Jazzár retained his ill-gotten pashalik of Damascus a few years only. His government knew no methods but those of oppression and cruelty; he extorted from his people a considerable part of its fortunes, and put to death several hundred persons, who were mostly innocent. His own suspicious conduct, as leader of the caravan to Mecca, combined with the machinations of his enemies at the Porte, led finally to his deposition; but he left behind living monuments of his cruelty in the shape of mutilated subjects who by his orders had had their noses and ears cut off. Thus driven from Damascus, he returned to his former pashalik of Acre and Sidon.

Jazzár, who was full of energy and life, and was possessed of some heroic qualities, but was a monster in human form, and a true specimen of the Eastern “satrap,” addressed himself to his Katib for assistance and advice. Katib in Arabic, like Yazgy in Turkish, means no more than “writer” or “scribe,” but the office confers greater power than the name implies. The Katib is often at once government secretary and treasurer; and, as he is generally a permanent official in the pashalik for life, while the pashas are often changed, by removal or death, it necessarily happens that he is master of the business of the pashalik, and of its revenues and resources, while the pashas, coming from distant provinces, enter upon a rule of which the key is in the Katib’s hands, and are compelled to keep him in their service and to be guided by him. The pashalik of Damascus was, moreover, singularly placed, in so far as its pasha and chief officials had to go every year on the pilgrimage to Mecca, and consequently were more than ever bound to confide their affairs to the Katib. It is said that the order of march, the ordinances and regulations for the pilgrims, the quantity of provisions required and various other essential facts connected with this important occasion, had somehow become secrets in the keeping of the Jews, and that Saul Farhi was considered a great expert and a recognized authority in these matters. He had four sons: Haim, Solomon, Raphael and Moses (ob. 1840) and one daughter. Haim, the eldest, was initiated by his father into all the professional secrets of his office. He was a young man of excellent abilities and learning. In the early part of his life, when he was still in Damascus, the machinations of his enemies prevailed in so far that he was summoned to Constantinople to answer certain accusations made against him; and, being mulcted in a fine which he was unable to pay, he was thrown into prison. His sister, a woman of great energy, undertook the journey from Syria to Constantinople to petition for her brother’s release. She succeeded, and brought her brother back to his house. Haim’s loyalty and integrity were placed beyond doubt, and his experiences in Constantinople must have helped to give him knowledge of the laws and insight into the central government, to which he was sincerely devoted. He was then appointed by Jazzár to the post of Katib or minister at Acre, where there lived at that time thirty-six Jewish families. Jerusalem had, besides 9000 Moslem and Christian inhabitants, about 1000 Jews; and old communities of considerable size existed in Tiberias, Safed, Jaffa and Hebron. Although not important in numbers, the Jews, owing to their connection with the communities of Damascus, Aleppo, Bagdad, Constantinople, Smyrna and Salonica, which possessed numerous religious schools, and big business enterprises extending as far as Egypt and India, were justly considered an important element. The fact that Saul Farhi was Katib at Damascus, and his son Haim at Acre, and that, according to the general opinion, the Jews were better acquainted than anyone else with the route to Mecca, and with the ordinances and regulations, which were not only of a fiscal and commercial value, but also of great strategic importance—this fact did not fail to appeal to the imagination of Bonaparte. From this point of view, and considering all the circumstances, it would appear that Bonaparte’s appeal to the Jews was not so fantastic as it might seem at first sight. It was a well-considered scheme.

Haim Farhi’s activity was twofold. It fell to his lot to look after the communications with Damascus and the Hedjaz, to remain in touch with all the distant centres of commerce and resources, and at the same time to cultivate very carefully relations with Constantinople. Both these departments of official activity abounded with difficulties and responsibilities. The roads were bad, the tribes, clans, and families much divided and continually at feud with one another. Communications were unsafe, and the danger of being cut off was always imminent. On the other hand, the maintenance of peaceful relations between a powerful, capricious Pasha and the Padishah with all his camarilla was naturally a hard task. Farhi had secured a reputation for exceptional ability in both directions. Having been brought up in the atmosphere of the Katib’s profession, he was better informed than anyone else concerning the communications and the state of affairs in Damascus and elsewhere, while his dignity of manner, worthy of the descendant of an old Jewish family, his intellectual gifts and wonderful knowledge of Eastern languages, enabled him to cope most successfully with the duties of a diplomatic career. As to the latter function, there is the testimony of Jazzár, to whom is ascribed the statement that “Farhi’s notes to the Porte have the wonderful quality of being polite as well as expressive.”

Needless to say, Farhi’s influence and activity, which would have been important even in times of peace, proved of exceptional importance at the eventful period when for the first time since the Crusades East and West were involved in a struggle for existence. It was one of the strangest caprices of history that this contest of strength between the greatest powers of the world—Bonaparte and the Ottoman Empire of that time, backed up by Great Britain—was to be decided in the Holy Land, in the neighbourhood of that little port, and that a son of the nation which had possessed this land and made it a land of glory, and to which God had promised it as an “everlasting inheritance,” was the very soul of the defence, frustrating all the plans of the enemy.

Haim’s career, romantic as it was, derives a peculiar interest from one of its incidents, which makes the Pasha appear as a monster of barbarity and madness. The story sounds like the invention of a wild imagination, but is a real, indisputable fact. We mentioned with regard to Jazzár’s activities in Damascus that living monuments of his cruelty remained behind in the shape of the noseless faces and earless heads of the Damascenes. This passion for maiming and mutilating seems to have grown with him in Acre.

The Rev. John Wilson[¹] (1804–1875) tells us: “Almost every one in his domestic establishment was maimed. Some wanted a hand, some a foot; others mourned over the loss of a toe, a finger or an ear, according as the rage of the tyrant happened to be directed. Haim Farhi was an able man and withal of fine figure and prepossessing address. He enjoyed the confidence of the Pasha, and grew rich in his employment. One day Ahmad (Jazzár) said to him: ‘Haim, you have a fine person, you are very beautiful, you are the most athletic of men; when visitors come, it is you, not me, they admire; every one seems to say how happy is the Pasha to have such a man: Now, because of this I had some thoughts of dismissing you from your office; but my great love to you prevents that; you cannot, however, have any objection to my putting out one of your eyes.’ The barber was instantly sent for; and Haim Farhi lost his eye. He continued in his office, and faithfully discharged its duties, and the Pasha continued to heap favours upon him. The Jew, however, was attentive to his appearance, and dexterously contrived to edge down his turban so skilfully that his visual defect was not much observed. Jazzár noticed this, and said to him one day, ‘All I have done has been of no use, you have become as beautiful and as attractive as ever; I must cut off your nose.’ The barber was again sent for, and Haim lost his nose. He still continued in the service of the Pasha, and discharged his duties faithfully, and even presided over the obsequies of his tyrannical benefactor.”

[¹] Land of the Bible ... Edinburgh, 1847. Vol. ii., pp. 341–342. Note 1.

CHAPTER XIII.
NAPOLEON IN PALESTINE

Bonaparte approaching Jerusalem—Anti-Jewish accusations—Bonaparte and the Christians—Suleiman Pasha—Abdallah Pasha—Haim Farhi’s martyr death—The Farhi family—Generations of martyrs.