In the same month (August 29th) Sir Charles B. Phipps, by command of the Queen, forwarded to Sir Moses a musical box as a present from Her Majesty to His Highness Toussoun Pasha before he left England.
Sir Moses wrote to Sir Charles, acknowledging the receipt of Her Majesty's gracious commands, and sent Said Pasha, the Viceroy, a copy of Sir Charles Phipps' letter.
His Highness, in return, conveyed to him his deep sense of gratitude for the care he and Lady Montefiore had taken of the young Prince, and entreated Sir Moses to take the first occasion to tender to Her Majesty the Queen his high appreciation of the honour conferred by Her Majesty on him by the gracious reception granted to his son.
The gracious attention of Her Majesty to the young Prince, and the gratitude of his father the Viceroy to the Queen, undoubtedly contributed, in a certain degree, towards the preservation of friendly relations between England and Egypt; and Sir Moses had the satisfaction of knowing that he became indirectly the acknowledged medium of fostering and promoting the blessings of peace and mutual interest between two countries.
He never sent a letter to the Pasha without showing it first at the Foreign Office, and awaiting the approval of the Minister; nor did he ever withhold the contents of any letter addressed to him by the Pasha. He took the original himself to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and deposited with him a copy for the perusal of others in office interested in Egypt.
October 10th.—Subsequently the hour of parting drew near, and Toussoun Pasha had to take leave, and, in doing so, expressed himself affectionately towards both of them.
Lady Montefiore unfortunately continued to suffer from illness. She often had medical advice, but was at times very ailing. Sir Moses had little time to rest, but his presence at East Cliff inspired hope and cheerfulness in the heart of his suffering companion. Every day almost brought him letters, imploring his aid in cases of dire distress.
A month previously he had received some most painful communications from Galatz, in Roumania, respecting the unparalleled cruelties committed on the Jews there. Some of them had been murdered, others fearfully wounded, many deprived of all their property, and their Synagogues desecrated. Sir Moses forwarded all the letters on the subject to Lord John Russell, and, as President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, requested the British Government to intercede for the Jews, by giving instructions to the British Consuls to render help and protection to the sufferers, as far as lay in their power; but it took a long time to extinguish the flames of persecution. Letters continued to arrive from villages and towns, imploring help.
A month or six weeks later a cry of distress reached him from Gibraltar. Owing to the war which was then expected to ensue between Spain and Morocco, the Jewish inhabitants of Tangier, fearing the repetition of the brutal usage which they had experienced when the wild Kabyle tribes came down to the coast in 1844, had fled from their homes in a state of utter destitution.
Nearly 2700 of these unhappy people had arrived at Gibraltar from Tangier, and it was but too probable that they would be followed by many thousands of others from different parts of Morocco.