"Being anxious," he writes, "to make arrangements, with the advice of our esteemed Chief Rabbi and Dr Loewe, for the guidance of Mr Kursheedt respecting the filling of the Almshouses in Jerusalem, as so much would depend on the choice of individuals,—I wish them to be persons of excellent character, men well learned in our Law, who devote much of their time to study, and by whom a nice house, free of rent, in a pleasant situation, would be considered a boon,—I therefore started at seven o'clock with Mr Kursheedt for Brighton to consult Dr Loewe."
Soon after the train started Sir Moses opened some letters which had been brought to him to the station, and found that they required his immediate attention in London. He left Mr Kursheedt at Red Hill, and went back to town; and having disposed of his business, he started again for Brighton, but the train, being a slow one, arrived so late, and the return journey had to be undertaken so soon after his arrival, that the meeting was only productive of a fresh appointment for the following Tuesday. Accordingly he returned to Brighton on that day.
"My dear Judith," the entry says, "had not a comfortable night. I left her with great regret, but it was unavoidable, having made an engagement with the Chief Rabbi and Dr Loewe to meet them at Brighton. Mr Kursheedt accompanied me. We arrived there at twelve o'clock. Dr Loewe was at the station, and went with us to Dr Adler's. We immediately commenced the consideration of the minutes prepared by Dr Loewe. The result was, the building is to be called 'Mishkenót Shaananim' (the dwellings of those who are at ease), to avoid hurting the feelings of the inmates by calling the buildings almshouses. There are to be eight houses and a Synagogue for the Portuguese; a similar number of houses with a Synagogue for the German community; one house for the weaver" (who was then the master at the weaving school established by the Trustees of the Holy Land Appeal Fund); "another for the Rev. Samuel Salant" (who, however, never availed himself of the offer then made to him); "and one for a Dispensary. The heads of the several congregations in Jerusalem" (at that time nineteen in number) "are to select the persons for the houses they think the best, and Mr Kursheedt will see them installed in accordance with Eastern custom. Tokens of esteem are to be presented on that occasion to the Officers of the Guard, the Officers of the Mosque of Omar, Ahmed Agha Dizdar" (the former owner of the land on which the Almshouses were built), "and his son; also presents to the poor of the Holy City, the Greek, Armenian, and Latin Convents, and the Guard of the Jaffa Gate. Offerings made by visitors who attend Divine Service in either of the two Synagogues, in memory of the benevolent founder, are to be appropriated to defray the expenses of keeping the sacred edifices clean, lighting them, and to paying a gate-keeper and well-keeper for water."
A number of regulations intended for the guidance of the inmates were then agreed to, but before half the business had been finished, Sir Moses was obliged to leave, and only reached Ramsgate late in the evening, after a fatiguing day's work.
July 11th.—Lady Montefiore had a restless night, and was very weak that day. Sir Moses, however, himself far from well, and scarcely recovered from the fatigue of the previous day's journey, was called upon to work for his fellow-beings in Syria, for "the Lebanon had opened its doors to the fire of destruction and dissolution."
The Druses, the daily papers reported, had destroyed 151 Christian villages and killed one thousand persons, and the Mahommedans had massacred Christians at Damascus. About 3300, it is said, have been slain.
Lady Montefiore reading to Sir Moses the debates of the House of Lords referring to Lord Stratford de Redcliffe's speech on the massacre of the Christians in Syria, in which he stated that twenty thousand Christians, women and children fugitives, were then wandering and starving on the mountains of Syria, he determined, with the willing and cheerful consent of his wife, to go to town.
There he addressed a letter to the Editor of the Times, and suggested the formation of a committee to collect subscriptions for a fund for their relief.
After having done so he immediately drove to Printing-house Square, though fearing, as it was after midnight, that there was no probability of its appearing the next day in the Times. "I must be content," he said; "I have done all in my power to prevent any loss of time in affording assistance to the unfortunate and destitute fugitives in Syria. I left my dear Judith with great reluctance. I was poorly, my legs swollen, and I had travelled five hundred miles, and this night's journey added a hundred miles to it. I have not spared any exertions this week to fulfil my duty."
Happily his endeavours to serve the good cause were crowned with success. The Times, on the 12th July, under the heading of "The Civil War in Syria," published his letter, of which the following is a copy:—