On the occasion of the Sultan's issuing the firman, Hháti-hoomáyoon, in which His Majesty granted equal rights and privileges to all his subjects, irrespective of their religious creeds, Sir Moses received the following letter from Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, dated February 23, 1856:—

"My Dear Sir Moses,—Before this letter can reach your hands you will have learnt from the public prints what amount of success has finally crowned our long-continued efforts in the cause of humanity and freedom of conscience. I take the liberty of sending you a copy of the Sultan's firman, together with a French translation.

"I shall be disappointed if it does not afford you as much satisfaction as I have derived from it myself.

"Excuse the haste in which I write, and pray, believe me, with every good wish.—Your faithful, &c.,

"Stratford de Redcliffe."

Sir Moses, fully appreciating the attention paid to him by his Lordship's most valued communication, addresses him as follows:—

"Dear Lord Stratford de Redcliffe,—The exceeding kindness and consideration of your Excellency in gratifying me with your communication of the 23rd ultimo, which I have to acknowledge with the deepest and most cordial gratitude, are indeed such as I could not have ventured to anticipate, considering the numerous, the serious, and the complex matters which are constantly claiming your Excellency's attention.

"I feel that it might be obtrusive to tender on the part of my co-religionists any expression of thanks for your Excellency's noble and triumphant efforts, by which they, in common with all the other subjects of Turkey not professing the Mahomedan religion, have obtained the inestimable boon conferred by the Sultan's firman, copies of which you so kindly and promptly transmitted to me; for I am sure nothing could enhance the gratification which your Excellency must experience in having so successfully laboured to accomplish an achievement of beneficence so grand in its scheme and so extended and comprehensive in its operation.

"Permit me, then, simply to offer you my most sincere and heartfelt congratulations.—I have the honour to be, &c.,

"Moses Montefiore."

CHAPTER VIII.
1857.

FIFTH VISIT TO THE HOLY LAND—MALTESE JEWS AND THEIR GRIEVANCES—CAIRO, JAFFA, LYDDA, AND GEEB—ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM—THE APPEAL FUND INSTITUTIONS.

IN order to ascertain the reasons for Sir Moses' return to Jerusalem after so short an interval since his previous visit to the Holy City, I must ask the reader to revert to the narrative I have given of his previous pilgrimage in 1855. It was undertaken for the purpose of alleviating the sufferings of the poor, and of establishing various benevolent institutions there in the hope of preventing the recurrence of distress. The object of his present journey was to give personal supervision for a short time to the workings of those institutions.

Sir Moses began making preparations for this, his fifth journey, in February. He resigned the presidency of the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews, and made an agreement with Messrs J. J. and T. R. Holman, millwrights of Canterbury, conjointly with the other trustees, for the erection of a windmill in Jerusalem at the cost of £1450. He attended a meeting at Count Strzelsky's, and agreed with the other gentlemen present that nothing could now be done in the matter of the Jerusalem railway; he, however, advanced his share of the expenses, and withdrew altogether from the scheme.