March 4th.—A cry for help reached his ears from Suram in Georgia, a province of the Caucasus, the Hebrew community in that place having unfortunately been exposed to great suffering in consequence of an unfounded accusation brought against them. They now appealed to him to intercede in their behalf with the Russian Government. He lost no time in going to Baron Brunnow, who suggested that Sir Moses should write a letter to Prince Woronzow, the Governor-General of Georgia, and undertook to forward the same through Lady Pembroke. Sir Moses accordingly prepared an address to the Prince, which he submitted to the Count for his approval. The latter read it, and promised that he would himself write in support of the good cause. A few months later Sir Moses received a reply from Prince Woronzow (dated Tiflis, May 14), conveying to him the assurance that his request had been complied with, that the persecutions had ceased, and that the Jews had nothing more to complain of.
May 1st.—Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore went to the opening of the Exhibition. The building was already very full on their arrival, but Lady Montefiore secured a good seat. The Queen and the Prince entered at twelve. The procession was a splendid one, and the Palace presented a magnificent scene. The ceremony passed off extremely well, without the slightest hitch, to the great delight of the spectators. Sir Moses' attention was drawn to the Russian Division of the Exhibition, where an apparatus was exhibited for ascertaining the value of gold and silver coins and other metals without the use of fire or chemical analysis, also to a calculating machine for simple and compound addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and extraction of square and cubic roots, both invented by Israel Abraham Staffel of Warsaw. Being most anxious to befriend so clever a young man, he at once invited him to his house, and after impressing upon him the necessity of raising and maintaining the standard of education in Russia and Poland among his co-religionists, made him a handsome present.
During his visit to the Exhibition, representations were made to him regarding the desirability of exempting his co-religionists from signing their names on Saturday when entering the building, writing being prohibited on the Sabbath, and he at once applied to Captain Elderton, who promised to entertain the request.
The same day he went to the House of Commons, where he had the satisfaction of hearing the Emancipation Bill read a second time and passed by a majority, though only a very small one, there being 202 for the Bill and 176 against it.
In June he gives evidence of his generosity by presenting two of his young friends, on being taken into partnership by the head of a business firm, with a sum of £500, accompanied by his best wishes for their prosperity.
In appreciation of the services which Sir Robert Peel had rendered to the country, Sir Moses took a great interest in a proposal for the erection of a statue to him, and gave his vote in favour of the model by Mr Henry Weekes.
Fully justified in his hopes of continued progress in political matters affecting the Jews in England, he now again turned his attention to the Holy Land, and to a scheme which had been occupying his mind some considerable time.
It had long been his ardent desire to establish a hospital in Jerusalem, and as the maintenance of such an institution necessitated considerable capital, he entered into correspondence with his friends on the subject, spent several hundred pounds in having proper plans drawn up by English and foreign architects, and consulted medical authorities in the large hospitals respecting various modern improvements which had been introduced. Count Pizzamano, the Austrian Consul at Jerusalem, also took a lively interest in the scheme, and promised to assist Sir Moses to his utmost.
During July and September he and Lady Montefiore visited Plymouth, Exeter, and Yarmouth, and on October the 15th we find them again in London at the closing of the Exhibition. "We were there," says Sir Moses, "at half-past nine; secured capital seats. The ceremony commenced at twelve, and was concluded before one. Prince Albert, the Bishop of London, and Lord Canning were the only persons who spoke; there was a large orchestra, and many singers; the building was very full."
On November the 11th he records in his Diary the loss he sustained by the death of an old and esteemed friend, Matthias Attwood, who was one of the original founders of the Imperial Continental Gas Association. He was often the subject of Sir Moses' conversation in connection with financial operations; and his portrait, to which he used to call the attention of his visitors, was conspicuously placed near the entrance to the Gothic library at East Cliff. In the course of the same day Mr Gladstone introduced to him Lieutenant Pym, who was going in search of Sir John Franklin, and Sir Moses made him a present of some beautiful furs.