Now, it is clear that these things are set afloat by interested parties and circulated by ignorant ones, and they are gladly believed because it would be gratifying to the world at large to see this land of ruins regenerated, and at least fitted for the abode of men if not for the coming of the Messiah, either of the Jews or the Gentiles. But in the main these accounts are not true, and they have become of late so rife and mischievous that there appeared in a late issue of the New York Christian Advocate the following rejoinder to them all, from an authority well-known to our Church and the nation, and which, we need hardly say, puts a very different face on the matter:

JEWS RETURNING TO ZION.

We have just clipped from a religious journal the following article on the return of the Jews to the land of their fathers, and the improved condition of Palestine, which contains so many statements calculated to mislead the public, I deem a correction necessary:

"Meanwhile, a railroad stretches over a part of the Holy Land; the scream of the iron horse echoes among the hills and valleys where the old prophet long ago uttered his prediction of a chariot that in the great preparation day of the Lord would run like lightning. There are also two hundred and fifty Protestant Churches worshiping among the sacred hills; and seven hundred and sixty children in the Sunday-schools of Palestine ring out the very hymns and songs that our children know and sing here in America. Baron Rothschild, at the time of the last loan of two hundred million francs made to Turkey, accepted a mortgage on the whole of Palestine. Owing to the Jewish immigration, the population of Palestine has more than doubled during the last ten years."

"The

The facts are: There is not a railroad in all Palestine. scream of the iron horse" has never broken the deathly silence that pervades the land. There is not an American missionary in the Holy Land, nor a Sunday-school; but one Protestant Church in Jerusalem, another outside the walls, and one at Nazareth. The Jewish population has increased during the last few years, but the population of the country has more rapidly decreased. The Jews have no intention of re-occupying the land. They go there to die, not to live. No Jew around Jerusalem owns or cultivates an acre of ground. Baron Rothschild has no mortgage on Palestine. He could easily purchase the country if he wanted it, but he does not covet it. The Jews of Europe and America will never return to Palestine unless forced back at the point of the bayonet.

F. S. DE HASS,
Late U. S. Consul at Jerusalem.

Now, harsh as these assertions may seem, they are corroborated by other authorities that we might quote, and by frequent correspondence from the Holy Land on the part of intelligent and disinterested observers. And it may now be well to consider the present condition of the country, and obtain a candid view of the real efforts that are being made by various parties to improve the condition of things in Palestine; for there are many eyes turned thitherward in holy zeal and with a hope, almost forlorn, to be able by degrees to regenerate the land. But we need hardly say that the day has gone by, if it ever existed, when men of sound mind went thither as ordinary emigrants, in the hope of bettering their condition and making a fortune. When Canaan was the fertile land of milk and honey we can comprehend why foreign nations regarded it with longing eyes and desired to pitch their tents and guard their flocks on its plains. But at present the soil will not, certainly does not, support one tenth of the population that then lived in plenty. The mountains are at present without forests, and, being scorched by the sun, are poor in running streams. Their sides were once made fruitful by terraces of rich earth, which long ago by neglect were allowed to be washed down by the rains into the water-courses, so that one sees every-where little else than bald and barren precipices. The fig, the olive, and the grape, once the glory and support of the land, are now so meager and so poor as to have lost much of their value and fame.

The country possesses three large and fertile plains, which might be made the sources of great wealth. But the valley of the Jordan lies fallow because of the inertness of the government in superintending its irrigation, and what little is now produced is quite likely to become the spoil of the nomadic and thieving Bedouins. The plain of Esdraelon and the plain skirting the sea are still valuable, even with their primitive mode of cultivation; with a generously renewed soil and a modern style of culture they might be made mines of wealth. The natives, however, will make no effort to improve the condition of the land and introduce new methods, and strangers can hardly live there on account of the deadly fever. The Mennonites, who leave Russia in large numbers to escape military duty, and who are just now coming to us, for awhile tried the plain of Sharon along the sea, but in the course of a

year so many of them died of the fever that the rest gath ered up their effects, sacrificed what money they had invested, and came away.

The cultivation of the land by the native peasants-the socalled fellahs-amounts to merely enough to keep them from starving. If they produce a bushel of grain more than they need for their direct wants, it is taken from them by the Turkish taxgatherers, who are experts in extortion. The extreme poverty of the poor natives is their only protection, and so the land lies neglected year after year. In the line of industry there is not any more encouragement: there is no market for their products, neither in the back country nor on the coast, for there are no ports for convenient export. All the ancient artificial harbors are in ruins, with one exception, that of Jaffa, which, though sufficient for the small sailing craft of ancient days, cannot accommodate the steamers of the period; these sometimes, therefore, lie for days before Jaffa in a storm, waiting to land passengers, or they carry them past to other ports to be taken back to Jaffa by some returning vessel that may have better weather and consequently better success.

There is only one passable road in the country—that which leads from Jaffa to Jerusalem-and it is going to decay. It was made some nine years ago, and has been neglected ever since. For a time there was some talk of a railroad on this route from the port of Jaffa to Jerusalem; but the French company that proposed it did so as a matter of speculation, and as soon as it was seen that it could not be made to pay, the project was abandoned. No enterprise, indeed, can be carried on that needs fuel, for there is but little to be had; and therefore manufactures that depend on it for steam power, as well as railroads, can have no success. Consequently camels are still the main means of transport for what little merchandise there is, which, indeed, scarcely extends beyond the olive-wood wares from Jerusalem and the mother-of-pearl work from Bethlehem. Even these industries are far from lucrative because of the active competition caused by the excessively narrow sphere for industrial labor.

These are clearly no very attractive conditions, and one is, therefore, surprised that men are ever inclined to go thither as emigrants, to better their material condition; and, indeed, none have done so except a few visionary enthusiasts, like the

Adams Colony, which emigrated from Maine a few years ago, but quickly fell in pieces, some of the colonists returning home, charitably assisted to do so by our authorities, and a few remaining to eke out a precarious existence as guides and dragomans to American and English visitors. Those who go to stay must have some stronger motive than that of making money. The Jews go in religious fanaticism, many of them to live and die as recipients of charity, if not as paupers. All the efforts that have been made at times in this country to get up colonies of Jews for Palestine have failed. The Israelites of this country know well enough that for them the Land of Promise is to be found in our large commercial centers, which have for them more attractions than Jerusalem itself. The only power that moves them thither is religious enthusiasm; not even persecution can do it, for they put up with every thing rather than desert their rich opportunities in the great cities of Europe and America. The present irritated feeling about the Jews in Germany will not send one of them to Palestine. Those who go thither are impelled by religious motives only, and of these there are not many in comparison to the thousands scattered about the world.

For the last few years about four hundred have gone thither annually, as our consul says, "not to live but to die." These are mostly from Russia, and they come not so much to avoid military duty as to flee from the conflicts with their own brethren-the Reform or Progressive Jews. The strife between the Orthodox and the Liberal Jews often becomes so bitter as to divide families and introduce the greatest antagonism. The adherents of the Talmud would rather leave their homes than endeavor to live in peace with those who follow the dictates of the Cabala. The Russian and Polish Jews are extremely strong in their prejudices, and nothing can move them from their purpose. They believe that the kingdom of the Messiah will soon be re-established in Palestine, in accordance with the words of the prophet, and those who are there will be received with rejoicing. This hope to them is a magic power, and if not fulfilled during their lives, they will at least have the pleasure of laying down their bones in the valley of Jehoshaphat, whence they can see the coming of the Lord to judge the heathen and all oppressors of their people. And

therefore are found among them so many old and decrepit men, who simply come to spend the evening of their days on the sacred mountain, and pray, and be buried, in view of the site of the ancient temple.

The present condition of the Jewish colonies in Palestine is any thing but desirable. They are forced for protection to reside together in certain fixed settlements. Nobody likes them, and they could not settle anywhere at random; Oriental Christians, as well as Moslems, would persecute them, for Oriental Christians are experts in intolerance. There are now in the Holy Land about twenty-one thousand Jews, who live mostly in the rabbinical cities-Jerusalem, Saffed, Tiberias, and Hebron. About fifteen hundred live in the commercial centers, but the largest number is to be found in Jerusalem-thirteen thousand. These differ very greatly in costume and speech, according to their origin. Half of them are Spanish Jews, who took refuge here when expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. In language, appearance, and dress they all betray their southern origin. The so-called German Jews are mostly Russian, Polish, or from the Danubian Principalities. They are very tenacious of their costume, even to the fur cap, though in a warm southern country. Many of them are slovenly and filthy in appearance, and well calculated to inspire disgust at sight. One sees the same type at all the great fairs of Germany and Russia. Then there are some five hundred hailing from Northern Africa, who are in reality Arabs, and thus resemble the natives. But each of these groups has its national peculiarities, and they all have their antagonisms. The only national bond is the Hebrew tongue, which all male Jews must understand.

The Jews are mostly confined to their own quarter in Jerusalem, as they are in all the large cities of Europe; they are now, however, inclined to infringe on the Christian quarter, and especially to extend their district outside of the gates. But they largely tend to herd together and live in densely populated houses, partly for the reason that they may have access to the same cisterns for water, in the use of which they are forced to be very economical; indeed, many of them live almost without air, light, or water, and the result is a great mortality from fevers and other diseases, induced by uncleanly