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In close relation to the German progress in Mendelssohn's age, events had been pro gressing in France, where the Revolution did much to improve the Jewish condition, thanks largely to the influence of Mirabeau In 1807 Napoleon convoked a Jewish assembly in Paris. The decisions of this body proclaim the acceptance of the spirit of Mendelssohn's reconciliation of the Jews to modern life. They declare their readiness to adapt the law of the synagogue to the law of the land, as for instance in the question of marriage and divorce. Napoleon, after the report of the assembly, established the consistorial system which remained in force, with its central consistory in the capital, until the recent separation of church and state.
Similar developments occurred in other coun tries, though it becomes impossible to treat the history of the Jews, from this time onwards, in general outline. We must direct our attention to the most important countries in such detail as space permits. And first as to Italy, where the Jews in a special degree have identified themselves with the national life. The revolutions of 1848, which greatly affected the position of the Jews in several parts of Europe, brought considerable gain to the Jews of Italy. During the war against Austria in the year named, Isaac Pesaro Marogonato was finance minister in Venice. Previously to this date the Jews were still confined to the ghetto, but in 1859, in the Italy united-under Victor Emanuel II., the Jews obtained complete rights, a privilege which was extended also to Rome itself in 1870. The Italian Jews devoted themselves with ardour to the service of the state. Isaac Artom was Cavour's secretary, L'Olper a counsellor of Mazzini. "The names of the Jewish soldiers who died in the cause of Italian liberty were placed along with those of their Christian fellow soldiers on the monu ments erected in their honour" (Jewish Encyclopedia, vii. 1o). More recently men like Wollemberg, Ottolenghi Nathan and Luz zatti rose to high positions as ministers of state. Most noted of recent Jewish scholars in Italy was S. D. Luzzatto.
Austria, which had founded the system of "Court Jews" in 1518, had expelled the Jews from Vienna as late as 167o, when the synagogue of that city was converted into a church. But as the commerce of Austria suffered by the absence of the Jews, it was impossible to exclude the latter from the fairs in the provinces or from the markets of the capital. But Maria Theresa (174o-178o) was distinguished for her enmity to the Jews, and in 1744 made a futile attempt to secure their expulsion from Bohemia. At about this period the community of Prague, in a petition, "complain that they are not permitted to buy vict uals in the market before a certain hour, vegetables not before 9 and cattle not before 11 o'clock; to buy fish is sometimes altogether prohibited; Jewish druggists are not permitted to buy victuals at the same time with Christians" Jew Enc. II. 33o
Taxation was exorbitant and vexatious. To pay for rendering inoperative the banishment edict of 1744, the Jews were taxed 3,000,00o florins annually for ten years. In the same year it was decreed that the Jews should pay "a special tax of 40,00o florins for the right to import their citrons for the feast of booths." Nevertheless, Joseph II. (178o-179o) inaugurated a new era for the Jews of his empire.
This enlightened policy was not continued by the successors of Joseph II. Under Francis II. (1792-1835) economic and social restrictions were numerous; indeed the Vienna congress of 1815 practically restored the old discriminations against the Jews. As time went on, a more progressive policy intervened, the special form of Jewish oath was abolished in 1846, and in 1848, legislation took a more liberal turn. In 1867 the new con stitution "abolished all disabilities on the ground of religious differences," though anti-Semitic manipulation of the law by administrative authority has led to many instances of intolerance. Many Jews have been members of the Reichsrath, some have risen to the rank of general in the army, and Austrian Jews have contributed their quota to learning, the arts and literature. The law of 1890 makes it "compulsory for every Jew to be a member of the congregation of the district in which he resides, and so gives to every congregation the right to tax the individual members" (op. cit.). A similar obligation prevails in parts of Germany. A Jew can avoid the communal tax only by formally declaring himself as outside the Jewish community. The Jews of Hungary shared with their brethren in Austria the same alternations of expulsion and recall. By the law "De Judaeis" passed by the Diet in 1791 the Jews were accorded protection. The "toleration tax" was abolished in 1846. During the revolutionary outbreak of 1848, the Jews suffered severely in Hungary, but as many as 20,000 Jews are said to have joined the army. Kossuth succeeded in granting them temporary emancipation, but the suppression of the War of Independence led to an era of royal autocracy which, while it advanced Jewish culture by enforcing the establishment of modern schools, retarded the obtaining of civic and political rights. As in Austria, so in Hungary, these rights were granted by the constitution of 1867. But one step remained. The Hun garian Jews did not consider themselves fully emancipated until the Synagogue was "duly recognized as one of the legally acknowl edged religions of the country." This recognition was granted by the law of 1895-1896 (Jewish Encyclopedia, vi. 503).