CHAPTER XXXVIII.
1877.
ACCUSATION AGAINST JEWS IN THE CAUCASUS—AFFAIRS IN SYRIA—ANTI-SEMITIC MOVEMENT IN PRUSSIA—DEATH OF JOSEPH MEYER MONTEFIORE—ASSASSINATION OF ALEXANDER II.
IN June he sent despatches to the Board which he had received, referring to the serious persecution and cruel treatment to which the Jews of Zargkoon, in Persia, had been subjected for the purpose of compelling them to forsake their religion. At the instance of Sir Moses, the Foreign Office had humanely interposed with satisfactory results, and the despatches he received bore testimony to the satisfaction experienced by the Jewish inhabitants of Zargkoon at the steps which had been taken to ameliorate their condition.
In the same month, in consequence of appeals for pecuniary assistance which had reached him from the Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Cities of Jerusalem, Hebron, Tiberias, and Safed, he sent £200 to be distributed among the deserving poor in Jerusalem, and £107, 15s. for distribution among the inmates of the Juda Touro Almshouses. To the other Holy Cities he likewise made his offerings in proportion to the number of the inhabitants and the greatness of distress.
On July 30th Mr Weekes, the sculptor, presented him with a bust he had made of him, and which the artist afterwards sent to the Exhibition.
February 3rd, 1878.—He devoted some of his leisure hours to Lady Tobin's works, and was much pleased with the varied descriptions she gives of the land of inheritance and Bible scenes visited by her and her husband, Sir Thomas Tobin, with the noble object of elucidating the Sacred Scriptures.
July 16th.—Lord Beaconsfield returned from the Berlin Congress, with the news that he had secured "Peace with Honour." Sir Moses, in common with a number of distinguished personages, met him and Lord Salisbury on their return at the railway station, and joined in the congratulations to the British Plenipotentiaries on the accomplishment of their task.
November 3rd.—The accounts of the war in Afghanistan induced him to make frequent inquiries respecting the origin of the Afghan people. He happened to know Dr Ernest Trumpp, a Würtemberg Protestant theologian and distinguished Oriental scholar, who in the year 1858 had lived for some time at St Peter's, near Ramsgate. He used frequently to visit Sir Moses' Synagogue, with the object of ascertaining the correct Portuguese pronunciation of the Hebrew language. From that gentleman, as well as from letters written by an English officer, who had been with the English army at Candahar, Sir Moses had an opportunity of learning many particulars respecting the character of the Afghans, which were not very complimentary to them. "Well," he said to his friends, "if the Afghans really are as described in this letter, they must either have forgotten the religious tenets practised by their ancestors, or have never been the descendants of that Semitic race to which it is said they belong," and he inquired no further after them, except with regard to their political position in relation to India.
Sir Moses also thanked Lord Beaconsfield for having, in the name of the English Government, caused the insertion of a clause in the Treaty of Berlin, to the effect that, on condition of Roumania conceding citizenship to the native Jews, her independence should be recognised by the Powers. Lord Beaconsfield seemed greatly pleased at seeing Sir Moses, and the meeting between them appeared most cordial.
1879.—He deplores the great loss he sustained by the death of Baron Lionel de Rothschild. "I have known him," he says, "from his earliest youth, and ever entertained the highest esteem and regard for him." He also laments the demise of their Ecclesiastical Chief, Rev. Dr Artom. It was likewise a year of great sorrow and anxiety to him, owing to a dreadful accusation brought against the Jews of Kutais, Caucasus. Letters and telegrams were sent to him from St Petersburg, Tiflis, and Kutais, stating that the trial was to take place on the 11th May. He sent a telegram to St Petersburg, to the effect that he was ready to start for the Russian capital to plead the cause of the accused before the Emperor, and also wrote to the counsel for the defence, offering to proceed to Tiflis should his presence there be desirable. Happily there was not a shadow of truth in the accusation brought against the poor Jews, and in the end they were acquitted.