In order to gather further information regarding Persian affairs, he went to see the lady whose son he had placed at the Bluecoat School, and who was well acquainted with Teheran. "I found her," he says, "a very intelligent woman, about forty years of age. She first went to Persia when she was thirteen years old, and married there. She lived in Persia twenty-six years, and had been to England three times during that period. She went from Liverpool to Constantinople by sea, was then about ten days on the Black Sea, and afterwards journeyed one thousand miles on horseback to Teheran. She described the climate as being good, but very hot in summer—too hot to travel by day."
March 28th.—He called on Mr Layard (now Sir Austen H. Layard), presenting him with his (Sir Austen's) bust, which Sir Moses had ordered of Mr Wiener, a distinguished sculptor of Brussels. Sir Austen received it with great pleasure. Sir Moses spoke of the letter from Hamadan, and offered to go there to obtain a firman from the Shah, if Sir Austen would give him letters. Sir Austen said he should have every assistance, and as many letters as he wished, if he went, and that he would write to Mr Alison, our representative at the Court at Teheran. Sir Moses then gave him the translation of the Hamadan letter, which Sir Austen read with great attention. Sir Moses said he intended to start on the 1st of May, upon which Sir Austen informed him that Mr Alison should be instructed to afford him every assistance and information as to the best mode of reaching the capital.
"But could not some plan be found to save you from so long and dangerous a journey?" asked Sir Austen. He proposed that Sir Moses should write in his own name to the Shah, and state what he had obtained from the Sultan at Constantinople and the Sultan of Morocco in favour of their Jewish subjects, and to send him copies of the firman and edict, with a petition for a similar edict from him. Sir Austen said he would forward Sir Moses' letter to the British Minister at Teheran to present it to the Shah, which he thought would answer the purpose, and save him great fatigue and risk.
Sir Austen presented him with a most beautiful copy of his large work, containing an account of his researches in connection with the excavations at Babylon. Sir Moses asked for one of his smaller works instead, but Sir Austen said, "You have had your way, and now I must have mine." After mature consideration, and acting upon the advice of Sir Austen, Sir Moses gave up the idea of a journey to Persia, but wrote an address to the Shah, praying for a firman in favour of his brethren, and Lord Russell was good enough to forward it to its destination through Mr Alison, the British Minister at Teheran.
Having abandoned the scheme of building a Theological College in Jerusalem, he was determined to have one near his Synagogue in Ramsgate, in memory of his wife, and made an agreement with this object with a local builder. "May God in His mercy and goodness," he prays, "grant that the inhabitants of the intended College may devote themselves to the study of His Holy Laws, and may they find peace and happiness in their dwellings." On Saturday evening, the 24th of June, the eve of the new moon of Tamuz, 5625 A.M., he laid the foundation stone of the College, in the presence of his relatives and friends. In the same month he made the first remittance of £50 to the inmates of the Juda Touro Almshouses in Jerusalem. In the succeeding years he considerably increased these remittances, and continued forwarding them up to his death. To Mr Hyde Clarke of Smyrna he sent a similar sum, to be distributed by that gentleman among the indigent sick at that place; and to Jerusalem he forwarded a case of medicines for the Dispensary.
August the 27th.—Sir Moses had scarcely despatched his appeal to the Shah on behalf of his brethren at Hamadan, in Persia, when a heartrending cry came from the Holy Land, an unusual combination of misfortunes having befallen them. "No rain had fallen for many months, the harvest was spoilt, locusts covered the ground for miles around, the cholera had broken out in all its fury, famine and plague reigned supreme in the Holy Cities.
"The fatal disease commenced its ravages on the coast of Egypt, and raged furiously in Alexandria; with intense virulence it advanced to the city of Jaffa, and devastated it. The corpses of the dead lay in the streets unburied, the living fled on every side, and the once bustling seaport town was stricken with terror and awed into silence. All the towns and villages between Jaffa and Jerusalem were affected. The gates of the latter were closed, so that none could come out or go in. The city was in a state of siege, and the inspectors of quarantine surrounded it.
"The representatives of all the congregations combined to do all in their power to alleviate the distress, but their funds were exhausted, the plague showed no signs of abating, and they sent forth their piteous cry for help to their brethren abroad."
The Chief Rabbi and Sir Moses at once invited the attention of the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews to the distressing condition of the Jews in Palestine, asking their powerful aid, and suggesting that they should issue an appeal to all the congregations in the British Empire. To this the Board of Deputies readily agreed, and immediately published an appeal in all the leading papers. The result was most satisfactory. The contributions to the appeal fund amounted to a large sum, and, knowing the willingness of Sir Moses to assist personally in the administration of the same, the Board invited him to proceed to Jerusalem for that purpose.