August 28th.—This morning Sir Moses received a letter from Monsieur Guizot as follows:
"Paris, August 23, 1847.
"Sir,—The King has forwarded me a letter which you addressed to him on the 9th instant, on the subject of the prejudice unfortunately existing in the East against the Israelites, which has given rise to the accusation of their shedding human blood for sacrifices. You express the desire that the agents of His Majesty in the East should be instructed not only to abstain from doing anything which might tend to strengthen this prejudice, but to use all means in their power to combat and destroy it.
"The Government of the King regards the imputation in question as false and calumnious, and its agents are, in general, too enlightened to think of abetting it in any way. The Government would deeply regret their doing such a thing, and would not hesitate to censure them severely for it. This is what the Government has done in the particular case to which you refer, regarding the disappearance, in April last, of a Christian child of Damascus, and also regarding the accusation which the agent of the French Consulate appears to have been emboldened to bring before the Pasha in this matter. No direct information having reached me on these subjects, I asked the King's Consul at Damascus for an explanation, and commanded him in the event of the facts which had been stated to you proving true, to express my severe disapprobation to the agent, who upon a simple rumour would have ventured such an accusation against a whole people.—Accept, Sir, the assurance of my highest esteem.
(Signed) "Guizot."
"Sir Moses Montefiore, &c."
August 30th.—Sir Moses called on Viscount Palmerston, and communicated to him what had passed between His Majesty the King of the French, Monsieur Guizot, and himself. He gave his Lordship a copy of his Memorial to the King, and of Monsieur Guizot's letter to himself. Lord Palmerston expressed his happiness at receiving so favourable an account, and said he trusted his endeavours would have the desired result, and that the French authorities at Damascus had certainly encouraged the charge against the Jews.
In the same year we find Sir Moses Montefiore's name gazetted (September 24) as Deputy-Lieutenant of the County of Kent, an honour which he highly prized. Later on he laid the foundation stone of the Canterbury Synagogue, and addressed the assembly. On his return to London he presided at a meeting of the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews, which had been convened by him for the purpose of considering the propriety of an address from that Board to Pope Pius the Ninth, to express their thanks to the Sovereign Pontiff for the benevolent solicitude he had manifested for the welfare of the Israelites under his dominion, and for the judicious measures he had adopted to improve their condition. It was resolved to prepare an address to be first forwarded to Lord Palmerston, and then with his consent to be presented by Baron Charles de Rothschild of Naples to the Pope, who, in due course acknowledged the receipt of the same, in a courteous letter addressed to the President by Cardinal Teretti.
December 18th.—He had the satisfaction of learning from the evening papers that Lord John Russell's motion for the removal of the civil and political disabilities affecting Her Majesty's Jewish subjects had been carried on the previous night, the numbers being 250 "Ayes," and 186 "Noes,"—majority, 64.
This pleasing event was followed by another: the reception of a letter from the elders of the Hebrew community of Damascus, in which they expressed their gratitude to him for his exertions on their behalf with the French Government.
Footnotes
[1] Refer to Appendix for Monsieur Guizot's letter.