Neither the essay nor the speech was Macaulay’s first contribution to the cause of Jewish emancipation. Thomas Babington (afterwards Lord) Macaulay (1800-1859) entered the House of Commons at the General Election of 1830. On April 5, in that same year, Mr. (afterwards Sir) Robert Grant moved to bring in a Bill to remove Jewish political disabilities. The motion was opposed by Sir Robert Inglis. When Inglis resumed his seat, “Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Macaulay,” as Hansard reports, “rose together, but the latter, being a new Member, was called for by the House.” Thus, Macaulay’s maiden speech was delivered in behalf of the Jewish cause. It made considerable stir. Sir James Mackintosh took part in the debate later, and after complimenting the young orator, said: “I do not rise, therefore, to supply any defects in that address, for indeed there were none that I could find; but it is principally to absolve my own conscience that I offer myself to the attention of the House.” Writing to Mr. (afterwards Sir) Isaac Lyon Goldsmid on April 13, 1830, Lord Holland suggested “that it might promote your cause to print a correct copy of the late triumphant debate in the Commons in the shape of a pamphlet during holidays. If Mr. Grant, Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Macaulay, and Dr. Lushington could be prevailed upon to correct their speeches for that publication, it would be a valuable manual for all those who in or out of Parliament are disposed to urge the facts and reasons in your favour” (_Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England_, iv. 158). This advice does not seem to have been followed, nor did Macaulay himself reprint this particular speech, but it was included in Vizetelly’s two volumes of Macaulay’s Speeches, published in 1853, much to their author’s indignation. The speech occupies the first place in Vol. I. In the second volume of Vizetelly’s edition is another speech by Macaulay, delivered in the House on March 31, 1841, on the Jews’ Declaration Bill. Angered by Vizetelly’s publication, Macaulay himself brought out an edition of his speeches. He included neither of the two speeches which appear in Vizetelly, but inserted the more powerful and effective speech delivered on April 17, 1833.