"I must not leave your Highness in ignorance of the public feeling created here by the persecutions of which the Jews of Moldavia are said to be the victims. I cannot believe that the enlightened Government of your Highness authorises measures so opposed to humanity and civilisation.
"Your Majesty may rest assured that I am not less solicitous for the Jewish inhabitants than your Majesty. The measures which the Government has thought necessary to take are not exceptional, and are a matter of common law. I shall, moreover, institute a severe inquiry to ascertain whether the subaltern officials have exceeded their instructions. Those guilty will be punished with all the rigour of the law.
All the laws against the Jews which had been passed in Moldavia since 1804 were published in the official _Moniteur_ on May 28, 1867, to counteract the prejudice which the recent circular had created. It was thus made clear that Jews had always been prohibited from becoming tenants of farms, public-houses, and drinking-booths; and that the sole motive of the Ministerial Circular was to remind the prefects of the existence of these regulations, which had been allowed to fall somewhat into abeyance.
Sir Moses Montefiore, the well-known British merchant and philanthropist, who was touring through Roumania to investigate personally the condition of the Jews, was presented to the Prince by the British Consul on August 25, 1867. Sir Moses was able to inform his Highness that he could not trace any persecution of the Jews in Wallachia, and on his return to England declared, through the Press, that the situation of his brethren in Roumania had been painted in colours far too dark, and that there could be no question of their ill-treatment, as both the Prince and his Ministers were very tolerant, and had given him every assistance in eliciting the truth.
The Chamber, however, continued to persist in anti-Semitic legislation, and a "free and independent party" of thirty-three Moldavians introduced a measure on March 17, 1868, which contained the following provisions: "Jews may only settle in urban districts by permission of the town council, but on no condition, and for no length of time, in the rural districts.