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"Are the Jews guilty, punish them.
Are they vicious, correct them. Are they innocent, protect them."
--Sayings of Gregory, Bishop of Blois.
"The succession of the social
situations is a legitimate and providential fact, a consequence of the
superiority of human nature, a condition of its development. By the side
of this succession should be placed the free concurrence of the
individual with his situation, by his free will over his destiny. If
this choice is forbidden to him, if his free will is absolutely
suppressed or abolished by a hereditary situation, there is tyranny. It
is on the just balancing of these two principles that the equilibrium
and the happiness of society depends."--Guizot's Course of
History.
Political fanaticism has never brought
happiness to any state; and if we extract the contents of the pages of
history of those nations that allowed themselves to be led by it, there
will issue therefrom with the blood of the victims, the tears of regret
of the executioners even.
Ask Spain, she will tell you that the
Inquisition has deprived her of her commerce; summon France, she will
show the wounds her industry received by the slaughter of St.
Bartholomew and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; hear Italy, she
groans to see the genius of arts slumbering on her fruitful soil, until
the day when religious liberty will restore the mental strength of its
inhabitants; and Germany! this great and beautiful country, where
domestic life has so many charms; where the judgment is so accurate and
science so profound, why has she not yet taken that noble flight, which
the energy of her children would lead us to expect? Is it that she lacks
an atmosphere in which her two-headed eagle can unfold its wings? No, it
is because the great principles of universal religion have yet to
struggle there against the rear-guard of fanatical intolerance, the
enemy of all enlightened religion; it is that the geography will tell us
how many are its inhabitants, but that no one can give us the number of
its citizens. For can you number among the citizens of Hamburg the
Israelites who reside there, who cannot acquire property in this city,
so proud of its freedom? Are the Jews of Vienna citizens who are obliged
to submit to an exclusive poll-tax? or are those of Saxony citizens who
are forbidden to sojourn in its large towns? Are those Berlin citizens
who are obliged to be baptized before they are permitted to enter the
liberal professions? And lastly, are the Jews of Frankfort citizens who
can hold no public office in the administration of this free city? And,
nevertheless, the greatest aptness for the cultivation of the sciences,
and the brightest flame of that sacred fire, by which the lamp of the
arts is kindled, are found in the ranks of the Israelites of Germany. To
them is due the glory of having furnished the first musicians of the
age; to them is due the honour of having excelled by the number of their
great lawyers, of their learned doctors, and of their eminent scholars;
to them above all is due the praise of having naturalized commerce in a
country which nature had rendered purely agricultural.* If then justice
has not yet been rendered to them, it is not only as the Chancellor
L'Hôpital said, with so much naïveté, because "the
devil throws himself in the midst of religious contests," but also
because they are jealous in Germany of the nascent grandeur and the
rapid progress of the Israelites; for, as an Oriental poet has said,
"The setting sun is jealous of the rising moon."
It is from the history of France that we
are going to borrow the recital of an episode, a mournful instance of
the evils engendered by jealousy between children of the same country,
and of the fatal consequences which religious fanaticism can produce in
the destinies of a whole nation.
In the fourteenth century, King Charles
the Fifth having sold to the Jews, (for a considerable sum,) the right
of dwelling in France, they devoted themselves to commercial
speculations, which produced them great benefits, and to money-lending,
which brought them heavy interest. But it cannot be too strongly
impressed on the mind, that the scarcity of specie and the power of
their debtors, who were piously of bad faith, made the Jewish
money-lenders incur such a risk of losing, that usury became almost a
matter of necessity for them. When a country is tranquil it is easy to
assign a fixed value to money, but in the middle ages, when arbitrary
power, faction, and disorder prevailed, what wise man had faith in the
next day? And since kings and princes altered the coin, the nobles
clipped the money; what is this but compelling people to resort to
usury?
Lastly, we must not forget that there was
then eight times less specie in circulation than at present, and that
consequently money necessarily had a much higher value. In the reign of
Saint Louis a pound of white bread cost about two centimes. We may also
say that usury was at that time a very common thing and universally
permitted. Saint Bernard has observed in one of his letters, that in
places where no Jews resided the Christian usurers caused their absence
to be severely felt. When in 1394 the Jews were exiled from France, the
Lombards (who were their successors) raised the interest on money to
forty per cent.; and lastly, if it is true that more than four hundred
decrees were made to diminish the usury of the Jews in France, there
still exists great numbers of royal edicts, which authorizes them to
take a very high rate of interest. Henry the Third of England legalized
their lending at forty per cent. per annum, and there are some years,
as, for instance, 1814, at the time of the invasion of the allies, that
the French government authorized each one to lend at the rate that
suited him the best. As for the commercial privileges of the Jews then
established in France, no one could contest their legitimacy; for if
they enjoyed the monopoly of affairs, they owed it to that union with
which the common danger inspired them, and which caused them to form a
vast chain, of which the first link was in Judea, and the others
encircled the entire globe. In consequence of this fraternal spirit,
they infused into their relations with their co-religionists, a
scrupulous honesty, and a rigorous exactness; by which means they were
able to become the bankers of kings, and commissioners of the nations,
in those days of disorder and bad faith. And lastly, their financial
genius, excited by fear, led them to the admirable invention of bills of
exchange; this powerful vehicle which, in rendering the word of the
merchant of equal value as the amount represented by the bill, and
causing it to circulate from pole to pole, has given a new life to the
commercial world, at the same time that it has increased the wealth of
nations tenfold by being the parent of public credit.
But how many fears and humiliations were
the Jews obliged to pay for that fortune, for which they were envied?
Shut up in lonely quarters, and distinguished by the costume which was
imposed on them, they could not easily avoid the blows of their
adversaries; and even in their miserable dwellings every thing bore the
impression of the tyrannical laws which oppressed them. They were
prohibited from having more than twelve at table; forbidden to use for
their garments any other than worsted stuff; forbidden to wear any other
peltry than the skins of lambs; forbidden to keep arms; forbidden to
exercise any trade; their women forbidden to have gloves; their doctors
interdicted to attend sick Christians; and above all Christian nurses
were forbidden to nurse Jewish children.*
King Charles the Fifth, surnamed the
Wise, having knowledge of the financial capacity of the Israelites, had
appointed several of them receivers of the state revenues. His son
Charles the Sixth, being yet a minor when he was called to succeed him
on the throne, the regency was confided to his uncle the Duke of Anjou,
who, in consideration of a large sum of money which they paid him,
authorized the Jews to continue their sojourn in France for a long term
of years, left them their acquired rights and privileges, and promised
them all the protection of the government.
Confiding in these promises, Reuben
Konitz, one of the richest Jews in Paris, was quietly seated at table,
one winter evening in the year 1380, occupied with the accounts which he
had to render, as receiver of the state taxes. He was a
venerable-looking old man, weakened by age, but he still retained an
uncommon vigour of mind. His reputation for honesty and wisdom had
acquired for him the public esteem, at the same time that his piety was
cited as an example amongst his co-religionists. His daughter Deborah
was seated on a little stool near him, occupied with sewing. Though she
was only twelve years of age, her face did not show those infantile
graces, the companions of youth, but the impress of grave thoughts, that
dimmed the brightness of her eye, in which shone resolution and courage,
the first virtues that the Jews taught their children in those days of
strife and persecution.
Profound quiet reigned in the house of
Reuben Konitz, and the young girl cast her eyes by stealth from time to
time on her father, to see if he required any thing; for filial respect
was in that age a kind of worship, and a child, no matter what might be
his age, was not permitted to speak before his father without having
received permission to do so. Suddenly the silence was broken by distant
sounds, and the door being quickly opened, Samson the son of Konitz
threw himself into the room exclaiming, "Father, the people of
Paris are in a state of insurrection; they are coming to force an
entrance into the Jewish quarter, and they boldly announce their
intention of pillaging the coffers of the receivers of the revenues of
the crown." Samson, although young, possessed great muscular
strength, no less than an uncommon degree of prudence, and his father
knew him to be incapable of repeating rumours which were without
foundation; they quickly therefore took every precaution to hide the
receipts of the day. It was well that they hurried, for at the
expiration of a few minutes a troop of truands and men of the
lowest dregs of the people came before the house of Konitz vociferating
the cries of "Death to the Jews! no more contributions!"
In that age, when public affairs were
very badly administered, the numerous imposts overwhelmed the people of
Paris; and being one day tired of paying, they rebelled against the
feeble power of the king, and as is generally the case, the first
overflow of popular anger fell on the collectors of the imposts.
The Jews who filled these offices became
naturally the first victims, for they thereby could seize a pretext to
rob them, and to take from them the pledges deposited by the common
people, and the obligations and contracts signed in their favour by the
citizens and nobles.
In an instant the house of Reuben was
overrun with fierce-looking men, who searched every corner, and who gave
vent to their rage in abuse and imprecations, when they discovered that
their search was in vain. Samson and Deborah kept near their old father,
as if to make a rampart for him with their bodies; and the old man,
without fearing for himself, but trembling for his children, restrained
them with force, and calmed their violent indignation. The chief of the
plunderers, Jehan le Rouge, renowned for his audacity, at length
advanced to this frightened group, and insolently cried: "Jews!
where are your treasures!"
"My good sir," replied Reuben
with a subdued air, "we are poor traders, having nothing to depend
on but our daily profits."
"By the true God! Thou hast said
that handsomely!" quickly interrupted the wild chief of the band;
"we know that thou hast heaps of gold, which thou hast hidden, but
as it is the money of the state that we wish more than any thing else,
make haste and give up to us the whole of the contributions which thou
hast gathered."
"This is impossible," replied
Reuben with energy; "this money belongs to the king, it is in his
name that I have received it; and it is to him that I am bound to
deliver it."
This answer increased the exasperation of
the crowd; but neither outrages not threats could shake the firmness of
Reuben and of his children.
"If it is so," cried Jehan le
Rouge, with a satanic laugh, "we will see if this fine courage will
be proof against suffering!"--the populace understood him, and sent
forth a cry of joy; Deborah became pale; Samson clenched his
hands in rage, and his father lifted his eyes to heaven with an air of
courageous resignation.
At
a signal from Jehan, Samson and Deborah were seized and bound with
cords, and Reuben was placed in a large chair, when the few teeth which
he had left were one after the other pulled out with violence. The old
man preserved his courage, and refused to disclose the place where he
had hidden the public revenues which he had received; and every cry that
escaped him was answered by Deborah with a groan, and by Samson with a
furious shaking of his body. This scene of horror was happily
interrupted by the arrival of the Inquisitor-General, who came to
execute an order of arrest decreed against Reuben and his daughter, by
the tribunal of the Inquisition; and the crowd, though they murmured to
see their prey snatched from them, allowed them peaceably to follow the
Inquisitor, who lodged them in the prison of the Chatelet, under the
charge of an insult to religion.
The
plunderers, disappointed in their hope, spoke of firing the house of
Reuben, when an armed force interposed in the name of the king, to
re-establish order, and the crowd dispersed slowly, declaring that they
postponed their murderous designs, but would not renounce them.
When
Samson saw himself free, he tried to follow the steps of his father, but
he could learn nothing that day, and he returned home, his soul filled
with despair. The next day, he hastened to place in the public treasury
the money which he had so courageously defended; the public officers
received it; and loaded this faithful depositary with high-sounding
praise, but they gave him no intelligence of his father, so much did
they fear the power of the Inquisition. The day after was Saturday, a
day on which the Jews never left that part of the city in which they
resided; the day after that was Sunday, and on this holiday the Jews
were forbidden to show themselves abroad; it was therefore not until
Monday, that poor Samson could present himself before the Provost of
Paris, and he was compelled to take a by-path in order to arrive at the
Hotel de Ville; for the Jews were prohibited under the severest
penalties, to pass before the palace of the archbishop.
Hugues
Aubriot at this time filled the office of Provost of Paris with the
greatest distinction, and he had done much for the safety, cleanliness,
and health, of the city. Despising idle clamours, he had declared a
relentless war against the beggars, bad boys, and cutpurses by which
Paris was infested; he had curbed the insolent excesses of the pupils of
the University, and he had not even feared to contend against the
encroachments of the inquisitorial power. In consequence of this, he had
numerous and powerful enemies, but he nevertheless continued to occupy
himself in the administration of the affairs of the French capital with
zeal and courage.
When
Samson was at last admitted to the presence of the Provost of Paris, and
when he had related to him the horrible outrage committed by the
populace: Hugues Aubriot was so indignant that he instantly gave an
order, for the imprisonment of Jehan le Rouge and for the liberation of
Reuben and his daughter; and a proclamation was drawn up, and cried out
in the streets, forbidding the people of Paris to insult the Jews, and
commanding them to restore all the goods which had been stolen from
them.*
So
much firmness and justice, on the part of the Provost frightened his
adversaries, who feeling the necessity of ridding themselves of him in
order to accomplish their frightful designs against the Jews, brought
calumny to their assistance. The beggars, the pupils of the University,
the debtors of the Jews, and the Inquisition, all united their efforts
against Hugues Aubriot; whom they accused of protecting the Jews; of
being himself a Jew, and a heretic, of having released a prisoner of the
Inquisition, and giving liberty to a young Jewess, who had been arrested
in order to be baptized.
(To
be continued.)
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