ing and peaceful race of original owners; yet we never hear this urged as a reason against colonisation in Africa. The whole population of Syria at the present time, in an area considerably larger than Wales, does not probably amount to half the population of London. The only city which can be so called -Damascus-contains not much more than 200,000 souls. Beyond Jordan the nomad population, in a region thickly covered with the ruins of towns, vineyards, and olive-yards, with ancient roads and other public works, averages only about seven souls to the square mile. That the country once supported ten times its present population there is abundant evidence, from the ruins which date from the prosperous days of Roman and Byzantine rule. Even under the Norman kings the population was probably much larger than it now is. The country itself attests that there is room and to spare for another million of inhabitants. The impression that Palestine is an unfertile country is probably due to the fact that most visitors travel through its least fertile and most rugged parts. Deserts fringe the Dead Sea, and the chalk plateau to the south of Beersheba is fitted only for pastoral existence in the present condition of its water-supply. But, speaking generally as to climate, fertility, and productions, Palestine resembles the south of Italy, which is called from of old the "Garden of the World." In our own country we have stony regions, barren hills, and pastoral wolds, yet England is not regarded as a country unfit for agriculture; and even now, under the most unfavourable conditions, Palestine is still a land of corn and wine and oil.

That the Jews are not an agricultural people is a more serious

consideration.

They have themselves denied the imputation, and there can be no doubt that one main reason why their attention has been directed to trade, rather than to tillage, lies in the laws which from the middle ages downwards have prevented them from acquiring land. It is agriculture that they now propose as an occupation for their colonists, and at first there would be little scope for other occupations. It is, however, undeniable that once settled, successful agriculture must bring in its train mechanical occupations, industries, and manufactures, and trade with other lands. There is much scope for improvement in mechanical appliances, in architecture, and in commerce, even now; and for a thousand years or more Palestine has been a silk-producing country, the first establishment of the silk-worm in the time of Justinian having been in Cyprus, and on the Syrian coasts.

The final objection, which stigmatises the present movement as "enthusiastic," is one which commonly meets any new proposal. That a deep religious sentiment lies at the hearts of the Hebrew people, cannot be denied. Each year at the Sabbath of "the beginning" they pray that "next year we may be sons of freedom"; but such a sentiment is no passing wave of excitement, though stirred at present more deeply by the troubles of their brethren in Russia. The reports of recent meetings show, moreover, that sentiment alone is not the motive of action. A very practical sense of impending difficulties; a very practical determination to co-operate and to organise; to inquire as to means and possibilities; and to weigh advantages and disadvantages, is to be recognised in the remarks of their speakers, and in

the steps taken by their committees. It is strange indeed to hear the Jews accused of an enthusiasm which disregards practical considerations, and thought less capable than others of considering what is best for themselves.

The idea of colonising Palestine is not a very recent one even among the Jews themselves. In 1878, a series of letters on the subject were asked for and published by the Jewish Chronicle,' and excited some general interest among its readers. Shortly afterwards the late Mr Laurence Oliphant took up the subject, and incorporated in his scheme some of the suggestions published in these letters. The result of his efforts, and of his inquiries in Palestine, are embodied in his 'Land of Gilead,' which contains much practical information on the subject. But there were two difficulties not then to be overcome. The first was the refusal of the Sultan; the second was a very general opinion that the region which he was led to suggest namely, the hill-country of Gilead beyond the Jordan-was too remote and difficult of access, and too little protected from the incursions of nomadic tribes. Both these difficulties appear likely to be in time overcome. The Sultan may grant to influential Jewish capitalists what he refused to a single Englishman. The construction of the projected railway from the Mediterranean to Damascus may bring the Land of Gilead within a few hours of the coast. This line has already been surveyed along a route pointed out in the before-mentioned letters in 1878, which, crossing the Plain of Esdraelon, descends into the

Jordan valley by an easy and open valley, passing south of the Sea of Galilee, and gaining the plains of Bashan by a natural ascent. It thus would skirt on the north the very healthy and well-watered region of Gilead, with its oak-woods, running streams, and ancient ruined cities, and would cross the great corn plains of the Hauran, where a rich volcanic soil already produces corn for exportation.

A second railway, already in course of construction, is intended to make Jerusalem accessible from Jaffa. It crosses the plain of Sharon and reaches the Jewish colony at Artûf, whence it follows a great ravine leading up to the capital of Southern Palestine. In the centre of the country the old capital at Shechem is yet more easily to be reached from the coast, though there is no natural harbour near it, the small port made by Herod at Cæsarea being now silted up. As regards other lines, it is to be feared that those proposed by Mr Oliphant would present considerable engineering difficulties, though in time the connection with the Suez Canal might be expected along the sea coast through Gaza. The main difficulties which have long delayed the making of railways in Palestine have been political and financial rather than mechanical. It seemed impossible that a railway could pay if it depended on the actual population and on the annual visitors to the Holy Land. A sudden increase in population would alter the case; and at the same time the railways, as the pioneers of civilisation, would render possible the occupation of lands which, in future, will be

reached by a few hours' journey, instead of several days of toilsome march, with pack - animals or camels.

The corn plains of Bashan, though deficient in water-supply, have always been celebrated for their produce. The inhabitants of this plateau are now mainly Druze and Arab; but the ruins of ancient cities of the Roman period attest that the whole region once supported a much larger population. Some trouble may perhaps arise with nomadic tribes; but this is a decreasing difficulty, and the power of the Sultan's Government in this region is already stronger than it was twelve years ago, when Mr Oliphant was in Gilead. If such colonisation, and such opening up of the country, be effected, Palestine may become a very important source of corn-supply for England. It is less remote than Russia, and could easily compete with India, since the heavy dues of the Suez Canal would be avoided, and the sea passage would be halved. The introduction of better agricultural methods, and the increase of corn-growing area, would make the export trade much more important than it is at present; and the dry climate of Bashan and Gilead is perhaps healthier than that of any other part of Syria, with exception of the southern pastoral deserts. Those who seek to induce colonists to settle in the waterless tracts north of Bechuanaland, or in the feverish regions of the Imperial East African Company, have much less to offer than have those who seek to repopulate an ancient centre of trade and agriculture, such as is found in Palestine. far as climate and productive soil are concerned, there is no physical reason why Syria should not be equally prosperous with Southern

As

Italy, and richer than Greece, or any other region on the east of the Mediterranean. It is a question merely of gaining the consent of the Sultan, and of finding the necessary capital, and both these conditions the Jews are setting themselves to fulfil.

In spite of all that has been written on the subject, the popular conception of the Holy Land appears to be that it consists of sandy plains with palm oases, and of barren mountains entirely stony and incapable of cultivation. It is commonly believed that a curse rests on the land, and that the rains have failed, and the plains no longer bloom with flowers. Some indeed have ventured to assert that this curse has quite recently been withdrawn, and that the rains have begun again, these things being the sign of the return of the Jews which is to follow. The truth is, that we have now meteorological observations in Palestine, which show that the climate has been unchanged, at least for the last twenty years; and that the rainfall is equal to that of other Mediterranean lands, though years of drought do still occur as of old. Those who have looked down on the glorious carpet of flowers which covers the Jordan valley in spring; who have heard the wild doves cooing in the oakwoods near Nazareth, and have seen the roebuck stealing through the glades of Carmel; who have ridden by the mountain brooks of Gilead, among the forests of pine and oak; who have seen the corn on the red Sharon and Galilean plains; who have crushed the thyme on Samaritan hills, and sat in the shady gardens where the fig, the olive, the mulberry, the apricot, and many other fruits are grown, well know that the "good land" is a good land still.

The

The

curse that hangs over Palestine is the curse of unjust and unwise government. It is the oppression of the peasant that has ruined agriculture, and made a field of thorns of the corn - field. greedy pasha, the unjust judge, and the farmer of taxes, have been the instruments of wrath. Nature still offers us corn and wine and oil from broad plains and green mountain walls and shady olive-groves; but the tithes, the taxes, and the blackmail of the tax-farmer's guards swallow all the profit which an industrious population might gain from their toil.

If, then, such schemes as those now proposed by the Jews are to succeed and it seems impossible that when less desirable regions are being occupied by the overflowing population of Europe, Palestine alone should remain empty-it is necessary that precautions should be taken against such abuses, so that the fruits of labour may be for those who toil. It is not possible to hope that the Sultan would permit such a system as exists in the Lebanon to be extended to other provinces, though it has worked well, and made the Lebanon Government a pattern to other Turkish administrations. It is certain that he would regard with suspicion any proposal to bring under the eye or the guardianship of European Powers a country whose inhabitants are chiefly Moslem, and which contains, at Hebron and Jerusalem, two of the chief sanctuaries of the Moslem faith. But it is not necessary that any such proposals should be put forward; all that is required is that the colonists should receive valid titles under Turkish law to their holdings, that the boundaries and rights should be carefully defined, and that the crops should not be assessed standing-which is the

greatest of existing abuses-but should be tithed in the grain, and the money paid direct to the Constantinople exchequer, without any of those deductions which local authorities and contractors are accustomed to make. It is also necessary that a proper police should be established, and that the council and leaders of the new settlements should receive recognition similar to that which is already accorded by the Government to the Chief Rabbis in Jerusalem. Against such proposals the official class in Turkey might perhaps set its face; but without them prosperity is not to be expected, though existence may be possible. They entail no matter of principle contrary to Koran law, and no derogation of the rights or dignity of the Sultan.

The attitude of Jewish owners towards the present population of Palestine is equally important. The Moslem peasantry live at peace with both Jews and Christians, much as they did in the days of the early Khalifs ruling at Damascus, or when El Mukaddasi in the tenth century, under Moslem rule, complained that the Christians were too powerful, and "unmannerly in public places." It is the foreign agitator who is the cause of massacres. Men of different religions, who have lived side by side for centuries, and have been forced to hold communication with one another, subside as a rule into good-natured contempt, rather than into bitter fanatical antipathies. To the Turkish Government the task is allotted to govern them all, and this is done rather at the expense of the Moslems than at that of the Christians. The recent wars, though perhaps bringing heavy charges on the Christian population, actually diminished the Moslems, who went forth to

die on the Balkan snows, or to meet the Russians in Armenia, and for the most part those who so were taken away never returned. The Moslem in the country in Palestine is less fanatical than of old, and less confident in the power of Islam: treated with ordinary justice and honesty, he is never impracticable, and is willing to buy and sell with Christian and Jew, though cursing them in his heart as pagans. Thus, as before said, the object of the Jews should not be to dispossess, but to utilise, the existing peasant population; remembering, however, that injustice or trickery will be resented finally with violence, and that the only method which in the end can succeed is to allow the peasants their share in the prosperity due to their work, and to respect that ancient code of social law which is contrasted by them with the injustice of government, and often called by them "the Laws of Abraham." It is only on such principles of just dealing that the new-comers can consider themselves likely to be successful, or even safe from a combined action of the Moslem population. Such arrangements have often been made, and more than one district can be pointed out in Palestine where a Moslem population works cheerfully for Christian or Jewish landlords, much as the natives of India work under British rulers.

Some difficulties which do not present themselves to the minds

of Europeans will perhaps arise among the Jews themselves, on account of the provisions of the Law, and the rules laid down in the Talmud. Thus the observation of the Sabbath year, according to the Mishnah, is strictly applicable only to the Holy Land itself. In Syria, beyond the borders of Galilee, it is less

strictly applicable according to this ancient authority, and in other countries it is not applicable at all. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that this law, like those concerning the Passover and the Red Heifer, refers to a condition of the Holy Land when the Temple service was still possible. So long as the Temple remains in its present condition, the customs of the Jews in Palestine do not appear substantially to differ from those which they observe in lands of exile. The whole system of the Law, as it once existed, awaits the coming of the Messiah before it can be re-enacted.

Whatever be our religious opinions on such a subject as that of the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers, it will perhaps be seen that the subject is quite capable of being treated from a non-" enthusiastic" point of view. One of the main objections applies quite as much to South Africa as to Palestine-namely, the tendency which exists in all such cases to gamble in land, to sell and resell, to make the landed possessions of the speculator a mere counter in a game of considerable duration, during which time nothing is done really to stock or cultivate the country. There is only one means of counteracting this evil, which has been equally felt in America -namely, to make occupation and improvement the only valid titles to the land given to a colonist. By such means the really earnest workman may be secured, and the speculator diverted to other countries, where (as in South Africa) he may grow rich by selling deserts which he has done nothing to reclaim, and holds through a title obtained by cajoling a native chief to sign that which he could not understand,