Constantinople, March 27, 1840. Respected Sirs-Independently of the tie which so strongly binds together the whole Jewish community, of which you, gentlemen, are distinguished ornaments, having always stood forward most prominently in assisting our distressed brethren, whose appeals to you are not unfrequent, your beneficent hearts cannot but be greatly moved to sympathize with two numerous Jewish communitiesviz., that of Damascus under the Egyptian jurisdiction, and that of Rhodes one of the Ottoman states, oppressed by the tyrannies of the pashas who govern them. These persecutions have originated in calumnies which the oppressors have themselves invented, and which have been long brooding in their hearts, to the prejudice of the Jewish community. Our

brethren are accused of being accomplices in murder, in order to make, with the blood of the murdered men, their Passovercakes, a thing in itself incredible, as being forbidden by our holy religion. This report has, however, found credence with the governing pashas of Damascus and Rhodes, and they have oppressed and incarcerated not only several old men and rabbins, but even a number of children, putting them to tortures which it makes one shudder to hear. Such is the afflicting picture drawn in the letters of our persecuted brethren, of which letters, with deep regret, we hand you copies.

The community now addressing you, although implored by the sufferers to put an end to their persecution, and to prevent, if possible, their recurrence, is deeply

grieved to find itself incapacitated from affording any relief, in consequence of being subject to a government not on friendly terms with the pasha of Egypt.

There remain, therefore, no means of salvation for the oppressed, except an appeal to your innate goodness and pity. We entreat you, therefore, to interpose your valuable mediation in such manner, and with such persons, as you may deem most desirable for the safety of our unhappy brethren languishing in chains, and in prison, so as to obtain from the pasha of Egypt the liberation of the Jews of Damascus, and a compensation, not only from the governing pasha of Damascus, commensurate with the excesses committed by him, but also from the consular agents at Rhodes, who have risen against persons not subject to them.

We, the rabbins and elders of this community, impressed with the urgency of the case, and compassion for our brethren, and in

duced by the report which is current throughout the world of the generous and philanthropic sentiments which animate you, and fill your hearts, ever open to the miseries of the oppressed, feel persuaded that you will exert yourselves to do all you can possibly accomplish in these distressing circumstances.

While we offer to you, in anticipation, our warmest thanks, we assure you that both ourselves and the oppressed will incessantly offer up to the Supreme Being our fervent prayers for the preservation and increase of your respectable family, and that he may be pleased to preserve them, to the most remote posterity, in the rank in which most worthily you at present stand.

Accept the assurance of the high esteem with which we have the honour to be, gentlemen, your humble and devoted servants, J. CAMONDO.

SALAMON QM. McO. TUA.
SAMUEL DE N. TREVES.

"TO MESSRS. ABRAM CORNORTE AND AARON COHEN.

"Expressing my best wishes for your health, to my deep regret I address you these few lines, to inform you of the continued state of misery in which our brethren, inhabitants of Damascus, still remain, as communicated to you in my letter of the 17th of Adar (February), by the steam-packet. I had hoped to advise in this letter that the circumstances of the murder respecting which they were calumniated had been ascer

tained, but in this hope I have been sadly disappointed; I will therefore now repeat everything in detail, and it is thus:

"On Wednesday, the 1st day of the month of Adar (February), there disappeared from Damascus a priest, who, with his servant, had dwelt for forty years in this city; he exercised the profession of a physician, and visited the houses of Catholics, Jews, and Armenians, for the purpose of vaccination.

"The day following (Thursday) there came people into the quarter

of the Jews to look for him, stating that they had seen both him and his servant on the previous day (Wednesday) in that quarter. In order to put in execution their conspiracy, they seized a Jewish barber, telling him he must know all about the matter, and thence they immediately carried him before the governor, before whom they accused him, and he instantly received 500 stripes, and he was also subjected to other cruelties. During the intervals between these inflictions he was urged to accuse all the Jews as accomplices, and he, thinking by these means to relieve himself, accused Messrs. David Arari, Isaac Arari, Aaron Arari, Joseph Laguado, Moses Aboulafia, Moses Benar Juda, and Joseph Arari, as instigating accomplices, who had offered him 300 piastres to murder the above mentioned priest, inasmuch as, the Passover holidays approaching, they required blood for their cakes, that he did not, however, give ear to their instigations, while at the same time he knew not what might have happened to the priest and his servant. Upon this the pasha caused the aforesaid traduced persons to be arrested as instigators and punished with blows and other torments of the most cruel nature; but, as they were innocent, they could not confirm as true that which was a calumny, and, therefore, in contradiction, they asserted their innocence, appealing to the sacred writings, which strictly prohibit the Jews feeding upon blood, much more that of a fellow creature, a thing totally repugnant to nature. Nevertheless they were imprisoned, and daily, with chains around their necks, there were inflicted on them the most severe beatings and cruelties,

and they were compelled to stand without food of any kind for fifty hours together.

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Subsequently, to this, the Hebrew butchers were cited to appear; they were put in chains, together with the rabbins, Messrs. Jacob Antier, Solomon Arari, and Asaria Jalfon; and they, too, were beaten to such an extreme that their flesh hung in pieces upon them; and those atrocities were perpetrated in order to induce them to confess whether or not they used blood in the Passover cakes, to which they replied, that if such had been the case, many Jewish proselytes would have published the fact. This, however, was not sufficient. Subsequently to this the same governor went to the college of the boys, he had them carried to prison, loaded them with chains, and forbade the mothers to visit their imprisoned children, to whom only ten drachms of bread and a cup of water per day were allowed, the governors expecting that the fathers, for the sake of liberating their children would confess the truth of the matter.

"After this, the Jew, who was still at liberty, presented himself before the governor, stating that the calumny, that we make use of blood for our Passover cakes, had been discussed before all the powers, who after consulting their divines, had declared the falsehood of such a calumny; and he added, that either others had killed the priest and his servant, or that they had clandestinely absented themselves from the country, and that the barber, to save himself from prosecution, had stated that which was not true.

"Upon this the governor replied, that as he had accused other

persons of killing them, he must know who were the murderers; and in order that he should confess, he was beaten to such an extreme that he expired under the blows.

"After this the governor with a body of 600 men, proceeded to demolish the houses of his Jewish subjects, hoping to find the bodies of the dead; but, not finding anything, he returned, and again inflicted on his victims further castigations and torments, some of them too cruel and disgusting to be described. Incapable of bearing further anguish they preferred death, and confessed that the calumny was true.

"The governor, hearing the confession, asked them where they had secreted the blood of the murdered man, to which one of them replied that it had been put into a bottle, and delivered to Mr. Moses Aboulafia, who declared he knew of it, and in order that he should confess he received 1,000 stripes; but this infliction not extorting his confession, he was subjected to other insupportable torments, which at length compelled him to declare that the bottle was at home in a chest of drawers. Upon this the governor ordered that he should be carried on the shoulders of four men (for he could not walk), that he might open the bureau. This was opened, but nothing was found in it, except a quantity of money, which the governor seized, asking him, at the same time, where was the blood; whereupon the said Abou

lafia replied, that he made that statement in order that the governor should see the money in the bureau, trusting by these means to save himself from the calumny. Upon this the torments were repeated, and Abulafia, to save himself, embraced Mahometanism.

"It is thus that they treated the whole, and they have now been for one month in this misery. In Beirout, and much more in Damascus, the Jews are not at liberty to go out.

"After this an individual came forward and stated, that by means of astrology, he had discovered and ascertained that the seven individuals above named assassinated the priest, and that the servant was killed by Raphael Farki, Nathan Levi, Aaron Levi, Mordecai Farhi, and Asser of Lisbon. The two first of these were immediately arrested, the others it appears sought safety in flight.

"You will judge from this, dear friends, what sort of justice is administered by means of astrology, and how such justice is adminis tered. And there is no one who is moved to compassion in favour of the unfortunate victims of oppression. Even Mr. Bekor Negri, the governor's banker, unable to bear these afflictions, became a Mussulman.

Read, dearest friends, this letter to Messrs. Camondo, Hatteri, and Carmonna, in order that they may do what they may deem most fitting."

"We hasten, Sir, to inform you of the state of misery in which our community is at present plunged, in consequence of a ca

"A Greck boy, about ten years old, son of an inhabitant of the