s it was founded at the time when the obstinate struggle
was about to be decided; it was yet to be known whether the Christians
would remain masters of the whole peninsula or whether the Moors should
retain possession of one of the most fertile and beautiful provinces;
whether these enemies, shut up in Granada, should preserve a position
excellent for their communication with Africa, and a means for all the
attempts which, at a later period, the Crescent might be disposed to make
against us. Now, the power of the Crescent was very great, as was clearly
shown by its enterprises against the rest of Europe in the next century.
In such emergencies, after ages of fighting, and at the moment which was
to decide the victory forever, have combatants ever been known to conduct
themselves with moderation and mildness?

It cannot be denied that the system of repression pursued in Spain, with
respect to the Jews and the Moors, was inspired, in great measure, by the
instinct of self-preservation: we can easily believe that the Catholic
princes had this motive before them when they decided on asking for the
establishment of the Inquisition in their dominions. The danger was not
imaginary; it was perfectly real. In order to form an idea of the turn
which things might have taken if some precaution had not been adopted,
it is enough to recollect the insurrections of the last Moors in later
times.

Yet it would be wrong, in this affair, to attribute all to the policy
of royalty; and it is necessary here to avoid exalting too much the
foresight and designs of men; for my part, I am inclined to think that
Ferdinand and Isabella naturally followed the generality of the nation,
in whose eyes the Jews were odious when they persevered in their creed,
and suspected when they embraced the Christian religion. Two causes
contributed to this hatred and animadversion: first, the excited state of
religious feeling then general in all Europe, and especially in Spain;
second, the conduct by which the Jews had drawn upon themselves the
public indignation.

The necessity of restraining the cupidity of the Jews, for the sake of
the independence of the Christians, was of ancient date in Spain: the old
assemblies of Toledo had attempted it. In the following centuries the
evil reached its height; a great part of the riches of the peninsula had
passed into the hands of the Jews, and almost all the Christians found
themselves their debtors. Thence the hatred