Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/174

150 150 EXPULSION OF THE JEWS. PART be regarded as an enormous stretch of prerogative, — — '- altogether incompatible with any thing like a free government. But to judge the matter rightly, we must take into view the actual position of the Jews at that time. Far from forming an integral part of the commonwealth, they were regarded as alien to it, as a mere excrescence, which, so far from con- tributing to the healthful action of the body politic, was nourished by its vicious humors, and might be lopped off at any time, when the health of the sys- tem demanded it. Far from being protected by the laws, the only aim of the laws, in reference to them, was to define more precisely their civil inca- pacities, and to draw the line of division more broadly between them and the Christians. Even this humiliation by no means satisfied the national prejudices, as is evinced by the great number of - tumults and massacres of which they were the vic- tims. In these circumstances, it seemed to be no great assumption of authority, to pronounce sen- tence of exile against those, whom public opinion had so long proscribed as enemies to the state. It was only carrying into effect that opinion, express- ed as it had been in a great variety of ways ; and, as far as the rights of the nation were concerned, the banishment of a single Spaniard would have been held a grosser violation of them, than that of the whole race of Israelites. uvesS^'thc It has been common with modern historians to detect a principal motive for the expulsion of the Jews, in the avarice of the government. It is only necessary, however, to transport ourselves back to