Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, Volume I Comprising Their Life and Work as Recorded in Their Diaries From 1812 to 1883   By: Moses Montefiore (1784-1885)

HELIOG LEMERCIER Et Cie PARIS]

DIARIES OF

SIR MOSES

AND LADY MONTEFIORE

COMPRISING THEIR LIFE AND WORK AS RECORDED IN THEIR DIARIES FROM 1812 TO 1883.

WITH THE ADDRESSES AND SPEECHES OF SIR MOSES; HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH MINISTERS, AMBASSADORS, AND REPRESENTATIVES OF PUBLIC BODIES; PERSONAL NARRATIVES OF HIS MISSIONS IN THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY; FIRMANS AND EDICTS OF EASTERN MONARCHS; HIS OPINIONS ON FINANCIAL, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS, AND ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS REFERRING TO MEN OF HIS TIME, AS RELATED BY HIMSELF.

EDITED BY

DR L. LOEWE,

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND OF THE SOCIETE ASIATIQUE OF PARIS OF THE NUMISMATIC SOCIETY OF LONDON, ETC (ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE MISSION TO DAMASCUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE UNDER THE LATE SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE BART, IN THE YEAR 1840).

ASSISTED BY HIS SON.

In Two Volumes

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

VOL. I.

CHICAGO: BELFORD CLARKE CO. 1890.

[Illustration: ANCIENT COAT OF ARMS OF THE MONTEFIORE FAMILY, explained on page 6 .]

( The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. )

Copyright Belford Clarke Co., Chicago.

PREFACE.

In submitting to the public the Memoirs, including the Diaries, of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, I deem it desirable to explain the motives by which I have been actuated, as well as the sources from which most of my information has been drawn.

The late Sir Moses Montefiore, from a desire to show his high appreciation of the services rendered to the cause of humanity by Judith, Lady Montefiore, his affectionate partner in life, directed the executors of his last will "to permit me to take into my custody and care all the notes, memoranda, journals, and manuscripts in his possession written by his deeply lamented wife, to assist me in writing a Memoir of her useful and blessed life."

The executors having promptly complied with these instructions, I soon found myself in possession of five journals by Lady Montefiore, besides many valuable letters and papers, including documents of great importance, as well as of no less than eighty five diaries of Sir Moses Montefiore, dating from 1814 to 1883, all in his own handwriting.

In addition to such facilities for producing a Memoir, I had the special advantage of personally knowing both Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore for many years. There is an entry in the diaries referring to a dinner at the house of one of their relatives on the 27th of November 1835 (where I met them for the first time), and to a visit I subsequently paid them at East Cliff Lodge, Ramsgate, by special invitation, from the 3rd to the 13th of December of the same year.

I also had the privilege of accompanying them on thirteen philanthropic missions to foreign lands, some of which were undertaken by both Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, and others by Sir Moses alone after Lady Montefiore's death. The first of these missions took place in the year 1839, and the last in 1874.

A no less important circumstance, which I may perhaps be allowed to mention, is, that I was with Sir Moses on the last day of his life, until he breathed his last, and had the satisfaction of hearing from his own lips, immediately before his death, the expression of his approval of my humble endeavours to assist him, as far as lay in my power, in attaining the various objects he had in view.