The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-04 00:00:00

EVFINIIb47O EDITION.

teetion not to investigate into the supposed murder of this
aged Priest. The French Consul and a person known as
the determined enemy ef the Jews throughout .3evia,
aecordingly, on meeting with a Jew pale and trembhies, at
their approach, immediately seized him, and draggs.l the
unhappy man beforethe Pacha, and subjected him to torture
to extort a confession of his guilt. When th's was found
to be unavailing, they seized their wives and children, that
they might wring that from their finer feelings of our
nature, which they could not force from the firmer. At
length a Jew was found, who, in the extremity of agony,
was induced to assert that he bad been employed by seve-
ral weal' by Jews at Damascus to murder the priest, whose
body was alto wards cut in pieces and thrown into a
wa cr course, the clothes being burned, that thus every
trace of the murderer might be destroyed.
This charge against the Jews of Damascus
was on the face of it 83 improbable that it was wonderful
how Count Rattee Mattce could in the face of Europe
venture to assert it.—(Cheers.) The Hon. and Rev.
Gentleman then referred to the Mosaic law, and elo-
quently argued the impossibility of a nation who were
even required to withdraw the blood from the paschal
lamb, employing that of a human being in sacrifice ; and
morever the improbability that if they could have been in-
duced to commit a crime so atrocious, they would have
se:ected their victim from a class by whom his loss would
have beers so speedily remarked and so rigidly inquired
ileto. And then, what was the species of evidence ? 'There
was not the least positive evidence produced, the whole of
it amounting to the circumstance that Father Thomas.) was
seen walking towards the quarter of the Jews, and was
never seen to return. But what proof was that that the
Jewish barber had committed the murder—what that the
wealthiest of the Je shad shared inset had The
priest disappeared—,ant. Supp he been mur.
dered—was it not probable that his servant had seen money
in his possession, and had thought it an excellent oppor-
tunity of despatching his aged and defenceless master, and
decamping in the dead of the night. The valuables had
been removed, and the servant had disappeared, and was
it not far more likely that he bad committed the murder
tlt<Tl them—or if he bad an enemy in the city, they knew
how exceedingly light human life was reeked of by the Tut ks ;
how readily they would take the life of a Christian or a
Jew, and how readily they would endeavour to fix the ac-
cusation of the crime on the Jewish community. The con-
fession was, that the body had been cut into small frae-
ments and thrown into a water-course. Surely there would
be some traces of it found ; and that not being the cese, it
is clear that the whole was nothing but a calumny, resting
upon assumption, wiLlnout any tittle of evidence—without
any witnesses being examined, while every slanderer
against them was eagerly listened to. Surely it was not
unreasonable to pronounce, even at that geographicsl dis-
tance, that the whole was an invention of those that hated
them.—( Hear, and cheers.) But if it was asked
who it was that hated them, he grieved to say that they
were those who bore the Christian name. Had
they been those who bowed down to idols of wood
and stone, and who did not profess to believe in our
S ivieur, he should have felt equally for his Jewish brcth-
r n ; but he would cot have experiencd the deep-Adt shame
the!. it had beer. perpetrated by those who bore his sacred
rivers.—( Hear, hear ) It was because Christi- nity should
b.s vin Mated from such 3 crime, that the name of .fesus
sheelsi not be he:d up to the world as capable of sanction-
ieg such coneuct. that he felt it his duty to join his voice I
wish :hem, avid express li:a detestation of the charge as
unfieended end malevolent. lie believed the effect of
these urjust accusations which had been so loug felt at
Damascus would not rest there. For five months the poor
Jews of that city had waked in terror and had lain
el ,we in alarm, fearing for themselves and their children,
wiee were in the hands of a despotic Government, and
eutf ring under the ch rge of an accursed crime, by which
the svesc held up to the whole Eastern world as perpe-
trate ro elan offence from which their whole nature revolted.
M. Pierity had informed them that at Jerusalem tile Ro-
m Greeks, and Christians were already lookime with
suspicious eyes upon their Jewish neighbeurs. Utterly
false as the statement was, it had the effect of truth amongst
en easily excited people. Let them remember that the
week. Jewish ccmtnunity had the stain attached to them,
that they murdered men at the Paschal F.-sties', in
order to make them unleavened bread with the blood.
Let them recol:ect that riot only in the East,
Lot in Christendom, or the streets " of Paris, blood bad
been she!, and a man had been torn to pieces by the
flash, b,-cause he was supposed capable of poisoning the
y,,dis with arsenic at the time the cholera prevailed ; and
in the East, one of their own countrymen, for having
inset-Ay patted the checks of'a rosy child, under the info-
tem of popular excitement, ha 4 vengeance inflicted on
him oil the spot. Now, when a populace, more igno-
rant and degraded than in the lowest of the European
;'agog, was thus wo,ked upon, they could easily imagine
1707, their Jewish brethren were persecuted and t-rtured.
—( Hear, hear.) It was their duty, then, to hasten to re-
Fereethe it sorrows and to spread the shield of British
homanity over the defenceless.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
'Flute present would rejoice to think that their exertions
would rrjoie,c the heart; of those who were in mourning,
end would bring comfort to every trembling heart. As
Chiestiane and good citizens they had done their duty.
GENTLEMAN in the middle of the meeting wished to
s,he a very few words beim e the resolution was passed.
He believed that there was not another Christian who
keew so much of the Jewish customs and ceremonies as he
del He had read all their books, he has' stood by when
the preparations were made for all their ceremones, and
be would stake his professional character upon the fact,
that in no one of their ceremonies was one drop of blood
of yoy kind necessary.
S ,me interruption took place from those behind the
Gseriernan not being able to hear him
TI e -CHAIRMAN hoped the meeting would give every
on- a bearing who cffered himself.
Tee Hen. and Rev. B. NOEL hoped the gentleman
would have a fair heating, for his statements were ver)
isrp: rant.
The GENTLEMAN knew the value of time, and would not
detain them longer than to repeat that as soon as a Jew
tatd a drop of blood he was no longer a Jew—he might
a, ones put en the turban of the Mussulman—be was not
oile minim-at longer a Jew. He would, in the language
of Sh.kspeare, say that the charge made against the Jews
we s " A liee a foul and wicked lie."--(Cheers.)
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Mr. WIRE said, since the meeting began he had re-
ceived a letter of apology from the Members for
the City for their. non-attendance. Sir Matthew
Woe(' was engaged in the Court of Aldermen, Messrs.
Crate and Pattison were locked up in a Committee. room
in the House of Commens, and Mr. Crawford was con-
ehled from illness. Thu Court of Aldermen had pre-
ea wed the members of that Court from giving their at-
tendance, but he was happy to say that several of them
Imel now arrived, and so also had the Lord Ma) or and

T::0 LORD MAYOR then took the Chair amidst loud

enaering.
Mr. O'CONNELI, then rose, and was received with loud
cheering. One or two persons had the bad taste to hiss,
but the only sffect of it was that it elicited continued
i:heerieg. He said he could assure the meeting that the
resolution he had to propose 1493 one of so simple and plain
-a nature, that it would not be necessary for
1.i.0 to inflict a speech upon them. It was
vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor for calling the meeting,
• t) Alderman Thompson for pi eliding over the meet-
irea He believed it was then his duty to sit down.—
( Cries of " No, no.") Well, then, he had another duty
.to perform—it was to express the opinion of even an humble
.itiiitvidual like himself. On earning into the room he had
▪ r handed a paper which promised a book of reasons far
alishelieving the charge made against the Jews. Could
sae; e Lie any necessity for reasons? He believed it to be
d'ete:edly and manifestly false. He thought the case was
eeakened by arguments. Every feeling of nature—every
feciiug of humanity contradicted the foul, the murderous
_charge. After the testimony which had that day been so
ct.iply borne to the moral worth of the Jews of England, was
eassait a human being so degraded as to believe that they
;mal.'er human blood a part of the preparations for their
4.,,-„,noLie3 Was not the Hebrew exemplary in every
sclation cf life ? Was not be a good father, a good son ?
Did they -riot make good mothers and daughters—were
they not firm friends—(Cheers)—were they not honest
and industrious? They were wealthy, and in a country
idle this that could not be without industry, all their lives
!proc.-sd the utter impracticability of the charge brought
kcpinst ti;cru —( Cheers.) It might be said that all that
rniptht apply to the Jews in this countiy, but that in Da-
m, sous there might be found some of an inferior
stamp, who were :capable of committing the clime ;
there was but one answer to this attempt at
staking a distinction, the calumny was against their re-
glom Calumny put him in mind of the saying of the
t::::(1, —that although he was ugly and venomous, still
there was a jewel in his head that redeemed him. So
calumny, however odious it might be, had a redeeming
spo: which vindicated the truth, and made the calumny
itself plain to the world. The Hon. and Learned Gen-
slaman proceeded to complain of the injustice of which
the Jaws at Damascus had been the victims. Of their
innocence lie could not for his part entertain the slightest
df,ubt. The crime with which they were charged was of
a nature too-incredible to be admitted even for an instant ;
and the only proof which had been produced of its ex-
.istenee, was the evidence c.f a wretched man from whom
the torture had extracted a confession on which no reliance
could be placed. It was not on such evidence as that
honest men could be convicted of the most unnatural
crimes. Let them suppose for a moment that the system
of putting witnesses to the torture were applied in Eng-
land, and let them think of the consequences to which
such a practice would lead. Let them imagine that on
evidence so extorted some of the millionaires then around
him were loaded with fetters, and subjected to sufferings
the most cruel—let them suppose these things, and he
would ask if there was any one in that meeting who would
not indignantly protest against proceedings so revolting.
But their sympathies should also be extended to the un-
happy Jews of Damascus, and be would call on them as
Englishmen to raise their voices in behalf of the victims
of an atrocious oppression. Let one cry run from end to
end of Britain's Isle—(Hear, hear)....and if they wanted
an Irish shout—( Loud cheers and laughter)—they should
have that also.
Mr. Wooavanuta ATTWOOD seconded the resolution.
He agreed in the feelings of those who had preceded hi,n,
that it was no small honour to take part in the proceedings
of a meeting like the presets!. While it was their privi-
lege, it was also no less their duty to vindicate from impu-
tation the Jewish religion, and therefore it was that he
had come forward to aid in the present proceedings. Ile
trusted that the effect of the present meeting would be,
that the opinion of the country would be expressed upon
the subject generally and loudly, and that the Government
would not hesitate to take such measures as would effec-
tually settle the subject.
'Fhe resolution was then put to the meeting, and was
carried unanimously.
The Loan MAYOR returned thanks. He could assure
the meeting, with sincerity and truth, that it was with the
greatest pleasure that he had called the present meeting ;
and he Mt that the atrocities that had been committed
o3i,ht to be put a step to.
."-Taa Alderman TtromesoN also returned thanks. He
tlionalat that the result of the present meeting would be
•o raLe slid a feeling in the country against the atrocities