The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-04 00:00:00

JEWISH DISABILITIES.

TO TEE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—As the courts of law begin their sittings to-
day, I suppose we shall soon hear samething concern.
ing Mr. Alderman Salomons, and his having had the
audacity to sit and vote in the House of Commons,
merely because he was elected by a majority of the
constituency of Greenwich as their representative.
Whatever may be the decision in the law courts, one
thing must not be forgotten—that the House of Com-
mons have repeatedly passed a measure to alter the
wording of the Oath of Abjuration—the only impe-
diment—and that the House of Lords have as repeat-
edly thrown it out, showing plainly enough that how-
ever the " pressure from without" may affect the
Commons, the Lords pay no heed to it. It seems a sin-
gular thing to me that this matter should not have
been settled entirely in the Lower House. I cannot
see the necessity of the Lords being consulted at all
in a matter solely and totally confined to the forms
and ceremonies of the House of Commons. The
alteration suggested in the wording of the oath would
make it binding on the conscience of a Jew, but
were he hypocritical enough to take the oath as it stands
now, he would be swearing by that which has no
existence—" the true faith of a Christian"—he pos-
sessing no such faith, and therefore the oath would
not be binding upon him.
I will not say anything about the injustice of de•
nying equal rights and privileges to a portion of the
people who are equally taxed with the other portions,
and equally bound by the laws, and who are persever-
ing and energetic traders (no slight recommendation
in a commercial community), and who are far more
thanes equally moral, when compared with those who
pfs the " true faith of Christians.
Again, Sir, as you will see by the following ex-
tract, this matter was legislated upon 128 years ago,
and if the Act has been repealed we must be retro-
grading :
Extract from an Act of Parliament passed in the
9th year of George 1., 1723:—" Whenever any of
his Majesty's subjects, professing the Jewish religion,
shall present themselves to take the Oath of Abjura-
tion, the words on the true faith of a Christian shall
be omitted out of the said oath ; and the taking of it
by such persons professing the Jewish religion with-
out the words aforesaid, in the manner as Jews are
admitted to be sworn to give evidence in the courts of
justice, shall be deemed a sufficient taking."
Let the big-wigs settle the question as they may,
the time cannot be far distant when the only qualifi-
cation for a Jew to take a seat in the Commons House
of Parliament shall be his having been fairls and
honestly returned by his constituents ; and I hope
that the Liberal electors will not forget those who
have still adhered to the old time-worn prejudices of
past generations, and return menw
hoaranedprroegrtaredsstihvee
with the people, and do not lag behind
onward
demption.
I
osnheyuolurd ntoitmheaavnedN s-epnatcuer,esdirt,odihd I have trespassed
belongespassedt::
far
class of the people who take a great interest in this
question, and who value The seofitcisvoil
all and
religious fer-
ventlyand honestly supports
religious liberty.—l am, Sir, .„
the ~Sun
WORKING MAN.,.Sunb:aucasue
Nov. 3, 1851.