October 20th.—This being the eve of the seventy-ninth anniversary of his birthday (corresponding in that year with the Hebrew date, the 8th of Heshván), he sent £79 to the secretary of the Spanish and Portuguese community for distribution among seventy-nine families. He also sent similar sums to other congregations in the Holy Land.
In recording in his Diary the events of the day, the memory of his wife appears to have been ever present with him, and in moments of hesitation, or when undecided what course of action to pursue, he would frequently say, "What would my dear Judith have advised?"
He was at this time overwhelmed with letters and work, and it would appear from various entries that nothing would have been more welcome to him than a recommendation from his friends to withdraw from all his financial engagements, as well as his communal work, at home and abroad, and simply enjoy rest, contemplating the pleasures of the past, and hoping for a blissful future. But the necessity of energy and action in any good or holy cause soon roused him from such moments of depression. We read in his Diary on October 21st:—"Before I was dressed this morning, I received a packet, marked private, from A——. The writer says: 'My dear Sir,—I am unwilling to bring you up to town in order that you may read this duplicate. I therefore send it you to Ramsgate.' The papers which accompanied this were from —— of Tangiers, and told of the warm and generous efforts of Her Majesty's Government on behalf of the two unfortunate Jews now in prison at Saffi. But the situation of the poor men appeared to me so dangerous that I determined to go at once to London to get the Board of Deputies to take some active steps to secure their release from prison."
These dispatches refer to an unfortunate occurrence at Saffi, in Morocco, concerning which the Jews of Gibraltar and Tangiers had addressed Sir Moses and the Board of Deputies of the British Jews.
A Spaniard in Saffi, in the service of the Spanish Vice-Consul, had died suddenly, and suspicions of his having been poisoned were aroused in the mind of the Vice-Consul, who insisted upon the Moorish authorities investigating the case, and inflicting punishment on the guilty person. No steps were taken to ascertain whether there were any facts to prove that the death of the Spaniard was due to violence; but, according to the custom in Morocco, those parties upon whom it was sought to fix suspicion were examined under severe torture, and the application of the bastinado. A Jewish lad, about fourteen years of age, who resided in the family of the deceased, was the first person so examined (the Jews being the most unprotected portion of the population). After persisting for a long time in the assertion of his innocence, he at length yielded to the protracted agony, and declared that poison had been administered. Again, under the influence of torture, ten or eleven other persons, whose names were suggested to him, were denounced by the lad as participators in the crime.
Most of these were arrested, but one of them only was submitted to examination under torture. Though this measure was pushed to a fearful extremity, no confessions of guilt could be wrung from him. The lad also, when released from torture, uniformly asserted his innocence.
However, as he had confessed his guilt, and the man had been denounced, both were condemned to death, doubtless to prove the readiness of the Morocco Government to comply with the demands of its recent conqueror.
The lad was accordingly executed at Saffi, the execution naturally producing great dismay amongst the Jewish population; but the man was conveyed in a Spanish vessel to Tangiers, to be executed there. Nothing is known of the reason which led to the adoption of this course, but it seems probable that it was taken in order that the knowledge of the circumstance might spread more rapidly and extensively through the Moorish dominion. This public execution could not fail to impress the people with a striking idea of the strength of the Spanish influence at the Court of the Sultan.
The alarm felt by the Israelites at Tangiers was extreme, and as has already been said, was forthwith communicated to Gibraltar.
Nine or ten individuals lay at Saffi, menaced with a fate similar to that of their two brethren.