to this impost. Their numbers at this time (1689) must have become considerable; as the amount of loss to which the government was subjected, by not levying the export alien duty on their goods, was estimated at the sum of 10,000l. a year.

In the first year of Queen Anne, the Jews became the subject of an exclusive act of the legislature, for the purpose of securing provision for such of their children as became converts to the Christian faith. By statute 1 Ann. c. 30., it was enacted, that "if the child of any Jewish parent is converted to the Christian religion, or is desirous of embracing it, upon application to the Lord Chancellor, he may compel any such parent to give his child a sufficient maintenance in proportion to his circumstances."

In the year 1753, a bill was introduced into parliament, to enable foreigners who were Jews to be naturalized, without being obliged to take the sacrament. The bill passed the House of Lords without opposition; but the popular feeling was, from the first, averse to the measure. Petitions against the act were presented from the city of London and other parts, and a very warm discussion took place in the Commons, upon the subject. The bill, however, was, in the end, allowed to pass, and received the royal assent. Still, in the country, the hostility to the measure continued to gather strength. The ancient animosity against the Jews seemed again revived; and though the act was applicable to foreigners alone, those Jews who were natives of the country shared in the general ill-will of the people. The ministry, at whose instigation the bill was introduced, were loaded with reproaches, and remonstrances poured in from

all parts of the country. The discontent which prevailed was further heightened by the machinations of a party who hoped to derive advantage, in the contests of an approaching general election, from the hatred infused by the measure into the minds of the people against the government. The ministry felt themselves unable to stand up against the popular feeling, which their support of the act had raised against them; and on the first day of the ensuing session they yielded to the clamour of the nation, and introduced a bill for the repeal of the obnoxious ordinance. Emboldened by the success of their opposition, the party who were most hostile to the Jews attempted to carry still further their resentment. An act had been passed in the 13th year of the king, whereby persons professing the Jewish religion, who had resided seven years in any of His Majesty's American Colonies, were enabled to be naturalized without receiving the sacrament. An address was moved in the House of Commons to his Majesty, requesting he would give directions for laying before the house a list of the names of all such persons professing the Jewish religion, who had since the 1st of June 1740, entitled themselves to the benefit of the last act. The papers were accordingly laid before the house; but it appeared that very few persons had availed themselves of the provisions of the statute. Notwithstanding, Lord Harley moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal this act. The motion occasioned a warm debate, but was rejected.*

See Parliamentary Register.

From the time of the discussion upon the naturalization act, to the present moment, the history of the English Jews is not distinguishable from that of the other natives of the island. No measures have been taken, of which they were particularly the objects; and they have been permitted to live here without molestation or hindrance. The animosities which the act of 1753 engendered or revived, were probably, for a time remembered, and might have the effect of impeding the progress which the Jews would otherwise have made, in overcoming the prejudices of the people against them. Happily for them, however, and for the credit of the age, those prejudices, are now nearly worn away; and the Jew of the present day is allowed, without being regarded with either antipathy or disrespect, to take the station in society to which from his wealth or his acquirements he is entitled. Their numbers are reckoned, in London at about 18,000, and in the rest of England about 9,000,* they have several synagogues in the metropolis, and others in different towns in the kingdom. They are masters of very consider

* See the table given at the end of Mr. Goldsmid's Pamphlet. From inquiries which the author has made, he should have thought that the Jews in England, exclusively of those in London, were nearly double the number stated in the text. As, however, Mr. Goldsmid's means of information on this head must be far superior to any professed by the author, he has adopted the lesser number. The same inquiry which would have induced the author to place the Jews in the rest of England, besides London, at between 17,000 and 18,000, would have led him to rate the number in London at about 20,000.

The principal congregations of Jews are at Canterbury, Rochester, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Norwich, Yarmouth, Plymouth, and Portsmouth. The two principal sects of Jews are the German and the Portuguese.

able wealth, employed, for the most part, in objects of commerce; but it is said that many of them have also acquired extensive landed possessions.* They still labor under some disabilities, the nature of which it is the intention of the following treatise to point out. The experience of more than a century, since their re-establishment, has shewn nothing in their conduct, or habits which proves them unworthy to stand on an equality with their Christian brethren, and the time would seem to have arrived when the greater part, at least, of their disabilities will be removed,† and when the Jew will have as full an interest, as the rest of the nation, in supporting, by his talents and his fortune, the prosperity and well-being of the country.

* The question of their power, legally to hold land, is discussed in the subsequent treatise.

+ Petitions have been, since the meeting of Parliament, presented to both Houses of the legislature, for the removal of these disabilities; and a bill will, in a short time, be brought in, with the view of carrying their object into effect.

AN ENQUIRY

INTO

THE CIVIL DISABILITIES

OF THE

JEWS IN ENGLAND.

IN the following treatise it is proposed to consider -first, the state of the law generally, with respect to the Jews, and then to enquire, more particularly, into the laws respecting their rights with regard to land, and real property. In each branch of this enquiry, the reader's attention will be directed to the state of the law, prior to the banishment of the Jews, in the reign of the Edward the First, and also to the extent of their disabilities, at the present time.

The facts which are recorded in the foregoing history, and the account which is there given of the arbitrary power continually exercised by the king over the Jews, shows, clearly, that they were considered and treated as the mere bondsmen or