CHAPTER XXXII.1872.
CONTINUATION OF SIR MOSES' NARRATIVE—SATISFACTORY REPORT WITH REGARD TO THE CONDITION OF THE ROUMANIAN JEWS—ARRIVAL IN BERLIN—RETURN TO ENGLAND—VISIT OF THE SHAH TO ENGLAND.
CONTINUING his narrative, Sir Moses says:
"On my way to the hotel I was enthusiastically greeted by hundreds of our brethren who were awaiting my return from the Palace, and whose faces were radiant with joy and gladness. After a brief rest, I again set out to pay my farewell visits to the British Ambassador, Lord Augustus Loftus, and his Excellency Monsieur de Westmann, left cards with those who had honoured me with visits, and then proceeded to the Synagogue, into which, however, the hour being late, I was unable to enter. Returning again to the hotel, I addressed to his Excellency Monsieur de Westmann a letter, in which I offered to his Excellency the expression of my warmest thanks for the gracious reception accorded me by His Imperial Majesty, and also for the exertions of his Excellency in aiding me to obtain the object of my Mission, requesting him at the same time, in commemoration of the happy event, to distribute a trifling sum among the necessitous inhabitants of the city."To this letter I received the most gratifying reply. His Excellency promised to comply with my request, and to convey to the Emperor the prayers and wishes I had expressed for the long life and enduring happiness of His Imperial Majesty."On Thursday morning, the 25th July, I received at the hotel many deputations and private gentlemen, who had solicited an interview; read all letters, books, and documents which had been left for my special notice, and having satisfied everyone to the best of my ability, I left St Petersburg for Königsberg, attended by the blessings and good wishes of hundreds of people, who followed us to the railway station."It will doubtless be a source of gratification to your Board to learn that during my short stay in St Petersburg I had the happiness of seeing a considerable number of our co-religionists in that city distinguished by decorations of different grades from the Emperor. I conversed with Jewish merchants, literary men, editors of Russian periodicals, artisans, and persons who had formerly served in the Imperial army, all of whom alluded to their present position in the most satisfactory terms. All blessed the Emperor, and words seemed wanting in which adequately to praise his benevolent character. The Jews now dress like ordinary gentlemen in England, France, or Germany. Their schools are well attended, and they are foremost in every honourable enterprise destined to promote the prosperity of their community and the country at large."There are three Synagogues in the city, each presided over by a Rabbi, who delivers sermons in German or Russian. The utmost decorum prevails during Divine service. In St Petersburg and throughout Russia great efforts are being made to provide education for those who require it. In order to bring it within the reach of those who are best acquainted with the Hebrew language, maps are printed with the names of the places in Hebrew letters, and educational works of all kinds are translated into Hebrew."Looking back to what the condition of our co-religionists in Russia was twenty-six years ago, and having regard to their present position, they have now indeed abundant reason to cherish grateful feelings towards the Emperor, to whom their prosperity is in so great a measure to be attributed; and if there yet remain restrictions, the hope may be surely entertained that with the advance of secular education among them those disabilities will be gradually removed. And here I would place on record my earnest tribute of admiration for the marked improvements which have taken place in Russia since my visit to that country in the year 1846. I rejoiced to observe in every department of the State signs of vigour and prosperity, the happy result of the wisdom, justice, and toleration which have distinguished the Emperor's beneficent reign."But before resuming the narrative of my homeward journey, I would advert to the exceeding kindness evinced by Her Majesty's Ambassador at the Court of Russia, Lord Augustus Loftus, by Mr Drummond and Mr Egerton, who omitted no opportunity of facilitating the object of my Mission. I am also much indebted to Mr Mitchell, Her Majesty's Consul in St Petersburg, for his obliging attentions. I shall ever cherish towards Monsieur de Westmann and Lord Augustus Loftus sentiments of profound gratitude for their great attention and courtesy to me during my stay in the Russian capital."We departed from St Petersburg, travelling all night in order to reach Königsberg in good time for Sabbath. On arriving at the station at Kowno we were saluted by the Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Reuben Schnitkind, the Rev. Isaac Elkhanan Spekter, and Drs Schapiro and Klazco, who were surrounded by many hundreds of our brethren, all eager to learn the result of my Mission. I therefore requested Dr Loewe to address them in Hebrew, and they were overjoyed with the communication made to them. They referred to the address which I had presented to the Czar, and invoked the Almighty's blessing on behalf of your Board. It appeared that our route had been made known from place to place, inasmuch as we were met by large numbers of our brethren who were awaiting our arrival at each station where the train stopped. At Wilna we were greeted by the representatives of the Hebrew congregation, consisting of the Rev. Isaac Eliahu Landau, the Rev. Mordecai Straschun, and Mr Abraham Parness, son of my late friend the Rev. Chaim Nachman Parness, who were accompanied by an immense concourse of people. Here, as in Kowno, I entered into conversation with those who had come to welcome me, not only on the subject of my Mission but also upon matters relating specially to their own community, and I had the pleasure to leave them with mutual expressions of satisfaction and goodwill."We reached Königsberg on Friday afternoon (the 26th July), and were met at the railway terminus by thousands of our brethren, who made the streets of the city ring with their shouts of joy as they accompanied me to the hotel. Mr D. H. Aschkanasi, a zealous friend of the Holy Land, presented me with a congratulatory address from the representatives of the three Russian congregations in that city, and the Rev. H. Weintraub, the well-known composer of sacred music, offered his services to invite a number of gentlemen to attend Divine service in our apartment. At the appointed hour I had the happiness of hearing the Sabbath hymn beautifully chanted by MrL. Löwenstein, in the presence of a full congregation, and, it is scarcely necessary to add, that after a fatiguing journey, occupying a day and night, I enjoyed to the utmost the peace and repose of the Sabbath."In the morning we attended Divine service, and in the course of the day the representatives of the German congregation, headed by the City Council, Dr Hirsch, Dr Samuelsohn, Mr Solomon Feinberg, and many others, called on me to offer their congratulations, apologising for the unavoidable absence of the Rev. Dr Bamberger, the spiritual head of the congregation."They entered into full particulars of their exertions on behalf of our brethren in Russia during the time of the great distress occasioned by the failure of the harvest, and I was much pleased with the account they gave of their praiseworthy efforts to succour their less fortunate co-religionists."A telegram also reached me from the Rev. Dr Rulf, and the representatives of the Hebrew congregations in Memel, expressing their appreciation of your Board's exertions in the sacred cause of religion and humanity, and tendering me their best wishes upon my safe return from Russia."It may not be inopportune if I refer to a pleasing incident which occurred at Königsberg, evidencing the anxiety of our co-religionists in that city to evince their approbation of the solicitude of your Board for the welfare of our brethren abroad. After dinner, on the Sabbath day, as we commenced singing the Sabbath psalm, we were most agreeably surprised by the charming voices of the first Cantor of the Synagogue and the members of his excellent choir. They had obtained permission to enter an adjoining apartment without my knowledge, and watching the moment of our commencing to intone the psalm, they took up the next verse and chanted the whole of it, in the presence of hundreds of people within the hotel and adjoining garden, all eagerly listening to the charming psalmody."On the following morning (July 28th) I proposed to return the visits of those gentlemen who had been kind enough to call on me; but the number of people surrounding my carriage became so great, and the streets were so thronged, that, fearing an accident, I was reluctantly compelled to relinquish my intention, and return to the hotel."'The daughters in Israel,' in Königsberg, being equally desirous of evincing their appreciation of a good cause, gracefully presented me, by the hands of twelve young ladies, with a beautiful poem and a laurel wreath."In the afternoon we left Königsberg for Berlin, and with a view to expedite our return to England, we again travelled all night. At about four o'clock in the morning, on July 29th, whilst we halted at Kustrin, I was apprised of the presence of the Rev. Dr Hildesheimer, one of the Chief Rabbis of Berlin, who, I was informed, had purposely come there to bid me welcome in the name of his community, and to conduct me in his carriage to Berlin. This mark of attention I fully appreciated, but I could not permit the Rev. Doctor to be further disturbed. We alighted at the terminus at Berlin about six o'clock, and I entered the city in company with the Chief Rabbi and his son. The former expressed, in the name of his community, the high admiration for the active and energetic steps taken by your Board whenever the occasion for its interposition on behalf of our brethren in foreign countries existed. Early in the forenoon I called on the English and Russian Ambassadors, but unfortunately they were both absent from Berlin; I then paid a visit to the Chief Rabbi, to express my thanks to him for his courtesy and kindness, and subsequently entered the Synagogue over which he presides. There I was told that, spacious as the edifice is, every seat was let, and that the congregation intend to build a larger one."Not having taken the necessary rest after an entire night's travelling, I felt somewhat indisposed from the effects of over-fatigue, but I would not delay my journey, and proceeded the next day (July 30th) to Hanover. HereI had the opportunity of making the personal acquaintance of the Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Dr Meyer, the esteemed successor of the Rev. Dr Adler, our own highly respected Chief Rabbi. Dr Meyer had just returned from Berlin, whither he had been summoned by the Government, to assist in the deliberations of the conference held in that city, upon the subject of the improvements which it was in contemplation to introduce into the regulations and government of educational establishments. I also had the advantage of ascertaining the condition of the Hebrew institutions in Hanover. I visited the Synagogue, which is a beautiful building, and I was assured by a gentleman present that although it was at first intended to divide the Synagogue by a glass partition into a larger and smaller house of prayer, so as to enable the congregation to say prayers in the latter on week-days, yet the number of worshippers was so great that the plan was necessarily abandoned."On leaving Hanover we travelledviaCologne, Aix la Chapelle, and Ghent, to Ostend, where, on the 8th August, we embarked for Dover, and immediately on our arrival in that port I proceeded with Dr Loewe to the Synagogue, where I gave utterance to my heartfelt gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the innumerable mercies He had vouchsafed to me and my companions during our journey, and for His goodness in having permitted me once again to return to the happy shores of England, conscious of having, with His Divine aid, attained the object of my Mission."During my journey I had frequent opportunities of receiving from our brethren assurances of the rapid increase of their Synagogues, schools, and charitable institutions, and as indicative of the improved spiritual and social condition of our co-religionists abroad, I may notice that amongst the many thousands of Jews with whom I came into contact, I observed the most charitable and benevolent dispositions, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, a pure and religious zeal, and a high degree of prosperity."
"On my way to the hotel I was enthusiastically greeted by hundreds of our brethren who were awaiting my return from the Palace, and whose faces were radiant with joy and gladness. After a brief rest, I again set out to pay my farewell visits to the British Ambassador, Lord Augustus Loftus, and his Excellency Monsieur de Westmann, left cards with those who had honoured me with visits, and then proceeded to the Synagogue, into which, however, the hour being late, I was unable to enter. Returning again to the hotel, I addressed to his Excellency Monsieur de Westmann a letter, in which I offered to his Excellency the expression of my warmest thanks for the gracious reception accorded me by His Imperial Majesty, and also for the exertions of his Excellency in aiding me to obtain the object of my Mission, requesting him at the same time, in commemoration of the happy event, to distribute a trifling sum among the necessitous inhabitants of the city.
"To this letter I received the most gratifying reply. His Excellency promised to comply with my request, and to convey to the Emperor the prayers and wishes I had expressed for the long life and enduring happiness of His Imperial Majesty.
"On Thursday morning, the 25th July, I received at the hotel many deputations and private gentlemen, who had solicited an interview; read all letters, books, and documents which had been left for my special notice, and having satisfied everyone to the best of my ability, I left St Petersburg for Königsberg, attended by the blessings and good wishes of hundreds of people, who followed us to the railway station.
"It will doubtless be a source of gratification to your Board to learn that during my short stay in St Petersburg I had the happiness of seeing a considerable number of our co-religionists in that city distinguished by decorations of different grades from the Emperor. I conversed with Jewish merchants, literary men, editors of Russian periodicals, artisans, and persons who had formerly served in the Imperial army, all of whom alluded to their present position in the most satisfactory terms. All blessed the Emperor, and words seemed wanting in which adequately to praise his benevolent character. The Jews now dress like ordinary gentlemen in England, France, or Germany. Their schools are well attended, and they are foremost in every honourable enterprise destined to promote the prosperity of their community and the country at large.
"There are three Synagogues in the city, each presided over by a Rabbi, who delivers sermons in German or Russian. The utmost decorum prevails during Divine service. In St Petersburg and throughout Russia great efforts are being made to provide education for those who require it. In order to bring it within the reach of those who are best acquainted with the Hebrew language, maps are printed with the names of the places in Hebrew letters, and educational works of all kinds are translated into Hebrew.
"Looking back to what the condition of our co-religionists in Russia was twenty-six years ago, and having regard to their present position, they have now indeed abundant reason to cherish grateful feelings towards the Emperor, to whom their prosperity is in so great a measure to be attributed; and if there yet remain restrictions, the hope may be surely entertained that with the advance of secular education among them those disabilities will be gradually removed. And here I would place on record my earnest tribute of admiration for the marked improvements which have taken place in Russia since my visit to that country in the year 1846. I rejoiced to observe in every department of the State signs of vigour and prosperity, the happy result of the wisdom, justice, and toleration which have distinguished the Emperor's beneficent reign.
"But before resuming the narrative of my homeward journey, I would advert to the exceeding kindness evinced by Her Majesty's Ambassador at the Court of Russia, Lord Augustus Loftus, by Mr Drummond and Mr Egerton, who omitted no opportunity of facilitating the object of my Mission. I am also much indebted to Mr Mitchell, Her Majesty's Consul in St Petersburg, for his obliging attentions. I shall ever cherish towards Monsieur de Westmann and Lord Augustus Loftus sentiments of profound gratitude for their great attention and courtesy to me during my stay in the Russian capital.
"We departed from St Petersburg, travelling all night in order to reach Königsberg in good time for Sabbath. On arriving at the station at Kowno we were saluted by the Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Reuben Schnitkind, the Rev. Isaac Elkhanan Spekter, and Drs Schapiro and Klazco, who were surrounded by many hundreds of our brethren, all eager to learn the result of my Mission. I therefore requested Dr Loewe to address them in Hebrew, and they were overjoyed with the communication made to them. They referred to the address which I had presented to the Czar, and invoked the Almighty's blessing on behalf of your Board. It appeared that our route had been made known from place to place, inasmuch as we were met by large numbers of our brethren who were awaiting our arrival at each station where the train stopped. At Wilna we were greeted by the representatives of the Hebrew congregation, consisting of the Rev. Isaac Eliahu Landau, the Rev. Mordecai Straschun, and Mr Abraham Parness, son of my late friend the Rev. Chaim Nachman Parness, who were accompanied by an immense concourse of people. Here, as in Kowno, I entered into conversation with those who had come to welcome me, not only on the subject of my Mission but also upon matters relating specially to their own community, and I had the pleasure to leave them with mutual expressions of satisfaction and goodwill.
"We reached Königsberg on Friday afternoon (the 26th July), and were met at the railway terminus by thousands of our brethren, who made the streets of the city ring with their shouts of joy as they accompanied me to the hotel. Mr D. H. Aschkanasi, a zealous friend of the Holy Land, presented me with a congratulatory address from the representatives of the three Russian congregations in that city, and the Rev. H. Weintraub, the well-known composer of sacred music, offered his services to invite a number of gentlemen to attend Divine service in our apartment. At the appointed hour I had the happiness of hearing the Sabbath hymn beautifully chanted by MrL. Löwenstein, in the presence of a full congregation, and, it is scarcely necessary to add, that after a fatiguing journey, occupying a day and night, I enjoyed to the utmost the peace and repose of the Sabbath.
"In the morning we attended Divine service, and in the course of the day the representatives of the German congregation, headed by the City Council, Dr Hirsch, Dr Samuelsohn, Mr Solomon Feinberg, and many others, called on me to offer their congratulations, apologising for the unavoidable absence of the Rev. Dr Bamberger, the spiritual head of the congregation.
"They entered into full particulars of their exertions on behalf of our brethren in Russia during the time of the great distress occasioned by the failure of the harvest, and I was much pleased with the account they gave of their praiseworthy efforts to succour their less fortunate co-religionists.
"A telegram also reached me from the Rev. Dr Rulf, and the representatives of the Hebrew congregations in Memel, expressing their appreciation of your Board's exertions in the sacred cause of religion and humanity, and tendering me their best wishes upon my safe return from Russia.
"It may not be inopportune if I refer to a pleasing incident which occurred at Königsberg, evidencing the anxiety of our co-religionists in that city to evince their approbation of the solicitude of your Board for the welfare of our brethren abroad. After dinner, on the Sabbath day, as we commenced singing the Sabbath psalm, we were most agreeably surprised by the charming voices of the first Cantor of the Synagogue and the members of his excellent choir. They had obtained permission to enter an adjoining apartment without my knowledge, and watching the moment of our commencing to intone the psalm, they took up the next verse and chanted the whole of it, in the presence of hundreds of people within the hotel and adjoining garden, all eagerly listening to the charming psalmody.
"On the following morning (July 28th) I proposed to return the visits of those gentlemen who had been kind enough to call on me; but the number of people surrounding my carriage became so great, and the streets were so thronged, that, fearing an accident, I was reluctantly compelled to relinquish my intention, and return to the hotel.
"'The daughters in Israel,' in Königsberg, being equally desirous of evincing their appreciation of a good cause, gracefully presented me, by the hands of twelve young ladies, with a beautiful poem and a laurel wreath.
"In the afternoon we left Königsberg for Berlin, and with a view to expedite our return to England, we again travelled all night. At about four o'clock in the morning, on July 29th, whilst we halted at Kustrin, I was apprised of the presence of the Rev. Dr Hildesheimer, one of the Chief Rabbis of Berlin, who, I was informed, had purposely come there to bid me welcome in the name of his community, and to conduct me in his carriage to Berlin. This mark of attention I fully appreciated, but I could not permit the Rev. Doctor to be further disturbed. We alighted at the terminus at Berlin about six o'clock, and I entered the city in company with the Chief Rabbi and his son. The former expressed, in the name of his community, the high admiration for the active and energetic steps taken by your Board whenever the occasion for its interposition on behalf of our brethren in foreign countries existed. Early in the forenoon I called on the English and Russian Ambassadors, but unfortunately they were both absent from Berlin; I then paid a visit to the Chief Rabbi, to express my thanks to him for his courtesy and kindness, and subsequently entered the Synagogue over which he presides. There I was told that, spacious as the edifice is, every seat was let, and that the congregation intend to build a larger one.
"Not having taken the necessary rest after an entire night's travelling, I felt somewhat indisposed from the effects of over-fatigue, but I would not delay my journey, and proceeded the next day (July 30th) to Hanover. HereI had the opportunity of making the personal acquaintance of the Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Dr Meyer, the esteemed successor of the Rev. Dr Adler, our own highly respected Chief Rabbi. Dr Meyer had just returned from Berlin, whither he had been summoned by the Government, to assist in the deliberations of the conference held in that city, upon the subject of the improvements which it was in contemplation to introduce into the regulations and government of educational establishments. I also had the advantage of ascertaining the condition of the Hebrew institutions in Hanover. I visited the Synagogue, which is a beautiful building, and I was assured by a gentleman present that although it was at first intended to divide the Synagogue by a glass partition into a larger and smaller house of prayer, so as to enable the congregation to say prayers in the latter on week-days, yet the number of worshippers was so great that the plan was necessarily abandoned.
"On leaving Hanover we travelledviaCologne, Aix la Chapelle, and Ghent, to Ostend, where, on the 8th August, we embarked for Dover, and immediately on our arrival in that port I proceeded with Dr Loewe to the Synagogue, where I gave utterance to my heartfelt gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the innumerable mercies He had vouchsafed to me and my companions during our journey, and for His goodness in having permitted me once again to return to the happy shores of England, conscious of having, with His Divine aid, attained the object of my Mission.
"During my journey I had frequent opportunities of receiving from our brethren assurances of the rapid increase of their Synagogues, schools, and charitable institutions, and as indicative of the improved spiritual and social condition of our co-religionists abroad, I may notice that amongst the many thousands of Jews with whom I came into contact, I observed the most charitable and benevolent dispositions, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, a pure and religious zeal, and a high degree of prosperity."
August 10th.—Sir Moses remained at East Cliff Lodge for a few days, and then proceeded to London to attend the boards and committees of all the companies and institutions with which he was connected, the fatiguing journey to Russia not appearing to have affected his state of health at all.
September 6th.—He called on Count Brunnow to show him the report on his visit to St Petersburg before presenting it to the Board of Deputies. "The Ambassador," Sir Moses says, "having read every word of it in the most careful manner—it was more than half-an-hour before he had finished—said it was complete, but thought I should record my warmest acknowledgments to the Emperor, who, in consideration of my advanced years, to save me fatigue of going to him at the Palace, some distance in the country, came purposely to the city to receive me. I immediately made the addition his Excellency so kindly suggested."
December 21st.—Sir Moses submitted a report of the Persian Relief Fund, the total amount subscribed and collected being nearly £20,000, and he records in his Diary his great delight atthe success of the appeal, and his gratitude to the Board and to all who co-operated with him and the Deputies in so good a cause.
January1873.—The ninth anniversary of Sir Moses' visit to the Sultan of Morocco was now at hand, the day being usually distinguished by a special service and an address in Judith College, Ramsgate. This year, in consequence of the arbitrary conduct of a judge at Saffi, Sir Moses found it necessary to remind His Sheriffian Majesty of the promise he made to him on that memorable occasion. At the request of the Board of Deputies, he addressed a petition to the Sultan Mooli Abd-er-Rakhman.
The following is a translation of the principal paragraphs bearing upon the case:—
"London,10th February1873 (5633 A.M.)."May it please your Sheriffian Majesty (here follows the preamble, and a short reference to the former visit). Lately, however, rumours have reached me that one Sidi Mohammed ben Sidi Tayibbi, a judge of Saffi, unmindful of the terms of your Majesty's gracious edict, and of the duty of his high office, has ventured to oppress and ill-treat the Jews of that town, and has instigated others to injure and oppress them, whereby it has come to pass that their lives are embittered, and they have no security for their persons or their property."Emboldened by the gracious reception which your Majesty afforded me in the year 1280, and by the beneficent and humane terms of your Majesty's edict, I humbly entreat your Majesty to cause the conduct of the said Sidi Mohammed ben Sidi Tayibbi to be investigated, and to deal with him according to the result, so that all your governors, administrators, and judges in your Majesty's dominions may know that your benevolent designs towards my brethren remain unchanged."
"London,10th February1873 (5633 A.M.).
"May it please your Sheriffian Majesty (here follows the preamble, and a short reference to the former visit). Lately, however, rumours have reached me that one Sidi Mohammed ben Sidi Tayibbi, a judge of Saffi, unmindful of the terms of your Majesty's gracious edict, and of the duty of his high office, has ventured to oppress and ill-treat the Jews of that town, and has instigated others to injure and oppress them, whereby it has come to pass that their lives are embittered, and they have no security for their persons or their property.
"Emboldened by the gracious reception which your Majesty afforded me in the year 1280, and by the beneficent and humane terms of your Majesty's edict, I humbly entreat your Majesty to cause the conduct of the said Sidi Mohammed ben Sidi Tayibbi to be investigated, and to deal with him according to the result, so that all your governors, administrators, and judges in your Majesty's dominions may know that your benevolent designs towards my brethren remain unchanged."
The letter being written in the Moorish language, concludes, according to Eastern fashion, with a prayer for the Sultan.
May 26th.—A deputation from the Jews of Ispahan waited on Sir Moses to present letters from the elders of their community, giving him long and interesting descriptions of the state of their country. Sir Moses received them with great kindness, presenting them with souvenirs of their visit to him, and assured them of the great exertions made by their brethren in England, and in other parts of the world, to ameliorate the condition of the Jews in Persia.
June 11th.—He went to Manchester, by invitation of the representatives of the Spanish and Portuguese Hebrew Communitythere, to be present on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the first Portuguese Synagogue in that city, and remained there several days.
In June the Shah of Persia came to England, and this gave Sir Moses an opportunity to request an audience of that monarch, which was readily granted.
Accompanied by a deputation from the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Sir Moses presented a memorial to the Shah at Buckingham Palace, soliciting His Majesty's protection for his Jewish subjects. The Shah assured the deputation that he wished for the happiness of all his subjects, and would give orders that no injustice should be done to the Jews. Later on he sent the following letter, through his Minister in London, to Sir Moses:—
"I am commanded by His Majesty the Shah to acknowledge the receipt of your memorial, praying that favour and protection may be generally extended to the Jews in Persia. His Majesty has always manifested solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, without distinction of class or creed; and he will take care that no injustice or undue severity is shown to the Jewish community, whom you rightly characterise as loyal, peaceable, and industrious citizens. His Majesty thanks you for the good wishes you have expressed in regard to him.(Signed)Malcolm."
"I am commanded by His Majesty the Shah to acknowledge the receipt of your memorial, praying that favour and protection may be generally extended to the Jews in Persia. His Majesty has always manifested solicitude for the welfare of his subjects, without distinction of class or creed; and he will take care that no injustice or undue severity is shown to the Jewish community, whom you rightly characterise as loyal, peaceable, and industrious citizens. His Majesty thanks you for the good wishes you have expressed in regard to him.
(Signed)Malcolm."
Sir Moses, thinking it would be useful to make the good intentions of the Shah known to the Jews in Persia, as well as to the Persian public in general, had this letter translated into the Persian and Hebrew languages. He also addressed a letter of his own to the representatives of the Hebrew community in Persia; and having had the English, Hebrew, Persian, and his own letter lithographed on one large scroll, forwarded copies to hundreds of Hebrew communities in Persia, with instructions to have the scroll affixed to the principal entrance of their Synagogues.
In his letter he calls the attention of the Jews to the good intentions of the Shah, and enjoins them to pray for his life and happiness, and the prosperity of the country in which they live.
Copies of all the foregoing are preserved in Lady Montefiore's College.
October 23rd.—In commemoration of the visit of Sir Albert Sassoon to one of the schools of the Spanish and Portuguesecommunity in the month of May in this year, Sir Moses caused a special medal to be struck. Sir Moses was delighted to see the son of Mr David Sassoon, to whom the Jews are indebted for schools, colleges, and synagogues in Bagdad, Bombay, and other places, taking the same interest in education as his father had done before him, and he gave expression to his sentiments in a letter which he wrote to Sir Albert when sending him one of the medals for his acceptance.