Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/165

141 xvii. EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. 141 raising them far above similar classes in most other chapter nations, who might readily be detached from the soil on which they happened to be cast, with com- paratively little sacrifice of local interests. ^ These ties were now severed at a blow. They were to go forth as exiles from the land of their birth ; the land where all, whom they ever loved, had lived or died ; the land, not so much of their adoption, as of inheritance ; which had been the home of their ancestors for centuries, and with whose prosperity and glory they were of course as intimately asso- ciated, as was any ancient Spaniard. They were to be cast out helpless and defenceless, with a brand of infamy set on them, among nations who had always held them in derision and hatred. Those provisions of the edict, which affected a show of kindness to the Jews, were contrived so artfully, as to be nearly nugatory. As they were excluded from the use of gold and silver, the only medium for representing their property was bills of exchange. But commerce was too limited and im- perfect to allow of these being promptly obtained to any very considerable, much less to the enormous amount required in the present instance. It was impossible, moreover, to negotiate a sale of their effects under existing circumstances, since the mar- ket was soon glutted with commodities ; and few would be found willing to give any thing like an equivalent for what, if not disposed of within the prescribed term, the proprietors must relinquish at ' Bernaldez, Reyes Cat61icos, ubi supra.