CHAPTER II.1848.
THE POLISH AND RUSSIAN JEWS AND THE QUESTION OF AGRICULTURE—THE JEWISH DISABILITIES IN PARLIAMENT AGAIN—THE CHARTIST RIOTS—SIR MOSES AND LADY MONTEFIORE DEPART FOR THE HOLY LAND—ABSURD CHARGE BROUGHT AGAINST THEM—THEIR RETURN TO ENGLAND.
IN the early part of the year 1848 Sir Moses was occupied with the question of agriculture in Poland and Russia, and had several interviews with Baron Brunnow on the subject. A plan, drawn up by Mr Posener of Warsaw, in connection with the tenancy, treatment, and improvement of farms, fields, and estates generally in the dominions of the Czar, was submitted by Sir Moses to the Ambassador, who fully approved of it.
At home his interest was centered in the Bill for the removal of Jewish disabilities, which was read a second time on the night of the 11th February, and passed by a majority of 73, there having been 277 for and 204 against it. Sir Robert Peel, in his memorable speech on this occasion, spoke in most flattering terms of Sir Moses.
Lady Montefiore's interest in politics was also much sustained by her regular interchange of visits with Mrs Disraeli, who was a near neighbour.
April 9th.—In consequence of the threatening Chartist riots, much alarm was felt at the meeting of the rioters which was convened for the morrow, and it was found necessary to take measures for the protection of the Bank of England, the parapet of which was lined and covered with sand-bags, to form a breast-work.
April 10th.—Sir Moses was at Mount Street at half-past eight this morning. Mr Graham, a magistrate, was in attendance, and remained with him till three, swearing in about 450special constables. "It has been," he says, "a day of much anxiety for the public peace, but, thank God! the Chartists' meeting has proved a complete failure." At three o'clock he went to the Alliance and the Irish Bank, where all the clerks had been sworn in; some were to remain till late in the evening. Sir Moses returned afterwards to Mount Street, where he remained till five.
May 11th.—Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore attended the first Drawing-Room of the season.
May 25th.—Sir Moses proceeded to the House of Lords. "Sir Augustus Clifford," he writes, "was so good as to procure for me a place at the Bar, and at six o'clock a place near the Throne. The debate for the removal of Jewish disabilities lasted till half-past one. It was a painful excitement. The majority against us was thirty-five, much greater than was expected."
The Duke of Cambridge, on that occasion, although one of the opponents of the Bill from conscientious motives, made a speech in which he expressed himself favourably towards the character of the Jews in general, and more especially towards that of Sir Moses.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, however, also from conscientious motives, supported the Bill. The course taken by the latter prince, it may be observed, has been amply justified by the experience of the last forty years. In this country, as well as in all others where Jews have been admitted into the legislature, their presence has unquestionably had no unfavourable effect on the administration of the law.
On the 7th of July Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore made a little excursion to Scotland, and on their return to town attended a soirée at the Marquis of Salisbury's. Whilst they were passing the evening here, visitors of a different description had availed themselves of the temporary absence of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore to effect an entrance into the drawing-room at Park Lane, whence the thieves succeeded in abstracting every article of gold and silver, as well as the Hamburg medal and many other valuable testimonials and mementoes.
In November they took an active part on a Committee which had been formed in Ramsgate, for providing relief for one hundred and sixty emigrants who had been saved from the shipBurgundy, and in December they provided one hundred ofthe London poor with blankets, again sent medical supplies from Apothecaries' Hall to their dispensary in Jerusalem, and visited the London Hospital and several other charitable institutions.
The reader will probably remember that in the year 1840, when Sir Moses appealed to Cardinal Riverola, head of the Capuchins in Rome, for the removal of the libellous and malicious epitaph in the Church of the Capuchins at Damascus, respecting the supposed murder of Padre Tomaso, His Eminence promised him his aid; but the events of Deir-el-Kámár and Damascus having given undoubted evidence of the spirit of hatred and persecution which still filled the hearts of the people, Sir Moses entertained serious doubts as to the fulfilment of that promise, and resolved to go there himself to ascertain the actual state of affairs.
The French Government having so forcibly expressed their disbelief in the accusations brought against the Jews, and having so severely censured the Agent of the French Consulate in Damascus, he thought, in the event of the epitaph in question being still in existence, he might now be able, with the assistance of the French Government and the Cardinal, to get it removed.
Independently of his own feelings on the matter, he was desirous of complying with the urgent prayer of the representatives of the Hebrew community at Damascus, who addressed several letters to him on that subject. "We have reason," they wrote, "to be greatly distressed on account of this epitaph, as by it the feelings of hatred and revenge entertained by Christians towards Jews may be perpetuated through coming generations. Whosoever sees the inscription is filled with hatred and indignation against Israel."
Many important meetings which he, as President of the Board of Deputies of the Congregation of British Jews, had to attend, and various engagements of communal interest, prevented Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore leaving England before May the 16th.
This delay, however, was productive of considerable pleasure to them, inasmuch as they were thereby enabled to receive the congratulations of their friends on the result of the debate in the House of Commons respecting the second reading of theOaths Bill (May 7). The numbers were—For, 278; against, 185; majority, 93.
Accompanied by Colonel Gawler, a gentleman who took a great interest in the colonisation of the Holy Land, and had published several valuable papers on the subject, and by the Rev. Emanuel Myers, they left Dover for Calais, reaching Marseilles on the 24th of May and Alexandria on the 5th of June.
There Sir Moses sent the Admiral's letter to Captain John Foote of theRosamond, who invited him on board his ship the next day to meet Said Pasha. His Highness received Sir Moses very kindly, and expressed pleasure on meeting him again.
They left Alexandria on June 14th on board the steamerLe Caire, arriving at Beyrout on the 16th, where they entered the Lazaretto for twelve days.
Sir Moses presented Lord Palmerston's letter to Mr Niven Moore, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul General, who assured him of his readiness to assist him in the object of his journey to Damascus. Deputations arrived from all parts of the Holy Land, and especially from Damascus, offering their greetings of welcome and their services, but it was found desirable, in order to avoid any unnecessary excitement, to request the representatives of the deputations to return to their respective towns and await the arrival of Sir Moses there.
Dr Fränkel, the doctor in charge of Sir Moses' dispensary at Jerusalem, was sent for to accompany the party to Damascus, and letters were written to the four Holy Cities, viz., Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Safed, apprising the communities of the arrival of the travellers.
They passed twelve days in quarantine, not altogether without anxiety on account of Lady Montefiore, who was confined to her apartments for several days by illness. The heat of the weather was very oppressive, and the presence of the graves of some unfortunate travellers who died whilst in quarantine, affected their spirits very much, and conjured up gloomy reflections.
One morning a very large black snake was killed close to the door of their house. It measured six feet ten inches in length, and its bite would have been fatal. They were toldthat great numbers of them might sometimes be seen in the grounds of the Lazaretto.
Happily the number of letters which required their attention, and the frequent calls from their friends, did not allow them to remain long in this desponding state.
June 19th.—Colonel Moore communicated to them some news which afforded them much pleasure. The Emperor of Russia had conceded to all his subjects in the Holy Land, whose passports had expired, the right of placing themselves under British protection, which, in fact, was allowing them to become British subjects. The British Government had approved of the measure, and at this moment, the Consul said, the Russians and Poles in Syria might, if they chose, be British subjects.
June 27th.—They left the Lazaretto, proceeding to Damascus, where they arrived on July 3rd, taking up their quarters in the house of Isaac Haim Farhhi.
Her Majesty's Consul, Mr (now Sir) Richard Wood, was foremost in his attention to them. The members of the Hebrew community were rejoiced beyond description on seeing those who had made so many sacrifices for them; but, while these manifested their great happiness, there were others, still under the influence of the ancient prejudice against the Hebrews, who could not suppress their chagrin at the presence of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore in Damascus.
Sir Moses being desirous of ascertaining for himself whether the objectional inscription was still in existence, repaired to the Church of the Capuchins, where, to his great sorrow, he saw the stone, bearing the inscription in Italian and Arabic. He immediately had it copied in the presence of Fratre Giovannida Termini Prefo. dei Mis F. Cappucciai, and Fr. Domenico de Sewazzo Mis F. Aposco.Cappño, and determined to return, with as little delay as possible, to England, in order to appeal to the English Government, and, through them, to the French and Turkish Governments, for the removal of the tablet.
History affords many examples of fanaticism, but never has there been one more scurrilous and malicious than this. It has been repeated from father to son, and has insensibly become an accepted tradition. Every possible endeavour, Sir Mosesthought, should be used to prevent history being tarnished by this new proof of falsehood and defamation.
Great was the anger of the people when they heard of his having been in the church and procured a copy of the epitaph. It was reported that the French authorities intended to celebrate a grand mass in commemoration of the death of Padre Tomaso, which they would attend in uniform and in their official character.
Sir Moses had frequent interviews with the principal Jewish inhabitants, and arranged with them to have some new Jewish girls' schools.
Sunday, July 7th.—They left Damascus and directed their course to Safed, where they arrived on the 15th inst. Here they encamped in tents till the 18th, then proceeded to Tiberias, where they accepted the hospitality of Mr Abulafia. On Friday they set out for Nazareth, remaining there over Sabbath and Sunday. Here a most serious incident happened, for, in the middle of the night of Saturday, they heard a terrible yelling and shouting near their tent; a woman was howling dreadfully at the loss of her child, which she said the Jews had murdered for religious purposes. Fortunately the child was soon found, and the Governor took immediate steps to punish severely the persons who had attempted to bring against Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore an accusation like that brought against the innocent Jews of Damascus. They left Nablous and went to Jerusalem, where they arrived on the 26th, remaining there for a week.
They paid a visit to Hebron for three days, returning again to Jerusalem, and from there directed their course to Jaffa, and embarked on board theGrand Turkfor Beyrout, where they arrived on Friday, August 10th, taking apartments at the Hotel de Bellevue, to wait for the arrival of the steamerLe Caire.
During their sojourn in Beyrout, among the numerous visitors who called on them was Colonel Churchill, who was dressed as an Arab chief; he purposed making a tour in the mountains, and then publishing an account of his travels. Mr Moore, the English Consul, paid them long visits, and assured them that the Jews should receive every protection. Sir Moses spoke to him of the dread which the Jews of Tiberias had of increased taxation, and also of the missionaries at Jerusalem.
August 14th.—Signor Finzi, the British Consular Agent at Acre, who had made the journey expressly to see him and Lady Montefiore, paid them a visit. He was a very good and charitable, but not a wealthy man, whom they had seen ten years previously, when they visited the Holy Land the second time. He received no salary from the English Government for the reason, one may suppose, that there are too many in Syria who would be glad to serve in that capacity, even if they had to pay the Government for it, on account of the honour which the office confers upon them. Sir Moses, in appreciation of his services, requested his acceptance of a valuable uniform with gold embroidery and large gold buttons. The reader will perhaps smile at the choice of this present, but those who know the East, and the importance a military dress there imparts to the wearer, will understand the motive Sir Moses had in enabling a good man without means, who was a co-religionist and an English official, to appear on grand occasions as well dressed as other Consuls.
The weather being very hot and oppressive, Sir Moses thought it would strengthen him to take a little trip on the water, and invited Signor Finzi to accompany him in a small boat with four men and Ibrahim the cook, to the mouth of the Nahr-el Kelb, a distance of seven miles by sea, and nine or ten miles by land. Colonel M. Gawler had gone there in the morning to copy the Assyrian inscription.
Though the boat was small and there was a heavy swell, the voyage was pleasant enough until they endeavoured to enter the river, when by some mistake they took the wrong channel, and the boat grounded in the surf, and the waves threatened to overwhelm it. All the men jumped into the water, and two of them seized Sir Moses and carried him on to dry ground. He was greatly alarmed, but with the assistance of Signor Finzi happily escaped with the fright and the wetting.
The Colonel soon joined them, and then proceeded to view the inscriptions, of which however he could only make out that the figure was dedicated to the Emperor Antonius. I myself had visited this spot ten years previously, and made a rough sketch of the tablet and figure at the time. The "Nahr-el Kelb" is known to the student of ancient history by the name of Lycus, the "river of the wolf or dog," whose bark could beheard as far as Cyprus. It is of great interest to the archæologist. The view of the river when coming from Beyrout is very beautiful. A bridge of three arches is built across it, and there are three high and imposing rocks in the immediate vicinity; to the left of the bridge several waterfalls are visible between the foliage of the trees, and the scenery is altogether very grand. After crossing at the ford called Nahr Antelias, the traveller comes to Ras Nahr-el-Kelb; here the guides generally direct the attention of the traveller to the top of the promontory, where they allege a colossal figure of a dog used in former ages to stand on a kind of pedestal hewn out of the rock. During a tempest the figure was hurled into the sea, and a piece of rock is shown under the water, bearing a resemblance to a dog, and which, they say, is part of the very figure once standing on the top of the rock.
Sir Moses enjoyed the little excursion, and returned to Beyrout in good spirits.
August 16th.—After entrusting Signor Finzi with his offering for the poor at Haifa and Acre, and forwarding £537 to Jerusalem on behalf of the Hebrew community of Warsaw, Sir Moses bade farewell to his friends and left for Alexandria, Malta, and Marseilles, where they kept quarantine. Sir Moses was suffering from indisposition, caused by the great heat of the weather, and was made very uncomfortable by hearing that every one who could was preparing to leave Marseilles on account of the cholera, which was raging fearfully in the town. His anxiety was relieved by Clot Bey, first physician to Mohammad Ali Pasha, who assured Sir Moses that he was quite free from fever, and would soon be better. Clot Bey was most kind, coming to see Sir Moses as often as possible until his recovery, and when they left the Lazaretto, he presented Lady Montefiore with some Egyptian antiquities, with which she was greatly pleased. Clot Bey promised to pay them a visit in Ramsgate, where the Egyptian souvenir he gave to Lady Moses is still preserved in her cabinet at the Judith College, among other antique treasures. During the short stay of Sir Moses at Marseilles he made it a point of visiting the gasworks of the company of which he was a director, and so acquainting himself fully with the working of the establishment. At the hour for divine service he went to the house of prayer to return thanks toGod for his safe return from the East; and last, though not least, he felt it his duty to pay a visit to an old invalid aunt, Miss Lydia Montefiore, whom he did not know, and who did not remember him. Although very aged and in bad health, she was in good spirits. She chatted with Sir Moses for a long time, and showed him a portrait of his grandmother, Esther Hannah Montefiore, taken when she was a young woman. Miss Montefiore assured Sir Moses that she had always endeavoured to follow the example of her parents, and would live and die a Jewess. She sent her blessing and good wishes to Lady Montefiore, who sent her a handsome souvenir in return.
The travellers soon left Marseilles, and arrived in Paris on the 11th September. Sir Moses called on the Ambassador, Lord Normanby, on the President of the Consistoire, the Chief Rabbi, the different members of the Rothschild family, and some of his own near relatives who happened to be in Paris. They all took a great interest in the exertions of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore for the benefit of their co-religionists, and Sir Moses was glad of an opportunity to tell them of the result, and to enlist their sympathy still more for the good cause.
After a short stay in Paris, they continued their journey to England, and soon arrived in Folkestone, where they found Mrs Gawler, who had come to meet her husband. Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore here bade adieu to the Colonel and Mrs Gawler, as they were anxious to go to Ramsgate as quickly as possible. Immediately after their arrival there they attended divine service in their own Synagogue, to thank God for their safe return home.