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    fcion , and paying scot and lot , had ever been appointed , or ever voted for , the trustees of the Charity ? Whether any Jews had ever been educated either in the grammar or writing school ? Whether any had been admitted into the hospital or bound out apprentices ? And whether old men or women of that peisuasiun had ever been admitted into the alms-houses ?

    The matter stood over for the purpose of making the inquiries necessary to answer these questions , and the parties were desired to furnish the Lord Chancellor with copies of the letters patent , acts of

    parliament , &c , so that the question might come on again on the ensuing * Monday , his Lnrdship observing , that it was pne of infinite importance , and ought to be settled at once .

    Monday 9 " 7 th August , 1818 . The Solicitor-General , on the part of the trustees , appeared to oppose the petition 5 he observed , that since this interesting case had been before his Lordship , the inquiries directed bad been made , and , he was happy to say , were answered in so satisfactory a manner , as to leave no doubt

    on a single point . The petition prayed , that his Lordship would declare all the poor inhabitants of Bedford , whether Jews or Christians , entitled to the benefit of the Charity It became material , therefore , to inquire the origin and progress of the institution . By letters patent , dated 15 th Edward VI . a school was founded for the

    education of poor children 111 the town of Bedford ; and New College , Oxford , was appointed visitor or regulator . It was most important to look to the period when this Charity was established ; the court must endeavour to discover the intent of the founder : he contended , that if this question had arisen in the reign of Edward or Elizabeth , the court would not have hesitated to refuse Jews the benefit of it .

    and whatever indulgence the enlightened policy of later times had extended to that nation , he was yet to learn that any legal toleration had been given them . He had , however , no wish to agitate that question ; he had only to shew that , by the law , as it stood at the time of the foundation , and as it now stands , Jews were no objects of it .

    In the reign of Elizabeth , Sir William Harper endowed this Charity , and extended its objects . It was hardly necessary to observe , that at this time Jews , and indeed all infidels , were then considered by law to be alien enemies . In Calvin ' s

    case , Lord Coke lays down the proposition broadly , that Jews were perpetui inimicij that they could take nothing within the realm , for all infidels are enemies , " and the law supposes not their conversion being- a remote possibility / 9 He ( the

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    Solicitor-General ) only mentioned this to shew how the law was considered to stand at that time , and he contended , that the Act of Parliament , which afterwards regulated this Charily , had not altered the case . It was an historical fact , that the Jews * in

    the reign of Edward I ., left this * country , and did not return till they were allowed to do so under the Commonwealth ; they , therefore , could not be contemplated by this Charity . Christianity too had been decided repeatedly to be part of the law of the land , and it had been expressly settled

    that there could not be a Charity for direct benefit of persons professing any other religion . The case of Da Cosfa and De Pas had determined this ; and can it be allowed that the same object should be effected indirec'Iv ? Let us hope that the

    fullest toleration will always be given to Jews and every one else in the exercise of their religion * , but it was a very different question ,, whether such persons were to claim , as their right , a direct benefit from a Christian foundation . In the 4 th and

    33 d George III . acts were passed tor regulating-this Charity ; by the last , trustees were appointed—and the qualification of a trustee was , that he should be a member of the corpoiaiion , or have filled the office

    of churchwarden or overseer ; it was perfectly clear from this , that no Jew could have been contemplated . In fact , no Jew had ever been a trustee , nor till , about thirty years a # o , had a Jew ever even resided in Bedford—about that time Mr .

    Lyon came there , who has , it appears , been permitted to vote in the choicie of trustees . The Solicitor General then went over the provisions of the Act , at some length ,

    contending that all of them contemplated a Chanty for the benefit of Christians only . New College , Oxford , was to have the management and regulation of it ; and can it be supposed that such a body should have the direction of an establishment in

    which the Jewish religion was patronized ? There are exhibitions provided for pupils removing to the University , and could it 'be supposed that any Jew was contemplated , when it was well known that no one of their faith could , wiih a clear

    conscience , resort there ? He was anxious to avoid all discussion of the rights to toleration or any other privilege of the Jews , by the law as it now stood ; the only question is , whether they can claim the benefit of a Christian Charity , founded at tbe period this was .

    No Jew boys could attend this school without introducing * confusion and irregularity : there had been two , and on that occasion many exceptions were obliged to be made in their favour as . to the duties of the school . The next purpose of the Clarity wa& to distribute portions to poor

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    588 Intelligence . —Right of the Jews to English Charities .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1818, page 588, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2480/page/52/