Newly-fledged Jewish science soon created new organs wherein to express itself. The oldest and most noteworthy was carried on in Hebrew: it was called the "desirable vineyard" (Kerem Chemed), and was founded by Samuel Löb Goldberg of Tarnopol, and during ten years was of great use in offering the different views of Judaism the opportunity of expression. The chief topic was Jewish history; the greatest care was bestowed upon this subject. In accordance with their ability, knowledge, or ripeness of intelligence, the contributors to the "Vineyard" brought great or small offerings, without expecting any reward or tangible honor. What university or academy was there to repay their laborious researches by the bestowal of a professor's chair or post of distinction? There was not even a prospect of situations as rabbis for men engaged in subjects utterly dissimilar, often opposed, to rabbinical studies. On the contrary, their zeal for science rendered them unworthy of rabbinical honor in the eyes of the strictly orthodox. The chief contributors to the new journal were the leaders of the Galician school, among whom Rapoport held the first place, although he incurred opposition by his candid utterances. Encouraged by Rapoport's example, Krochmal also consented to publish over his own name single chapters from his encyclopædic work. The German Jews supplied only two representatives, both of whom were talented men, viz., the author of the "Homilies of the Jews" and the high-minded Michael Sachs, to whom, however much they differed in their conception of Judaism, Jewish science is deeply indebted for rich increase.
The little band of Jewish inquirers received reinforcement from Italy, a country which for a long time had been buried in slumber, and had taken but little part in Jewish history. Besides old Reggio, Rabbi Ghirondi of Padua, Almanzi, a wealthy layman, and Samuel Vita della Volta, a physician of Mantua, special prominence is due to Samuel David Luzzatto (born in Trieste, 1800; died in Padua, 1865).
The self-sacrifice of Jewish inquirers in the Middle Ages, who in the midst of unspeakable privations and sufferings had occupied themselves in the cultivation of their minds, Luzzatto also manifested as a model for the younger generation. During his whole life, and although he enjoyed European fame, Luzzatto and his family suffered through poverty. Privations, however, did not hinder him from increasing his knowledge with endurance all the more heroic because not publicly displayed. To be poor in Poland, as was the case with Rapoport and Erter, was not so distressing as to be poor in Italy, because in the former, requirements were slight, and contentment on the smallest means was almost universal; besides, generous, wealthy men saved the men of science from starvation. But in Italy, where even the middle class craved comfortable living, and where indifference to knowledge among the Jews had reached a high pitch, it is matter for great surprise that Luzzatto could find, amidst his struggles for daily bread, the peace and cheerfulness necessary to accomplish so much for the promotion of Jewish science. At every discovery, however trifling, Luzzatto felt childlike pleasure, which appears strange to an onlooker: it was the self-created recreation of the martyr, which for a moment causes gnawing pain to be forgotten.
Luzzatto was not naturally gifted with aptitude for historical studies. His most conspicuous trait was enthusiastic love of poetry, Judaism, and Hebrew literature, and this threefold love became one within him. But lofty enthusiasm, united with extraordinarily delicate taste for poetical beauty, could not compensate for lack of creative power; it could do no more than make of him a more talented Wessely. His Hebrew verses, by which he hoped to re-animate biblical poetry, are blameless in form, rhythmical, and of Hebraic coloring; but like Wessely's verses, they lack soul, true poetry. Luzzatto's Hebrew prose, polished and elegant though it be, cannot be compared with Erter's magical language. This he felt, and he was sufficiently just to award the palm to his Galician fellow-artist. His deep comprehension of the true art of poetry, especially of the delicacy of biblical literature, and his extremely refined taste, opened to Luzzatto another field of labor, viz., the exposition of Holy Writ. To purify this treasure from the rust of thousands of years had hitherto been the task of strangers, who did not bring to this work proper appreciation, still less the needful devotion. Christian Bible exegetes, such as Eichhorn, De Wette, Gesenius, and others, had pursued the work of purification in a clumsy manner, and for want of critical ability had flung away the true ore as dross. Luzzatto was one of the first Jews in modern days to devote himself to biblical exegesis. He possessed a sure instinct for recognizing the true spirit and beautiful form of biblical literature, and he called attention to the disturbing elements whilst restoring the original ones. No one better than he understood the construction of the Hebrew language, even to its most delicate points and grammatical minutiæ.
In the new Rabbinical College of Padua (the Collegio Rabbinico) Luzzatto found opportunities of engaging zealously in the study of the Bible, and of ascertaining the correct meaning of the words of the prophets and inspired writers. If Luzzatto with his happy feeling for language and his Jewish fervor had remained true to this branch of research, he would have produced splendid results, and he might have performed a substantial service to Jewish science, for he would have invited many disciples, inasmuch as his orthodoxy was unimpeachable. But he was suddenly frightened by his own boldness, or rather feared that he might misuse it. If the walls of the Massorah are torn down, he feared, the sacred text will become the prey of incompetence and unending revolution, causing direst confusion. He did not trust criticism to heal the wounds it inflicted, or rather he did not believe that it effected a cure by administering poison. He therefore took up an equivocal position, and re-erected the outworks of the Massorah, which he himself had undermined.
Roused by the achievements of Rapoport in history, he plunged into that study, and produced important results. Owing to the dispersion of the Jews and their tragic fate, the fairest pages of their history during the Franco-Spanish epoch had been lost. Luzzatto's zeal was kindled to discover these pages, and in Italy his efforts were crowned with success. The persecuted Jews from Spain and France had mostly passed through Italy in their flight. Here, therefore, the greater part of Jewish literary treasures had been deposited, but they were buried from fear of the Argus-eye of the bloody Inquisition. Luzzatto unearthed them, published them in scientific organs or as separate works, and so made them available. Through him the Jewish history of the Middle Ages received its authentication, its firm basis, its coloring, and exposition. If Krochmal and Rapoport are the fathers of Jewish history, then Luzzatto was its mother.
Through him it became possible to obtain a clear understanding of facts hitherto only vaguely depicted, to arrange them in proper groups, and discern their original splendor. The beginnings of neo-Hebraic poetry, its flourishing period in the time of Jehuda Halevi, and in general the prolific mental activity of the Jews of Spain, were first set forth by him. And to his last breath Luzzatto was untiring in his researches and investigations. He collected a number of valuable works, and stimulated other friends of Jewish science to do the same. Unstintingly he permitted the use of his discoveries, and was happy when he could benefit the public by his newly found treasures. He was a priest in the service of Jewish science, and his memory will never be forgotten in the House of Israel.
Next to the Hebrew organ of Jewish science (Kerem Chemed), various German journals were started, which, besides dealing with the topics of the day, treated of Jewish scientific studies, and popularized them. One of these organs, "The Scientific Journal," from its very commencement assumed an over-confident tone, as if desirous of setting itself up as the highest tribunal, before which all efforts should await final judgment. And yet, most of its contributors, unless proved in other ways, learned by teaching. Those still among us must confess, if they are sincere, that on beginning their undertaking, instead of being at the head of Jewish science, they were mere tyros, possessing only a superficial smattering, and that the Galician school was their guide.
The soul of the periodical was its founder, Abraham Geiger (born 1810; died 1874), a man of considerable talents, of clear intellect, penetrating sagacity, comprehensive knowledge, and stern character, bordering almost upon obstinacy and defiance. He was also of a weak disposition, and was easily led, and this quality helped to change what had hitherto caused only differences of opinion concerning Judaism, into the harsh extreme of a split amongst various sects. Although born and bred in a family schooled in the Talmud, Geiger became filled with burning hatred towards it, and seeing that the religious life of the Jews had been hitherto regulated by the Talmudical standard, he regarded it as the aim of his existence to bring about its deposition and to introduce reforms of a radical nature, outstripping those of his predecessors. The reform of Judaism was Geiger's chief desire; and to further it, he used his influence as a preacher and his scientific researches. He felt no respect for antiquity or for religious practices, and never spared those co-religionists who adhered to traditional customs. He did not shrink from effecting the most thorough-going schism and disunion. Geiger's scientific labors did not produce lasting results, as he cared less for inquiries after truth than for plans of reform. His journal, however, succeeded in inculcating self-reliance and self-knowledge. It courageously attacked the shameless presumption of sciolist Jew-haters like Hartmann, and inveighed against weak-minded Jews who attributed all ideals to Christianity. It may be reckoned to the credit of this periodical or this school, that it recalled neglected, because despised, personages, the Karaites, those talented sceptics and hypocrites.
Through the impetuosity of the new school, life and action were brought into Jewish circles, and the results of research were diluted and made popular. Who can say now whether the gain or the loss to Judaism was greater? For instance, it gave currency to grave errors, by making Judaism a theologic system, and its representatives, the rabbis and teachers of the law, mere clergymen and pastors. This tendency narrowed Judaism, and degraded the achievements bidding defiance to the centuries by coupling them with contemporary phenomena. In hot haste it desired to apply practically the results of scientific investigation but recently made, or, according to its shibboleth, to "establish harmony between law and life"—sacrificing the half understood law to life, i. e., to the promptings of convenience, to civil equality. Science was not in itself an end, only the means whereby to deprive Judaism of its characteristic peculiarities, and remodel it into something entirely new. It desired to invest the arbitrariness with which Friedländer, Jacobson, and their companions had introduced reforms with the appearance of necessity, and justify it on scientific grounds. By its violent, dogmatic attitude, fierce opposition was aroused, and thus the seeds of dissension were scattered in the vineyard of Jacob.
But even this phenomenon had its favorable side. It was a challenge to the orthodox party, which had hitherto met innovations with silence, or impotent rage, but always awkwardly, or, as in the person of Bernays, had made sphinx-like utterances. They altogether denied the justification of the reform which the advanced party so confidently urged. The "Nineteen Letters on Judaism," by Ben Usiel, a disciple of Bernays (1836), were the first tones of a powerful opposition against the leveling of Judaism to a commonplace religion, to consist of sermons, German hymns, and confirmation, so forcing its generous proportions to adapt themselves to the narrow limits of the synagogue. This was the commencement of a contest between two different sets of views, a strife which has not yet ceased. The struggle was confined to Germany. The Jews of the other European countries were not cognizant thereof. In Germany it was so difficult to destroy the old state of ignominy, so toilsome to obtain the new freedom, that educated Jews, imagining the peculiarities of their belief to be one of the obstacles in the way of securing equal privileges, were ready to sacrifice these, trying to persuade themselves that it was not surrender, merely a shedding of the outer skin. Christian society refused to recognize them as Germans, and, therefore, they desired to show, by stripping off their original garb, that they were Germans, naught but Germans, and kept up only a distant connection with Judaism. The spirit of subtle inquiry which had been awakened to a high degree, chiefly in Germany, furthered the habit of fault-finding, not alone with details, but with the whole structure of Judaism; of considering it as a work rotten with age, which, with the exception of a few foundation-stones, ought to be destroyed.
It was strange that thoughtful Christians admired the tents of Jacob in their simplicity, whilst the adherents of Judaism felt confined in them, and desired to exchange the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant for the pomp and parade of the Church, or wished to surround them with disfiguring adornments. Two poetically-gifted Christian scholars, astounded by the wonderful fact that the persecuted Jewish people even in modern days produced neo-Hebraic poetry—spring blossoms in the midst of the violence of winter—strove to spread understanding and love of it in Christian circles. The "History of Neo-Hebraic Poetry" (1836), by Franz Delitzsch, and the "Hebrew Chrestomathy" (1837), by Adam Martinet, are tokens of the homage brought by Christians to the Jewish mind. The authors were astounded at its creative faculty, and at the capacity for development existing in the Hebrew language, although they knew only fragments, and were unacquainted with the most modern and the fairest specimens of neo-Hebraic poetry. This side of Jewish ability convinced them of the immortality of the race. "No one can deny," remarked the former, "that the Jewish people is the most remarkable of all nations, and next to those of the Church, its history and literature deserve the deepest and most devoted attention. Poetry forms a large part of this colossal mass of literature, and is the truest image of the inner history of this people. The elegiac poetry of the synagogue reveals to us the constant recurrence of suffering which God imposed on the exiles, and the impressions which these sufferings have left upon the heart of the nation. The Orient is an exile in the midst of the West, and from the tears of its home-sickness springs forth Jewish poetry."
Martinet desired "to ascertain the height, depth, and breadth of the Jewish spirit of our times as shown in the treasures of its own literature," and was fortunate in having found a noble, deeply interesting, in every way fine fragment. His "Chrestomathy" was intended as a vindication of neo-Hebraic literature—beauteous Eastern flowers reared upon Western soil, which he arranged in an odorous bouquet, in order to gain admirers for them, and induce them to cull radiant garlands of still fairer flowers from the magic garden.
The new school of reform felt little of the enthusiasm of appreciative Christians. They regretted that doubts, conflict, and dissension had sprung up in the place of confidence, peace, and perfect unity and sincerity; that all minds were filled with uncertainty and discomfort, creating a state of irritability which enervated all will-power. But they themselves had contributed, if not actually to call this ill-humor into existence, at least to nurse it, and so infect healthy minds. They imagined that the decomposition of Judaism had already commenced until they became convinced of it, and like romantic dreamers indulged in artificial grief, until it became real. In Germany, on account of the contest for the removal of disabilities, the awakening of self-consciousness and the dawn of knowledge were purchased at a heavy price, at the cost of internal disruption and self-torment.
The somber views of those who, whilst admiring Judaism in its ancient and venerable form, yet entertained doubts as to its continuance, were truthfully represented in "The Plaints of a Jew" (1837). The Prussian Jews at this time were placed in a situation both comic and tragical by an ordinance worthy of the Byzantine court promulgated by King Frederick William III. Instead of a partial grant of the liberty guaranteed to them, they were no longer to be officially called "members of the Mosaic faith," but curtly "Jews," and were not allowed to bear Christian names. The police were directed to insist that this law be carried into effect. This method was expected to bring waverers over to baptism. The self-respect of the Jews was not yet sufficiently strengthened for them to endure the intended humiliation with dignity. Many Jews in the large cities, especially in Berlin, who were nearer to the church than to the synagogue, considered it a slight, and implored the king to protect them against such undeserved contempt. They mourned as if they were to be again thrust into exile. This comic sadness was depicted after the manner of the Psalms in "The Plaints of a Jew."
"The children of my people came to me complaining and weeping. The old men and the mothers drew near, and anxious suffering was depicted on their countenances. I asked the little ones, 'Why are you weeping so early in life?' and to the elders I said, 'Why are you complaining so late in life?' The children lisped, 'Alas! we may no longer bear the bright, beautiful names of the Christians, but have to use the dull, hateful ones of the Jews. We are meant to be branded at our very games.' And the old men said, 'The quiver of anger is again emptied, and threatens our children with misery and danger.' Then I replied, ... 'Comfort yourselves, be quiet, and bear proudly the proud names of your fathers. They are the names of heroes, of martyrs crowned with fame, of an ancient nobility, of an ancient knighthood.... When the West was still sunk in utter barbarism, your names flourished in immortal splendor, ruling the world, and enlightening and delivering it. For I say unto you, that before the hand of the clock of history turns round, many empty names of the West will be swept off the face of the earth like stubble by the sharp scythe. But as long as time endures there will always remain royally enthroned the names of Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah.'"
Joel Jacoby, the son of a strictly orthodox father, introduced into his "Plaints of a Jew" many untrue outpourings of fantastic sentimentality and a feigned sense of pain; but some of his elegies are ardent and beautifully constructed.
Mehmet Ali—Ratti Menton—Damascus—Father Tomaso—His Disappearance—Blood Accusation against the Jews of Damascus—Imprisonment of Accused—Their Tortures and Martyrdom—Blood Accusation in Rhodes—In Prussia—Adolf Crémieux—Meeting of English Jews—Moses Montefiore—Nathaniel de Rothschild—Merlato, the Austrian Consul—Plots—Thiers—Steps taken by the Jews in Paris and London—Bernard van Oven—Mansion House Meeting—Montefiore, Crémieux, and others sent to Egypt—Solomon Munk.
1840 C. E.
If Joel Jacoby wavering between faith and apostasy thus addressed Judaism, "Feeble is thy body, my people, and thy spirit weary: therefore do I bring thee a coffin and dedicate to thee a tomb"; and if Geiger's paper, half in pain, half in spite, testified that "the bond which used to keep together the congregations is torn asunder, and now they are only externally united, the will-power of the community is broken," the wish was father to the thought, or the writers greatly deceived themselves. Superficial observers, self-willed opinionists, they thought the symptoms of rapid growth signs of swift consumption, and praised their own quack medicines, which would surely have brought about dissolution.
An unforeseen event, insignificant at the beginning, but of vast importance in its results, gave the lie to the false prophets and quacks, and showed how wondrous the force which holds the members of the Jewish race in an indissoluble union; how strong the invisible bond which without their knowledge embraces them; and how a serious menace to Judaism arouses the patriotism of the reformer and the orthodox, of the politician who appears to have forsaken his faith and the recluse engrossed only in the Kabbala or the Talmud, of the Jew in frivolous France and of him in serious Asia. Strangely enough, the despised "Jewish Question" became interwoven in the complicated threads of European and Asiatic politics, and the Russian despot Nicholas as also the American Republic had to take up the cause of the Jews in Damascus. He who remembers this time, and can appreciate the marvels of history, cannot misunderstand the wonderful intermingling of events. Ratti Menton, an Italian naturalized in France, a reckless, unconscientious fortune-hunter; Hanna Bachari Bey, a renegade, who had passed from Christianity to Islam, a thorough knave and bitter Jew-hater; Mohammed El-Telli, a man of like caliber, who threatened a rich Jew in Damascus with a blood accusation unless he advanced money to relieve him of his difficulties; and finally a Christian Arab, Shibli Ajub, a worthless wretch panting for revenge, because he had been imprisoned on the charge of embezzlement preferred by a Jew; this is the list of fiends who originated a bloody drama, in which the part of martyrs was once more played by the Jews. But their sufferings induced courage, exaltation, and proud self-reliance.
Political events, as intimated, served as the background for this drama. The cunning Mehmet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, by splendid victories had wrested all Syria and Palestine from the Turkish sultan, his feudal lord. He oppressed the inhabitants of these countries more severely even than those of his own pashalic, in order to fill his coffers. The so-called Citizen King, Louis Philippe, equally cunning, in order to disarm the resentment of the legitimate princes of Europe, supported Mehmet Ali's plans of conquest, and French agents aided the Egyptian robbery system. These intrigues increased when the strong-minded but unfortunate Sultan Mohammed was dead, and his weak, pampered son, Abdul Meg'id, only seventeen years old, ascended the throne (July, 1839). Then the Eastern Question commenced to wax warm. Russia supported feeble Turkey that it might not fall into the arms of Mehmet Ali. France, on the other hand, supported the Egyptian robber, in order to checkmate Russia. Austria and England were unsettled in their policy, and Prussia was the fifth wheel on the van of the European Pentarchy. Owing to the close union between Louis Philippe and Mehmet Ali, the Christians in Palestine and Syria, hitherto oppressed, could now raise their heads; for France delighted to pose as the protector of Christianity in the East in order to gain title and power, as she coquetted with the clerical party at home in order to suppress the friends of liberty. The clergy and monks of many orders in the East, especially the Catholics or Latins, until lately the oppressed, now, relying upon French protection, became the oppressors.
In Damascus, which at that time contained five thousand Jewish families, or about twenty thousand souls, the guardian of a Capuchin cloister, Father Tomaso (Thomas), of Sardinia, together with his servant, disappeared one day (February 5, 1840). He was no saint in the Catholic sense of the word, but a man of the world, more ready to take than to give money. He pottered in medicine, especially occupying himself with inoculation for small-pox, and as often visited in Jewish and Mahometan as in Christian quarters. What had become of the Father so well known to the whole population of Damascus? No one knew exactly. There was a rumor that Tomaso had some days before quarreled with a Turkish mule-driver, who was said to have sworn, "This Christian dog shall die by no other hand than mine." It was said that insults and violence followed. As soon as it was known that the Father had disappeared, and had probably met with a violent death, the monks besieged the unscrupulous Ratti Menton, the French consul in Damascus, with entreaties to search for the murderer. Attention was immediately directed to the Jews, some of them having innocently testified that they had seen Tomaso and his servant in the Jewish quarter, on the evening before they disappeared. The monks, chief among them a fanatical Jew-hater, Father Tusti, quickly caught up the suspicion against the Jews, hoping thereby to gain several ends. They could satiate their hatred against the Jews, suppress the inquiry as to whether Father Tomaso had indeed quarreled with Mussulmans and reviled them, and finally a new martyr, slain by the Jews, would be added to their list of saints, which was always a source of profit. Ratti Menton, in turn, from interested motives, quickly endorsed the suspicion against the Jews, and relinquished every other theory, although a clue had been given by the fact that the Turkish merchant, who had been present at the quarrel with the Father, had hanged himself. Sherif Pasha, the governor of Damascus, was readily induced to permit or carry on the persecution of the Jews from a desire to be on friendly terms with the French consul, and hoping to obtain profit for himself from a blood accusation against the Jews. To save appearances, the accusers quoted the evidence of a pious fraud, who assured them that Tomaso and his servant had been murdered in the Jewish quarter in such and such a house. This trick was probably perpetrated by Bachari Bey. The Turkish rascal, Mohammed El-Telli, offered his services as a spy to Ratti Menton, if he would free him from prison and debt. He willingly consented; the two scoundrels were worthy of each other.
Proofs soon accumulated. Christians testified that they had heard Jews say, "Let us shut the gates, and not go out, because danger is imminent," or that they had seen the monk in the house of a Jew shortly before his disappearance. The bill of accusation was quickly prepared: "The Jews have murdered Tomaso and his servant to use the blood for their Passover Festival,"—as though they would be so ridiculous as to keep it for six weeks! Efforts were made to arouse the Christians and the Turkish populace. Several Jews were arrested, brought before Ratti Menton, and examined. A poor Jewish barber from inborn fear showed great confusion during the examination in the presence of the spies. But he firmly denied participation in, or knowledge of, the murder of the missing monk. Nevertheless the French consul handed him over for trial to Sherif Pasha, as a man under strong suspicion. The latter ordered him to receive the bastinado, five hundred blows with a stick upon the soles of his feet. This torture, however, appeared too mild to Ratti Menton. The poor barber was subjected to the cruellest tortures, but he remained steadfast. He was then visited by Mohammed El-Telli, who was in prison for debt. Induced by deceitful speeches, the barber, afraid of fresh torture, agreed to name the guilty persons. He named, upon suggestion, seven distinguished and wealthy Jews, David Arari (Harari), with his son and brothers, then Moses Abulafia, Moses Saloniki, and Joseph Laniado, an old man of eighty years. When arrested and examined they denied their guilt. The bastinado was resorted to, but the executioners, fearing that the old men would sink under the blows, and that their confessions would be of no use, employed another method of torture. The accused, guarded by soldiers, were compelled to stand erect for thirty-six hours, without food or drink, and without being allowed to go to sleep. As this torture bore no result, the bloodthirsty villains proceeded at Ratti Menton's orders to inflict a violent beating with switches; at the twentieth blow the unhappy victims fell to the ground unconscious. The French consul nevertheless ordered the scourging to be continued when they revived.
All this, however, did not extort a confession. Sherif Pasha invented a new species of torment, or employed one suggested to him. More than sixty children between the ages of three and ten were torn from their parents, shut up in a room, and deprived of food, so that the mothers, agonized by the piteous cries of the children, might be driven to make confessions, even though untrue ones. This means also failed. In spite of compassion for their children, the Jewish mothers in no way confirmed the horrible accusation. Only one woman and her daughter were driven by grief and love of their children into the arms of Islam. Sherif Pasha became enraged, and threatened that if the Father were not found, many Jewish heads should fall. With a band of soldiers (February 18) he marched into the Jewish quarter, and commanded the magnificent house of David Arari to be destroyed, in order to find the corpse of the monk or suspicious traces. The houses of the other accused were also ruined. Distressed by so much cruelty, a Jewish youth ventured to go to the Pasha and give evidence that he had seen Father Tomaso enter the shop of a Turk shortly before his disappearance. Instead of following this clue, Ratti Menton and his private secretary, Baudin, tried to hush up the evidence. The youth was unmercifully flogged, and in the same night died, the first martyr in this tragedy.
Ratti Menton was inexhaustible in devices for extorting a confession from the Jews. He ordered an experiment to be tried upon David Arari's Turkish servant, Murad el Fallat. He had nothing to confess, and permitted himself to be scourged till his body was almost lacerated. Mohammed El-Telli then interviewed him, and by mingling friendly overtures and threats obtained some information from him. The servant accused himself of having murdered Tomaso at the command of David Arari in the presence of the other prisoners; and the Jewish barber was persuaded to confirm this statement. Ratti Menton then caused the two mutilated men to be led to a place where the bones and skulls were supposed to have been thrown into a canal. He found a piece of bone and a fragment of cloth; Christian doctors declared that this bone belonged to a human body, and the patch was judged to be part of the monk's cowl. Positive proof of the murder having been thus found in the Jewish quarter, the seven accused were again examined, and subjected to cruel tortures. They were ordered to produce the flask of blood taken from the murdered men for the Passover Festival. The tortures killed the old man Joseph Laniado. Moses Abulafia, to escape further torture, assumed the turban. The others, worn out by suffering, said all that was demanded of them; they had become dull, and only desired a speedy death. Their confession, however, did not help them. The French consul wanted tangible evidence, such as the flask of blood and other proofs. But the poor prisoners, however willing, were unable to produce them.
New tortures were applied, the only result being that the wretched victims retracted their former confessions. As Ratti Menton needed new victims, Arari's servant was required to assist in supplying them early in March. Suspicion fell upon other distinguished Jewish families: upon the wealthy family of Farchi (Parchi), upon a young man named Isaac Levi Picciotto (Peixotto), and upon Aaron Stambuli. Three rabbis of Damascus, Jacob Anteri, Solomon and Azaria Halfen, had been arrested earlier, and tortured, but the desired evidence was not obtained. Of the distinguished Jews said to be implicated in the charge of murder, only two could be found: Raphael Murad Farchi who, owing to his high position as consul, thought himself safe, and Picciotto, the nephew of the consul-general of Aleppo, who had been knighted for his services by the Austrian emperor. Picciotto alone remained steadfast, and boldly upbraided Ratti Menton and the Pasha with the inhumanity of their conduct. He was protected by the Austrian consul, an Italian named Merlato, who despite all threats and arguments refused to allow an Austrian subject to be tortured without substantial proofs of his guilt. This new complication produced a change in the horrifying drama. Merlato had long looked on calmly at the inhuman acts, like the other European consuls, especially the English consul named Werry, who was Ratti Menton's accomplice. But at length Merlato's patience was exhausted; he openly attacked the barbarous, horrible proceedings. Consequently he had to endure a good deal of abuse. The Christian populace heaped curses upon him, because he defended the Jews, and would not surrender his protégé Picciotto into the hands of the cannibals. His house was surrounded by spies, and the Mahometan mob was also inflamed against the Jews by foul means.
Ratti Menton was indefatigable in inventing new charges and sham proofs. He ordered a contemptible book against the Jews, by Lucio Ferrajo, which had been shown him by the monks, to be translated into Arabic. This book proved from the Talmud that the Jews used blood, that they slew Christian children, and outraged the Host, which afterwards worked miracles. The Arabic translation was given by Ratti Menton to Sherif Pasha, and he circulated it among the Mahometan populace. To set on foot a thorough-going persecution, Franciscus of Sardinia, a venomous Capuchin monk, was brought from Beyrout, being well known for his ability to give an appearance of truth to perversions and falsehoods. The Pasha then commanded that the three imprisoned rabbis be separated, and directed to translate into Arabic certain suspicious passages in the Talmud, with the threat of death if they were caught in a deception. Thoughtful Turks shook their heads at this systematic persecution of the Jews; but they held their peace. Ratti Menton closed the proceedings, and pronounced judgment, as if it had been incontrovertibly proved, that the arrested and tortured Jews were the murderers of Father Tomaso. Those still alive were sentenced to be beheaded. Sherif Pasha obtained the assent of his lord, Mehmet Ali, to this deed.
As if to give verisimilitude to the blood-accusation against the Jews, and justify their destruction as bloodthirsty cannibals, a similar incident occurred at about the same time on the island of Rhodes, which belonged to Turkey. A boy of ten years of age, the son of a Greek peasant, had hanged himself, and the Christians hastened to charge the Jews with his murder. The European consuls took the matter in hand, and demanded of the governor, Jussuf Pasha, a strict investigation against the Jews. Upon the evidence of two Greek women that the boy had followed a Jew of Rhodes, the man was arrested, tried, imprisoned, and, because of his denial, inhumanly tortured. His nostrils were pierced by an iron wire, red-hot coals placed upon his head, and a heavy stone upon his breast. This was done or approved by Europeans and Christians, consuls of the European powers, of England, France, and Sweden. Here, too, the Austrian consul took no part in the barbarous persecution. The torture was applied to the accused Jew by his officers without the knowledge of the Pasha. The confession which they desired to obtain was that he had killed the Greek boy to send his blood to the chief rabbi at Constantinople. It was a sort of conspiracy of the Christians in Turkey against the Jews, to bring them to the edge of the precipice, perhaps due to envy, because the young Sultan, Abdul Meg'id, on ascending the throne, in his congratulatory address (Hatti-Sherif of Gulhane) had conceded equal privileges to all subjects of his kingdom, Jews included. The Greeks and Latins in Turkey thought but little of their freedom, because they had to share it with the hated Jews.
Induced by the cruel torture, the half lifeless Jew in Rhodes made a confession. He incriminated several Jews in the murder of the boy, hoping that they had already fled from fear of persecution. But some of them were still in Rhodes. As in Damascus, they were incarcerated, tortured, and brought near to death's door. Nevertheless they remained firm. The consuls then ordered the Ghetto to be closed, so that no one might pass in and out, and the Jews might be unable to lay their complaints before the Pasha, or even before the Sultan. For three days the Jews received no food from outside. Greeks were constantly prowling around the Ghetto to throw in bones, to be able to say afterwards that they were the bones of a murdered Christian. The Austrian consul, who at first had taken the part of the Jews, was ultimately induced to join their enemies.
In consequence of this double accusation, a perfect storm arose against the Jews in Syria and Turkey. In Djabar, near Damascus, the mob broke into the synagogue, pillaged and destroyed it, and tore the scrolls of the Law to shreds. In Beyrout the Jews were protected from ill-treatment by the interposition of Laurilla, the Dutch consul, and Sason, the Prussian consul. The spirit of enmity spread as far as Smyrna, and was attended by many attacks upon the Jews.
Was it a mere accident that at the same time (beginning of March, 1840) a blood accusation was raised against a Jew in Rhenish Prussia, in Jülich? A Christian girl, nine years of age, asserted that a Jew had stabbed her. Her little brother, six years old, confirmed her statement. A Jew and his wife, who happened to be journeying through Jülich, were identified by the children as the criminals, and the girl added that the Jew at the same time had killed an old Christian with a knife. If truth speaks from the mouth of children, this Jew would have had to be sentenced as a murderer of Christians, a vampire. If the torture had been applied, an avowal of the crime would probably have been extorted from the Jew and his wife. But a strict judicial inquiry elicited that the statements of the children were idle falsehoods and deception. The Christian supposed to have been murdered was alive. The pretended wound on the girl's body was only a smudge of blood. The accused Jew was acquitted, and a rumor, referred to by the state attorney himself, charged two Christians from Düsseldorf with having drummed these horrible accusations into the children's heads.
In Rhenish Prussia the truth and the innocence of the Jews were brought to light quickly. In Damascus and Rhodes, on the other hand, the struggle was prolonged, because fiendish European Christians had intentionally woven such a network of lies, that even guileless persons were deceived. In vain the ill-treated Jews wrung their hands, and entreated their European brethren to aid them by means of their more favorable circumstances. They found it exceedingly difficult to bring the truth to light and to unmask villainy. Religious fanaticism, Judæophobia, and political party passions, all combined to assist the triumph of falsehood. The underhand plotters employed the art of Guttenberg—whose four hundredth jubilee was then being celebrated—to circulate accusations throughout the world that Jews were eager drinkers of Christian blood.
Ratti Menton arranged that a report from Damascus presenting the events from his point of view be inserted in the French journals to inform the European world that the Jews had murdered a priest and his servant, and had collected the blood for their unleavened bread for the Passover. One corpse had been thrown into the canal in their quarter, and the other into a Jew's cellar. They had confessed, acknowledging that they had committed the crime in order to celebrate the mysteries of their religion. Without Ratti Menton's zeal the culprits would not have been discovered, and without his interposition the Jewish quarter and all its inhabitants would have been destroyed. Not only the newspapers controlled by the Catholic clergy zealously spread this charge against the Jews, but also the liberal journals, in order to glorify the power of France in the East, published as facts all the distorted statements from Damascus. The eyes of Europe being at this time directed towards the entanglements in Turkey, the false reports rapidly spread through the veins of European journalism. The hatred of the Middle Ages against the Jews might have been easily re-awakened, and might have caused scenes of blood to be re-enacted. The Jews of Europe were filled with horror that in the broad daylight of the nineteenth century they had still to contend against the dark specter of the blood accusation, that it might not drag them down into the grave.
The press, which had been used by their adversaries, was now employed to greater advantage in the cause of the Jews. Calumnies and lying accusations against them could no longer be concealed under the veil of secrecy. There were courageous Jews who tore off the mask of virtue from falsehood and hypocrisy. Such a man was Adolf Crémieux (born 1796, died 1880), who shortly before this time had celebrated triumphs of eloquence. This extraordinary man was destined, as will be shown, to become the bold and powerful advocate of the Jews in their tribulation. The false charges brought against them in Damascus made him their advocate, and induced him to take an active part in the history of his co-religionists. Crémieux, who, among the many talented orators of France, was considered an exceptionally fine speaker, employed his great gifts in the defense of innocent prisoners, without distinction of creed, position, or party. Although Crémieux was at this time a member of the Franco-Jewish consistory, he had not hitherto troubled himself much about Jewish affairs; his soul was filled with patriotism for France. The blood accusation at Damascus, which had been spread far and wide by the opponents of the Jews, first reminded him of his Jewish origin, and inspired him with courage and zeal to take up the cause of his brethren in religion and race, and developed in him a glowing patriotism for Judaism. At the first news of the dark proceedings in Damascus, thoroughly convinced that the Eastern like the European Jews were innocent of blood, Crémieux hastened to the French minister to ask him whether the government had more precise information on the matter. The minister replied that he had not received the slightest information on the subject from the consul or any other source. Thus it was made evident how this game was played. With all the glowing fire of his eloquence and the courage instilled by a righteous cause, Crémieux opposed the wide-spread slanders which echoed through France (April 7), and became the center of a patriotic movement of the French communities. Crémieux was then vice-president of the central consistory; and the Jews of France looked to him, their appointed representative, to rend asunder the network of lies which extended from Damascus to France.
Like the French Jews, those of England also aroused themselves suddenly. By their wealth and honorable conduct they stood very high in public opinion. Some had been elected to fill the honorable post of sheriff; and it was to be expected that they would soon be admitted into Parliament. The most distinguished Jews of England, among them Baron Nathaniel Rothschild, Sir Moses Montefiore (who from a pious sentiment had undertaken a pilgrimage to the Holy Land), Salomons, and the highly-esteemed brothers Goldsmid, held a meeting (April 21), and resolved to appeal to the governments of England, France, and Austria, to use their influence to put a stop to the inhuman proceedings in Damascus. Crémieux came to London, and was present at the meeting, in order to consider a common course of action. The unanimity was noteworthy with which prominent Jews took up the cause of their persecuted brethren, and defended the purity of Judaism, of its Law, and the Talmud. On the same day (May 1), Crémieux presented himself before Louis Philippe, king of France, and a Jewish deputation waited on the English minister, Lord Palmerston, in order to obtain the protection of these two countries for the victims in Damascus.
Louis Philippe replied with much feeling:
"I do not know anything about the occurrence; but if anywhere there are unfortunate Jews who appeal to the protection of my government, and if anything can be effected by its means, I will conform with your wishes."
Whether the asseveration was seriously meant by this diplomatic monarch cannot be known. A vice-consul was, however, appointed to visit Damascus, investigate the matter, and draw up a report. But he was only a subordinate, whom, as might have been imagined, Ratti Menton could easily deceive, or venture to oppose. The answer of Lord Palmerston was more straightforward. He promised the Jewish deputation, who laid before him full proofs of the innocence of the accused at Damascus and Rhodes, that he would empower the English ambassador at Constantinople, as also the consul at Alexandria, to use every effort to check the continuance of such cruelties. In another quarter, less public, but more effective, steps were taken to obtain the support of Vienna and the Austrian cabinet. The Austrian consul in Damascus, Merlato, was the only one who had seen through the wickedness of Ratti Menton, his assistants, and the monks, and with true soldierly courage had offered firm resistance. In return, he was abused by his opponents both in the East and the West; they decried him as a Jew, to throw suspicion upon his defense of the Jews, and thus destroy its effects. But Merlato felt himself morally pledged to plead the innocence of the Jews as a personal matter. He issued a faithful and comprehensive report of the groundless attacks of the mob upon the victims at Damascus. This narrative, a defense of his conduct in protecting Picciotto, he despatched to his superior, the consul-general of Egypt, and it was sent by the latter as a correct account to Metternich, the Austrian minister. Although adverse to publicity, Metternich had allowed all writings favorable to the Jews to be circulated in the newspapers. In this report Ratti Menton, whom the clerical intriguers had glorified as an angel of light, was shown to be an evil demon. A revolution ensued in public opinion which filled the Jews with courage, and foreshadowed the triumph of justice. It is difficult to say whether Metternich's intervention in this matter arose from his own impulse, from displeasure at the cruelty practiced, or from political hostility to France and a desire to break her power in the East, or, perhaps, from complaisance to the house of Rothschild, whose members were extraordinarily zealous on behalf of their co-religionists in this affair. At any rate, Metternich encouraged the Austrian agents in Egypt and Syria to stand up boldly in defense of the Jews.
In Constantinople, at the divan of the Sultan, the representatives of European governments friendly to the Jews, obtained a revision of the trial for blood accusation in the island of Rhodes. Jewish deputies from Rhodes had at length succeeded in reaching Constantinople. Nathaniel de Rothschild also betook himself thither, and as a result Abdul Meg'id issued a Firman (July 27) that the Greek population should send to the capital three primates as accusers, and the Jews as many elders as defendants. A tribunal, under the presidency of Risaat Bey, was appointed to inquire into the matter, the result being that Jussuf Pasha was dismissed from his post of governor of Rhodes, and the Jews charged with child-murder were acquitted. Further, they were instructed to demand compensation for the losses sustained from those who had unjustly accused them, viz., some of the European consuls. In three months—from the beginning of May till towards the end of July—the affair was settled.
With Mehmet Ali there were greater difficulties to be encountered. He had, indeed, as early as the beginning of April, promised the Austrian consul-general Laurin to put an end to the atrocities; but this was prevented by the French consul-general, Cochelet, and, foolishly trusting in France, he could not quarrel with the agents of the French government. But Laurin, acting on the instructions of Metternich, was untiring in his efforts to withdraw the Pasha of Egypt from the net of the French intriguers. At his instigation the Jews of Alexandria presented an eloquent and spirited address to Mehmet Ali. It was remarkable that the Egyptian Jews did not receive the bastinado for speaking the truth; Mehmet Ali well knew who supported them. A letter of Metternich to the Pasha produced a wonderfully favorable effect. In the settlement of the Eastern Question, the latter could not afford to break with Austria, from which country the Sultan could obtain reinforcements more quickly than from France.
Mehmet Ali therefore resolved to form a court of justice, consisting of the consuls of Austria, England, Russia, and Prussia, to carry on the trial according to European usages. The tribunal was empowered to dispatch a commission to Damascus, and institute an impartial examination of witnesses on the spot. An order was sent to Damascus to Sherif Pasha, commanding him to discontinue the torture of the prisoners, and in general to stop the persecution of the Jews. To suppress any riotous outbreak of the Christians, whose courage had increased, eight hundred soldiers were sent thither. The matter began to look as if the truth would be vindicated. The four consuls nominated as chief judges, diffident of their ability to conduct so complicated a trial, turned for aid to Vienna, and asked that four German judges, well versed in criminal law, investigate the matter, but a political interlude interrupted the proceedings.
A secret war was waged between the overwise king, Louis Philippe, and the cunning statesman Thiers, who was trifling with the minister's portfolio, and whose little person and big phrases so thwarted the king that he kept him as much as possible at arm's length. Just at this time (in May) Thiers played a trick on the king, and forced him to make him president of the cabinet. The little "fly," as he was called, began to hum and buzz, behaving as if he could acquire the Rhine as French property, and settle the Eastern Question according to the views of France. To secure a majority in the Chamber, Thiers was forced to gain the good graces of the clerical party, which was especially strong in the Chamber of Peers. Thus it happened that no strict investigation into the Damascus affair could be permitted, in order that the brutal behavior of Ratti Menton and the monks might not be brought to light. At any rate, it had been a slight upon France that its consul had been excluded from the new court of justice. Besides this, Thiers was not on friendly terms with the financial world, that is, with the Rothschilds, and he desired to strike a blow to make them yield. The French consul-general Cochelet, in Alexandria, received instructions from Thiers to stay the hand of Mehmet Ali, and prevent the misdeeds in Damascus from being brought to light. The Egyptian Pasha, misled by Thiers' plotting, obeyed his orders, and withdrew the promise made to the four consuls. Thus the drama which had seemed to be approaching a conclusion was again prolonged, but its end was not favorable to Thiers and his protégés.
Jews of every shade of opinion had become possessed of sufficient independence to defy the prevarications of a minister or of a consul. Achille Fould, who was bound to Judaism by only a slender tie, as well as the strictly orthodox Hirsch Lehren in Amsterdam, both regarded it as their duty to take a bold part in the defense of their persecuted co-religionists in Syria. In the French Chamber of Deputies (July 2) Fould questioned Thiers so sharply that the latter was forced to make excuses.
"The French consul had ordered the torture, and after the French nation had set the example of obedience to the rule of 'equality before the law' as well as in religious matters, a Frenchman countenanced this exception to the rule, employed torture, and thus supported the executioners of the Pasha. This behavior was so deeply resented by the other European agents that the French ambassador was excluded from the council which had been established, because he was the accuser, whilst the others were the defending advocates."
To this statement Thiers was compelled to reply, but each word he uttered sounded like a falsehood. Two Christian deputies took the part of the Jews in this discussion. Count Delaborde, who had traveled in the East, highly praised the Jews of Turkey, and stated that well-deserved respect was accorded to them, and that, like Lamartine, he had received the most hearty and generous hospitality from their wealthy members. Thiers' positive assertion that he was in possession of papers which proved the innocence of Ratti Menton, was met by another deputy, Isambert; he produced a report drawn up by the apostolical missionary, the successor of Father Tomaso, which stated "that the exertions and zeal of the French consul in torturing the Jews of Damascus surpassed all comprehension." The Chamber of Deputies, however, did not pass a vote of censure upon the minister, who so belied the courteous character of the French nation, but the looks of the deputies condemned him. Thiers felt such discomfort that he made a petty attack upon the Jews, "who had stirred up a storm throughout Europe, asking the assistance of the ministers of every state, and had thus shown that they possessed more influence than was asserted."
The Jews, to be sure, had to unite and develop especial activity, seeing that the Catholic party in France, Italy, and Belgium had formally conspired, or received a hint from headquarters to enshroud in darkness the events in Damascus, and to represent the Jews in the East and in Europe as murderers and cannibals. Throughout Italy the documents in favor of the Damascus victims or against Ratti Menton were not allowed to be printed: the censorship, which was under the care of the clergy, forbade it. A French journal had called on baptized Jews to state upon oath and to the best of their knowledge, whether they had ever found among their former co-religionists or in Jewish writings, the slightest trace or precept concerning the abominable crime imputed to the unhappy people in Damascus. Several Jews who had been converted to Protestantism, and even held ecclesiastical positions, asserted the innocence of the Jews of this crime—amongst them, Augustus Neander, known as Church historian and a man of tender conscience. No Catholics, with the exception of one man, came forward to do so. Perhaps they were compelled to remain silent. The clerical enemies of the Jews now published a fresh accusation, that the Talmud which the European Jews knew and studied might indeed be free from passages hostile to Christians and advising the shedding of blood, which may have been expunged from the copies out of fear, but the Jews of the Orient, under Turkish rule, still possessed the Talmud in its original form, which was full of hatred against all men, especially against Christians.
Thus the Jews were forced to establish a bond of truth against the untrue, to make public the innocence of the martyrs in Damascus, and at the same time attest the purity of their own doctrines; in short, they had to help themselves. The French central consistory, which had received solemn promises from Louis Philippe, saw itself deceived in its hopes. Crémieux was compelled to make the painful statement to his brethren, "France is against us." The urgent cries of the Jews from Damascus, Beyrout, Alexandria, and Constantinople, in letters to the Rothschilds, to Moses Montefiore, Crémieux, and to Hirsch Lehren in Amsterdam, made it apparent that it was necessary for prominent European Jews to repair to the scene of action, in order to obtain more effective results. The central consistory therefore determined to send an emissary, with an escort, to Alexandria, whose burning eloquence might gain the favor of Mehmet Ali. Entrusted with this dangerous and honorable mission, Crémieux entered into communication with the heads of the Jewish community in London.
Here a committee of the noblest and most distinguished Jews, including Montefiore and Rothschild, had been formed, who, in a meeting held in the vestibule of a synagogue (June 15), passed the following important resolution, that Montefiore, accompanied by a friend chosen by himself, should undertake the journey to Egypt together with Crémieux, "to represent the Jews of England at the court of the Pasha, and to defend their persecuted brethren in the East by means of his weighty influence and his zeal." It was also determined at this meeting to collect large sums of money, because it was seen that they would be wanted, not indeed as bribes in the pending trial at Damascus, but that large rewards might be offered to discover the murderer of Father Tomaso. A thousand pounds sterling were offered as a reward for the discovery of the criminal. The readiness of the Jews to contribute was on this occasion again manifested in a most conspicuous manner. Poor men as well as millionaires contributed to the just cause. The committee also caused unfalsified public opinion, as it exists in England, to make itself heard in Parliament on behalf of the Jews, and Sir Robert Peel, who exercised great influence, undertook this task.
The session of the House of Commons (June 22) affords an interesting contrast to the sitting of the French Chamber of Deputies at the same time and upon the same subject. Peel rightly introduced the questions to the ministers with the words, "that it was merely necessary to mention the matter in the Lower House, to reach the great ends of justice and humanity." Lord Palmerston answered in a totally different manner to Thiers:
"I have already directed the English consul-general Hodges to represent to Mehmet Ali what effect the news of such atrocities must produce in Europe, and that it was in his own interest to inquire into the matter, and hand over to punishment the guilty parties, if they were discovered, whilst the innocent victims should be indemnified, if this were still possible. I have also sent instructions to Her Majesty's consul in Damascus to make a thorough investigation into all that has taken place, and to send home an exact report as to the part which the European consuls had taken in the matter."
The air of England rendered susceptible to feelings of liberty even those who were accustomed to elevate the enslavement of bodies and minds to the rank of a dogma. O'Connell, the fiery Irish agitator for the emancipation of the Catholics in England, advocated in Parliament that a similar privilege be granted to the Jews.
"Observations upon this subject would have been stronger, if a member of this House belonging to the creed of the accused had been able to make them. The Government ought to introduce a bill for the complete emancipation of the Jews."
Thus spake England by the mouths of its worthiest representatives.
Next day (June 23) a numerous assembly of the most distinguished Jews in London was held in the Great Synagogue to make final arrangements for sending Montefiore to Egypt. It was proved on this occasion what a noble circle of Jews England harbored, and that their minds were filled by lofty sentiments of attachment to Judaism and its adherents. Hitherto the English Jews had taken but little part in Jewish history, they had remained passive owing to their insignificant numbers. But when for the first time they asserted themselves, they displayed their independence, and gave a brilliant example to others. Montefiore, De Castro, Rothschild, Van Oven, Salomons, and many others, spoke and acted like Jews conscious of their dignity, who were ready to make the greatest sacrifices, in order to secure the triumph of their impugned belief. Crémieux had come over from Paris to be present. The meeting first acknowledged its gratitude to those men, Christians as well as Jews, who had zealously defended the unhappy people of Damascus, viz., James de Rothschild, who had largely contributed towards the support of the impoverished Jews in Damascus, Metternich and his agents, Laurin and Merlato, and also Hodges, the English consul. Bernard van Oven delivered a glowing speech, which, however, was to the point, and was received with much applause.
Many words were not required at this meeting. All were firmly resolved to make every effort and every sacrifice to obtain satisfaction for those falsely accused of shedding blood. This high-minded Jewish assembly in London was somewhat similar to that held in Alexandria exactly eighteen centuries before, when Judaism, in the time of the Emperor Caligula, was branded with disgrace by shameless, diabolical enemies. At that time, also, the most prominent Jews, famed for their culture, nobility of mind, and wealth, gathered together. But the Alexandrine assembly, surrounded by foes, had met with terror and fear, whilst the one in London was encouraged and supported by the good wishes and sympathy of the citizens of the capital. In the second Jewish congregation, that of Manchester, a similar meeting was held.
Assured of success by these signs, Montefiore set out on his important journey, provided with letters of recommendation from prominent men in the state, and accompanied by the good wishes of millions of persons, foremost among them Queen Victoria. On his departure she gave him audience, and placed at his disposal her vessel in which to cross the Channel—certainly an extraordinary mark of favor and sympathy for the misfortunes of the Jews, but at the time the feeling in their favor was so strong, that it did not create great surprise. Montefiore was accompanied by a gentleman of the legal profession and by his wife Judith, who insisted upon sharing her husband's hardships on this expedition in the cause of her nation. She was the ideal of a Jewish woman, cultured, noble-minded, proud of her confession and devotedly attached to her race, a brilliant contrast to the women of Berlin, who had brought disgrace upon Judaism. Before Montefiore and his escort left England, the two chief rabbis of the German and Portuguese communities, Solomon Herschel (died 1842), and David Meldola, deemed it necessary to repeat the solemn oath which Manasseh ben Israel and Moses Mendelssohn had taken: that the blood accusation against the Jews had not a shadow of support in Talmudical writings, or in fact. In view of the baseness of the clerical French party and the venality of German newspapers, this oath was by no means superfluous. Catholic agitators in France and Belgium reviled the Jews, for a contemptible, yet comprehensible reason, and with a definite plan of entrapping the conscience of the free in their nets. But the German writers acted in this way from low motives, in order to utilize the misfortunes of others as a source of wealth. A certain Dr. Philibert had sent a letter to the house of Rothschild in Paris, stating that for a large sum of money he would undertake the defense of the Damascus Jews in every European journal, adding the threat that if this blood-money were refused he would influence public opinion in the opposite direction. Such miserable creatures were repulsed by the Jews with scorn. They felt that they could rely upon their own strength and the power of truth. Foiled in their expectations, the contemptible scribblers attacked the Jews, and increased the number of lies and slanders which had accumulated around the Damascus murder. The chief rabbis had therefore to swallow their pride, and to take an oath on a matter as clear as daylight.
However, if the Jews were attacked in the French and German newspapers, England afforded them sufficient cause to forget all the sufferings of the Jews throughout fifteen centuries. Distinguished merchants, proprietors of large banking-houses, and members of parliament, about two hundred and ten in all, preferred a request to the Lord Mayor of London, Marshall, to call a public meeting and enable them to express their feelings and their sincere sympathy with the persecuted Jews in Damascus. The Lord Mayor, being of their opinion in the matter, cordially assented, and a brilliant meeting was held in London (in the Mansion House, July 3) which was in itself a victory. Many ladies of rank were among the audience. The chairman, Thompson, remarked at the very outset:
"The Jews of Damascus are as worthy of respect as those who dwell among us in England. And of those I permit myself to say that none of our fellow-citizens are more zealous in the spread of humanity, in aiding the poor and oppressed, in protecting the orphan and in promoting literature and knowledge than they are, and that their benevolence is not only extended to the people who belong to their own religion, but also to Christians, equally with members of every creed."
A member of Parliament named Smith, who rose to move the first resolution, said:
"I consider these charges as false as the natures of those who invented them are cruel and evil. I am certain that the whole country with one voice, and one accord, will rise to suppress such atrocities, such barbarities, as have been carried on in Damascus. And what people is it that has been subjected to such pain? A nation connected with us by everything that religion holds dear and sacred; a nation whose faith is based upon history, that awaits with unfaltering confidence its political and religious restoration; a nation closely bound up with the progress of trade and civilization throughout the whole world, and in friendly intercourse with the whole world.... In past times they were the men who led the way in educating the human race, and granted to others that very civil and religious freedom which at the present time they demand for themselves. This nation has given the best proof of the value it sets upon freedom, seeing that by its own example it has shown how greatly it was actuated by this principle in its conduct towards others without distinction of creed; it therefore has a claim to the highest tolerance."
A prominent clergyman, Lord Howdon, added:
"We often find in the mysterious ways of Providence that good arises from evil, and therefore I, together with all the friends of mankind, hope that the Parliament of this country, expressing its opinion of this cruelty, will offer a recompense to the Jews for their sufferings by legislation in their favor."
The motion was carried unanimously:
"That this meeting deeply deplores the fact that in this enlightened age a persecution of our Jewish brethren could be set on foot by ignorance and inflamed by bigotry."
Towards the end of the meeting O'Connell entered. He thought that his presence would be required to arouse enthusiasm. But when he saw that the zeal on behalf of the Jews had been raised to a high pitch, he merely added:
"After the testimony given to demonstrate the moral worth of the Jews, could any man be so insane as to believe that they use blood for their rites? Is not a Jew an example in every relation of life? Is he not a good father, a good son? Are they not true friends? Are they not honest, industrious?... I appeal to all Englishmen to raise their voices in defense of the victims of that shameful oppression. May the appeal go from one end of the British Isles to the other, and if the concurrence of an Irishman be wanting, here am I to testify to it."
This three hours' meeting in the Mansion House forms a noteworthy episode in Jewish history. In the name of the meeting, the Lord Mayor communicated the resolutions which were passed, not only to the English government, but also to the ambassadors of all European powers, requesting them at the same time to obtain expressions of sympathy with the Jews from their respective nations and rulers. So effective was the result of unbiased public opinion, that the emperor of Russia, Nicholas, as well as the American Republic, felt themselves morally compelled to express their abhorrence at tortures inflicted on Jews.
A few weeks later a similar meeting was held in Manchester, and, although most of the speakers were clergymen, the same sentiments with regard to the Jews were pronounced. Why had not such views predominated in the fourth and fifth centuries, when Christianity first became paramount? What tears and bloodshed would have been avoided! But the Jewish race was to be tested and strengthened by martyrdom.
Montefiore was enabled to begin his journey filled with courage. He was not only supported by the government, but was accompanied by the sympathies of the best men in England, and therefore he felt hope. For Crémieux the matter was not so easy. In fact, he was hampered by the French ministry. Thiers wished to show himself firm. Perhaps he was not so much to blame as was generally supposed; it is possible that Louis Philippe, who was very cunning, hindered him from yielding. He was reminded also in the Chamber of Peers (July 10) by honorable men, that by his defense of Ratti Menton, he was compromising the honor of France, but he continued in his ambiguous attitude. Events brought the cunning of Thiers and the king to naught. Whilst they thought that by petty intrigues, childish obstinacy, and by deceiving Mehmet Ali they were strengthening the position of France, the four remaining European powers—England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia—formed the Quadruple Alliance (July 15) against France, which agreed that Syria should be restored to the Sultan. The downfall of Thiers was imminent, while he was boasting of his successes.
A day before the conclusion of the alliance, Montefiore and Crémieux, with their respective escorts, set out for Egypt. In Crémieux's company was Solomon Munk, who worthily represented Jewish learning. Thus the Jewish embassy was not lacking in what is requisite for the success of a great enterprise—devotion, pure trust in God, eloquence, and deep scholarship. In their journey through France these noble-minded, gallant representatives of Judaism were received with enthusiasm in the Jewish communities, in Avignon, Nîsmes, Carpentras, and Marseilles, and were followed by good wishes. In Leghorn, where the royal ship anchored, the Portuguese community solemnly celebrated the day of their landing. Every distinction among the Jews disappeared in the unanimous admiration for men who had undertaken so difficult a task, and in the hope that they would succeed. All Israel was once more of one heart and soul. Orthodox rabbis allowed prayers for Montefiore and Crémieux to be interpolated in the Divine service. Every Jew, even the most humble, was ready to bring some sacrifice in order to lighten the task.
On arriving at Cairo (August 4), they hastened on their mission, without taking any rest. Montefiore, strongly supported by the English consul-general Hodges, who had received instructions from Palmerston to that effect, at once solicited an interview with Mehmet Ali (August 6), by whom he was received, and to whom he handed a petition in the name of the Jewish community requesting permission to go to Damascus and there conduct an inquiry into the circumstances of the case. For this purpose a safe-conduct was required for himself and his friends, and also the privilege of speaking to the prisoners as often as was necessary, and of hearing evidence. Mehmet Ali was sorely perplexed. He would willingly have acceded to this request, because he earnestly wished to pose as a just prince before the eyes of Europe. But the French consul-general Cochelet—instructed by Thiers—checked this inclination, and made every effort to prevent the veil from being lifted. Cochelet, contrary to custom, would not even introduce Crémieux to the Pasha. Crémieux was therefore obliged to seek an audience for himself; but, like Montefiore, he received only evasive answers. The Eastern Question had at that time become extremely perplexing. Every moment Mehmet Ali was expecting the final decision of the European powers, that he should submit to the Sultan, surrender his independence, and give up Syria. He did not wish to break with those powers which took up the cause of the Jews, more especially with England and Austria, nor with Thiers, nor Louis Philippe, who would not forsake Ratti Menton and the monks. Owing to Mehmet Ali's indecision, matters dragged on for three weeks. The Jewish envoys received no definite reply. They were not discouraged, but sought to devise new means by which to attain their aim. Crémieux hit upon the best plan. All the European consuls, or as many as were willing to sign a petition, were to demand the liberation of the prisoners in Damascus. Nine consuls agreed to this, in fact all except the French consul. Mehmet Ali, however, obtained information of the proposed petition, and in order that it might not appear that he had yielded to the pressure of foreign powers, through their representatives, he determined to despatch an order to Damascus (August 28) that the prisoners should forthwith be set at liberty.