Portrait of Anglo-Jewry, 1656-1836

<plain_text><page sequence="1">Portrait of Anglo-Jewry 1656-18361 By Alfred Rubens, f.s.a., f.r.hist.s. I THE ANGLO-JEWISH COMMUNITY Source Material IT is not unusual for a presidential address to be devoted to the president's pet subject and this one is no exception. Its source material is the political and social caricatures, book illustrations, portraits, topographical prints, trade cards and ephemera of a similar nature which this country has produced in such abundance and which have been my special interest for a number of years.2 The picture which emerges is one of Anglo-Jewry seen through Christian eyes with the emphasis on social conditions and with some bearing on a subject which has not hitherto been explored : the development of Jewish political thought in this country. In this connection, the political caricature, which is said to mirror public opinion, is of special value. People began to appreciate the importance of pictorial matter of this kind about a century ago. The first recorded collection, made by a non-Jew, was sold by Messrs. Sotheran in 1881 to the Hon. Harry Lawson (later 1st Viscount Burnham) who presented it to this society in memory of his grandmother, Esther Levy. It contained a number of rarities and was one of the irreplaceable losses the society suffered when the Mocatta Library was bombed. The first Jewish collector seems to have been Alfred Alvarez Newman (1851-1887), an active member of the 1887 Exhibition Committee, whose collection was acquired by Asher I. Myers (1848-1902), and now belongs to this society. Newman was followed by Israel Solomons (1860-1923), whose various collections are now at the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York and the Hebrew Union College, Cincinatti. These collections consisted mainly of engravings; for other material the chief source is the catalogue of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, 1887, while the catalogue of the 1956 Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum shows the losses and gains in the interim. The First Hundred Years Judging by the absence of pictorial matter on the subject, the readmission of the Jews in 1656 provoked little public interest and the only reference to it occurs in a satirical portrait of Hugh Peters. In fact, for the first century after the readmission the chief feature noticeable in prints and drawings is the gradual emergence of a Jewish type. The German prints depicting Jews as demons fortunately had a Hmited circulation and when the English engraver was called upon to produce a picture of a Jew he was 1 This composite title embraces two presidential addresses : Anglo-Jewish History in Pictures (1656-1856) and The English Radicals and the Jews (1769-1830) delivered 24 October 1956 and 13 November 1957 respectively. 2 A fuller description of the engravings referred to below will in most cases be found in the author's Anglo-Jewish Portraits (1935) and A Jewish Iconography (1954), or in the British Museum Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires. 13</page><page sequence="2">14 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) at a complete loss. Lancelot Addison's Present State of the Jews in Barbary, first published in 1675, contains a picture of a Jew (Plate 1) which must have been borrowed from a book on Red Indians and in fairness to the author one should say that it bears no relation to the costume of the Barbary Jews as described in the text. In P. Calmet's Antiquities Sacred and Profane, published in 1727, the plate entitled 4A Jewish Physician' was copied from N. de Nicolay's Les quatre premier livres des navigations . . . orientates, published at Lyons in 1568, that is, nearly two centuries earlier and is in fact the portrait of Moses Hamon, physician to Suleiman the Magnificent. Had the engraver been better acquainted with the London community he might have used the portrait painted in 1721 by Catherine da Costa of her father, Dr. Fernando Mendes.1 One can understand the illustrator's difficulty because the few Jews who settled here after the readmission kept themselves as inconspicuous as possible and the bulk of them being Sephardim were not distinguished by any oddities of dress or appearance. John Greenhalgh when he visited their synagogue in 1662 counted about a hundred of them : 'they were all gentlemen* (merchants), he wrote, 'and most of them rich in apparel, diver with jewels glittering . . . they are all generally black so as they may be distinguished from Spaniards or native Greeks, for the Jews hair hath a deeper tincture of a more perfect raven black, they have a quick piercing eye, and look as if of strong intellectuals, several of them are comely, gallant, proper gentlemen'.2 Even the rabbis did not differ greatly in appearance from the Christian clergy. David Nieto, the most distinguished of the 18th century Hahamim, was the first to have his portrait engraved in this country. It was published in 1704 and is in the same style as the other ecclesiastical portraits in which the engraver, Robert White, specialised. Nieto wears the English clerical wig and is without a hat, his little tufted beard being less a concession to orthodoxy than the relic of an outmoded fashion. The earliest illustrations of Jewish ceremonies and customs published in this country are in Bernard Picart's Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, the first English edition of which appeared between 1731 and 1737 followed by another on a more lavish scale started in 1733.3 Picart's sympathetic touch made his plates very popular and they have been frequently copied. His Jews are real people and although the setting is Amsterdam where Picart made his sketches from life, one can picture the same scenes in London. A Jewish cause celebre gave Hogarth the idea of introducing a Jew into his 'Harlot's Progress'. He is Jacob Mendes da Costa who achieved notoriety in 1733 by suing his cousin for breach of promise. The art of personal caricature?the 'caricatura' popularised by Annibale Carracci? owed perhaps not a little of its success to the existence of subjects with suitable features in its country of origin. Fully a century elapsed before it took root here and then the fashion was started by Tillemans who made a sketch of a picture dealer, 'a little ugly fellow', which he called 'Mr. Nunez the Jew. A caricatura'. In the same vein is 1 Catalogue of an Exhibition of Anglo-Jewish Art and History, 1956, No. 97. 2 Quoted from A. M. Hyamson, The Sephardim of England, 1951, 19. 8 Published in shilling numbers beginning in March 1733 by Claude Du Bosc who engraved most of the plates. It was in rivalry with the edition started in 1731 with Picart's original plates published in whole volumes by Nicholas Prevost. See R. M. Wiles, Serial Publication in England before 1750, Cambridge, 1957.</page><page sequence="3">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 15 the drawing at Windsor Castle by Peter Paul Lens, dated 1737, called 'Moggedorio the good clerk'1 (Plate 2). But these are not characteristically Jewish types and the designer of 'The Lottery' published in 1740, whose Jew looks like Hogarth's Jew Protector, was no more successful in producing one. The trend of this satire is supplied by the opening lines beneath the design : Here smouching Jews combine to choak us With worser schemes than Hocus Pocus. Lotteries, after 1693, were restricted to those authorised by the government and the engraving refers to the methods of disposing of the tickets. Both in England and on the Continent Jews were active in this business but they were not the principal dealers and the only Jewish dealer of note, Jacob Henriques, seems to have been quite well regarded. Like Sampson Gideon he had his headquarters at Jonathan's where he was a popular figure judging by the print of that Coffee House dedicated to him and he is referred to by Oliver Goldsmith as 'that venerable unshaken and neglected patriot, Mr. Jacob Henriques, who though of the Hebrew nation, hath exhibited a shining example of Christian fortitude and perseverance'.2 An intimate close-up of the English Sephardim is given in cThe Jerusalem Infirmary', a satire published in 1749. Showing also the influence of Hogarth, and obviously designed by a member of the congregation, it is a unique example of the engraved satire being used to air communal differences, the subject being the alleged md-administration of the Beth Holim, the hospital of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Leman Street, Goodmans Fields. A spurious play published at the same time helps to identify the figures and supplies scandalous details about their private fives. Only one copy of the play and four copies of the engraving are known to have survived. The Jews' Naturalisation Bill The seclusion which the English Jews enjoyed was shattered by the storm which followed the passing of the Jews' Naturalisation Bill of 1753. For the first time in English history caricature was able to play a decisive part in influencing public opinion and the tiny Jewish community found itself thrust into the limelight. A third of all the political caricatures issued during that year were devoted to the Jewish question; most of them were of the most virulent character and it was a long time before the excitement they produced died down. Joseph Salvador, the chief Jewish promoter of the Bill, writes bitterly of the attacks made on the Jews and contrasts their loyalty during the 1745 Rebellion with the treacherous behaviour of other City men with Jacobite sympathies who were now taking their revenge. Of the Jews he writes : 'They are in their manners (like Cloth ready to receive any Dye) liable to the Impressions they receive from the various nations among which they reside; thus those from Spain have the Pride, Ostentation and Jealousy peculiar to that Nation; those from Barbary the tricking and meanness of that people; those from Holland and Germany many of the vices of those 1 Catalogue 1956 Exhibition, No. 298. 2 P. Cunningham ed,, The Works of Oliver Goldsmith, 1854, III, 289.</page><page sequence="4">16 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) natives ; and among those of this country may be found many of the English virtues and more particularly Love of Liberty and their Country.'1 There is little doubt that the increasing trend towards secession from Judaism among the Sephardim was partly due to the feeling aroused by the 1753 agitation.2 The Pedlars Most of the 1753 caricatures were aimed at Sampson Gideon who, quite incorrectly, was believed to have used his political influence in favour of the Bill. The Jews in these caricatures are usually of a nondescript character but in one instance we find a Jew represented as a bearded pedlar. It is the first sign of a new development. For some years prior to 1753 there had been a small influx of Jews from Germany and Poland. Their dress remained as it had been described more than a century previously by Leon of Modena in a book on Jewish rites and customs written for James I of England and published in Italian at Paris in 1637 : 'They do not willingly imitate any other Nation in the fashion of their Apparell unless their own make them seem very deformed. Neither may they shave their Crown, nor wear Locks of hair upon their head, nor any the like things. And in what country soever they are, they generally affect the long garment, or Gown . . . The Men also have no very good opinion of going Bareheaded, neither do they use it, one to another, as an Act of Reverence. They hold it also an unbeseeming thing for a man to make himself ready without putting on a Girdle, or something that may divide the lower part of the body from the upper.'3 The English public now awoke to the fact that these strange looking people who were beginning to roam about the countryside were Jews. The sudden emergence of a Jewish problem is illustrated by the case of Henry Simons, a Polish Jew.4 His story is extremely involved, abounding with charges and counter-charges of robbery, assault and perjury. Simons first came to England in 1746 and bought goods in London and Bristol which he took back to Poland. He returned in 1751 for the same purpose financed by Polish noblemen and travelled from Harwich to London with two other Jews, one of whom was apparently a wig maker. After lodging in Dukes Place, Simons, speaking scarcely a word of English, with 500 gold ducats in his belt, set out on foot for Bristol 'in his Polish Garb' and on his way there was robbed of every penny he possessed. His attempt to obtain justice merely resulted in his own conviction and he was exculpated only after his case had been taken up by Moses Franks and the other wardens of the Great Synagogue. Simons on one occasion travelled with a Jewish pedlar who was taking his box of goods to Colchester Fair but it is apparent from his story that the country folk had not by then become accustomed to the sight of Jewish pedlars on the road. His own appearance was considered so 1 Thilo Patriae', Considerations on the Bill to Permit Persons professing the Jewish religion to be naturalised by Parliament . . . 1753, 52-3, and Further Considerations on the Act to Permit Persons professing the Jewish Religion to be Naturalised by Parliament, 1753, 6-7. These pamphlets are attributed to Salvador on the strength of the reply by Jonas Hanway : Letters ... from J. H. .. .y, Merchant to J. S.r, Merchant in Reply to . . . Further Considerations etc., 1753. 2 See W. F. Monypenny, The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, 1910, I, 4. 3 E. Chilmead trans., The History of the Rites, Customes and Manner of Life of the Present Jews throughout the world, 1650, 13-14. 4 The Case of Henry Simons a Polish Jew Merchant, 1753.</page><page sequence="5">On U m c? O &lt;L&gt; oo O ?a o co P .2'5b 3 ?. m ? ? a S TO O ^ So &gt; O rQ a 2 a O -m ? co c3 ^ -a ? ?-( ? ? ? o &lt;u o (J ? ? CT VC &lt;N W ^ . Oil co &lt;u (D ? ? S o tt v bo a, ^ co a o .| s 8 Si5 O? coi.</page><page sequence="6">4 Chelsea figure of a Jewish pedlar ; red anchor period, 1754-8&gt; in the possession of Mr. Charles Clore. (See p. 5).</page><page sequence="7">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 17 unusual that 'A curious print of the person and dress of the said Henry Simons' was prefixed to The Case and Appeal of James Ashley, 1753 (Plate 3). Etched by Thomas Worlidge, it is a remarkably sympathetic portrait of Simons considering that it was published on behalf of the man who had robbed him. It is the first appearance of the Polish Jew in our picture gallery. After 1753 the Sephardi Jew disappeared from English prints and his place was taken by the unmistakeable figure of the Polish Jew in his most characteristic role, that of a pedlar. We see him in Plate 2 of Hogarth's 'Election' (1757)1 and again in a Chelsea china figure made between 1754 and 17582 (Plate 4). These are sympathetic figures treated objectively and there are many like them. But in the caricatures the Jewish pedlar was essentially a figure of fun, the humour being based on the length of his beard and his aversion to pork. Richard Newton's'Tricks upon Travellers' (1795) (Plate 6), in which we see a pedlar leaving an inn chased by a sow, is typical. His wares include spectacles which Mayhew tells us were sold exclusively by Jews. This type of humour also vented itself on the unfortunate Lord George Gordon who was always portrayed by the caricaturist after his conversion to Judaism as a bearded pedlar. Beards became the characteristic of Jews; any Christian who wore one was regarded as an eccentric and, having gone out of fashion in the middle of the 17th century, they did not return to favour for nearly two hundred years. It was not only their dress and appearance that made the Jews conspicuous : their numbers were rising rapidly through immigration. The Jewish population estimated by Jonas Hanway at 6,000 to 8,000 in 1753 had reached 30,000 by 18303 and a large number were engaged in peddling goods all over the country. They became part of the English scene and are frequently shown in pictures of the English countryside and country fairs. At a time when many villages lacked means of communication the Jewish pedlar performed a valuable function in the distribution of goods and the housewives turned out in a body when he arrived at a village.4 In country districts he travelled with a pack laden with fancy goods but in London the type most commonly seen was the dealer in old clothes and, although the earliest picture of one I have been able to trace is dated 1789, by the turn of the century the trade was exclusively Jewish.5 Sometimes he carried only a sack but the recognised feature of the dress was the pile of hats worn as headgear inherited from the English old-clothesman seen in Tempest's 17th century Cries of London and it was in this guise that the Jew was introduced in the numerous books of Street Cries, a favourite subject for children (Plate 5). Rag Fair in Royal Mint Street, where all the old clothes were finally disposed of, was one of the London sights (Plate 8). 1 Believed to refer to the Oxfordshire election of 1754 and to have been painted in that year. 2 Catalogue 1956 Exhibition, No. 429, PL 9. 3 Trans. J.H.S.E. XVII, 173. 4 W. H. Pyne, The World in Miniature. England, Scotland and Ireland, 1827, 224. 5 Levi Nathan, a remarkably literate old-clothesman, started up in London in 1759. See A Short Account of the Life and Transactions of Levi Nathan in which is included part of the Life and Behaviour of Mrs. Maria Parry . . . Printed for the author, Levi Natan. (1776). At that time the working classes could not afford new clothing and relied entirely on second-hand goods. Old-clothes shops were very numerous particularly in Monmouth Street and Middle Row, Holborn and in the City of London. By the 1830's most of them had disappeared. Place writes : 'The Jews were the only people who went about crying "old clothes" . . . They were then as now exceedingly dirty in their persons but they were then much more ragged than they are now and they then almost universally wore their beards long. (Brit. Museum Add. Ms. 27827 ff. 141-7.) c</page><page sequence="8">18 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) The Eastern Jews, many of whom came to London during the siege of Gibraltar in 1781, also attracted notice on account of their dress. Jacob Kimhi, a Turk, whose venerable appearance caught the eye of Ozias Humphry, sold slippers outside the Royal Exchange but most of the Moroccan Jews specialised in the sale of spices and 'Turkey' or 'Russian' rhubarb, a medicinal root. A picture of one appears in Modern London (1804) (Plate 7) and they were still in evidence when Mayhew's book appeared in 1851. According to Mayhew, the sale of oranges, lemons and nuts was entirely in the hands of Jews by about 1810 and this is borne out by the prints of the period. When they were supplanted by the Irish the orange venders turned to the sale of fancy goods and concentrated on the coaching inns. The prints show that by the early 1800's many of the Jewish street traders had anglicised their appearance and in fact in some cases it would not be possible to identify them as Jews without the accompanying text. On the other hand fresh tides of immi? gration restored the numbers of Polish Jews in their characteristic dress as seen in 'The Razor Seller' (Plate 9). Besides the London streets, the coaching inns and the country villages, seaports were profitable centres for the pedlar's activities. In the print 'Paying Off' we have an illustration in typical Cruikshank style (Plate 10). Social Conditions The extreme poverty of the London working classes during the second half of the 18th century and the enormous amount of crime were paralleled by similar conditions among the Jews and Mrs. George thinks that they were not exceptionally dishonest.1 This aspect of Jewish social life is illustrated by 'Jews receiving Stolen Goods' (1777) sometimes called 'A Scene in Dukes Place', while 'A Fleet of Transports under Convoy' (1781) shows Jews among the convicts awaiting transportation. The Chelsea murders are illustrated by several engravings of Levi Weil and his associates. Many Jews lived by their wits and frequented the courts and sponging houses, ready for a consideration to stand bail for anyone. 'Jew Bail/ as it was called, is referred to in Isaac Cruikshank's 'The Last Day of Term' (1786), Rowlandson's 'Kitty Careless in Quod or Waiting for Jew Bail' (c. 1800), and his 'Lady in Limbo or Jew Bail Rejected' (1802). Their supposed erotic tendencies probably originated with Hogarth's 'Harlot's Progress' already mentioned, the plates of which were continuously re-issued during the 18th and 19th centuries. The theme is found in 'The Jew Rabbi turn'd to a Christian' (1772), a smaller version of which is called 'The Enamour'd Israelite', 'Beau Mordecai Inspir'd' (1773), 'One of the Tribe of Levi going to Brakefast with a young Christian' (1778) , 'Cries of London No. 5' (1799) 'Solomon in his Glory', 'Ladies Trading on their own Bottom' and 'Introduction or Moses with a Good Bargain' (1806). The efforts of Dr. Joshua Van Oven and others to improve the conditions of the Jewish poor resulted in the foundation of the Jews' Hospital, Mile End, an engraving of which was published by Samuel Josephson from a drawing made in 1816. This institution no doubt contributed to the enormous improvement in Jewish social conditions already noticeable early in the nineteenth century. This improvement was accompanied by a more sympathetic attitude in the press of which this extract from a popular periodical is an example : 1 M. D. George, London Life in the XVIIIth Century, 1930, 130.</page><page sequence="9">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 19 'The Jew is a most interesting character and notwithstanding his gloomy looks, his hollow voice and the exclusion of his race from the general citizenship of the world . . . the Jew has an honest heart and a kind heart. And mean though he may be in his appearance, uncouth in his beard and time-worn in his clothes, the Jew is honest and his word once passed is irrefragable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians . . . Then the Jew is a kind man and bountiful to all his kindred and you will often find his name down in the list of a Christian charity . . . Besides in spite of all our beadles and policemen our way-sides and lanes are infested with Christian beggars?but who ever saw a Jew begging ? . .. Go to the Jews' annual dinner and see if you find equal kindness either to one another or to strangers at any other meeting for a similar purpose. Go to the Jews' Hospital at Mile End and say that in point of regularity industry and usefulness, has it a superior among the countless institutions of the metropolis. We should love the Jew, he is worthy of being seen twice.'1 The theme that beggars are seldom found among the Jews also occurs in J. T. Smith's Vagabondiana (1817), where the following description is given of one of the plates : 'The figure in the box is that of a Jew mendicant who has unfortunately lost the use of his legs and is placed every morning in the above vehicle so that he may be drawn about in the neighbourhood of Petticoat Lane and exhibited as an object of charity. His venerable appearance renders it impossible for a Jew or a Christian to pass without giving him alms although he never begs but of his own people ; a custom highly creditable to the Jews.' The traditional attitude of the Jewish beggar towards the rich is brought out in the caricature 'A King bestowing favours on a Great Man's Friends' (1824) which shows Nathan Meyer Rothschild being waylaid by a number of Jewish beggars who complain of his meanness. Trades and Professions While most of the English Jews in the second half of the 18th century were engaged in peddling which provided the easiest means of livelihood for the immigrant, the few Trade Cards which have survived are evidence of a wide range of other occupations. The trade most frequently recorded is that of watchmaker, goldsmith and silversmith with which the traditional Jewish craft of engraving was frequently associated. E. A. Ezekiel of Exeter on his Trade Card dated 14 March 1796, calls himself engraver, optician, goldsmith and printseller. J. Abraham of Bath and Cheltenham, of whom we have a silhouette by Edouart dated 1829 (Plate 11), carried on another typically Jewish trade, that of optician, and from his Trade Card we find that he held appointments as optician and mathematical instrument maker to the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Wellington2 (Plate 12). One feature of the Trade Cards is the amount of royal patronage they disclose.3 1 Guide to Knowledge, 15 Sep. 1832, 104. 2 The Duke of Wellington when he was at Montpelier Spa used to call in at Abraham's shop adjoining the Pump Room to look at the barometer and discuss the weather. J. Goding, History of Cheltenham, 1863, 318. During the eighteenth century England was supreme in the manu? facture of wratches and mathematical instruments. 3 This is more strikingly shown by the register of royal warrant holders (1837-1868) at the Lord Chamberlain's office from which the following names have been extracted, the year of the appointment being given in brackets :</page><page sequence="10">20 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) By the beginning of the 19th century there were a number of established Jewish businesses in existence. Despite the restrictions imposed on Jews with regard to retail trade, the leading fishmonger in the City of London was Michael Myers of Peters Alley, Cornhill, who boasted a royal appointment and had his shop chosen as one of the subjects for 'London Markets' a series of aquatint engravings published in 18281 (Plates 13-14). On the stage the Jews were more prominent as musicians and singers than as actors. Jacob Cervetto, the popular violoncellist, whose appearance was always greeted with roars of'Nosee'2, was a natural subject for caricature as was Abraham Furtado, nicknamed 'The Insect', the pianoforte player and composer, on account of his extravagant dress and affected manners. The popularity of the singers, Myer Lyon, Mrs. Bland and John Braham accounts for the number of engraved portraits of them which were published. Isaac Nathan, musical historian to George IV, was a fashionable singing master besides being a prolific composer and had among his pupils Princess Charlotte of Wales to whom he dedicated his 'Hebrew Melodies'. His portrait discloses the extent to which his personal appearance was influenced by his friend, Lord Byron (Plate 15). It was perhaps in the boxing ring, a fertile source of portraits and caricatures, that the Jews made their mark more than anywhere else. This development arose out of the brutality the Jews were liable to meet on the London streets. Place writes : 'It was thought good sport to maltreat a Jew and they were often most barbarously used even in the principal streets.' After mentioning some of the foremost Jewish boxers, he continues : 'from this time to the present the Jews have maintained their prowess. Almost all of them can box and those who might be disposed to insult them are too well aware of the probable result to make the essay'.3 This statement is forcibly illustrated by an engraving showing a typical pedlar delivering a knock-out blow (Plate 16). The outstanding Jewish boxer, Daniel Mendoza, became a national hero and may be given the credit for introducing into the language such terms as 'a Jew's blow' and 'a Mendoza'. His popularity also can be judged by his engraved portraits but he had a long struggle against prejudice. His third and successful battle against his principal rival, Richard Humphries, produced the following comment in the leading boxing magazine : Morris, Michael and Henry Emanuel, silversmiths in ordinary (1837). Ezekiel and Emanuel Emanuel, silversmiths at Portsmouth (1837). Charles Town and Emanuel Emanuel, manufacturers of Buhl Ormulu and Bronze (1838). Victor Abraham, embroiderer (1837). Alexander Alexander, optician at Exeter (1837). Nathan Lewis, embroiderer (1837). Aaron Levy, jeweller at Plymouth (1838). Benjamin Lewis, goldsmith and silversmith at Brighton (1838). Henry Abraham, jeweller and watchmaker at Southampton (1850). Bethel Jacobs, jeweller and silversmith at Hull (1854). 1 The Lord Mayor, Sir Claudius Stephen Hunter, attended his daughter's wedding in 1812 for which he was attacked by the caricaturists and at the end of his term of office his portrait was published with the title 'A High Bred Hunter, Any Old Cloathes, November's Come, A Jew ! A Jew !' See also Anglo-Jewish Portraits Nos. 297 and 298. 2 It was still being shouted from the upper gallery fifty years after his death although its meaning was no longer understood. J. Taylor, Records of My Life, I, 252-5. 8 British Museum Add. Ms. 27827 ff. 141-7 and see M. D. George, London Life in the XVIIIth Century, 1930, 132.</page><page sequence="11">Ml ' SK M^f^^B^ ? j^-V^' Jewish dealer in old-clothes. SSHII^^^KI?^^1^. Etching from Harris's Cries of London, ? , i, ? , .'-M - . i ninis ^^^^^^^^^^?^ ^ ^^^^^^^ ; j 6 Caricature of a Jewish pedlar. From an etching by Richard Newton dated 1795. (See p. 5)</page><page sequence="12">hMoroccan Jew. Etching from Modern London, 1804. (See p. 6) I v i l i' I; a K i; ^^^^ ^ 8 Rag Fair. From a drawing. (See p. 5)</page><page sequence="13">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 21 'Mendoza in conquering so noble and distinguished a competitor, added considerable fame to his puglistic achievements?but the greatest merit attached to the conquest was the manner in which it was obtained. Prejudice so frequently distorts the mind that unfortunately good actions are passed over without even common respect; more especially, when they appear in any person who may chance to be of a different Country, persuasion, or colour : Mendoza, in being a Jew, did not stand in so favourable a point of view, respecting the wishes of the multitude towards his success, as his brave opponent?But truth riseth superior to all things, and the humanity of Mendoza was conspicuous throughout the above fight?often was it witnessed, that Dan threw up his arm when he might have put in a most tremendous blow upon his exhausted adversary.'1 Another observer commented that 'the Christian pugilist proved himself as inferior to the Jewish hero as Dr. Priestley when oppos'd to the Rabbi, David Levi'2 The three contests between Mendoza and Humphries created tremendous excitement and interest even outside the sporting world. Heavy betting took place on the Royal Exchange and we are told that about 1,000 Jews were present at Odiham in Hampshire for the first of these fights in January 1788.3 Mendoza had David Benjamin as his second, Jacobs as bottleholder and Moravia as umpire?all Jews?and the caricaturists and the Press contributed to the general feeling that this was a fight between Christian and Jew. On such occasions racial battles were liable to flare up as when Belasco was matched against Halton, the Irish Champion, in 1823 and there being a dispute as to the winner 'some Jews more handy with their marleys (fists) took the part of Belasco and a regular mill of a quarter of an hour's duration took place when claret (blood) flew most abundantly until all were worsted'.4 All the signs of a similar development can be seen in the engraving of the fight between Dutch Sam and Knolesworthy showing the Jewish spectators in utter despair at their champion's defeat (Plate 17). The important part the Jews played in mercantile affairs was already recognised in the 17th century by the privileges granted to Jewish brokers. A plan of the Royal Exchange published in 1752 shows the Jews' Walk among 'the several walks usually frequented by the different merchants', and a writer of the same period comments on the lack of activity during Jewish Holydays.5 An animated view of the interior of the Exchange by Cruikshank in Pierce Egan's Life in London (1812) shows Jerry in conversa? tion with a Jew while Tom explains : ?the second gentleman, you perceive, dressed in black, from the statue, is a sufficient instance of what may be accomplished by an industrious clever man in England.' He refers to Nathan Meyer Rothschild who is seen in conversation with Moses Montefiore. Behind him is Samuel Samuel, who like the others, is recognisable from the Dighton caricatures which the engraver has copied (Plate 18). The stock-brokers and stock-jobbers met in Change Alley whence they moved in 1773 to the Stock Exchange Coffee House at the corner of Threadneedle Street and 1 Boxiana, 1818, I, 265. 2 A. Rubens. Anglo-Jewish Portraits, 1935, 78. 3 H. L. (Henry Lemoine), Modern Manhood or the Art and Practice of Boxing (1788), 85. 4 A. Rubens, A Jewish Iconography, 1954, 27. 5 Thilo Patriae' (J. Salvador), Further Considerations etc., op. cit., 16,</page><page sequence="14">22 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) Sweeting's Alley. Although the business transacted was almost entirely confined to dealings in government loans, the stock-jobber acquired an unsavoury reputation. In the caricatures the Jew was always the symbol of Finance and invariably shown as an evil and corrupting influence. This was partly an inheritance from the 1753 troubles, for after Gideon's death in 1762 there were no Jewish financiers of outstanding impor? tance until the brothers Goldsmid and David Ricardo came on the scene as government loan contractors, the former at the end of the eighteenth century and the latter a few years later.1 The quack doctors like Hart Abraham (Plate 24), Samuel Solomon and William Brodum, had their portraits engraved for publicity purposes. In the 18th century there was little difference between the quacks and many of the recognised medical practitioners and in fact both Brodum and Solomon were entitled to call themselves?M.D.' having bought their diplomas from Marischal College.2 Brodum's portrait by the Jewish miniaturist, Solomon Polack, is affixed to his Guide to Old Age (1795)3 which is dedicated to George III who, he claims, had experienced the benefit of his medicine and advice. In a later edition we are given an engraving of his coat of arms which appeared on every bottle of his Botanical Syrup. Solomon's portrait, adorned with an equally spurious coat of arms, forms the frontispiece to his Guide to Health which ran into many editions, some of which contain an impressive view of his mansion near Liverpool named Gilead House after his famous nostrum, Balm of Gilead.4 Abraham Buzaglo is of special interest because apart from his quack remedies for the cure of gout satirised by Paul Sandby in the engraving, 'Les Caprices de la Goute' (1783), he had built up a respectable business as a manufacturer of patent stoves. Several handbills have survived describing these appliances which appear to have had considerable success and were supplied to the royal family.5 The Gentry Success and wealth soon led to migration from the crowded Jewish quarter of London around Dukes Place. By the end of the 18th century a noticeable drift away from London had developed, particularly towards the west along the Thames Valley. Engraved views of the houses with nattering descriptions are sometimes to be found 1 Mention should be made, however, of Nathan Salomons (1748?-1825) whose failure in 1783 caused a crisis on the Stock Exchange. See Anglo-Jewish Portraits, No. 261a. 2 P. J. Anderson, Records of Marischal College and University, Aberdeen, 1898, II, 133-4, 137. Brodum, who is described as William Boddum of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, was recommended by Dr. Saunders and Dr. Leo. His certificate was dated 15 January 1791. Both Brodum and Solomons printed copies of their diplomas in their books. 3 A Guide to Old Age or A Cure for the Indiscretions of Youth by William Brodum, M.D., London. Printed by J. W. Myers, No. 2 Paternoster Row. For the Author and sold at his house No. 9 Albion Street near the Leverian Museum, Blackfriars Bridge, 1795. The edition of 1802 purports to be the 52nd. 4 Solomon claimed that over 100,000 copies of his book were sold. It ran into more than 60 editions. 5 According to Horace Walpole his friend, Taafe, was cured of gout by Buzaglo in four hours. Letters, x (1777), 168. Buzaglo was the author of A Treatise on the Gout wherein . . . the facility of a . . . cure . . . by . . . muscular exercise is established . . . 3rd ed. 1778. In 1769 he petitioned George III for a patent for his warming machine and in 1770 with Alexander Keyser junr., Abraham Ricardo, Assur Keyser, Isaac Mendes Furtado, Benjamin Lara and Simon Daniels 'all professing the Jewish religion', he petitioned for Letters of Denization. Public Record Office, S.P. 44/266a and 44/265. See also Catalogue, 1956, No. 458.</page><page sequence="15">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 23 in books labelled 'gentlemen's seats' or in the monthly magazines. Such things together with a coat of arms and a gallery of family portraits conveyed a certain social standing. A rare print of the first half of the 18th century entitled 'A Prospect of Coppeed Hail at Totteridge' supplies an aerial view of the house and estate of Joseph da Costa with the owner's coat of arms engraved on the margin. The Salvador family was established for many years at Tooting where they were well known and respected for their philanthropy but by 1787, as we learn from an engraving published in that year, their house had become 'an academy for young gentlemen' (Plate 19). The Ashkenazim soon followed the Sephardim as landed proprietors. Aaron Franks, George Ill's diamond merchant, was already a landowner in 1739.1 An engraving of Moses Hart's house between Twickenham and Isleworth dates from the first half of the 18th century; another of Isaac Franks' house at Misterton in Leicestershire is dated 1789,2 At Morden in Surrey, Abraham Goldsmid had 'one of the most complete and elegant' cottage villas in the country3 and his brother, Benjamin, possessed a magnifi? cent estate at Roehampton with a collection of family portraits,4 while another brother, Asher, bought from Lady Hamilton, Merton Place, Lord Nelson's former home in Surrey.5 There are several views of Sampson Gideon's house, Belvidere House at Erith in Kent, which was enlarged into a 'very noble mansion' by his son, Lord Eardley. Here was housed the collection of old masters formed by the father which included a number he bought from Robert Walpole's collection.6 They included works by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Tintoretto, Holbein, Durer, Frans Hals, Rubens, Veronese, 'velvet' Breughel and Teniers. Reynolds' portrait of Lord Eardley which caused a rift between him and his brother-in-law, the 2nd Viscount Gage, is now at Firle Place, the seat of the present Viscount.7 At Wimbledon was Prospect Place, the house of Moses Isaac Levy, and we are told 'to his honour that Mr. Levi the Jew . . . was one of the most considerable subscribers' when the parish church was rebuilt in 1787.8 Moses Franks' large house at Teddington was designed for him about 1780 by Sir William Chambers, the architect of Somerset House.9 It was no doubt furnished in keeping with the 'great taste displayed in the house and extensive gardens' and it 1 Victoria History of the County of Surrey, 1911, III, 411. 2 In a return for the year 1780 Ralph Franks of Misterton is included in a list of 16 landowners who paid more than ?200 per annum in land tax. Victoria History of the County of Leicestershire, 1954, II 227, 240. 3 D. Hughson, Description of London, 1806, 632. 4 L. Alexander, Memoirs of the Life . . . of the late Benj. Goldsmid, 1808, 94ff. Some of the pictures were in the 1956 Exhibition. Part of the estate called Putney Spot was let to Alexander Lindo. 5 Rev. D. Lysons. Supplement to the first edition of... . The Environs of London, 1811, 46. 6 Trans. J.H.S.E. XVII, 85n. His portrait by Alan Ramsay was in the 1956 Exhibition. It shows him to be short, stout and elegantly dressed despite his reputation for dressing badly (see Works of Oliver Goldsmith, op. cit. Ill, 42,163) and he is a likely candidate for the principal figure in the caricature : 'A certain little fat Jew Macaroni and his spouse going to ye Pantheon*. Ambulator or a Pocket Companion in a tour round London, 4th ed. 1792, 38. Walpole Socy, XXXIII, 34. Country Life, 24 Feb. 1955, 267 ; rep. 8 Ambulator, 271. Mention is also made of Abraham Aguilar's pretty villa at Wimbledon. 9 Ibid., 220 and 11th ed. 1811, 246-7. We learn from the 1792 edition that the house was in Chancery and consequently uninhabited. Moses Franks had died three years earlier and in the same year his widow, Phila, became insane.</page><page sequence="16">24 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) is possible to trace some of the family portraits which were hung there. In 1761 Reynolds painted Moses Franks at the age of 43 and in 1766, his wife, Phila, in a white dress embroidered with gold flowers and with a blue sash. In the same year he painted her sister, Priscilla, who later married Moses' brother, Jacob. She is wearing a white silk dress with lacework down the front and a jacket or cloak of white silk trimmed with lace over her right shoulder and she has powdered hair; there is a dark blue sky in the background (Plates 20-2). Finally, there is the portrait of Moses' and Phila's daughter, Isabella Bell, as a child of about six, painted by Gainsborough. At the age of 18 Isabella married William Henry Cooper, later Sir William Henry Cooper, and on her death the family portraits including the portrait of her aunt Priscilla, who seems to have been childless, went to her daughters. The three Reynolds paintings were sold during the 19th century. All trace has been lost of the portrait of Moses Franks and the one of Priscilla has not been heard of since it was exhibited at Birmingham in 1903 but Phila's portrait has changed hands many times and went overseas to an American dealer as recently as 1954. Isabella's own portrait by Gainsborough was sold by her grandson, Lt. Col. William Honywood, to Lord Burton whose daughter, the present Lady Burton, lent it for the 1956 Exhibition. Raphael Franco was painted by Gainsborough in 1780 in a yellow coat, vest and breeches, lace stock and frills. There is a view of St. Paul's in the background (Plate 23). The picture is believed to be in the U.S.A. but cannot now be traced.1 Gainsborough also painted a Mrs. Franco who was probably Raphael's wife, Leah, the sister of the 2nd Baron d'Aguilar, but the picture is believed to have been destroyed. A journalist who saw it in 1786 talks of cthe bewitching Mrs. Franco . . . the Juno air of the sitter being admirably hit off and the drapery full of easy negligence'.2 Gainsborough's portrait of Dr. Isaac Henriques Sequeira, until recently in the U.S.A., was presented to the Prado Gallery in 1953. Dr. Ralph Schomberg's portrait by Gainsborough was sold by J. T. Sch?mberg, his grandson, to the National Gallery in 1862.3 It was painted in 1772 at Bath where both artist and sitter had been established for some years during, what Professor Water house calls, Gainsborough's golden period. Sir Alexander Sch?mberg, Captain in the Royal Navy, another of Dr. Meyer Loew Schomberg's sons4, had his portrait painted by Hogarth in 1763 on his marriage. It recently came into the market on the death of General St. George Sch?mberg and is now in the National Maritime Museum. Although they have parted with these treasures the Sch?mberg family still possess the portrait of their founder, Meyer Loew Sch?mberg, who arrived here from Germany as a penniless medical practitioner in 1720. The engraved portrait was mainly reserved for notabilities, including eccentric characters like Judith Levy, 'The Queen of Richmond Green', and Baron d'Aguilar of 1 It was sold at Christie's, 8 July 1910 (Lot 125), for 6,200 guineas. Morning Post, 9 July 1910. B. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, 1958, No. 267. 2 W. T. Whitley, Thomas Gainsborough, 1915, 266. Waterhouse, No. 268. 3 It had previously been presented to the National Gallery but had to be returned owing to a family dispute. See Whitley, op. cit., 81. 4 'Sir Alexander Sch?mberg has been lately mentioned in the Low Prints and as usual wrong. He is the son of old Sch?mberg?-the Jew physician who had the contest with the College. Dr. Sch?mberg, Foote's friend, and Dr. Ralph Sch?mberg late of Bath now at Reading being his brothers'. The World, 4 January 1790. (Quoted from the Whitley Papers in the British Museum Print Room.)</page><page sequence="17">^^^^^^L-J| ^1 ' A^?^V The Razor Seller, 1826. ^^^^^^^V^^Fv ^bElL From a lithograph. (See p. 6) If fin'o//m 10 Caricature of a Jewish pedlar on board ship. From an etching by George Cruikshank dated 1825. (See p. 6^</page><page sequence="18"></page><page sequence="19">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 25 'Starvation Farm'. The portrait of the Baron taken from life a few months before his death was said to be a striking likeness and the coat of arms engraved beneath it was copied from his once magnificent coach which stood in the farmyard and like everything else he possessed was falling to pieces.1 Baptised Jews were a favourite target for the caricaturist who lost no opportunity of reminding the public of their origins. George Cruikshank's caricature of John Adolphus, the barrister, following the sensational case in which he appeared in 1821 was on these lines and Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes was caricatured as an old-clothesman in connection with the sale of his pocket borough of Westbury to Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Scenes of Jewish Life In marked contrast to Holland and Germany this country can furnish practically no native pictures of Jewish ceremonies and customs and, except for the Picart reprints already mentioned, none of the books issued in the 18th century on Jewish ceremonies contains illustrations. An aquatint engraving of the interior of the Great Synagogue from Ackermann's Microcosm of London (1809) showing a service in progress has all the signs of being taken from life and is one of the rare instances of Rowlandson exercising restraint in his Jewish characterisations. The Jewish Museum in London has a water colour drawing dated 1813 by the Hamburg artist, Peter Suhr (1788-1857), showing the hearse and mourners returning from a Jewish funeral in London. Probably the absence of women attracted the artist's notice and he did not fail to observe that the party consisted of the religious quorum of 10 males with one in reserve (Plate 25). Another illustration of Jewish life, probably by an amateur, is provided by a drawing of the wedding of Samuel Helbert Israel of Clapham and Fanny, youngest daughter of Baron Lyon de Symons, on 22 April 1822 with the Chief Rabbi, Solomon Hirschel, officiating.2 Two oil paintings of synagogue interiors by Solomon Alexander Hart have survived but Simeon Solomon's sketches which appeared in Once a Week in 1862 were the first original illustrations of Jewish ceremonies to be published in this country. II THE ENGLISH RADICALS AND THE JEWS The Radical Movement Practically nothing has been written about the development of Jewish political thought in this country. Loyalty to King and Country are traditional Jewish virtues of which English Jews have been justly proud and there has been a tendency to gloss over any association with Radicalism with its implied opposition to authority and government. It is indeed unlikely that many Jews in this country interested themselves in politics 1 W. Granger, The New Wonderful Museum and Extraordinary Magazine, I, 141 ff. The memoir was written by Henry Lemoine, the friend of David Levi. 2 Catalogue, 1956 Exhibition, No. 284,</page><page sequence="20">26 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) during the 18th century. Their numbers never exceeded 20,000, most of them were miserably poor and on the whole they were content to be left alone, realising that they were far better off than their co-reHgionists in other countries.1 But there were a few, particularly among the English-born, who resented such chscrimination as existed and threw in their lot with the reformers. By the time of Queen Victoria when Radicalism had become respectable, they amounted to a considerable force and the Liberal Party founded on radical ideas commanded the whole-hearted support of English Jews until recent times.2 The Radical Movement originated in the political agitation which raged during the sixty or seventy years preceding the Reform Act of 1832 and is generally understood to embrace a variety of activities in opposition to the government. They were, in fact, of a widely divergent nature. There was little in common between say, the Duke of Norfolk who, as a Catholic, attacked the government and the King, and Tom Paine who was outlawed because he believed in the rights of man. But the various dissenting bodies?Catholics, Protestant Dissenters, Unitarians, Quakers and Jews?tended to make common cause and their grievances drove them into general opposition to government policy, particularly over the American War and the French Revolution. The critical attitude they developed no doubt explains why so many of the social reformers were drawn from these groups. The man in the street was inclined to treat them all indiscriminately as traitors and atheists and they suffered as much from prejudice, suspicion and mob violence as they did from government oppression.3 Nothing illustrates the transformation in public opinion since those days better than the word 'democrat', which at the time of the French Revolution denoted a revolutionary republican.4 When George III came to the throne in 1760 the political status of the Jews had 1 Extract from letter dated 14 August 1787 from the Mahamad of London to the Jews of Rome : 'The privileges of the Jews in this country must not serve as a rule for their privileges in other countries as the government is very different. Where sovereigns are absolute the Jews may enjoy advantages to a greater or lesser extent; but in this kingdom even if His Majesty wishes to favour them, he could not do so without the consent of Parliament, consisting of more than 500 or 600 Nobles and Commons. This makes it very difficult to obtain the privileges we need and which would be very useful to us. The only privileges enjoyed by our nation are equal to all those enjoyed abroad and these consist of the free exercise of our religion and the security of our property which anyone may possess without fear of King or government'. Quoted from J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, 1875, 197. 2 Lucien Wolf used to refer to 'that strange hermaphrodite, the Jewish Conservative'. L. Wolf, Essays in Jewish History, 1934, 33. Disraeli's father, exceptionally, was a Tory, but he himself entered politics as a Radical and when he stood for parliament for High Wycombe in 1832 he carried letters of recommendation from O'Connell, Hume and Burdett. His quarrel with O'Connell arose out of a speech he made when standing as Tory candidate for Taunton in 1835. O'Connell on that occasion attacked him ferociously. T have the happiness', he said 'to be acquainted with some Jewish families in London, and amongst them, more accomplished ladies, or more humane, cordial, high-minded, or better-educated gentlemen I have never met. It will not be supposed, therefore, that when I speak of Disraeli as the descendant of a Jew, that I mean to tarnish him on that account. They were once the chosen people of God. There were miscreants amongst them, however, also and it must have certainly been from one of these that Disraeli descended'. In reply Disraeli wrote : 'I admire your scurrilous allusions to my origin. It is quite clear that the "hereditary bondsman" has already forgotten the clank of his fetters. I know the tactics of your Church ; it clamours for toleration and it labours for supremacy. I see that you are quite prepared to persecute'. Quoted from H. W. J. Edwards, The Radical Tory, 1937, 67, 71. 3 Graham Wallas, The Life of Francis Place, 1925, 25. 4 M. D. George, Catalogue of Political , . , Satires in the British Museum, VII, p. xx.</page><page sequence="21">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 27 changed very little since their readmission under Cromwell. They could not hold any civil, military or corporation office. They could not be schoolmasters, lawyers or members of parliament nor could they vote at elections if anybody chose to enforce the oaths1 and legal opinion was divided about their right to hold land.2 These disabilities were not much worse than those suffered by other nonconformists but the Jews had other handicaps. During the eighteenth century recurrent waves of immigration coupled with losses due to conversion resulted in the proportion of aliens among them remaining at a high level and the special privileges they enjoyed on the Royal Exchange could only have emphasised their exclusiveness. English Jews in the nineteenth century seem to have regarded as their Charter an Act of Parliament passed in 1723 * in which for the first time they were recognised as British subjects but there is no doubt that the general public continued to regard them as aliens long after that date. John Wilkes To the extent that Jews were aliens there existed a special relationship with the Crown for the King, besides being the father of his people, was constitutionally the protector of aliens.4 It was an arrangement that had mutual advantages. The King had the power to grant Letters of Denization as well as other privileges by Royal Letters Patent without reference to Parliament. In return he could count on the loyalty of the Jews. This was strongly demonstrated at the time of the 1745 Rebellion and again in the dispute between George III and Wilkes. In 1768 Wilkes had resumed his activities in opposition to the Court and in January 1769 was elected an alderman of the City of London. The Common Council of the City which strongly supported Wilkes represented the shop-keepers, not the City merchants or the wealthier traders,5 and when it was decided to launch a counter-demonstration in favour of the Crown it was the Jews who took a leading part in organising it. A meeting of merchants and others to sign a loyal address was called on 8 March 1769 at the King's Arms Tavern in Cornhill. Wilkes' supporters did their best to break up the meeting and one of them declared : 'As by the same laws by which these foreign gentry are permitted to live and grow in this country they are excluded from any share in the constitutional direction of it, they surely cannot have the presumption to prescribe to free-born Englishmen the measure of duty by which they are to address their sovereign.'6 On the following day the address was deposited for signature at the Merchant Seamen's Office above the Royal Exchange. The text was as follows : 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, N.S. XXIII (1830), 1287 ff. 2 Trans. J.H.S.E. IV, 146 ff. 3 10 George I, c.4. E. H. Lindo, A Jewish Calendar, 1838, 129 : '1723. First acknowledgment by Act of Parliament of Jews being British subjects. (An Act exempting Jews from taking the Oath of Abjuration on the faith of a Christian . . . whenever any of His Majesty's subjects pro? fessing the Jewish religion' etc.) 4 Parliamentary History of England, XXX (1792-4), 155. 5 M. D. George, London Life in theXV11Ith Century, 1930, 3. 6 Annual Register, 1769, Chronicle, 80.</page><page sequence="22">28 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) ? 'We your majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the merchants, traders and other principal inhabitants of your City of London truly sensible that it has been your majesty's constant care and principal object ... to secure to your people the full enjoyment of their religion, laws and liberties inviolable . . . beg leave to protest our steady loyalty . . .' etc.1 On 22 March 1769 a deputation set off to present the petition to the King. The Annual Register reported the attack by Wilkes' mob in the following terms : 'A cavalcade of merchants and tradesmen of the City of London in coaches on their way to St. James's with a loyal address were interrupted by a desperate mob on passing through the City, who insulted, pelted and maltreated the principal conductors ; so that several coaches were obliged to withdraw, some to return back, others to proceed by bye-ways, and those who arrived at St. James's were so bedaubed with dirt, and shattered that both masters and drivers were in the utmost peril of their lives.'2 Horace Walpole states that Dutch Jews were among the deputation3 and the leading part taken by Jews in this affair is shown by two contemporary caricatures4 (Plate 26). These caricatures are notable for their early representations of the stock Jew of English caricature. In popular caricature each nation had to be easily recognisable : the Frenchman became Lewis Baboon, the Dutchman, Nie Frog, the Spaniard, Don Diego and each had to wear characteristic dress.5 So Moses or Mordecai with a beard, long coat and hat became the stereotyped Jew. In reality, although beards were characteristic of pedlars, they were not generally worn by the merchant class and certainly not by the wealthier Sephardim. True to tradition, the communal leaders continued to demonstrate their loyalty to the sovereign whenever the opportunity arose. The devoted support given to the administration by Sampson Gideon's Christian son, Lord Eardley, earned him the nickname 'Mr. Pitt's Jew'.6 It is unlikely that the Jewish pedlar, pre-occupied with the struggle for existence, gave much thought to matters of this kind and he was the only type of Jew with whom the English public came into contact. To them he was a foreigner and all foreigners were Frenchmen7 and therefore spies ; moreover he was in league with dangerous men like Lord George Gordon and Charles James Fox, apostles of subversion and Jacobinism. This, at least, is the outlook reflected in the caricatures which during the next 60 years were violently and consistently hostile to the Jews. Charles James Fox Fox's published speeches contain no specific references to the Jews but throughout his political career spent almost entirely in opposition he consistently advocated the toleration of all religions and the abolition of religious tests. Speaking on the Catholic Dissenters' Relief Bill (1791) he said : 1 Ibid., Appendix to Chronicle, 195. 2 Ibid., Chronicle, 84. 3 H. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third, 1845, III, 350. 4 ?The Battle of Cornh?T (B.M. 4274) and 'The Principal Merchants and Traders assembled at the Merchant Seamen's office to sign ye address' (B.M. 4277). 5 M. D. George, Catalogue, op. cit., V, p. XIII. 6 J. G. Alger, Napoleon's British Visitors, 1904, 60-1. 7 M. D. George, London Life in the XVIIIth Century, 1930, 133,</page><page sequence="23">13 Trade Card of Michael Myers 14 Michael Myers' fish shop. From an aquatint dated 1828. (See p. 8)</page><page sequence="24">15 Isaac Nathan. From an oil painting last in the possession of Mrs. V. V. Nathan of Sydney, Australia. (See p. 8)</page><page sequence="25">PORTRAIT OF ANGL?-JEWRY (1656-1836) 29 'as to his decided opinion that a state had no right whatever to interfere with the religious notions of men, or to refuse universal toleration, he believed that it was an opinion which had gained, and would continue to gain, daily, more and more upon the public mind; but it certainly did not gain upon his mind, because he had entertained no other opinion ever since he had been able to think.'1 He spoke in similar terms on the many occasions when he championed the cause of religious freedom; he strongly attacked the government over the St. Eustatius affair and he opposed the Alien Bill. He passionately believed in the freedom of the individual but despite his bad relations with George III he would have nothing to do with Wilkes. His supposed attachment to the Jews which is shown only in the caricatures cannot be explained merely by his transactions with moneylenders and his frequent portrayal as a Jew is accounted for only partly by his Jewish appearance (Plate 28). 'Right Hon. Democrat, Advocate for atheists and Jews' the caricaturist called him.2 In most instances the object was to show that Fox's support was drawn from the lowest elements of the public but the caricatures which refer to the support of Jewish voters may contain a grain of truth. There is no doubt that Jews voted in parliamentary elections long before they were given the right to vote in 1835. That is proved by the caricatures and by a statement made in the House of Commons.3 In the Westminster election of 1784 Roman Catholics were required to take the Test Oath4 but the oaths of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration were not administered nor apparently was it usual to do so except at the insistence of the candidates.5 As far as the Jews were concerned, it was only in Westminster where there may have been a few hundred Jewish residents that the question really arose. Westminster was a scot-and-lot borough, i.e. one of the relatively few which possessed a democratic franchise, and because of its situation and the fact that it returned two members the Westminster elections always created tremendous excitement. The method of voting lent itself to many abuses as there was no list of voters and the voter merely had to swear that he had the requisite qualification. On the other hand anyone taking a bribe or voting illegally was liable to be transported for seven years.6 The Westminster election of 1784 has gone down in history as the most bitterly contested of all the Westminster elections. Fox was standing against Lord Hood and Sir Cecil Wray. The poll opened on 1 April and after 40 days Hood and Fox were declared elected. As Fox had a majority of only 231 votes over Wray the charges of corruption and illegal voting were even more insistent than usual and a scrutiny was ordered. It was laid down that the persons disqualified from voting were non-residents, paupers, foreigners, denizens and minors.7 Jews as such were not disqualified. Among the stories put out during the election by Fox's opponents was one that ca tallow-chandler of Oxford Street was- applied to by the Fox-tailed Duchess (i.e. the Duchess of Devonshire) to give his vote for the Jewish Messiah'8 and according to a 1 The Speeches of The Right Hon. Charles James Fox, 1815, IV, 151-2. 2 M. D. George, Catalogue, op. cit., V, No. 8291. 3 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, N.S. XXV. (1830), 768. 4 History of the Westminster Election 1784, 2nd ed. 1785, 316, 374. 5 F. W. Maitland, The Constitutional History of England, 1926, 365. 6 History of the Westminster Election, 108. 7 Ibid., 553. 8 Ibid., 268. Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), canvassed actively for Fox particularly in the poorer districts. In 'Blue and Buff' (1788 : B.M. 7368) which refers to the Westminster election of 1788 she is shown at a polling station for 'St. Ann's and Dukes Place' assisting in a 'Plan for extending the freedom of election' by shaving off a Jew's beard.</page><page sequence="26">30 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) caricature Fox received 2,000 votes from Dukes Place.1 If he did receive any Jewish support it may have been through Lord George Gordon who claimed to have turned the scales by bringing along 500 of his friends to vote for Fox.2 During the Westminster election of 1788 when Fox's candidate, Lord John Townshend, opposed Lord Hood, references to Jewish support for Fox are again found in the caricatures.3 In ?Mason the Duke's Confectioner disposing of the Trinkets', (1788) (Plate 27), a bearded Jew bareheaded is taking the oath in front of the hustings. His hat has a 'Townshend' band. Lord John Townshend stands on the hustings between two supporters while Fox enters by a side door carrying a sack of money. In a satire on the dinner given to Fox on 10 October 1800, Isaac Cruikshank signifi? cantly places two Jews among the guests, all of whom are drawn from the dregs of society.4 The War of American Independence (1775-1783) The American War was opposed by many sections of the public besides the radicals. The trade with America and the West Indies in which Jews were active was seriously affected and they probably participated in the petition from merchants trading with America presented to the House of Commons on 6 March 1770.5 In America the Jewish colonists favoured the patriotic side and according to Mordecai Noah they were unanimous in this respect6 but there seem to be grounds for saying that, while this was true of the Sephardi element, the Ashkenazim were divided in their loyalty. A classic example of Sephardi behaviour was the emergence of Francis Salvador as a leading revolutionary in South Carolina two years after he had emigrated from England.7 In England, Moses Franks, one of the foremost Ashkenazi Jews, with extensive business and family connections in America, kept the Whig opposition informed about conditions there. He was on intimate terms with Edmund Burke8 and probably briefed him over one incident in the war which affected the Jews : the capture of the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, an American supply base. On 14 May 1781, Burke in the House of Commons bitterly attacked the adminis? tration over the confiscation of private property on the Island. He said that without warning or declaration of war a large British force had descended on t his defenceless island and, having received its surrender from the Dutch governor, proceeded systemati? cally to plunder the inhabitants of everything they possessed. After denouncing the conduct of the troops, 1 M. D. George, Catalogue, op. cit., V. No. 6623. 2 R. Watson, The Life of Lord George Gordon, 1795, 39; History of Westminster Election, 179. 3 M. D. George, Catalogue, op. cit., V, Nos. 6795, 7344, 7363, 7366. On the other hand, in Gillray's 'Election Troops bringing in their accounts' (B.M. 7369), a Jew, presenting his bill 'for perjury and procuring Jew voters', wears a Hood hat-band. During the Westminster election of 1807 when the two radical candidates, Burdett and Cochrane were successful, Gillray produced 'Election Candidates' (B.M. 10732) in which a bearded Jew is seen taking the oath bareheaded. 4 Ibid., No. 9549. 5 S. Maccoby, English Radicalism, 1762-1785, 1955, 139, 217-8. 6 Mordecai M. Noah, Travels in England, France, Spain and The Barbary States, New York and London, 1819, XXIV. 7 See Pubs. American Jewish Hist. Socy., No. 27, 497 and Cecil Roth, Some Jewish Loyalists in the War of American Independence, in Pubs. American J.H.S., No. 38, Part II, 83. 8 Dr. Cecil Roth has kindly supplied me with copies of letters from Moses Franks to Burke on which these statements are based. They are among the Fitzwilliam MSS. deposited at the Sheffield City Library, Yorkshire. See T. W. Copeland and M. S. Smith, A Checklist of the Correspondence of Edmund Burke, Cambridge, 1955, 217. See also R. J. S. Hoffman, Edmund Burke New York Agent, Philadelphia, 1956, 122.</page><page sequence="27">PORTRAIT OP ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 31 'he blushed to relate the sequel for the honour of humanity, of this enlightened age, and still more of the Christian character. The persecution was begun with the people, whom of all others, it ought to be the care and the wish of human nations to protect, the Jews . . . From the east to the west, from one end of the world to the other, they are scattered and connected ; the links of communication in the mercantile chain ; or to borrow a phrase from electricity, the conductors by which credit was transmitted through the world . . . Their abandoned state, and their defenceless situation calls most forcibly for the protection of civilised nations . . . But the Jews have no such power and no such friend to depend on. Humanity then must become their protector and ally.' He went on to describe how the whole Jewish community, numbering 101 persons, was rounded up and each one searched and stripped of his possessions. Thirty of them had then been deported to St. Kitt's. He referred to a number of individual cases including that of a man who had loyally followed the British army and had lost two brothers killed by the Americans on Long Island 'once more ruined by the commanders of a British force, to whose cause he was so attached'. Burke's protest was strongly supported by Fox. Lord George Germain, while admitting the facts, said that the whole affair happened without the knowledge of the commanders-in-chief and that as soon as they heard of it they ordered restitution to be made, 'sent for the Jews and directed that they should be treated with all possible protection'. On 4 December 1781, Burke again raised the matter in the House of Commons. He presented a petition from Samuel Hoheb, a Jew originally of Amsterdam and a resident in St. Eustatius for 25 years, whose property had been seized. The two commanders-in-chief, Admiral Sir George Rodney and General Vaughan, replied for the government. General Vaughan denied that he had made a fortune out of the affair as was commonly believed. 'As to the Jews he had ordered them a ship to carry them to St. Thomas at their own request and after they had been taken to St. Kitt's without his knowledge, he had ordered their houses and property to be restored to them; and that they were well satisfied with his conduct would appear from an address presented to him from their Synagogue expressive of their happiness at being under the mild government of George III.'1 About this time there appeared a remarkable caricature, possibly inspired by the St. Eustatius affair, showing John Bull as the Wandering Jew2 (Plate 29). 1 Parliamentary History, XXII (1781), 218 ff., 769 ff., 1023. 2 This is in an engraving with the caption : 'John Bull. Dediee aux Petits Mess* Anglois' (B.M. 8239) professedly designed by 'I.B. ? Paris'. Mrs. George dates it about 1781-2. Above the design appear the words 'L'Arbitre d'Europe ou Atlas PoHtique, tire selon les Observs de M. Necker'. A bearded Jew bends under the weight of a globe carried on his head and supports himself on a stick which is on the point of breaking inscribed 'Public Credit'. His coat is inscribed 'Reconciliation' and 'Uncondit(ional) Submiss(ion)' and the pocket marked 'Treasury' hangs inside out empty. The globe is traversed by lines of latitude marked 'Enormous Taxes', 'Decline of Trade' etc. His sandals and old-fashioned clothes identify him as the Wandering Jew, a popular figure in French folk pictures but comparatively unknown at that time in England. He had made one of his rare appearances at Brussels in 1774. Jacques Necker (1732-1804), a Swiss Protestant, social reformer and international banker, served as finance minister to Louis XVI from 1776 until 1781 when he was dismissed following the publication of his famous Compte Rendu. During his term of office he transformed the finances of France by sweeping away a multitude of abuses. After 1778, while the two countries were</page><page sequence="28">32 portrait of anglo-jewry (1656-1836) Lord George Gordon Burke separated himself from the Radicals after the French Revolution and although Fox continued to voice his opposition to the government in the House of Commons he was not trusted by the working-class Radicals. Lord George Gordon, wild eccentric and fanatic as he may have been, was much more in touch with the common people. Their condition and sufferings moved him deeply and it may have been partly his sympathy for the under-dog that turned him towards Judaism. Burke likened him to Don Quixote.1 His hatred of Roman Catholicism made him the obvious candidate for the presidency of the Protestant Association in 1779 but his chief objection to the Catholic Bill was that its purpose was to raise recruits for the American War to which he was bitterly opposed. It was shortly after his trial and acquittal on a charge of high treason in connection with the 1780 riots that Gordon became interested in the Jews. He wanted them to stop wars by withholding credits and it was with this object in mind that he addressed a letter on 26th August 1783 to Elias Lindo and Nathan Salomons on behalf of the Portuguese and German Jews respectively.2 Another letter to the Emperor of Germany on the persecution of the Jews dated 10 August 17853 produced a satirical article in The Ramblers9 Magazine for October 1785 accompanied by an engraving entitled cLord Gordon Riot made a Jew' and on 4 May 1786 he was excommunicated from the Church of England.4 When, in September 1786, the newspapers reported the Government's intention to transport convicts to Botany Bay, Gordon was roused to indignation. His protest took a characteristic form. He published a pamphlet which professed to be a petition from prisoners in Newgate under sentence of transportation. Its substance was : 'that during his present Majesty's reign justice had not been administered; that the laws of England were contrary to the laws of God.'5 On 6 June 1787 Gordon was brought up for trial at the King's Bench, Guildhall and found guilty on two charges : one of stirring up mutiny among condemned convicts and the other of libelling the Queen of France. On the first charge Gordon complained that the alleged offence had been committed 10 months before, and his friend and biographer, Dr. Robert Watson, states that the decision to prosecute him was made as the result of his conversion to Judaism.6 The administration certainly under-rated at war. Necker remained in secret correspondence with London where his bank was represented and he opposed a French scheme to bankrupt the Bank of England. Burke claimed in the House of Commons that Necker was England's greatest friend on the Continent. Necker is known to have financed a number of propaganda prints and this one may have been designed in France by an English artist or else commissioned by Necker's friends in England. Its aim, apparently, is to demonstrate that England represented by the Wandering Jew is suffering from the same financial troubles that Necker had met in France and that their removal would lead to 'Reconciliation' between the two countries. Vicomte D'Haussonville, The Salon of Madame Necker, 1882, II, 98. E. Chapuisat, Necker, Paris 1938, 86, 99, 100, 126, 129, 130, 134, 135, 282. E. Lavaquery, Necker Fourrier De La Revolution, Paris 1933, 166, 182, 183, 184, 192, 197. 1 Trans. J.H.S.E., VII, 228. 2 Copy of a letter from the Rt. Hon. Lord George Gordon to E. Lindo . . . and N. Salomon (1783). 3 Trans. J.H.S.E., VII, 229. 4 Ibid., 231. 5 The Trial at Large of the Hon. George Gordon (1787). On 1 November 1786 appeared 'Non Commission Officers embarking for Botany Bay' (B.M. 6990) in which Jews are seen praying for members of the Opposition who are being transported. 6 Watson, op. cit., 80-1.</page><page sequence="29">Caricature of a Jewish boxer. From an etching by W. Heath c. 1830. (See p. 8) 17 Dutch Sam defeated by Knowlesworthy. From an etching dated 1814. (See p. 9)</page><page sequence="30">a W^E^^^^^H^~1' ^^^^^^Bdl^^^^^B ^^HH&amp;Jr&amp;^^K ,. _ ? ?irm 18 The Royal Exchange. From Life in London, 1812. (See p. 9) 19 Salvadore House. From an aquatint dated 1787. (See p. 11)</page><page sequence="31">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 33 Gordon if they thought that prison would keep him silent. In Newgate he became the recognised leader of the Radicals, many of whom were also serving sentences. Watson tells us that his visitors were frequently so numerous that some had to stand; he seldom had less than six or eight at his table; ?they were composed of all ranks and ranged as chance directed, the Jew and the Gentile, the legislator and the labouring merchant, the officer and the soldier, all shared alike ; liberty and equality were enjoyed in their full extent, as far as Newgate would allow.' After dinner the conversation generally turned to politics and, although some people found it prudent to come in disguise, everyone freely criticised the administration.1 The Polish and Turkish Jews regarded Gordon as a second Moses and came in great numbers to visit him but with a few exceptions they studiously avoided politics. The wealthier Jews did not come because Gordon would not admit any Jews unless they wore beards and hats.2 Despite his conversion he continued to call himself 'President of the Protestant Association of different denominations'.3 The administration contrived to keep him in prison after he had served his sentence and he died of typhus or, as it was then called, gaol fever. The scene in Newgate is admirably illustrated by Richard Newton's 'Soulagement en Prison or Comfort in Prison' (1793) (Plate 30), an important historical document in connection with the radical movement, showing Gordon at the head of a table around which are seated other political prisoners and their friends. Gordon became one of Spence's 'Martyrs of Freedom'. Thomas Spence (1750 1814), author of the Spencean scheme of land nationalisation, had been prosecuted several times for selling Paine's Rights of Man and was imprisoned for seven months without trial. He was then in business at Little Turnstile, Holborn, as a publisher of copper tokens which he used to advance his political views. A writer at the time said : 'on Spence's coins may be traced the republican politics of the enemies of the present Government'. One of Spence's stock dies for the obverse sides of his medals was a bust of Lord George Gordon with hat and beard and he had a variety of revolutionary slogans for the reverses. To distribute them he adopted the novel method of jerking them from his window at passers-by. Many thousands must have been issued between 1793 and 1796 and so to a large public the figure of a Jew became identified with revolution.4 (Plates 31-2). The French Revolution The French Revolution was greeted by most of the English radicals with undisguised joy. Fox did not hesitate to show his unqualified approval. In Newgate the prisoners 'seemed to forget their misfortunes and anticipated the approaching millennium. Nothing could have given greater satisfaction to Lord George', writes his friend, Watson, and adds: 'the glorious revolution has at last restored them (the Jews) their long usurped rights'. 1 Ibid., 107-110. 2 Ibid., 90. 3 The Memorial which the Right Hon. Lord George Gordon President of the Protestant Associations has written in the Prison of Newgate and distributed among the Friends of Liberty in France and England (1789 ?). 4 Olive O. Rudkin, Thomas Spence and his connections, 1927 ; A. Rubens, Anglo-Jewish Portraits, 1935, 174-6. D</page><page sequence="32">34 PORTRAIT ?F AHOLD-JEWRY (1656-18^6) On 23 July 1789, nine days after the storming of the Bastille, Gordon addressed a letter to the French National Assembly.1 The French Revolution gready encouraged the cult of mystics and cranks which had been a feature of the latter part of the eighteenth century and between 1796 and 1797 no less than 397 persons took out preaching licences. William Hamilton Reid calls them "a wandering tribe of fanatical preachers mostiy taken from the lowest and most illiterate classes of society".2 The most successful was Richard Brothers (1757 1824) who in 1794 published his book of prophecies in which he claimed that he had been chosen by God to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem by the year 1798. But because the Jews do not believe in his First Book, 'The Lord God commands me', he writes, 'to remind all men of what is wrote in that book and to say that as the Jews do not believe in Christ, it cannot be expected that they will in me; neither are they until I am revealed in a similar manner to Moses in Egypt.' He foretold the destruction of London and the death of most of its inhabitants but among those to be spared were Pitt, Wilberforce, Sheridan, Fox and the Royal Family. Brothers also announced that as the French Revolution had been divinely ordained, the war with France must cease and he wrote to Pitt, the King and the Duke of Portland : Tn obedience to the sacred command of the Lord God whose servant and prophet I am, I inform the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that the prisoners now in confinement and on trial charged with the crime of high treason against the King's life are innocent.'3 This was too much for the authorities to stand, and on 4 March 1795 he was arrested. The following day Gillray came out with 'The Prophet of the Hebrews?the Prince of Peace?conducting the Jews to the Prornis'd Land' (Plate 33). Brothers, dressed as a sans-culotte, leads a pathetic band of Jewish pedlars away from the blazing City of London towards the 'Gate of Jerusalem'. The 'Bundle of the Elect' strapped to his back contains Fox, Sheridan, Stanhope and Lansdowne. One of Brothers' supporters was the quack doctor, Martin Van Butchell (1735-1812?). This delightful character wore a long beard because he thought it unmanly to shave. As he put it: 'Let us manly be Have true dignity Nor make mealy pates Nor chins like eunuchs.' He used to ride about London on a white pony painted purple or with purple and black spots and created a further sensation by keeping the murnmified body of his first wife in his parlour. In 1795 he published a book in which he announced his belief in the Law of Moses and the salvation of the Jews. Like Brothers he was strongly anti Catholic. His book is an amazing collection of nonsense in which one finds advertisements for his cure for fistula and his patent spring bands sandwiched between appeals to the King to stop the war in America, to make peace with France, and to release prisoners condemned to Botany Bay.4 1 Watson, op. cit., 78, 91. 2 Wm. Hamilton Reid, The Rise and Dissolution of the Infidel Societies in this Metropolis, 1800, 45-6. 3 (R. Brothers), A Revealed Knowledge of the Prophecies and Times, Dublin, 1795. 4 Martin Van Butchell, Causes of Crim. Con . . . Address to Nathaniel Brassey Halhed on Richard Brothers, 1795.</page><page sequence="33">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 35 The last decade of the 18th century was a period of mounting political tension. The government watched with alarm the development of the Revolution in France and the growth of subversive movements at home. All minority groups came under suspicion and public feeling was aroused particularly against aliens. By the winter of 1792 the situation had become sufficiently serious for the leaders of the Portuguese Synagogue in London to ask their minister, Dayan Almosnino, to deliver a sermon impressing on the congregation the virtues of loyalty to King and Country and they advised the wardens of the Great Synagogue to take similar action.1 In the following year a special from of prayer for the success of the British army was printed for both congregations.2 In Ipswich the Jews were violently attacked and had to appeal to the magistrates for protection from the mob. On 14 September 1793 they displayed their loyalty by setting up a tablet in the synagogue on which was inscribed in Hebrew the prayer for the King and the royal family.3 David Levi wrote a reply to Paine's Age of Reason and had it published in London in 1796 and in New York in 1797.4 In January 1793 the House of Commons passed an Alien Act. It was justified by the government on account of the risk of enemy agents entering the country in the guise of refugees for whom England was the only country in Europe providing asylum. The Bill was opposed by Fox but received Burke's support. It provided for the examination of aliens at the port of their arrival, restricted them as to residence and required them to carry passports and to register with the chief magistrate. The Secretary of State was given power to deport.5 During the war with the French Republic of 1793-7 a British government had for the first time to deal with subversive elements at home influenced by the ideals of its enemy and fed by its propaganda. Further repressive legislation was passed and an army of spies and informers was employed to report on the civil population. Some of the opposition was remarkably open. Burdett, for instance, in May 1797 declared that the war was 'nothing but a second edition of the American war . . . another bold and daring but unsuccessful attempt to stifle the plant of liberty.'6 Significant of the times, a Yiddish translation of Paine's Rights of Man was published at Amsterdam in 1795.7 It is impossible to say whether any large number of English Jews sympathised with the French Revolution but the privileges granted to French Jews such as the right to vote and to hold public offices can hardly have failed to produce some effect. To Burke they were further evidence of the infidel character of the Revolution and he suggested that the French might like to ransom Lord George Gordon in order to please their 'new Hebrew brethren'. 'I am told', he writes, 'that the very sons of such Jew-jobbers have been made bishops; persons not to be suspected of any sort of Christian superstition, fit colleagues to the holy prelate of Autun, and bred at the feet of that Gamaliel. We know who it was that drove 1 A. M. Hyamson, The Sephardim of England, 1951, 136n. 2 Trans. J.H.S.E., IX, 126. 3 G. R. Clarke, The History . . . of Ipswich, Ipswich, 1830, 319. 4 David Levi, A Defence of the Old Testament in a series of letters addressed to Thomas Paine. New York. Printed by William A. Davis . . . for Naphtali Judah, Bookseller . . . 1797. 5 Parliamentary History of England, XXX (1792-4), 158. 6 M. D. George, Catalogue, op. cit., VII, p. XI. 7 J. S. Da Silva Rosa, Gescheidenis der Portugese Joden te Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1925, 129.</page><page sequence="34">36 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) the money-changers out of the temple. We see, too, who it is that brings them in again. We have in London very respectable persons of the Jewish nation, whom we will keep ; but we have of the same tribe others of a very different description,?house-breakers, and receivers of stolen goods, and forgers of paper currency, more than we can conveniently hang. These we can spare to France, to fill the new episcopal thrones : men well versed in swearing; and who will scruple no oath which the fertile genius of any of your reformers can devise.'3 If this represented the Tory attitude, Jewish loyalty may have been strained but among the papers in the Public Record Office dealing with treasonable activities I have found only one denunciation of a Jew. It is in a letter dated 18 June 1794 to Patrick Colquhoun, the magistrate, from an informer who, in order to convince the government of his ?zeal and good intentions' supplies a list of 15 persons Suspected to be inimical' to it. Among them is 'Cohen, clerk to a Banker' living at 16 Craven Street, Strand.2 The lists of British visitors to France supply no evidence of Jewish sympathisers. John Braham, who went to Paris in 1797 with Nancy Storace to sing in concerts, presumably obtained the necessary permit from the British government and the Jews who came after the Peace of Amiens in October 1801 among the swarm of British tourists were bent on sightseeing or business. They included Dr. Brodum the quack, who brought an impressive carriage with him, Judah, Henry and Abraham Salomons and Joseph, Leon and Moses Montefiore. Joseph Montefiore, who was British-born but lived at Marseilles, was in fact suspected of pro-British activities and was arrested in 1803 on his return from a visit to London.3 The French Revolution provided a great impetus to the formation of societies nominally aimed at securing parliamentary reform but also providing a cloak for under? ground activity. Of these the most respectable was the Society of the Friends of the People. I have not been able to wade through the enormous quantity of manuscript material about this society collected by Francis Place but I did notice that at a meeting held at the London Coffee House on 9 May 1792 the 31 people present included a Mr. Benjamin.4 The London Corresponding Society catered more for the working classes and while no Jews are to be identified among its leaders there must have been many among the ordinary members. Of this society Place writes : 'Toleration in its widest sense prevailed . . . No man was questioned about his religious opinions and men of many religions and of no religion were members of its divisions and of its committees.'5 It is in connection with this society that we come across the sinister figure of John King. John King John King was a man of many parts. A notorious swindler, he also dabbled in politics, probably acted as a government informer and was a facile writer. When the 1 Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution, Everyman ed. 1912, 81, 254-5. 2 Public Record Office. P.C. 1-21, A35(b). 8 J. G. Alger, Napoleon's British Visitors and Captives 1801-1815, 1904, 14, 23, 98. 4 British Museum, Add. MS. 27817. 6 British Museum, Add. MS. 35143, f.92.</page><page sequence="35"></page><page sequence="36">23 Raphael Franco. From a painting by Gainsborough. (See p. 12)</page><page sequence="37">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 37 law caught up with him he could adopt an air of injured innocence and despite his evil reputation members of society were always to be found at his table lured by his lavish hospitality and his engaging manner. He started life as Jacob Rey in which name he was admitted to the Orphan Asylum of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews in 1764 when he was about 11 years of age.1 Soon after leaving that institution he characteristically adopted the name of one of the Under-Secretaries of State in the Home Department. While he was still a boy and living at Ayliffe Street, Goodmans Fields, he came under the influence of Thomas Paine. This must have been in 1766 when Paine was employed in the same district as a teacher at Mr. Noble's Academy in Leman Street.2 Their friendship lasted some years, certainly until 1772 when Paine first became acquainted with Oliver Goldsmith, for it was at Goldsmith's house that Paine discussed with King the political ideas which formed the basis of the Rights of Man? King took a keen interest in politics ; he started a political journal which had only a short life and in 1783 wrote Thoughts on the Difficulties and Distresses in which the Peace of 1783 has involved the People of England, addressed to The Right Hon. Charles Fox? He spoke frequently at a debating club in Carlisle Street5 and in 1792 made a speech at Egham violently attacking the French republicans. This was reported in The Morning Herald, 12 December 1792 and produced a letter from Thomas Paine then in Paris. 'Dear King,' he writes, 'I don't know any thing these many years that surprised and hurt me more than the sentiments you published in the Courtly Herald . . . You have gone back from all you ever said. When I first knew you in Ayliffe Street an obscure part of the City, a child without fortune or friends, I noticed you; because I thought I saw in you, young as you was, a bluntness of temper, a boldness of opinion and an originality of thought that portended some future good . . . You used to complain of abuses as well as me and wrote your opinions on them in free terms' etc. This letter brought a sharp reply from King in which he reiterates his hatred of the French republicans. 'I am not altered,' he writes, 'when it is the proper season I shall again exclaim against the twenty millions of annual taxes, against pensions, sinecure places and unequal representation; but instead of exclaiming against the King as you have done, I look to him to assist in the Reformation', and he adds 'I evinced in Ireland by my Tiberius Gracchus that I was proof against temptation, it did not impede the completion of those public letters.' 1 Notes and Queries, IX, 428. 2 T. C. Rickman, Life of Thomas Paine, 1819, 37. 3 Mr. King's Speech at Egham with Thomas Paine's letter to him on it and Mr. King's Reply . . . with the addition of Mr. King's Second Letter (1793). 9 : 'I was pleased to discuss with you under our friend Oliver's lime tree those political notions which I have since given the world in my 'Rights of Man.' 4 Gentleman's Magazine, XCIV (1824), 184. No copy of this book can be traced. A book on arithmetic attributed to him is by a different John King. A John King was admitted to the Scriveners Company on 6 November 1770 (communicated by Mr. Edgar R. Samuel). 5 Alger, op. cit., 102,</page><page sequence="38">38 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) King's speech with the correspondence between him and Paine were published in pamphlet form1 and ran into many editions but none of his other political works can be traced. The views he expressed were as far as any Whig would venture to go at that time but a much more sinister side to his activities is disclosed by Francis Place. According to Place, King went out of his way to cultivate the friendship of Ashley, Hardy, Hodgson and other leading members of the London Corresponding Society and when the alarm of invasion became general he busied himself advising people to arm themselves in order to assist the civil power should the army and volunteers be called to the coast. Place disliked King intensely and suspected him of being a government spy. He writes : 'I with much reluctance attended one of his dinners at a house near Manchester Square, John Ashley, Richard Hodgson, Alexander Galloway and two or three others were of the party. He gave us a sumptuous dinner . . . served on plate, the table was attended by men in livery and one in plain clothes. This disgusted me utterly and when after dinner King debated on the probability of an invasion and a revolution and the great advantage these would produce to the country I told him I did not believe there was any probability of either invasion or revolution but that if either was likely to occur I should be exceedingly suspicious of him. This led to a fierce dispute with Hodgson whose opinion differed from mine and who was willing to give King credit for honest opinions and good intentions. King reasoned the matter calmly ... he admitted he might have done wrong but not to a hundredth part of that which had been scandalously imputed to him, that he had done much good which greatly overbalanced all the evil... if he had been so bad he was now a reformed man.'2 In fairness to King it should be remembered that at this time the country was over-run with government spies and informers who penetrated all the radical societies and Place himself was accused by Burdett of being a traitor.3 In a pamphlet published about 1798 King complained of a conspiracy to show that he had betrayed his friends the Democrats and he denied that he had been in communication with Pitt or the Duke of Portland.4 But one is reminded that a Mr. King called on Lord George Gordon in Newgate and confessed that he had been paid by the Government to spy on him.5 In 1795 he scraped an acquaintance with William Godwin, the author of Enquiry into Political Justice (1793) and friend of Isaac Disraeli. Godwin refused to give evidence on King's behalf in connection with one of the many lawsuits in which he became involved but accepted his invitation to dinner.6 King does not seem to have had much success with his swindles and in 1802 he was obliged to seek refuge in Paris. There he took up his pen again and wrote a very readable account of conditions in that city during the short period of peace. He is shocked at the proposed settlement for life of the consulate on Napoleon. 'The French,' he writes, 'rose in a mass to abolish aristocracy, confront their enemy and establish a republic; if they had preserved it Europe would have been indebted to them for the glorious example but their fickleness has ruined the cause of liberty'. 1 See note 3 on p. 25. * British Museum, Add Ms. 35143, ff. 159-164. 8 Graham Wallas, op. ext., 56. 4 The Real Calumniator Detected . . . 1798, 30. 5 Watson, op. cit.3 110. ? C. K. Paul, William Godwin, 1876, 1, 146, 155, 157.</page><page sequence="39">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 39 He expresses his admiration of Fox who is in Paris but is critical of his friendship with Napoleon. Thomas Paine had recendy been in Paris and of him King writes : 'the man who has shewn such public spirit and without education manifested an acuteness and energy of mind that excelled literary talents, was at last persecuted by his country, abandoned by France and neglected by America'. He meets Ashley and Hodgson his former friends in the London Corresponding Society and finds their political principles as sound as ever.1 On his return to England King was made bankrupt and spent two years in a debtors' prison where he wrote a book published in 1804 complaining of the injustices he had suffered.2 In 1817 he showed his versatility by pubhshing David Levi's Dissertations on the Prophecies of the Old Testament revised and amended by himself and printed by Levi Alexander at his own expense. King contributed a 15 page Dedication to Rabbi Raphael Meldola and an Introduction of 70 pages written from Howland Street, Fitzroy Square. It is a competent and utterly hypocritical piece of writing. King had married, some said bigamously, Jane, the widow of the second Earl of Lanesborough, who came into money on the death of her brother, the second Earl of Belvidere. She and King then retired to the Continent and King died at Florence in 1824.3 King remains a Jekyll and Hyde character and we shall probably never know to what extent his political views were sincere. Place regarded him as a thoroughly evil man and relates how one of his three illegitimate sons, a midshipman in the navy, driven to extremes, shot himself in his father's presence.4 On the other hand, John Taylor speaks most highly of King, T was acquainted with him for upwards of 40 years,' he writes, T have heard many reflec? tions on his character but can truly say that i never observed anything in his conduct or ever heard him utter a sentiment that could be injurious to his reputation. He was hospit? able and attentive. He was fond of having men of talent at his table and seemed capable of comprehending and of enjoying whatever fell from them ... As all i observed of him was creditable to him i will not be deterred from paying this tribute to his memory'. Taylor adds that King had been an accomplished boxer and that when Humphries was employed as his foot-boy King taught him how to box.5 King, of course, was fair game for the caricaturists. Lewis Goldsmith Lewis Goldsmith is the only Jewish Jacobin whose -career can be traced. Although he subsequently recanted there is no doubt that he was sincere about his early political views and to express them as he did showed great courage. 1 Letters from France zuritten by J. King in the months of August, September, October and November 1802 . . . London, X803. 2 Oppression deemed no injustice towards some individuals illustrated in the late treatment of Mr. John King under a commission of bankruptcy (1804 ?). 3 Gentleman's Magazine, XCIV (1824), 184. For King's second marriage see H. S. Q. Henriques, The Jews and the English Law, 1908, 182. 4 British Museum, Add. Ms. 35143, ff. 159-164. Another son was Charles King, a moneylender, and also known as "Jew King". He is referred to by Gronow in his Reminiscences (1862 ed. 182 ff.) See also C. J. Feret, Fulham Old and New, III. 91-2 and The Scourge, I, June 1811, 46. 5 John Taylor, Records of My Life, II, 340-5,</page><page sequence="40">40 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) He was born about 1763. His origins are unknown and the only contemporary account of him merely describes him as 'juif de religion et anglais de naissance'.1 As his second daughter was named Eliza, it is possible that his mother was the Elizabeth Goldsmith who in July 1781, was granted administration of the goods of Solomon Goldsmith deceased, late of the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate.2 The surname in its original form, Goldsmidt or Goldschmidt, is fairly common among Dutch and German Jews and he was probably connected with Abraham Goldsmid who, as will be seen later, seems to have taken an interest in him. As a young man he worked with Joseph Schabracq, a prominent Jewish notary, who also appears to have been related to the Goldsmid family.3 Lewis Goldsmith first came into prominence in 1795 with the publication of Part II of John (Joel) Barlow's Advice to the Privileged Orders in the several states of Europe resulting from the necessity and propriety of a General Revolution in the Principle of Government. It was printed and sold by 'Daniel Isaac Eaton, Printer and Bookseller to the Supreme Majesty of the People at the Cock and Swine 74 Newgate Street'. Goldsmith contributed the 'Advertisement'. It is worth quoting not only as a demon? stration of his political views but for its remarkable defiance of the Government. 'Advertisement. This second part of Advice to the Privileged Orders containing Revenue and Public Expenditure was written in the year 1792, soon after the publication of the first. But the system of Terror adopted in that year by the Minister and pursued ever since, with his usual folly and extravagance, has hitherto prevented its being published. But, thank God, the Aristocratic Influence begins to lose ground in this country and Independent Jurors are capable of giving an independent verdict in spite of the grave speeches from the Bench, and the eloquence but insiduous (sic) charge on constructive Treasons delivered by the judge. Therefore, I have the pleasure of announcing to the Public the speedy publication of the Remaining Part of this Very Valuable Work . . . which my friend, Joel Barlow has sold to Daniel Isaac Eaton, Bookseller of Newgate St ... As the Priviliged Orders in this country, with the Agents of Government at their head seem now determined to push their abuses to a length which few persons could foresee, they have opened the floodgates of vengeance upon the people for daring to think and to prevent this terrible torrent from flowing back upon its source, and overwhelming its authors, the best way is to begin to think and act themselves. For this purpose it is particularly recommended to them to meditate seriously on the contents of this Book and if its principles are false, to refute them; but let it be done with the same mildness of temper and love of humanity with which it appears to have been written. Conceiving therefore the subject to be exceedingly important he thinks it for the benefit of society that it should be discussed in order that the Truth may appear wherever it be found. On more speculative points, either in politics, or in any other science, it cannot be expected that all men should think precisely alike ; but on the great practical doctrines which form the basis of all society, morals and happiness, it is surely interesting to the citizens of every country to understand each other and become as unanimous as possible in one common opinion and for them who exercise their reason there is nothing so likely to unite them as the evidence of truth. L. Goldsmith. June 10th 1795.' 1 Biographie Nouvelle des Contemporains, Paris, 1822. 2 Principal Probate Registry. 3 J. G. Alger, Napoleon's British Visitors and Captives 1801-1815, 1904, 105, For J. Schabracq see Trans. J.H.S.E. XVII, 140.</page><page sequence="41">^^^^??^ ~^|r Hart Abraham. ^^H^^^Bl ^%|jL 'jM From a mezzotint in the British Museum. 25 Jewish funeral in London. From a drawing by Peter Suhr dated 1813 in the Jewish Museum. (See p. 13)</page><page sequence="42">26 Signing the loyal address to George III. From an etching. (See p. 16) 27 Jew taking the oath before voting at the Westminster election 1788. From an etching. (See p. 18)</page><page sequence="43">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 41 It is more than likely that by the time Part II of Barlow's book was published Goldsmith had left the country. We know from his own account that he was abroad between 1792 and 1794 when he visited Lisbon, Frankfurt-am-Main, Stockholm, Hamburg and Leipzig. He spent some time in Poland and was in Warsaw in April 1794 when Polish patriots defeated the Russians and occupied the town and at the request of Kosciuszko he addressed a letter to Earl Stanhope pleading for British inter? vention on behalf of the Poles. Stanhope was sympathetic but replied that he could not take any action on account of the Anglo-Prussian alliance.1 Goldsmith does not disclose the business on which he was engaged during his travels and although according to Lord Campbell he was acting as an emissary of all the great European powers the British government seem to have suspected him of being a French agent and tried to have him arrested when he was at Leipzig. But Goldsmith was quite open about his sympathies. In 1801 he published an account of his travels in The Crimes of Cabinets or a Review of Their Plans and Aggressions for the annihilation of the Liberties of France. In the 'Advertisement' dated 10 January 1801, written from 5 Thavies Inn London, he informs his readers that in consequence of his bookseller's refusal to publish the book he is under the necessity of being his own publisher. He vindicates the French and accuses the British Cabinet of crimes against humanity and of stirring up wars on the Continent.2 An indictment for libel and sedition now forced Goldsmith to take refuge in Paris where he was joined by his wife, Rebecca, and their daughter.3 It is he, probably, who is referred to by Lord Campbell in one of his letters : 'I had this day (8 Sept 1801) the good fortune to meet a man who has been of very great use to me. He is a Portuguese Jew, born in England, who has been in every country. He knows every mortal in Paris. He introduced me to Tallien and Barrere and would have introduced me to Sieves, Carnot etc. had they been in town. He has taken me to rehearsals at the theatres and shown me the Paris green rooms. He has brought me into the society of authors, players, Mamelukes and ci-devant Consuls of the Roman Republic.'4 For the next few years Goldsmith was working for the French but close contact with Napoleon rapidly destroyed all his illusions and in 1809 he returned to England. In July 1809 he was bound over at Bow Street on a charge of high treason and according to one account he was released from Cold-bath-fields prison through the intercession of Abraham Goldsmith (Goldsmid) who introduced him to Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister.5 A year later he was required to enter into a fresh recognizance.6 The reason he escaped so lightly soon becomes apparent. In 1810 Goldsmith published his repudiation of Napoleon : The Secret History of the Cabinet of Bonaparte by Lewis Goldsmith, Notary Public. The copy in the British Museum which formerly belonged to George III has the eloquent inscription : 'To His Majesty from his dutiful subject the author'. In the preface Goldsmith explains the views he had expressed in The Crimes of Cabinets : 1 Alger, op. ext., 105. 2 My copy is bound up with State of the French Republic at the end of the year VIII translated by Goldsmith and inscribed in his own hand to 'Mr. Hobhouse' (presumably John Cam Hobhouse, 1786-1869, an ardent Jacobin). 3 Alger, op. cit., 105 ; J. Picciotto, Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History, 1956 ed., 221. 4 Life of John, Lord Campbell, Lord High Chancellor of Gt. Britain ed. by the Hon. Mrs, Hardcastle, 1881, I, 101. 5 The Scourge, II (Aug. 1811), 132. 6 A. Aspinall, Politics and The Press, 1949? 92n.</page><page sequence="44">42 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 'At the time when I published that work all the virtuous part of mankind was elevated to a pitch of enthusiasm in favour of the French Revolution. It was supposed that the Sun of liberty which was nearly setting was now preparing to rise with increased splendour on the theatre of France ... I was one of those enthusiasts ; I felt the truth that liberty had decayed and that a conspiracy had been formed to crush its nascent efforts to restore itself to its original splendour.' In January 1811 Goldsmith started his Sunday paper, The Anti-Gallican Monitor, later known as The British Monitor? in which he attacked Napoleon with the same fanaticism that he had previously shown when working for him. On 24 June 1811 the House of Commons discussed in shocked terms 'Mr. Louis Goldsmidt's' plan to assasinate the dictator.2 Goldsmith had become the paid propagandist of the British government and correspondence which has survived in which he complains of the inadequacy of his reward reflects little credit on him.3 In a letter to the Duke of Cumberland dated 21 September 1812 he writes : 'In a former interview I already had the honor to inform your Royal Highness that the Treasury assisted me to establish the Antigallican and I have continued to receive pecuniary aid, but it is always so uncertain that I really am at a loss to know if the Treasury mean to con? tinue their aid or not.' He then proceeds to put forward a proposal for the establishment of an office for publishing anti-French pamphlets in all languages. He concludes : 'I have no fortune, no friends, and am, by telling so many truths constantly increasing the number of my enemies, could I however but have the verbal assurance only of your Royal Highness or of the Prince Regent that I shall not be persecuted or deserted whoever may be the Ministers of this country, I will have no objection to do everything in my power to serve my sovereign and my country, and I cannot help remarking that I am either worth something or nothing* * He did not break completely with his old friends. His paper supported Robert Owen5 and when in February 1824 he suggested to Canning that a Passport Department of the Foreign Office should be set up with himself in charge, he wrote : 'I am convinced that such an appointment would not give umbrage to the Opposition; neither Hume nor Brougham, nor Hobhouse nor Burdett would be hostile to me as I am on tolerably good terms with them'.6 Lord Lyndhurst (1772-1863), the Lord Chancellor who, in 1837, married as his second wife Goldsmith's elder daughter, Georgiana, had more in common with his father-in-law than would at first sight appear for in his youth he had also been a notorious radical and republican.7 1 Ibid. 2 Parliamentary History, XX (1811), 738. 8 Aspinall, op. cit., 92-3. 4 Quoted from A. Aspinall, The Letters of King George IV, 1938, I, 152. 5 Dictionary of National Biography (s. v. Goldsmith). 6 A. Aspinall, Politics and The Press, 1949, 173. 7 J. Foster, Walter Savage Landor, 1876, 75. Lord Lyndhurst was responsible: or the Act passed in 1844 to remove tests which excluded Jews from certain municipal offices. Through his support Disraeli was elected M.P. for Maidstone and in the same year, 1837, Disraeli dedicated Venetia to him. Presumably it was through Lyndhurst that Disraeli met Goldsmith who entertained him in Paris in 1842. Monypenny, op. cit.} I, 360, II, 147,</page><page sequence="45">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 43 There is an epilogue. When Lucien Wolf was collecting material for the Anglo Jewish Exhibition of 1887 he wrote to Lady Lyndhurst for a portrait of her father and received the following reply : March 1st (1886) 5 Eaton Square, S.W. 'Lady Lyndhurst presents her compliments to Mr. Lucien Wolf and begs to say she has no picture to exhibit of her father. She thinks he could not have been a member of the Anglo-Jewish community as when he was a young man he was sworn in as a solicitor and the oath in those days was "on the true faith of a Christian". He was probably of Jewish descent, but his daughters were brought up as Christians. Lady Lyndhurst was born abroad and lived there until her marriage. The only relative she has living is an old lady at Genoa and she is a Roman Catholic'.1 Napoleon and the Jews The rise of Napoleon was accompanied by French propaganda directed particularly at the Jews. When he was besieging Acre in April 1799 Napoleon issued a proclamation inviting them, as the rightful heirs to Palestine, to enlist under his flag and regain their patrimony and he declared that the moment had come for them to claim their political existence as a nation.2 On the Continent the Jews proved very useful to him. A Hamburg Jew named Malchus was sent over with two Frenchmen to distribute forged banknotes in Scotland and Ireland. They were discovered and Malchus was hanged : his confederates got away.3 Napoleon also cast his eyes on the English Jews and a document in the Public Record Office provides remarkable new evidence of his schemes to undermine their loyalty.4 In 1798 a charge of high treason was brought against an aliens' officer at Gravesend named Mazzinghi. Among the papers relating to the case is a statement by a certain Henry Lee, a government agent whose duty it would appear was to maintain surveillance over the Jews. The document is endorsed : '14 Nov 1798. An account from Mr. Henry Lee' and runs as follows : 'Mr. Lee says he knows Furtado, he is a Portuguese Jew and has no ostensible business here, he is supposed to get his living by drawing and discounting bills?Lee says there is a great connection between the Portuguese Jews and the French but he does not know of what nature?he knows not whether Furtado has a brother or relative at Edinburgh but will enquire?he says any notion of gaining the Jews in England by holding out to them a hope of Bonnaparte's (sic) settling them in Egypt is absurd and would not have any weight with them. He says he has long known of Mazzinghi's improper Practises, that he is in the frequent habit of letting persons come up to London and go out of the River for money?that many Jews have complained to him of Mazzinghi's extortion in taking money from them and Lee is sure he can bring some of them to inform against him for so doing'. 1 Mocatta Library. Luden Wolf papers. Lady Lyndhurst died 22 December 1901 aged 94. G.E.C., The Complete Peerage, 1929, VIII, 298. Her portrait by T. H. Carrick, miniature painter, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844 (No. 766). 2 Israel Cohen, A Short History of Zionism, 1951, 15. 3 Alger, op. ciu, 189. * Public Record Office. P.C. 1-43, A150.</page><page sequence="46">44 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) Unfortunately the documents are not complete and there is nothing to show how Furtado was concerned in the affair. One is tempted to identify him with Abraham Furtado (1756-1816) (Plate 35), who had been born in London and taken to France by his mother when he was a year old. As a Girondist he had been banished in 1793 and deprived of his offices but was reinstated a year later at the end of the Reign of Terror.1 In 1806 he became President of the Assembly of Notables which led up to Napoleon's master stroke for winning the support of the Jews, the setting up of the Paris Sanhedrin. The importance Napoleon attached to it is shown in his correspondence.2 In the caricatures the Jews are generally shown as supporting Napoleon.3 A particularly good example is Cruikshank's 'Easier to say than to do' (1803) (Plate 34) in which Napoleon is seen scraping England off the map with the assistance of a Dutchman, a Spaniard and a Jew. Napoleon's Sanhedrin aroused sufficient interest in England for two books to be published about it. One consists of a verbatim translation from the French of its Transactions ;4 the other is entitled in Hebrew 'New Sanhedrin' and is by an author who styles himself 'An Advocate of the House of Israel'. He has been identified as William Hamilton Reid.5 He regards Napoleon as a likely instrument in the restoration of the Jews to Palestine and rejoices in their greatly improved condition in various countries in Europe. He notes that in England their moral degeneracy has been wearing off for some years past and that they have 'largely partaken of the general improvement in manners and appearance.' On the question of civil rights he has this to say : 'We wish our rulers also to be perfectly convinced of the justice and true policy of establishing dissenters of all denominations upon an equal footing, as the most effectual mode of securing their loyalty to the Prince, and totally eradicating the grounds of their differences'. 'This religious equality will also destroy that false consequence, that merely nominal importance of the various modes and opinions for which the different parties have contended, and leave them no points of emulation, in future, but those of individual merit, personal piety, and real virtue. cWe hope dissenters will no longer rest satisfied with depreciating the views and tenets of each other, merely to obtain the favour of men in power ; but, instead of such an unworthy 1 Archives Israelites de France, 1841, II, 362. H. Leon, Histoire des Juifs de Bayonne, Paris 1893, 187 ff. a Napoleon's Letters, Everyman ed. 1954, 150. 8 A particularly venomous caricature by Woodward : 'King Jerry treating his Jewish subjects with Westphalia Venison' (1807), refers to the grant of civil rights to the Jews of Westphalia by King Jerome. In 'Thieves robbing ready furnished lodgings' (1808), a Jew assists King Joseph in Madrid and in 'Nie alias Nap's March to Elba' (1814) three Jews are shown among Napoleon's former supporters. On the other hand 'The Loyal Jew and French Soldier or beards against whiskers' (1803) pays tribute to the loyalty of Jews who enlisted in the militia after the renewal of the war with France. 4 F. D. Kirwan ed., Transactions of the Paris Sanhedrin, 1807. 5 Picciotto, op. cit., 273-4. In the British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books his name is given with a query.</page><page sequence="47"></page><page sequence="48">30 Lord George Gordon in Newgate. From an etching by Richard Newton, 1793. (See p. 21) 31-32 Medal of Lord George Gordon by Thomas Spence. (See p. 21)</page><page sequence="49">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 45 compromise of the common cause, show themselves equally as ready and willing to tolerate others as to be tolerated themselves'.1 The Unitarians and David Ricardo As regards civil rights the Unitarians were little better off than the Jews and their history during the 18th century has much in common. They have a proud record of opposition to oppression and intolerance which subjected them to much mob violence, particularly during the French Revolution, on account of the Jacobin sympathies of their leader, the scientist-preacher, Dr. Joseph Priestiey (1733-1804).2 Priestley felt a special affinity with the Jews and in 1787 published in Birmingham : Letters to the Jews inviting them to an amicable discussion on the evidence of Christianity to which David Levi wrote a reply in the same year.3 According to Priestley can amicable conference' with some Jews actually occurred and he delivered them an address. 'All your persecutions/ he said, 'have arisen from trinitarians, i.e. idolatrous Christians but all Unitarians will naturally love and respect you acknowledging their unspeakable obliga? tions to you as the ancient depositories of the great article of their faith' and he subscribed himself 'your brother in the sole worship of the one living and true God'.4 In 1791, after the mob had destroyed his house and chapel, Priestley came to London and preached at the Gravel Pit Chapel in Hackney.5 There in one sermon he proclaimed his belief in the imminent accomplishment of the numerous prophecies relating to the restoration of the Jews6 and he returned to the same subject a few years later after he had settled in America.7 David Ricardo used to attend meetings at the Gravel Pit Chapel but it is not known whether he was acquainted with Priestiey. When he abandoned Judaism he became a Unitarian and thus remained a Dissenter but his lawyers seem to have overcome the difficulties which arose in 1817 when he was nominated as High Sheriff of Gloucestershire and again in 1819 when he became a member of parliament.8 In politics Ricardo agreed almost unreservedly with the radical group. He de? nounced all religious and political persecution, particularly that of Richard Carlile, and 1 1 Sanhedreen Chadasha' and Causes and Consequences of the French Emperor's Conduct towards the Jews . . .by An Advocate for the House of Israel, 1807, pp. IX, 105. For the attitude of dissenters towards the Jews see also (G. I. Huntingford), A Second Letter addressed to the Delegates from the several congregations of Protestant Dissenters who met at Devizes on September 14th 1789, Salisbury, 1789 and A Collection of Testimonies in favour of religious liberty in the case of Dissenters, Catholics and Jews. By a Christian politician, 1790. Barnard Van Oven also notices an astonishing improvement in the condition of the Jews during the previous 50 years in An Appeal to the British Nation on behalf of the Jews (1830 ?), 11. 2 R. V. Holt, The Unitarian Contribution to Social Progress in England, 1952, 116 ff. 3 David Levi, Letters to Dr. Priestley, 1787. 4 J. Priestley, The Evidence of the Resurrection of Jesus considered . . . to which is added An Address to the Jews, Birmingham, 1791. 5 J. Priestley, A Particular Attention to the Instruction of the Young recommended in A Discourse delivered at the Gravel Pit Meeting in Hackney, Dec 4 1791, on entering in the Office of Pastor to the Congregation of Protestant Dissenters, 1791. 6 J. Priestley, A Sermon preached at the Gravel Pit Meeting in Hackney April 19 1793 being the day appointed for a General Fast, 1793, 29. J. Priestley, A Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with those of the Hindoos and other Ancient Nations; with . . . An Address to the Jews on the Present State of the World and the Prophecies relating to it. Northumberland (Pennsylvania). Printed for the Author by A. Kennedy, 1799. 8 P. Sraffa, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 1955, X, 40, 42.</page><page sequence="50">46 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) he supported the utilitarians, the followers of Jeremy Bentham. He also helped Robert Owen and he advised Francis Place on financial matters.1 Bentham, a Unitarian, said that James Mill was the spiritual father of Ricardo and that he (Bentham), was the spiritual father of Mill.2 Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy first published in 1817 produced a whole school of Socialist thought represented by the writings of Thomas Hodgskin, William Thompson and the other writers known as 'The Labour Economists' or 'Anti-Capitalist Economists'.3 Robert Southey, the poet (1774-1843), converted to unitarianism by Coleridge, held radical views as a young man. He wrote in April 1807 : 'I am for abolishing the test with regard to every other sect?Jews and all?but not to the Catholics. They will not tolerate'.41 Coleridge, as an ardent admirer of Fox and a keen radical, no doubt held similar views about Jewish emancipation. Another link between the Unitarians and the Jews is provided by George Birkbeck's friend, Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith (1788-1861), the social reformer, who was physician to the Jews' Hospital. It was he who dissected Jeremy Bentham's body, the skeleton of which is at University College.5 William Hone One person who did much to educate the public and remove popular prejudices against the Jews was William Hone, the bookseller and publisher, who was backed by Francis Place. In order to discredit the Roman Catholics and the French monarchy and at the same time expose some of the absurd nonsense circulated about the Jews, he hit on the novel idea of printing a translation of the History of the Miraculous Host of Paris (originally published in Paris in 1664) with illustrations by George Cruikshank copied from the originals.6 The story is of a Jew of Paris who in 1290 stole the host and attempted by every means to destroy it but it raised so many miracles that the Jew was discovered and burnt alive. In his Preface Hone writes : 'Under a persuasion that he is rendering a service to the interest of truth and humanity the Editor commits this little publication to the world. It is plain that the extremist Fanaticism is patronized by power in France and that by the aid of the Holy Alliance it may not only be restored there but established over all Europe. The Priestcraft that cruelly sacrificed a helpless Jew, has, in 1821, revived the infamous fable, for the same reason that it invented the fraud and burnt him alive in 1290?the salvation of souls and the good of the Church'. 1 Dictionary of National Biography ; F. Podmore, Robert Owen, 1923, 243-4 ; The Life of Robert Owen, 1857, I, 292; Mr. Owen's proposed arrangements for the Distressed Working classes shown to be consistent with sound principles of Political Economy in Three Letters addressed to David Ricardo, M.P., 1819. 2 Holt, op. cit., 166. 3 G. D. H. Cole and A. W. Filson, British Working Class Movements, 1951, 189. 4 The Life and Correspondence of the late Robert Southey, ed. C. C. Southey, 1850, III, 76. 5 Dictionary of National Biography (s. v. Smith). 6 (William Hone), The Miraculous Host tortured by the Jew ... 7th ed. 1822.</page><page sequence="51">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 47 Hone shows his sympathy with the Jews in a much more marked degree in his famous Every-Day Book published in 1826 and dedicated to Charles Lamb. It contains an article on the Jews which is headed by a woodcut described as 'Stoning Jews in Lent ?A Custom' and commences : 'From the sabbath before Palm Sunday to the last hour of the Tuesday after Easter the Christians were accustomed to stone and beat the Jews and all Jews who desired to exempt themselves from the infliction of this cruelty commuted for a payment in money'. Hone goes on to describe the scenes which accompanied the passing of the Jewish Naturalisation Bill of 1753 and continues : 'to the foul dishonour of the people of England at that period the bill was repealed. From that hour to the present, the Jews have been subjected to their old pains, penalties, disqualifi? cations and privations. The enlightenment of this age has dispelled much of the darkness of the last. Yet the errors of public opinion then respecting the Jews, remain to be rectified now by the solemn expression of a better public opinion. Formerly, if one of the "ancient people" had said in the imploring language of the slave, "Am I not a man, and a brother ?" he might have been answered, "No, you are not a man, but a Jew". It is not the business of the Jews to petition for justice, but it is the duty of Christians to be just'. Hone then relates the story of an American Jew of Stamford in Connecticut through whose generosity the local church had been completed and to demonstrate the Jewish interest in education gives a report from the Examiner of a dinner given in aid of the Jews' Free School. He concludes : 'A record testifying the liberal disposition and humane attention of the Jews to the welfare of their offspring, is not out of place in a work which notices the progress of manners ; and it is especially grateful to him who places it on this page, that he has an opportunity of evincing his respect for generous and noble virtues, in a people whose residence in all parts of the world has advantaged every state, and to whose enterprise and wealth, as merchants and bankers, every government in Europe has been indebted. Their sacred writings and their literature have been adopted by all civilized communities, while they themselves have been fugitives everywhere, without security anywhere'.1 Francis Place made notes on the various articles in the Every-Day Book and about this one he has the following to say : 'The preceding paper taken from Mr. Hone's Every Day Book marks a considerable improvement in right habits of thinking. Mr. Hone addresses himself in a cheap publication sold in large numbers at 3d. a week to the middle and working classes and he does this evidently in the expectation that the prejudices which when he and I were boys are now very much softened and many obliterated and forgotten'.2 Priestley's son-in-law, Joseph Parkes (1796-1865), a Benthamite and a close friend of William Hone, wrote a curious pamphlet in favour of Jewish emancipation entitled An Epistle from a High Priest of the Jews to the Chief Priest of Canterbury on the extension of Catholic Emancipation to the Jews (1821).3 1 Wm. Hone, The Every-Day Book, I, 295-9. 2 British Museum, Add. Ms. 27827, ff. 141-7. 3 The authorship is attributed to Joseph Parkes on the strength of a manuscript note on a copy of the second edition in the Parkes Library.</page><page sequence="52">48 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and Others The improvement in the social position of the Jews noticed by Reid and Hone was reflected in the character and integrity of the Jews who were beginning to play their part in public life : men like Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, David Ricardo, Moses Monte fiore and Nathan Rothschild. Isaac Mocatta who died in 1801 before the reform movement was under way was an intimate friend of Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) and exercised a strong literary influence on 'the mad Jacobin' but we know nothing of his political views apart from his dislike of Pitt.1 Francis Cohen, later Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861), who astonished the literary world by translating at the age of eight The Battle of the Frogs and Mice from Latin into French, was a Benthamite and wrote several books on reform.2 Isaac Lyon Goldsmid (Plate 36) was one of the outstanding men of his day. There does not seem to be a single progressive movement in which he did not interest himself and yet he was equally active in the business world where he enjoyed a high reputation. In the Memoir which appeared in the Banker's Magazine it was said of him: 'his connec? tion with a persecuted people threw him into association with those who in that day maintained liberal opinions at a price sometimes as high as martyrdom'. One of the first great movements with which Goldsmid was concerned was that for the abolition of slavery which brought him into contact with Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Zachariah Macaulay. He thus became associated with the Society of Friends and worked with Mrs. Elizabeth Fry and Peter Bedford for the reform of the penal code and the improvement of prisons. He spent much time in Newgate jail interviewing condemned prisoners in connection with his efforts for the restriction of capital punishment.3 His association with the Society of Friends also led him to support the Royal Lancasterian Association which ran schools for poor children on an undenominational basis according to the system introduced by Joseph Lancaster4 and his keen interest in education induced him to visit Robert Owen's Infant School at New Lanark.5 Owen writes of him : 1 J. Forster, Walter Savage Landor, 1876, 73-5. 2 Conciliatory Reform. A letter addressed to the Right Hon. Thomas Spring Rice, M.P. . . . on the means of reconciling parliamentary reform to the interest and opinions . . . of the community . . . (1831); Observations on the Principles to be adopted in the Establishment of new Municipal Cor? porations ... 1832. Printed for private circulation; (Another ed.) Corporate Reform . . . addressed to Henry Hallam, Esq., 1833. 3 Hyde Clarke in The Banker's Magazine, June and July 1859, April 1860. 4 D. W. Marks and A. L?wy, Memoir of Sir F. H. Goldsmid, 1879, 4; Dictionary of National Biography. Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), a pioneer in the education of the masses, devised a series of ingenious punishments for boys. 'I believe,' he said, 'many boys behave rudely to Jews more on account of the manner with which they cry "old clothes" than because they are Jews' and boys who were guilty of this behaviour were made to imitate the dismal cry before the rest of the school. He seceded from the Society of Friends about 1808 and ran a private school at Salvador House, Tooting, which survived only a few years. It had been a school for some time before and it is not known whether the Jewish Salvador family who originally lived there were still connected with it. See 'Salvador House or the Quaker Topsy-Turvey' in The Scourge, VI (Dec. 1813), 488 ff. and V (Dec. 1811), 453. Lancaster participated in the foundation of the Jews' Free School. 5 His son, Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid, M.P. (1808-1878), in politics a moderate liberal, founded in 1841 the Jews' Infant School described in the Dictionary of National Biography as the largest infant school in the country.</page><page sequence="53">33 Richard Brothers restoring the Jews to Jerusalem. From an etching by Gillray dated 1795. (See p. 22) 34 Napoleon plotting to wipe England off the map. From an etching by Isaac Cruikshank dated 1803. (See p. 32)</page><page sequence="54"></page><page sequence="55">PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 49 'The present Baron Goldsmid, then a young married man, hearing of the success in teaching children, asked to come and stay sometime with me, to see and learn the principles and practices, that he might apply them in the education of his young family as they came and as they grew up. He applied himself with great industry to his task and his success was equal to his industry. After remaining sometime, he returned, and communicated the know? ledge which he had seen in practice to Mrs. now Lady Goldsmid, one of the best of wives and mothers; and together they trained and educated a family of eight, as nearly according to the system of New Lanark, as a conscientious adherence to the Jewish religion would admit. Often have I been on intimate and on the most friendly terms in this family?many times for weeks together; but on no one occasion did I ever hear an unpleasant expression between the young persons composing the family, or between parents and children?and this through a period of nearly, if not quite, half a century'.1 In 1822 Owen founded the short-lived British and Foreign Philanthropic Society the objects of which were ?to carry into effect measures for the permanent relief of the labouring classes by Committees for mutual interest and co-operation in which by means of education, example and employment they will be gradually withdrawn from the evils induced by ignorance, bad habits, poverty and want of employment'. The joint treasurers of the Society were Goldsmid and William Fry.2 Goldsmid's chief contribution to Owen's social experiments was to place at his disposal at a nominal rent the land for Owen's first socialist colony. This was an estate known as Queenswood comprising 533 acres at East Tytherly in Hampshire which was taken over by Owen's Working Community in October 1839.3 In the field of education, Goldsmid's outstanding achievement was in connection with the founding of University College. At that time Oxford and Cambridge were barred to Jews, Catholics and Protestant dissenters. The idea of starting an undenomina? tional university came from Thomas Campbell the poet, who was impressed by the liberal attitude shown towards Jews at Bonn University which he visited in 1820. In 1825 he went to Berlin to study the organisation of the new university there and he was followed by Goldsmid two years later. Goldsmid was the first person to give Campbell practical assistance in his scheme and his association with all the leading reformers enabled him to interest most of the people who were to be instrumental in founding the new College. Of these the most influential was Henry Brougham. Goldsmid with John Smith and Benjamin Shaw provided the money for the purchase of the site. There was considerable opposition to the estabhshment of the new College. Robert Cruikshank's 'The Political Toyman' (1825) (Plate 38) shows Brougham balancing a model of the building on his head. Attached to his waist are a number of puppets of which the second from the right appears to be Goldsmid. The first Council of University College was elected on 11 February 1826 and naturally included Goldsmid. The principle was laid down that there were not to be 'any religious tests or doctrinal forms which would oppose a barrier to the education of any sect among His Majesty's subjects'. On 30 April 1827 the stone was laid by the Duke of Sussex. Lectures started in November 1828, but there was great delay in finishing the building owing to lack of funds and it was through the efforts of Goldsmid, who induced 1 The Life of Robert Owen written by himself, 1857, 1, 150. 2 Podmore, op. cit., 276. 8 Ibid., 530. E</page><page sequence="56">50 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) Martin Tucker Smith and another friend to join him in a guarantee for ?40,000, that the interior was completed in 1838. The Mocatta Library was then known as the Small Library.1 Reform By the second decade of the nineteenth century the character of the Anglo-Jewish community had completely changed. There was little immigration during the Napoleonic wars and due to the high mortality rate the foreign element had largely disappeared. Most English Jews were now British born and the tendency to regard them automatically as aliens no longer existed. In a plea for Jewish emancipation the radical paper, The Scourge, has this to say : 'Why should the difference of religious opinion be allowed to unhinge the community, and weaken the sinews of the nation, when fair concessions and liberality of sentiment would unite the whole in one firm bond, not to be broken by casualty, or the aggression, under any circumstances, of foreign neighbours. To speak, still, of the Jews, their industry is proverbial; they are resigned to their condition, and cheerfully conform to all the obligations required of them; they murmur not in their acquiescence with the national imposts; and although Englishmen born, yet yield up their rights without a sigh, and consent to be considered and received as strangers in the land of their nativity; they are the very ants of the mercantile world, ever busy, ever thriving : let us hold them up as examples of patience and perseverance scarcely ever equalled in Christian society'.2 The first step in the agitation for the removal of Jewish disabilities seems to have been a petition presented to the House of Lords on 29 June 1826, from an association called the Philo-Judaean Society.3 1 H. Hale Bellot, University College, London, 1929. The appointment to the chair of Hebrew created some difficulties and the following letter was written by Campbell to Lord Auckland : 'On another subject, I request you to reflect ... I regret that this matter has some relation and a delicate one to our excellent friend Goldsmith (sic) to whom the scheme is so deeply in? debted?I am glad that he?of Jewish faith is of our Council?and I should be very glad to waive my recommendation of my own Hebrew Master in Germany (Cohen) for the mere sake of obliging Mr. Goldsmid as I believe Hurwitz to be as good a teacher as we need?But Query what will the world say to a Jew expounding the scriptures?Woe betide that poor Jew if he makes one remark that Christian bigot can pick a quarrel with and it is a desperate trammel on a teacher of Hebrew when he cannot give free opinions about the history of the Hebrew language and its books. The freedom of the Christian professors of Hebrew in Germany is astonishing?and they have told truths which a Jew would have been stoned for telling?Not that I should recommend our Hebraist if he were a Christian to be quite so free?But I dread exceedingly that Hurwitz's appointment would be not only tampering with public prejudices but exposing the Hebrew Chair to greater restrictions than it would have if filled by a Christian'. Hurwitz was appointed partly on the recommendation of Coleridge who was a Hebrew scholar. The first three names in the register of students are : C. Z. Macaulay (younger brother of Lord Macaulay), J. B. Mill (younger brother of John Stuart Mill) and F. D. Goldsmid (second son of Isaac Lyon Goldsmid). Among the Jews who studied at University College in its early days were : Nathaniel Rothschild, 3rd son of Nathan Meyer Rothschild admitted in 1829; James Joseph Sylvester, the eminent mathematician, also admitted in 1829 at the age of 14 and expelled shortly afterwards for threaten? ing another student with a table knife. This however did not prevent him from entering Cambridge two years later when he became the first professing Jew to be admitted to that university; Jacob Waley, afterwards Professor of Economics, admitted in 1833 ; George Jessel, afterwards Master of the Rolls, admitted 1837-8 ; John Simon, the eminent lawyer, admitted 1839. 2 The Scourge, VII (1814), 239-40. 3 Journal of the House of Lords, LIX (1826), 459.</page><page sequence="57"></page><page sequence="58"></page><page sequence="59">PORTRAIT OP ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) 51 In the same year, Apsley Pellatt, a dissenter, who was largely instrumental in securing for the Jews admission to the freedom of the City of London, published A Brief Memoir of the Jews in relation to their Civil and Municipal Disabilities^ Goldsmid had already shown his interest in reform by his correspondence with David Ricardo in 18232 and it was at his suggestion that William Hazlitt, a Unitarian, wrote a powerful essay in support of the Jews.3 On 26 June 1828 Goldsmid and Moses Montefiore had an exchange of views with various Dissenters and Roman Catholics at the Duke of Norfolk's house.4 In the same year a Bill for the repeal of the Tests and Corporations Acts was carried in the House of Commons but when it reached the House of Lords an amendment was inserted requiring all persons on accepting an office to make a declaration 'on the true faith of a Christian'. As the Bill would otherwise have been defeated Goldsmid persuaded his friends to accept the amendment which did not affect the Dissenters but left the Jews in a worse position than before owing to the abandonment of the annual Indemnity Act.5 Legislation in favour of the Jews therefore became more urgent and a campaign was started which culminated in the Bill of 1830. The men most active behind this movement were Goldsmid, Nathan Meyer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore. In April 1829 Lord Lyndhurst, the Lord Chancellor, promised them his support. Montefiore seems to have been the most conservative of the three and when Brougham made an unsatisfactory speech about the Jews he observed 'so much for Whig friends'.6 Rothschild had great influence in political circles and his interests were not confined to financial affairs. His liberal outlook is shown by his friendship with Robert Owen to whom he gave useful support7 and by his interest in penal reform. When John Smith presented a petition in the House of Commons in 1830 for the abolition of the death sentence for forgery, he said that the first signature on the petition was that of ?Mr. Rothschild the greatest merchant in the world and one through whose hands more Bills of Exchange passed than through those of any 20 firms in London'.8 During an interview with the Duke of Wellington in 1834 Rothschild advised him to form a liberal government and to consent to some reforms as 'he must go with the world for the world would not go with him'.9 A feature of the campaign was the organisation of petitions which poured in from Jews and Christians in all parts of the country including the Unitarians of Hull and 1 Lionel Nathan de Rothschild writes to him : 'I am sorry to find that I have neglected the Duty of conveying to you an expression of my grateful sense of your cordial and able advocacy of Jewish claims to the right of citizenship at the Southwark meeting. To you, as the ostensible leader of the movement, this acknowledgment is pre-eminently due, as well as for the eloquence and research which you brought to bear upon the question; but, with my co-religionists, I am not the less sensible of the zeal and talent displayed by the gentlemen who followed you.' from a letter dated 19 January 1848 in the author's possession.) 2 Trans. J.H.S.E. IV, 130 ff. 3 The Complete works of Wm. Hazlitt, ed. P. O. Howe, 1933, XIX, 320-4; A. Cohen, An Anglo Jewish Scrapbook, 1943, 345. 4 L. Loewe ed., Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, 1890, 60. 5 Marks and L?wy, op. cit., 17. 6 Loewe, op. cit.3 86. 7 'Among innumerable others who took a lively interest in aiding my measures were . . . Nathan Rothschild and the truly good and excellent Madame Rothschild . . . Mr. now Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and his lady and their family'?Life of Robert Owen, I, 211. In connection with a visit to Frankfort Owen writes (p. 252) : 'I had also from my friend . . . Nathan Rothschild an especial letter'. 8 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates N.S., XXIV (1830), 708. 9 Loewe, op. cit.} 93-4.</page><page sequence="60">52 PORTRAIT OF ANGLO-JEWRY (1656-1836) the Roman Catholics of Worcester and Ireland. Mr. Bright, presenting the petition from the City of London, said that it had the signatures of 2,600 merchants, 27 bankers, 11 bank directors, 1,100 doctors of medicine, 500 attornies etc. Tt was therefore' said Mr. Bright 'a most important testimonial in favour of the Jews because it was from the great body of those among whom they resided'.1 Among petitions from individuals was one from Robert Owen2 and another from Richard Carlile, presented by Mr. Brougham who said that it was very long. Tt entered into the history of the Jews from the earliest time and the petitioner contended that they were not the murderers of Jesus Christ and therefore that they did not deserve the persecution and exclusion to which they were subjected by the Christians. The petitioner offered to prove this at the bar of the House.'3 There was a petition from one Lewis Levi 'praying that the House would pass a declaratory law in order to remove all doubts which might at present exist as to the power of a Jew to hold landed property in fee'.4 Among the various forms of propaganda in favour of the Jews the political caricature was not overlooked and 'Reformers of the 19th century' (Plate 37) is the first example of this medium being used by the Anglo-Jewish community. It was designed and published by J. Davis of 67 Great Prescot Street and refers to the debate in the House of Commons on 5 April 1830. Sir R. Inglis who opposed the removal of Jewish dis? abilities is shown wearing the head of an ass. But by the 1830's this form of defence could safely be left in other hands. When David Salomons was rejected by the Court of Aldermen in 1836, C. J. Grant came out with a caricature entided 'Immolation of the Jew' showing Salomons stepping into 'the cauldron of Christian intolerance'. And a popular periodical presented its readers with a print entided Ts she a Jewess ?' (Plate 39) to which the following explanation was given: 'Is she a Jewess ? Who that has ever looked on the sentimental and languishing face of a beautiful Jewess would not be interested in the query ... Sheriff Salomons a man unsullied in private character . . . was excluded from the Aldermanic Corps because he was a Jew . . . it is thus bigotry interposes between man's conscience and his God . . . Were the fair Jewess of whom our print is a correct representation a candidate for corporate distinction, the aldermen, instead of agreeing to exclude her would quarrel among themselves for precedence in paying her homage . . . Lord Lyndhurst (did not have) any repugnance to take for life a partner in the fascinating Jewess, Miss Goldsmid'.5 The country was not yet ready to concede full civil rights to the Jews but public opinion was moving rapidly in their favour. The story of the final stages of the struggle will be found in the Transactions of this society and in the history books. 1 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, N.S., XXV (1830), 770. 2 Ibid., 784. 3 Ibid., 412. * Ibid., XXIV (1830), 236. * The Star, 4 November 1837.</page></plain_text>