Star.
London, England, 1823-09-18 00:00:00

THE JEW AND THE BARRISTER.

At the late Lancaster Assizes, a cause was tried before '
JUStke:BATLILY, between two. Jews. In the muse
f the-evidence it appeared that the defendant had
l'ffired a quantity of bacon to the plaintiff to silence
and prevent the trial. To this the plaintiff refused
V.; accede. A third Jew (M.r. Moses Samuels), was
filled as a witness respecting the bacon transaction, and
Mr: §erjeant Caoss, tickled with the drollery of the
Eirkumitaace of seeing three Jews by the ears about a
itch Of bacon, amused the Court with some sarcastic
isMarks, at the expense of the witness, and the tribe of
brad in general. After the trial was over, the offended
.irriinisi wrote to Mr. Sefjeant Caoss the following manly
.nd indignant letter.

" TO SIR. •z*ttAXT cnoss.

" SIR,.—I was surprised at the manner in which you defended
lite cause whetein I was subpoenaed as witness. For the want of
~,of and resty on the part of your client, you had vcourse to
ridicule die name of Jew ; and because the case was accidentally
6nnected with Bacon, so much despised by Jews, and so much ad-
iitlied by children of the Cross, you thought it a fit opportunity of
eiposing this ludictous medley, by verifying the Scriptures concern-
ig our
' Thou shalt be a proverb and a byeword amongst all the na-
tions whither the LORD thy Gob shall lead thee—Deux.
" You endeavoured to do away with my testimony on grounds
Which were sufficiently refuted by Mr. Williams, as there was not a
tiOntradictory word in my evidence.
" Permit me now, Mr. Cross, to give you some advice (without
.1,4 Fir the future, do not play with the feelings of individuals
disinterested in a cause, and reluctantly attending your Courts of
Justice; and above all, do not let difference of opinion on religious
topics serve you as a triumphant pretext for displaying your sarcastic
towers, but rather imitate the manner of your more generous
brethren of the Cross, piously employed in disseminating Christian
knowledge among us; and in tither Jewish trials, instead of dwel-
ling repeatedly on the name of Moses, and such like Scriptural names,
inerely to cause ridiculous bursts of laughter in Court, and thereby
attempting to defeat the cause of truth and justice, be rather liberally
Inclined, consider us as the children of one GOD, the offspring of
One beneficent FATHER, supported and protected by one Autumn'
Ptiovmetice, as men gifted with the same intellectual powers as
others, and morally entitled to the same rights—as men seeking jus-
tice by those laws to which they are amenable, and entitled to some.
teepect from those expounders of the law whom they contribute
to support.

When a few centuries back our forefathers, exiled by barba-
rian fury, were led to seek a precarious abode in England ; when
the sword. unsheathed and still reeking with blood, was suspended
over our captive tribes, in the midst of those unmerited persecu-
polls, to have been assailed with a torrent of mere ridicule would
tare elicited no complaint or murmur; but now that we live in a
pore refined age, and thanks to Herren, enjoy the blessing of to-
ieration in a free country, where the virtudus and enlightened Jew
iiegins to be considered u a man and a fellow-citizen, the conduct
bf a Barrister in unnecessarily interweaving in his case ludicrous re-
a
parks upon those of a different denomination of religion, and treat-
ing with derision the name of a mace mighty though now scattered
jeople, must be highly reprehensible.
" Neither the Bar, nor the Gouge. nor the Wig, nay not even the
mighty powers of eloquence which you presume to possess, can for
a moment shield you, Mr. Cross, in the ews of an enlightened
world, from the censure which you deserve.
" Is it to be believed, that in these enlightened days, in an en-
-liice ned Court, where the enlightened Bayley presided, a Bar-
i
er, for the want .of a better defence, should be suffered to pour
ioith such obloquy. and wound the feelings of a respectable witness,
why, torsooth--betause he was a Jae ! Your's,
" MOSES SAMUEL"