Sir Culling further said to Sir Moses, that the French troops would leave Rome very shortly, and that city would have a garrison of six thousand Sardinian soldiers. When that took place, he was sure Mortara would be released without any action on his part; but Sir Culling wished the English to have the merit of obtaining the boy's freedom.
Sir Moses promised soon to convene a meeting of the Mortara Committee.
February 27th.—He attended a meeting of the Executive Committee of the British Syrian Relief Fund, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe in the chair. Colonel Burnaby, attached to Her Majesty's Commission in Syria, and a member of the Beyrout Committee, gave a most unfavourable account of the state of the East. The Druses were in the deepest distress, and it did not appear likely that for the moment anything could be done for the cultivation of cotton.
March 16th.—"We have learned with deep and sincere regret," Sir Moses writes, "the death of Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, from whom we had received great kindness during her residence at Ramsgate with our gracious Queen. I heartily grieve for her loss."
April 25th.—Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore went to Ramsgate in an invalid carriage, in hopes that the change of air would prove beneficial to Lady Montefiore; but on the 20th of May they were again in town. "Restless nights and great weakness" had often been reported to her medical attendants whilst she was at East Cliff Lodge, and Sir Moses was very anxious about her.
June 6th.—He was much gratified by a letter from Damascus, to the effect that one of his co-religionists, Mordecai Ashkenazi, so long in prison on the charge of murder, committed during the outbreak the previous year, had been acquitted after a long trial before the Extraordinary Tribunal, and the verdict approved by Fuad Pasha. Sir Moses at once wrote letters to his friends and the Board of Deputies, suggesting the propriety of their acquainting Lord John Russell and the Turkish Ambassador with the news.
Lady Montefiore, being desirous of attending divine service in her own Synagogue at Ramsgate, on the anniversary of its dedication, as well as that of their marriage, she left town with Sir Moses for East Cliff, where they arrived safely. A few days later they returned to town; and being most anxious to visit again a place where, in early life, they had spent many happy hours, they drove to Smithem Bottom.
"On our arrival," Sir Moses says, "my dear Judith and myself said our afternoon prayers; and I read to her, before we took dinner, a chapter in the Pentateuch intended to be read next Sabbath in the Synagogue." "Smithem Bottom," he continues, "appears to me to be the same quiet place it was half-a-century ago. It was ever to me a caution against ambition, and has led me to esteem independence far beyond riches.
"At this place man appeared to want but little. With peace and content, and the quietness of the place, which afforded us the opportunity of keeping the Sabbaths undisturbed by the fluctuations which were at that period daily taking place in London from the vicissitudes of the war, endeared Smithem Bottom to my dear Judith and myself far beyond every other place we have ever seen, excepting Jerusalem and East Cliff. At all these places we have been able to enjoy the comfort and happiness of our holy religion.
"Fifty years have made a great change in the inhabitants of the place. At least, when I reflect on the withdrawal from this world of so many dear friends, who had partaken with me of the happiness of its old host and hostess! How many friends are now in heaven who had passed happy hours with us! However, we cannot be sufficiently thankful to God for His bountiful mercy and goodness. May He guard and protect us, even beyond death. We cannot expect to be able to revisit Smithem Bottom very often, but truly grateful are we for having been permitted to see it once more."