1840.
INDIGNATION MEETINGS IN LONDON--M. CREMIEUX--LORD PALMERSTON'S
ACTION--SIR MOSES STARTS ON A MISSION TO THE EAST--ORIGIN OF THE
PASSOVER CAKE SUPERSTITION.
These communications, together with all the letters which had been
addressed to Sir Moses on the same subject, were submitted to the
consideration of the Board of Deputies and others at a meeting held at
Grosvenor Gate, Park Lane, the residence of Sir Moses.
There were present--Mr Joseph Gutteres Henriques, President; Baron de
Rothschild, Sir Moses Montefiore, Messrs Moses Mocatta, I. L.
Goldsmid, Jacob Montefiore, Isaac Cohen, Henry H. Cohen, Samuel
Bensusan, Dr Loewe, Messrs Louis Lucas, A. A. Goldsmid, Louis Cohen,
H. de Castro, Haim Guedalla, Simon Samuel, Joel Davis, David Salamons,
Abraham Levy, Jonas Levy, Laurence Myers, Solomon Cohen, Barnard van
Oven, M.D., S. J. Waley, and F. H. Goldsmid.
The following resolutions were unanimously adopted:--
"That this meeting has learned with extreme concern and disgust that
there have been lately revived in the East those false and atrocious
charges, so frequently brought against the Jews during the middle
ages, of committing murders in order to use the blood of the murdered
as an ingredient in the food during the religious ceremony of
Passover, charges which, in those times, repeatedly served as a
pretext for the robbery and massacre of persons of the Jewish faith,
but which have long disappeared from this part of the world, with the
fierce and furious prejudices that gave them birth.
"That this meeting is anxious to express its horror at finding that,
on the ground of these abominable calumnies, numbers of Jews have been
seized at Damascus and at Rhodes; that many children have been
imprisoned, and almost totally deprived of food; that of the adults
seized, several have been tortured till they died, and others have
been sentenced to death, and, it is believed, executed, although the
only evidence of their guilt was the pretended confessions wrung by
torture from their alleged accomplices.
"That this meeting earnestly request the Governments of England,
France, and Austria to remonstrate with those Governments under which
these atrocities have taken place, against their continuance.
"That this meeting confidently relies on the sympathy and humanity of
the British nation to exert its influence and authority to stay such
abominable proceedings, and that the President, Joseph Gutteres
Henriques, Esq.; The Baron de Rothschild, Sir Moses Montefiore, and
Messrs I. L. Goldsmid, Jacob Montefiore, David Salamons, A. A.
Goldsmid, and F. H. Goldsmid do form a deputation to request a
conference on the subject with Her Majesty's Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.
"That these resolutions be advertised in the newspapers."
A letter was read from the Rev. Dr Hirschel, Chief Rabbi, expressive
of his regret that his infirmities prevented his attendance at the
meeting, and declaring his concern at the revival of such false and
calumnious assertions, and his horror at such atrocious cruelties.
The meeting was attended by Monsieur Cremieux, Vice-President of the
_Consistoire Central des Israelites Francais_, who addressed the
meeting, expressing his concurrence and sympathy in its proceedings.
On April 30th the Committee proceeded to Downing Street, and were most
kindly received by Lord Palmerston. He promised to use his influence
with Mohhammad Ali and the Turkish Government to put a stop to such
atrocities. Sir Moses mentioned on this occasion, when Lord Palmerston
was speaking of his visit to Palestine, Mr Young's humanity at
Jerusalem, and also the fact that the Jews were desirous of being
employed in agricultural pursuits.
On June 15th at a meeting of the Deputies and Representatives of all
the Synagogues, including the Rev. Dr Hirschel, Rev. D. Meldola,
Monsieur Cremieux, and Rev. D. Bibas, Sir Moses was requested to
proceed, with Monsieur Cremieux, to Alexandria and Damascus, to which
request he acceded.
On June 23rd he attended a meeting at the Great Synagogue, where the
resolutions adopted at the previous meeting (June 15th) were
confirmed, and he declared his readiness to go.
On the 24th of June he went with Baron Lionel de Rothschild to the
Foreign Office. Lord Palmerston was most friendly, and read to them
the despatches to Colonel Hodges and Lord Ponsonby. That to Colonel
Hodges was most strongly worded, calling on him to address Mohhammad
Ali in writing to urge him to compensate the sufferers and remove
those officers who had misconducted themselves in Damascus. Lord
Palmerston further said he would give Sir Moses letters to Colonel
Hodges, telling him to afford him every protection and assistance, and
desiring him to apply to Mohhammad Ali to give him (Sir Moses) every
facility for the investigation of the affair. His Lordship also added
that he would give him any other letters he might require.
On Friday, July 3rd, there was a crowded and enthusiastic meeting in
the Egyptian Hall at the Mansion House, of bankers, merchants, and
many influential and learned British Christians, for the purpose of
expressing their sympathy with the Israelites, and their earnest
wishes for the success of Sir Moses Montefiore previous to his
starting on the mission to the East. Mr Alderman Thompson took the
chair. The principal speakers were the Lord Mayor, Sir Chapman
Marshall, J. Abel Smith, John Masterman, S. Gurney, Sir Charles
Forbes, Dr Bowring, Daniel O'Connell, and the Hon. and Rev. Noel. The
result of the meeting was highly satisfactory.
In the interval between these meetings Sir Moses attended the Queen's
Drawing-Room, and was most graciously addressed there by Prince George
of Cambridge, who said he was glad to see him, and reminded him of his
having met him at Malta.
At a meeting of the Board of Deputies on the 26th Sir Moses was
unanimously elected their president, on the resignation of Mr J. H.
Henriques. He attended the annual festival dinner of the Jews'
Hospital, when the Duke of Sussex presided. On the 11th of June he
went to the Merchant Taylors' Hall to meet the Duke of Cambridge and
Prince George, the latter being made an honorary member of the
Company. Taking special interest in the abolition of slavery, Sir
Moses and Lady Montefiore both attended the grand meeting of the
Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, when Prince Albert took
the chair and addressed the company. On June 15th he was present at a
meeting of the Board of Deputies of the British Jews, and agreed to
the addresses of congratulation prepared by the Hon. Secretary, to be
sent to Her Majesty, Prince Albert, and the Duchess of Kent, on the
occasion of the escape of the Queen from the attempt made on her life
in the Park on the 10th of June. The address to Her Majesty was
subsequently presented by him, as President of the Board of Deputies,
accompanied by four other gentlemen, at St James' Palace; and Sir
Moses was then presented to the Queen by the Duke of Norfolk, on his
going to the East. The next day Sir Moses and the same four gentlemen
presented the address to the Duchess of Kent, who received them most
amiably, and enquired particularly after Sir Moses' health. He then
proceeded with them to Buckingham Palace, and presented the address to
Prince Albert, who also received them very graciously.
Sir Moses, as the representative of the Jews in the British Empire,
now commenced making his arrangements for the departure of the
Mission, and Monsieur Cremieux, as representative of the Jews in
France, took similar steps.
Sir Moses selected for his companions Mr D. W. Wire (his former
under-Sheriff and afterwards Lord Mayor of London), Dr Madden, a
distinguished author and well-known traveller in the East, and myself.
Monsieur Cremieux engaged as his companion Monsieur Solomon Munk, a
distinguished savant of Paris.
Before I proceed to give the account of the present mission, as taken
from the entries in Sir Moses' diary and from my own personal
observation, I deem it necessary to direct the attention of the reader
to the origin of accusations similar to those made at Damascus, which
were brought against the Jews in former times; and to point out the
reason why, even to this day, they are not without effect in some of
the most enlightened countries.
Tertullianus (J. Septimus Florens), one of the Fathers of the Church,
who lived in the second century, complains in his work entitled
"Apologet. advers. gentes" (chap. 8), of the adherents to the religion
to which he himself belonged being accused of sacrificing and eating
children. Upon which, Pamelius, in his commentary on the same chapter
(which he dedicated to Philip II. and Pope Gregory VIII.), observes,
that the accusation has its origin in the misunderstanding of the
sense of all those passages in the New Testament which refer to the
Agapes. These verses have been taken by the uninitiated in their
literal sense.
The heathens at that time asserted that the Christians used human
blood at their Passover. Thus we find the origin of that horrible
accusation in the first three centuries of the Christian era; not
until the thirteenth century was it brought against the Jews, viz., in
the year 1235 in Fulda, 1250 in Spain, 1264 in London, 1283 in
Bachrach, Moravia, 1285 in Munich.
If these charges were true, it might be asked, how is it that the
Jews, who celebrated the Passover festival fifteen hundred years
before the Christian era, had never been accused of such a crime
before? The answer to this question is to be found in the history of
the thirteenth century.
It was in this century, when fanaticism and hatred of race prevailed,
and when persecutions for witchcraft and the burning of heretics and
sorcerers were of frequent occurrence, that it appeared opportune to
bring against the Jews the same accusation which had been formerly
brought against the ancestors of their accusers, viz., the using of
Christian blood for the Passover. The wealth of the Jews in several
parts of Europe, as well as the high position to which they were
raised in Spain by the rulers of the land, had aroused the jealousy of
their adversaries. The unfounded nature of the accusation against them
was so palpable that the heads of the Church deemed it necessary to
defend and protect them. Thus Pope Innocent IV. published a Bull on
the 5th of July 1247, addressed to the heads of the Church in France
and Germany, officially refuting the demoniacal accusation (S.
Baronitas Annales eccles. ad annum 1247, No. 84). I give here a
translation of it in order to afford the reader the opportunity of
acquainting himself with the contents of that important document:--
"Lyons, _3rd July 1248_.
"Pope Innocent, the servant of the servants of God,
sends his apostolic greeting and blessing to the right
reverend Fathers, Bishops, and Archbishops in Germany.
"We have received from Germany the sad news that in
your towns and dioceses there is a wish to despoil the
Jews, in an illegal manner, of their property, and that,
for this purpose, malicious counsels and different false
accusations are brought against them. Without
considering that they were, in a certain way, entrusted
with the care of the Christian faith; that the command
of Holy Scripture, 'Thou shalt not commit murder,' was
given to them; and that, by their law, they are
forbidden to touch corpses on the Passover, they are
accused of eating in company the heart of a murdered
child, and if the dead body of any human being is found,
they are believed to be the murderers, although such
practices are in direct contradiction to their laws. By
such false accusations they are oppressed, and deprived
of all their goods, although they have never been
brought before any judge and found guilty, in spite of
the privileges graciously granted them by the Apostolic
Chair. This is against all human and divine law, and
brings these said Jews into a worse condition than that
of their forefathers under the Pharaohs of Egypt, and
forces them, in their misery, to leave the places where
their fathers had been settled from time immemorial. In
their fear of being exterminated entirely, they have
sought the protection of the Apostolic Chair, and we
hereby forbid every unjust oppression of the said Jews,
whose conversion we trust to the mercy of God, according
to the promise of the Prophet, that those of them who
remain shall be saved; and we commend them to you, our
brethren, through this Apostolic letter, that you may
show favour to them, and help them to their right, when
they have been unjustly imprisoned; and that you in no
case permit them to be oppressed for the said or similar
causes. Those who are guilty of molesting them in this
way are to be punished by doing penance in the Church,
without regard to their station.
"Given at Lyons, on the 3rd of July, in the fifth year
of our Pontificate."
In 1275 the Emperor Rudolf of Hapsburgh confirmed this Bull, in a
decree, sealed with his great seal, which is still to be seen in the
Archives of the Town of Cologne. The title of this decree is, "I,
Rudolphus, Rex Rom., do hereby confirm the privileges granted to the
Jews by Popes Gregory and Innocent, and declare to be untrue, that
which some Christians say, that they do eat the heart of a dead child
on the day of their Passover."
The contents of this decree are a literal translation of the Bull
given above. Another Bull issued by Gregory, says, amongst other
things:--
"Gregory, &c.... Following the example set us by our predecessors of
blessed memory, Calixt, Cugen, Alexander, Coeloestin, Honorius, and
Gregory, we agree to the prayer of the Jews, and will hold the shield
of our protection over them. We also strictly forbid, that any
Christian force them, against their will, to be baptised, as only
those can be considered as Christians who, from their own free will,
accept baptism. Nor shall any Christian dare, without a judgment from
us, to wound or to kill them, to deprive them of their money, or in
any way to molest them in the privileges granted to them in the places
where they live."
The Emperor concludes his decree with the following words: "We confirm
and permit, in our Royal mercy, by this act to the said Jews, all and
everything which was granted and given to them by the Roman Popes, so
that they may live securely under the shadow of our protection, and
that they shall not be condemned, in any case whatever, unless
properly judged and found guilty by the righteous testimony of Jews
and Christians."
Considering that M. Achille Laurent has published a book, in which he
presumes to give what he calls a "Procedure complete dirigee en 1840
contre des Juifs de Damas,"--a book which is replete with outbursts of
hatred against the Jews, and has, since its publication, unfortunately
served almost as a text-book in the hands of their adversaries,--I
think it desirable, in addition to the declaration of the Pope given
above, to introduce to the reader the names of some eminent Christian
scholars, who have but recently (since the accusations of Kohling and
Geza roused the attention of the public) expressed their opinion in
the works they have published; some of which were written by the
special order of the Courts of Law in Austria, and the Universities of
Amsterdam, Leyden, Utrecht, and Copenhagen.
The Right Rev. Bishop Dr Kopp, of Fulda; the Right. Rev. Dr J. H.
Reinkens, in Bonn; Professor Dr Franz Delitzsch; Professor Dr A.
Dillman; Professor Dr G. Ebers; Professor Dr H. L. Fleischer, in
Leipzig; Professor Dr H. Kalkar, in Copenhagen; Professor Dr Paul de
Lagarde, in Goettingen; Professor Dr Merx, in Heidelberg; Dr Alois
Muller, in Vienna; Professor Dr Th. Noeldecke, in Straszburg; Professor
Dr Riehm, Professor Dr Carl Siegfried of Vienna, Professor Dr B. Stade
of Gieszen, Professor Dr Sommer of Koenigsberg, Professor Dr Strack of
Berlin, and Dr August Wunsche of Dresden.
A book entitled, "Christliche Zeugnisse gegen die Blutbeschuldigung
der Juden," published by Walther and Apolant, Berlin, 1882, gives a
compilation of all the statements on the subject made by these
authors, all proving the accusation to be a calumny.
To take possession of the wealth accumulated by the industrious and
sober habits of the Jews, and to deprive them of the important
positions which they had, by their uprightness and ability, obtained,
was the object their adversaries had in view in raising this
accusation in the thirteenth century, and the same object can be
traced in the persecutions which, in the present century, in some
parts of the world, continue to affect individuals, and sometimes even
whole communities.
_July 7th._--We proceeded to the London Bridge Wharf, where we were
met by the members of the Ecclesiastical Courts, both of the German
and Portuguese congregations, and many others of our brethren. "I
should think," Sir Moses observes in his diary, "there were more than
one hundred Jews waiting to see us set off, all giving us their
blessing, and wishing us health, success, and a safe return. May the
Almighty hearken to their prayers, and grant their petition."
It was blowing very hard when we reached Gravesend, and we determined
to land, which was not effected without some difficulty and
inconvenience. Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore were much fatigued,
having spent nearly the whole of the previous night in writing letters
and arranging various important matters relative to the Mission.
_July 8th._--We went on board the _Arrow_ a little before eight, and
reached the French coast before eleven o'clock. The weather being
squally and the sea rough, we and several others remained on board
till the vessel could enter the port. We came to anchor, and continued
to roll about till half-past four, when we landed in safety.
_Thursday, July 9th._--Found our carriages, and servants all well at
Boulogne, and ready to receive us. Having taken some refreshment, we
proceeded to Abbeville, and travelled all night, arriving shortly
after mid-day in Paris.
During our stay there we had frequent interviews with the members of
the Rothschild family, who took a deep interest in our Mission. A
meeting of the Consistoire de France on the subject was held at the
house of Baron Anselm de Rothschild, which I attended together with Dr
Loewe and Mr Wire. Monsieur Cremieux made a fervent appeal to all
present, and the result was very satisfactory. We left Paris on the
13th July, together with Dr Madden, who had come from London to join
us. Monsieur and Madame Cremieux joined our party at Avignon, and
together we reached Marseilles on the 20th. The Grand Rabbin, with the
principal members of the community, immediately came to welcome us;
afterwards we went on board the _Minos_ to inspect our cabins.
_Tuesday, July 31st._--Repaired early in the morning to the Synagogue,
and prayed for the safety and success of our Mission. At 4.30 P.M. we
went on board the _Minos_; Messrs Palmer and Taylor, of the Imperial
Continental Gas Association, accompanied us. Mr Moore, the Queen's
messenger, and Mr Doyle, of the _Chronicle_, were fellow passengers.
The wind blew very fresh when first we started, but the evening was
very fine.