September 20th was the day on which the great battle on the left bank of the Alma was fought. In commemoration of the victory of the English, Her Majesty graciously appointed a "Royal Commission of the Patriotic Fund" for the collection and distribution of the money pouring in for the widows and orphans of our soldiers, sailors, and marines who had died in the war, to which Sir Moses at once contributed £200.
At the Board meetings of the Alliance Marine and Alliance Fire Assurance Companies, and at the Imperial Continental Gas Association, Sir Moses, being in the chair, successfully pleaded in favour of the fund, and obtained donations to the amount of £600 from the three offices.
The Central Jewish Consistory of France having petitioned the Emperor to extend the privileges about to be obtained for the Christians in Turkey to Jews who might be subjects of the Sultan, he was most anxious that an application of a like import should be made to our Government without delay. He communicated with the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews, and an address to that effect was sent to Lord Clarendon.
As President of the Board of the same committee, accompanied by the solicitor and secretary of the same, he called on the Lord Advocate of Scotland on the subject of the Scotch Birth Register Bill, and it was intimated to him that the wishes of his co-religionists would be complied with.
As one of the trustees of the appeal fund, he forwarded remittances for the relief of the poor in the Holy Land, a duty which frequently necessitated his attendance at the committee for whole days together.
He consulted an eminent physician regarding his health. The latter examined his heart and lungs, and informed him that his heart was feeble, there was poison in his blood, and his digestive organs were not perfect. The disheartening statement of the doctor, however, did not prevent him from continuing his labours, nor stop his preparations for another journey to the East.
The trustees of the appeal fund on behalf of the suffering Jews in the Holy Land published their first report, in which they enumerated the several appropriations of money they had made up to date, giving at the same time the detailed particulars of the grants awarded for immediate relief, those made in augmentation of the funds of existing charities, and the sums set apart for the establishment of institutions designed to relieve distress, and to encourage and promote industry.
"With reference to the future," the report stated, "it was the intention of Sir Moses to proceed shortly, accompanied by Lady Montefiore, to the Holy Land, to ascertain, by personal inspection and examination of the several charities the extent to which the temporary and provisional relief, already mentioned, had proved effective, and to organise the best means which might be devised for the appropriation of the remainder of the funds, with the view to the utmost benefit of the supplicants, and, at the same time, to the effectual accomplishment of the intentions of the benevolent contributors."
Before they set out on that mission, there was still a great deal of communal work in connection with the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews to be done. There was the new Marriage Act, in which a clause had to be inserted to exempt the Jews from Lord Lyndhurst's Act regarding affinity and consanguinity, and it was the duty of Sir Moses, as president, to take the necessary steps in the matter. He also attended various meetings of the "Assyrian Excavation Fund," and was present at the meeting of the City Lieutenancy at the Guildhall, where he took the oath of qualification.
March 25th.—Sir Moses called on Lord Palmerston, and informed him of his intention of going to the East with the object of erecting a hospital at Jerusalem and encouraging the cultivation of land in Palestine, which would be greatly promoted by the security afforded by the presence of Turkish troops, officered by Englishmen, and by the Sultan allowing Jews to purchase land. He also wished to secure the removal of the inscription from the tombstone in the Church of the Capuchins at Damascus. His Lordship said that the hospital was a desirable institution. The superstition of the Turks, he believed, created obstacles which prevented Englishmen from buying land in Syria, but it might be obtained on long leases. As for the troops, they wanted all the men they could get now for the war. He however wrote a letter to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and another to Lord Cowley, which he handed to Sir Moses, wishing him every success. Lord Clarendon, he said, would give him letters to the Consuls.