THE JEWS AND THE HOLY LAND,

Otago Witness, Issue 1323, 7 April 1877, Page 6

THE JEWS AND THE HOLY LAND,

(from our own correspondent.) Edinburgh, January 18th. In a recent letter I mentioned some facts to show that the re-settlement of Palestine by the Jews is progressing at the present time in a remarkable manner, and I promised on another occasion to send some further particulars on the .same subject. This promise I now proceed to redeem, merely adding, by way of preface, that I shall not in this article deal with the religious aspects of the question. These I leave untouched, not! because I undervalue their importance, but because you would probably regard' them as not altogether suited to your columns. I begin by reiterating the statement made by me in my former letter, viz., that it is a fact entirely beyond dispute that the Jews are steadily returning and settling ia the land of their fathers. There is a mass of testimony to establish this point, from that of the venerable Sir Moses Montefiore, down* ' wards. I cite a couple of the most recent witnesses. Mr William Knighton, writing

in the Times of 26th ; December, 1876, says : — " During the early part of this year I was in the Holy Land. Everywhere, from Dan to Beersheba, I saw evidence of the .renewed energy and activity of the Jewish race. As a people the Jews „ are flocking back to the land of their forefathers in, great j>numbers from all the countries of Europe. ;In Jerusalem and its neighbourhood particularly, every plot of ground , for sale' .is eagerly ' bought up by them." The second witness is the Rev. James Neil, 8.A., formerly,incumbent of Christ, Church, Jerusalem., Mr Neil has just published an interesting : book < devoted to the consideration, of this subject, and as it contains 'the' most; recent and .complete, as well . as -most' reliable information, I shall refer largely to it. On pages 8 and .9, he says :— 'STlie 1 ' last four or five years have witnessed a return of the Jews to Palestine from all -parts, ' but more especially from Russia, .which has been altogether unprecedented. The Hebrew , population of Jerusalem! is now probably' double what it was some ten years ago. < . . . . Great accessions still continue [ daily ; and whereas ten years ago" the ' Jews * were confined to their own quarter in';Jera :1 " salem, the poorest and worst,' they .now in- : habit all parts of/the city, and are always ready to rent "any house that is to be;, let. Notwithstanding this happy, change, want,, of accommodation still - being felt, build-,; ing societies have been 1 formed. .• and > many of their simple tenements are how rising outside the* city, to the; north-west. . .• . Moreover, the' Jews in -.' Palestine are certainly acquiring possession of landed property in the villages and coun- , try districts." Mr Neil explains that it is ' very difficult to get accurate statistics ot the number of the Jews in Palestine, .partly, because they have. a superstitious dread of a census, and partly because they would have to pay more by way of poll-tax to the Turks 8 ' j if their numbers were fully known. l From' f numerous enquiries made on the spot;, how- ~ ever, he estimates the .number of Jews in Palestine- proper at about 30,000, of whom half reside in Jerusalem.', The Jews of Sidon, Beyroufe, and Damascus hie reckons at ( 7000 or 8000, more. Under the circumstances , the country being ruined, depopulated, 1 arid > uuder. the brutal and ignorant government of Mahomedah Arabs— 3o^ooo is a large num- ' ber, and considerably exceeds the numbers ' of any other civilised nation in the Holy' Land. __ ' ■- "\ /.,"■, \" l ; i :' : c .;.; j The causes of this return of the Jews, to , Palestine, as .stated by Mr Neil: and other authorities are two, viz.:— New land. laws ' affecting Palestine, and new laws of military:* service in Russia. To these M 'Neil adds a ! third, whose influence can be less definitely. '- determined, T.iz,, new civilisation throughout the 1 East. ■ Since June, 1867, 'i([has been p,ossL v ? ble for others than Turkish subjects ito hold land under a legaTtitle, f andTthy. J,e^;iavej> ; not been slow to avail themselves of ,jie,,' privilege; some of them having bought wholevillages; with thousands of acres of «land around them' ' One man has an interest in ■ the lands of as many as 15 different villages. Irithe second' place, since 1874" Russia' has adopted the .German system of military service, by which every male in, the Empire is obliged to serve in. turn" in tiie! r arniy. t - This ia especially .distasteful to 'the I, Jews, who e are--not a martial people,, 1 added Yto which, Russia being their chief persecutor, '. they are lees willing to fight in tve r ranka of ' her armies than in those of the armies of any ' other Power. : ;t The -third cause has marii- ;' fested ' itself , principally in v the lejssening'j of r ill-treatment ; of the Jews by tneir Moslem masters, owing to' the; spread of ' European ; civilisation, '„ and -the establishment ofi-Euro-pean consulates _in [Palestine and Syria, r , . In connection with the* 'settlement of Palestine, I must not omit to make mention ' of the survey of the country, which is now ' "drawing near completion. , It has been' con- ~ ducted by English and American Engineerofficers, supported by funds, raised by tthe. Palestine Exploration. Committee: ; -Theisur- • vey is just about to be resumed,: after a year during which work in the. field has t been » suspended, though the time has been used in '■ reducing to a practical form the observations previously taken/ With ordinary weather, >■ and if not again attacked, as last year, by ; the ignorant Arabs, the survey"party r hope t . to complete their oat-door labours in 1 two years at the farthest. They .also propose to .'* clear out and restore, Jacob's well When. , the survey is completed, it will be of c the greatest value in the settlement of the country, whether by Jews or Gentiles, - andY this has evidently but just begun. ' - w Thta leads me to say that Gentiles as , - well as Jews are settling' in Palestine in considerable numbers. Among «> others,^ about 1000 Germans, from Wurtemberg, have settled at Jerusalem, "Jaffa," -and k Haiffa, where they • are ; engaged in trade '. and agricul'iure. -They call themselves " The [ Society of the J Temple^" but by others' are popularly, known as " Hofmannitea," leader being aDr Hofmann. They hold peculiar religions - views, though these are ' quite tree from all extravagance, and they seem to be a' very quiet, respectable set of people. Among other things, they believe that a great temple will soon be built 1 by > Christians 'of all nations at Jerusalem, and they accordingly teach all " their children some handicraft, 'in order that . they may be ready, when the time comes, to . take their part in the erection of this building. The Russians, too, have a firm footing in Palestine. As was well remarked the other day- by a writer in one of the London papers, the Russians have, under the guise of a convent, erected a fortress at Jerusalem, ■ occupying a commanding .position. Great ' numbers of Russian pilgrims annually visit 1 the country, and not a few Russian officers have made themselves well acquainted with it, with a view to military contingencies. , Here, too, I must remind your readers of what I formerly wrote regarding the project of the construction of a Papal .railway to connect Jaffa and Jerusalem.- I say advisedly a "Papal railway,"- because the undertaking has received the Pope's blessing (I quote from a letter of the Roman correspondent of the Times) "chiefly for the reason that Catholics only are to be called upon to aid in an under takingof so'muchinteresttothem." The promoter oE the scheme is an Italian engineer, named Pierotti, and ita professed object ia to aid and increase the number of ' Latin Convents, &c., in the Holy Land. In - connection with this scheme, however, it is interesting to note a work ' entitled "La

P»p»nW a Jerusalem," by the Abbe" Michon, in which the -writer advocates the removal of the Pope to Jerusalem as a "neutral place, free from all the political complications of the West." The Abbe adds that this proposal was actually made to the Papal Government in 1855, during the Crimean war. ,He says :—": — " Entire liberty of action was guaranteed to the Sovereign Pontiff at Jerusalem, and the means of sustaining his high dignity in an honourable manner was promised him. A railroad from Jerusalem to Jaffa would have rendered the communication of the Papacy with Europe as rapid as from Rome itself." Possibly this scheme may yet be carried out, if the railway is constructed as proposed. I now quote, foom the Scotsman of the sth January, the following surprising paragraph, which appeared in its special London coirespondence: — " I learn on good authority that Palestine is virtually in the market, and may at any moment become the property of the highest bidder. lam informed that an Armenian has arrived in London with power from the Turkish Government to negotiate the sale of the Holy Land. This gentleman hopes that among the wealthy Hebrew capitalists of this city he may find a pur* chaser. Although this announcement reads like a passage from one of the most sensational of Dr Cumming's sermons, persons on whose veracity confidence may be placed, allege that it is strictly true." The information emanating from this source is usually exceedingly reliable, so that the above paragraph should not be simply laughed at as a newspaper "yarn." Besides, the possibility of the Turks in their' extremity resorting to some such means as this of raising money has been adverted to in general quarters lately. Mr Knighton, for instance, in the letter already quoted above, suggests this very thing, and asks why a republican or sacerdotal Government might not be established in Palestine, paying a tribute to Turkey- like Servia or Roumania, but in all other respects independent. Certainly the Turks would lose,. nothing, save perhaps prestige, by such a course of action, for Palestine adds nothing to their revenue in its present state of misgovernmenfc, and the conscripts who were taken from it to fight against the Montenegrins in the recent campaign proved worthless cowards. When the Montenegrins charged them, they covered their fanes with their arms and allowed themselves to be cut down like sheep ! So wrote the special correspondent of the Tunas. At present it may — and does — seem premature to talk, like Mr Knighton, of a "republican or sacerdotal government;" but now-a-days such unexpected things happen, and events march with such astonishing rapidity, that one dare not pooh* pooh the idea as visionary. What Palestine most pressingly needs is a just and stable government, able to put- down' the brigandage which is rampant throughout the land. , ' This want will never be supplied as long as the Turks rule the country, so that until they are succeeded by come government worthy of the name the regeneration ©£■ Palestine mu3t be a comparatively slow and fitful process. That Russia, too, would object to. any other; power than Turkey, or er en the Jewa .themselves, governing Palestine, is certain. The superstitions of the great ignorant mass of the Russian people are too much concerned in such a matter to render it doubtful that they would be fanned to. fever heat by the adoption of any such policy a*, that, indicated. At present the Russians -are the bitterest enemies of the Jews, not only in Russia itself, but in Palestine, where the Turkish. soldiers alone - prevent the Russian pilgrims from perpetrating acts of ' violence on- the Jews in Jerusalem and other places, whither the pilgrims resort. Inclosing this article, .whose purpose, has been mainly to draw attention to the subject with which it deals, I must also briefly note the fact that everywhere in Europe the Jews are . bestirring themselves to increase their political influence. -This is especially the case in Austria, Italy, Turkey, and Germany, while in England, too, they are displaying an energy in regard to matters political which has never before been witnessed in this country. Not a week passes, in fact, without the activity of the Jews in endeavouring to secure an amelioration of the condition of their fellow-Hebrews, in Europe or the East, being brought before the notice of a regular reader of the newspapers. , Your readers will, therefore, do well to keep their eyes alike on Palestine and on the doings of the Jews. Everything seems to point to both the country and the people playing a prominent parb in the great drama whose commencement only has been seen during the past year in Turkey.