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Sequel.
Do
not fear, kind reader, that you will have to peruse
this month a long article about the doings in this
city; it is merely to call your attention to the
unwarranted proceedings of certain parties here that
the election is again obtruded on your notice. A
young gentleman, one of my supporters, whose
signature is sufficiently well known, thought proper
to give, in the Jewish papers, a true version of the
election for Hazan, stating that I had not been a
candidate, as I would not accept the terms which the
majority had insisted upon offering, or rather,
which the unthinking majority had been induced to
acquiesce in, <<155>> urged thereto by the influence
of a few personal enemies, who omitted nothing, fair
and unfair, legal and illegal, by which their views
could be promoted.
What injury Mr. Jones’s little piece could inflict
on any one, surpasses my power of imagination, for,
assuming even that it was unjust,—which to a
certainty it is not, as I am prepared to exhibit by
irrefragable evidence, whenever a responsible
individual will demand the proof,—it could not have
offended any justly-thinking person that my friends
should utter some complaints about my forced
retirement from an office which had been elevated
through my exertions but had in not a single
instance been disgraced by me. Was it necessary in
return, to publish to the world a calumnious
article, to which the subjoined communication of A.
T. J. refers, “that I had been rejected by the
congregation that knew me best?”
A
more libellous and false expression never escaped
the tongue or pen of the most unscrupulous; for I
will maintain before the whole world, that not a
single vote was cast for Messrs. Morais and
Rosenfeld by one who will say that he does not think
me morally, religiously, physically, and mentally
fit for the office, to as great an extent, at least,
as the person elected. Why I was not chosen, I could
easily tell; for I know the reason of the leaders,
and with the motives of their followers it is
needless to trouble myself. Even the Parnass,*—whose
influence was surely not exerted in my behalf, but
was most probably brought to bear to insure my
defeat, at least he stood so far aloof that it
injured me with some,—had to acknowledge, when his
attention was called to the libel in question,
that the assertion was totally false.
The editor of the New York Jewish organ must have
known, when he admitted the article of a
“Congregator,” that he was publishing a base libel
upon me; I do not see his paper regularly,
consequently he <<156>>may have supposed that it
would escape my attention, and in fact it was
several days after many had seen and noticed it,
that I accidentally saw it at the house of a friend.
How any one who has a spark of gentlemanly feeling
can lend his press to perpetrate so monstrous a
wrong, I cannot comprehend; not alone that I am not
elected, but some lovers of scandal must shout over
my downfall; and this editor helps them! But they
may be assured, one and all, editor,
correspondents, and readers, that I am not yet
fallen quite so low as they would gladly imagine.
Perhaps at this hour, I have more influence than
they conceive possible; and, without boasting, I may
say, that, God willing, I shall rise again higher
than my fall has been; and as for stopping the
Occident, I shall carry it on as long as I shall
deem proper to do so, without heeding their envious croakings. So they may make their minds easy on that
score, and attend to their own business, and leave
me to manage my own.
But as regards the Asmonean, though he could print a
libel against the oldest minister in the country,
who proclaimed the Word of God before any one now in
office had assumed the task of teaching, although
he is not the oldest in years, he could not admit a
reply except as an advertisement. In consequence of
which, a few lines from my friend S. S. were
inserted in that paper of the 9th of May, and amply
paid for; but the subjoined, by A. T. J., was
refused admission at any price. The candour and fair
dealing of the Gothamite are certainly admirable,
and the readers of both his and my works will be
able to judge of the man and his deeds without any
stimulating on my part. With this preface, I call
public attention to the rejoinder of Mr. Jones,
which appears in the Occident only because it was
refused as already stated.—Ed. Oc.
To
the Readers of the Asmonean
In
the Asmonean of the 2d inst., there appeared
a communication signed “A Congregator of Mikve
Israel.” This prodigy of veracity announced that
he wished “to make a few remarks on the
inaccuracies” in my letter of the 25th ult., which
his remarkable sagacity had discovered. Under this
subterfuge, he intrudes himself upon public notice,
and not only falsifies his own words, by not
attempting to controvert a single statement
therein, but publicly asserts two deliberate
untruths.
First, That the Rev. Mr. Leeser was rejected
by his congregation, which is false, as this
“Congregator” well knew when he penned it.
<<157>> Nothing can be plainer or more readily
understood than that gentleman’s position. He
announced that he could not serve another term as Hazan, unless certain reforms were made in the
existing rules affecting the office. His
congregation would not accede to his views. Mr. Leeser remained fixed in the resolve not to become
an applicant, and retired at the expiration of his
term.
Secondly, (if I can understand aright the ambiguous
sentence,) he endeavours, by something of a
spasmodic effort, to show that Mr. Leeser’s friends
“kept his name at the polls,” not as a mark of
preference,—but with the view of defeating an
election, “as was previously determined and
known to all electors.” This concluding
paragraph is a fabrication in toto, and I have only
to say that I defy the author to prove its truth.
Not content with the libellous inuendo directed at
our late respected minister, in the part alluding to
“the congregation who knew him well”—not
satisfied with other cowardly insults to one against
whom, in either public or private life, no man dare
openly allege a single misdemeanour, he turns to
assail his friends. As “Congregator” is peculiarly
happy in the terseness and force of his remarks, I
will quote his words, “He (Mr. L.) would no doubt
have been reinstated, but for the officiousness
of certain gentlemen.” Sapient reasoner! So Mr.
Leeser was sacrificed (ay, that is the term,)
through no fault of his own, but to punish his
friends, because they were officious!
Officious in what? How proud the opposition must be
of so wise and politic an expounder of their views !
How grateful for his spontaneous and manly
championship, who, doubtless, in his own conceit,
is a host within himself, demolishing the
noble band, (as they are characterized,) who had
the officiousness to advocate the superior
claims, and bestow their suffrages on one who had
been their spiritual guide for over twenty years!
What can a discriminating public think of such
reasoning for the treatment to Mr. Lesser?
He
was sacrificed by his friends, and “the election
gives good proof of it.” How does it prove
it? Enlighten us, ye wise men of Gotham, for verily
it must puzzle the lawyers of Philadelphia.
Convince us, Mr. Congregator, and the noble
eleven, those unfortunate sacrificers, will, in
due form, present you with a cap and bells as their
just estimate of your services.
It
is evident the only aim of “Congregator” was
one common to all who possess the craven spirit to
descend to anonymous attacks. An open and
acknowledged enemy, I can admire; but he who, under
an <<158>> assumed title, secretly vilifies another,
acting alike the parts of coward and assassin; is
utterly despicable in the eyes of all honourable
men. Unfortunately, there are many such, who, not
content that Mr. Leeser has been compelled to retire
into private life, are still annoying him with
calumnies and backbitings, which their coward
natures dare not to his face assert. Such
narrow-minded beings are but libels on the name of
man!
I
have now done with this “Congregator,” who certainly
could never have been a seatholder in the
Congregation of which Isaac Leeser was the honoured
Minister, and in closing, tender him my parting
advice, that whenever he again attempts to attack
one man's veracity, or wantonly defames another, to
summon to his aid at least three auxiliaries—the
moral courage to own his deeds, the honest truth,
and an English grammar.
A. T. J.
Philadelphia, May 7th, 1851. |
