The Other Of The Spokesmen
Was A Jew Of Gibraltar, A Tolerably Well-Bred Person, Who Spoke
English Very Fluently.
These men informed me that the Jews of the place, who were
exceedingly wealthy, had lived peaceably in their
Retirement until
the insurrection which took place in 1834, but about the beginning
of that year a highly religious Mussulman called Mohammed Damoor
went forth into the market-place, crying with a loud voice, and
prophesying that on the fifteenth of the following June the true
Believers would rise up in just wrath against the Jews, and despoil
them of their gold and their silver and their jewels. The
earnestness of the prophet produced some impression at the time,
but all went on as usual, until at last the fifteenth of June
arrived. When that day dawned the whole Mussulman population of
the place assembled in the streets that they might see the result
of the prophecy. Suddenly Mohammed Damoor rushed furious into the
crowd, and the fierce shout of the prophet soon ensured the
fulfilment of his prophecy. Some of the Jews fled and some
remained, but they who fled and they who remained, alike, and
unresistingly, left their property to the hands of the spoilers.
The most odious of all outrages, that of searching the women for
the base purpose of discovering such things as gold and silver
concealed about their persons, was perpetrated without shame. The
poor Jews were so stricken with terror, that they submitted to
their fate even where resistance would have been easy. In several
instances a young Mussulman boy, not more than ten or twelve years
of age, walked straight into the house of a Jew and stripped him of
his property before his face, and in the presence of his whole
family. {43} When the insurrection was put down some of the
Mussulmans (most probably those who had got no spoil wherewith they
might buy immunity) were punished, but the greater part of them
escaped. None of the booty was restored, and the pecuniary redress
which the Pasha had undertaken to enforce for them had been
hitherto so carefully delayed, that the hope of ever obtaining it
had grown very faint. A new Governor had been appointed to the
command of the place, with stringent orders to ascertain the real
extent of the losses, and to discover the spoilers, with a view of
compelling them to make restitution. It was found that,
notwithstanding the urgency of the instructions which the Governor
had received, he did not push on the affair with the vigour that
had been expected. The Jews complained, and either by the
protection of the British consul at Damascus, or by some other
means, had influence enough to induce the appointment of a special
commissioner - they called him "the Modeer" - whose duty it was to
watch for and prevent anything like connivance on the part of the
Governor, and to push on the investigation with vigour and
impartiality.
Such were the instructions with which some few weeks since the
Modeer came charged.
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