onarch, or at any rate obtained permission to exist, and trade
and worship in this country on sufferance. Subsequently, however, they
appear to have suffered much persecution, and were eventually banished
from the country in 1291 (19 Edward I.), continuing in exile for 367
years. Menasseh Ben Israel, a Jewish rabbi of great learning in
Amsterdam, petitioned the Protector Cromwell, in the year 1649, on behalf
of his brethren, for a liberty which the Latin Secretary of the Lord
Protector it is to be hoped would be foremost to advocate. During the
interval the Jews lived secretly in England, but did not possess any
"Jewries," or publicly organized congregations. Ultimately they obtained
permission to return, though the Commonwealth refused to give any formal
sanction to their re-appearance, merely tacitly consenting to it. The
people of England, says Rebecca in "Ivanhoe," "are a fierce people,
quarrelling ever with their neighbours or among themselves, and ready to
plunge the sword into the bowels of each other. Such is no safe abode
for the children of my people. Ephraim is an heartless dove. Issachar
an overburdened drudge, which stoops between two burdens. Not in a land
of war and blood, surrounded by hostile neighbours and distracted by
internal factions, can Israel hope to rest during his wanderings." There
is, however, reason to suppose that nowhere, except for a short interval
in Spain and always in Holland, have the Jews fared better than in this
country. In our time they have been allowed to take their seats as
M.P's. We have seen a Prime Minister of England of Jewish origin. Need
we say more? Jews are in all respects on an equality with Christians; in
art, and literature, and science, and the acquirement of wealth, they
have displayed a genius equal to our own. In practical piety--in the
benevolence which teaches the rich to give of their goods to the poor,
they are infinitely our superiors.

Truly, if we may judge by the aspect of the Hebrew race in Houndsditch
and its neighbourhood, there is much room for charity. Just as the Irish
Corporations were accustomed a few years ago to land a cargo of "the
finest pisantry under the sun" on the Welsh coast to beg or steal, work
or die, according to circumstances, so the chiefs of the Jews on the
Continent ship the poor and helpless of their people here, and a heavy
tax is thus enforced on the wealthier portions of the community. Then,
again, the Jews ha