Thus stood the chance of redress for the past, but the cause of the
agonising excitement under which the Jews of the place now laboured
was recent and justly alarming. Mohammed Damoor had again gone
forth into the market-place, and lifted up his voice and prophesied
a second spoliation of the Israelites. This was grave matter; the
words of such a practical man as Mohammed Damoor were not to be
despised. I fear I must have smiled visibly, for I was greatly
amused and even, I think, gratified at the account of this second
prophecy. Nevertheless, my heart warmed towards the poor oppressed
Israelites, and I was flattered, too, in the point of my national
vanity at the notion of the far-reaching link by which a Jew in
Syria, who had been born on the rock of Gibraltar, was able to
claim me as his fellow-countryman. If I hesitated at all between
the "impropriety" of interfering in a matter which was no business
of mine and the "infernal shame" of refusing my aid at such a
conjecture, I soon came to a very ungentlemanly decision, namely,
that I would be guilty of the "impropriety," and not of the
"infernal shame." It seemed to me that the immediate arrest of
Mohammed Damoor was the one thing needful to the safety of the
Jews, and I felt confident (for reasons which I have already
mentioned in speaking of the Nablus affair) that I should be able
to obtain this result by making a formal application to the
Governor.
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