The attempt was made last year, and was defeated. It is now to
be renewed, without the slightest additional ground, and the
battle will have to be fought over again. Must we not ask, is this
experiment to be again made on public patience? Is it meant to
tell the people of England, that what common sense rejects, is to
be forced on general weariness; that what manly principle repels,
is to be gained by vulgar perseverance; and that which public
judgement denounces, is to be made law by the united effect of
disgust and disdain producing indifference? We trust that the common
sense of England will speak such a language to the Legislature,
as to extinguish the _prestige_ that obstinacy in the wrong is
more effective than honesty in the right; that to be sickened of a
struggle, is a legitimate reason for abandoning the contest; and
that a great nation can be yawned out of the greatest interests in
the world.
The first question of all is, Can this admission of the Jew into
a Christian legislature be compatible with the character of a
Christian constitution? If we live in bad times, with the evidence
of bad practices in important positions, and with a powerful
propensity among influential classes to sacrifice everything to
the moment, this consciousness should only be a stronger claim on
the vigilance of honest men. However strangely it may sound in
some ears, England is still a Christian country: however some may
doubt, the country still demands a Christian legislature; and,
notwithstanding all opinions on the subject, we believe that to
worship God and Mammon is still as impossible as it was pronounced
to be eighteen hundred years ago. We believe that it is only by
national virtue that nations can retain the divine protection; that
zeal for the divine honour is the supreme source of virtue; and
that to sacrifice the honour of God to any earthly purpose, is only
to bring divine desertion on a people. Must we not ask, is there
any national demand, national necessity, or religious principle,
connected with giving legislative power, at this time, to the Jew?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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