JEWS AT DAMASCUS. (Hansard, 22 June 1840)

§ Sir R. Peel
seeing the noble Lord, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs in his place, would ask the question of which he had given notice on Friday night, relative to the persecution of the Jews at Damascus. He was afraid the remarks he was going to make could hardly be called a question; it was therefore competent for any hon. Member to interfere and prevent him from proceeding, but he was sure, that if they anticipated the purport of the short statement he was going to make, not a single man would insist on the strict observance of the rule of the House in this case. He had been requested to say a few words by persons of the highest character belonging to the Jewish persuasion, who paid that compliment to the House of Commons, to express an assurance that the simple mention of the case would be sufficient to facilitate the great ends of justice and liberality. The circumstances were shortly these:—It appeared that a native of Sardinia, of the name of Thomaso, a Roman Catholic priest, he believed of the Capuchin order, who had lived at Damascus since 1807, disappeared about the beginning of February of the present year, together with his son, under what was certainly strong suspicion of murder. Shortly afterwards a charge was preferred against the Jews in that city, which was really in itself almost incredible—that this gentleman had been murdered, in order that his blood might be made use of in the feast of unleavened bread. A Jew, following the trade of a barber, a young man of about twenty, was apprehended, the monk having been seen near his house posting up a paper on the walls: and he believed that was supposed at first to have been the last time the monk was seen, and this person was therefore apprehended by the authorities of Damascus. The man denied any knowledge of the murder, but he was subjected for three days to the most cruel tortures. At last he could bear them no longer, and when life was almost extinct he charged seven of the most wealthy inhabitants of Damascus, being Jews, with the commission of the murder. Those seven persons, who, he believed, were persons of high character in Damascus, were immediately apprehended, and subjected to torments which he would not shock the feeling of the House by mentioning. Two of them at least, he believed, died under the infliction of those tortures, and the consequence was what might have been expected, that some of them, after enduring 1384 day after day, and hour after hour, the most excessive agony, wildly confessed that they had themselves participated in the murder, in order that they might apply the blood of the Christian to the purpose mentioned. A great number of other Jews had also been taken up. The Egyptian authorities having countenanced the charge, to which some Christian authorities also, he was sorry to say, had lent their sanction, the consequence was, that the greatest prejudice against the Jews had been excited among the whole population of Damascus and the neighbouring country. This prejudice would effect the entire body of the Jews throughout the world, unless some effectual step were taken to appease it. All he asked for was some interference on the part of the British Government; he knew they could not interfere officially, but such was the confidence in the name of Britain and the authority of the British Government, that it was believed, that that interference which they could exercise, and which he hoped and believed they would exercise, would be beneficial. He trusted the noble Lord would be enabled to assure him, as he believed was the case, that that influence would be exerted. The Jews of England, of every country in Europe which had communication with England, supposed that the interference of Britain, whether official or not, would lead to the investigation of the truth, and their protection from villainy and injustice, if the charge was wholly unfounded. The Austrian Consul, he believed, had interfered for their protection, fie would trouble the House no longer, but he trusted they would feel he had been justified, by regard for the interests of general humanity, in mentioning it in the House of Commons, and that the noble Lord would tell them, that whatever he could do he had done, to inculcate on British functionaries the exercise of their influence for insuring a full investigation of the matter, the conviction of the accused if they were guilty, and their protection if innocent, by a fair trial, since they could not have a trial according to British forms. Thus the noble Lord would be enabled to rescue that great portion of European society, the Jews, who, in every country in which they lived had, by their conduct in private life, conciliated the general estimation and good-will of their fellow-subjects, from a charge which was founded on prejudice, and would subject them to the most grievous injustice.

§ Viscount Palmerston
said, the subject 1385 which the right hon. Baronet had just brought under the notice of the House came some time since under the consideration of her Majesty's Government, who had lost no time in taking steps of the nature of those which the right hon. Baronet had stated he was confident her Majesty's Government would immediately have recourse to. Undoubtedly, if the accounts of the transaction which had reached this country were true, it was an instance of barbarity and atrocity which one could not have expected to hear of in these days in any country having communication or intercourse with the civilised world. Upon hearing of the circumstances, he (Lord Palmerston) had immediately instructed Colonel Hodges, the Queen's Consul-General at Alexandria, to bring the subject under the serious attention of the Pasha of Egypt, to point out to him the effect which such atrocities as these must produce on the public mind in Europe, and to urge him, for his own sake, to institute such inquiries as would enable him to punish the guilty parties, if guilty parties there were, and to make such an atonement as was in his power to the unfortunate sufferers. Of course, any representations of this nature would not bear an official character, but were to be made solely as suggestions which affected the Pasha's own interests. He (Lord Palmerston) had also sent instructions to her Majesty's Consul at Damascus to institute inquiries into what had taken place, and to make a detailed report of the circumstances of the case, and of the part which he and the other consuls might have taken in it. Sufficient time had not elapsed to enable him (Lord Palmerston) to receive reports either from Colonel Hodges, or from our consul at Damascus; but when they arrived, he should not raise any difficulty to any motion that might be made for their production.

Mr. O'Connell
remarked, that there seemed to be one way of vindicating the professors of the Jewish religion from the aspersions which had been cast on them, and that was by giving the British Jews, as British subjects, the full benefit of the English laws. The statement which had been that night made, though it came from a most respectable quarter, would have been much more forcible if it had proceeded from a Hebrew gentleman in that House. He wished to ask whether it was the intention of the Government to introduce any measure, as a Government measure, 1386 for the purpose of conferring equal rights upon the Jews.

§ Lord Ashley
said, he was bound to bear his testimony to the great zeal and activity manifested by his noble Friend, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in the prosecution of his endeavours to relieve the unfortunate Jews at Damascus, and also in the affairs of the Jews generally. He (Lord Ashley) had received that day letters from the East, in which it was stated that the sole object of these abominable cruelties was the extortion of money.

§ Mr. Hume
wished to ask the noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, whether the Government intended to bring forward any measure for the emancipation of the Jews?

§ Lord J. Russell,
who replied at some length, was almost wholly inaudible; but the substance of the noble Lord's answer was understood to be, that he was individually favourable to such a measure, and had always supported it; but that the Government were not prepared to introduce any measure.