from them; and the last, by the most unscrupulous and unsparing measures, usually defrayed his extraordinary expenses with their spoils, and impoverished some of the richest among them. His extortions at last became so enormous, and his oppression so grievous, that, in the words of the historian, he reduced the miserable wretches to desire leave to depart the kingdom; but even self-banishment was denied them. Edward I. completed their misery, seized on all their property, and banished them the kingdom. Above fifteen thousand Jews were rendered destitute of any residence, were despoiled to the utmost, and reduced to ruin. Nearly four centuries elapsed before the return to Britain of this abused race, revile, to despise, to plunder, and to persecute. The kings of the Norman race, and the independent nobles, who followed their example in all acts of tyranny, maintained against this devoted people a persecution of a more regular, calculated, and self-interested kind. It is a well-known story of King John, that he confined a wealthy Jew in one of the royal castles, and daily caused one of his teeth to be torn out, until, when the jaw of the unhappy Israelite was halfdisfurnished, he consented to pay a large sum, which it was the tyrant's object to extort from him. The little ready money that was in the country was chiefly in the possession of this persecuted people, and the nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in wringing it from them by every species of oppression, and even personal torture." (Ibid. pp. 120, 121.) The fictitious history of Isaac of York is delineated in a manner equally descriptive of the facts, and confirmatory of the prophecies respecting the Jewish people; and there exists not the history of any individual of any other nation, whether drawn from fancy or from fact, which combines so many of the prophetic characteristics of the fate of a Jew, as that which has thus been delineated, by a master's hand, as a representation of their condition, at a period about twenty-six centuries posterior to the prediction, and in a country two thousand miles remote from the place where it was first uttered, and from the only land ever possessed by the Jews. Rapin's History of England, vol. iii. p. 405. Some remarkable circumstances attest, without a prolonged detail of their miseries, that they have been a people everywhere peculiarly oppressed. The first unequivocal attempt at legislation in France was an ordinance against the Jews. And towards them alone. one of the noblest charters of liberty on earth-Magna Charta, the Briton's boast-legalized an act of injustice.s For many ages after their dispersion, they found no resting-place in Europe, Asia, or Africa, but penetrated in search of one to the extremities of the world. In Mahometan countries they have ever been subject to persecution, contempt, and every abuse. They are in general confined to one particular quarter of every city (as they formerly were to old Jewry in London); they are restricted to a peculiar dress; and in many places shut up at stated hours. In Ha madan, as in all parts of Persia, "they are an abject race, and support themselves by driving a peddling trade;—they live in a state of great misery, pay a monthly tax to the government, and are not permitted to cultivate the ground, or to have landed possessions." They cannot appear in public, much less perform their religious ceremonies, without being treated with scorn and contempt." The revenues of the prince of Bohara are derived from a tribute paid by five hundred families of Jews, who are assessed according to the means of each. In Zante they exist in miserable indigence, and are exposed to considerable oppression. At Tripoli, when any criminal is condemned to death, the first Jew who happens to be at hand is compelled to become the executioner; a degradation to the children of Israel to which no Moor is ever subjected. In Egypt they are despised and s Articles xii. xiii. t Morier's Travels in Persia, p. 379. u Sir J. Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. ii. p. 425. x Hugh's Travels, vol. i. p. 150. y Lyon's Travels, p. 16. Z persecuted incessantly. In Arabia they are treated with more contempt than in Turkey. The remark is common to the most recent travellers both in Asia and Africa, that the Jews themselves are astonished, and the natives indignant, at any act of kindness, or even of justice, that is performed towards any of this "despised nation" and persecuted people. In Southey's Letters from Spain and Portugal, this remarkable testimony is borne respecting them: "Till within the last fifty years the burning of a Jew formed the highest delight of the Portuguese; they thronged to behold this triumph of the faith, and the very women shouted with transport as they saw the agonized martyr writhe at the stake. Neither sex nor age could save this persecuted race; and Antonio Joseph de Silvia, the best of their dramatic writers, was burned alive because he was a Jew." Few years have elapsed since there was a severe persecution against them in Prussia and in Germany, and in several of the smaller states of the latter country they are not permitted to sell any goods even in the common markets. The pope has lately re-enacted some severe edicts against them: and ukases have recently been issued in quick succession, restraining the Jews from all traffic throughout the interior government of Russia. They are absolutely prohibited, on pain of. immediate banishment, from offering any article to sale," whether in public or private, either by themselves or by others. They are not allowed to " z Denon's Travels in Egypt, vol. i. p. 213. a Niebuhr's Travels, vol. i. p. 408. b Morier's Travels in Persia, p. 266. Lyon's Travels in Africa, p. 32. c 15th November 1797. 25th February 1823. 8th June 1826. (August or November) 1827. d Ukase, quoted from The World,' of date 31st October 1827. Ib. article viii. 1 reside, even for a limited period, in any of the cities of Russia, without an express permission from government, which is granted only in cases where their services are necessary, or directly beneficial to the state. A refusal to depart when they become obnoxious to so rigid a law, subjects them to be treated as vagrants; and none is suffered to protect or to shelter them. Though the observance of such edicts must, in numerous instances, leave them destitute of any means of support, yet their breach or neglect exposes them to oppression under the sanction of the law, and to every privation and insult, without remedy or appeal. And though they may thus become the greatest objects of pity, all laws of humanity are reversed by imperial decrees towards them. For those who harbour Jews that are condemned to banishment for having done what all others may innocently do, are, as the last Russian ukase respecting them bears," amenable to the laws as the abettors of vagrants, "e and, as in numberless instances besides, no man shall save them. e Note. While the prophecies described the past and existing miseries of the Jews, they refer with no less precision to the time yet to come, when the children of Israel shall have returned to the loved land of their fathers, and their rebuke shall have ceased from off the face of the earth, and when they shall prize their blessings the more highly, as contrasted with the former sufferings of their race. And the word of God, confirmed as its prophetic truth is by the workings of the wrath of man, and by the policy of earthly monarchs, will doubtless triumph over the highest mandates of mortals, and receive new illustrations of its truth, when these shall have passed away. And the eleventh article of the ukase, now in force, merits, in reference to a special prediction, particular notice, and may here be subjoined, together with its corresponding text, premising merely that it is to a specific district of dismembered Poland that the Rabbins are sent away. "Rabbins, or other religious functionaries, are to be sent away by the police officer, immediately on the These facts, though they form but a brief and most imperfect record, and therefore but a very faint image of all their sufferings, shew that the Jews have been removed into all kingdoms for their hurt; that a sword has been drawn after them; that they have found no rest for the sole of their foot; that they have not been able to stand before their enemies: there has been no might in their hands; their very avarice has proved their misery; they have been spoiled evermore; they have been oppressed and crushed alway; they have been mad for the sight of their eyes that they did see, as the tragical scenes at Massada, and York, and many others testify: they have often been left in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things; a trembling heart and sorrow of mind have been their portion; they have often had none assurance of their life; their plagues have been wonderful and great, and of long continuance; and they have been for a sign and for a wonder during many generations. But the predictions rest not even here. It was distinctly prophesied that the Jews would reject the gospel; that, from the meanness of his mortal appearance, and the hardness of their hearts, they would not believe in a suffering Messiah; that they discovery that they are such." Thy teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers." (Isaiah xxx. 20.) Lord Byron's brief and emphatic description of the Jews is equally characteristic of the fact, and illustrative of the predictions. Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, They shall find no rest for the sole of their foot: I will send a faintness into their heart,—a trembling heart and sorrow of mind." |