CHAPTER XII.1859.
INTERVIEW WITH THE DUC DE GRAMMONT—ANOTHER UKASE—INFLUENTIAL PROTEST IN THE MORTARA CASE—PERSECUTION IN ROUMANIA—ATTITUDE OF THE FRENCH AND TURKISH GOVERNMENTS TOWARDS THE JEWS.
MAY 20th.—Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore arrived in Paris. Lady Montefiore's state of health being very unsatisfactory, Sir Moses resolved to remain five or six days in the French capital to allow her some rest.
May 24th.—He called at the British Embassy, where he saw Viscount Chelsea, who recommended him to write to Count Walewski to express his gratitude for the warm and generous efforts of the Duc de Grammont in the Mortara case. This Sir Moses did, and the next day the Minister of Foreign Affairs wrote him a note to the effect that he would receive him on the following Friday. Sir Moses accordingly called on his Excellency, and told him that his object was to thank the Emperor and his Excellency for the very generous exertions they had made for the restoration of the child Mortara to its parents, and to express his gratitude towards the Duc de Grammont for the very zealous manner in which he had exerted himself at Rome to attain that object, and he (Sir Moses) believed that, although his exertions had not been attended with the success so much desired, the Duke had done much good, as his warm expostulations would no doubt prevent, at least for some time, any similar outrage against humanity. "Not only his co-religionists," Sir Moses observed, "but also the Christians in England, felt deeply in this unfortunate case, and were equally affected by the circumstance."
His Excellency said that not only the Emperor, but all the people in France, felt keenly on the subject. The Emperor hadwritten to the Duc de Grammont in the strongest manner. His Excellency was sure that the Duc de Grammont had done his best.
Sir Moses then begged of his Excellency to use his influence at any future time when an opportunity occurred to obtain the restoration of the child to his parents, and this his Excellency promised to do, saying that he was happy to have made Sir Moses' acquaintance. The reception, Sir Moses remarks, was truly kind and friendly. The Count said he believed the boy was well treated, to which Sir Moses rejoined that he thought so; but this was little consolation to his parents for being robbed of their child.
Before leaving Paris Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore had the satisfaction of hearing some pleasing news regarding their co-religionists in Russia.
Mr Ginzberg, a gentleman from St Petersburg, informed them that the Emperor had issued an Ukase permitting Jewish youths to attend the public colleges, and to absent themselves from school on Sabbaths and festivals.
May 29th.—They bade adieu to their friends, and started for Lille, where they remained for the night.
Early in the morning the champion of the Mortara family showed himself again in his commercial character as the energetic President of the Imperial Continental Gas Association. He visited the station of the Association's works, and saw the splendid new gas-holder, of which the superintendent gave him a satisfactory report in all respects.
At the same time he learned the sad news of the death of one of the officers of the Association, Mr G. H. Palmer, whom he had so lately seen at Marseilles. He had died suddenly of heart disease.
Sir Moses was much shocked and distressed. "God preserve us all," he said, "from sudden death," and he began to think how he might render some service to the family of the deceased.
They left Lille for Calais, where they arrived in safety, and had great cause to be most thankful to Providence, for on reaching Calais they found that the truck on which they had been travelling in their carriage was nearly in flames, and smoking to such a degree as to require the immediate application of several buckets of water. It appeared that the great weight of theirtravelling carriage had forced its wheels nearly through the bottom, in fact, had done so to such an extent as to cause the iron at the bottom to press on its wheels. In a little while their carriage would have been on fire.
Tuesday, May 31st.—They crossed the Channel, arrived at Dover, and were able to walk on shore. The next day, June 1, they left Dover for London, where they met with a most hearty welcome from their relatives and numerous friends.
June 6th.—Sir Moses called on Lord John Russell and Mr John Abel Smith, also at the Foreign Office, to express his thanks for the letter of introduction to Mr Odo Russell, and his gratitude for that gentleman's very kind and active assistance.
Five weeks later, on Wednesday, 13th July, he attended a meeting of the Board of Deputies. The vice-president conducted the business until Sir Moses' letter accepting the office of President was read, when the former stepped forward and conducted him to the chair. The report of his mission to Rome was well received by the meeting, and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted:—
"1. That this Board recognises with grateful appreciation the pious, zealous, and philanthropic feelings which induced its President, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., notwithstanding his advanced age, to undertake, at a very great personal sacrifice, a mission to Rome to present to the Sovereign Pontiff the memorial from the late Board of Deputies on the subject of the abduction of the child, Edgar Mortara."2. That the Board regrets the refusal of the Sovereign Pontiff to receive the memorial from Sir Moses Montefiore personally, and sincerely deplores the determination of his Holiness, declining to institute further inquiry into the truth of the child's alleged baptism, and in enforcing its continued separation from its bereaved parents."3. That this Board desires to record its emphatic protest against the right or validity of clandestine baptism—a practice which it believes is opposed to the wishes and intelligence of mankind."4. That this Board delights to express its esteem and gratitude to its venerable President for the eminent services rendered by him, not only in this unhappy case, but on former occasions, to the cause of humanity and civilisation; and it is also mindful of its obligation to Lady Montefiore, her husband's constant companion in his travels and the sharer of his fatigues and anxieties."5. That this Board feels assured the sentiments embodied in the foregoing resolution will find a faithful echo in every Jewish heart, and will ensure the sympathy of every friend of human progress throughout the world."6. That these resolutions be advertised in the public press."
"1. That this Board recognises with grateful appreciation the pious, zealous, and philanthropic feelings which induced its President, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., notwithstanding his advanced age, to undertake, at a very great personal sacrifice, a mission to Rome to present to the Sovereign Pontiff the memorial from the late Board of Deputies on the subject of the abduction of the child, Edgar Mortara.
"2. That the Board regrets the refusal of the Sovereign Pontiff to receive the memorial from Sir Moses Montefiore personally, and sincerely deplores the determination of his Holiness, declining to institute further inquiry into the truth of the child's alleged baptism, and in enforcing its continued separation from its bereaved parents.
"3. That this Board desires to record its emphatic protest against the right or validity of clandestine baptism—a practice which it believes is opposed to the wishes and intelligence of mankind.
"4. That this Board delights to express its esteem and gratitude to its venerable President for the eminent services rendered by him, not only in this unhappy case, but on former occasions, to the cause of humanity and civilisation; and it is also mindful of its obligation to Lady Montefiore, her husband's constant companion in his travels and the sharer of his fatigues and anxieties.
"5. That this Board feels assured the sentiments embodied in the foregoing resolution will find a faithful echo in every Jewish heart, and will ensure the sympathy of every friend of human progress throughout the world.
"6. That these resolutions be advertised in the public press."
"All the efforts of Sir Moses Montefiore," the daily papers report, "having proved ineffectual in obtaining the restoration of the child Mortara to its parents, a committee of gentlemen in the city felt that some protest was demanded on behalf of British Christians, and the following protest, having been privately circulated, has been most extensively signed, and a copy of if has been forwarded to the French Ambassador:—
"'Whereas a Jewish child, Edgar Mortara, son of Momolo Mortara, late of Bologna, in Italy, was, on the 24th of June 1858, forcibly seized and taken from its parents, by order of the Cardinal Viale Prela, Archbishop of Bologna and Legate of Pope Pius IX.:"'And whereas the ground of the seizure was, that the said child, Edgar Mortara, had been secretly baptised by a Roman Catholic maid-servant six years previously, being then of the age of twelve months:"'And whereas the said child was, by the order of the said Cardinal Legate, conveyed by night, under an escort of gendarmes, to the Convent of San Pietro, in Vincoli, at Rome, and is there detained contrary to the wish, and notwithstanding the protestations of his parents:"'And whereas the Government of France has in vain urged the Court of Rome to restore the said child to his parents:"'And whereas Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., at the request of the Deputies of the British Jews, made on the 22nd of December 1858, went to Rome in their name to present a memorial to the Pope, signed by the whole of the said Deputies, asking for the liberation of the said child Edgar Mortara; and whereas the Pope refused even to see Sir Moses Montefiore; and Cardinal Antonelli, Minister of State, has declared to Sir Moses Montefiore that the Roman Government will not release the child:"'And whereas it is a dishonour to Christianity in the eyes of the Jews among all nations that the seizure and detention of the said child, Edgar Mortara, should be supposed to be consistent with the principles of the Christian religion:"'Now we, the undersigned British Christians, do hereby protest, and declare that the proceedings of the Pope of Rome, in taking away the Jewish child, Edgar Mortara, from his parents, and educating him, contrary to his parents' will, in the Roman Catholic faith, are repulsive to the instincts of humanity, and in violation of parental rights and authority, as recognised in the laws and usages of all civilised nations, and, above all, in direct opposition to the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion.'"
"'Whereas a Jewish child, Edgar Mortara, son of Momolo Mortara, late of Bologna, in Italy, was, on the 24th of June 1858, forcibly seized and taken from its parents, by order of the Cardinal Viale Prela, Archbishop of Bologna and Legate of Pope Pius IX.:
"'And whereas the ground of the seizure was, that the said child, Edgar Mortara, had been secretly baptised by a Roman Catholic maid-servant six years previously, being then of the age of twelve months:
"'And whereas the said child was, by the order of the said Cardinal Legate, conveyed by night, under an escort of gendarmes, to the Convent of San Pietro, in Vincoli, at Rome, and is there detained contrary to the wish, and notwithstanding the protestations of his parents:
"'And whereas the Government of France has in vain urged the Court of Rome to restore the said child to his parents:
"'And whereas Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., at the request of the Deputies of the British Jews, made on the 22nd of December 1858, went to Rome in their name to present a memorial to the Pope, signed by the whole of the said Deputies, asking for the liberation of the said child Edgar Mortara; and whereas the Pope refused even to see Sir Moses Montefiore; and Cardinal Antonelli, Minister of State, has declared to Sir Moses Montefiore that the Roman Government will not release the child:
"'And whereas it is a dishonour to Christianity in the eyes of the Jews among all nations that the seizure and detention of the said child, Edgar Mortara, should be supposed to be consistent with the principles of the Christian religion:
"'Now we, the undersigned British Christians, do hereby protest, and declare that the proceedings of the Pope of Rome, in taking away the Jewish child, Edgar Mortara, from his parents, and educating him, contrary to his parents' will, in the Roman Catholic faith, are repulsive to the instincts of humanity, and in violation of parental rights and authority, as recognised in the laws and usages of all civilised nations, and, above all, in direct opposition to the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion.'"
More than two thousand names of persons of rank and influence were attached to the protest.
I now invite the attention of the reader to the subjects which occupied Sir Moses' mind during the remainder of the year.
It has been stated before that Sir Moses signed the contract with Mr William E. Smith of Ramsgate for building the Juda Touro Almshouses in Jerusalem. The special authorisation from the Turkish Government, as well as the approbation of the former Governor and of every member of the City Council, fully justified Sir Moses at that time in expecting to see the building proceed rapidly. But in this he was disappointed. On the 15th day of June Mr Smith reported that the Governor had ordered a suspension of the works, on the ground that thebuilding would be too near the city fortifications. This was most unfortunate, as nearly all the stone had been prepared, the foundations excavated, the water-receivers almost completed, and all the doors, iron-work, and windows sent out from England. His first step was to address Arabic letters to Sureya Pasha, the Governor of Jerusalem. Subsequently Sir Moses called on the Turkish Ambassador in London, and applied also to the Sublime Porte for renewed instructions to the authorities in Jerusalem. But it was not until the end of December that he received a letter from the Turkish Minister, to the effect that the permission for the continuance of the building would be sent to Jerusalem.
In the meantime the delay of work greatly increased the expense, as the builder had to remain six months longer in Jerusalem than he had expected, and the principal working men had to be retained, not knowing when their services might again be required.
To those who have had some experience of building schemes in the East, such an interruption in the work would not be a matter of surprise. It is the general rule among the natives, in order to be able to proceed peaceably with any private or public building, to secure, in the first instance, the friendly approbation of all the officers connected with the Government; and in this case the superintendents of the works, being Englishmen, may have unintentionally neglected to do so; hence what had been right in the eyes of Kiamil Pasha, was considered wrong in the eyes of Sureya Pasha, the latter acting, as he said, on special orders received from the Sublime Porte.
July 6th.—Sir Moses having ascertained from Mr O. W. Galloway that the Viceroy was anxious for his son, Toussoun Pasha, to spend another summer with him, invited the Prince to London, and the invitation having been cordially accepted, Toussoun Pasha, attended by his physician, Dr Ettienne, Mrs G. Williams, his governess, and the Mamlook, arrived at Park Lane on July 9th. The young Prince looked very thin, but in excellent spirits. "God grant," Sir Moses said, "their stay with us may prove beneficial."
The Prince, as on the two former occasions, improved in health and gained strength during his stay in England underthe hospitable roof of Sir Moses, and became every day more cheerful in his disposition.
In the same month (August 29th) Sir Charles B. Phipps, by command of the Queen, forwarded to Sir Moses a musical box as a present from Her Majesty to His Highness Toussoun Pasha before he left England.
Sir Moses wrote to Sir Charles, acknowledging the receipt of Her Majesty's gracious commands, and sent Said Pasha, the Viceroy, a copy of Sir Charles Phipps' letter.
His Highness, in return, conveyed to him his deep sense of gratitude for the care he and Lady Montefiore had taken of the young Prince, and entreated Sir Moses to take the first occasion to tender to Her Majesty the Queen his high appreciation of the honour conferred by Her Majesty on him by the gracious reception granted to his son.
The gracious attention of Her Majesty to the young Prince, and the gratitude of his father the Viceroy to the Queen, undoubtedly contributed, in a certain degree, towards the preservation of friendly relations between England and Egypt; and Sir Moses had the satisfaction of knowing that he became indirectly the acknowledged medium of fostering and promoting the blessings of peace and mutual interest between two countries.
He never sent a letter to the Pasha without showing it first at the Foreign Office, and awaiting the approval of the Minister; nor did he ever withhold the contents of any letter addressed to him by the Pasha. He took the original himself to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and deposited with him a copy for the perusal of others in office interested in Egypt.
October 10th.—Subsequently the hour of parting drew near, and Toussoun Pasha had to take leave, and, in doing so, expressed himself affectionately towards both of them.
Lady Montefiore unfortunately continued to suffer from illness. She often had medical advice, but was at times very ailing. Sir Moses had little time to rest, but his presence at East Cliff inspired hope and cheerfulness in the heart of his suffering companion. Every day almost brought him letters, imploring his aid in cases of dire distress.
A month previously he had received some most painful communications from Galatz, in Roumania, respecting theunparalleled cruelties committed on the Jews there. Some of them had been murdered, others fearfully wounded, many deprived of all their property, and their Synagogues desecrated. Sir Moses forwarded all the letters on the subject to Lord John Russell, and, as President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, requested the British Government to intercede for the Jews, by giving instructions to the British Consuls to render help and protection to the sufferers, as far as lay in their power; but it took a long time to extinguish the flames of persecution. Letters continued to arrive from villages and towns, imploring help.
A month or six weeks later a cry of distress reached him from Gibraltar. Owing to the war which was then expected to ensue between Spain and Morocco, the Jewish inhabitants of Tangier, fearing the repetition of the brutal usage which they had experienced when the wild Kabyle tribes came down to the coast in 1844, had fled from their homes in a state of utter destitution.
Nearly 2700 of these unhappy people had arrived at Gibraltar from Tangier, and it was but too probable that they would be followed by many thousands of others from different parts of Morocco.
Sir Moses convened a special meeting of the Board of Deputies of the British Jews. The Board formed itself into a committee of relief, and energetically appealed to its co-religionists, not only in this country, but throughout Europe and other parts of the world, for prompt assistance.
Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore gave £200 towards the immediate relief of the sufferers, and many benevolent persons of various denominations followed with generous contributions.
To Sir W. Codrington, the Governor of Gibraltar, who manifested much thoughtful humanity towards the unfortunate Jewish emigrants from Tangier, Sir Moses had the pleasing duty to convey a vote of thanks from the Board of Deputies.
Sir William, in acknowledging the receipt of Sir Moses' letter enclosing the resolution, said that he was only carrying out the intentions of Government in assisting refugees. "You will have heard," he observed, "that Government has since authorised me to give temporary assistance to those necessitous persons, by affording them a bread ration from the commissariat."
"The French Government," Sir William continued, "will receive into Algeria those who wish to go there. I hope that many will avail themselves, and that soon, of this permission, for it will be well for them to seek at once their future permanent abode, wherever it may be."
It appears that the intention of the French Government to receive into Algeria all who wished to go there, impelled another power to make a similar offer to those who wished to go to Palestine; for, a day before Sir William had written his letter to Sir Moses, Mr Kingsite called on the latter, and stated that the Turkish Ambassador wished him to inform Sir Moses that if the Jews were inclined to return to the Holy Land, and could advance money to the Turkish Government to effect the withdrawal of the existing coinage, they should have every liberty and land, with all possible protection. Sir Moses told Mr Kingsite he did not think that there was a single Jew in England who wished to return at present, nor did he believe that a loan for that purpose would be raised. Mr Kingsite was going to speak with a well-known house on the subject.
November 21st.—Sir Moses called on the Turkish Ambassador, who received him very courteously, heard all he had to say, and entered very fully into the whole affair of the Holy Land. He said all would go well, and he would write to the Governor of Jerusalem, and same time send him a copy of his letter which he had forwarded to him some time since. He expressed himself as being anxious to see a colony of Jews in Palestine.
Both the French and Turkish Governments, we see, were desirous of having Jewish colonies in their respective countries; with the sole difference, that the French authorities were content with the poor of all classes, while the Turkish authorities only offered to extend their privileges and protection to the rich colonist.
During the last month of the year Sir Moses received a visit from the father of the unfortunate young Mortara. He gave him a note to Sir Culling Eardly, who promised to do all in his power for the restoration of the boy. A few days later Sir Moses convened a meeting of the Mortara Committee, when it was resolved to write to Sir Culling Eardly, that, having done all in their power in the Mortara case, they could not attempt to do more, but hoped he would persevere and be successful.
In his capacity of Deputy-Lieutenant of the county, Sir Moses, together with Captain Isaake, another Deputy-Lieutenant of the county, invited Colonel Stothard of Dover to come to Ramsgate and select the land for a battery to protect the harbour. On his arrival they went to Wellington Crescent, and selected for that purpose a plot, 200 feet in length and 50 in depth, in the centre of the garden in front of the Crescent.
Sir Moses, ever anxious to serve his country, expressed himself as much satisfied in having had the opportunity of assisting in so important a cause.
Lady Montefiore's state of health, to which I have already alluded, continued to be most unsatisfactory. Her condition frequently prevented Sir Moses from attending meetings or special appointments in the city.