Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-06-15
Ba,rrsu HoUsr on Commons, April s.
EMANCIPATION OF THE Jews.


6ince the lews had rss ecttlcd in this country
di@cuh to say whether hey suffered more By the ~
Fanny of our kings, ar he uruus rnSe Of the people,
In tho rcigh OF Edward the First, roysl edict expcl
lcd all the Jews 10 the amount Of Is 900, from this
country, with conhscstion Of oil their property and
severe corporal nf'citon; il was in the same reign
that the famous statute, do Judesmo, passed.. Sim
lar cruclties had been practscd them Ia Portugal;
900 were sxpall ed from that country.
In tho reign Of Charles tho Drst and Second, they
received some protection IN this country, but eta
to passed respecting them until the reign Of Anne.
when statute passed rendering il mpora,iv. the
Jews support their children who should be CONVEX
ted to Christianity. After ,his NO Legislation was
made relating to them until tho reign Of George l.
On that reg" an act was passed Tor the purpose Of
turasing foreign Jews after they had resided GER
ssfn period IN thus country. That did affect
tive Jews, and for them the present measure was
proposed The hon. member proceeded TO state how
by tho Annual Indemnity Acts, Jews were enabled
heretofore to exercise the duties Of several offices and
professions. But by use introduced the bill for
rePeaing the TEST and Corporation acts, which rem
dereo IL incumbent on persons ON admission t0 Office,
10 taking the necessary oaths, to declare tho
saith OF Christian, he was satisfied that il not
the intention of the Legislature, i'm introducing this
formula Ia exclude the Jews, leave them u worse
condition than they had been BEFORE The disabilities
affecting them were an exclusion from all civil and
military ofccs, from practising at the bar az barrsers
or atornes from being schoolmastcrs ushers from
Voting at elections or sitting in parliaments from hnl
ding offices IN corporations. and by local enact
they were excluded from following retail
business IN the city Of LVndon. With regard the
claims which the Jews had being ema ncipaied he
begged 20 shy, that their number in the metropolis
amounted to about 20 600, and throughout the whole
country,to 10000 Their loyalty was never ques-
toned. and they contributed much Us any other
class of persons to the support Of the state The re-
Inoval of the Catholic disabilities wns an imposing
precedent for the house to repeal the disabilities Of
the Jews both persuasions had been affected BY penal
laws nearly similar. With regard to any objection
that might be made on the ground of the lmpnlcy of
admitting he enemies of our religion into oar eris-
laure he main aimed that the Jews could no, be con-
sidercd enemies more than other dsscntcrs Having
admitted all classes of dissenters they could not with
consistency refnse admission to the Jews The hon
member then took minute view of oil the penal sta
tutes fer religion sake. which had been passed hereto
fore, observing that Of these statutes were un
ded on the principle of supporting Christianity solely
Indeed, II was sud that Christianity was a portion
Of the law ofthe land bur that was merely because
these sects, respecting which enactments had been
made, happened to be Christian. He was todd that
no person who had opposed catholic emancipo,ion
could support this measure. He hoped that il would
experience but few opponents for the fact of the ca
thocs having been emancipated rrefrag ble ar
Gument IN favor OF the emancipation of the Jews. He
agreed that the Jews were wandering inconsistent
and international people. He was sure that there
was no description of people upright or honora.
BILE than the respectable class Of The Jews thou the
lover orders might be deemed corrupt and degraded:
the manner in which they were treated was sufficient
To make them appear so. The hen member then pro-
ceeded to observe that the Christian religion foun
ded oy Jews, and that there close connection
between the histories Of boil rel their analoqes
were numerous He here read some extracts from,
pamphlet written by a clerayman, RESPECTING the
Jewish religion. and establishing the close analogy
betwc N 1t and Christianity He designated Christi
unity as adult Judaism He conceived that when
persons were collected together in one civil comuu
~ 1t implied that they were to together and en-
soy the privileges of the the same extent He
Knew no principle which excluded persons fran civil
nfrff .n,rk L..
lie would refer to the early periods IF Christian
when Christians enjoyed Offices under a Pagan Co
vernment, yet they supported that government and
gave their srrv ces and talents in promotion of the
public welfare. Ii happened at thar period that the
Christian religion had obtained majority could uny
man say that those who mad filed Offices under Pa
gan government would refuse to admit Pagans into
offices IN the state?
With respect to the objection Against the admis.
slon OF the Jews IRo parliament. be thought il would
be iDocscry tn permit them vote for representa-.
tives and not permit them to send to the house per-
sons who wonld !Smphathisc with them NOTHING
could be more Impotic than make any class of sub
JectS hostile to the state by excluding them from GER
tnin privileges, with q view 10 protect the state
The house should either all the disabilities af
fecting the Jews I'll up the of their hor
ror, by renewing the treatment which they had ex
perienced IN the reign of Richard .. when 1900 of
them fell by their own hands, lest they should fall in
to the hands Of Christians. H. hoped the house
would on tins occasion extend, if he m CHIT so term
it, the hand Of mercy as well ofjusice. The Hon
gentleman then moved for leave TO bring in bill 10
remove the disabilities such persons as were of
the Jewish persuasion.
Sir K. Ingls commended, notwithstanding the elo
quence and able address of his and learn
ed friend, that persons had BEEN long before the inn
position ofthe oath Of sbjuration, excluded from hold
ing offices under the constitution of this country, un
less they were such as professd the tenets of Chris
tianity. He saw no cause existing at that moment
waIran ing the Jews to claim removal of their dis.
abilities. The Jews bad country and interest
dherent TO that winch actuated Englishmen. The
hon. baronet then instanced several cases in which
the Jews had rendered assistance TO the enemies Of
this country, enc of which when during the war.
applied for loan TO an opuent Jew in tb,s corn,rv
VINO procured the money for their common onemy thus
showing that though residcn, in this country. and
hving under British government, Jew did not feel
himseW bound 10 supportt. The Jews were. in fact
70 90 considered as aliens to every country; they
hcld themselves up as nation, no; az n sect Was
not therefore, natural tn suppose, that we're thew
10 DC admitted into that House they would ,oin to-