On the recurrence of the anniversary of his birthday, which this year was the eightieth, he sent his usual gifts to communal schools and charities in England, as well as to those in the Holy Land, conveying to the latter his hope to pay them another visit soon.
Some readers who have attentively perused the narrative of Sir Moses' Mission to Morocco, will perhaps say that since the issuing of the Sultan's edict twenty-three years ago, His Sheriffian Majesty's commands contained therein do not seem to have been very strictly adhered to. The Moors say, and apparently with good reason, "To promise is not the same as to perform." Their observation seems just, when we find that, notwithstanding the promises made by the Sultan to Sir Moses, he continued to receive complaints from almost every Hebrew community of the oppression and ill-treatment to which they had been subjected. Still one must bear in mind, that even in European countries rights and privileges granted by a sovereign would be many a time, intentionally or unintentionally, withdrawn from loyal subjects by those appointed to carry out the will of the reigning monarch, were it not for the numerous votaries of the cause of justice who are ever ready to bring before the court those who thus wilfully violate the rights of others. But such is not the case in Morocco. Even the lovers of justice cannot always succeed in making known to the Sultan the acts of cruelty committed by the local governors or military officers. As this would necessitate long and tedious journeys before reaching the Palace, and should they reach it in safety, there is yet another difficulty to encounter in procuring evidence, witnesses being in general very reluctant to testify against any man in power. Thus it happens that injustice is practised by some of the local governors with impunity; but there is every reason to believe that the Sultan himself, as far as lay in his power, strictly adhered to the words of the edict.
The Sultan gave his word in the presence of the representative of the English Government, and would not, if reminded of it by Her Majesty's Government, withdraw his promise.
East Cliff, February 6th.—Sir Moses, being anxious to see if anything could be done through the medium of the English officers of engineers then at Jerusalem, with regard to the water supply there, he proceeded to London. "In spite of old age and weakness," he says, "I would willingly undergo any fatigue and risk to benefit Jerusalem." He called at Adam Street for a copy of the resolution on the subject passed by the Committee of the Syrian Relief Fund during his absence, went to the Athenæum to see Mr John Freeland, and called on Sir John Macneil.
February 9th.—He went to Southampton on a visit to the Ordnance Survey Office, where he had a long interview with Sir Henry James with reference to the survey of Jerusalem, then being carried out by a party of engineers belonging to that department—a work in which, as may readily be imagined, Sir Moses took the deepest interest. Sir Henry presented him with a beautiful photograph of the wailing wall at Jerusalem, with which Sir Moses expressed himself highly gratified.
February 15th.—He attended a meeting of the Syrian Improvement Fund Committee, Mr Layard, Mr Hodgkin, and several other members being present, when £100 was voted for the use of Captain Wilson and the engineers at Jerusalem towards the expenses of excavations, &c., for the purpose of finding a mode of providing Jerusalem with a better supply of water.
February 16th.—Count P. de Strezelski wrote a letter, by desire of Miss Coutts (now Baroness Burdett-Coutts), to learn whether they could venture on some steps to improve the lamentable and humiliating state of the Jewish community at Rome. In spite of the snow, Sir Moses went to see the Count, and told him that he believed no good could be achieved by agitation; but perhaps a mild and very quiet application, personally made at Rome on behalf of the Jews, might be successful. "I would," Sir Moses says, "if this plan was favourably received, go at my own personal expense to Rome."
The Count, wishing to have Miss Coutts' advice, and Sir Moses being himself desirous of expressing to her his thanks for her kind and benevolent solicitude for the welfare of his co-religionists, they drove to Piccadilly, but as Miss Coutts was not at home, the Count promised to see her in the evening, and report to Sir Moses by letter to Ramsgate.
Sir Moses then called on the President and Secretary of the Board of Deputies in reference to the same subject. Both agreed with them as to the impossibility of moving the Pope by public agitation, and would not express any hope that good could in any way be obtained for the Jewish inhabitants at Rome. However, Sir Moses says, "I am ready at all risk to try it, if the mode I suggest shall meet with the approval of Earl Russell, and I have his powerful support in my Mission. No time should be lost."
March 25th.—An alarming letter reached him from the Hebrew community at Hamadan (the ancient city of Shooshan) in Persia. They were suffering terribly from persecutions by the Persians, and appealed to him for his intercession with the Shah in their behalf. "The weather has been very rough and cold, with rain, wind, and sleet," he writes. "I could not sleep last night for thinking of our poor suffering brethren in Persia." Early in the morning he commenced making inquiries regarding travelling in Persia, and left East Cliff for London to take the letter he had received to the Chief Rabbi, who, he found, had already received a similar one.