Jews had been expelled since 1290. He worked to get them permission to settle there again and thus hasten the Messiah's coming. With the start of the Commonwealth, the question of the readmission of the Jews had found increased Puritan support, but it was often mooted under the growing desire for religious liberty. In addition, Messianic and other mystic hopes were then current in England. His book, The Hope of Israel, was first published in Amsterdam in Latin (Spes Israelis) and in Spanish (Esperança de Israel) in 1650. The book was written in response to a 1648 letter from John Dury enquiring about Montezinos' claims. In addition to reporting Montezinos' accounts of Jews in the Americas, the book also expressed the hope that the Jews would return to England as a way of hastening the coming of the messiah. Menasseh also stresses his kinship with parliament, and explains himself as driven by amity for England rather than financial gain. In 1651 he offered to serve Christina, Queen of Sweden as her agent of Hebrew books. The same year he met Oliver St John and his envoys on his mission to secure an Anglo-Dutch coalition (which would have given Dutch citizens, and thus Jews, privileges to stay and work in England). The English were impressed by learning and manner, and advised him to formally apply for Jewish readmission to England. In 1652 The Hope of Israel was translated from Latin into English by John Dury or one of his associates, and it was published in London by Moses Wall, prefixed with a dedication to the Parliament and the Council of State; his account of descendants of the Lost Tribes being found in the New World deeply impressed public opinion and stirred up many polemics in English literature. This included a debate between Edward Spencer and Moses Wall, an MP and a scholar respectively, on ben Israel's millennial claims and the manner in which the Jews would be converted. Wall and Spencer's letters were printed in later additions of the book. Despite their historic misfortunes and movements, Menasseh characterizes the condition of Jewry at the time by saying: Oliver Cromwell was sympathetic to the Jewish cause, partly because of his tolerant leanings but chiefly because he foresaw the importance for English commerce of the participation of the Jewish merchant princes, some of whom had already made their way to London. At this