wanderers. The reader of the Bible will see in these events a remarkable fulfilment of the predictions of the ancient prophets, and of our Saviour; and he will also learn the evil and danger of despising divine admonitions, and abusing religious privileges. When we meet with one of the descendants of Abraham (and in what place are they not to be met with ?), we see a miracle—a living confirmation of the divine veracity-a proof that the Bible is true, and an indubitable testimony that there is a God who judgeth in the earth.

It is not our design, neither is it compatible with the brevity of this sketch, to trace continuously the history of the Jews, in their wide disIn the history persions, or in the various countries in which they have of the Jews, it existed, since the great event above recorded. All the remains only to purpose that remains to be answered, in regard to this condition in more division of our subject, is to furnish the reader with a brief account of the condition of this remarkable people, in later Their residences and Abating the circum

describe their

modern times.

fered less from

times, chiefly within the last and present centuries. numbers, as recently ascertained, will also be given. stance, that the state of most nations has ameliorated since the era of their dispersion, it will be naturally inferred that such as their condition now is, such it has substantially been for centuries. They have, in most inThey have suf. stances, reaped the fruits of the common improvement; and those persecutions to which they are known to have been persecution than exposed in past ages, have, in some measure at least, ceased formerly. with the spirit which gave birth to these and other instances of bigoted and revengeful feelings. Still it is not to be denied that the Jews, from certain peculiarities in their character and manner of life, seem likely to be the last people who, throughout the world, will enjoy the happiness of perfect equality in rights and privileges with the rest of their fellow-men.

The Jews, though widely scattered over the earth, and constituting a portion of almost every nation, present the singular phenomenon of a people subsisting for ages, without their civil and religious policy, and thus surviving even their political existence. Unlike other conquered nations, The Jews have they have never mingled with their conquerors, and lost survived their their separate name and character, but they invariably conpolitical exist- 、stitute a distinct people in every country in which they live. This fact enables us to point out their present state with a degree of accuracy, and affords a strong reason for doing it; since, doubtless, important designs are to be answered by the providence of God in preserving this people in so extraordinary a manner.

ence.

Poland the

In our brief account of their more modern history, we have to remark, that, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Poland, and the adjacent provinces, had, for some time, been the head-quarters of the Jews. head-quarters of In that kingdom they formed the only middle order between the Jews in mo- the nobles and the serfs. Almost every branch of traffic was dern ages. in their hands. They were the corn-merchants, shop-keepers, and inn-keepers; in some towns they formed the greater part of the population, and in some villages almost the whole. In the west of Europe, in the meantime, those great changes were slowly preparing, which, before the close of the century, were to disorganize the whole frame-work of society.

The new opinions not merely altered the political condition of the Jews, as well as that of almost all orders of men; but they penetrated into the very sanctuary of Judaism, and threatened to shake the dominion of the rabbins, as they had that of the Christian priesthood, to its basis. The Jews were hated as the religious ancestors of the Christians, and it became the accustomed mode of warfare to wound Christianity through the sides of Judaism. The legislation of Frederick the Great almost, as it were, throws us back into the middle ages. In 1750, appeared an edict for the general regulation of the Jews in the Prussian dominions. It limited the number of the Jews in the kingdom, divided them into those who held an The Jews in ordinary, or an extraordinary protection from the crown. Prussia subjected The ordinary protection descended to one child, the extrataxes ordinary was limited to the life of the bearer. Foreign and disabilities. Jews were prohibited from settling in Prussia; exceptions were obtained only at an exorbitant price. Widows who married foreign Jews must leave the kingdom. The protected Jews were liable to enormous and especial burdens. They paid, besides the common taxes of the kingdom, for their patent of protection, for every election of an elder in their community, and for every marriage. But though thus heavily taxed, they were excluded from all civil functions, and from many of the most profitable branches of trade, from agriculture, from breweries and distilleries, from manufactures, from inn-keeping, from victualling, from physic and surgery.

to many

Nor in more enlightened countries was the public mind prepared for any essential innovations in the relative condition of the Jews. In England, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, their cause was brought forward under the unpopular auspices of Toland the Freethinker. In 1753, a more important measure was attempted. A bill was introduced into parliament for the naturalization of all Jews who had resided In England, in three years in the kingdom, without being absent more than the 18th century, three months at a time. It excluded them from all civil laws at one time passed to favour offices, but in other respects bestowed all the privileges of British subjects. The bill passed both houses, and received the royal assent. But the old jealousies only slumbered, they were not extinguished. So much clamour was raised by various classes of the people, that the ministry, and the houses of parliament, found it necessary to repeal the obnoxious statutes.

the Jews were soon abolished.

Their state more

In Italy, till the French revolution, the Jews enjoyed eligible in Italy, their quiet freedom. In Rome they were confined to their till the French Ghetto, and still constrained to listen to periodical sermons. revolution. In the maritime towns they continued to prosper.

In Germany, among the first measures which Joseph II., when he ascended the throne in 1780, saw fit to adopt, was a plan for the amelioration of the condition of the Jews. In Vienna, they had been barely tolerated since their expulsion by Leopold the First. After a period they were permitted to return. Under Maria Theresa the Jews were suffered to reside in Vienna, and enjoyed a certain sort of protection. In the other provinces of the empire they had lived unmolested, unless, perhaps, by some vexatious local regulations, or popular commotions in the different cities. Joseph II, published his edict of toleration, by which he opened

to the Jews the schools, and the universities of the empire, and gave them In Germany the privilege of taking degrees as doctors in medicine, philothey were toler-sophy, and the civil law. He conferred upon them other ated by Joseph important privileges, which it is not necessary here to name. Still, though they were governed by the same laws with the Christians, they were liable to a toleration-tax, and certain other contributions.

11.

That terrible epoch, the Revolution, found some Jews in France; after their final expulsion, a few Portuguese fugitives had been permitted to take up their abode in Bordeaux and Bayonne. There were a certain number in the old papal dominions in Avignon. The conquest of the city of Metz, and afterwards of Alsace, included some considerable communities under the dominion of France. The Jews of this latter province presented a remarkable petition in 1780 to the king in council. They complained of great oppressions, particularly of a capitation-tax, which, in addition to the royal patent of protection, the lords of the soil exacted, for the right of residence within their domains, from which not even the aged, nor In France their infirm, nor children, nor even the Rabbins and officers of grievances were the synagogue, were exempt. The appeal to the equity of redressed in part Louis XVI. was not in vain-the capitation-tax was aboby Louis XVI. lished in 1784; and in 1788, a commission was appointed to devise means for remodelling, on principles of justice, all laws relating to the Jews. This plan, however, was anticipated or set aside by the revolutionary tribunals, who were more rapid in their movements than the cautious justice of the sovereign. In 1790, this class of people, who had watched their opportunity, sent in a petition, claiming equal rights as citizens. The measure was not passed without considerable discussion; but Mirabeau and Rabaut St. Etienne declared themselves their advocates, and the Jews were recognized as free citizens of the great republic.

Under the revolution they were acknowledged as free citizens.

In 1806, Napoleon summoned a Sanhedrin.

In the year 1806, Napoleon summoned a grand Sanhedrin of the Jews to assemble at Paris. We are more inclined to look for motives of policy in the acts of this extraordinary man, than of vanity or philanthropy; nor does it seem unlikely that in this singular transaction he contemplated remotely, if not immediately, both commercial and military objects. He might hope to turn to his own advantage, by a cheap sacrifice to the national vanity, the wide extended and rapid correspondence of the Jews throughout the world, which notoriously outstripped his own couriers, and the secret ramifications of their trade, which not only commanded the supply of the precious metals, but much of the internal traffic of Europe, and probably Twelve quesmade great inroads on the Continental System. It must, tions submitted to however, be acknowledged, that the twelve questions subthe Sanhedrin, mitted to the Sanhedrin seem to refer to the Jews strictly as with the answers. subjects and citizens of the empire. They were briefly as follows: I. Is polygamy allowed among the Jews? recognised by the Jewish Law? III. Can Jews intermarry with Christians? IV. Will the French people be esteemed by the Jews as strangers or as brethren ? V. In what relation, according to the Jewish Law, would the Jews stand towards the French? VI. Do Jews born in

-

II. Is divorce

France consider it their native country? Are they bound to obey the laws and customs of the land? VII. Who elect the Rabbins? VIII. What are the legal powers of the Rabbins? IX. Is the election and authority of the Rabbins grounded on law or custom? X. Is there any kind of business in which Jews may not be engaged? XI. Is usury to their brethren forbidden by the Law? XII. Is it permitted or forbidden to practise usury with strangers?—The answers of the deputies were clear and precise as they throw much light on the opinions of the more enlightened Jews, they are subjoined, with as much conciseness as possible, though we suspect that they are not universally recognised as the authoritative sentence of the nation. I. Polygamy is forbidden, according to a decree of the Synod of Worms, in 1030. II. Divorce is allowed, but in this respect the Jews recognise the authority of the civil law of the land in which they live. III. Intermarriages with Christians are not forbidden, though difficulties arise from the different forms of marriage. IV. The Jews of France recognise in the fullest sense the French people as their brethren. V. The relation of the Jew to the Frenchman is the same as of Jew to Jew. The only distinction is in their religion. VI. The Jews acknowledged France as their country, when oppressed,-how much more must they when admitted to civil rights? VII. The election of the Rabbins is neither defined nor uniform. It usually rests with the heads of each family in the community. VIII. The Rabbins have no judicial power; the Sanhedrin is the only legal tribunal. The Jews of France and Italy being subject to the equal laws of the land, whatever power they might otherwise exercise is annulled. IX. The election and powers of the Rabbins rest solely on usage. X. All business is permitted to the Jews. The Talmud enjoins that every Jew be taught some trade. XI. XII. The Mosaic institute forbids unlawful interest; but this was the law of an agricultural people. The Talmud allows interest to be taken from brethren and strangers; it forbids usury.

Prussia.

The laws of France relating to the Jews have remained unaltered: in Italy, excepting in the Tuscan dominions, they have become again subject The condition to the ancient regulations. In Germany, some hostility is of the Jews im- yet lurking in the popular feeling, not so much from reliproving in Germany at present, gious animosity as from commercial jealousy, in the great particularly in trading towns, Hamburgh, Bremen, Lubeck, and particularly Frankfort, where they are still liable to an oppressive tax for the right of residence. Nor did the ancient nobility behold, without sentiments of animosity, their proud patrimonial estates falling, during the great political changes, into the hands of the more prosperous Israelites. Nevertheless, their condition, both political and intellectual, has been rapidly improving. Before the fall of Napoleon, besides many of the smaller states, the grand-duke of Baden, in 1809, the king of Prussia, in 1812, the duke of Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, in 1812, the king of Bavaria, in 1813, issued ordinances admitting the Jews to civil rights, exempting them from particular imposts, and opening to them all trades and professions. The act for the federative constitution of Germany, passed at the congress of Vienna, in 1815, pledges the diet to turn its attention to the amelioration of the civil state of the Jews throughout the empire. The king of Prussia had, before this, given security that he would nobly redeem

his pledge; he had long paid great attention to the encouragement of education among the Jews; and in his rapidly improving dominions, the Jews are said to be by no means the last in the career of advancement. Nor has his benevolence been wasted on an ungrateful race they are reported to be attached with patriotic zeal to their native land; many Jews are stated to have fallen in the Prussian ranks at Waterloo.

sia.

The policy of the Russian government seems to have been to endeavour to overthrow the Rabbinical authority, and to relieve the crowded Polish They are re- provinces by transferring the Jews to less densely peopled strained in Rus- parts of their dominions, where it was hoped they might be induced or compelled to become an agricultural race. A ukase of the emperor Alexander, in 1803-4, prohibited the practice of small trades to the Jews of Poland, and proposed to transport numbers of them to agricultural settlements. He transferred, likewise, the management of the revenue of the communities from the Rabbins, who were accused of malversation, to the elders. A recent decree of the emperor Nicholas appears to be aimed partly at the Rabbins, who are to be immediately excluded by the police from any town they may enter, and at the petty traffickers, who are entirely prohibited in the Russian dominions; though the higher order of merchants, such as bill-brokers and contractors, are admitted, on receiving an express permission from government: artisans and handicraftsmen are encouraged, though they are subject to rigorous police regulations, and must be attached to some guild or fraternity. They cannot move without a passport.

Numbers of the

It only remains to give the best estimate we can afford of the number of the Jews now dispersed throughout the four quarters of the world. Such statements must of necessity be extremely loose and imperfect. Even in Europe it would be difficult to approximate closely to the truth; how much more so in Africa and Asia, where our data depend on no statistic returns, and where the habits of the people are probably less stationary!

Jews in various parts of the world.

It is calculated that there exist between four and five millions* of this people, descended in a direct line from, and maintaining the same laws with, their forefathers, who, above 3000 years ago, retreated from Egypt under the guidance of their inspired lawgiver.

In Africa, we know little more of their numbers than that they are found along the whole coast, from Morocco to Egypt; they travel with the caravans into the interior: nor is there probably a region undiscovered by Christian enterprise, which has not been visited by the Jewish trafficker. In Morocco they are said to be held in low estimation, and treated with great indignity by the Moors.

In Egypt, 150 families alone inhabit that great city, Alexandria, which has so often. flowed with torrents of Jewish blood, and where, in the splendid days of the Macedonian city, their still recruited wealth excited the rapacious jealousy of the hostile populace or oppressive government.

A statement has just been published in this country, from the Weimar Geographical Ephemerides, which gives the whole number of Jews at little more than three millions. We should conceive the Asiatic, and perhaps the Russian, stated too low; but we subjoin their numbers.