Being informed in the morning that, according to the latest accounts, the interior of Persia was actually overrun with bands of marauders, he was reluctantly induced to abandon his projected journey, at the earnest solicitations of persons occupying high official positions in this country, who assured him that such a journey would be perilous, even to a young man, and could be undertaken by him only at the risk of his life.
His active philanthropy, however, could not let him rest. If the journey to Persia was to be deferred, a journey to Russia, he thought, might be undertaken without risk of life, and might render good service to the cause of his brethren in that country.
Five or six months prior to this date he had received letters from several Hebrew congregations in Russia, requesting him to proceed to St Petersburg and offer the Czar his own congratulations, and those of his brethren in England, on the occasion of the bi-centenary of the birth of Peter the Great. Sir Moses readily consented, and on the 20th of June he informed the Board of Deputies, that, if they should determine to vote an address of congratulation to the Emperor of Russia, he would have great pleasure in presenting it to the Czar in person.
The Board at first hesitated to encourage the President at his advanced age to undertake such a long and fatiguing journey, but ultimately resolved to accept his offer. As soon as Sir Moses became acquainted with their decision he commenced making his preparations.
On Wednesday, July 10th, Count Brunnow, the Russian Ambassador, paid him a visit at Park Lane, and subsequently sent him letters for St Petersburg and Stockholm. On the 11th, accompanied by his medical friend, Mr James S. Daniel, of Ramsgate, and myself, he left London for Hull.
The full particulars of this Mission are given by Sir Moses in his Report to the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews, and I copy them from the original manuscript:—
"On Friday, the 12th July," he writes, "we embarked at Hull in the steam-packet Orlando, for Gothenburg, thence to proceed via Sweden and Finland to St Petersburg.
"Before leaving the port, a special messenger from London brought me a letter from a gentleman of high authority, informing me that the cholera had broken out, and was at that time raging in St Petersburg. Grave as this intelligence was, I resolved that no fear should impede my onward course. Placing my firm reliance in the Almighty to protect me and my companions during our intended journey, and to vouchsafe the realisation of my heartfelt wishes for the success of my Mission, I cheerfully prepared for the Sabbath.
"On Monday morning, the 15th July, we arrived at Gothenburg, where we were enabled, after some difficulty, to take the train for Stockholm, which place we reached at about six o'clock that evening. I lost no time in calling on his Excellency, Monsieur de Giers, the Russian Ambassador, in order to deliver to him the letter from Count de Brunnow. I also called on the English Ambassador, but both these gentlemen being at their summer residences, some distance from the town, I was unable to see them that day. The following morning I again called on Monsieur de Giers, and he received me with the utmost courtesy and attention. To facilitate and expedite the journey, he put me in communication with Monsieur Moeurius, the Russian Consul-General at Stockholm, and being anxious to reach my destination with the least possible delay, I requested that gentleman to telegraph to General Nordenstam, at Helsingfors, to engage a special train to take me on to St Petersburg, and the Ambassador himself telegraphed to that city to secure apartments for me at the Hotel Klée. Her Majesty's Consul, Mr G. R. Perry, also in the absence of the Ambassador, assisted me in my arrangements.
"During my short stay at Stockholm I had the gratification of receiving the most satisfactory accounts of our brethren in that city. The Chief Rabbi, Dr L. Lewysohn and the representatives of the community, Dr Lamm, Consul Davidson, and Mr Wolner, favoured me with full particulars of all their communal institutions. Their Synagogue, which is one of the finest in Europe, and their schools are well attended. Many non-Israelites resort to this place of worship, to listen to the eloquent preaching of the minister, and the study of Hebrew and the Talmud was diligently cultivated by the learned Gentiles in Sweden.
"Here again the journals of that city gave an alarming account of the unsatisfactory state of the public health in St Petersburg; but after due consideration we decided to resume the journey. Towards evening we went on board the Dagmar steamship, which brought us on Thursday, the 18th July, at about 6 P.M., to Helsingfors, whence we immediately departed by special train, travelling the whole night, and at an early hour on Friday morning we entered the railway terminus at St Petersburg, where the carriages and attendants of the hotel were awaiting our arrival.
"At the earliest possible moment I called at the British Embassy to present the letter from Earl Granville to Lord Augustus Loftus, but his Excellency being away from St Petersburg, Mr Egerton opened the letter, and told me he would communicate with the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that Lord Augustus Loftus was expected to arrive soon from Finland.
"I then called on Monsieur de Westmann to deliver the letter from Count Brunnow. His Excellency received me with marked kindness and urbanity, and after some conversation he observed, 'We were acquainted with the object of your visit to our city before your arrival. The Emperor will receive you, and we shall endeavour to render everything as easy and agreeable to you as possible. His Imperial Majesty is at present absent from St Petersburg, but I shall seek his orders regarding the day and place, when and where he will receive you.'
"I need scarcely say how grateful I felt to our Heavenly Father for having thus, only a few hours after my arrival in St Petersburg, enabled me to receive from the Russian Minister such kind and assuring expressions, and deeply sensible of the goodness of the Almighty, who had succoured and protected me and my companions, I prepared with gladness for the Holy Sabbath.
"Monsieur de Westmann afterwards requested me to send him a copy of the address which it was my intention to present to the Emperor, it being probable that His Majesty would ask for it on the following day, when his Excellency would receive his commands as to my audience. I at once forwarded the desired copy by the hands of Dr Loewe, and I had subsequently the satisfaction of hearing the Minister's perfect approval of the address.
"During the day I was favoured with visits from the Rev. Dr Newmann, Chief Rabbi, the Rev. Isaac Baser, and the representatives of several congregations in St Petersburg and other towns. I took occasion to read the papers and documents which had been left with me for my attentive perusal. In the afternoon several of our brethren came to the hotel, and joined us in our Sabbath prayers. I noticed among them two who had been with me on a similar occasion twenty-six years ago. At that time they were serving in the army; they are now enjoying all the advantages of free citizenship.
"The following day I received a letter from Monsieur de Westmann, informing me that the Emperor would come to St Petersburg on the 24th July, on which day he would receive me in the Winter Palace at eleven o'clock in the morning. His Excellency instructed me that I was to enter by the gateway known as 'Le perron de Sa Majesté Imperiale l'Imperatrice,' and requested that Dr Loewe should be with him on Monday morning at eleven o'clock. Dr Loewe accordingly called at the Bureau of the Minister at the appointed time, when his Excellency expressed in the kindest terms his solicitude for my health. He also took Dr Loewe into an adjoining saloon, pointing out to him most minutely the gateway through which I should have to enter the Palace.
"Having been informed of the arrival of Lord Augustus Loftus, I called on his Excellency, and had a long and most interesting conversation with him on all subjects connected with my visit to St Petersburg, which afforded me the most gratifying evidence of his Lordship's wise and sound judgment on all matters affecting the welfare of our brethren, not only within the dominions of the Czar, but in every part of the world.
"On Wednesday at the appointed hour I proceeded to the Winter Palace, accompanied by Dr Loewe. We ascended in a lift to the great ante-room of the Emperor, into which we were immediately ushered. There we found his Excellency Monsieur de Westmann, the Imperial Lord Chamberlain, the Imperial Grand Maître des Cérémonies, and several other distinguished personages, who entered into conversation with me on various subjects of importance to our co-religionists. After an interval thus agreeably passed, his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs was summoned before the Czar, and soon afterwards I was conducted into the presence of His Imperial Majesty, to whom, in the name of your Board and its several constituent congregations, I presented the address, of which the following is a copy:—
"'To His Imperial Majesty Alexander the Second, Czar of all the
Russias."'May it please your Imperial Majesty,—Impressed by the deep sense of gratitude for the numerous acts of grace which your Imperial Majesty has been pleased to extend to our brethren who have the happiness to dwell under your Imperial Majesty's exalted rule, and prompted by the ardent desire to join the numerous hosts—friends of enlightenment and civilisation—who hasten to tender their felicitation on Russia's great day of gladness and joy, we, the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews, on behalf of ourselves and the several congregations we respectively represent, humbly approach your Imperial Majesty to lay at the foot of your Imperial Throne the tribute of our sincere and heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of your Imperial Majesty's august ancestor, the Emperor Peter the Great.
"'Glorious and renowned were the deeds of the beatified Monarch. He was "the father of his people," and the author of all that was right and just in the vast Empire which he ruled; but all the good he effected would have vanished had not Eternal Providence ordained his spirit, the spirit of wisdom, justice, and humanity, to descend on his august offspring; and it is in this heavenly mercy that we, your Imperial Majesty's humble servants, discern a special cause for felicitation.
"'Already, in the year 1846, Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., the President of our Board, had the distinguished honour to receive personally from your Imperial Majesty's august father, the Emperor Nicolas, the expression of his ardent desire for the happiness and welfare of all classes of his Imperial Majesty's subjects, and you, Sire, have been selected as an instrument of Providence to emancipate millions of human beings, to foster education, to encourage the arts and sciences, and to promote free intercourse between man and man, by opening the gates of your Imperial Majesty's vast Empire to persons of all religious denominations.
"'Most fervently, therefore, do we invoke the Creator of the universe to prolong the days of your Imperial Majesty and those of your most illustrious family, so that you, Sire, may have the felicity of seeing all your wise and noble plans for the prosperity and peace of your Imperial Majesty's subjects realised; and likewise the gratifying opportunity of listening for a period of long duration to the hallowed hymns of gratitude from the millions of your faithful and loyal subjects, in which—we venture to hope your Imperial Majesty will graciously condescend to accept our assurance—none can join with more fervour than our brethren in your Imperial Majesty's Empire and the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews,
"'Signed on behalf of the Board,
"'Moses Montefiore, President.'
"His Imperial Majesty, who conversed most fluently in the English language, received me with the utmost grace and kindness. He adverted to the circumstance of my having had an audience with his august father in the year 1846, and expressed himself most graciously on every subject having reference to my Mission. His Imperial Majesty also graciously spoke to Dr Loewe. Nor can I here omit to record my grateful appreciation of His Imperial Majesty's consideration in having come from the seat of the summer manœuvres to the Winter Palace, expressly to spare me fatigue in consequence of my advanced age, and having there received the address of which I was the bearer. I quitted the Palace with a heart overflowing with gratitude, for indeed I am at a loss for words in which adequately to describe the gracious sentiments which his Imperial Majesty and the members of the Government evinced towards me."