Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session of the Fortieth Congress
Mr. F. W. Seward to Mr. Morris
Sir: I enclose herewith, for your information and for such action as you may, in your opinion, deem expedient, a transcript of a communication of the 14th instant, from M. S. Isaacs, esq., secretary of the board of delegates of American Israelites, relative to the alleged ill-treatment of the Jewish inhabitants of the Danubian principalities.
I am, sir, you obedient servant,
E. Joy Morris, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Isaacs to Mr. Seward
Honored Sir: I beg to call the attention of the department to the enclosed extract from the Paris correspondence (May 31) of the London Times, in sad confirmation of advices I have heretofore had the honor of submitting to the Department of State in urging the transmission of instructions to the United States ambassador near Constantinople that he may exercise his influence in behalf of the oppressed Jews resident in the Danubian principalities. The alacrity with which the Emperor Napoleon has interceded in the interests of humanity prompts me to trespass again on your attention so far as to communicate this statement, and to solicit its transmission to the United States minister.
Very respectfully,
Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State.
The reminiscence of the calamitous consequences to the Jews of Roumania is every apology for enclosing a slip from the newspaper rather than wait for official communications from the Universal Israelite Alliance.
Roumania.–Terrible persecution of Jewish inhabitants.–The Emperor of France interferes on their behalf.
M. Bratiano, minister of the Interior of Roumania, and the present persecutor of the Jews of Moldavia, was, and probably still professes to be a liberal of the first water. He has studied law in the schools of Paris, and contributed various articles to the Republican National and Revue Indépendente, under the signature “Regnault.” He fought on the barricades of February, 1848, for liberty, equality and fraternity, and after having contributed as much as he could to the overthrow of the Orleans government, he returned with his experience to his native country. He then became a member of the revolutionary committee, and was sent to Transylvania and Hungary to offer the aid of the Rouman liberals to the Magyar movement. He then formed part of the commission sent to Constantinople to present the new Rouman constitution to the Sultan. After the entry of the Russians into the [Page 10] principalities, he fled to Transylvania and proceeded to London. He made acquaintance with leading liberals, and succeeded in having the grievances of his oppressed countrymen brought before Parliament. He was allowed to return to Wallachia, together with other patriots exiled in 1848. He was named member of the Divan ad hoc, and in this character drew up a memorandum explanatory of the resolutions adopted by it, and came to Paris to defend them before the congress. One of the first things which this ultra-liberal does when he gets into power is to prove the sincerity of his liberalism by his conduct towards the unoffending Jewish population of Moldavia.
When the intelligence of these atrocities reached Paris, three or four days ago, by telegraph, it was not believed. It was not believed because it was thought impossible that the Roumans, who have clamored so long and so loudly against the oppression to which they were subjected by the Turks, would, in turn, when they had gained their independence, become the persecutors of others, for no other reason apparently than that they were of a different persuasion; and it was disbelieved that a minister who had signalized himself as the defender in other countries of liberty, equality, and fraternity, would, the moment he got into the government, become a tyrant and a persecutor. All doubt, however, is removed, for M. Cremieux, member of the provisional government in 1848, himself a Jew, has received a despatch from the Jewish community of Jassy to the following effect:
“The minister of the interior, Bratiano, interpreting falsely, in a circular addressed to prefects, laws and regulations which had long become obsolete, and which were actually repealed by the constitution and the new civil code, orders that the whole of our co-religionists shall be instantly expelled from the farms, lodging houses, and cabarets of the villages, to the contempt of public and private rights; and he annuls at one stroke of the pen the contracts which the government has concluded in respect of the domains of the state, as well as of private persons, with the Jewish farmers. The same minister has signalized his arrival at Jassay by an ordinance still more barbarous; he has ordered the police to make a sweep of all Jews as rogues and vagabonds; and the police, before the eyes of the said minister, have gathered together crowds of Jews in the streets, without any power of law, without distinction of age or condition, and with unprecedented brutality, put them in irons, and transported them beyond the Danube. This sad spectacle, accompanied on the one hand by the jeers and laughter of the populace, and on the other by the screams of distress from the women and children of our unfortunate co-religionists, is repeated every instant in the streets of Jassay, and becomes day after day more menacing. With such a persecution ordered by the Minister Bratiano, and encouraged by certain party leaders who excite the fanaticism of the populace, we are threatened with a general massacre. We implore your protection, we supplicate you to interfere in our behalf by all the means you deem proper to rescue your wretched co-religionists of Jassay from the fate which is hanging over them. This despatch will be sent to you from Sereth, for it is not possible to send it direct from Jassay.”
M. Cremieux being absent from Paris, this appeal was transmitted to the vice-president of the Universal Jewish Alliance.
The committee of the Alliance met the next day in the chambers of M. Cremieux, and it was resolved that two members should wait on the minister of foreign affairs. The minister expressed his sympathy with the persecuted Jews of Moldavia, and, without delay, sent instructions to the French consul general at Bucharest. Soon after M. Cremieux received another despatch, thus worded:
“Since our last telegram matters are become worse. In all the streets nothing is heard but the shrieks of the women and the weeping of the children of the banished Jews. We continue to be hunted down on all sides. The aged and sick are bound in chains and dragged to some unknown destination. All our prayers for the protection of the laws are rejected by the authorities. We are declared to be outlaws. The mob are encouraged to exterminate us. It is only by means of prompt and efficacious succor that we can be saved from a frightful fate. Our eyes are turned to you, our illustrious co-religionist. Save, save your wretched brethren of Moldavia!”
On the receipt of this second despatch, M. Cremieux decided on demanding an audience of the Emperor Napoleon. The audience was at once granted. M. Cremieux found his Majesty already informed of the details of what had passed at Jassay, and expressed in no measured terms his astonishment and indignation, and M. Cremieux asked for his personal intervention. The following is Mr. Cremieux’s account of what passed at the interview :
“This moment,” the Emperor said “I will write by telegraph to Prince Charles, as I intended to do this very day. To tolerate such persecution would be to place one’s self under the ban of Europe.”
I observed, “Prince Charles is animated by the most liberal intentions. He declared to me that he should consider it a point of honor to proclaim civil equality in favor of the Jews of his State; and he gave out of his own purse a large sum for the rebuilding of the synagogue, which was demolished during last year’s troubles. The man who deserves to be put under the ban of nations is this Minister Bratiano, who calls himself a liberal and a democrat; and public indignation will exact from him an account of this barbarity.”
The Emperor then asked me what could be the cause of an event so incredible.
I answered, “Sire, there are many interests which serve as the pretext for troubles in [Page 11] Roumania. What I can assure your Majesty is that the Rouman people did not know some-years ago what religious hatreds were. In 1848 the equality of all forms of worship was recognized unanimously.”
“I promise you,” said the Emperor, “immediate intervention.”
“Sire, the convention of 1858 guaranteed by the great powers of Moldavians and Wallachians of all creeds the same civil rights, the same right of admission to all civil and military functions. Who, then, can deprive the Rouman Jews of their rights? It is true that in these great treaties Christian populations are only cared for, and on them are conferred all political rights. It is to be hoped, however, that people will see the necessity of placing the professors of all creeds on the same level. The English House of Commons, on the interpellation of Mr. Goldsmid, has taken much interest in the Jews of Servia, who were treated as pariahs in spite of conventions; and Lord Stanley, after giving his public proofs of the sympathy of his government, sent pressing instructions to his agents abroad and the ambassador at Constantinople, when the Prince of Servia was instructed to inform him that England gave its support to the oppressed Christians, but that the Christians must take care not to oppress the Jews.”
The Emperor said: “This oppression cannot be tolerated nor understood, and I shall tell the Prince so.”
“And I, Sire, shall transmit my unfortunate co-religionists of Roumania the kind words your Majesty has spoken. They will be their consolation and then hope; and if the Emperor causes his opinion, and the blame with which he stigmatizes those barbarities, worthy only of the middle ages, to be made, public, they will be stopped and reparation made. I shall address myself to the press. I know we shall have all its sympathies, and that the general voice will be raised against this odious persecution ordered by the minister of a constitutional government.”
The Emperor added, “My sympathies are for those who suffer under calamities so great.”
The Jewish Alliance at Paris at once addressed the English government, through Mr. Francis H. Goldsmid, and the other governments of Europe; and there is no doubt they will interfere on behalf of the democratic Mr. Bratiano’s victims.