edward
Busfeild, W.
Buxton, Sir E.
Callaghan, D.
Cardwell, Edward
Carter, John B.
Caulfield, Colonel
Cavendish, C. C.
Caylcy, Edward S.
Charter's, Francis
Cholmeley, Sir J.
Clay, James
Clay, Sir W.
Clements, Charles
Clerk Sir G.
Cobden, B.
Cockburn, Alex.
Coke, Edward Y.
oNa
h. n
Colebrooke, Sir T.
Collins,y Vi
Lord A.
Cowan, Charles
Cowper, W. F.
Craig, W. G.
Crawford, W. S.
Cubittt, William
Currie, ltaikes
Dashwood, G. H.
Davie, Sir Henry
Dawson, T. V.
Denison, J..E.
Devereux, John T.
D'Eyncourt, T.
Disraeli, B.
Divett, E.
Duff, George S.
Duke, Sir James
Duncan, _Viscount
Duncan, George
Dundas, Admiral
Ebrington, Viscount
Ellice, Edward
Ellice, E., jun.
Elliot, John E.
Enfield, Lord
Evans, John
Evans, William
Ewart, William
Fagan, William
Ferguson, Sir It.
Fitzpatrick, J. W.
Fitzroy, Henry
Foley, John H.
Fordyce, A. D.
Forster, Mathew
Fortescue, J. W.
Fox, Richard M.
Fox,
Freestun, Colonel
Gardner, J. D.
Gibson, T. M.
Gladstone, W. B.

TZUJU.
TufthU, Henry
MU, Lord M.