PALESTINE FIFTY YEARS AGO AND PALESTINE TODAY.

[By Miss Lydia Mamreoi-f yon FINKBLSTEIN.]

About fifty years ago, with the exception of some Polish Jewish families, and a few Latin monks, there were no European residents in Jerusalem. At that period the Jews did not contribute either to the civilisation of the inhabitants or the improvement of the city, but adapted themselves to'the manners of the people and the exigencies of the place. The monks confined themselves to , their daily avocations in the convents, and to the entertainment of wealthy pilgrims and travellers, whose visits, like those of angels, were few and far between . The Jews, as well as the native Christians, throughout Syria and Palestine, were daily and hourly subjected to oppression, extortions, exaction, robbery and insults from their Moslem neighbours. It was no unusual occurrence for the Moslem to enter their houses, ransack closets and ! boxes, and appropriate any article of wearing apparel, furniture, or tood that took tho marauder's fancy. The local Gove nment authorities would occasionally, when in need of funds, levy blackmail to the amount of hundreds of pounds on the Jews and native Christians, threatening them with massacre and plunder in detault of payment. Consequently, Jews and native Christians dared to mako any display of wealth only at the risk ot losing life or property, and often both. This system was in active operation throughout the country up to the date of the conquest by Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt, a.d. 1832 1840. The foreign Poweis were represented at Jerusalem by a Polish Jew, who managed the affairs of the different consular courts, and administered justice in accordance with some very original ideas of his own — imprisoning* beating, blackmailing, and exiling thounforiunatesubjectsof his administration whenever and wherever he pleased. He introduced the bearing of silver maces by the kavass, or guard, before the consul, when that dignitary walked abroad, to impress the non-official portion of the community with the majesty and dignity of the representative of the Law. This custom still exists in Jerusalem, especially when official visits are made or returned. The first regular European consulate established afc Jerusalem was that of France, about forty years ago ; but no foreign flag was allowed to float over a consular residence before the Crimean War. With the advent of the American and English missionaries came the dawn of a brighter day tor the Holy City, and indeed for the whole country. On account of Moslem fanaticism and prejudice, these messengers of the Gospel, and consequently pioneers of civilisation, were obliged for a certain period of time to adopt the Oriental dress for safety. The Oriental furniture, utensils, and cuisine, though in many respects better adapted to the climate and surroundings, were so entirely different to those of Europe and America, that those early settlers, wealthy or otherwise, may truly be said to have endured hardships and privations great and innumerable. Occidental furniture, utensils, crockery or glass, were not to be had for love or money ; and only those fortunate families or individuals possessed them who had had sufficient foresight to bring such articles from their homes in Europe. Further, there was not a window in any house in Jerusalem that had a pane of glass in it ; wooden lattices, shutters, and iron bars being the order of the day. About the year 1845, a European merchant first imported —at great inconvenience, risk, and cost, having to travel to Beirout and Alexandria to make the purchase—Occidental furniture, crockery, and windowglass. There were no facilities for travel, and no steamers touched ab the port of Jaffa. Once, and later twice a year, the Jewish, Latin, and other communities sent messengers to Beirout from Jerusalem, a journey of about 150 miles overhand, to fetch the mails and other matter that might have been brought by the steamers from Alexandria and Constantinople, which at stated periods touched for a few hours at Beirout. About bhe year 1845 steamers began to stop occasionally at the port of Jaffa, but up to the date of the Crimean War, European mails and nc^s did not reach the Holy City oftener than once a month. No foreigners could purchase or hold land, unless by special permit from Constantinople, a privilege to be obtained only at great cost and through powerful influence. Gradually, Avith the influx of missionaries and. other American and European residents, arose the necessity for the right of purchasing real estate, for the erection of schools, churches and hospitals, as well as private residences. Many and various were the expedients resorted to in order to gain the desired end. Real estate was leased for a great number of years, tho supposed rent being paid in advance for 50 years or more; it Mas also sold under deeds of heavy mortgage. Later, an agreement was made between the Ottoman Government and some of the European Powers, which gave foreigners the right to purchase and hold real estate in the country, so long as the holder paid the dues and taxes in accordance with the laws of the land. These laws of purchase and tenure, being complicated, and differing in many essential points from such laws in other countries, afforded innumerable facilities to the local authorities, in order to extort bribes, to raise difficulties and question the right of the uninitiated foreigner to the property he had purchased. In the year 1866 a large Amorican colony came out, and settled in Jaffa or Joppa. It wascalled the American Adams colony. The colonists held their estate under great disad • vantages. Mr Adams, either through design or in ignorance of the laws, possessed no title deeds ; neither were the colonists, who purchased lots, provided with the necessary documents — all holding the property under bills of sale and pm-chase, whoselegality and validity could have been questioned at any moment. Consequently interested parties took advantage ot their position, and the best and the largest portion of the land they had paid tor was lost, and all the trees out of a fruit plantation cut down, rooted up, and carried away, because they whose duty it was to protect the colonists against such legalised frauds, either from interested motives or through gross negligence, omitted to secure for the purchasers the title deeds, which documents also were only rendered legal under certain conditions. Foreigners, or their agents, should be thoroughly acquainted wi4i what perhaps at the first may seem to be the minor details of the laws of purchase and tenure before they buy real estate in Syria or Palestine ; otherwise they run a risk of paying the price many times over in bribes and lawsuits to substantiate their claims. The several American colonies proved failures through a number of causes, jealousies of and ill-will towards such enterprises existing in many quarters. First, the Ottoman Government never was, nor is it at the present day, .capable of appreciating the motives of foreigners in colonisation, and cannot see, any leason,

beyond a political one, for the settlement of Europeans or, Americana in the country. . Secondly, besides having in the local authorities a positively hostile government to struggle against, the colonists received no proper support from their consular representatives, a circumstance perfectly well known bo the native and other residents, who were not slow to avail themselves of the opportunities thus afforded them, not only to encroach on the rights of the colonists, bu J o to overreach and wrong them in all transactions, great or Bmall. Thirdly, the difficulties of colonists have always been increased by the jealousies of the Latin Convents ; and the subtlety of Italians is directed against the interests of American or German colonists, m which undertakings they always have, directly or otherwise, the active support and cooperation of their consular protectors and allies, who in the Holy Land are in a great measure, and in some instances totally, dependent on the favour and approval of the monasteries and convents for the retention of office. The clerical element on the whole is thus inimical to the colonisation of the country, as they see in such settlement a possible hindrance to their future interests m that, in the colonisation of the country by intelligent and educated foreigners, the natives may become sufficiently enlightened to ceate to regard them with that awe and reverence, and to render to their behests that blind obedience in affairs spiritual and temporal which they have been in the habit of doing for so many years. Fourthly. — Colonists in Palestine since the Christian era seem altogether to have overlooked one of our Lord's most important injunctions to his people, viz., "Occupy till I come." We are commanded to do our daily duties and vocations in this world, using but not abusing it ; for He who made all things knew that we have need of them ; and so long as we seek prospority by honest means and with a view of utilising the good thingsof this world for the benefit of humanity at large, we honour the Lord with the substance of our house. This was a rock on which many colonists &plit, for instead of working to redeem the country from its desolation, and to gather to it the civilisation of the West, which is the glory of the Gentiles, and thus prepare a people and a country meet to offer to cheic Lord when He shall return to claim His own, they were content to sit down and wait for the immediate fulfilment of prophecy, and live on the capital they possessed, great or small, as the case might be. Thus they cut adrift from their duties to God's great family of humanity, believing it, at the save time, to be the most acceptable way of serving God, and the establishing of His kingdom. We may search the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, and we shall nob only fail to find encouragement for the children of the kingdom to occupy such a neutral position in this world, but meet with constant and urgent calls und commands to work and build up a kingdom and prepare a people for the Lord. Alas for those whose daily actions proclaim, " I am not my brother's keeper," as also for tho-e who fear to embark their material, intellectual, or spiritual wealth for the benefit of humanity, hiding their talent in a napkin. " Occupy till 1 come," " Compel them to come in," "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," such should be the watchwords of the heirs of the promise, not only of the clergyman and the missionary, for the Gospel is preached, and the outsiders compelled to enter the kingdom much more eifectually by the unselfish, honest, upright and holy lite 01 the lay members of the Christian Church throughout the world than by the mosteloquentandpersuasive sermons, exhortations and prayers thathave ever been uttered. What, let us ask, have been the results in the past, and what fate awaits those in the future who fail to occupy till He returns ? Simply that such communities gradually end in dissolution, by the absorption of property into the hands of those who originally possessed most capital, or were most shrewd and practical in their transactions. The other members finally become the servants or hired labourers of the wealthy for a mere pittance, or die of disappointment and a broken heart in a foreign land ; or, what is perhaps sadder still, turn their backs on the kingdom of God, and regard the desire they once possessed to work for the establishment of that kingdom as a harmless delusion at best. Fifthly, the colonists have invariably allowed dissensions, petty jealousies, and misunderstanding's to creep ia among themselves ; the natural results of which invariably are that each man begins to work separately for himself, which ends in the progress of the colony as a whole being retarded. Union is strength, and Christ's warning is of equal force at the present day : " A house divided against itself cannot stand." And, finally, the different colonies had apparently no person among them whose interests and sympathies were one with their own, but who at the same time was endowed with sufficiently superior talent, education, energy, force of character, and knowledge of the country, its laws, inhabitants, residents, and their peculiarities, good and bad, to control and develop the enterprise, and to checkmate any opposition from the heterogeneous materials, human and inanimate, with which they came in daily contact, and by which they were necessarily surrounded. A few hints in regard to the economy of Palestine may prove useful to tho&e interested in its restoration. In regard to the productiveness, cultivation of the soil, and climate of Palestine, so much has been written that a few remards will answer our purpose. The change in the productiveness of the country is due to the decay of cultivation, the decrease of population, and bad government. It is man, and not nature, that has ruined that "good land," in which, with the necessary care of the trust given to them, the chosen people were to suffer " no lack," and consequently it is within the power of human industry, enterprise, and honesty, not only to restore the country to its old condition of prosperity, but with our modern advantages to render it indeed worthy of being named the "Glorious Land." The unhealthy character of some of the towns and villages is due entirely to the mode of life of the inhabitants, who act not only with total disregard, but in direct opposition to all sanitary laws and precautions. The unhealthy portions of the open country are due to the want of vegetation. The peasantry receive no encouragement from the Government to plant trees or cultivate the soil, but rather the contrary. The results of such a system are too evident to require further comment. The most successful experiments yet made in agriculture include the employment of the native peasantry. The climate of the country, in its present state, is unsuited to American or European constitutions, and for this reason all attempts to till' the soil by the employment of foreign labourers only are destined to certain failure, as they will, through ignorance of the necessary precautions, sooner or later fall victims to the fever of the country, The native peasantry are naturally a hardy and energetic race, capable of greatendurance. They areaccustomed to the climate from their birth, and if honestly paid for their labour, and properly directed by persons who understand them, they will

work well. They are intelligent and keen enough to detect any attempt on the parb of their employers to take advantage of J their ignorance or oppressed condition, and what is moie natural than the desire to retaliate by taking advantage of the ignorance or necessities of his foreign employer on the part of the Oriental ? The fertility of the soil is marvellous ; for the ' prodigious crops are produced, and have been for the last 40 centuries, without) any of the appliances which are found necessary for succe?s in other countries. In its physical character, Palestine presents on a small scale an epitome of the natural features of all regions, mountainous, lowland and desert and tropical, maritime and inland, pastoral, arable and volcanic. Its position is also a remarkable one. Ib has always been open, by way of the Mediterranean, to all the gradual influences of the rising communities of the West. While cut off from the main land of Asia by the enormous trench of the Jordan Valley on the east, the high ranpes of the Lebanon and the wide chasm of the Litany on the north, the arid and inhospitable deserts of Sinai on the south, ib has been saved from the retrogression and decrepitude which have been the doom ot all purely Ea&tern States, whose connections were limited to the East only. Afc the same time, it may be regarded as a gate, and made the highway to the greater parb of Arabia, Persia, and other portions of Asia from the West. The resources of that portion of Asia, once developed, would well reward the enterprising spirits of the West for the expenditure either of labour or capital. Fifty years ago, postal communication reached the exile from Europe in Palestine once or twice a year. Now mail steamers from different parts of the world arrive daily at the ports of Jaffa, Haifa, and Beirout, and telegraphic despatches can be sent to all parts of the world from any city of note in the country. Fifty years ago the arrival of a foreigner was a matter of* speculation all over the country. To - day the arrival of several hundreds of pilgrims and travellers per diem is no more noticed than the same event would be in London, except as an incentive to the merchant to display his most tempting wares, the hotel- keeper to offer his best accommodations, and the guide to offer his politest services. Fifty years ago no Occidental necessities or accessories to the comfort of life were to be obtained for love or money. To-day the luxuries of Europe and America, combined with those of the Orient, may be enjoyed by any person possessed of moderate fortune. Fifty years ago the population of Jerusalem did not much exceed 16,000. Today we estimate the population at 65,000. Fifty years ago a few Jews dwelt in fear and trembling in their once-favoured Zion. To-day there are from 25,000 to 30,000 Jews clustering- around and within the walls of Jerusalem, and doing the greater portion of the business. Fifty years ago all the consular authority ot the foreign Powers was represented by a single individual, who wasj s not 'acquainted either with the language of the different nationalities ho represented or with that of the country in which he lived. At the present time all the influential nations ot the world are represented in the Holy City, and in other cities by gentlemen of education, polish, and intelligence, and in many instances with the addition of a well-drilled and well-appointed staff of secretaries, interpreters, and other attaches. Fifty years ago there was not a school throughout the country where a child might learn to read even the native language with^ any degree of correctness, and a charitable institution was a thing unknown. To-day, all over the land are to be found schools, in some of which all European as well as Oriental languages are practically taught, in addition to a religious as well as a scientific education. Hospitals, orphan homes, churches, meeting houses, dispensaries, and other noble institutions are almost yearly on the increase. Fifty years ago the foreigner who undertook a journey through the Holy Land did so at the risk of losing his life, (health, or property, without a chance of redress, and was subjected to the greatest inconveniences, hardships, and privations. Today, the hotels, travelling accommodation, and safeguard, all over the country, need only to be tried for their excellence to be appreciated ; and this is due to English enterprise, for the firm of Mr Henry Gaze, of 142, Strand, and the venerable Thomas Cook have done wonders in developing that country and opening ib up to travel in comfort and safety. A tour through Palestine to-day under either is a luxury, for they have left nothing undone that would tend to promote the perfect enjoyment of the traveller, by providing him with the best of everything for a very moderate price. There is one important feature of modern civilisation, in addition to the want of railroads, that is still lacking in Palestine, and that is the existence of a newspaper conducted by and for foreigners. The great changes which have been effected during the past fifty years in Syria and Palestine by the efforts of foreigners, few and feeble as they have been, labouring under the greatest difficulties and opposition, and all, comparatively speaking, poor in this world's riches, but rich in the faith that removes mountains, must prove something. May ib not be that the time has come when the land must again take a prominent place among the countries of the world, and her inhabitants perhaps resume the influence for good which they once exerted over all nations ?