1867.
SIR MOSES ACCEPTS A MISSION TO THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES--ACTION
OF THE BRITISH, RUSSIAN, AND
PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS--PRINCE BISMARCK'S OPINION--DEATH
OF SIR MOSES' BROTHER, HORATIO.
Sir Moses then addressed the following letter to the President _pro
tem._ of the Board of Deputies of British Jews:
"GROSVENOR GATE, PARK LANE, "_30th June_ 5627 (1867).
"MY DEAR SIR,--It is with deep regret that I have to place in your
hands further despatches received from Jassy, from which it would
appear that the position of our unfortunate co-religionists in
Moldavia still continues most distressing. You will be pleased to
submit these communications to the Board of Deputies without delay.
"The several memorials which I have received from Moldavia solicit
so frequently and so urgently my personal presence there, that if,
in the opinion of your Board and that of our community, it should be
considered that my presence in Moldavia might prove of utility to
those who in their misery apply to us for sympathy and aid, I should
feel it an imperative duty, at whatever personal risk and sacrifice,
to respond to the appeal thus piteously made.
"There can be no doubt that, as the delegate of our community, any
representations that I might be entrusted to make as its organ would
acquire great force and significance, while I should be encouraged
by the consciousness that I should be acting, not only in accordance
with my own sense of duty, but also as the exponent of the earnest
wishes of your Board and of the Jews at large, that so unhappy a
state of things as is now existing in Moldavia as affecting the
Jews of that Principality, may, under the blessing of the Almighty,
speedily cease."
The President _pro tem._ immediately convened a meeting, at which
the Deputies expressed their deep sympathy with the sufferings of
the Moldavian Jews, and entreated Sir Moses to undertake a Mission
to the Principality, in the hope that his presence there would be as
successful in relieving the grievances of our unfortunate brethren
in that country as it had been in his previous Missions to Damascus,
Russia, Morocco, and the Holy Land.
Sir Moses, in accepting the Mission thus urged upon him, had every
possible support from the British Government. The Russian Government
also manifested their sympathy with the sufferers, and expressed their
approval of his going to Bucharest.
Baron Brunnow sent him a copy of a despatch to that effect, which he
had received on the subject from Prince Gortchakoff, dated Tsarkoé
Séla, 12th July 1867, which I subjoin in the original French:--
Copie d'une dépêche de S. Exc. Mr. le Chancelier Prince Gortchacow
à l'Ambassadeur de Russie à Londres, en date de Tsarkaé-Sélo, le 12
Juillet 1867:
"MR. LE BARON,--Dès la réception de la dépêche de Votre Exc., sub 155
je me suis empressé d'informer notre Consul-Général à Bucarest de la
résolution de Sir Moses Montefiore de se rendre à Bucarest pour y
plaider la cause de ses co-religionnaires. D'ordre de Notre Auguste
Maître, j'ai invité le Baron d'Offenberg à prêter à cette mission
d'humanité tout le concours qui pourra dépendre de lui.--Recevez, &c.,
(Signé) "GORTCHACOW."
The Prussian Government, as will be seen in the copy of a letter
from Lord Loftus to Lord Stanley, as forwarded to Sir Moses through
Lord Egerton, also supported the cause. Lord Egerton transmitted
for his information a copy of a despatch which he had received from
Her Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin, in which the latter reported a
conversation he had had with Count Bismarck on the subject of the
persecution of the Jews in the Danubian Principalities:--
"In obedience to the instructions of your Lordship's despatch, No. 20
of the 31st ultimo, the Ambassador writes: 'I have brought under the
notice of Count Bismarck the subject of the ill-treatment to which
the Jews have been subjected in the Danubian Principalities, and I
requested His Excellency to furnish the Prussian agent at Bucharest
with the necessary instructions to enable him to co-operate with Her
Majesty's Consul-General in behalf of an unoffending and peaceable
class of inhabitants, whom it behoved every civilized government to
protect from acts of violence.
"Count Bismarck said that the Prussian Government would readily
co-operate with Her Majesty's Government in this humane work.
"Last year, on a similar occasion, instructions of a like nature had
been given to the Consul at Bucharest, and he would again renew them.
"His Excellency observed that the difficulties of Prince Charles were
great. He was anxious to establish order and a legalised state of
things. But he was not always able to carry out his wishes.
"He felt confident that the ill-treatment to which the Jews had been
exposed was most repugnant to the feelings of Prince Charles, and
that His Highness would do his utmost for their protection.--I have,
&c.,
(Signed) "AUGUSTUS LOFTUS."
On July the 20th he received letters of introduction from the Foreign
Office to Mr (now Sir John) Green, and was informed at the same time
that the British Government had written to Paris, Vienna, and St
Petersburg about his journey to Moldavia.
_July 27th._--Prayers were offered up in the Synagogues of the united
congregations of the British Empire for the success of Sir Moses'
Mission to Jassy, and two days later we find him at Dover, at the Lord
Warden Hotel, surrounded by his travelling companions--Mr Arthur Cohen,
Q.C., M.P.; Captain (now General) Henry Moore, of the Bombay Staff
Corps; Mr James S. Daniel of Ramsgate, his medical attendant; and the
writer. The following morning he crossed over to Calais, and in the
evening he and his party arrived at Paris, where they stayed at the
Hotel Meurice.
_August 3rd._--Sir Moses received a letter from Mr Fane, the British
Ambassador, appointing the following day for an audience with the
Emperor at the Tuileries, of which the following is an account in Sir
Moses' own words:--
"This day, Sunday, the 7th of August," he writes in his Diary, "I had
the honour and happiness of an audience with His Imperial Majesty the
Emperor Napoleon III. His Majesty received me most courteously, shook
me by the hand, and said he was glad to see me again. I expressed my
sincere thanks for the honour of the audience, tendered to His Majesty
the expressions of the heartfelt gratitude of my co-religionists of
England for His Majesty's powerful intercession on behalf of their
brethren in Moldavia, and prayed His Majesty to continue his gracious
efforts, so as to allow me to enjoy the invaluable benefit of His
Majesty's support. The Emperor said I should have his support, enquired
when I purposed leaving, and said Bucharest was a long journey. He
again shook me by the hand on my taking leave. It was impossible for
any person to have evinced more kindness than was shown me by His
Majesty. After leaving the Palace I left a card at the British Embassy
for the Hon. Mr Fane. He called on me at the Hotel Meurice, and I told
him all that had passed at my audience with the Emperor. He was much
pleased, and said that he should write home, and that what I had said
was the same language as that of the Marquis of Moustier, the Foreign
Minister."
We left Paris on the 6th of August, and travelled through Strasburg,
Stuttgart (where Sir Moses was greeted by Dr Von Mayer, the Chief
Rabbi), Donauwörth, and Ratisbon, and reached Vienna on the 14th,
stopping at the Hotel Munsch.
"Accompanied by Arthur Cohen and Dr Loewe I paid a visit to Lord
Bloomfield, the British Minister at the Court. He was very courteous,
but said the Emperor would leave Vienna this evening. Lord Bloomfield
rode with me to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but he was out. I
afterwards called on the Russian Minister; he was at Ostend. Being
greatly fatigued and very weak, on my return to the hotel I soon
retired to rest.
"_Vienna, August 15th._--This morning my kind nephew, Arthur Cohen,
and my friend, Dr Loewe, communicated to me the intelligence they
had received yesterday of the loss I had unhappily sustained by the
demise of my dear brother Horatio. He was relieved from all suffering
and called to eternal glory not many minutes before I took my fast on
Sunday night (August 10th--Ab. 10th, the anniversary of the destruction
of the Temple of Jerusalem). He was a very charitable man, a good
husband and father. We entertained the most affectionate regard for
each other.
"_Vienna, August 16th._--Last night I received a telegram from Mrs
Arthur Cohen to the effect that Dr Jenner had said it was dangerous for
Arthur to go to Bucharest, and that consequently she could not give her
consent to his going with me. I regret this decision on his account as
well as my own. I thus lose the companionship of a very amiable and
talented relative and friend at a time I stand most in need of his
assistance.
"I am losing my strength, and am anxious to get on my voyage to
Bucharest.
"The British Ambassador, Lord Bloomfield, paid me a long visit, and the
Austrian Minister left his card."
_Sunday, August 18th._--We left Vienna on board an Austrian steamer
for Pesth, and proceeded to Bucharest, where we arrived on Thursday,
the 22nd inst., taking up our quarters at the Hotel Otettelichano.
Sir Moses at once called on Mr Green. The latter returned his visit
the next day, and went with him to the Prince. On his return from the
palace he received a visit from the prefect of the place.
_Saturday, August 24th._--Sir Moses invited several members of the
Hebrew community to be present at divine service, which on that day was
held in his drawing-room, the distance of their place of worship and
the overpowering heat of the day preventing him from walking there and
joining the congregation.
Subsequently the Foreign Minister, also the two private Secretaries
of the Prince, Monsieur Friedlander and Monsieur Picot, called, and
when these had left, deputations from various Hebrew educational
institutions and charitable societies came to pay their respects, and
to thank him for the great fatigue he had undergone on their behalf.
_Tuesday, August 27th._--"I suffer greatly," Sir Moses says, "by this
climate, the heat of the weather deprives me of strength. Nevertheless,
the hope of success cheers me. The reports constantly made to me of the
serious aspect of affairs in this country, and at the intended outbreak
against my co-religionists, are very alarming, more particularly as
they are repeated to me by Mr Green, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, as
well as by many other Christians." Mr Hertz, the Director of the bank,
came to inform Mr Green that money had been distributed among the mob
to attack us, and to slaughter the Jews.
Still Sir Moses did not lose heart, but directed his attention to the
petition he was about presenting to the Prince, of which the following
is an exact copy:--
"BUCHAREST, _27th August 1867_.
"TO HIS SERENE HIGHNESS PRINCE CHARLES I., Reigning Prince of Roumania.
May it please your Serene Highness,--Statements having been
circulated in England and elsewhere that my co-religionists in
Roumania were no longer in the enjoyment of that tranquillity and
safety to which they had, thanks to the Almighty and to the honour
of this nation, been accustomed for several generations, I bethought
me that as on other occasions and in other lands I had succeeded in
restoring confidence among my co-religionists, so in Roumania on
the present occasion I might do good by my presence among them. But
before carrying out this resolution, I obtained the sanction of it
from Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and through Her Majesty's
Government, the approval of the Governments of Austria, France,
Italy, Prussia, and Russia. I now, on behalf of my co-religionists
in England, my native country, as well as on the behalf of those
in every part of the world, with all humility entreat your Serene
Highness to be pleased, through the Government of your Serene
Highness, to warn all evil disposed persons not to molest the Jews in
any manner, and to give positive orders that the Jews dwelling in all
parts of the United Principalitica shall enjoy perfect protection in
all which concerns the safety of their persons and their property.
Permit me also to express to your Serene Highness my grateful
appreciation of the enlightened sentiments of religious toleration
of which your Serene Highness has always given proofs in matters
concerning Jewish subjects of your Serene Highness, and in offering
your Serene Highness my humble thanks for the personal honour
conferred on me by listening to the manifestation of my anxiety with
respect to the welfare of my co-religionists. Allow me to tender
my heartfelt wishes for the health and happiness of your Serene
Highness, and for the prosperity of the United Principalitica.--I
have the honour to be, with the profoundest respect, the most
obedient, humble servant of your Serene Highness,
(Signed) "MOSES MONTEFIORE."
_Wednesday, August 28th._--A copy of the journal _Natinuea_ was this
day sent to Sir Moses, containing a harangue addressed by the editor
to the people of Roumania. I give a full copy of it, that the reader
may form an idea of the dangerous position in which Sir Moses found
himself, and appreciate the courage and perseverance he manifested in
the task before him:--
"Two weeks ago we announced to our readers the arrival of a wealthy
Israelite from London, Sir Moses Montefiore, and now this personage,
who is in possession of the keys to all the doors of the Cabinets of
Europe, actually arrived yesterday in our capital. We understand that
M. Crémieux is to follow (if he has not arrived already). Need we
tell our Roumanian brethren what these people want in our beautiful
country? Is it possible that the Roumanians should be so simple, so
foolish, so led away by the friends of the Hebrews, so betrayed by
those who secretly sell the soil of our ancestors? Can our brethren
be indeed so indifferent to their natural interests, so blinded by
some Jewish journals written in the Roumanian language, as not to
penetrate into the real intentions of these persons amongst us? What
they strive at just at a time when anarchy prevails in the land, and
the ministers are ignorant of their mission, and resign just at a
moment when the Hebrews enter the land? No! No! No! Ye Roumanians;
ye descendants of those who knew how to preserve this beautiful
land in all storms, who knew how to defend and rescue it from the
claws of the Goths, the Huns, Turks, Poles, Hungarians, Germans,
&c.; ye descendants of these noble ancestors, you know as well as
we what these Hebrews want here, and who has brought them here.
You will indeed still have in your veins sufficient of the blood
of your ancestors not to permit that the land should fall into the
hands of the Hebrews! There will yet be found in Roumania patriotic
voices, whose echo will carry the cry of despair of this poor and
betrayed nation into the Cabinets which are occupied with the future
of Roumania, and which are engaged in rescuing this land from the
hands of the enemies of civilization, that have no other design
than money--money--and again money! and thus the ruin of the simple
Roumanian people.
"We have watched the steps of the enemies, who mean to surprise us,
and to transform our land into a Palestine; we have watched all their
steps and traces, and followed them without intermission, and to-day
we call to all Roumanians: sleep not! and more especially it is the
commercial classes, who daily suffer grievous wrong, and are brought
near their ruin--and indeed only through these bloodsuckers, the
Hebrews--to those we call, sleep not, assemble, consult--hasten, all
ye commercial men of Roumania, to the common consultation as to what
is to be done, in order that we may not awake one fine morning and
see the crown lands, to the value of hundreds of millions, bought
by the Hebrews, as is to be expected from the measures taken by the
present Government.
"The unfortunate Roumanian peasants, who have defended and preserved
this sacred soil with rivers of their blood, and have maintained
it by their language, religion, and sweat, in what cries and
lamentations would they burst forth when seized by the claws of the
Hebrews, as the innocent bird cries out when caught by the teeth
of the poisonous serpent of India. 'Awake ye Romans,' was lately
sung in the Halls of the Athenæum, on the field of literature and
nationality. Awake ye Roumanians! let us all awake and assemble
on that field upon which the sentiment of all political, social,
national, and patriotic duty calls, the duty not to allow the
naturalization of the Hebrews, of those outcasts, which even our
Redeemer Jesus Christ has cursed, that they should possess no
country, no home; were we to allow their naturalization, then all
Crown domains now exposed to sale, to the ruination of the country,
this sacred treasure of our fathers would fall into the hands of the
Hebrew bankers! ... and then! ... Roumania would become a Palestine,
and the free Roumanian, the Christian Roumanian would become the
slave of those outcasts! ... and Roumania will be the land of the
Hebrews and not of the Roumanian.
"Merchants and Brethren of Bucharest! Merchants and Roumanian
Brethren of the Mountains! (Wallachia). Do you not see in what
net our brethren beyond the Milkor (Moldavia) have been caught?
Do you not hear the cries and lamentations of those brethren who
have been sold to the Jews, by the protection of some Ciokois? ...
Shall you suffer political privileges to be given to the Hebrews,
so that nothing will be left in your hands wherewith to carry on
your commerce; neither the meat, nor the egg, nor the fruit of the
tree, nor the berry of the vine, nor the fruit of your garden, nor
the onion, nor the maize, ... not even the drop of wine which the
Christian stands in need of for preparing the Lord's Supper--as is
done in Moldavia? Shall you suffer any longer the groans of your
brethren beyond the Milkor (Moldavia), and their sighs under the
lacerating claws of the Hebrews, without raising your powerful
voice--powerful, for it is the voice of God! without demanding that
the rights and the soil of Roumania remain intact? No! Oh no! You
will not suffer that! The God of our Fathers will be with us, will
assist us in cutting the thread of those machinations by which our
land is to be bartered away to the Hebrews! ... May God be with us!
"Citizens of the Capital! and especially ye merchants and brethren
of Bucharest, ye who in common with us have welcomed our brethren
of the literary society, it is incumbent upon you to take the
initiative, and through your example to call out all Roumanians for a
common action, as a welcome to the noble Israelite, Montefiore; that
Hebrew--whom even our Minister of State, Mr Stefan Golesku, is said
to have received at the gates of the capital with great splendour.
"Let this action consist in our signing this day three petitions:
one to His Serene Highness, the Prince, a second to the House
of Deputies, and a third to the Senate, in which we demand the
fulfilment of the following four points:--(1) That of the Crown
domains nothing be sold, but vineyards and small fields situate at a
distance, which prove only injurious to the State; (2) All Hebrews
who have come into the land since 1848 provided with passports, and
who have no industrial occupation, shall be sent by the Government
to the land from whence they have come; (3) All Hebrew proprietors
of factories, where Roumanian workmen are employed, as also those
who carry on a trade, as tinmen, tailors, &c., all men of the higher
sciences--shall be tolerated in the land; provided, however, that
they enter upon the path of civilisation, for which the Government
will take the necessary measures. As to the privileges of these
Jews, they will be limited to those prescribed by the civil law; (4)
Henceforth no Hebrew shall have permission to enter the land for the
purpose of settling in it.
"This is the policy and wish of the journal _Natiunea_, in respect of
the Hebrews, and we believe it is the wish of all true patriots of
Roumania, who have at heart the welfare of their country.
"The signature of the above petitions takes place from to-day at the
office of this Journal; let all Roumanians hasten to sign them! For
the facility of citizens, lists for signature will be laid out before
the Theatre and in St George's Place.
"We hope the communities of the united and indivisible Roumania will
send, within a few days, thousands of signatures to the office of the
_Natiunea_, a committee will then be formed to send the petitions to
their respective places.
"To work! to work! ye Roumanian Brethren! and may God be with us!"