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 Mr L. 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. Here I 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 travelled _via_ Cologne, 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 at the 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.
_January_ 1873.--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 February_ 1873 (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 Community there,
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."
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 Portuguese community 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.