Part 14 (2/2)
Mr Montefiore now wished to go to Ramsgate for a few days' rest, but before leaving town he sent a letter to the Master, Wardens, and a.s.sistants of the Wors.h.i.+pful Company of Merchant Taylors, requesting the use of their hall for the inauguration dinner in October.
In August we find him again in London, attending a dinner of the Skinners' Company, where he meets Mr Attwood and his colleague Mr George Carrol, also several friends belonging to the Merchant Taylors'
Company. His health is proposed, and he returns thanks. One of the party, Dr Knox, the Master of the Skinners' Company's school at Tonbridge, expressed himself in very flattering terms to Mr Montefiore after the entertainment, but observed that he ought not to be one of the Court a.s.sistants, as the latter had to protect their church. Mr Montefiore, in reply, a.s.sured him that he would never ask anything of the Company that they might not be willing to grant. Dr Knox appeared fully satisfied with what he heard, and continued the conversation in a friendly spirit.
On the 20th of August there is a very affectionate entry, dated from Tonbridge, and referring to his brother, Horatio Montefiore.
”Horatio,” he writes, ”joined us this morning at breakfast; he left Ramsgate and his family last evening, and travelled all night. At eleven o'clock my dear Judith, Horatio, Mr Ridge, and myself went in the britzka to Tinley Lodge, Upper French Farm. The houses, barns, stables, and outhouses had all been put in the most substantial and complete repair, and looked extremely well, as did the land. With the full and willing consent of my dear wife, I informed Horatio that I made him a present of the estate, and after him to his children, strictly entailing it on the eldest son from generation to generation, and recommended him to grant Shetfield, the present tenant, a lease at a moderate rent for fourteen years, say at 70. Horatio appeared well pleased with the gift.”
This entry is followed by another equally pleasing. He dined with his sister-in-law, Mrs Hannah Rothschild, and met there, among others, the Count and Countess Ludolf. In the course of conversation, the Count said that several English physicians had offered to go to Naples, where the cholera was then raging, and a.s.sist in relieving the sufferers, but, unfortunately, they had no funds. Mr Montefiore, upon hearing this, immediately promised 200 for the purpose, and of course kept his word.
In the following record of a visit paid by Mr and Mrs Montefiore to H.R.H. the Princess Sophia Matilda during her stay at Ramsgate, we find one of the many gratifying instances of the esteem in which they were both held by the highest in the land.
On September the 12th he writes:--”At three we went in our britzka with post horses, through a torrent of rain, to West Cliff House, by appointment, to visit H.R.H. the Princess Sophia Matilda. She received us most kindly, and was very chatty. She spoke on many different subjects, including the slave trade and the prevailing epidemics; also of her proposed visit to Brighton, which she hoped would agree with her. We then spoke of the Queen and the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent. Judith said she hoped the Queen would build a palace at Ramsgate. Her Royal Highness replied, she could not recommend the expense, as it would be talked of a hundred years after; it was all very well just at first.
We remained more than half-an-hour, and on our taking leave, Her Royal Highness shook hands with Judith most kindly, and said she was happy in having made her acquaintance. During our visit she also spoke of her brother, the late King, and on each occasion the tears came into her eyes. She appeared in very good health, and fond of retirement.”
On the 24th of September Mr Montefiore writes:--”Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia Matilda paid Judith a visit yesterday, and remained with her an hour and a half. She had first appointed to come on Friday if I had been at home, then on Monday or Tuesday, but Judith wrote that we were going to London in the middle of the week, and would be happy to see Her Royal Highness on Sat.u.r.day. She was most gracious and agreeable.”
_Wednesday, September 27th._--Mr Montefiore called at the Mansion House and saw the Lord Mayor and Mr Croft, who accepted the new Sheriffs' invitation for Wednesday, the 11th October. According to an ancient custom Mr Montefiore, as Sheriff, should have dined with the Lord Mayor on Friday, the 29th, but he apologized for his inability to do so on account of the Sabbath commencing in the evening.
_Thursday, the 28th._--”I cannot,” he says, ”but reflect with grat.i.tude on the Almighty's goodness to me: may He bless my endeavours to be useful.” He then gives the following account of the day's proceedings:--”At ten I entered our state carriage, Mr Wire having come for me in his, and we drove to Cavendish Square, where Mr George Carrol in his state carriage took the lead, he being the senior Sheriff, on account of his having been proposed to the Livery by the Lord Mayor. We proceeded to the Merchant Taylors' Hall, where we found sixteen of their members, and sixteen of the Spectacle makers, besides some few friends of Mr George Carrol. The following gentlemen were also present:--Barons Lionel, Nathaniel, and Anthony de Rothschild, Messrs T. A. Curtis, Benjamin Cohen, Isaac Cohen, Solomon Cohen, S. M.
Samuel, John Helbert, and M. Davidson, the six last named being the brothers and brothers-in-law of my dear wife. At one o'clock we went in grand procession to the Guildhall, accompanied by a band of music.
At two we were sworn into office, and about three I returned to Park Lane. I changed my official costume for plain clothes, and went at half-past five to Cavendish Square. Mr George Carrol then accompanied me to the London Tavern, and we dined with Sir James Duke and Mr Sheriff Johnson.”
_Monday, 2nd October._--Mr Montefiore and his colleague went to Newgate. In the afternoon they proceeded to Windsor, and inscribed their names in the d.u.c.h.ess of Kent's visitors' book. The next day Mr Montefiore called on the Lord Mayor, who introduced him to Alderman Cowan, the Lord Mayor elect; he also attended the Hustings at the Guildhall in his violet gown, the Lord Mayor and Mr George Carrol being present. He afterwards settled, with Messrs Maynard, Carrol, and Wire, the toasts and the grace before dinner, and proceeded with these gentlemen to the Lord Mayor to submit them for his approval.
This having been obtained, he went to the Merchant Taylors' Hall to see that the arrangement of the tables was satisfactory.
The inauguration dinner of the new Sheriffs took place at the Merchant Taylors' Hall in Threadneedle Street. The number of guests who sat down to dinner was not less than four hundred; and the Lord Mayor presided. After the cloth was removed, the usual toasts were proposed by the Lord Mayor, and the two Sheriffs returned thanks, each in a separate speech.
Mr Sheriff Montefiore said: ”My Lord Mayor, my Lords and gentlemen, if I consulted my own feelings of diffidence on this occasion, I confess I should have remained silent, and have allowed my friend and colleague to return our united thanks for the honour conferred on us by the distinguished company. But as custom demands that I should say a few words, I rise to express briefly, and I fear imperfectly, my feelings of grat.i.tude for the flattering manner in which my health has been proposed, and the warm and affectionate greeting with which it has been received. New to the high and important office I have been called upon by the kind wishes of my fellow-citizens to fill, it will readily be conceived that I cannot be acquainted with all its various duties. But I can a.s.sure you it shall be my study to understand their nature, and my earnest endeavour to fulfil them in such a manner as to justify my fellow-citizens in the choice they have made. Although I cannot pretend to say that I will do what your late Sheriffs have done, still less to surpa.s.s them in their efforts to be useful, yet I hope, so far, to imitate their example as to show my anxiety to transmit to my successors the functions of my office unimpaired in their usefulness, and its privileges undiminished in their value.
Believing that it is not a political office, and yet that it has duties both to the Queen and to the public, I hope, in the execution of those duties, to swerve neither to the right nor the left, but on the one hand to uphold the rightful prerogatives of the Crown, and on the other to support the just liberties of the people. Called upon by the free, intelligent, and wealthy citizens of this great city to fill so important an office, I trust that I shall never be found wanting in any efforts to prove that the great privilege of electing their own Sheriffs may be safely entrusted to the people. May I add that in choosing the humble individual before you to fill so important an office, they have shown that private character, when based on integrity, will secure public honour and respect? Nor is it less gratifying to find that, though professing a different faith from the major it of my fellow-citizens, yet this has presented no barrier to my desire of being useful to them in a situation to which my forefathers would in vain have aspired; and I hail this as a proof that those prejudices are pa.s.sing away, and will pa.s.s away, which prevent our feelings from being as widely social, as just, as comprehensive in their effect as the most amiable and best-instructed mind can desire. Nor can I forget, while alluding to kindly feelings, how much I am indebted to those friends who, unasked and unsolicited, proposed and elected me to the office which now gives me the opportunity of addressing you. To them, to you, to the Livery at large, I again tender my thanks, and I beg to a.s.sure you that, whatever may be necessary to enhance the high, respectability of my office, to support its splendour, to maintain its rights, to add to its honour, and to make it more useful to my fellow-citizens--if it can be made more useful--I will attempt, and with your countenance and support, I trust, accomplish. Thus acting, I shall hope to receive the only reward I seek--the thanks of my fellow-citizens, and the approbation of my own conscience.”
The Attorney-General in replying to the toast, ”The health of Her Majesty's Ministers,” given by the Lord Mayor, alluded to Mr Montefiore in the following words:--”There could be no more honourable or important office than that of Sheriff, and although Mr Montefiore differed in faith from the established religion, there could be no doubt that he would discharge the duties which devolved on him with equal credit to himself and advantage to the city. He (the Attorney-General) was one of those who thought that the only qualification which should exist for such offices was that the holder should be a good citizen; and he recollected with no small degree of satisfaction, that it was he who had brought in the Bill, a measure that pa.s.sed through the Legislature by, he might say, the unanimous vote of both Houses of Parliament, which ent.i.tled Mr Montefiore to occupy the position he then held. He was happy to say that the ancient prejudices, founded on difference of religious belief, were fast wearing away, and he only hoped the time was at hand when objections on such grounds would altogether cease to operate. It was the desire of Her Majesty's Government to promote such a state of things by all the means in their power; and for his own part, his opinion was that, so far from injuring the Const.i.tution, it would tend materially to uphold and strengthen it.”
Mr and Mrs Montefiore returned to Park Lane at two o'clock from the inauguration dinner, much pleased with the reception they had met with from their fellow-citizens.
CHAPTER XV.
1837.
DEATH OF MR MONTEFIORE'S UNCLE--MR MONTEFIORE RIDES IN THE LORD MAYOR'S PROCESSION--IS KNIGHTED--HIS SPEECH AT THE LORD MAYOR'S BANQUET--PRESENTS PEt.i.tION ON BEHALF OF THE JEWS TO PARLIAMENT.
We may now consider Mr Montefiore as almost entirely occupied with the discharge of the duties of his office as Sheriff. We shall give here the entries he made referring to the subject, some of which are particularly interesting.
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