“All the different nations have appointed consuls in Jerusalem, as in anticipation of some very important and general movement; which is regarded with a jealous eye by the Turks, as well as the other European Powers. ‘Britain has had a consul in Jerusalem three years before any other nation, except Prussia; but no sooner did she send a bishop, than France, Russia and Austria sent consuls forthwith; and thus in Jerusalem—which is, in a commercial point of view, but a paltry inland Eastern town, without trade or importance of any kind—sit the five consuls of the Great European powers (as well as one appointed by the United States of America), looking at one another, and it is difficult to say why and wherefore.’ To use the words of Dr. Alexander Keith (1791–1880): ‘A country which for previous centuries, no man inquired after, excites anew the liveliest interest among the greatest of earthly potentates.’”[¹]
[¹] The Land of Israel.... By Alexander Keith, D.D., Edinburgh:... 1843. p. 476.
Having devoted some considerable time to Biblical study, Cresson embraced the Jewish faith, and after his conversion was named Michael Boaz Israel. He founded a colony in Palestine which was one of the pioneer enterprises of its kind.
Meanwhile, the propaganda in England made considerable progress. The Rev. A. G. H. Hollingsworth aroused public opinion and appealed to the British Government for help for the Jews to regain the land of their fathers. He says:—
“Such objects are worthy of the efforts of a great people. These designs are to be brought into maturity by the settlement and the protection of the Jew in Palestine. It is his native climate and home. There he can feel the deathless energies of his race, and the high destinies of his future. He is poor, he is powerless, he is alone; scattered like iron amid the clay of surrounding nations. But let him ask in peace for the common rights of a subject of Turkey, in a country where the very hills have voices to remind him of what he has been and may be; and under the protecting flag of Victoria, he will be able, divinely permitted, to prove himself possessed of heroic virtues in all that makes man great, noble, religious and free.”[¹]
[¹] Remarks upon the Present Condition and Future Prospects of the Jews in Palestine. By the Rev. A. G. H. Hollingsworth, M.A., Rural Dean, and Vicar of Stowmarket and Stowupland.... London:... MDCCCLII. p. 14.
Another famous Englishman, Colonel George Gawler (1796–1869), Governor of South Australia (1838–1841), who devoted his whole life to religious and philanthropic pursuits, was more of a political Zionist, and dealt with the question from the standpoint of British politics. He declared:—
“Divine Providence has placed Syria and Egypt in the very gap between England and the most important regions of her colonial and foreign trade, India, China, the Indian Archipelago and Australia. She does not require or wish for increase of territory—already has she (that dangerous boon) more direct dominion than she can easily maintain; but she does most urgently need the shortest and the safest lines of communication to the territories already possessed.... Egypt and Syria stand in intimate connection. A foreign hostile power mighty in either, would soon endanger British trade and communications through the other. Hence the providential call upon her, to exert herself energetically for the amelioration of the condition of both of these Provinces. Egypt has improved greatly by British influence, and it is now for England to set her hand to the renovation of Syria, through the only people whose energies will be extensively and permanently in the work,—the real children of the soil, the sons of Israel.”[¹]
[¹] Syria, and its near prospects; the substance of an Address delivered ... on Tuesday, 25th January, 1853 ... By Colonel George Gawler, K.H., F.R.G.S., Late Governor and Resident Commissioner of the Province of South Australia. London:... (pp. 48–49).
An anonymous author considers it a sign of the times that extraordinary events are announced to take place in regard to Jews. He is the writer of some of the most beautiful passages in Zionist literature by a Christian Englishman[¹] (Appendix lvii).