The reception given by His Highness to Sir Moses was most cordial; he frequently expressed the pleasure it afforded him to see Sir Moses in Egypt. He paid Sir Moses a long visit, and constantly showed him every possible attention.
Sir Moses received numerous visits from representatives of educational, charitable, and financial associations of every nationality in Egypt. Among the latter there was Monsieur de Lesseps, who had a long interview with him, explaining the importance of the Suez Canal. Sir Moses, however, did not appear to regard the undertaking as likely to prove successful from a financial point of view.
_Friday, September 7th._--We went on board the _Valetta_, and ultimately arrived safely at Dover on Wednesday, September 19th.
The greater portion of September and October was spent partly at East Cliff Lodge and partly at Park Lane, Sir Moses being busily employed in reporting to the English and Turkish governments on the result of his journey. He was again elected President of the Board of the London Committee of Deputies of British Jews.
On the 4th of December he accompanied the Lord Mayor and the Court of Lieutenancy to Buckingham Palace, to present an address to the King of Sardinia, where, as seconder of the address, he was introduced to His Majesty by the Lord Mayor; and at the end of the month Baroness Meyer de Rothschild invited him to be present at the opening or consecration of the Baronial Hall at Mentmore, where, he notes in his Diary, "Dr Kalisch read prayers, also several psalms, and affixed mezuzas or phylacteries to the doors. A splendid breakfast and dinner followed the ceremony."
At the beginning of 1856 he paid much attention to the communications received from the various committees appointed in the Holy Land to superintend the institutions established there by the trustees of the Appeal Fund; and conjointly with the Chief Rabbi he published the second report, embodying the statements I have already given in one of the preceding chapters.
The trustees, upon the suggestion of Sir Moses, made an agreement with Messrs J. J. and T. R. Holman of Canterbury to erect a windmill at Jerusalem.
He also attended meetings convened for the purpose of discussing a scheme for a railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem.