The Indianapolis journal., 1885-07-29

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sions became the one Serious purpose of the lives
of both himself and his wife. A society for
removing Jewish disabilities had been established
in London as early rs TAG. That it was due to
the descendants of Spanish Jews then living in
England is evident from its name, since it was
known as the Deputados In 1928 Sir Moses
joined the Deputados and at once its activity was
manifest
When Sir Moses began his work the question
of Jewish emancipation had already long par
liamentary history. With the repeal of the Test
and Corporation acts, in 1923, the hopes OF the
Jews were removed. The Duke of Sussex in
1880, gave the Jews his support and bill was
presented to the House for the removal of their
civil disabilities On a second reading it
thrown out by 228 nays against l65 yeas Three
years later it passed the Commons, but the Lords
threw it out Year by year the Lords rejected
it. In 1885 Mr. David Salomon was elected sher-
iff, and bill to enable him to serve passed
through Parliament without opposition Then
Moses Montefiore was elected for
the same position in 1887, and was
chosen to offer congratulations to Queen
Victoria on her accession, when her majesty
conferred knighthood upon him. What Mr.
Cobbett had said that 1.-The Israelite is never
seen to take spade in his hand" had made
deep impression on Sir Moses Montefores mind
He determined to improve the condition of the
Jews in Palestine by means of agricultural and
industrial labors. In 1888 his second voyage to
the Holy Land commenced. In Egypt he
was once more cordially received by Mehemet
Ali. In Jerusalem the condition of the Jews
occupied his mind. Elaborate reports were pre-
pared, and large sums of money were given by
him to the needy. He had then in preparation,
for the amelioration Of the condition of the
Jews, well-detined agricultural projects, and to
mature his plans he returned to England, when
suddenly dread change took place in the East.
Mehcmet Ali ceased to rule in Syria and it be-
came province under the miserable sway of the
Stamboul Effends. From peaceful reformer
Sir Moses Montefore became defender Of the
Jews. The persecution of the Jews at Damas-
GUS Beyruit. Rhodes and Smyrna, in which
houses were sacked and many Jews murde red,
have been recently recalled to memory by SINH
lar outrages in Hungary. There, in
Hungary, Jews were accused Of numbering
Christians in pursuance of their religious rites.
In these prosecutions the assailants were aided
and encouraged by the French consuls, aiming
at the extension Of French trade in the east At
once Sir Moses set about repudatlng the horri
bic charge of shedding human blood for ritual
purposes and to awaken various governments to
take up the of the unhappy Jews. A
deputatoh of leading English Jews waited on
Lord Palmerston. NJ Cremieux had an audience
the same day with Louis Philippe. Great old
Pam expressed mis- adherence of the nersecu-
ton Of the Jews in Damascus, while the French
bourgeois King was by means emphatic.
Mehemet Ali, at first influenced by the French
held aloof, but at last joint representation
from the foreign consuls convinced him that the
powers other than France were in earnest, and
he directed that an armed force be sent to
Damascus to quell disturbance Whether one
two a thousand Jews were to be mur-
dered in the East seemed at that time to make
little difference 70 NJ. Thiers, and he was
vention. At once Sir Moses renewed the
agitation Meetings were held in all the
European cities, and in New York aud Philadel-
phia. NJ Cremieux and Sir Moses were deputed
to intercede with the French government, but
NJ Theirs, who had been roughly handled in
debate in the French Chamber. was obdurate.
Sir Robert Peel, in Parliament insisted on n
investigation, and Lord Palmerston was most
jealous III his determination that the guilty par
ties shoald make atonement to the unfortunate
sufferers. Before leaving Egland Sir Moses was
received by the Queen and furnished by the
Foreign Office with the strongest recommends
tions to the diplomatic agents of Great Britain
and the East W hile hurrying to Alexandria
news reached Montefore that the accusations
against the Jews in Rhodes had been dismissed
but this was counterbalanced by the reports that
an open rebellion bad broken out against the
rule of Mehemet Ali. Arriving at Alexandria,
one, rendered their support to Sir Moses.
influence Finally he offered par
don to the Damascus Jews but as
clined accepting it. The discharge must be
granted as an act of justice, not of mercy
Finally, through good judgment on the part of
Sir Moses the firman was amended When the
endeavored to oppose it, but unavailinely. AS
ho came home Sir Moses had an interview with
Cardinal Rivarola, the head of the Capuchin
order, and obtained promise from him that
the tablet placed In church of Damascus by the
French consul which described the murder of
the Padre Thomas by the Jews, should be re-
moved The other visit was to Louis Philippe,
who was now anxious to offer his congratula-
tions. French diplomatic intrigue in the East
in 1910, was of the most dishonest kind. Some
years afterward when Sir Moses went to Rome
in regard to the Mortara business. Cardinal An
toneli referred to this irman obtained by Mont
efiore, asking the great and honest philanthro
phst how much of Rothschild's gold he had paid
for it, Not so much" warmly answered Sir
Moses, ''as / gave your lackey for hanging my
coat UP in your nall.
Sir Moses was equally effective in dealing with
the Russian government in 1871 AMI 1912, and
later, when the Gar attempted to recruit his
navy by the lmpressment of young Jews, and
also issued ukase compelling all Jews residing
within thirty-ve English miles of the frontier to
remove to the interior, through the active in
reference of Sir Moses this brutal order was
never carried out.
In 1S47, with the election of the Baron Lionel
de Rothschild to Parliament by the city of Lon
don, Sir John Russell moved in the House of
Commons that the civil and religious disabilities
affecting Jewish subjects should be done away
with The House Of Commons carried it, as
usual, the opposition being in the House of
Lords. 1t was not until 1858 that, through the
eXertions of Baron de Rothschild and Sir David
Solomon, the Jewish disabilities were at last re-
moved.
In 1862 Lady Monteiore died AS loving. de-
voted wife she had followed him through all his
arduous travels, her last journey being in 1859
II am no great man." once modestly said the
philanthropist; ''the little good that I have &C
complished. or rather that I intend to accom-
pish, [ am indebted for to my never to be
forgotten wife, whose enthusiasm was
everything that is noble, and whose religious.
ness sustained me during my career" In 1862
Sir Moses meditated another visit to Palestine
but went in 1868 to Morocco. The Jews there
then, as now. had been grossly abused and Sir
Moses, on the verge of his eightieth year hurried
there to give them aid and counsel. He returned.
having accomplished his mission, and in the
House of Commons Mr.. Layard complimented
MN upon ms In ms nntn DECADE Sir
salem, one to R"rmania, and one to Russia