The Jews of Damascus
Times and Seasons, vol. 2, pp. 341 to 342
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The New York Herald of the 2d contains an extract from a letter to a gentleman of that city from Sir Moses Montefiore, who our readers will recollect, was appointed the agent of the Jews of the Western Europe, and despatched [dispatched] to Egypt to intercede for their persecuted brethren at Damascus.-The letter is dated at Syra [Syria], in Greene, September 24, and gives the truly
gratifying intelligence that Sir Moses had succeeded [succeeded] in obtaining from the Viceroy of Egypt, an order for the unconditional discharge of the nine Jews confined at Damascus on the charge of being parties to the murder [murder] of Father Thomas; permission for all who had fled during the persecutions to return to their homes unmolested; and a general order that the Jews in Syria should enjoy the same protection as other persons.
Sir Moses was hurried away from Alexandria by the war, but before he left he had the satisfaction of learning by letter from Damascus that the orders which he had obtained from Mohemet Ali in favor of his oppressed brethren had been carried into full effect. He was not content with what he had done, though all the Jews in the East had "felt the benefit of the Mission, and were blessing the God of their fathers" for their deliverance; but he intended to go to Constantinople, to solicit from the Sultan what the Viceroy denied-"the means of demonstrating to the world the falsehood of the foul charges made against his brethren and his religion."