CHAPTER XIII

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THE DECLINE OF NEWPORT; WASHINGTON AND THE JEWS.

England’s special enmity to Newport caused the dispersion of its Jewish congregation――The General Assembly of Rhode Island meets in the historic Newport Synagogue――Moses Seixas’ address to Washington on behalf of the Jews of Newport and the latter’s reply――Washington’s letters to the Hebrew Congregations of Savannah, Ga., and to the congregations of Philadelphia, New York, Richmond and Charleston.

The breaking out of the Revolution put an end to the commercial prosperity of Newport. Its situation upon the ocean, which made it before so favorable for commerce, had now an opposite effect, and left it more exposed to attacks from the enemy than any other place of equal importance, in North America. Its inhabitants had especially provoked the hostility of the mother country, as it was one of the first places to manifest a spirit of resistance to the British Government by burning an armed vessel of war that came to exact an odious tax. It could expect no mercy and received none, when 8,000 British and Hessian troops occupied it in 1776. Four hundred and eighty houses were destroyed, its commerce was ruined and its commercial interests never recovered from this blow, which fell with crushing effect upon the Jewish residents.

The congregation was dispersed, the Synagogue was closed, and Rabbi Isaac Touro went with his family to Jamaica, where he remained until his death in 1782. Aaron Lopez, who was a heavy sufferer, accompanied by a majority of the foremost Jews of Newport, removed to Leicester, Mass., and their stay in that town had a favorable effect on its development. Others went to Philadelphia and other places. When Newport was evacuated, in 1779, after the enemy destroyed its wharves and fortifications and carried off its library and records, some of the exiles began to return. When the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island convened for the first time after the evacuation, it met in the historic Synagogue (Sept., 1780). Aaron Lopez was one of a number of the Leicester colony who set out for their former home, but he was drowned on the way, and his body was later recovered and buried in the old cemetery.

But those who returned did not remain long. New York had become the great commercial center after the Revolution, and the important Newport merchants left one by one for that city; others went to Philadelphia, Charleston or Savannah. The congregation was, however, still in existence when President Washington visited Newport in August, 1790, and he was on that occasion formally addressed by Moses Seixas on behalf of the Jews of Newport as follows:

Sir:――Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merit, and to join with our fellow-citizens in welcoming you to Newport.

With pleasure we reflect on those days of difficulty and danger when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your head in the day of battle, and we rejoice to think that the same spirit which rested in the bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel, enabling him to preside over the provinces of the Babylonian Empire, rests and ever will rest upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate of these States.

Deprived, as we have hitherto been, of invaluable rights of free citizens, we now――with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of all events――behold a government erected by the majesty of the people, a government which gives no sanction to bigotry and no assistance to persecution, but generously affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever nation, tongue or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine. This so ample and extensive Federal Union, whose base is philanthropy, mutual confidence and public virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the great God, who rules the armies of the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth, doing whatever deemeth to Him good.

For all the blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal and benign administration, we desire to send up thanks to the Ancient of days, the great Preserver of men, beseeching Him that the angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised land may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life; and when, like Joshua, full of days and of honors, you are gathered to your fathers, may you be admitted into the heavenly paradise to partake of the water of life and the tree of immortality.

To this letter, which bears unmistakable traces of having been originally composed in Rabbinical Hebrew, the Father of His Country replied as follows:

TO THE HEBREW CONGREGATION OF NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

Gentlemen:――While I have received with much satisfaction your address, replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger, which are passed, is rendered the more sweet from the consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have the wisdom to make the best use of the advantage with which we are now favored, we cannot fail under the just administration of a good government to become a great and happy people.

The citizens of the United States of America have the right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes of my felicity. May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the Father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths and make us all in our several vocations useful here and, in His own due time and way, everlastingly happy.[17]

G. WASHINGTON.

In the year following this correspondence the Synagogue was closed for lack of attendance, and it was not reopened for nearly a century. The above-named Moses Seixas, who for many years was cashier of the Bank of Rhode Island, was one of the last Jews in Newport of that period. Moses Lopez, the nephew of Aaron, is reputed to have been the last one who remained there, and ultimately he, too, left for New York, where he died in 1830. Sentiment caused the descendants of many of the original families to direct that their remains should be buried in the old cemetery, where tombstones show interments during the entire period down to 1855. Abraham Touro (d. in Boston, 1822), the son of Rabbi Isaac Touro, bequeathed a fund for perpetually keeping the Synagogue in repair, and also made provisions for the care of the burial ground. His brother Judah Touro of New Orleans replaced the old cemetery wall with a massive one of stone, with an imposing granite gateway (1843); and, at his own request, he himself was buried there. The street on which the Synagogue is situated is known as Touro Street. The city also possesses a park known as Touro Park. Though the Touro fund provided for the support of the minister also, the Synagogue remained closed until 1883, when the Rev. A. P. Mendes, on appointment by the Congregation Shearith Israel of New York (which became the legal proprietor of both Synagogue and cemetery of Newport), became minister and conducted services until his death in 1891.

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There are extant two other letters written by George Washington to Jewish communities which felicitated him upon his advancement to the presidency. One is in reply to an address signed by Levi Sheftal as president, in behalf of the Hebrew Congregations of Savannah, and is as follows:

TO THE HEBREW CONGREGATIONS OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH, GEORGIA.

Gentlemen:――I thank you with great sincerity for your congratulation on my appointment to the office which I have the honor to hold by the unanimous choice of my fellow-citizens, and especially the expressions you are pleased to use in testifying the confidence that is reposed in me by your congregations.

As the delay which has naturally intervened between my election and your address has afforded me an opportunity for appreciating the merits of the Federal Government and for communicating your sentiments of its administration, I have rather to express my satisfaction rather than regret at a circumstance which demonstrates (upon experiment) your attachment to the former as well as approbation of the latter.

I rejoice that a spirit of liberality and philanthropy is much more prevalent than it formerly was among the enlightened nations of the earth, and that your brethren will benefit thereby in proportion as it shall become still more extensive; happily the people of the United States have in many instances exhibited examples worthy of imitation, the salutary influence of which will doubtless extend much further if gratefully enjoying those blessings of peace which (under the favor of heaven) have been attained by fortitude in war, they shall conduct themselves with reverence to the Deity and charity towards their fellow-creatures.

May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a promised land, _whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation_, still continue to water them with the dews of heaven and make the inhabitants of every denomination

## participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that

people whose God is Jehovah.

G. WASHINGTON.

The third address was from the Hebrew Congregations in the cities of Philadelphia, New York, Richmond and Charleston, dated December 13, 1790, and signed on their behalf by Manuel Josephson, to which the President returned the following:

Gentlemen:――The liberality of sentiment towards each other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations.

The affection of such a people is a treasure beyond the reach of calculation, and the repeated proofs which my fellow-citizens have given of their attachment to me and approbation of my doings form the purest sources of my temporal felicity.

The affectionate expressions of your address again excite my gratitude and receive my warmest acknowledgment.

The power and goodness of the Almighty, so strongly manifested in the events of our late glorious revolution, and His kind interposition in our behalf, have been no less visible in the establishment of our present equal government. In war He directed the sword, and in peace He has ruled in our councils. My agency in both has been guided by the best intentions and a sense of duty I owe to my country.

And as my intentions have hitherto been amply rewarded by the approbation of my fellow-citizens, I shall endeavor to deserve a continuance of it by my future conduct.

May the same temporal and eternal blessing which you implore for me rest upon your congregations.

G. WASHINGTON.

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