ment would be a gainer every way, were it to invite the immigration of such colonists by granting them considerable immunities. At present it cannot preserve order in Syria; that Pashalie costs money instead of yielding tribute. The Jews would form the nucleus of an industrious, orderly population, consisting of men who have been trained to live as citizens—who know the value of domestic peace assured by laws—and are not likely to become the tools of ambitious Pashas aspiring to independence. In the present temper of the Jews, a large body of immigrants might apparently be attracted to Palestine, were the Ottoman Government to enter into a definite contract with them and induce England—or a Committee of European Powers—to become guarantees for its observance.
The British public was intensely sympathetic to the idea of Palestine for the Jews. The Times of March 9, 1840, reported an earlier memorandum to the Powers suggesting the restoration of the Jews to Palestine. The Times of August 26 printed this memorandum in full, together with encouraging replies from most of the sovereigns addressed. It also contained a letter by 'An English Christian' appealing to the British people to buy Palestine for the Jews.
Henry Hawkes, on the occasion of the Chief Rabbi Herschel's death in 1842, preached a sermon on the Position of the Jews, 'speaking comfortably to Jerusalem' and claiming for them equal rights of citizenship.
The time is ripe: no ungenerous policy, no exclusive irreligion can stand against you. There is a moral power, accumulated, ever more accumulating, that will work with you in the bosom of our own Christian nation, philanthropists the most mighty in divine energies. Let not our past injustice discourage you; we are ready for better things: work with us to their accomplishment.[1]
Herschel himself had figured in 1838 in Henry Innes's 'Letter to the friends in Scotland of God's ancient people the Jews, including a correspondence with Dr. Herschel the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Synagogues in London'. Innes believed in 'Israel's
- ↑ Position of the Jews. A Sermon, by Henry Hawkes (London, 1843).
