THE STATUS

OF THE

JEWS IN ENGLAND,

FROM THE TIME OF THE NORMANS,

TO THE REIGN OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA,

IMPARTIALLY CONSIDERED:

COMPRISING AUTHENTIC NOTICES,

DEDUCED FROM HISTORICAL AND LEGAL RECORDS;

AND INCLUDING

A SYNOPSIS, WITH COMMENTS, OF THE DEBATES

ON

THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL:

BY

CHARLES EGAN, ESQ.

OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW
LATE FELL. COMM. OF TRIN. HALL, CAMB.

"Since the remainder of that mighty nation, which of old were elected a people peculiar,
are now by Him that first chose them dispersed over the face of the earth, and are become the
most politic of traders now extant, having by their industry cemented themselves into the prin-
cipal revenues and traffic of the universe; it might not seem improper to examine how their
condition stood of old in this nation, and how the laws of this realm stand in reference to that
people at this day."-De Jure Maritimo et Navali.

"A right toleration ought to be extended unto all, since all equally plead conscience, of
which God alone is the judge."-Arcana Imperii Delecta, Case LII.

LONDON:

R. HASTINGS, CAREY STREET, LINCOLN'S INN;

GRANT AND BOLTON, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN

AND

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH.

1848.

J. MALLETT, PRINTER,

WARDOUR STREET,

LONDON

ΤΟ

THE MOST NOBLE

THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE,

LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL,

K.G. D.C.L. F.R.S.

A Statesman who has conferred inestimable benefits on his Country, by the Wisdom of his Counsels, by his eloquent Advocacy of the purest principles of Rational Freedom, and by his liberal Encouragement of Literature and the Arts:

INTRODUCTION.

COMMENTATORS on the history of the Jews assert, that a portion of the Jewish people had settled in Britain as early as the first century of the Christian era; that an amicable alliance having existed, in the days of Julius Cæsar, between the Hebrews and Romans, "To aid each other in their wars with all their hearts," the Jewish warriors accompanied the great Roman Captain in his invasion of Britain, and settled here under the Roman banner*. And, in support of this allegation, it is further stated that "Augustus Cæsar set free, without any redemption money, every man and woman of the Jewish race in all the countries of his dominion; to the east, as far as beyond the Indian Sea; and to the west, as far as beyond the British territory, which is the country of Angleterre, and which is designated England in the Lingua Francat."

* The treaty between the Romans and Jews was graven in tables of brass, and sent by the former to Jerusalem, as a memorial of peace and confederacy between the two great nations; and it is preserved in the first book of Maccabees, chap. viii.

And in this country, calendar in the fol

† Rabbi D. Ganz's Chronicle, "The Branch of David." says Margoliout, the Jews record the event annually in their lowing words: "Augustus's Edict in favour of the Jews in England. C.E. 15.'

B