THE JEWS AND THE TURKS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 195, 22 December 1876, Page 7

THE JEWS AND THE TURKS.

The zeal wlncli the Jews have shown on the side of the Turks in the present war in the East, has been explained in various ways and on various grounds. Hatred of the Christians has probably played no inconsiderable part in determining their feelings to the side of the enemies of Christianity. Besides, the amount of plunder carried off by ' the Turkish marauders, and which they are too happy to sell to any dealers who would let them have a trifle of ready money in return, naturally enlisted the sympathies of a" multitude of Jewish pedlars on behalf of their Turkish customers. The other day, the correspondent of the Times announced that thousands of Jews followed the Bashi-Bazouks in Bulgaria and Servia, and bought at low figures the loot which these ruffians had | carried away from the murdered and outraged villagers. Even this, I however, was insufficient to throw light on the general impartiality of - the Jewish race and the Jewish journalists of Europe, from Mr. Disraeli to the editors of the Daily Telegraph and the Neve Freie Presses for the Ottoman cause. Perhaps the following paragraph tuny contribute towards th« elucidation of the question. It is well known that the Jews look to the recovery of Jerusalem with the most unshaken longing. In every synagogue, the prayers for restoration to Sion form a part of the regular religious service. The rumor has long been current that the Turkish Government has been under very heavy obligations to the Jewish bankers, and tl.at it is Jewish loans which enable the Pashas to maintain the present war. It would seem that in return the Jews are exacting a. form of recompenso doubly grateful both as a concession to their national feeling and a tiiumph over the Christian religion, to which they attribute all their misfortunes. 'The Jewish Herald states that " the last four or five years have witnessed a return of the Jews to Palestine from, all parts, butmbre 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 quarters in Jerusalem, the poorest and worst, they now inhabit all parts of the city, and are always ready to rent any house that is to bo let/— Liverpool United Irishman.' ,

Mgr. Dupanloup, in noticing that the Pope would send hia blessing to republican France under the same conditions as those under which he would send it to monarchical France, makes the point that it is "only Protestants, Greeks, and Mussulmans who confuse religion and government,"