But there were not wanting signs that the feeling towards the Jews was gradually growing more considerate and kindly. In 1781, when the island of St. Eustatia was captured by Rodney, a complaint was made in Parliament that undue severity had been shown the Jews in seizing their property, and transporting them from the island. General Vaughan, who commanded the land forces, represented that he had shown the Jews the greatest consideration, had caused their persons to be respected, and, on finding that their property had been seized by mistake, had immediately ordered it to be restored to them. No more had been done for them than justice required; but the tone of both parties, when speaking of the Jews, was strikingly different from what it probably would have been had the occurrence taken place some generations earlier.
Towards the close of the century, a body known as the Board of Deputies was formed, which gave the Jews the means of expressing in an official manner the wants and sentiments of the Jewish residents in Great Britain. It was originally appointed for the purpose of conveying to George III. the congratulations of the Jews in England on his accession to the throne. Once established, it renewed its meeting when occasion required, and has frequently played an important part in Jewish affairs.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] Ashkenaz, the son of Gomer (Gen. x. 3), is traditionally reported to have settled in Germany. Zarephath and Sephared (Obad. 20) in France and Spain. Hence the German and Spanish Jews have been styled Ashkenazim and Sephardim. These being at one time the principal countries in which the European Jews were found, have caused the whole of the nation to be classed under one head or the other.
[208] John Toland, as he was called, though his true baptismal names were James Julius, was born in Londonderry in 1669. His parents were Roman Catholics, but he seems early to have rejected Romish teaching. He studied successively at Glasgow, Leyden, and Oxford. At the last-named university he seems to have obtained the reputation of a freethinker; and his book, Christianity not Mysterious, excited a ferment which there is little or nothing to justify. It was condemned by the Irish Parliament, and burnt by the hangman. Leland ranks him among Deistical writers; but he hardly seems to deserve, and is certainly not worth, Leland’s censures.
[209] The Jews had given the Government valuable help. They lent a large sum on very liberal terms, and agreed to take the Government paper as long as gold continued to be scarce. Two Jews fitted out vessels at their own cost, which they placed at the service of the king. Great numbers of Jews also enrolled themselves in the volunteer troops hastily raised by the ministry.
[210] Lord Lyttelton, the author of the Life of Henry II., is said to have declared on this occasion that ‘the man who hated another because he was not a Christian, was no Christian himself’—a sentiment worthy of him.
[211] It is a singular fact that, although the bishops had nothing to do with the promotion of this Bill, the principal odium of it was cast upon them. It was held that they were bound in conscience to prevent its passing, or at all events to do their best to prevent it. William Romaine affirmed, in a pamphlet which attracted much attention, that ‘the set of bishops then on the bench were the only ones from the time of Christ who would have countenanced so anti-Christian a measure.’ The general charge made against bishops is that of intolerance. It is curious to observe that, if they ever are in advance of the laity in tolerance, it is at once made the subject of bitter reproach to them.
[212] It is a most curious illustration of this that, up to the middle of the present century, although all bequests made by Jews to their countrymen for charitable purposes, such as building hospitals, endowing almshouses, etc., were held valid, and would be enforced, if necessary, by the Court of Chancery, any provision for the education of their children in their own faith was accounted void. A bequest made about the middle of the century, by a Jew named De Pass, of £1,200 for the purpose of building a college for Jews, was similarly declared void by the Law Courts, because it tended to propagate a false belief, and the money was given to the Foundling Hospital.
[213] During the No Popery riots of 1780, the Jews in Houndsditch, fearing that the violence of the mob would be attracted to them, as it had so often been on occasions of popular tumult, wrote up each on his door front: ‘This is the house of a true Protestant.’ The father of Grimaldi, the clown, is said to have exercised a still more comprehensive caution, and to have inscribed on his door, not ‘No Popery,’ but ‘No Religion.’ Lord George Gordon, the leader of the riots, consummated his erratic career by professing the Jewish faith, in which he died.