Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure

by C. R. Conder

Yet, though the tall hat excites feelings of such reverence among Syrians, it has never occurred to the native Christian to discard in its favour the dark red tarbush with its long tassel, nor could the Moslem ever be expected to substitute this Western costume for the venerated Mukleh, which is the emblem of the faith of Islam. We can hardly imagine anything more incongruous and absurd in appearance than an Oriental in flowing robes, with red slippers and embroidered shawl, bearing on his head the glossy silk hat which constitutes part of the full costume of the Englishman; and among a grave and dignified people, no person of character or position could be found to disgrace himself in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen by such buffoonery.

Costume in the East is at least as indicative of habit and character as are the garments on which the “clothes philosophy” of Teufelsdroch was based, and all who have travelled in Moslem lands must be aware that the “Prophet’s Turban” is sacred in the eyes of the Moslem as the emblem of his faith.

Nevertheless we have witnessed during the last two years since the present volume first appeared before the public the efforts of European powers directed with much energy towards objects which are in effect indistinguishable from an attempt to deck the figure of Oriental despotism with the garb of Western constitutional government, to impose the ideas, the laws, the customs, and the government of European Christianity on people to whom both the motives and the methods of such a condition of society were naturally repugnant. We have seen men ignorant of the law of the Korân claiming to dictate as to the administration of justice. We have seen officers, unacquainted with the languages of Asia, charged with the delicate business of investigating complicated cases of fraud and oppression. We have witnessed, in short, honest efforts to redress wrong, and to protect the weak, rendered abortive in great measure by reason of an entire misconception of the character and the customs of Oriental peoples.

In England we are well aware that philanthropic and religious motives are among the causes of the interest which is so widely felt and expressed in the future of the Holy Land, and of Asiatic Turkey in general. Yet we must remember that in the East we are never likely to be credited with any such incentives to active interference. That England may covet the dominions of the Sultan, that certain strategic positions in Syria may be of immense military value to ourselves as the rulers of India, may be considered probable by those who discuss our policy in Levantine towns. That the Christians are bent on the reconquest of the land, which—as nearly every ruin in Palestine witnesses—was once under their rule, is devoutly believed by the Fellahîn and the Arabs. But that any unselfish desire to better the lot of the poor and oppressed, or any sentimental wish for the prosperity of the Holy Land, should influence the action of a busy and practical people, is an aspect of the case which the Syrian would find hard, if not impossible, to believe; and which has, moreover, not been rendered more intelligible by the proposals which have been made for the remodelling of a Moslem state on the basis of a Christian and occidental government.

It would seem strange that at a time when the attention of Europe is riveted on the Eastern question, Syria should have so entirely escaped any political notice, were not the reason—namely, the sensitiveness of the French nation regarding any interference with the country—perfectly well understood as accounting for the very marked silence of diplomatists on the subject of the future of the Holy Land.

That Palestine must, in the event of any struggle on the borders of our Indian Empire, become a region of great military importance to England is not only well known and easily demonstrated, but has been practically confessed in the acquisition of Cyprus as a military base for any future action on the Levantine coast. Until, however, such necessity arises, we appear unlikely to see any very active political interference on the part of England in Syria, nor have we indeed any plea for such action so long as the number of British subjects and of Protestant communities continues to be as insignificant as it still is in the country.

But though English political action appears only likely indirectly to affect the fate of the country in the great crisis of the downfall of Turkish supremacy, it cannot be doubted that a very keen interest in the future of the land is felt among all the religious classes of our own country. We have had many schemes presented to us for the amelioration of the condition of Palestine, for colonisation, for railways, for the promotion of agriculture, and for the acceleration of the return of the Jews.

It may, however, be doubted whether, unless by conquest, the destiny of a country can be affected by the philanthropic aspirations of a foreign race. It may be considered more probable that a national impulse or native revival would be the means of restoring prosperity to a rich but neglected region, rather than the benevolent efforts of private societies formed among a people alien in race and in religion, and but little acquainted with the motives, the wishes, and the manners of those whom they desire to aid.

It is proposed then, in conclusion of the present volume, to add a few words on the subject of Jewish and European colonisation, on reformed government, and on the natural future of the Holy Land as it appears to be now developing.

As regards the proposal to give Palestine to the Jews, which has primâ facie an appearance of justice and good sense, two great difficulties are practically found to intervene. The first has already been noticed in the last chapter. The Jews are not an agricultural people, and the main resources of Palestine are, on the other hand, agricultural and pastoral. That the Jews should resume the position which they once held as a dominant race, ruling the Canaanite rural population, whose descendants have never been expelled from the land, but are found, as we have already seen, holding unchanged the customs and superstitions of the aboriginal inhabitants, whom Thothmes and Joshua successively subdued, would be perhaps a possible occurrence; but we find among European Jews no great anxiety to quit their prosperous avocations in a civilised and peaceful country, in order to undertake less congenial and more hazardous employment in a wild country, where the mass of the people and the government are alike prone to hatred and injustice towards the Jew. The second obstacle in the path of those who wish to encourage Jewish colonisation is the suspicion, which is thus not unnaturally excited among Jews, that a desire to proselytise and to convert to Christianity those whose temporal prosperity is the ostensible care of the Christian promoters, lies hidden beneath the surface of such schemes. The Jews are aware that they can find all the energy, the ability, and the wealth necessary for the successful prosecution of such a project among their own people, and they see no true motive for an external attempt to induce their return to Palestine, other than a vague hope that it may conduce to their final conversion to the religion of their philanthropic friends.