ENGLISH OPINION ON THE _SANHEDRIN_
English opinion on the _Sanhedrin_――F. D. Kirwan――Abraham
Furtado――Rev. James Bicheno――The Declaration of the
_Sanhedrin_ and English comment――M. Diogène Tama――The Prince
_de_ Ligne.
COMING back to English history, we now propose to trace the impression
produced in this country by Bonaparte’s Palestine Appeal of 1798 and
the Proclamation of a _Sanhedrin_ in 1807.
English opinion on this point was quite clear. No objections were
ever raised to the restoration of the Jewish nation to Palestine: this
idea had been cherished in England for centuries. But English opinion
was opposed to its becoming a strategic or political instrument in
the hands of an ambitious conqueror. Moreover, that opinion was not
inclined to separate the idea of the Restoration of _Israel_ from that
of the emancipation of the Jews. Thus the _Sanhedrin_ was considered
merely a tentative preliminary step towards Restoration, and the
Declaration made by that body against Jewish national aspirations
produced an impression of surprise and bewilderment. This Declaration
was not, in fact, intended to be a denial of Jewish nationality in its
ethical, historical, cultural or religious aspect: it was rather an
avowal of political loyalty. Yet such a Declaration, expressed as it
was in exaggerated terms, was calculated to surprise and puzzle the
genuine friends of the Jews in England, and give rise to
misunderstanding.
F. D. Kirwan, the English translator of the _Parisian Sanhedrim_,
published in French by the French-Jewish editor, M. Diogène Tama
(Appendix xlii), says, in his preface: “... The ultimate views which
Bonaparte may have on the Jewish nation are, to this day, involved
in obscurity; while the supposed advantages he so pompously conferred
on them may reasonably be called in question. When we consider that
the Jewish population of France and Italy is not calculated, by the
deputies themselves, at more than one hundred thousand souls (a small
number indeed when compared with the population of those countries),
we are at a loss to see what great advantages could immediately result
to Bonaparte from the Jews embracing zealously the profession of arms.
We well know that his gigantic plans of ambition rest on the laws
of conscription; but the Jews are already liable to them; they can
hardly escape their excessive rigour; and even the whole of the Jewish
youth, of the requisite age, would, in point of number, make but a
contemptible reinforcement to the immense armies of France.
“These exhortations to embrace the profession of arms, so zealously
repeated by the leading members of the French-Jews, are besides,
always coupled with strong recommendations to follow mechanical trades
and husbandry; in short, those professions without which _a nation
cannot exist by itself_, but which are not more particularly useful
than any others to a small given number of people, who consider _as
their country_ an Empire in which these professions abound.
“We find these same recommendations strongly inforced in the answer
of M. Furtado to the commercial Jews of Frankfort, who hardly can have
a choice of employment. ‘We have,’ says he, ‘too many merchants and
bankers among us, and too few artificers and husbandmen,――and, above
all, too few soldiers’: but if their _countrymen_ thoroughly fill
these branches of employment, what necessity is there for having
husbandmen, artificers, and soldiers _of their own_?
“The Jewish deputies say that Bonaparte conceived the idea of their
_regeneration_, or their _political redemption_, in the land of
Egypt and on the _banks of the Jordan_. This we doubt not; and though
we are almost ashamed to hazard the extravagant supposition, we
feel a conviction that his gigantic mind entertains the idea of
re-establishing them in Palestine, and that this forms a part of his
plan respecting Egypt, which he is well known never to have abandoned.
“No one will contend that this idea is too wild for his conception;
it is, on the contrary, perfectly consonant with his love for
extraordinary, dazzling enterprises; he acts in this even with more
than his usual foresight, by attempting to prepare the Jews for
the new situation he intends for them. It is with this view that he
encourages them to follow those professions which are necessary for
men forming a distinct nation in a land of their own; for certainly,
a body wholly composed of merchants and traders could never exist as
such....
“The answer to the sixth question, by which the French Jews
acknowledge France as their country, without any restriction whatever,
is a still more heinous dereliction of the tenets of the Mosaic law;
for they give up, by it, the hope of the expected Messiah, and of the
everlasting possession of the promised land of Canaan, which they deem
a part of the sacred covenant between God and His chosen people.
“While we thus inculpate the Jewish deputies, it cannot be expected
that we shall lay too great a stress on the fulsome and frequently
impious flattery which characterizes all their productions....
“But flattery is the opiate of the guilty conscience; it sooths the
pangs of remorse;...”¹
¹ Transactions of the Parisian _Sanhedrim_ ... London, 1807.
_pp._ (iii.), vii.‒ix., xv.
A similar view was expressed with considerable eloquence by the
Rev. James Bicheno (1751‒1831), of Newbury, an ♦Anabaptist minister
who attained some distinction in his day through his works on the
Prophecies, and of others on various subjects (Appendix xliii). He
was the author of _The Restoration Of The Jews: The Crisis Of All
Nations;..._ 1800¹ (Appendix xliv).
♦ “Anapabtist” replaced with “Anabaptist”
¹ A Second Edition, “To which is now prefixed a brief history
of the Jews,” was published in 1807.
This book is a valuable contribution to Christian pro-Zionist
literature. The author is a great believer in the future of _Israel_
and of Palestine, but he looks upon the problem mainly from a
religious point of view, though he does not demand any conversion
of Jews prior to their Restoration. Many of his conclusions are
unacceptable, and others are incapable of proof, but even these
are useful in so far as they may “stimulate the minds of rulers to
meditation, and thus suggest to them new aspects¹ and new ways of
inquiry”; and although there is little thought in his book, and some
of its main themes are not developed with completeness or accuracy,
the ingenuity which leads to so many suggestions, and the elegance
which groups them so artistically, give the book vivacity and
diversity. The author refers to the _Parisian Sanhedrim_, and accepts
the view of the English translator, F. D. Kirwan.
¹ _Ibid._, _pp._ 1‒63.
Illustration: NAPOLEON LE GRAND,
rétablit le culte des Israélites, le 30 Mai 1806.
_From a stipple engraving lent by Israel Solomons_
(‡ ♦text shown below)
_Une antique nation, autrefois l’unique dépositaire
des volontés du_ Très haut, _et gouvernée par la divine
législation de_ Moïse, _est dispersée depuis plus de_
dix-sept Siécles _sur la surface du globe. En rapport avec
tous les Peuples, elle ne se mêle avec aucun, et elle semble
exister pour voir passer devant elle le torrent des siécles
qui les entraîne. Un tel phénomene serait inexplicable, s’il
ne tenait qu’à l’ordre politique, car il était moralement
impossible que les Juifs pûssent longtems exister, malgré
toutes les vicissitudes et les persecutions dont ils furent
les victimes chez les différentes nations de la terre. Dans
combien de proscriptions ne furent-ils pas envelloppés!
Pour ne parler que de la France, qui ne sait les haines, les
mépris, les outrages, les confiscations, les bannissemens,
les supplices même qu’ils y ont endurés? rien de cruel,
rien de deshonorant ne leur a été épargné; de sorte que l’on
serait tenté de croire que nos aïeux ne les comptaient point
au nombre des humains. En vain quelques orateurs éloquens
s’élevèrent contre une si criante injustice, leur voix ne fut
point entendue, et les infortunés_ Israelites _paraissaient
à jamais condamnés à l’avilissement et à l’opprobre. Un
nouveau_ Cyrus _a paru, mais il a fait pour eux plus que
l’ancien. S’il n’a pas reconstruit leur temple, il leur a
donné une patrie et des loix protectrices de leur culte et
de leurs droits civils; en les rendant citoyens et membres de
la grande nation, il leur a rendu l’honneur; en leur donnant
des mœurs, il les a garantis pour jamais du mépris des ses
peuples. Pénétrés de reconnaissance pour de si précieux
bienfaits, les enfans_ d’Israel _se sont prosternés au
pied du trône du_ Grand Napoléon, _et les filles de_ Sion
_ont fait retentir les voûtes des temples de ces cantiques
célébres que répétaient les échos du_ Jourdain, _lors qu’au
retour de sa captivité le peuple_ Hébreu _célébrait les
miséricordes du_ Seigneur. _La gratitude des_ Israëlites
_français ne s’est pas bornée à de simples démonstrations,
ils prouvent chaque jour qu’ils sont dignes des faveurs du
Souverain par leur attachement à son auguste personne et par
leur soumission à ses loix._
_A Paris, au Bureau de l’Auteur des_ Fastes de la Nation
Française, M. Ternisien d’Haudricourt, _Rue de Seine N.º 27
F. Sᵗ. Germain._
♦ Shown as given in illustration without correction
“... If the _Sanhedrim_ were to consult only on what was domestic,
why invite the co-operation of all the Jews in Europe? The time was
not come for the design to be exposed at full length. What grand
scheme is developing, and whether Napoleon is devising the commercial
aggrandizement of France, and the ruin of the English interest in
the East, by the re-settlement of the Jews in their own land, time
will discover. But it needs but little discernment, when, besides
all this, the state of things both in Europe and in the East, and the
character of the extraordinary man who has taken this people under his
protection, are taken into consideration, to perceive, that something
is intended more characteristic of the vast grasp of Napoleon’s
ambition than that of squeezing out of the Jews a few millions of
livres....”
Bicheno concludes thus: “... it must be allowed by all serious minds,
... that the great question relative to the future fortunes of the
Jews, who, for so many ages, have been preserved as by a continued
miracle, possesses considerable interest: . .. that the Jews, after
their present long captivity, will be gathered from all nations, and
be again restored to their own country, and be made a holy and happy
people. That their restoration will be effected at a time of great and
general calamities.... That it is most likely they will be first put
in motion by some foreign power, and that this power is some maritime
one in these western parts of the world.... How long it is to the time
when ‘the dry bones of the House of _Israel_’ will begin to move, it
is impossible to say;... But although no one can say how near, or how
distant, the time may be, when God will fulfil his promises to the
Jewish nation; yet it is certain there never were so many reasons for
concluding it not to be very far off, as at present. We live in awful
times. We and our fathers have seen wars, but, since man learnt to
shed blood, there never was one similar to the present, in which the
nations are dashing each other to pieces.... Events the most alarming
follow each other in quick succession.... Palestine itself is becoming
the scene of contest; and that ferment, which has been productive of
such unexpected and awful catastrophes in Europe, has reached the
shores of Egypt and Syria.”¹
¹ _Ibid._, _pp._ 59‒60: 228‒230.
In conclusion, it may be pointed out that Bonaparte’s idea of the
restoration of the Jews was not quite new in France. Some suggestions
of the kind had been made in French literature before. Thus the Prince
_de_ Ligne¹ wrote, in his _Memoirs upon the Jews_, in 1797:
¹ Charles Joseph, Prince _de_ Ligne, was born in Brussels,
1735, and died in Vienna, 1814. He distinguished himself as
a general during the Seven Years’ War. He was an immensely
wealthy nobleman and a great traveller, and after the war
he settled at Vienna, where he was attached to the Imperial
Court, and became a friend and adviser of the Emperor
Joseph II. (1765‒1790). He addressed to the Emperor――who
was much interested in the reformation of the Jews and
granted them some measure of rights――a “Memorial about the
Jewish problem,” and suggested a scheme of a return of the
Jews to Palestine (Œuvres choisis, Paris et Genève, 1809).
“After having traced to the Christian states their duties and their
interests in regard to the amelioration of the condition of the Jews
of Europe, we may prophesy what will happen in case they ignore this
counsel.... If the Turks have a little common sense they will try
and attract the Jews to them in order to make them their political,
military and financial advisers, their police agents, their merchants,
in short to become initiated by their advisers into all wherein lies
the strength and weakness of the Christian states. Finally, the Sultan
will sell to them the Kingdom of _Judah_, where they would act better
than aforetimes.... The Jews who would have found again their country
would be compelled to make therein flourish the arts, industry,
agriculture and the commerce of Europe. _Jerusalem_, a horrible nest
at present (this was written in 1797), giving a heartache to the
pilgrims who come there now, would become a splendid capital. They
would rebuild the Temple of _Solomon_ upon its ruins. They would fix
the waters of the torrents of _Kidron_, which would supply canals for
circulation and exportation.”