“August 1st, 1838.—Dined with Palmerston. After dinner left alone with him. Propounded my scheme, which seemed to strike his fancy; he asked some questions, and readily promised to consider it. How singular is the order of Providence! Singular, that is if estimated by man’s ways! Palmerston had already been chosen by God to be an instrument of good to His ancient people, to do homage, as it were, to their inheritance, and to recognise their rights without believing their destiny. And it seems he will yet do more. But though the motive be kind, it is not sound. I am forced to argue politically, financially, commercially; these considerations strike him home; he weeps not like his Master over Jerusalem, nor prays that now, at last, she may put on her beautiful garments....” (Ibid., pp. 310–11).
In these few lines we see the Zionist problem in its two aspects: Lord Shaftesbury dealing with it sub specie æternitatis, so thoroughly infused with the sense of its dignity that the reader’s imagination is constantly stirred to the same feeling, and Lord Palmerston, the diplomatist, though of opinion that the scheme, constructed in a mist of hazy ideas, aspirations and emotions, required more clearness, yet agreeing in the main and demanding more details regarding the economic and statistical side of the subject. The difference between the two men was this: Lord Palmerston was a great political leader, Lord Shaftesbury was a great Christian.
The Quarterly Review for January, 1839, published a masterly article by Lord Shaftesbury. It is a review and an appreciation of “Letters on Egypt, Edom, and the Holy Land, by Lord Lindsay, 1838.” He writes: “We have alluded, in the commencement of this article, to the growing interest manifested in behalf of the Holy Land. This interest is not confined to the Christians —it is shared and avowed by the whole body of Jews,... Doubtless, this is no new sentiment among the children of the dispersion. The novelty of the present day does not lie in the indulgence of such a hope ... but in their fearless confession of the hope; and in the approximation of spirit between Christians and Hebrews, to entertain the same belief of the future glories of Israel,... In most former periods a development of religious feeling has been followed by a persecution of the ancient people of God;... But a mighty change has come over the hearts of the Gentiles; they seek now the ... peace of the Hebrew people. One of them ... went a journey into Poland ... informs us that several thousand Jews in that country and of Russia have recently bound themselves by an oath, that, as soon as the way is open for them to go up to Jerusalem, they will immediately go thither,... Dr. [Joseph] Wolff (1795–1862) (Journal, 1833)[¹] (sic) heard these sentiments from their lips in the remotest countries of Asia; and Buchanan asserts that wherever he went among the Jews of India, he found memorials of their expulsion from Judæa, and of their belief of a return thither.... In Poland, the great focus of the Hebrew people, the sentiment is most rife that the time is near at hand for the turning of their captivity:...” (pp. 176–9).
[¹] Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff for the year 1831. London:... MDCCCXXXII. (8º. 1 l. + 70 pp. [B. M.])
CHAPTER XXIV.
MEMORANDUM OF THE PROTESTANT MONARCHS
The London Convention of 1840—The new Treaty of London for the pacification of the Levant—Viscount Ponsonby—Reshid Pasha—Lord Shaftesbury’s “Exposé” addressed to Lord Palmerston—The articles in The Times—A Memorandum to the European Monarchs—“Enquiries about the Jews”—The Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums.
We have to go back to the political changes which we indicated in connection with Sir Moses’ activity.
After the Convention which was signed on the 15th July, 1840, in London for the pacification of the Levant, the terms were duly proposed to Mehemet Ali and were rejected on the 5th September. Then the war intervened, Mehemet Ali was obliged to come to terms, and on July 18th, 1841, the new “Treaty of London for the Pacification of the Levant” was signed. Mehemet Ali abandoned his claim to Syria on condition that the Khedivate of Egypt was made hereditary in his family. This was a turning-point of much significance in the history of Palestine. At that moment the Jews might have been able to regain their ancient land, if only they had had an organization for carrying out the plan.
The only country in the world where this idea found influential expression at the time was England. The events in the East were naturally of intense interest to Lord Shaftesbury, and stimulated him to greater activity.