CHAPTER VIII.1857.
FIFTH VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND—MALTESE JEWS AND THEIR GRIEVANCES—CAIRO, JAFFA, LYDDA, AND GEEB—ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM—THE APPEAL FUND INSTITUTIONS.
IN order to ascertain the reasons for Sir Moses' return to Jerusalem after so short an interval since his previous visit to the Holy City, I must ask the reader to revert to the narrative I have given of his previous pilgrimage in 1855. It was undertaken for the purpose of alleviating the sufferings of the poor, and of establishing various benevolent institutions there in the hope of preventing the recurrence of distress. The object of his present journey was to give personal supervision for a short time to the workings of those institutions.
Sir Moses began making preparations for this, his fifth journey, in February. He resigned the presidency of the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews, and made an agreement with Messrs J. J. and T. R. Holman, millwrights of Canterbury, conjointly with the other trustees, for the erection of a windmill in Jerusalem at the cost of £1450. He attended a meeting at Count Strzelsky's, and agreed with the other gentlemen present that nothing could now be done in the matter of the Jerusalem railway; he, however, advanced his share of the expenses, and withdrew altogether from the scheme.
On February 25th Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, accompanied by Dr Hodgkin and Mr Gershon Kursheedt, left England for the Holy Land. ProceedingviâRome and Naples, they soon arrived at Malta, where Sir William Reid, the Governor, gave them a very friendly reception, drawing their special attention to the school for young gardeners at St Antonio, the ladies' school, and to his (Sir William's) experiment in rearing silkworms on castor-oil plants, an experiment which Sir Mosesproposed trying in the Holy Land. The Governor likewise showed him his collection of implements for the improvement of Maltese agriculture. The ploughs were from New York, and were very light. His Excellency presented Sir Moses with one of them for the Holy Land.
The next day Sir Moses received a deputation from the Maltese Jewish community, who complained of the great intolerance in the island, but gratefully acknowledged their indebtedness to the English Government for the protection it extended to them.
Friday, May 1st.—Mr Laurence Oliphant, a gentleman whom Sir Moses had last met at Sir Culling Eardly's, and who was now on his way to China, as secretary to Lord Elgin, breakfasted with him. Mr Oliphant took a great interest in all matters relating to the Holy Land, and conversed freely with him on certain schemes which might serve to improve the condition of its inhabitants.
On May 5th they arrived at Alexandria, where, all the hotels being full, they accepted the hospitality of Mr Galloway.
Believing the Viceroy to be at a palace he had built in the desert, three hours' distance from Alexandria, near the Lake Merotir, where several regiments of his soldiers were encamped, Sir Moses went there the next morning with his friends, but to his great disappointment he found the Viceroy had gone four hours farther into the desert with most of his troops, and was not expected back for a day or two.
There were only a few servants left in the palace. Sir Moses and the other gentlemen walked to His Highness's large European tent, where they remained three hours to repose and refresh the horses. About an hour after their arrival a capital dinner was sent in to them. Sir Moses himself only partook of bread and coffee.
Thursday, May 7th.—A special train having been engaged to take the Earl of Elgin and his suite to Cairo, Sir Moses was permitted to avail himself of the same. When on board the steamboat crossing the Nile he was introduced to his Lordship, whom Sir Moses describes as a very handsome, chatty, and agreeable person.
At Cairo he received a deputation from the Hebrew congregation; visited the Synagogue, a large handsome but plainbuilding, and called on the Governor, who had been to his house in London when His Highness Said Pasha was staying with him. Thence Sir Moses proceeded to the Citadel. He was invited to breakfast with Dr Etia, the physician of His Highness Hálim Pasha, on the occasion of a religious festivity, but was prevented from accepting the invitation by the overpowering heat of the day and the consequent fatigue he experienced.
After remaining a few days at Cairo, they left the hospitable roof of Mr Galloway, and proceeded to Jaffa, where they were received by Mr Kháyát, the British Vice-Consul, Ahmed Agha Dizdar, the former Governor of Jerusalem, and by the representatives of the community. "Jaffa," Sir Moses writes, "appears much larger, and a great number of houses have been built since we were last there, only twenty-two months ago." The English Vice-Consul had built a house with warehouses attached to it, which, he told Sir Moses, cost him £10,000. Everything had doubled in value in a few years, and houses and land could now only be bought at extravagant prices. He thought, with or without the English, there would soon be a railway to Jerusalem. Ahmed Agha Dizdar, who had brought five soldiers under his command to accompany Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore while in the Holy Land, joined their dinner party, and made them offers of valuable land.
May 17th.—They visited the garden, or Biárá, as it is generally called, which had been bought by Sir Moses for the Trustees of the Appeal Fund, and remained there for an hour, examining the reports handed to him by Mr Minor, and inspecting the plantation of new trees. Subsequently he visited the house and garden of the English Vice-Consul. "He has," Sir Moses says, "30 acres outside the town, and wishes to sell it for £1000; he also possesses large plantations of orange, mulberry, lemon, and palm trees. Our own garden could be better managed, but it is 40 acres in extent, and a splendid piece of land."
May 18th.—Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore left Jaffa. The Governor of the town passed half an hour with them before they set off, and wished to ride out of the city with them, but it being Rámádan, Sir Moses prevailed on him to desist from his intentions, as he was fasting. Ahmed Agha, with many of his horsemen, as well as the British Consul of Jerusalem and the Vice-Consul of Jaffa, were with them. Ahmed Agha and theConsul of Ramlah, with an officer from Jaffa, rode with them all the way to Jerusalem.
On the road they had some Turkish music, and as they passed the several villages they were met by the Governors and their officers. After a pleasant ride of four hours they arrived at Lydda, and encamped there, in a beautiful vineyard a short distance from the town. They had two sheep cooked for Ahmed Agha's men, who, after sunset, made a great feast, and were very merry. For Sir Moses Lydda was a place of special interest, on account of its having been famous during the second century for its Colleges and Synagogues. Mr Galloway, the other gentleman who was with Sir Moses, only came to Lydda to ascertain what facilities the place offered for the projected railroad to Jerusalem. It will perhaps be remembered that, at one of the meetings held in London in connection with this project, one of the gentlemen present proposed having a railway from Jaffa to Lydda, and from there a macadamised road over the hills to Jerusalem.
On May the 19th they started for Geeb. Sir Moses remarks that the road was exceedingly bad, through dry beds of former torrents, over desperately stony hills. They rode for an hour and a half in darkness, and, Sir Moses confesses, in great terror. He could not see his horse's head, but they followed Ahmed Agha as well as they could. Lady Montefiore was greatly alarmed, more so, Sir Moses says, than she had been in all her life; but after retiring to rest she soon recovered her courage.
May 20th.—They arrived at Jerusalem, and were most cordially received by all the inhabitants, who appreciated the object for which they came. After having attended several meetings of the representatives of the Holy City to hear the reports they had to give them of their communal affairs, they visited the dispensary under the direction of Dr Fränkel, the weaving establishment, and the girls' school.
Eight persons belonging to the weaving establishment stated that they were able to get a living. One said he could now keep his wife and family; another observed, "The bread gained by the labour of the hands was most sweet;" a third said that "formerly when he rose in the morning he knew not where to get a morsel of bread, now he enjoyed his regular meals, and blessed the name of God"; and a fourth remarked that "formerlyhe carried stones in some gentleman's garden for a scanty pittance, now he earned, comparatively speaking, sufficient to live comfortably." All agreed that the weaving master was a good man, and they preferred the present house in which the work is done to the old one which they used to occupy.
Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore describe their visit to the girls' school in terms conveying to the reader the idea of their satisfaction.
"We were delighted with it," they say. "There are three class-rooms. No. 1 has eight forms, with forty-five pupils, belonging to the Portuguese community, with four teachers. No. 2 has seven forms, with forty pupils, with two teachers; and No. 3 has also seven forms, and forty pupils, with only one teacher, but an excellent instructor."
"Nos. 2 and 3," they continue, "were German children, and very clever indeed. The schools and scholars will bear comparison with any in England."
On their return home from the day's excursions, they invited the ladies' committee of needle-women to attend a meeting which had been convened there, and Sir Moses then entrusted them with the entire management of the Society. The ladies all expressed themselves as greatly pleased with the charge, and promised to attend the school, and themselves give out the needlework to all the pupils.
With regard to those whom the Committee had enabled to engage in agriculture in Safed and the Bokea, Sir Moses was told that eight had the misfortune to lose their cattle by death or by theft, and only one succeeded in making a profit. At Tiberias the work of agriculture had met with even less success. The prevalence of drought caused the death of the cattle, and the ravages of cholera prevented the men from attempting to ameliorate their condition.
The principal cause of the unhappy issue of this first agricultural attempt, however, must be ascribed to the insufficiency of the amount which the Appeal Fund Committee considered themselves justified in advancing to the Safed and Tiberias poor. The latter had neither houses, barns, stables, nor agricultural implements, nor had they any means of their own to live upon till the gathering in of the first produce of their fields.
We can now record most gratifying instances of the resultsof agriculture pursued by the poor in the Holy Land who had the good fortune to meet with friends in Paris and in other places, in Germany, Poland, and Russia; and the general opinion of those who know the Holy Land is that agriculture, when properly attended to, may be considered the best means of securing a useful and comfortable life to the poor who, from religious motives, may prefer that country to any other.
With reference to the Jaffa garden, which was then cultivated by two Jewish families, Classen and Litman, under the superintendence of the former tenant of the estate, Dr Hodgkin and Mr Galloway made a report, at the request of Sir Moses, in which they state as follows:—
"In the year 1856 they expended 28,700 Egyptian piastres, whilst their income only amounted to 27,544 piastres."
When Sir Moses bought this property for the Appeal Fund Committee, with a view of encouraging agriculture among the Jews, it contained no less than 1407 trees of every description. Knowing that similar gardens and fields in possession of the natives were very profitable, he was rather surprised at this result. Still he contented himself with the hope that the property would increase in value, if it were once decided to have a railroad to Jerusalem, in which case that place would be a great acquisition for the directors for the purposes of the Jaffa railway station; and, in the meanwhile, three poor families were deriving some advantage from its cultivation.
From that time up to the present the expenses have, on an average, not been less than £40 a year.
Offers were made by some persons to pay a high rent for the property, but they could only do that, they said, after having had possession of the land for at least ten years; and to this Sir Moses did not feel inclined to agree.
A few days later he inspected the preparations which were then being made for the erection of the windmill, and held special conferences in the garden with the elders of the several communities regarding the hospital he intended to build on a spot not far from the mill.
The spiritual heads of the German congregations, however, considered it advisable to have almshouses instead of a hospital, "as such an institution had been built within the last year by the Baroness Bettie de Rothschild in memory of the late Mayer deRothschild, and although not large enough for the numerous poor in Jerusalem, still," they thought, "it might probably soon be enlarged by the same lady for the accommodation of a greater number." "Moreover, for the sake of preserving peaceful relations between all parties in Jerusalem," they added, "it would be desirable to be satisfied for the present with one hospital."
Sir Moses consented to their suggestion, notwithstanding the great trouble he had taken in the matter, and the heavy expenses he had incurred by having elaborate plans of the building made, and having gone to Constantinople to obtain the special permission of the Sultan for it.
Thursday, May 21st.—Count Pisamani, the Austrian Consul, informed him that he would proceed in a fortnight to Constantinople to get a firman for a highway or carriage road from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
The Emperor of Russia, he was told by the same gentleman, had sent £50 to the poor Jews of the Warsaw congregation at Jerusalem. His Imperial Majesty had also given permission to his Jewish subjects in Poland to send money to the Holy Land. Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore were much pleased with this gratifying news.
The Loan Society, established by the Appeal Fund Committee, was next examined, and found to have done much good. The necessity of having such an institution was proved, and it was decided by Sir Moses to continue it, although in some cases the loans could not be recovered on account of the abject poverty of the borrowers.
Sir Moses received and paid visits to the Governor, the Consul, the patriarchs of various religious communities, visited, as on former occasions, most of the places held in veneration, and having obtained all the information in connection with the institutions established by the Appeal Fund, left Jerusalem on the 7th June, arriving at Alexandria on the 11th of that month.
The attention shown to Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore by the Pasha of Egypt has already been described by me when referring to their visit to Alexandria in the year 1849. On the present occasion the friendly feeling of His Highness was, if possible, even more strongly displayed.
Sir Moses was impressed with the idea that any act of kindness shown to him by the Pasha might leave a favourableimpression on the Egyptian population, inasmuch as the latter would notice His Highness' friendly sentiments towards a member of the Hebrew community, and it might possibly induce them to cultivate more friendly relations with his co-religionists. He had entered in his Diary full particulars of the reception given to him also on the present occasion by order of His Highness. One of the Pasha's palaces was prepared for him, the viceregal boats, manned by sailors and soldiers in full uniform, were sent to meet Sir Moses, and royal carriages were in waiting to drive his party to the Palace. Magnificent entertainments were arranged for him. There were elegant repasts served by thirty attendants. The Governor of Alexandria came to offer his services, and carriages and horses with runners at the side were continually at his disposal.
"The morning after our arrival," Sir Moses writes, "the Governor sent to inquire after our health. In the course of the day Lady Montefiore, accompanied by Mrs Tibaldi, paid a visit to the Princess, who received her with the utmost kindness, and made her promise to spend a day with her.
"I returned the Governor's visit, accompanied by my friends and the officer appointed to attend me during my stay in Egypt. His Excellency received me at the Grand Palace, came to the top of the staircase to meet me, and showed every possible mark of respect.
"He invited me to pay him a visit at Cairo, which I promised to do."
June 15th.—In accordance with a previous arrangement with the Governor, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore proceeded to Cairo; there they again had a princely reception in the palace. "The breakfast," Sir Moses says, "was magnificently served in truly regal state; not less than thirty-two servants were in attendance."
At six o'clock in the morning, attended by the civil engineer, a colonel in the Egyptian Army, and their own party, they set out in three carriages for the railway, and proceeded on the line to Tuck, through the desert for forty miles. The railway was well finished thus far, and works in construction for carrying the line three hours further. It is expected to be finished by the end of June. "The scene in the desert," Sir Moses says, "was most interesting; hundreds of camels, thousandsof men as busy as ants; at present there are ten thousand men at work!"
Magnificent as the palace was which they occupied, the millions of mosquitoes and their innumerable associates, stinging their faces and hands, did not permit them to remain an hour at rest in their apartments, and they had to leave them for the adjoining gallery; there they passed the night on chairs. They were glad, when the morning came, to ride to the Synagogue, where they felt the soothing effect of a cool and refreshing breeze (the building excluding the rays of the sun, and conveniently permitting the currents of air to pass), which the palace in the previous night could not offer them.
They left Cairo in the Pasha's carriages, accompanied by several officers, for the railway, where every arrangement had been made for their journey to Alexandria, which place they reached at 5A.M.Ahmed Bey, one of the officers of the Pasha, was waiting there to receive them. They proceeded immediately to the palace, with three carriages, two outriders, and runners.
June 18th.—Sir Moses attended divine service at five in the morning, and met in the house of prayer the newly appointed spiritual head of the community, who happened to have entered into office on that day for the first time. The Rev. M. Hazan, a native of Jerusalem, who had recently filled a similar office at Corfu, had been appointed Rabbino Maggiore in Alexandria. His name is well known in England, as he took an active part in the deliberations on subjects connected with reform movements in the Synagogue.
June 19th.—We find Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore on board theAmerica, Captain Florio, in the harbour of Alexandria; and on Sunday, June 21st, they were on their voyage to Trieste, where they arrived on the 27th, and proceeded,viâAdelsberg, Laibach, Vienna, and Hanover, to England.
On Sunday, July 19th, they arrived at Ramsgate, after an absence of five months.