LXXIV.
Petition to the Sultan
The following is the text of a petition to His Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, which was presented by Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P. (afterwards Lord Swaythling), to Lord Rosebery, with the request to transfer the same to Constantinople. The petition was signed by the officers of the Executive Committee and by the Commander and Secretary of each Tent:—
“To His Imperial Majesty Abdul Hamid Khan, Sultan of
The Ottoman Empire.
“May it please your Majesty,
“The undersigned Association of Chovevi Zion (Lovers of Zion) beg humbly to submit to your Imperial Majesty that this Association has been founded to assist a limited number of worthy and industrious Jews to purchase and cultivate land, and to earn their living by agriculture. The Association has purchased some portions of land in your Imperial Majesty’s Dominions on the eastern side of the Jordan, and desires to acquire such other portions of land in the same region as may be for sale, and suitable for the cultivation of corn, vines, fruits, and silk, or to the raising of cattle and horses.
“And the Association desires to send to this land fitting colonists, industrious and peaceable men, provided by the Association with sufficient means to till the land and to erect for themselves houses, and to sink wells and construct roads so that they may be able to reach markets.
“The Association wishes thus to send to your Imperial Majesty’s dominions only such men, with their families, as will with God’s help and under your Imperial Majesty’s protection, increase the prosperity of your Imperial Majesty’s dominion, and become faithful subjects to your Imperial Majesty.
“The Association therefore humbly begs your Imperial Majesty to grant the Association of Chovevi Zion a Firman with the following privileges.