It is probable, however, that many of you may decide at once that this charge must have been true; for Edward the First, who is called the English Justinian, for the excellency of the laws enacted by him, caused them to be tried for this offence. You may perhaps suppose, that under a sovereign, who is to this day celebrated on account of the laws enacted in his reign, these Jews had all regular trials, and were justly convicted upon evidence. I candidly confess, that those were the opinions I entertained at my first reading this accusation, which induced me to examine the subject rigorously; and the following is the result of my examination of this subject. It is true that where there are good laws enacted, we naturally look for an upright administration of them, but it is possible for a prince to enact good laws for the government of his people, and yet to be misled by his ministers, to conduct his government without the least regard to law and justice; and there are few reigns in which greater acts of oppression, cruelty, and injustice were committed, than in the reign of Edward the First, although the brilliancy of his exploits, and the greatness of his abilities, have thrown an unmerited gloss over his administration. Does not history declare that the very fountains of justice were polluted, and that loud complaints were made of the corruption and venality of the judges in Edward’s reign?¹ Kings are ever entitled to profound respect, and it is the liberal policy of the present age ever to give them the credit of uprightness of intention, and to consider every investigation, as an investigation of the acts of their ministers. We shall, therefore, consider it in this light, and speak of actions as the actions of the ministers of state; and surely the actions of the administration in his reign are very reprehensible. Their conduct towards the Welsh and the Scotch, their sovereigns and people, and especially the slaughter of the Welsh bards, will ever be considered by those who are not dazzled by successful cruelty as disgraceful acts; which would have tarnished the splendour of this reign, had it been a thousand times more splendid; but in their conduct towards the Jews, they acted the part of most grievous oppressors. What evidence was produced against them? We read that they were suspected of the crime, as were also the Flemings. It would, therefore, have been the part of a good and active government to have set its officers to seek for the guilty, whether English, Flemings, or Jews. Does this appear to have been done? By no means. Mark, I do not deny, but there might have been Jews as well as Flemings and English concerned in these malpractices. The Jews are men, and subject to like temptations and like crimes as the rest of mankind; and as they dealt in money, and had better opportunities than others, the probability that some of them were not entirely innocent, is strengthened; but the