WINNERS AND LOSERS: THE BALANCE SHEET OF EMPIRE 185We are told that many Sicilians were sorry to see them go. With
reason. What was left of trade shrank almost to nothing; houses and
even neighborhoods were left desolate; and we must assume that
some people had the decency to feel ashamed.
Much later, toward the end of the seventeenth century, some
Sicilians urged the king to do something to promote trade. Charles
II granted Messina the privilege of a free port and gave Jews the
right to trade there—on condition that they sleep outside the city
and wear a distinctive sign on their clothing. Such ambiguous
hospitality did not encourage Jews to come, so in 1728 the Jews
were granted the right to trade anywhere on the island, to reside in
Messina, to have a synagogue and cemetery, to own and dispose of
property. Even this did not help, so in 1740 the king explicitly
invited the Jews to return. A number of families accepted, but found
themselves mistreated by a prejudiced populace. Then it happened
that the queen had not succeeded in bearing a male heir to the
throne, and the royal couple were persuaded by clerics that they
would not have a son so long as they allowed the Jews to stay. So,
after seven years, another expulsion.
Intolerance, superstition, ignorance—these are easier to acquire
and cultivate than to uproot. The same iniquities and vices,
perpetrated long ago by foreign (Spanish) rulers, have contributed to
this day to Sicily's persistent backwardness.