[Ads-l] Quote: When the gentleman's ancestors were naked savages on these islands, mine were Princes of the Temple

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Way back in February 2005 Fred Shapiro, Ben Zimmer, and Geoffrey
Nunberg participated in a thread about a statement ascribed to
Benjamin Disraeli and Judah P. Benjamin. Fred included a pertinent
entry in The Yale Book of Quotations with citations in 1878, 1886, and
1892.

I was asked to explore this topic. Below is an earlier citation in
1872 reporting on a speech about religious tolerance delivered by
Major B. Rush Plumly in the State Legislature of Texas:

[ref] 1872 May 25, Weekly Alta California, The Jews: Speech Before the
Texas Legislature—Rebuke to Religious Intolerance (From the Galveston
Herald May 2d), Quote Page 3, Column 3, San Francisco, California.
(GenealogyBank)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
Sir, in view of this subject, I realize the feeling of D'Israeli,
when, in the British Parliament, taunted with being a Jew, he is said
to have replied, "I am a Jew. When the gentleman's ancestors were
naked savages on these islands, mine were Princes of the Temple. I
feel every fibre of my frame thrill with the traditions of my people."
[End excerpt]

I searched the online Hansard and was unable to find evidence of this quotation.

Garson

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