CHAPTER XXV.
1867.

SIR MOSES ACCEPTS A MISSION TO THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES—ACTION OF THE BRITISH, RUSSIAN, AND PRUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS—PRINCE BISMARCK'S OPINION—DEATH OF SIR MOSES' BROTHER, HORATIO.

SIR MOSES then addressed the following letter to the President pro tem. of the Board of Deputies of British Jews:

"Grosvenor Gate, Park Lane,
"30th June 5627 (1867).

"My Dear Sir,—It is with deep regret that I have to place in your hands further despatches received from Jassy, from which it would appear that the position of our unfortunate co-religionists in Moldavia still continues most distressing. You will be pleased to submit these communications to the Board of Deputies without delay.

"The several memorials which I have received from Moldavia solicit so frequently and so urgently my personal presence there, that if, in the opinion of your Board and that of our community, it should be considered that my presence in Moldavia might prove of utility to those who in their misery apply to us for sympathy and aid, I should feel it an imperative duty, at whatever personal risk and sacrifice, to respond to the appeal thus piteously made.

"There can be no doubt that, as the delegate of our community, any representations that I might be entrusted to make as its organ would acquire great force and significance, while I should be encouraged by the consciousness that I should be acting, not only in accordance with my own sense of duty, but also as the exponent of the earnest wishes of your Board and of the Jews at large, that so unhappy a state of things as is now existing in Moldavia as affecting the Jews of that Principality, may, under the blessing of the Almighty, speedily cease."

The President pro tem. immediately convened a meeting, at which the Deputies expressed their deep sympathy with the sufferings of the Moldavian Jews, and entreated Sir Moses to undertake a Mission to the Principality, in the hope that his presence there would be as successful in relieving the grievances of our unfortunate brethren in that country as it had been in his previous Missions to Damascus, Russia, Morocco, and the Holy Land.

Sir Moses, in accepting the Mission thus urged upon him, had every possible support from the British Government. The Russian Government also manifested their sympathy with the sufferers, and expressed their approval of his going to Bucharest.

Baron Brunnow sent him a copy of a despatch to that effect, which he had received on the subject from Prince Gortchakoff, dated Tsarkoé Séla, 12th July 1867, which I subjoin in the original French:—

Copie d'une dépêche de S. Exc. Mr. le Chancelier Prince Gortchacow à l'Ambassadeur de Russie à Londres, en date de Tsarkaé-Sélo, le 12 Juillet 1867:

"Mr. le Baron,—Dès la réception de la dépêche de Votre Exc., sub 155 je me suis empressé d'informer notre Consul-Général à Bucarest de la résolution de Sir Moses Montefiore de se rendre à Bucarest pour y plaider la cause de ses co-religionnaires. D'ordre de Notre Auguste Maître, j'ai invité le Baron d'Offenberg à prêter à cette mission d'humanité tout le concours qui pourra dépendre de lui.—Recevez, &c.,

(Signé) "Gortchacow."

The Prussian Government, as will be seen in the copy of a letter from Lord Loftus to Lord Stanley, as forwarded to Sir Moses through Lord Egerton, also supported the cause. Lord Egerton transmitted for his information a copy of a despatch which he had received from Her Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin, in which the latter reported a conversation he had had with Count Bismarck on the subject of the persecution of the Jews in the Danubian Principalities:—