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 "Since the remainder of that mighty nation, which of old were elected a people peculiar, "A right toleration ought to be extended unto all, since all equally plead conscience, of LONDON: R. HASTINGS, CAREY STREET, LINCOLN'S INN; GRANT AND BOLTON, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN AND ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH. 1848. 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 |