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CHAPTER XLI.

1883.

SIR MOSES CONGRATULATES THE CZAR ALEXANDER III. ON HE APPEALS TO THE HUNGARIAN

HIS

CORONATION

PARLIAMENT—ACQUITTAL OF THE ACCUSED AT TISZA-
REJOICINGS ON SIR MOSES COMPLETING HIS
NINETY-NINTH YEAR.

ESZLAR

THE

HE coronation of the Czar Alexander III., at Moscow, afforded to Sir Moses an opportunity of writing a letter of congratulation on behalf of himself and his co-religionists, to one who was the son and grandson of two monarchs who had nobly responded to his appeals in days gone by, on behalf of the Jews in their vast Empire. The following is Sir Moses' letter:

"To His Imperial Majesty ALEXANDER THE THIRD, Emperor
of all the Russias.

"May it please your Imperial Majesty,-Among the many millions of your Imperial Majesty's faithful subjects,-numerous representatives of States and Kingdoms of the world.-and multitude of admirers of your Imperial Majesty's rule of justice, blended with mercy and benevolence, who this day, the great and glorious day of all the Russias, offer their congratulations to you, Sire, on the most auspicious event of your Imperial Majesty's coronation, your most humble servant, prompted by an ardent desire to join that host of well-wishers, very respectfully approaches your Imperial Majesty, to lay at the foot of your Imperial Majesty's throne his most sincere and heartfelt felicitations.

"Having had the distinguished honour of hearing, in the year 1846, from the lips of his late Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Nicholas, and subsequently in the year 1872, from his late Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Alexander the Second, your Imperial Majesty's august father, the noble sentiments of their paternal love towards all true and loyal subjects, irrespective of creed and nationality, it is an especial cause of great felicity to me to have been permitted, by the mercy of God, to attain the advanced age of nearly one hundred years, to hear of the exalted and ever memorable event of your Imperial Majesty's coronation, and to read with my own eyes the glorious manifesto, in which you, Sire, bend your merciful glances upon all your subjects, and, in accordance with the inmost dictates of your Imperial heart, turn towards all who are specially in want or oppressed: preserving the rights and privileges of all men, and shedding the radiant light of your Imperial Majesty's great wisdom, justice, and humanity over myriads of people under your Imperial Majesty's sway.

"Conjointly with the latter, including several millions of my brethren, your Imperial Majesty's Hebrew subjects, I invoke Him, who is the Eternal Ruler of the Universe, the King of Kings, to cause His most choice blessings to alight on the crowned head of your Imperial Majesty, likewise on the crowned head of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress, and on your Imperial Majesty's most illustrious family.

66

May your days, Sire, be prolonged; May you rule for many years in refulgent glory over your vast Empire; May you, Sire, have the happiness of seeing all your fervent wishes for peace and lasting tranquillity among the nations realized, so that your Imperial name may for ever be indelibly inscribed on the tablets of the heart of your Imperial Majesty's faithful subjects, and on those of every friend of justice and humanity.

"Deign, Oh Sire! graciously to receive the fervent and most sincere felicitations expressed by your Imperial Majesty's most humble and obedient servant, "MOSES MONTEFIORE."

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In reply to the above letter, His Excellency, Monsieur de Giers, Minister of Foreign Affairs, by order of the Emperor, addressed Sir Moses as follows:

"ST PETERSBOURG, le 2 Juin, 1883. "MONSIEUR, J'ai placé sous les yeux de mon Auguste Maître la lettre destinée à Sa Majesté que vous m'avez transmise.

“Sa Majesté me charge de vous assurer qu' Elle apprécie les sentiments que vous temoignez à la mémoire de Son Auguste Pere et de Son GrandPere, ainsi que les voeux de felicitations que vous Lui addressez à l'occasion de Son couronnement.

"J'ai l'ordre de vous en remercier en Son Nom, et en m'acquittant de cette volonté Suprème, je vous prie, Monsieur de recevoir en même temps l'assurance de ma consideration la plus distinguée. "GIERS."

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"SIR,-I have placed before my august master the letter which you have transmitted to me for His Majesty.

"His Majesty charges me to assure you that he appreciates the sentiments which you entertain for the memory of his august father and grandfather, likewise the felicitations which you offer him on the occasion of his coronation.

"I am commanded to thank you for the same in his name, and in acquitting myself of this supreme will, I have the honour to remain, &c., &c.

66 GIERS."

Sir Moses was much pleased with the gracious reply given to his letter, and expressed the hope that the condition of his brethren under His Majesty's sway might soon improve.

June 19th.-The Tisza-Eszlar trial having commenced at Nyiregyhaza, Sir Moses deemed it his duty to send to each member of the Hungarian House of Representatives a copy of

The Tisza-Eszlar Mystery.

313

the Damascus paper translated into the Hungarian language, accompanied by a copy of the following letter :

"EAST CLIFF Lodge, RAMSGATE, 21st June 1883.

"SIR,-Prompted by an ardent desire to serve the cause of justice and humanity, I beg to transmit to you, for your perusal, a copy of the Firman Khát - Shereef, issued by His late Imperial Majesty the Sultan Abd-ool-Medjid to the Chief Judge at Constantinople in the year 1840, and the address which I delivered to His Majesty on that occasion at the Palace of Beshik-Tash.

"With fervent prayers to our Heavenly Father that the light of truth may ever illumine our paths, and speedily dispel the dark clouds of calumny and fanaticism, I have the honour to be, sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant, (Signed) "MOSES MONTEFIORE."

This letter brought him warm acknowledgments from many members for having enlightened them, as they said, on subjects which hitherto had not been quite clear to them.

The Anti-Semites, however, would not rest, and one of their leaders, Professor Rohling of the University of Prague, accused Sir Moses of having had a book printed under his auspices, referring to the charge of ritual murder among the Jews as being true.

The reader may well imagine the indignation of Sir Moses on hearing so false a charge, and I did not lose a moment in addressing the following letter to the Editor of the Daily Telegraph, in which it appeared on Thursday, July 12th, 1883, under the heading of "The Tisza-Eszlar Mystery."

"SIR,--I have been requested by many readers of your journal to lift, if possible, the veil of an apparent mystery in a letter written by Dr Rohling, Professor of Theology in the University of Prague, on the 19th ult., and addressed to Herr Géza von Onody, Deputy of the Hungarian Diet. It is published in the Westungarischer Grenzbote, Presburg, of the 24th ult., and in other papers in Hungary and Germany. For the sake of the vindication of truth, I beg you will kindly give publicity to the following statement. Rohling writes:

Dr

"Having said in my "Antwort an die Rabbiner" (Reply to the Rabbins) that I did not find in the Talmud, as far as we know it by printed copies, any proof of ritual murder among the Jews, the Rabbins maintained that such proofs are generally not to be found in their literature. But, as there is now such a case before the Court, I deem it my duty to give you to underst and that, after having written the above "Reply," I came into possession of a Hebrew work, which has been printed under the auspices of Sir Moses Montefiore so late as 1868, in which it is written (page 156a) "that the shedding of the blood of non-Jewish maidens is considered among the Jews a very sacred act; the shedding of such blood is most agreeable to Heaven, and obtains mercy for them." This is but a short extract of the passage, which I shall shortly give to the public in its entirety. The truth of what I have said I am, in case of need, ready to confirm by oath before the court.'

"This is signed by Dr Rohling as Professor in the Imperial and Royal University of Prague.

"It makes my heart shudder, and will, I have no doubt, outrage many who read the above letter, that the character of the man whose name, whether mentioned in the house of Jew, Christian, or Moslem, is always received with the deepest respect and veneration, should be defiled by the foul breath of so terrible a slander at the very moment when it is a question of life or death.

"With an evil ingenuity the professor gives the page but not the name of the book, to puzzle the mind of the reader, depending for his success more upon the ignorant people of Nyiregyhaza, before whom the Deputy will most probably read his letter, than upon the judgment of those who are far away from that place.

"Now, all the Jews in the world, including even those who became apostates from their religion, as well as the high dignitaries of the Church, nay, bishops and professors of theology, have declared, and will again solemnly declare, if necessary, that there is no such statement, there can be no such statement, in existence. Neither in the Bible nor in the Talmud, nor in any book treating of the Kabbala, could be seen even the shadow of the tracing of such a rite to which the Professor alludes; but his great object is, as he gives it to be understood in his letter, to guide the Court in their judgment.

"To clear up the mystery in question I will simply give the words of Dr Franz Delitzsch, Professor of Theology in the University of Leipzig, published in the Pester Lloyd, March 16, which, as the reader will see, have reference to the very book of which Professor Rohling, in his letter, concealed the title:-

"The 'Paderborner Judenspiegel" (second edition, 1883), forming a part of the "Bonifazius-Broschüren" [of which Dr Rohling, in his "Reply to the Rabbins," page 52, says: "the texts which Dr Justus "-this is the name by which the masked author goes-"offers are taken directly from original sources"] concludes with three quotations from cabalistic works, on which he bases the blood accusations. One of these works appeared, as stated before, in Jerusalem, the other in Bagdad. Professor Rohling had undoubtedly these books in his mind when he said, p. 53: "If the high authorities were to make it possible for me to spend several years in the East, I think I could also find texts of the same kind." The passage of the Jerusalem book which bears the title of " Halikutim," by Chajim ben Joseph Vital of Calabria,* refers to an observation made therein on verses 18 and 19 of chapter xxx. in the Book of Proverbs: "There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid." By this he seeks to establish the right of accusing the Jews of ritual murder; that the shedding of the blood of a non-Israelite maid is deemed by the Jews a sacrifice agreeable to the Deity. If an observation from which such inferences could be drawn were really to exist, it would certainly prove an awful prejudice against the Jews at the Tisza-Eszlar trial. It might be said, "Why should such a passage not exist in that book?" Does not Dr Justus give the name, page, and place of printing? Thousands of people will believe him-because who can easily procure a book printed in Jerusalem? And, if they do procure it, how very few would be able to read it, or be sure to have a correct translation of it. But because I am one of those few who have that book, and, as a Christian, consider, in the words of my Lord (St Matthew xv. 10), as false witness all that which defiles man before God, the holy and true one, I herewith

* Born 1543, died 1620. He resided at Safed, Palestine, and was a disciple of Isaac Luria. The book in question, which forms part of the book Etz Chajim, was printed in Zolkiew, Wilna, and Jerusalem.

The Tisza-Eszlar Mystery.

315 declare before all the world that the rendering of the passage in question which Dr Justus gives is not a translation, but a bungling work of infernal falsehood. Into the sacred text of Deuteronomy, chapter xxii., v. 17, which treats on a subject of chastity and purity, the falsifier, in the spirit of the before-mentioned incendiary paper, "Paderborner Judenspiegel," introduces his own idea-the invention that the words in question were meant to recommend the murder of a maid for ritual purposes. Who is that Dr Justus by whom the "Bonifazius Verein " allowed itself to be made a dupe? Does it behove a Christian association to cast the dragon-seed of such falsehood into the heart of a Christian people? The "Judenspiegel" concludes with the wish that God may open the heart of the Jews to the truth of Christianity. This is also my wish; but, for the same reason, I abhor a controversy which, blinded by the hatred of races, unites itself with ignorance and malice, and does the work of hawking about false witness as a matter of business Philologists professing the Catholic religion, such as Professor Birkoll of Innsbruck, Professor Scholz of Wurzburg, the Priest Knabenbauer, and others of my colleagues, will confirm what I say regarding the disgraceful falsification made by Dr Justus.'

"So far the words of a Christian scholar of great eminence, Dr Delitzsch. "With regard to the statement of Dr Rohling that the mysterious book had been printed under the auspices of Sir Moses, I have to explain that, nearly forty years ago, with a view of encouraging industry in the Holy Land, he presented a person of the name of Israel Back with an English printing press, and the recipient in token of deep gratitude to the donor named it 'Mássát Moshe Ve Yehoodit'- a present from Moses and Judith ;' since that time all the books printed by the use of that press bear that name on the title-page. Sir Moses himself has not the remotest idea of the printing of that book, nor has he ever heard of the existence of it, but it pleased Dr Rohling, and he thought it would answer his purpose exceedingly well, to interpret these words by Under the auspices of Sir Moses Montefiore.'

The name of Sir Moses sheds too bright a lustre over all his acts to require any further explanation on my part; but my object in writing this letter is to rouse the indignation of all friends of truth and justice, and point out to them the cruel means of slander which are used to influence this trial. Sir Moses has sent a letter to every one of the deputies of the Imperial and Royal Hungarian Diet, enclosing for their immediate perusal a copy of the Firman Khat Shereef issued by his late Imperial Majesty the Sultan Abd-ool-Medjid to the Chief Judge at Constantinople in the year 1840, and the address which he delivered to his Majesty on that occasion at the Palace of Beshik-Tash, translated into the Hungarian language, at the conclusion of which he uttered a fervent prayer 'that the light of truth may ever illumine our paths, and speedily dispel the dark clouds of calumny and fanaticism.' In this prayer you, Sir, every Englishman, every friend of humanity all over the world, will most assuredly cordially join him.--I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,

"L. LOEWE,

"One of the members of the Mission to Damascus and Constantinople, under Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., in the year 1840.

66 I OSCAR VILLAS, BROADSTAIRS,

KENT, July 10."

thirty-two

August 3rd. The Tisza - Eszlar trial, after thirty two days pleading in open court, terminated this day, "all the

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