CHAPTER IV.1852.
VISIT OF THE HEREDITARY PRINCE OF EGYPT—BARON LIONEL DE ROTHSCHILD RETURNED FOR THE CITY—THE NORTH AMERICAN RELIEF SOCIETY—SIR MOSES ON THE DISTRESS IN PALESTINE—SERIOUS ILLNESS.
"ON June 21," Sir Moses writes, "at six o'clock in the morning I received a telegraphic note, informing me of the arrival of his Highness Mohammed Said Pasha, Prince héreditaire d'Egypte," who very shortly afterwards became Khedive.
"I went," Sir Moses writes in his Diary, "to the railway station, and at ten minutes to eight his Highness arrived. He immediately got into our carriage, and, as we were driving off, the Turkish Ambassador came to receive him and followed us to Park Lane. The Pasha was attended by Mr Zohrab, Mr Galloway, two physicians—Dr Gaëtani Bey and Dr G. A. Haage, Zoulfikar Effendi, Ali Capitan, his Secretary, and four Mamelukes, his servants. They all came to Park Lane. The Pasha took a pipe and coffee, and then all, together with the Ambassador, went down to breakfast. At twelve His Highness, myself, Mr Zohrab, and Mr Galloway went to Greenwich. The physicians and secretaries followed in our carriage. We went on board His Majesty's yacht, theHásseid HáïrorGood Omen, Captain Longridge, a screw steamer magnificently fitted up. In about two hours we got under way, and ran down to near Gravesend at the rate of twelve miles an hour. On our way back there was an elegant dinner served on board, and on coming to anchor at Greenwich I went on shore with Mr Galloway, the Pasha and his suite remaining on board.
"June 22nd.—We went in our carriage to Greenwich, met there Mr Galloway and Gaëtani Bey, and went on board His Highness's yacht. After paying our respects to him, he and allthe party went on shore. He chose the large carriage. I and Mr Galloway and Gaëtani Bey accompanied him to the Royal Observatory. Professor Airy very kindly showed His Highness and all the party his astronomical instruments and explained their use. We then rode to Park Lane, where my dear wife had prepared a splendid entertainment for His Highness and party; there were ten at table. In the evening the Pasha had many visitors, including the Turkish Ambassador.
"June 23rd.—The Turkish Ambassador called on the Pasha at about twelve; they went to Lord Malmesbury, who introduced him to the Queen and Prince Albert at Buckingham Palace. The Government sent Captain E. Stopford Claremont, of the Royal Canadian Rifles, to attend on His Highness during his stay in England. The Turkish Ambassador called at eleven for the Pasha. They went with Captain Claremont to Mrs Disraeli's grand reception, with which the Pasha was much pleased.
"June 24th.—The Pasha received an invitation from our beloved Sovereign to dinner at the Palace to-morrow, also from the Duke of Northumberland to dinner on Saturday, and for Friday, 2nd of July, from Lord Hardinge. The Prince went to Vauxhall soon after ten o'clock.
"June 25th.—At half-past eight I was in the park with the Pasha to see the Guards drill; they were reviewed by Prince Albert and the Duke of Cambridge, who both rode up and spoke to him. At eleven Captain Claremont and myself, with the Pasha, went to Wormwood Scrubbs to see a review of three cavalry regiments by the Duke of Cambridge, and returned at one o'clock to Park Lane. The Pasha went in the evening to dine with Her Majesty.
"June 26th.—The Pasha went this morning to Woolwich with Captain Claremont. All the foreign Ministers left cards for His Highness to-day, also the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, &c. I called on Baron Brunnow; he spoke much about the Pasha. The Pasha dined with the Duke of Northumberland, and gave his arm to the Princess Mary of Cambridge. He returned soon after, much pleased with his day's amusement. He smoked a pipe, gave me one, and remained chatting with us for some time. He was received at Woolwich with all the honours usually paid to a prince of theblood. The Pasha assured us that our dinners were better than any he had eaten elsewhere. He has ordered the yacht to sail to-morrow, but we do not go with him to Ramsgate, as he must pass the morning with the Duc de Montpensier.
"June 27th.—The Pasha went to Richmond to breakfast with the Duc de Montpensier. They afterwards rode to Claremont to see the Queen of the French and other members of the French Royal family. We did not expect him back to dinner, but he returned to Park Lane at six o'clock, and we fortunately had a very good dinner to offer him. In the evening the Turkish Ambassador came and stayed till ten o'clock.
"June 28th.—The Pasha went with Mr Zohrab to see Maudsley's manufactory of steam-engines. The Ambassador came in the evening to smoke a pipe with the Pasha.
"June 29th.—The Pasha breakfasted in the parlour, and had afterwards a numerously attended levée. He then went to the Duchess of Cambridge with the Turkish Minister.
"Park Lane, July 2nd.—This morning my dear wife and I went to Woolwich to be present at the review given to His Highness Said Pasha. Our carriage was placed in a capital situation, close to the colours, near which the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Hardinge, and General Fox were to review the troops. The Pasha dined with Lord Hardinge.
"Saturday, July 3rd.—The Turkish Ambassador came at 7.30, and the Pasha accompanied him to dine at Lord Palmerston's.
"Park Lane, Sunday, July 4th.—Just returned from seeing His Highness Said Pasha set off for Portsmouth. His Highness expressed his high gratification for our attention to him during his stay in London, and insisted upon Judith's acceptance of a very beautiful and richly embroidered dress as a small souvenir. I hope and believe that not only His Highness but all his officers have been pleased with our desire to make them comfortable, and I trust that, by God's blessing, His Highness will be a friend to our co-religionists in Egypt and the Holy Land when he becomes Viceroy of Egypt.
"His Highness partook of a splendid breakfast with all his party before they left. The Turkish Ambassador and his brother came at nine, and half-an-hour later I went with His Highness and the Turkish Ambassador and Captain Claremont in HisHighness's open carriage to the Waterloo Station, my carriage and that of the Ambassador following. There were several persons connected with His Highness at the station to see him off.
"His Highness has been very kind, good tempered, and affable during his sojourn with us, and repeatedly told us that he was more comfortable with us than he had been anywhere else since his arrival in England.
"At one to-day I delivered into the care of Said Agha a parcel which was left by His Highness, to be given to him when he called for it."
July 5th.—Sir Moses received a note from Mr Zohrab, informing him of the Pasha's safe arrival on board his yacht at Portsmouth, and Sir Moses now considered himself free to pursue his usual occupations.
The next day he was present at the Guildhall, when the candidates for the city of London addressed the Livery. The show of hands was declared by the Sheriffs to be in favour of J. Masterman, Lord John Russell, Baron Lionel de Rothschild, and Mr Crawford. On the following morning Sir Moses rode to the city at an early hour, and voted at the Guildhall for Baron Lionel de Rothschild. By five in the evening his return was perfectly secure, but Alderman Solomons was not equally successful, to the great regret of Sir Moses.
July 9th.—Captain Hopford Claremont having written to say that His Highness the Pasha requested Sir Moses to lend him his travelling carriage, and to send it to Dover, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore determined to pass the Sabbath at Dover, and to see His Highness again before he left England. They directed their coachman to take the carriage by train to Dover, and taking with them six pounds of the finest hothouse grapes as a present for the Pasha, they proceeded to Dover. On their arrival they went to the Ship Hotel, where rooms had been taken for the Pasha, and dinner ordered.
His Highness soon sent for Sir Moses to come and dine with him. He was very chatty, and said he should leave to-morrow for Ostend, but Captain Claremont told Sir Moses that the Pasha had changed his plans twenty times, and might do so again. Sir Moses told the Pasha that his travelling carriage was already at Dover at His Highness's service, and that he had taken carethat it was in good order. His Highness was in good spirits, "and would, I have no doubt," Sir Moses says, "have gone back with me to Park Lane or to East Cliff, if I had invited him."
July 10th.—"The Pasha has," Sir Moses observes, "at length left the English shore, and probably for ever. I hope he will remember the kindness and attention shown to him by the British Government as well as by individuals, and that he may, whenever in his power, serve the British interest, and befriend my brethren in the East."
"The Pasha is," Sir Moses writes, "a young man with a good heart, but somewhat of a spoiled child: he is extremely sharp, quick, and discerning, positive in his manner, but at the same time, most courteous. For his great size he is very active, and enjoys excellent health. May good fortune and happiness attend him, and may the Almighty shield him from the temptations of ambition."
During the latter part of this year, Sir Moses attended various meetings of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, convened for the purpose of preparing a draft deed for making parliamentary grants to educational institutions. Whilst engaged in making preparations for another journey he received the news of the death of one of his aunts, which caused him much grief, but in consequence of his public character, he was not allowed long to brood over private misfortunes. On this occasion it was the oppressions suffered by his brethren at Tunis which roused him to intercede with the authorities on their behalf; and he addressed a petition to the Bey accordingly. Before the close of the year he and Lady Montefiore had the gratification of receiving a very kind letter from Said Pasha, thanking them for their hospitality, and offering Sir Moses his services in the East.
His attention in the years 1853 and 1854 was principally directed to communal matters in his own congregation, and to an extensive correspondence with Hebrew communities in foreign countries.
He received a communication from the Rev. S. M. Isaacs, a minister of one of the Hebrew communities in New York, referring to the "North American Relief Society," an institution founded by Mr Sampson Simon and himself (the Rev. S. M. Isaacs) for the purpose of creating a capital, the interest of which was to be annually appropriated to the support of the poor Israelites in the Holy Land.
He made the first remittance of the amount to Sir Moses, and requested that he would forward the same to Jerusalem. Sir Moses acceded to his wishes with pleasure, and continued to forward the remittances of that society, amounting to £145 every year, until his death.
The Rev. S. M. Isaacs also informed him of the death of a great philanthropist, Juda Touro of New Orleans, who had left the North American Relief Society $10,000, and a further sum of $50,000 for the benefit of the poor Israelities in Palestine; the latter sum subject to Sir Moses' control, conjointly with the executors.
Knowing the interest Sir Moses took in Jewish communal affairs, Mr Isaacs gave him all the particulars respecting his wealthy friend, who desired to benefit the poor, without distinction of creed or nationality. "Mr Touro," he wrote, "has left princely legacies of $20,000 for the hospital recently established at New York, $40,000 for educational purposes, and $80,000 to various synagogues. He has also left munificent gifts (more than $200,000) to Christian charities.
His remains are to be interred at Newport, Rhode Island, where his family are buried. He has left $10,000 for the endowment of the office of minister there, has given a synagogue worth $50,000 to the Hebrew community at New Orleans, and endowed it richly; he has also given a hospital, munificently endowed, to his co-religionists in New Orleans.
Sir Moses immediately expressed his willingness to forward the remittance of the North American Relief Society to the Holy Land, and to accept the trust of the Touro legacy, respecting the application of which I shall give the reader full particulars as I proceed further.
At the same time he received a communication from the Holy Land which gave him great pain. It conveyed the intelligence that there was great suffering in Palestine, and Sir Moses at once addressed the Chief Rabbi on the subject.
"For the sake of Zion," he writes to him, "I cannot remain silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I cannot rest, until the whole house of Israel have been made acquainted with the lamentable condition of those of our brethren who devotedly cling to the soil sacred to the memory of our patriarchs, prophets, and kings."Thrice having visited the Holy Land, it was my earnest desire fully to inform myself as to the condition of our brethren there, for whom mydeepest feelings of commiseration were excited, in regard to the amount of misery endured by them."Poverty in the East differs vastly from the like calamity experienced in Western Europe, inasmuch as the capability to relieve is in the East confined within the narrowest bounds, and restricted to a very limited number. Such being the general outline of the condition of our brethren in Judea, my feelings were most naturally aroused in their behalf."But, reverend sir, judge to what extent my sympathies are now awakened, when—as I informed you, from the harrowing intelligence it has been my painful lot to receive, both from direct and indirect sources—I learn that 'fathers in Israel'—men profoundly learned in the law, who, so that they may die near the graves of their forefathers, submit to live in the most abject poverty—are now impelled by the very love they bear towards their children to sell them to the stranger, 'so,' to use their own words, 'that their offspring may be spared death from starvation.'"Reverend and respected sir, I am loudly called upon by our brethren in the Holy Land, as the annexed letters will show, and farther prompted by the voice within me, to urge their claims on the notice of the congregations of Israel, and to request their immediate and liberal assistance."Aware, however, reverend sir, of your great anxiety for the physical amelioration of our suffering brethren, and how watchfully you note their spiritual welfare, I am induced to put you in possession of the documents and appeals which I have received from the Holy Land, with the assurance that your powerful co-operation, in the shape of a pastoral letter addressed to the Jews of Great Britain and America, or the exercise of the same in any other mode your wisdom may dictate, will, with God's blessing, not only tend to remove the present appalling misery of our starving brethren in Zion, but spare us the humiliation of its recurrence."
"For the sake of Zion," he writes to him, "I cannot remain silent, and for the sake of Jerusalem I cannot rest, until the whole house of Israel have been made acquainted with the lamentable condition of those of our brethren who devotedly cling to the soil sacred to the memory of our patriarchs, prophets, and kings.
"Thrice having visited the Holy Land, it was my earnest desire fully to inform myself as to the condition of our brethren there, for whom mydeepest feelings of commiseration were excited, in regard to the amount of misery endured by them.
"Poverty in the East differs vastly from the like calamity experienced in Western Europe, inasmuch as the capability to relieve is in the East confined within the narrowest bounds, and restricted to a very limited number. Such being the general outline of the condition of our brethren in Judea, my feelings were most naturally aroused in their behalf.
"But, reverend sir, judge to what extent my sympathies are now awakened, when—as I informed you, from the harrowing intelligence it has been my painful lot to receive, both from direct and indirect sources—I learn that 'fathers in Israel'—men profoundly learned in the law, who, so that they may die near the graves of their forefathers, submit to live in the most abject poverty—are now impelled by the very love they bear towards their children to sell them to the stranger, 'so,' to use their own words, 'that their offspring may be spared death from starvation.'
"Reverend and respected sir, I am loudly called upon by our brethren in the Holy Land, as the annexed letters will show, and farther prompted by the voice within me, to urge their claims on the notice of the congregations of Israel, and to request their immediate and liberal assistance.
"Aware, however, reverend sir, of your great anxiety for the physical amelioration of our suffering brethren, and how watchfully you note their spiritual welfare, I am induced to put you in possession of the documents and appeals which I have received from the Holy Land, with the assurance that your powerful co-operation, in the shape of a pastoral letter addressed to the Jews of Great Britain and America, or the exercise of the same in any other mode your wisdom may dictate, will, with God's blessing, not only tend to remove the present appalling misery of our starving brethren in Zion, but spare us the humiliation of its recurrence."
The Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Dr N. M. Adler, expressed great sympathy in his reply to Sir Moses, and addressed a pastoral letter to the wardens and members of the United Congregations of Great Britain, the result of which was that an appeal was made on behalf of the starving Jews in the Holy Land, which realised £19,887.
The Chief Rabbi and Sir Moses were appointed trustees of the Appeal Fund, and a committee was nominated, consisting of the following gentlemen: Mr Henry Louis Cohen, Mr S. L. de Symons, jun., Mr Philip Lucas, jun., Mr A. J. Montefiore, and myself, the Rev. A. L. Green acting as honorary secretary.
In the month of February, at Scarborough, Sir Moses was attacked by a most dangerous illness, which confined him to his bed for forty-three days. He was attended by a physician and a surgeon, both very eminent men, who visited him regularly three or four times a day.
On the 5th of March Lady Montefiore wrote in reply to my inquiry: "In compliance with your request I snatch a moment from the sick couch of Sir Moses to give you the pleasing information that our medical attendants pronounce our dear invalidto be improving since yesterday. He has suffered severely, and been in danger; but now I trust, with the Almighty's blessing, that he will progress towards recovery."
In his Diary he makes an entry on the 27th in the following words:—
"Though I am still extremely weak and nervous, yet Scarborough, being bleak and cold at this season, and exposed to the prevalent north-east winds, I was advised to return home as soon as possible, and to-day is the first time I am able to write."
"Though I am still extremely weak and nervous, yet Scarborough, being bleak and cold at this season, and exposed to the prevalent north-east winds, I was advised to return home as soon as possible, and to-day is the first time I am able to write."
At the end of March Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore returned to London, and found the town in great excitement on account of war having been declared with Russia. Sir Moses, although still weak, had to receive a great number of friends, who called to congratulate him on his recovery, and took the opportunity to ask his opinion as to the effect the war would have on the financial world, as serious consequences were feared. He gave them his opinion, which afterwards proved entirely correct. He also attended an important meeting of the Alliance Assurance Company, but was advised by his physicians that so much exertion was not good for him in his weak state, and induced to go to East Cliff for rest. Some months later he had occasion to call at Belvedere House, Erith, the seat of Sir Culling-Eardley, the great-grandson of Gideon Sampson, a Jewish capitalist of the eighteenth century. Sir Culling showed to Sir Moses the tombstone of Gideon Sampson, which he had caused to be removed from the cemetery of the Portuguese Jewish congregation in London, and to be placed close to a new church which he had built in that locality. Many members of the Hebrew community disapproved greatly of the removal of the stone, as it had a Hebrew inscription expressing the grief felt by the deceased at having left the community.
Sir Moses brought the subject of the distress in the Holy Land and the appeal that was being made to the notice of Sir Culling, who gave a very handsome contribution towards the fund, and promised to interest himself as much as possible in securing donations from friends and acquaintances. Among the numerous contributors there was one known to Sir Moses and myself by the signature of "Anonymous," who alwaysgreatly encouraged the study of Hebrew literature and the sacred writings in Tiberias. For many years he used to remit his donation to Sir Moses, with a request to forward it to the Holy City, though his position in society and the tenor of his conversation would generally have led his friends to think that he was unfavourably disposed towards the tenets of the Mosaic code. Among Sir Moses' correspondents there were many who, on subjects of religion, expressed sentiments differing considerably from those which they expressed in their usual intercourse, showing that there are, unfortunately, a good many persons in society who have not the moral courage to express openly what they feel in their hearts, from fear of incurring the displeasure of those whose opinions, from motives of interest, they are impelled to court.