"Letters received at Gibraltar from Saffi bring tidings that Hádj Dris, the commissioner, who was sent by the Sultan to that port to make an investigation into the circumstances of the murder and robbery of several Jews in the province of Abdá, has caused a letter from the Sultan to be read in public to the two Governors of Abdá, expressing His Majesty's severe displeasure on account of the atrocities. The Sultan desires that the Jews should be guarded from harm, and well treated, and reminds his officers that the Prophet ordered the Mahommedans to protect them. His Majesty adds, 'Whos ever shall kill a Jew we shall put him to death.' 7500 Spanish dollars have been given as compensation to the Jews, and the Moors who were suspected of having committed the crimes, but against whom there was not evidence to justify their being put to death, have been sent in chains to Morocco, to be there imprisoned during the Sultan's pleasure. The Consular officers at Saffi were requested to attend a meeting of the Moorish authorities and principal Jews of the town, when this satisfaction was offered to the Jews and cheerfully accepted by them. It said, that the British, French, and other Governments had made sundry representations and remonstrances to the Sultan on the subject of atrocities, which led to these proceedings. The Sultan has afforded another proof of his intention to give practical effect to his promise to Sir Moses Montefiore, that equal justice should be administrated to his Mahommedan and Jewish subjects. He has offered a reward of 100 Spanish dollars for the apprehension, dead or alive, of the murderer of the Austrian interpreter at Tetuan, and ordered that any Moor sheltering or giving food to the murderer shall be treated as an accomplice."

"If a monarch, ruling over an Empire so far away from Europe, the land of civilization, acts so energetically in the cause of justice and humanity, and expresses publicly his severe displeasure to the officers in charge of the administration of the law of the country, how much more," says Sir Moses, "is there every reason to hope that His Serene Highness, Prince Charles, himself a most enlightened ruler among the Potentates of Europe, who has repeatedly expressed his disapproval of acts of injustice, will not rest in his humane exertions until, even more effectively than the Sultan of Morocco is always able to do, he will have secured to all who dwell under his sway, irrespective of their religious convictions, full protection and the rights and privileges to which every loyal subject is fully entitled."

Sir Moses having done his utmost for the welfare of his brethren in the East, with what conspicuous success has already been seen, he now turned his attention to the affairs of the Hebrew community in England.

Monday, May 11th.—He writes: "I feel rather better; have more energy, and very anxious to be, if possible, useful to my co-religionists. Therefore am reluctant to refuse the proffered appointment of President of the Board of Deputies of the British Jews, as perhaps it may be the means of promoting the general unity of all the Jews in England." "I think," he adds, "our Members of Parliament should be ex officio members of the Board, as the best medium of expressing the sentiments of the Board in the House of Commons. To-day I went over the House of my dear Judith College, and was pleased with it. I wish Dr Loewe would come and at once set it afloat."

It appears to have been the great object of his desire to secure the strict adherence to the Statutes, enrolled by him in Chancery, on the 26th of February 1866, for the regulation of the College; for, on his referring again in his Diary, four months later, to that institution, in an entry dated East Cliff, Thursday, July 16th, 1868, he writes: "After deep consideration, and with the sincere desire that it may be the means of securing more entirely the fulfilment of my wishes respecting the conduct of the persons selected to fill the buildings of my dear, dear Judith College, and the strict performance of their duties, I have added Dr Loewe to the Trust of the property, in the room of my lamented friend Benjamin Cohen."

He now occupied himself with the selection of the various objects necessary for the internal fittings of the College, such as book-cases, desks, and forms, made after a model he had seen at the great Exhibition of 1851. Kind relatives and friends sent him costly presents, such as a beautiful velvet curtain, embroidered with gold, for the Ark, and a mantle for the scroll of the Holy Law, from his sisters, Mrs Gompertz and Mrs Cohen; handsome embroidered covers for the pulpit from his nieces, Mrs Sebag-Montefiore and Mrs H. Guedalla; a splendid picture representing the vision of Ezekiel, painted and presented by Mr Hart, R.A., and many other suitable objects, all of which gave Sir Moses great pleasure. He himself deposited in the College whatever he thought interesting to the student of Jewish history, out of his own large collection of valuable objects. His ardent desire to promote the study of Hebrew and theological literature, and his great exertions to ameliorate the lot of his brethren wherever they were persecuted, earned for him the high esteem even of those not belonging to his own faith. As an instance, I will only state that in this year steps were taken by one of the highest and most esteemed in the land to raise Sir Moses to the peerage.

The late Earl of Shaftesbury, a man of unshaken belief in Scripture, in Christian dogma, and in prayer, entertained sentiments of the highest respect for Sir Moses.

Mr Edwin Hodder, the author of "The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury," referring to the desire of his Lordship to see Sir Moses raised to the Peerage, thus writes (vol. iii. p. 234):

"To Mr Gladstone, the new Premier, Lord Shaftesbury preferred a similar request to one he had made without effect to Mr Disraeli when he was Prime Minister. It was as follows:—

Lord Shaftesbury to The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone.

December 22nd, 1868.

"Dear Gladstone,—The new arrangements you have made in respect of certain young peers in the House of Lords will prove, I doubt not, very beneficial.

"But I have an impulse, which I cannot restrain, an impulse both from opinion and feeling, to suggest another movement; and I make it far less on the presumption of tendering advice than of disburdening myself of a strong desire. The Jewish question has now been settled. The Jews can sit in both Houses of Parliament. I myself resisted their admission, not because I was adverse to the descendants of Abraham, of whom our blessed Lord came according to the flesh, very far from it, but because I objected to the mode in which that admission was to be effected.

"All that is passed away, and let us now avail ourselves of the opportunity to show regard to God's ancient people.

"There is a noble member of the house of Israel, Sir Moses Montefiore, a man dignified by patriotism, charity, and self-sacrifice, on whom Her Majesty might graciously bestow the honours of the Peerage.

"It would be a glorious day for the House of Lords when that grand old Hebrew were enrolled on the lists of the hereditary legislators of England.—Truly Yours,

"Shaftesbury."

Mr Disraeli (Mr Hodder writes) had replied in a "gushing" letter, expressing his great willingness to do anything, but stating that he was, for obvious reasons, less than any other Prime Minister in a position to grant the request.

Mr Gladstone replied that the case should be carefully "considered," and made enquiry as to what Sir Moses Montefiore's fortune was supposed to be, and whether he had children, but there he allowed the matter to rest.