The Jews, in order to avert the danger which threatened them, offered to supply Ferdinand with thirty thousand pieces of silver to carry on the war against Grenada; they promised to live peaceably, to comply with the regulations formed for them, in retiring to their houses in the quarters assigned to them before night, and in renouncing all professions which were reserved for the Christians. Ferdinand and Isabella were willing to listen to these propositions; but Torquemada, being informed of their inclinations, had the boldness to appear before them with a crucifix in his hand, and to address them in these words:-- "Judas sold his master for thirty pieces of silver, your highnesses are about to do the same for thirty thousand; behold him, take him, and hasten to self him." The fanaticism of the Dominican wrought a sudden change in the minds of the sovereigns, and they issued a decree on the 31st of March 1492, by which all the Jews were compelled to quit Spain before the 31st of July ensuing, on pain of death, and the confiscation of their property; the decree also prohibited Christians from receiving them into their houses after that period. They were permitted to sell their stock, to carry away their furniture and other effects, _except gold and silver, for which they were to accept letters of change, or any merchandise not prohibited_. Torquemada commissioned all preachers to exhort them to receive baptism, and remain in the kingdom. A small number suffered themselves to be persuaded; the rest sold their goods at so low a price, that Andrew Bernaldez (a contemporary historian) declares, in his history of the Catholic Kings, that he saw _the Jews give a house for an ass, and a vineyard for a small quantity of cloth or linen_. According to Mariana, eight hundred thousand Jews quitted Spain, and if the Moors, who emigrated to Africa, and the Christians who settled in the New World, are added to the number, we shall find that Ferdinand and Isabella lost, through these cruel measures, two millions of subjects. Bernaldez affirms, that the Jews carried a quantity of gold with them, concealed in their garments and saddles, and even in their intestines, for they reduced the ducats into small pieces, and swallowed them. A great number afterwards returned to Spain, and received baptism. Some returned from the kingdom of Fez, where the Moors had seized their money and effects, and even killed the women, to take the gold which they expected to find within them. These cruelties can only be attributed to the fanaticism of Torquemada, to the avarice and superstition of Ferdinand, and to the inconsiderate zeal of Isabella, who, nevertheless, possessed great gentleness of character, and an enlightened mind.