Page:Report on the Conference upon the Rosenthal Case 1866.pdf/8



INTRODUCTION.

Report is presented by the Bishop of Rochester and his colleagues to the friends by whom they were appointed to represent them in the Conference, and to all members of the London Jews' Society who have the cause of Israel and the interests of the Society at heart, with the earnest request that they will carefully weigh its contents. Attention is called to the manner in which they have been met, and the way in which, by misrepresentations, personalities, the introduction of irrelevant matters, and, finally, by their departure from their own arrangement, the Managers of the Society have evaded the prosecution of this inquiry into the case of Mr. Rosenthal and its bearings upon their own conduct and that of their officials. In the Conference we established the following facts:

In 1849 Mr. Rosenthal was dismissed by the London Committee from a post of responsibility at Jerusalem which he filled with credit to himself and advantage to the Society, and the employment of himself and family forbidden, upon charges of embezzlement preferred against him by Dr. Macgowan.

Mr. Rosenthal made repeated efforts to vindicate his conduct. The accusation was inquired into at Jerusalem, and Mr. Rosenthal was acquitted. Dr. Macgowan evaded the consequences of the failure of his accusation by various unworthy means, and went off to London. Mr. Rosenthal followed him, and took legal steps to bring Dr. Macgowan to account. Dr. Macgowan, finding that no other shift would avail him, fled clandestinely to Paris, and thus again escaped for a time. He returned to Jerusalem, whither he was followed by Mr. Rosenthal, who still claimed redress. Dr. Macgowan, unable further to escape investigation, in November, 1853, withdrew the charges in the following terms:–

“Having read, for the first time, Mr. Simeon Rosenthal's defence before the Sardinian Consul (in 1849), and found on examination that the charges brought against him are not supported by the evidence adduced, and that the answers to them by Mr. S. Rosenthal are satis-