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Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania.—Our
readers will recollect that last year several
Israelites took justly exception to the wording of
the proclamation of the Governor, recommending a day
of public thanksgiving. We are happy, therefore, to
chronicle the proclamation issued this year on the
same subject. It will be seen that no class of the
inhabitants of the commonwealth are excluded, but
that all are invited to offer up their gratitude to
the universal God, the giver of all good. In
consequence, therefore, of the Governor’s
recommendation, our Synagogue was opened for public
worship on the 29th of November; and we were happy
to find a large number of our Christian friends
among the audience, who were attentive listeners to
the exercises of the day, which consisted, as usual,
of a selection of psalms and hymns, prayer for
government and congregation, and a prayer and sermon
composed for the occasion.
Pennsylvania, ss.
In the name and by the
authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by
William F. Johnston, Governor of the said
Commonwealth.
A PROCLAMATION.
A beneficent God has blessed
the people of this Commonwealth with
<<525>>health
and abundance. The fields have yielded bountiful
returns to the labours of the husbandman. The
enterprises of the citizens, in all branches of
industry, have been appropriately rewarded. Peace
with all nations has been vouchsafed to the country.
Civil and religious liberty, under the institutions
of free government, have been preserved inviolate,
and the largest measure of earthly happiness has
been graciously dispensed by an all-wise and
merciful Providence.
These blessings demand our
gratitude to Him in whose hands are the issues of
life and death,—who controls and directs the affairs
of men.— whose will is omnipotent to save or
destroy, and who mingles in the justice of His
judgments, the attributes of His mercy,—before whose
power nations are exalted or cast down,—and they
call upon us as one people, to unite in solemn
Thanksgiving,—in humble supplication, and praise to
the Almighty Author of every good and perfect gift,
for these his undeserved blessings to his weak and
sinful creatures. They require the profound
reverence of penitent hearts, sensible of the
unworthiness of humanity, and of the enduring mercy
of a righteous God.
Believing these solemn truths;
deeply impressed with the duty of devout adoration
and humble prayer; in compliance with a venerated
custom, and the desires of the great body of the
people: I, WILLIAM F. JOHNSTON, Governor of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby appoint and
designate Thursday, the 29th day of November next,
as a day of general Thanksgiving throughout the
State; and I hereby recommend and earnestly invite
all the good people of this Commonwealth to a
sincere and prayerful observance of the same.
Given under my hand and the
great seal of the State, at Harrisburg this
twenty-fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, and of
the Commonwealth the seventy-fourth.
By the Governor.
TOWNSEND HAINES, Secretary
of the Commonwealth.
New York.—We learn from a
paragraph in the Asmonean, that the Synagogues in
New York were not opened on the day recommended by
Governor Fish for thanksgiving, to wit, the 29th of
November, in consequence of the very exceptionable
manner in which he spoke of the “benefits of the
Gospel,” of “the duty of a Christian people,” &c.,
as though there were no religion without the Gospel,
and no gratitude without it proceeded from
Christians. We certainly approve of the neglect of
such a proclamation; but the Israelites of the
state at large ought to have remonstrated with the
Governor in energetic terms, and thus induced him
not to forget the Israelites another year; and we
state it merely as our opinion, that though a
captious fault-finding and a constant nervousness
to take offence should never be manifested by
Israelites, as unbecoming and unmanly, at the same
time no public insult, either of omission or
commission, should be passed over in silence; for we
ought to take good care of our rights, and never
allow them to be tacitly violated. We hope that our
readers will bear this in mind, and act up to the
suggestion on all proper occasions.
New Orleans.—We learn
with pleasure that the Rev. J. K. Gutheim has been
elected Minister of the German congregation of New
Orleans, <<526>>with a salary of $1500 per annum,
though they offered in their advertisement but
$1000. This shows how earnest the members are to
secure the services of a valuable man; since they
must have made great exertions to increase so
largely the amount they thought themselves able to
give. We also hear that Mr. G. has accepted the
call; and we trust that he may become the means of
spreading godliness among his new flock, and that
they may have ample cause to rejoice in their
connexion, which we trust may endure many happy
years.
Curaçoa.—Our friendly
correspondent, Mr. O. M. Da Costa, writes us as
follows:—“I am happy to inform you that the school
of Mr. De Casseres, or rather the Sunday school, is
getting on famously, and doing a deal of good. The
young ladies that joined as teachers are constant
and indefatigable in their attendance and exertions,
and well merit the good will of the nation. It would
be well if, in all parts where we are spread, our
young ladies would do as much for our poor
children.—Mr. Nathan’s school is getting on as well
as his fondest hopes could wish; he has as many
scholars as he can attend to, and I don’t know if
not more, as he is obliged to refuse some.” It is
indeed pleasing to us to record such an evidence of
progress in the island of Curaçoa, where hitherto
but little had been done in the cause of education;
and we trust that many blessed fruits may result
from the efforts now made to spread a knowledge of
religion. The Mr. Nathan. spoken of is a brother of
the Rev. Moses N. Nathan, and we think was
associated with him as teacher in Kingston, Jamaica;
and we doubt not but that he is amply qualified to
do justice to his charges. We wish him sincerely the
amplest success.
The Hebra Bickur Cholim of
Philadelphia held its annual election for
officers on the 16th of December, and resulted as
follows: H. M. Phillips, President; D. A. Phillips,
Secretary; Marcus Cauffman, Treasurer; H. Weil, M.
A. Van Collem, Hyman Polock, and Elias S. Linse,
Kaubronim, and Abm. E. Israel, Messenger. During the
past year, the relief and charity expenditures were
about $300. The present number of members is about
64. This association is, we believe, the oldest
charity among the Philadelphia Israelites. Its
object is to assist the members in sickness, and pay
the funeral expenses of members and of near
relatives dying under their roof, to grant a fixed
sum during the week of mourning, besides extending
aid to widows and other near connexions of deceased
members, in addition to mutual personal services,
such as watching with the sick, washing the dead,
attending prayers at the house of mourning, &c. It
also grants relief to persons not members, under
certain circumstances, especially to sick strangers.
There <<527>>are, besides this, three other similar
societies in this city, and they relieve a great
amount of suffering, by returning to contributors
their money, with ample interest, in times of
sickness and sorrow, when but for such provision
they might be compelled to call upon the charities
of other men. We hope that in other large towns the
Israelites will form similar institutions, and thus
secure to those of moderate means an independent
subsistence when they are unable to labour. With
proper management, it will not be difficult to
transform such beneficial societies into a species
of life and health insurances, at the same time
leaving them all the characteristics of a religious
institution, חברה קדישא;
only care ought to be taken to apportion the
premium, or annual contribution, to the amount of
benefits bestowed, so as to secure their prompt
payment when they are required; whereas a small
annual assessment may find the treasury empty when
most needed. The reserved fund of the Bickur Cholim
Society has accumulated for many years, and received
a great accession from the voluntary relinquishment
of members and families, entitled to it, of their
amount of stated relief; otherwise it would be much
smaller than it is. Although this liberality is to
be commended, still it cannot be calculated on with
certainty, and it is even doubted by many Whether
each member should not be compelled to take what is
coming to him, to place all on a perfect equality.
We cannot say that we share this view; at the same
time it merits consideration; and in forming such
societies in the new and growing communities of
Israelites in this country, it will be well to leave
no avenue unguarded in carrying out a plan of
operation, so as to prevent, so far as human
foresight can effect it, any possibility of failure,
and then let it be considered that a society where
every man helps himself is the best charity.
Europe.—In Austria the
heavy war tax laid on the Jews in Pesth and Buda is
exacted with rigour; the reported clemency of the
emperor in remitting it, has not been confirmed by
subsequent accounts. At the same time, it is curious
to observe how, notwithstanding the rigour in one
part of the empire, the young head of the house of
Hapsburg seems to carry out practically the equality
among all the inhabitants, which was decreed in the
constitution given last year. In Moravia and Bohemia
the restriction on Jewish marriages has been greatly
relaxed or nearly removed, and Dr. Wolfgang Wesseli
has been appointed professor in Prague, and Dr.
Goldmark, late a deputy in the Austrian Diet, to a
chair in the university of Vienna. We have no doubt
that, unless a new outbreak takes place, there will
be a gradual amelioration of the situation of the
Jews in that country, where formerly they were
barely allowed to live. Of course the new machinery
of state must <<528>>work stiffly at the outset, but
this is to be expected. —In Vienna a committee of the
most respectable Israelites has been formed to draw
up a new regulation for the Jewish community. But
our accounts are entirely too meagre to present a
condensed account of the whole state of Jewish
affairs in Austria. —In Rome the French troops lately
entered the Ghetto, by order of the authorities,
under the false accusation that the Jews had
secreted church property obtained from the late
republicans. Their silver vessels, unless marked
with their names, and even their linen, were taken
possession of. Now mark what follows: “The result of
the search which was made so unjustly, and
accompanied by such violent measures in the Ghetto
of Rome, has proved the innocence of the Jews. A
few pieces of cloth, which Garibaldi’s legions had
taken from a monastery, and which they, previous to
their sudden retreat, had forced the Jews to
purchase, besides a few pieces of copper, which were
kept in small shops, was the whole spoil for which
the Ghetto was blockaded for three days, about 4000
men treated like thieves, and their domestic rights
shamefully violated. Of gold and silver vessels, of
church property and sacerdotal garments, &c.,
(alleged by some journals to have been found,) not a
trace could be discovered.” How gloriously the
French soldiers are employed in Italy, not alone to
restore the Pope, but to reinstate something worse
even than the ancient Inquisition! What a comment on
their love of liberty! —In France, too, the spirit of
illiberality has shown itself in La Vendée, in the
forcible expulsion, through the instrumentality of a
Catholic bishop, of Mr. Isidore Cahen from the chair
of philosophy, to which he had been appointed by
government in September last. The people did at
first hail with joy the accession to academical
honours of this Israelite, who already, though
young, enjoys a high reputation. But the bishop and
clergy must have thought the church in danger,
should a Jew expound the principles of philosophy in
the Lycée Napoleon; they raised, therefore, a storm
ecclesiastical, which none better than men of their
stamp know how to direct, and the minister (of
public instruction) had to revoke the appointment.
Another commentary, this, on the text, ‘peace and
good-will to man on earth.’ —A magnificent new
Synagogue, costing 150,000 francs, has lately been
finished in Mülhouse, in France. The sale of seats
brought near 200,000, so that the directors have
resolved to restore a part of the purchase-money to
the buyers. This is a beautiful comment on the
liberality of the Jews of that town. In Paris, also,
we learn they are about to improve and rebuild the
Synagogue, without meddling with reform measures,
which some wished to carry as a prerequisite. This
is true progress. |
