"Sir Moses Montefiore had an audience of Her Majesty."
We may infer, from the gracious receptions which Her Majesty on several former occasions had given to Sir Moses, that, in the present instance, she did not fail to manifest her approbation of his Mission to Morocco.
September 25th.—We meet him at his favourite retreat, Smithembottom.
"I have great cause," he says, "for thankfulness. Since I was here in November last, I hope that, by Divine blessing, I have been of some use to my fellow-creatures, both Jews and Christians, and, I believe I may add, 'Moors.' To God alone, who helped and sustained me, be honour and glory. I believe that my dear Judith would have approved my conduct, and, sure I am, had it pleased an all-wise Providence to have spared her, she would have shared my fatigue and dangers, but it was otherwise ordained, and I can only submit with humble spirit to the decree of Heaven. My angel guide of so many happy years being no longer with me on earth in mortal form, I sincerely pray the God of Israel to be my guide, and to permit her heavenly spirit to comfort me, and keep me in the right path, so that I may become deserving of the happiness to rejoin her in Heaven when it shall please God to call me from the world."
"A visit to Smithembottom," he remarks in his Diary, "is now to me very similar to that of the solemn 'Day of Atonement,' with the exception of fasting. I hope hours spent in serious reflection on the past incidents of a long life tend to make me better, and constitute a great moral lesson."
Sir Moses now contemplated establishing a college for the study of theology and Biblical literature in Jerusalem. "I have," he says, "with, I hope, the Divine blessing, resolved on establishing in the Holy Land, in memory of my ever-lamented and blessed wife, a college (Beth Hamedrásh), with ten members, to erect ten houses with gardens for their dwelling, with a certain yearly allowance to them, and to purchase and send them a good Hebrew library for their use." He hoped to go there and purchase the land, and to lay the foundation-stone. This idea, however, he soon relinquished for a similar institution in Ramsgate, to which I shall have an opportunity further on in this work to direct the attention of the reader.
December 7th.—He received from Mr (now) Lord Hammond, of the Foreign Office, by permission of Lord Russell, despatches from Sir John Drummond Hay, and a letter from him, addressed to Sir Moses, also despatches for his perusal from Athens and Corfu, all of which were most satisfactory. "It was, indeed," Sir Moses says, "truly kind of Earl Russell and Mr Hammond to favour me with the perusal of them."
Earl Russell, as well as all his successors at the Foreign Office, have repeatedly afforded him opportunities to read despatches received from their Ambassadors and Consuls at Foreign Courts, whenever they contained any important communication regarding the Jews.
Sir Moses was enabled to attend his meetings in the city, notwithstanding the great fatigue he had undergone during his journey, and was as ready and eager as ever with his suggestions for improvements in any measure of financial importance.