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To the Editor of the Occident.
My Dear Sir:
Though Judge O’Neale has declined to answer my
communication, yet as he has thought proper to give me a side blow, I
must request, as an act of justice, that you insert the following:
<<367>>
To the Honourable J. B. O’Neale.
Sir:
I am very sure that I never intended to excite your
ire, and deeply regret, that you regard my communication as wanting in
courtesy and liberality; whilst, however, I freely forgive you, I cannot
be driven from my purpose, and must still continue to hold up to your
view the mirror of truth.
If I mistake not, you are the Carolina Judge who
was attacked by some one in Scotland for passing the sentence of the law
on a negro thief, and though this attack was severe, and malignant, yet
you condescended to reply and vindicate yourself, and the laws of your
State. My remarks were neither illiberal, nor wanting in courtesy; they
were defensive of my religion, and the revealed word of God. The
Scotchman’s article was offensive, and on a subject in which he
had no interest. Why then was he more entitled to your notice than I?
Consult your own heart, and I fear, Judge, you will find an answer in
the petulance of fanaticism and the bitterness of prejudice, against the
“chosen of the Lord;”—but, let that pass—I have no individual wrongs to
redress—I know that I “am despised and rejected of men;” but it is the
decree of my God, and I try to teach my heart humility. I appeared as
the champion of my faith, humble and weak as I am, and took issue with
you on the subject of an extra-judicial dictum of yours in your decision
in the case of the City Council of Charleston vs. Benjamin.
You there say “What constitutes the standard of
good morals? Is it not Christianity? There certainly is none other.”
Your profession has taught you that the maxim, “expressio unius, est
exclusio alterius”—is sound law. You therefore averred that all
other religious creeds were devoid of good morals, and although I proved
from the Bible—the authority we both acknowledge, that Judaism had a
high, pure, and holy standard of good morals, yet you have not had the
magnanimity to acknowledge your error, and to admit that it was an
unguarded expression. Your attempted apology, is but a perpetuation of
your fault. You ask, “How I not born a Jew, could say otherwise
than that Christianity was the only standard known to me of good
morals is hard for me to conceive.” Why, sir, is it not known to
you that Judaism has a standard of good morals? How then can you assert
the contrary? Suppose that an American Judge should say that the sacred
right of trial by jury was alone recognised in America, and when
some indignant Englishman, should prove that our trial by jury was a
mere copy from theirs, would you regard it as an apology, if he should
say, How could I not born an Englishman
<<368>>think otherwise? The
cases are parallel. The American trial by jury has been copied
from England, and we have no right to claim it as our own exclusively.
The Christian standard of good morals has been copied from the
Jewish Bible, and you cannot claim it as yours alone. Your
birth then, whether Jewish, or Christian, cannot change the
character of facts. Take not then from the poor persecuted Jew, his
prop, his standard, his refuge. It is in vain for you to state that the
Bible is the standard of good morals, and that the Bible is a large
part of Christianity; for you well know that the Bible is the whole
of Judaism, and that all that you can claim is to share it with us.
But this will not do. The question is: “Was, or was not Christianity the
only standard of good morals?” and as you averred the
affirmative, you were bound to prove it, or acknowledge your error.
In conclusion, I will reiterate my assurance that I
never intended to wound, or offend you;—my sole object being to prove
that the Jew had a standard of good morals, and thereby disprove your
assertion. Had an ordinary man made the remark, I should have passed it
by in silence; but what you say as a Judge becomes matter of record, and
forbearance here would cease to be a virtue. If I talked plainly
of the peculiar dogmas of your faith, I did so defensively, and from
necessity. I here part with you, sir, in no unkind spirit, and with the
sincere prayer that the God of Abraham may remove the scales from your
mental vision so that you may yet see some beauty in Israel.
An American Jew |
