HISTORY OF ZIONISM
1600–1918

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History of Zionism

1600–1918

BY

NAHUM SOKOLOW

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

THE Rᵀ. HON. A. J. BALFOUR, M.P.

WITH EIGHTY-NINE PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Selected and Arranged

By ISRAEL SOLOMONS

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL I.

LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS

1919

PREFACE

In this work an attempt is made to deal with a considerable portion of the history of Zionism that has hitherto been very imperfectly explored, namely, the origin and development of the Zionist idea principally in England, and partly in France, during the last centuries, among Gentiles and Jews.

In reviewing the gradual evolution of the Zionist idea over such a wide field, I could not restrict the meaning of the term “Zionism” to the Zionist Movement and Organization of the present day. I had to go back to the beginning of this idea, and to extend the meaning of “Zionism” to all aspirations and efforts tending in the same direction. There was in these aspirations, undoubtedly, a diversity of reasons and methods which continues to this day. It is the object of the present work to trace these various currents of the idea so that the reader, passing from period to period, and from section to section, may become acquainted with their relative value and their influence upon one another.

In this book I have striven more especially to consider the attitude of the English people towards Zionism, as revealed in the political history and in the literature of England. The Christian religious idea of the Restoration of Israel having been a subject of pre-eminent interest and importance and an influential factor in shaping public opinion in this country for many generations, the greatest care has been bestowed upon the investigation of this aspect, no less than on that relating to the support and encouragement which Zionism has received in England and in France merely on humanitarian or political grounds, apart from religious aspirations.

While tracing in detail the growth of these sympathies, I have endeavoured to throw some light on the motives and sentiments appertaining to the most significant instances on record. I had, therefore, to deal with a great variety of subjects which, at first sight, may seem somewhat remote from the main object of this book, but are after all closely connected with it, as for instance:—

The Biblical character of the English People;

The Bible in English Literature;

The Love for Palestine in England, and

English Politics in the Near East.

Concerning the last-mentioned subject, it is perhaps necessary to explain why I was compelled to deal at such length with the Wars and Treaties of 1839–40, of 1853–54, and The Lebanon events of 1860, etc. It can hardly be too often repeated that Zionism has to consider political conditions, and that its realization depends much on the general political situation. It is for this reason that it is necessary to devote much attention to all the events which have more or less determined English policy, and have influenced—in a favourable or unfavourable manner—the evolution of the Zionist idea. The events of 1839–40, for instance, were responsible for the extension of English protection to Palestinian Jews; those of 1853–54 caused a revival of Zionist schemes: The Lebanon developments of 1860–61 created a precedent in Syria for the Charter which modern Zionism included in its programme; while England’s engagements in the Near East in 1878 and 1882 on the one hand, and the Turkish Revolution of 1908 on the other hand, both of which, in different ways, led to the idea of a rejuvenation of the East, indicate the possible course of future events.

Taking the same view with regard to Zionism among the Jews themselves, I had to deal with the expression of different aspirations of that character in their successive and gradual evolution, no matter how they were named. From what is stated in the following pages, it is obvious that Messianic traditions and hopes led to the efforts put forth for the colonization of Palestine; but it is also evident that colonization requires political guarantees. Modern Zionism cannot be fully understood without the movement of the Chovevé Zion = Lovers of Zion , neither can it be properly appreciated without a knowledge of the influence of Hebrew literature, national propaganda, the movement at the Universities, and other preparatory agencies of great importance. Some readers will be more or less familiar with the most important events in connection with the Zionist Organization, but so far as I have been able to discover there are very few Zionists who have ever endeavoured to trace the history of the Idea. Hence, while the Zionist Organization and its institutions have, naturally, received special attention, an exhaustive examination of the history of the Zionist Idea has been no less necessary. The fact should not be overlooked that Zionism has its external and its internal aspects, its material realities as well as its spiritual character; and that the outward form of Zionism is the consequence and not the cause of the inner spirit. A real knowledge of Zionism presupposes an acquaintance with its intellectual sources. I felt, consequently, that a history of Zionism on broad lines must include a survey of the creative forces underlying the Zionist Idea.

In writing the history of Zionism as evolved principally in England and France, I do not intend to imply that the history of Zionism in any other country is unworthy of study. A history of Zionism in other countries would, no doubt, prove of the greatest interest. But it will be apparent that in England the Zionist idea has the oldest records, while as far as practical help for colonization is concerned, France is the great centre. In view, however, of the world-wide character of the Zionist Movement, I could not confine myself exclusively to these two countries, and had to deal briefly with such subjects as Zionist literature, colonization work, Zionism at the Universities, and the Zionist Organization in Palestine, Russia, and other countries.

In a single book, which deals with a vast mass of facts and with records extending over a period of nearly three centuries, it is impossible to do more than indicate in very general terms the nature of the different currents and variations of the fundamental Zionist idea. It would be a tedious, and indeed an impossible task, to attempt a full examination of the mass of material accessible in the form of literature and personal reminiscences. It would require several volumes. While, then, the magnitude of the subject prevents me from attempting to present my case with absolute completeness within the limits of this work, nevertheless it is sufficiently important to justify the endeavour to summarize its most prominent features. I shall indeed be thankful if my work succeeds in disposing of the most important points I touch upon. This book has not been written with a view to Zionist propaganda among the masses. But the propagandist may be able to make use of some of the material and reproduce it in popular articles and pamphlets. The book may also prove of interest to those who have the will and the patience to study the problem of Zionism more deeply. Students with the inclination to examine more closely into the subject will find the necessary indications in the text, as well as in the Appendices and the Indexes.

I have spared no pains in my endeavour to obtain the best sources of information and to secure accuracy, and have also made every effort to consult all the literature bearing upon the subject, making liberal use of all material accessible to me. I have given the authorities for my statements wherever possible, so that those who may be desirous of investigating the subject more fully may have an opportunity of judging for themselves as to the credibility of the evidence upon which my conclusions are based. It is almost certain, however, that small mistakes have crept in occasionally, and I shall be grateful for any corrections which may at any time be indicated to me by readers. This will be particularly the case with regard to the records dealing with the workers in the various countries, the movement at the Universities, and so forth. It was in some instances difficult to select names, and I have been under the necessity of omitting some just as important as those which I have recorded. And in connection with this part of my work I had very little literature, and it is quite possible that my memory has failed me in respect of the order and details of certain facts and events. But I hope that such errors can be easily corrected.

As regards general treatment, the subject presented the usual difficulty in the choice of a chronological or analytical method. In a strict chronological arrangement things of a similar character would often be widely separated, and the chain recording a certain development would be broken. In the other arrangement the points appertaining to the influence of a particular period would be obscured, and the survey rendered difficult. I have therefore combined as far as possible the advantages of both methods, and have endeavoured to avoid their drawbacks. I have arranged the material chronologically for every subject, but in order to explain activities connected with one another, I have often had to take a retrospective glance at an episode or a personality.

The elucidation of Zionist aims, with special reference to the present situation, is, apart from several allusions to it in the text of the present volume, mainly dealt with in the Introduction. The whole history, and particularly the Introduction, is, as I am perfectly aware, written from the Zionist standpoint. A historian should, it is true, put aside party interest. But nobody not himself a Zionist could penetrate into the kernel of Zionism, because one cannot fully comprehend any spiritual phenomenon without feeling it within himself. Those who have no experience in Zionism may have their opinions, but they are invariably found to be ignorant of the more minute features and finer points which are essential to a faithful portrayal of Zionism. Zionists, on the other hand, may be partial, but they are certainly better informed. Anyhow, I have endeavoured to be just to the best of my ability.

To Zionists themselves this history needs no recommendation. The records of an ideal of thousands of years for which the best of our nation have laboured, struggled, suffered and died cannot fail to interest most profoundly those who have inherited their principles and continue their work, thoroughly convinced that it is in harmony with humanity and justice, as well as with Jewish tradition.

Having said so much, I need only add one word of explanation concerning the term “Jewish Nationalism,” which is frequently used in this book. “Nationalism,” generally speaking, is a modern description of certain political parties and schools, which stand for an exaggerated racial self-consciousness. It is difficult to define this word without importing into our thought the idea of the contrast between broad-minded humanity and tribal or national exclusiveness and hostility towards other nations. This, however, would be an extremely unfair rendering of what we call “Nationalism” in relation to the Jews. In the present book, as indeed in the whole of Zionist literature, the word is used without any reference to narrow-minded exclusiveness, and it stands only for the recognition of the national character of the Jews in so far as they are an ethnic, historic, and cultural unit in the Diaspora, and in so far as they aim at a revival of their full national life in the land of their fathers. Obviously, this idea has nothing in common with what is usually called “Nationalism.” This distinction must always be borne in mind.

It is now my pleasant duty to express my grateful acknowledgments to colleagues and friends who have so generously and zealously assisted me in the preparation of this work.

Mr. Elkan N. Adler has kindly allowed me to take extracts from the correspondence that passed between his father, the Very Reverend Chief Rabbi Dr. Nathan Marcus Adler, and Sir Moses Montefiore, Bart., concerning the Holy Land.

Mr. Leon Simon has made many valuable suggestions, and most generously devoted considerable time to the reading and correcting the proofs.

I am, however, particularly indebted to Mr. Israel Solomons, who revised the chapters of the first volume, added considerably to the biographical and bibliographical details, and volunteered to see the work through the press.

He also placed at my disposal his unique collection of books and tracts on Anglo-Judaica, and having decided to illustrate the book, he generously undertook this part of the work, giving me the benefit of his great knowledge and experience and furnishing from his many portfolios rare portraits and other engravings. He also devoted much time and energy in procuring from sources far and wide the illustrations deemed necessary, when not in his own collection.

N. S.

N.B.—All Biblical references have been taken from תורה נביאים וכתובים The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic text. A new translation with the aid of previous versions and with constant consultation with Jewish Authorities.

Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America.

London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited. 5677—1917.

THE AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION

The Zionist idea has two distinctive features. On the one hand there is nothing in Zionism which is not more or less found elsewhere. The Promised Land, Jewish national distinctiveness, the future of the Jewish people—these ideas exist in Judaism and in Christianity. They go back to the remotest past; they take, during many generations, a thousand forms—sentimental, practical, sublime, even mystical. In Modern Zionism we find them all. On the other hand, while the elements of the older Zionism seem familiar, the total effect of Modern Zionism is that of something new and strange. The reason is that there is something in Modern Zionism which stamps it as unique, and raises it far above all older ideas and aspirations. Some of the old ideas of the Middle Ages about the restoration of Israel would nowadays be hardly acceptable. But the same ideas, when we see great masses of Jews inspired by them and aiming at their realization, become attractive. The same holds good as regards details.

In the Zionist programme every point of the old Zionist idea is preserved, but everything is modernized. Modern Zionism is the logical consequence of Jewish History. It does not appeal merely to old memories, which, however noble and moving, cannot be permanently sustained; it works by simple, intelligible means, by means of a Renascence. This Renascence kindles enthusiasm, renews courage, awakens in the heart fresh fervour and stimulus to action.

Zionism has tradition to support it; but if it were simply a thing of antiquity, it would perish; if it were simply a matter of history and not of living experience, it would be relegated to the sphere of archæology. Zionism, although old, like the Jewish people, thinks freshly and independently on Jewish subjects. The roots of Zionism are in the past, but its blossom is in the present and its fruit in the future. The reason is simply that everything really Jewish must be bound up with history. Zionism is, first of all, undoubtedly a great historical idea. It is a simple matter of fact that Israel’s history begins with Zionism. Israel’s history in ancient times shows the path to the realization of Zionism. The exodus from Egypt was an example of combined emigration and colonization. The Jewish people entered Canaan, occupied lands, and in a few generations became a glorious nation. The return from Babylon was a great Zionist event, without any supernatural miracle, dependent only on the grace of God and the approval of Cyrus the Great. The Jews who returned from Babylon were only an insignificant minority in numbers, but they were inspired, and therefore they succeeded in founding a centre, and that centre, Palestine, became a new light for Jews and Gentiles. In fact, the favourite idea of Modern Zionism, the idea of a spiritual centre in Zion for the whole Diaspora, the focussing of a pure Jewish life in Palestine, the creation of an intellectual and moral reservoir, from which a stream of influence should flow all over the scattered nation, and waves of Jewish inspiration and knowledge should spread in all directions, making the little land a metropolis of Judaism in religion and life—was not this Zionist programme laid down and carried out in the intentions and achievements of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah?

In after years Jews went forth as emigrants to all parts of the world. They submitted to the laws of the various countries, and were capable of adapting themselves to surrounding circumstances. Wherever they went they carried with them their God and their traditions, their literature and their customs, nor did they ever forget the old, holy home which they had left.

This faithfulness is one of the most stirring and pathetic facts in the history of the world; it is the most sublime fact in the history of the Jews. The Jews never forgot Jerusalem, its ruined walls, its shattered palaces, its former grandeur, its old associations; they never forgot the old land and its desolate fields. This feeling never depended on individual Jews, it depended on the whole Jewish nation.

The Jews never forgot their old nationality. They never forgot that they were a nation apart, distinct in morality, in learning, in literature, in social arrangements and in agriculture: a civilized nation at a time when Western civilization was still unknown. For two thousand years after the loss of political independence, they believed with passionate intensity in their future as a nation in Palestine. While they were mingling with the world around them, no temptation, whether the hope of material success or the still more irresistible force of emulation, could withdraw them from their allegiance to the future. No inducement, however powerful, no suffering, no martyrdom, no agony could make them forget the sacred debt they owed to God, to their ancestors and to themselves. They always considered it their duty to be members of one great family, bound together not alone by a common past, but by a community of undying ideas, aspirations, and hopes for a national future. They remained unmistakably true to their duty. This strong conviction is deeply rooted in the hearts of millions of Jews. It is an unbroken chain stretching from the dawn of Jewish history through all generations from Abraham to our own times. This unshaken belief, which kept and still keeps together the Jews all over the world, is the quintessence of all Jewish prophecies, from Moses to Malachi, of all Jewish teaching, from the men of the Great Synod to Maimonides and to the present day.[¹]

[¹] See Appendix i: The Hebrew Prophets and the Idea of National Restoration.

This idea of a national future for Israel is the essence of all Jewish prayers, from the time when the “Eighteen Benedictions” were composed to the last of the Paitanim. It is the keynote of all Hebrew poetry, old and new, from the holy Psalms to the inspired poems of Jehudah Ha’levi, and from Jehudah Ha’levi to the living Hebrew poets of our own day. This everlasting, all-absorbing and unconquerable idea of a national future is absolutely Jewish. It has accompanied the Jews from the cradle to the grave. It is the secret of their long existence, which has no parallel in history. It has nothing to do with nationalistic tendencies and currents among the Gentiles in modern times. It existed as well in times of distress and misfortune as in times of prosperity. It was never the invention of individuals; on the contrary, there can be found occasionally the expression of individual views, in passages of little importance, which reveal a somewhat different standpoint. But the Jewish people as a whole, including even the most extreme sects, such as the Karaites and the Samaritans, remained faithful to this idea.

From an historical point of view, to speak of “Germans, Hungarians or Turks of the Jewish faith” in order to describe the Jews simply as persons of a certain religious faith similar to Protestants, Catholics or others, is nothing short of defying authentic history and hard facts. The Jews do not form a State within a State, as some anti-Semites maintain; but they are undoubtedly an old historic nation within other nations, an old nation which has outlived Egyptian Pharaohs, Assyrian Kings and Arabian Khalifs. That they at present do not live in their own land, but are scattered everywhere, that they have become acclimatized in different countries, and not only conform to their laws but belong to their most loyal citizens, that fact does not in the least alter the truth of our assertion. With a few unimportant exceptions Jews marry among themselves, and as far as the majority is concerned maintain their racial and historic peculiarities. Moreover, their entire religion abounds in historical ideas and national reminiscences. They can by no means be compared with Catholics or Protestants: there are French Catholics and German Catholics, English Protestants and German Protestants, but the Jewish religion has been a religion of the Jewish nation alone for thousands of years.

It is only in quite modern times that a kind of opposition to this idea has begun to find expression in some Jewish quarters, influenced by the general tendencies of the end of the eighteenth century, and chiefly represented by the so-called Mendelssohnian school. This opposition has been intensified to a certain extent, since Modern Zionism came into being with its clear programme and its up-to-date character.

The principal points of this opposition to the Zionist cause are the following:—

1. The Spiritual Character of Judaism.

2. The so-called Mission of the Jews.

3. The Progress of Modern Civilization.

4. The Duty of Patriotism, and

5. The Problem of Equality of Rights for the Jews.

The slightest examination of these objections shows that they are partly based on misunderstanding, and partly mere verbal criticism, which in no way affects the essence of Zionism.

1. It would be absurd to suppose that Zionism denies the spiritual or universal character of Judaism. Zionism does not worship “tribalism.” Far from it. Jewish religious doctrines are of value to the whole world, and their ethics undoubtedly tend to unite humanity. This is a truth so evident as to need no confirmation. But Jews are not ghosts; they are human beings, and they have to look upon Judaism in a human sense. And the human sense is that Jews, notwithstanding the spiritual character of their teachings, are, like any other ethnic group, a species of the genus homo, a distinct people united by their origin and by their common history. “God,” said Mazzini, “has written one line of His thought upon each people, and consequently each is to bring its gifts into the market-place of the world’s good.” In this sense Zionists are Nationalists: they look forward to the gradual and ultimate triumph of all national types, including their own. There is no reason for humanity to deny this natural right to the oldest nation of the world, and no justification for the Jews themselves to commit a sort of national hari-kari because of the spirituality of Judaism.

2. The Zionist conception of a living nationality, with all universal qualities, yet living and distinctive, holds good also for the idea of the Mission of Judaism. Frankly, Zionists do not like this idea as a justification of the Jew’s “right to exist.” But what exactly is the meaning of a mission of a people? This uncertain phrase of a mission of a people, the mystic form in which the knowledge won by a retrospective observation of history is expressed, the idea that a given people in a given way has influenced the development of the human moral system. In fact, this mode of expression confuses cause and effect. It presupposes that definite tasks are assigned to a nation beforehand and that it exists and acts with regard to the solution of these problems. The truth is, however, that every nation creates definite phenomena in the history of civilization, whilst it lives and acts as it can and must owing to its natural conditions and the influence of its surroundings. A nation has no other mission but to live and to develop fully all its latent capacities. Without intention and consciousness it then fulfils quite alone a rôle in human history. An oppressed, persecuted and despised Jewish people is worthless to humanity; a free, strong, happy Jewish people becomes a useful partner in the task of the progress of the whole human race. The co-operation in this task may be called a mission. In any case, this mission will certainly not be fulfilled by a Jewish people harassed by persecution or absorbed by assimilation; but, on the other hand, it may be fulfilled by a national self-centred Jewish people. Let us suppose that there are prospects of a “Jewish Mission” to spread far and wide the moralities that were revealed to the Jewish nation at the foot of Mount Sinai, to influence humanity by teachings given them and by examples which they are called on to offer. Surely, though such a mission may perhaps be carried out to a certain extent in the Diaspora, if circumstances are favourable and if the Jews themselves do not amalgamate and are not absorbed by others, it can be carried out best and most completely from a Jewish centre, from a Jewish Commonwealth living in that land from which the spirit of Judaism first passed into morality, into human society and institutions. There this mission will be on firm ground. Thence came the Divine literature, which has affected all subsequent literature, all hearts, all minds, and all studies. From Palestine the light of the Jewish genius will shine forth again with the light of a modern civilization according to the ideas and teachings of the Prophets. This will be the most efficient instrument of propaganda, because it will be the clearest manifestation of the real Jewish spirit and activity.

3. The progress of modern civilization has come to be regarded as a sort of modern Messiah for the final solution of the Jewish problem. Zionism considers this conception superficial and misleading. “Modern Civilization” is one of those vague, indefinite expressions which convey to the mind ideas large enough, no doubt, but still very nebulous, very indistinct. But our age is a mystery-dispelling age. Somehow during the last generations mysteries have become fewer and fewer; the light of truth has become more penetrating. Men begin to know what “modern civilization” is in its separate and distinctive aspects. “Modern civilization” connotes advanced thought, domestic comfort, railroads, telegraphs, telephones, airships, and many other things of the kind. It connotes the development of those rich physical resources by which man is surrounded; it connotes also guns and super-dreadnoughts and submarines, diplomacy and power. Zionists do not see how this “civilization” will become a Messiah for the Jews; they do not see how this “civilization” will solve any human or national problem. They see that in spite of all the admirable achievements of modern civilization something is wrong. Indeed, except for technical improvements everything is still lacking. One must go back and seek again the proper fountain-head of that real civilization, of that culture of the heart, whose triumph will be the “new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” If any one idea running through all the teachings of the Jewish prophets, and embodied likewise in the teachings of Christianity, is needed nowadays, it is the doctrine of Love and Justice and Truth.

Where are these ideals? We have seen all the Demons of Earth, all the Powers of Darkness let loose. The signs on Belshazzar’s wall appear again on the wall of modern civilization: Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Never at any time has a crisis more momentous impended over humanity. Never at any time has a gloom more heavy darkened the world. Never did humanity long more than nowadays for Truth, Justice and Liberty, for the salvation of small, disinherited and oppressed nations. We all hope that good will come out of evil. But this good will not come automatically out of “Modern Civilization.” It will come from that Universal and National Justice to which Zionism appeals.

4. Of greater apparent importance is the question of Patriotism. But in reality, so far as Zionism is concerned, this is no question at all. It was an offensive and insulting question asked by anti-Semites: “Can a Jew be a patriot?” It is equally insulting to ask: “Can a Zionist be a patriot?” As a matter of fact there are no conflicting sentiments to be reconciled; there is only one sentiment: loyalty. A selfish materialist will never be attached to the old home of his fathers, nor to his present country. His maxim will be: Ubi bene, ibi patria. On the other hand, a man of character will as easily combine two objects of loyalty as he easily and naturally combines the love of his country and of his family.

The heart of the Jew beats warmly for the country in which he lives, the land in which is the home of his childhood, the school of his boyhood, the household of his mature life: the land in which he labours in his busy years, and in which he expects to rest when his struggles are over. No Englishman can love England better or labour for it more zealously than does the English Jew. The child will never forget the fostering warmth of the breast on which it has rested in happier days. This is natural. And Zionism has never interfered with this feeling. Zionists are as faithful patriots as non-Zionists: they work for their native lands, they sacrifice their fortunes and their lives. Even in countries where Jews have been deprived of the rights of citizenship they have been active as citizens, not only in war-time, but also in peace-time. There is no body of individuals more loyal, more charitable, more anxious at all times to do what they can for the country and to promote to their utmost its industry, arts and sciences. There is not the slightest difference in this respect between Zionists and non-Zionists. Zionists do not know or care whether it will please anti-Semites to recognize Zionist patriotism or not. It is equally impossible to know whether anti-Semites will recognize the patriotism of Jews who are not Zionists. Against sheer prejudice nothing can be done. But among Jews themselves and broad-minded Gentiles this question of the incompatibility of Zionism and patriotism should be eliminated at once on account of its manifest absurdity.

5. The question of equality of rights is another problem out of which anti-Zionists have endeavoured to make controversial capital. The Russian Revolution, with its recognition not only of individual but also of national equality of rights in the country where of all others this problem was most acute for the Jews, has taken the ground from under their feet; and we are no longer called on to treat seriously the contention that there is any sort of incompatibility between the Zionist claim for recognition of Jewish nationality and the claim of the individual Jew, wherever he may be, to be allowed the privileges, as he is ready to fulfil the duties, of citizenship. There is, in fact, unconscious humour in the attempt to reduce the problem to a sort of alternative formula: “Either rights or Palestine,” and therefore choose for yourself! “Hic Rhodus, hic salta!” This is surely the very height of naivete. Such a dilemma is a senseless invention. Every student of Jewish history knows that if there has been and if there is persecution of the Jews or any limitation of their rights, this has not been, and is not because the Jews were or are Zionists or non-Zionists, Orthodox or Reformers, and so on. One might more easily find some connection between anti-Semitism and the assimilation of those Jews who endeavoured to amalgamate too quickly. But even this point is irrelevant. The Jews must not ignore themselves, and ignoring themselves would not help them to get rights. The more they respect themselves the more they will be respected. And what is the self-respect of an ancient nation? Self-respect is faithfulness to one’s own history and traditions. There is no duality and no alternative. There is only one Jewish problem that requires solution. There is only one Justice—to man and to nations. Justice will consider Jewish needs; injustice will be deaf to any demand. Weak-minded and nervous people feared that Zionism which recognizes the Jews as a nationality will allow the anti-Semites to reproach us triumphantly as having no native land. Weakness of mind and nervousness are bad counsellors. The anti-Semites did not wait for Zionism in order to brand us as having no fatherland. The Christian peoples, however, amongst whom we may presuppose a sense of justice to exist, will believe us when we speak thus to them: “We Jews are true citizens of the States to which we belong. All interests of the country are also ours. We have no single interest which is opposed to any interest whatsoever of our country. We are strong and of deep feeling, and are attached therefore with more than ordinary love to that spot where our cradle stood and where the remains of our ancestors are buried.”

This self-reliance is of the essence of Zionism. Zionism is a Jewish programme. It is a Jewish programme because it requires of Jews courage, initiative, resourcefulness, tenacity, will-power and sacrifice. For Jewish emancipation the most important condition is that others should be humane. For Zionism the most important condition is that Jews should be Jews, adhering with tenacious consistency to this truly national idea of their own. In the first case the real work has to be done by others; Jews can do very little, their rôle being chiefly passive. They may be persecuted or not; they may get rights or not. Essentially it depends on many factors outside their influence and their control. But Zionism is essentially an active Jewish programme. Zionism is real Jewish self-help. Zionism tends to make the Jews creators, not creatures of conditions and situations.

Zionists, like all Jews, are fundamentally optimists; but theirs is no mere “wait and see” optimism. Confidence in the Future has been the curse of the Jew. Confidence in “Progress” as an idol has been blindness. Away with idols! Jews have to take their cause into their own hands, for God helps those who help themselves. First of all, they have to look on the general situation of the world and on that of their own people as it is. They have also to read the signs of the time. Time does not stand still. We are no longer at the end of the eighteenth century. The fundamental character of the present age is clear. This is a Nationalist age.

Zionism looks at the 2000 years of the Jewish tragedy in the perspective of national justice. The Jewish problem is essentially (and independently of the necessity of human rights for the Jews everywhere) a question of national homelessness.

The world has been passing through a period which sometimes seems like a nightmare of blood and ruin, and sometimes like one of the greatest eras in which man can be called upon to live. All over Europe, almost all over the world, the storm of the greatest and most terrible war in history has burst with the fury of a thousand volcanic eruptions and a thousand hells. Flourishing countries have been reduced to heaps of smoking ruins. Vast fields have been saturated with the blood of millions of men. Large masses of population, almost whole peoples, have been ruined or driven out of their countries.

But, after all, peace will return to the troubled world, that peace which will be peace indeed—the peace of security, of justice for great and small nations everywhere. The present Armageddon is succeeded by new problems and their solutions. We are facing political, economic, and, above all, national problems. It is plain common sense, and needs no argument, that all present developments tend inevitably to accentuate afresh and emphatically historic traditions, claims and distinctions. There will be difficulties in settling all these questions, but all such difficulties will be overcome by determination and necessity. Plenty of work will have to be done, for it may be long before the set-back which the war has given to the progress of the world is made good and the effects of this cruel destruction are obliterated. But this work will be achieved sooner or later. The whole energy of Governments and nations will have to be devoted to reconstruction. At last the ploughman will return from the battlefield to the cornfield, the tradesman from the camp to the market, and everybody to his old home and business. Every nation which possesses a country of its own will be restored. They will make a slow or rapid recovery from the ills and losses of the war. Finally, the shattered agricultural, domestic, industrial and spiritual lives of the people will be re-established.

Now, among all the battlefields and graveyards of the war, there is not one to be compared with the battlefield of the Jewish Ghetto in Eastern Europe. Millions of Jews have waded through seas of blood and tears. Towns and villages have been dyed with their blood. The Jews have sacrificed their trade, their fortunes and themselves. The flower of their manhood has been lost or mutilated. The sources of life have been cut off, every link of the chain of existence has been broken. Their schools and spiritual centres are no more. The sword of Damocles is suspended over the heads of the survivors. Starving and ruined communities are trembling on the edge of the precipice.

And what has the future in store for these millions? What will be the outcome of this terrible crisis for the disinherited and homeless masses? Where are the fields to be cultivated by them again? Where will they be able to convert spears into pruning-hooks? They are in the air. Have all their sufferings been for naught? Will the Jewish masses have to migrate again to England and to America and elsewhere, to face the world again as mendicants and “undesirable aliens”? Much Jewish benevolence is uselessly diffused, losing itself in the sands of vain or ill-directed effort, and most runs to absolute waste. With all these diverse floods of unutilized kindness and brotherly love that yearns to help but lacks the means and knows not how to put an end to the suffering, the situation remains unchanged.

There is a solution for this problem. This solution is Zionism. Give to the Jews a footing on their own soil, house and home of their own! Palestine (and gradually the thinly populated neighbouring districts) can become a great outlet for Jewish population: Palestine can again be made to “blossom like a rose,” and be capable of supporting a great population as in the glorious days of David and Solomon. Vast tracts of the so-called Syrian Desert are only regions deforested, and wherever the hum of men comes peacefully, the arid soil bursts into life. The plains of the Hauran, the villages of the Jordan, and the land of Gilead would form one of the richest and largest food-producing areas in the world.

Palestine can again become a centre. Napoleon I. and Alexander the Great, in their days, recognized this country as the key to the gate between West and East. The latter won it and penetrated to the Punjab; the former failed and had to go home again. But whatever value Palestine possessed in those days is immensely enhanced now by the vast extension of European civilization and industry over Africa, Australia, India and all the East, and by steam power, railways, the telegraph and the Suez Canal, which have shortened distances, and made the world so very small in comparison with what it was before; so that Palestine is now ten times more valuable and is suited by her position to become a blessed and happy country.

Now the present situation is full of possibilities and significance. Great developments have taken place in connection with the old home of the Jewish nation. This is the hour of the Zionist. The time has come to act. History will condemn the Zionists if they do not use their present opportunity. But what can their activity be? The reply has been given by the Programme of Zionism, the Basle Programme, adopted at the First Congress, in 1897:—

“The object of Zionism is to establish for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law.

“The Congress contemplates the following means to the attainment of this end:—

“1. The promotion, on suitable lines, of the colonization of Palestine by Jewish agricultural and industrial workers.

“2. The organization and binding together of the whole of Jewry by means of appropriate institutions, local and international, in accordance with the laws of each country.

“3. The strengthening and fostering of Jewish national sentiment and consciousness.

“4. Preparatory steps towards obtaining government consent, where necessary, to the attainment of the aim of Zionism.”

In constituting the organization for the purpose of carrying out this work Zionists are animated by one desire, namely, to establish a centre in the home of their fathers, where Jews shall earn their bread, and where the soul of the nation can be active in its own way. They wish to combine a judicious use of Jewish energies with the forces of Jewish capital and Jewish emigration. By means of these efforts they will lift some of the masses out of the Jewish homelessness of the Diaspora to a new level of material contentment and moral dignity in Palestine.

Zionists have started this work, and it has proved to be good work. The Chovevé Zion and Zionists have created the new colonization of Palestine. They are engaged in selecting suitable elements, in conveying them, in helping them to establish themselves, in supplying them with all kinds of information and encouragement. It has been said, and is still being obstinately repeated by anti-Zionists again and again, that Zionism aims at the creation of an independent “Jewish State.” But this is wholly fallacious. The “Jewish State” was never a part of the Zionist programme. The “Jewish State” was the title of Herzl’s first pamphlet, which had the supreme merit of forcing people to think. This pamphlet was followed by the first Zionist Congress, which accepted the Basle Programme—the only programme in existence.

The opposition, driven from one point of vantage to another, has made a certain confusion of ideas, arising from the term “political Zionism,” a pretext for decrying Zionism as a “political” movement. Zionism, it is true, is a political as well as a practical and a cultural movement. But wherein lies the political character of the movement? The term “political” covers two different conceptions. One is connected with the idea of adventure, intrigue, rivalry, antagonism or revolt; the other is that of a system which takes into account political conditions. A political movement in the first sense aims at carrying out its undertaking on the lines of political speculation; but a political movement in the second sense, like Zionism, aims at carrying on its work under all circumstances, and at the same time at convincing those in power of the utility of the work, in order to get the best possible conditions. The Basle Programme and the whole of Zionist activity bear witness to the fact that Zionism has nothing in common with political adventure. Zionists have never been influenced by any political aggressive spirit, nor have they in any way proposed to place themselves in antagonism to any Government or any other nation. Zionists have always desired to be supported (§ 4 of the Basle Programme) by all Governments on the merits of their object, and by all nations who know that Zionist work can only advance the interests of Justice and Freedom.

Zionism has the following objects in view:—

A home for Jews who are materially or morally suffering.

A home for Jewish education, learning and literature.

A source of idealism for Jews all over the world.

A place in which Jews can live a healthy Jewish life.

A revival of the language of the Bible.

The resurrection by civilization and industry of the old home of our fathers, long neglected and ruined.

The creation of a sound, strong Jewish agricultural class.

In this way Zionism will establish a Jewish society, bound together by similarity of feeling and unity of common ideas, working out its destiny in its own way. Zionists want a commonwealth of Jewish colonization and labour, a settlement of Jewish pioneers and workers who will be able to create and to develop a civilization of their own, undisturbed by any restrictions. This is possible only in Palestine, and is the paramount necessity of the whole Jewish people all over the world.

The creation of a settlement of this kind will help the Jews economically, but how much and how quickly it will help depends on the intensity of the work. It may be slow work, but it will be fundamental work. It is the foundation-stone for a great structure. Palestine may even become the home of considerable masses of Jews. But in any case the creation of a national home for the Jews will raise their prestige among the nations. It will never be an obstacle in the way of rights; on the contrary, it will help in this direction also.

On the spiritual and intellectual side this work will undoubtedly bring about a great revival of Judaism. Judaism will be no mere abstraction, but something real and living. “Jewish science” or Hebrew studies will not be merely a careful post-mortem analysis, to be undertaken exclusively by scholars and specialists. These studies will appear as the unbroken chain of the common cultural heritage of a living nation.

Zionists are under no misapprehension as to the gravity of the difficulties which may confront them. But they will meet these difficulties as serious men inspired by a great ideal and with a just cause. With a clear and distinct purpose in view, Zionists desire to work in full harmony with all the friends of Justice and Liberty and Truth, and while striving for the rescue of their own people they would not only not interfere with any just principle or cause injury to any patriotic aspiration of any other nation; they would accommodate and co-ordinate their cause with others. It is in this sense that we speak of “political Zionism.”

History shows that the Zionist idea and the continual renewal of efforts in this direction have been a tradition with the English people for centuries. English Christians taught the undying principles of Jewish nationality. Zionism was thus permanently connected with England. The Jewish national idea has always particularly appealed to English feeling, has touched the heart of the English nation. The facts and records disprove the absurd yet deeply rooted idea that Zionism is only a vision of sectarians or a hallucination of dreamers. The documents cited in this volume give ample and convincing proof of the high moral dignity and political value of the Zionist cause as championed by prominent English thinkers, men of letters and poets throughout many generations. For nearly three centuries Zionism was a religious as well as a political idea which great Christians and Jews, chiefly in England but to some extent also in France, handed down to posterity. And moreover, all the available evidence points to the fact that whenever the attention of the world has been invited to the question of Palestine and to measures for improving the development of the Near East, English opinion has given the most careful and sympathetic consideration to the Zionist idea. Thus the present Zionist movement is essentially a logical conclusion of all the premises which have been accepted from different points of view, not only by a considerable number of Jewish authorities, but also by public opinion in great civilized countries of Western Europe. Zionists, therefore, hope that English Christians will be worthy heirs and successors to the Earl of Shaftesbury, George Eliot, and many others; English Jews to Sir Moses Montefiore, French Christians to Henri Dunant, and French Jews to Joseph Salvador, Bernard Lazare, and others. One may also hope that as Zionism is not a source of conflicting element but a source of peace and unity, all the nations of the world will be open to conviction and will give strong support to its aims.

Zionism has started its work in Palestine, and will pursue it. Recognising the aspirations of the Jewish people with regard to Palestine and their historic rights, the British Government on November 2nd, 1917, made the well-known Declaration. This Declaration had been anticipated by the letter from the French Government of 4th June, 1917, and was fully endorsed in the letter from M. Stephen Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to myself, dated 14th February, 1918, and the letter to me communicating the concurrence of the Italian Government with these declarations, dated 9th May, 1918. (See Volume II., pp. 1 ff.) It will be the task of Zionism to accumulate by every effort the resources, material and moral, required for this purpose. Those Jews who are not yet in the movement will be brought into it by time and experience, because there is indeed no argument against this peaceful idea of national justice, except pure and unscrupulous prejudice, which must disappear. But Zionism is anxious to have also the moral support of the nations, and particularly in this country it is impossible for any Jew with a historic consciousness to forget the noble Zionist tradition of England during many centuries. Some of the most glorious pages in British history have been those in which she took a part, and an honourable and leading part, in the revival of ancient nations. The friends of Greece, of Italy, cannot forget this record.

Zionists can define only what they need. They need not only to continue their work, but to develop it on the largest possible scale. They want to do the peaceful work of agriculturists, craftsmen and intellectuals. They are ready to invest capital, energy and intelligence in order to establish a home for the Jews. Palestine is to be re-made. To this end national autonomy safeguarding the welfare of a Jewish Palestine is needed.

Let humanity do for Palestine only a small part of what has been done so liberally for the most exotic colony—nay, less than that, because Zionists ask for no material support, and for no embarrassing responsibility. They ask only for sympathetic consideration and help, for recognition and protection. And let humanity be sure of the loyalty of a people which, although sorely tried, has never grown cold in its affections, a people which by its resurrection will become again what it was in very ancient times, not a military power but a spiritual and peaceful power. Then the time will come when this people’s gratitude will recognize its indebtedness to the world for the co-operation which will assist its great and just cause.

INTRODUCTION

By the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P.

Whether it be helpful for one who is not a Jew, either by race or religion, to say even the briefest word by way of introduction to a book on Zionism is, in my own opinion, doubtful. But my friend, M. Nahum Sokolow, tells me that I long ago gave him reason to expect that, when the time came, I would render him this small measure of assistance; and if he attaches value to it, I cannot allow my personal doubts as to its value to stand in his way.

The only qualification I possess is that I have always been greatly interested in the Jewish question, and that in the early years of this century, when anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe was in an acute stage, I did my best to support a scheme devised by Mr. Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary, for creating a Jewish settlement in East Africa, under the British flag. There it was hoped that Jews flying from persecution might found a community where, in harmony with their own religion, development on traditional lines might (we thought) peacefully proceed without external interruption, and free from any fears of violence.

The scheme was certainly well-intentioned, and had, I think, many merits. But it had one serious defect. It was not Zionism. It attempted to find a home for men of Jewish religion and Jewish race in a region far removed from the country where that race was nurtured and that religion came into being. Conversations I held with Dr. Weizmann in January, 1906, convinced me that history could not thus be ignored, and that if a home was to be found for the Jewish people, homeless now for nearly nineteen hundred years, it was vain to seek it anywhere but in Palestine.

But why, it may be asked, is local sentiment to be more considered in the case of the Jew than (say) in that of the Christian or the Buddhist? All historic religions rouse feelings which cluster round the places made memorable by the words and deeds, the lives and deaths, of those who brought them into being.

Doubtless these feelings should always be treated with respect; but no one suggests that the regions where these venerable sites are to be found should, of set purpose and with much anxious contrivance, be colonized by the spiritual descendants of those who originally made them famous. If the centuries have brought no change of ownership or occupancy we are well content. But if it be otherwise, we make no effort to reverse the course of history. None suggest that we should plant Buddhist colonies in India, the ancient home of Buddhism, or renew in favour of Christendom the crusading adventures of our mediæval ancestors. Yet, if this be wisdom when we are dealing with Buddhism and Christianity, why, it may be asked, is it not also wisdom when we are dealing with Judaism and the Jews?

The answer is, that the cases are not parallel. The position of the Jews is unique. For them race, religion and country are inter-related, as they are inter-related in the case of no other race, no other religion, and no other country on earth. In no other case are the believers in one of the greatest religions of the world to be found (speaking broadly) only among the members of a single small people; in the case of no other religion is its past development so intimately bound up with the long political history of a petty territory wedged in between States more powerful far than it could ever be; in the case of no other religion are its aspirations and hopes expressed in language and imagery so utterly dependent for their meaning on the conviction that only from this one land, only through this one history, only by this one people, is full religious knowledge to spread through all the world. By a strange and most unhappy fate it is this people of all others which, retaining to the full its racial self-consciousness, has been severed from its home, has wandered into all lands, and has nowhere been able to create for itself an organized social commonwealth. Only Zionism—so at least Zionists believe—can provide some mitigation of this great tragedy.

Doubtless there are difficulties, doubtless there are objections—great difficulties, very real objections. And it is, I suspect, among the Jews themselves that these are most acutely felt. Yet no one can reasonably doubt that if, as I believe, Zionism can be developed into a working scheme, the benefit it would bring to the Jewish people, especially perhaps to that section of it which most deserves our pity, would be great and lasting. It is not merely that large numbers of them would thus find a refuge from religious and social persecution; but that they would bear corporate responsibilities and enjoy corporate opportunities of a kind which, from the nature of the case, they can never possess as citizens of any non-Jewish State. It is charged against them by their critics that they now employ their great gifts to exploit for personal ends a civilization which they have not created, in communities they do little to maintain. The accusation thus formulated is manifestly false. But it is no doubt true that in large parts of Europe their loyalty to the State in which they dwell is (to put it mildly) feeble compared with their loyalty to their religion and their race. How indeed could it be otherwise? In none of the regions of which I speak have they been given the advantage of equal citizenship, in some they have been given no right of citizenship at all. Great suffering is the inevitable result; but not suffering alone. Other evils follow which aggravate the original mischief. Constant oppression, with occasional outbursts of violent persecution, are apt either to crush their victims, or to develop in them self-protecting qualities which do not always assume an attractive shape. The Jews have never been crushed. Neither cruelty nor contempt, neither unequal laws nor illegal oppression, have ever broken their spirit, or shattered their unconquerable hopes. But it may well be true that, where they have been compelled to live among their neighbours as if these were their enemies, they have often obtained, and sometimes deserved, the reputation of being undesirable citizens. Nor is this surprising. If you oblige many men to be money-lenders, some will assuredly be usurers. If you treat an important section of the community as outcasts, they will hardly shine as patriots. Thus does intolerance blindly labour to create the justification for its own excesses.

It seems evident that, for these and other reasons, Zionism will mitigate the lot and elevate the status of no negligible fraction of the Jewish race. Those who go to Palestine will not be like those who now migrate to London or New York. They will not be animated merely by the desire to lead in happier surroundings the kind of life they formerly led in Eastern Europe. They will go in order to join a civil community which completely harmonizes with their historical and religious sentiments: a community bound to the land it inhabits by something deeper even than custom: a community whose members will suffer from no divided loyalty, nor any temptation to hate the laws under which they are forced to live. To them the material gain should be great; but surely the spiritual gain will be greater still.

But these, it will be said, are not the only Jews whose welfare we have to consider. Granting, if only for argument’s sake, that Zionism will on them confer a benefit, will it not inflict an injury upon others who, though Jews by descent, and often by religion, desire wholly to identify themselves with the life of the country wherein they have made their home. Among these are to be found some of the most gifted members of a gifted race. Their ranks contain (at least, so I think) more than their proportionate share of the world’s supply of men distinguished in science and philosophy, literature and art, medicine, politics and law. (Of finance and business I need say nothing.)

Now there is no doubt that many of this class look with a certain measure of suspicion and even dislike upon the Zionist movement. They fear that it will adversely affect their position in the country of their adoption. The great majority of them have no desire to settle in Palestine. Even supposing a Zionist community were established, they would not join it. But they seem to think (if I understand them rightly) that so soon as such a community came into being men of Jewish blood, still more men of Jewish religion, would be regarded by unkindly critics as out of place elsewhere. Their ancient home having been restored to them, they would be expected to reside there.

I cannot share these fears. I do not deny that, in some countries where legal equality is firmly established, Jews may still be regarded with a certain measure of prejudice. But this prejudice, where it exists, is not due to Zionism, nor will Zionism embitter it. The tendency should surely be the other way. Everything which assimilates the national and international status of the Jews to that of other races ought to mitigate what remains of ancient antipathies: and evidently this assimilation would be promoted by giving them that which all other nations possess: a local habitation and a national home.

On this aspect of the subject I need perhaps say no more. The future of Zionism depends on deeper causes than these. That it will settle the “Jewish question” I dare not hope. But that it will tend to promote that mutual sympathy and comprehension which is the only sure basis of toleration I firmly believe. Few, I think, of M. Sokolow’s readers, be they Jew or be they Christian, will rise from the perusal of the impressive story which he has told so fully and so well, without feeling that Zionism differs in kind from ordinary philanthropic efforts and that it appeals to different motives. If it succeeds, it will do a great spiritual and material work for the Jews, but not for them alone. For as I read its meaning it is, among other things, a serious endeavour to mitigate the age-long miseries created for Western civilization by the presence in its midst of a Body which it too long regarded as alien and even hostile, but which it was equally unable to expel or to absorb. Surely, for this if for no other reason, it should receive our support.

A. J. B.

Friday, 20 September, 1918

LETTERS TO THE AUTHOR

From the Rt. Hon. Viscount Bryce.

3, Buckingham Gate,
S.W. 1,
January 30th, 1918.

Dear Sir,

In response to your request for some observations by me on the value which your treatise may have for students of history, I send you these few lines. The pressure of heavy and urgent work forbids me to deal in any but the briefest way with the subject of your book, great as its interest is.

The history of Israel presents some of the most striking phenomena in world history. No other nation (with the exception of the two very ancient nations of the Far East) has annals so long as are those of the descendants of Abraham. Those annals go back, dim as are their earlier outlines, to a time long anterior to the earliest records of the Hellenic and Italic peoples. The records of the old civilization of Assyria and Egypt are, no doubt, even more remote in time, but the nations that created those civilizations have been so changed by conquest and the admixture of new elements that we can no longer recognise them as the same. But Israel has preserved its identity through all vicissitudes. It was carried into captivity in a far land, and returned thence after seventy years. It was, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Emperor Hadrian, scattered over the face of the earth, and now counts its children everywhere, from Singapore to San Francisco. Its numbers have grown to be fifteen or twenty times greater than they were before the Great Dispersion. It has been kept in existence as a nation through many centuries of oppression and suffering by its Faith and its Literature, a faith embodied in a law which included both a moral and a ceremonial code, a Literature small in bulk but splendid in content, which has formed the mind of the people, sharpening their intelligence and intensifying their national self-consciousness. It is one of those three great literatures of the ancient world which still rule the thought and still help to form the character of mankind. This is a unique phenomenon, and perhaps the most striking testimony that history can show to the vivifying power of ideas.

This consciousness of an enduring national life has been constantly associated in the thoughts of Israel with the ancient home in Palestine, a little country, no bigger than Wales in Britain or Connecticut in North America. To its rocky hills and green valleys, its cities and its battlefields, its heroes and its prophets, the hearts of the people have turned in days of sorrow. The memories of these things have maintained the sense of national life. The flame has often burnt low, but it has never been extinguished. Quite recently it has leapt up with a brilliant glow. The idea that a part of the dispersed people should be gathered from the regions where their lot was worst and be re-settled in their ancient home, long desolated by the tyranny of the cruel and rapacious Turk, has gained strength, and the capture of Jerusalem by the British arms has now made it seem attainable. The sympathy of many thoughtful and sympathetic Christians has been gained, and the British Government has given clear expression to that sympathy. It is to the history of this idea of re-settlement, to which the name of Zionism is now given, that your book is devoted. There are, I am aware, some differences of opinion among Jews themselves as to the form in which this idea might be practically realized, and as to the way in which that form might affect the position of Jews in the countries where they now dwell and of which they wish to remain citizens, though I gather that these differences do not touch the question of the desirability of a large Jewish immigration into Palestine. Upon these differences of opinion I must not pronounce any judgment, though personally inclined to believe that the existence of a national home at the eastern end of the Mediterranean will not affect the loyalty to the other countries where they dwell of the Jews settled in those countries, nor expose them to any suspicion of disloyalty. It is as a student of history, and in that capacity only, that on this particular occasion I desire to speak, expressing my sense of the high interest of the subject of your book, and feeling that the rapid growth of the Zionist movement, the forces that have produced it, and the enthusiasm it has excited, well deserve to be fully, accurately, and impartially described.

I am,

Faithfully yours,

Bryce.

Mr. N. Sokolow.

From Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, M.P.

9, Buckingham Gate,
S.W. 1,
May 27th, 1918.

My dear Mr. Sokolow,

After many days’ delay, I write to you my message of goodwill and good hope for the success of this your great work on the cause which you have at heart and for which you have laboured so long.

It is an odd thought which crosses my mind at this moment—if it be egotistical I cannot help it—nevertheless I will set it down. I foresee myself handed down to posterity as one of those enduring obscurities, who did nothing in any way remarkable, yet whose names last for all time, because they scratched their fleeting impressions on the Memnon at Luxor.

In languages yet unknown, and in States unborn, this your work will be read by people who will know perhaps as little of the details of life in these days as we do of those of the times of the first dispersion of the Jews.

Your cause has about it an enduring quality which mocks at time; if a generation is but a breath in the life of a nation, an epoch is but the space ’twixt a dawn and a sunrise in the history of Zionism.

When all the temporal things this world now holds are as dead and forgotten as the curled and scented Kings of Babylon who dragged your forefathers into captivity, there will still be Jews, and so long as there are Jews there must be Zionism.

We live in an age when mankind is reaping the whirlwind of its wickedness and folly. Wherein the past men have sown those dragons’ teeth of intolerance, tyranny, injustice, and race hatred, legions of armed men now spring up to destroy and shatter the husbanded resources of progress.

The War of to-day is the logical result of the “peace” of yesterday. The grand problem which we have to consider is whether or no the peace of to-morrow is to be the precursor of a future war which will overwhelm civilization for ever. Unless forces different to those which have counted in the direction of the affairs of men hitherto are in the ascendant, I feel no doubt that what is called Civilization is predestined to suicide, and that in the real meaning of the words “felo de se.” The blind genius which people call “science” wrests mechanical discoveries and chemical formulæ from the accumulated experience of the past and gives men hygiene, transit, and commerce with one hand, and explosives and military organization with the other. You, my dear Mr. Sokolow, represent a people who have watched this process of constructive destruction in the course of evolution, and have seen the higher men climb in pride and vanity the more deplorable is their fall.

If the peace which is to follow the War is to be a real peace, and not a pause in war, then you and your people must be watchers no longer. In Zionism lies your people’s opportunity. In alliance with those other forces of regeneration and illumination which are centred on Jerusalem and which radiate through the world, it may be that you and your successors will play a part in establishing a moral order which will enable mankind to combine universal material progress with mutual subjection and charity.

Yours very sincerely,

Mark Sykes.

THE ILLUSTRATOR TO THE READER

The privilege afforded me by my friend the Author of participating in the production of a work on so epoch-marking a question as Zionism, has more than compensated me for any time and trouble I have expended on the particular section allotted to me. There are eighty-nine illustrations in the book, to which I have fortunately been able to contribute thirty, dealing mainly with the earlier period. For the portraits, etc., of many of our contemporaries, I must accord my sincere thanks to those whose courtesy and kindness have enabled me to carry out my purpose.

I am indebted for the lithograph of Elim H. d’Avigdor[¹] to his recently deceased widow. Mr. Semi Tolkowsky obtained for me an unpublished photograph of Colonel C. R. Conder from his daughter, Mrs. Julian G. Lousada. That venerable lady, Mrs. Finn, lent me a photograph of her late husband, “The British Consul of Jerusalem and Palestine.” Mr. Joseph Cohen Lask granted me the loan of the Hebrew periodical, Keneseth Israel, containing a woodcut of David Gordon, the editor. The celebrated artist, Leopold Pilichowski, entrusted me with the negative of his famous painting of Theodor Herzl, known as the “Congress” portrait. It was done from sketches taken from life during the Uganda Congress, and finished in 1906 to the order of the late President, David Wolffsohn, for the Actions Committee, to be exhibited at Zionist congresses. The illustration of Grand Rabbin Zadok Kahn is taken from a pastel by the Jewish artist, J. F. Aktuaryus, in the collection of Mr. Elkan N. Adler. Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld lent me a lithograph of his father-in-law, Dr. Louis Loewe; and Professor Dr. Arnold Netter sent from Paris a lithograph of his uncle, Charles Netter. The portrait of Laurence Oliphant was reproduced from an unpublished photograph in the possession of his relative, Mr. Lancelot Oliphant. To procure a likeness of Dr. M. J. Raphall I had some difficulty. The Birmingham congregation to whom he ministered from 1841–1849 knew nothing of any portrait. From an advertisement in the Jewish Chronicle, 27 July, 1849, it appears that the learned Rabbi possessed a painting done of him by W. H. Vernon, from which Mosely Levi of Birmingham produced a lithograph, but I failed to discover the whereabouts of either. Knowing that on leaving this country he settled in the United States, I communicated with Mr. Albert M. Friedenberg, the corresponding secretary of the American Jewish Historical Society, to whom my particular acknowledgments are due for discovering a small oil painting of the Doctor, copied from a photograph taken in his later years, in the possession of the B’nai Jeshurun congregation of New York, whose Rabbi he was from his arrival in America until 1866, two years before his demise. With the consent of the Trustees, and by the courtesy of Mr. Herman Levy, the President, an excellent reproduction was placed at my disposal.

[¹] From a pencil drawing by his second daughter, Estelle, Mrs. George E. Nathan.

The frontispiece to the second volume, “Edmond de Rothschild,” is a facsimile of a photograph[¹] from the painting by M. Aimé Morot. From M. A. Salvador, Mdme. L. J. Raynall and M. André Spire of Paris were instrumental in procuring a photograph of his uncle M. Joseph Salvador, whose portrait has hitherto never been published.

[¹] Autograph presentation copy from the Baron to the Author.

Miss Marian O. Wilson came to my assistance in permitting me to take a copy of a photograph of her father, Sir Charles W. Wilson, and Mr. Joseph Cowen lent J. H. Kann’s Erez Israel, containing a likeness of President David Wolffsohn. The illustration, “Members of the Maccabean Pilgrimage,” I have been enabled to reproduce, thanks to the kindness of Mr. Herbert Bentwich, its organizer, who also furnished me with the names of the pilgrims. The President and Council of the Jews’ College were pleased to grant me the privilege of having a photograph taken of the historical painting, “The Conference between Menasseh Ben-Israel and Oliver Cromwell,” by Solomon Alexander Hart, R.A., formerly in the collection of Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., and subsequently presented to the College by Frederic David Mocatta in 1896.

My thanks must also be accorded to the proprietors of the Century for the use of the portrait of Emma Lazarus; to the Graphic for the sketch from life of Bernard Lazare taken by Paul Renouard during the Dreyfus trial; to the Illustrated London News for the likeness of Baron Hirsch; to the Jewish Encyclopedia for the portraits of Samuel Joseph Fuenn, R. Zebi Hirsch Kalischer, Samuel David Luzzatto, and Mordecai Manuel Noah; and to the Jewish World for that of Dr. Israel Hildesheimer.

There are many eminent Zionists whose lineaments I should like to have seen in this work, but owing to present conditions the portraits were not procurable.

The following portraits and illustrations may not be reproduced without authority:—Col. C. R. Conder, James Finn, Theodor Herzl by Pilichowski, R. Zadok Kahn, Laurence Oliphant, Dr. M. J. Raphall, Edmond de Rothschild, Joseph Salvador, Sir Charles W. Wilson, “The Conference between Manasseh Ben-Israel and Oliver Cromwell,” and the “Members of the Maccabean Pilgrimage.”

Israel Solomons.

CONTENTS

[Preface]

[The Author’s Introduction]

[Introduction by the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour], M.P.

[Letters to the Author]

[The Illustrator to the Reader]

[CHAPTER I.] England and the Bible

Hellas, Rome and Israel—The Englishman’s Bible—Its influence upon English Literature—Rev. Paul Knell, Matthew Arnold, Sir H. Havelock, Gordon, Livingstone, Ruskin, Carlyle, Taine, Sir L. T. Dibdin, Huxley, and J. R. Green—The Puritans—The Pilgrim Fathers—James I.—Cromwell.

[CHAPTER II.] The Hebrew Language

Its survival and revival—Its influence upon the English mind—De Quincey—Bacon—Shakespeare—Milton—Cowley—Taylor—Tillotson—Barrow—Dryden—Parnell—Pope—Addison—Young—Akenside—Gray—Warton—Cowper—Byron—Shelley—Southey—Moore—Sir Thomas Brown[e]—Earl of Clarendon—John Pym—Viscount Falkland—Sir Henry Vane—Earl of Chatham—Browning—Tennyson—John Bright.

[CHAPTER III.] The Re-admission of the Jews into England

Manasseh Ben-Israel—Aaron Levi alias Antony Montezinos—Moses Wall—Leonard Busher—David Abrabanel [Manuel Martinez Dormido]—Oliver St. John.

[CHAPTER IV.] Manasseh Ben-Israel

Manasseh as a Jewish Rabbi and as a Hebrew writer—His activity as a publisher and corrector of Hebrew books—The Bible editions, the Psalms and the Mishnah—Manasseh’s connection with Safed in Palestine—Enseña a Pecadores—The influence of Rabbi Isaiah ben Abraham Horwitz—Solomon de Oliveyra—Manasseh’s De Termino Vitae—The influence of Don Isaac Abrabanel—The Lost Ten Tribes and the Marranos.

[CHAPTER V.] Manasseh’s Nishmath Chayyim

Quotations from Gebirol, Bedersi, R. Kalonymus, R. Zerahiah Ha’levi, and others—Plato, Aristotle, and Philo—Cabbalistic ideas—R. Isaac Luria—Miracles and Christian Saints—Manasseh’s Jewish Nationalism—“The Jewish Soul”—The Zohar—R. Jehudah Ha’levi—The holiness of the Land of Israel—R. David Carcassone, the messenger from Constantinople.

[CHAPTER VI.] Some of Manasseh’s Views

The massacres of Podolia—The Marrano tragedy—Manasseh’s views on the mission of Israel—Dispersion and Restoration—R. Jacob Emden’s annotations—Manasseh’s theory of the Jewish race.

[CHAPTER VII.] Manasseh’s Contemporaries

The Renaissance and the Reformation—John Sadler—Milton’s belief in the Return—Edmund Bunny—Isaac de La Peyrère—Leibnitz—Thomas Brightman—James Durham—The pamphlet “Doomes-Day”—Thomas Burnet—The pamphlet “The New Jerusalem”—Thomas Drake—Edward Nicholas, John Sadler, Hugh Peters, Henry Jesse, Isaac Vossius, Hugo Grotius, Rembrandt, Isaac da Fonseca Aboab, Dr. Ephraim Hezekiah Bueno, Dr. Abraham Zacuto Lusitano, H. H. R. Yahacob Sasportas, Haham Jacob Jehudah Aryeh de Leon [Templo]—Manasseh’s origin.

[CHAPTER VIII.] Puritan Friends of the Jews

Newes from Rome—Rev. Dr. William Gouge—Sir Henry Finch, Sergeant-at-law—King James I.—Archbishop Laud—Archbishop Abbot—Roger Williams—Johanna Cartwright and her son Ebenezer—John Harrison—Rev. John Dury—Rev. Henry Jessey—Rev. Thomas Fuller—Re-admission and Restoration—Manasseh and the Puritans.

[CHAPTER IX.] Restoration Schemes

Dr. John Jortin—Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol—Edward King—Samuel Horsley, Bishop of Rochester and St. Asaph—Jewish Colonies in South America—Marshal de Saxe’s scheme—Anecdote by Margravine of Anspach—Earl of Egmont’s project—Proposed settlement of German Jews in Pennsylvania—Viscount Kingsborough’s Mexican colony—John Adams, President of the United States.

[CHAPTER X.] Palestine

The Love and Knowledge of the Holy Land—The Land of the Bible—The Bible Societies and the Institutions for the Investigation of the Holy Land—The Palestine Exploration Fund—Colonel Conder—Sir Charles Wilson—Sir Charles Warren—Lord Kitchener.

[CHAPTER XI.] Napoleon’s Campaign in the East

The Appeal of Bonaparte to the Jews of Asia and Africa—Haim Mu’allim Farhi—The Fortress of Acre—Jewish opinion in Palestine—El-Arish—Gaza—Jerusalem—Moses Mordecai Joseph Meyuchas—“A Letter addressed by a French Jew to his Brethren”—France and England—The real motives of Bonaparte’s Appeal.

[CHAPTER XII.] Haim Farhi

Saul Farhi—Ahmad Jazzár—Saul Farhi’s sons: Haim, Solomon, Raphael and Moses Farhi—Jewish communities in Palestine and Syria—The importance of Palestine in the struggle between Bonaparte and the Ottoman Empire—Haim Farhi’s martyrdom.

[CHAPTER XIII.] Napoleon in Palestine

Bonaparte approaching Jerusalem—Anti-Jewish accusations—Bonaparte and the Christians—Suleiman Pasha—Abdallah Pasha—Haim Farhi’s martyr death—The Farhi family—Generations of martyrs.

[CHAPTER XIV.] Two Jerusalem Rabbis

Rabbi Moses Mordecai Joseph Meyuchas—The Spanish Jewish traditions—Rabbi Israel Jacob Algazi—The importance of the Jewish settlement in Palestine—Zionist aspirations.

[CHAPTER XV.] Napoleon’s Sanhedrin

The “Sanhedrin”—R. David Sintzheim—M. S. Asser—Moses Leman—Juda Litvak—Michael Berr—Lipman Cerf-Berr—The Decisions and Declarations—Napoleon I. and the Jews.

[CHAPTER XVI.] English Opinion on the Sanhedrin

F. D. Kirwan—Abraham Furtado—Rev. James Bicheno—The Declaration of the Sanhedrin and English comment—M. Diogène Tama—The Prince de Ligne.

[CHAPTER XVII.] The Zionist Idea in England

The spirit of the time—Different currents—Thomas Witherby—Dr. Joseph Priestley—Anti-Socinus, alias Anselm Bayly—John Hadley Swain—William Whiston—Bishop Robert Lowth—Dr. Philip Doddridge—David Levi.

[CHAPTER XVIII.] Lord Byron

The Biblical drama “Cain”—Byron and the Bible—The Hebrew Melodies—A poet and a hero—The Hon. Douglas Kinnaird—Isaac Nathan—John Braham—Lady Caroline Lamb—Sir Walter Scott—Dr. John Gill—Dr. Henry Hunter—The Rev. John Scott—Mr. Joseph Eyre.

[CHAPTER XIX.] The Palmerston Period

The conflict between Turkey and Egypt—Mahmud II., Sultan of Turkey—Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt—The victory of Nezib—The Turkish Fleet—Wellington’s policy—The Eastern Question—Wellington’s opinion—The London Conference, 1840—The Insurrection in Syria and the Lebanon—An Ultimatum—The capture of Acre by the British Fleet, 1840—Schemes of annexation.

[CHAPTER XX.] The Syrian Problem

The conflicting interests of the Powers—Was the conflict irreconcilable?—Public opinion—A new principle—The independence of Syria—A neutral position—The Zionist idea as the only solution—A practical proposition.

[CHAPTER XXI.] England and the Jews in the East

Damascus and Rhodes, 1840—The anti-Jewish accusations—Jewish opinion in England and France—Two views—The persecutions and the Zionist idea—The difficulties of a Jewish initiative—Sir W. R. W. Wilde.

[CHAPTER XXII.] Sir Moses Montefiore

The project “for Cultivation of the Land in Palestine”—Abraham Shoshana and Samuel Aboo—Sir Moses and Lord Palmerston—Great Britain’s protection of the Jews in the East—Lord Aberdeen—Sir Stratford Canning—Dr. Edward Robinson—Burghas Bey—A new journey to the East.

[CHAPTER XXIII.] Earl of Shaftesbury

Diaries of 1830–40—The first English Vice-Consul for Jerusalem—Lord Lindsay’s travels in Egypt and the Holy Land—A guarantee of five Powers—Lord Shaftesbury’s conception of a spiritual centre for the Jewish nation.

[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—Reschid 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.

[CHAPTER XXV.] Restoration and Protection

A new Memorandum—The “Balance of Power”—Palestine and “Rights” in other countries—A “Memorial of the Church of Scotland”—Protection for the Jews in the East.

[CHAPTER XXVI.] Protection and Restoration

The Don Pacifico case—Admiral Sir William Parker—Lord Stanley—Mr. J. A. Roebuck—Lord Palmerston’s policy attacked—Peel and the Opposition—Plans for colonization of Palestine—Mordecai Manuel Noah—Warder Cresson—Rev. A. G. H. Hollingsworth—Colonel George Gawler—“The Final Exodus”—Dr. Thomas Clarke.

[CHAPTER XXVII.] Earl of Beaconsfield

Christianity and Judaism—Disraeli’s character—Jewish features—Alroy—Tancred—The defence of Jewish rights—Oriental policy.

[CHAPTER XXVIII.] The Crimean War

Russia and Turkey—A protectorate over the Greek Christians—The question of the “Holy Places”—The Greek Church—Sultan Mahmud II. and the Tsar Nicholas I.—Jurisdiction in Turkey—Prince Menschikoff—The Alliance between France, Great Britain and Turkey—Sardinia—Alexander II.—The fall of Sebastopol—The conclusion of peace in Paris—The question of reforms—The Jewish point of view—The Crimean War and Palestine—Dr. Benisch in the Jewish Chronicle—The Christian Zionist propaganda—Rev. W. H. Johnstone—Mr. Robert Young.

[CHAPTER XXIX.] Britain’s Mission in the East

Colonel Charles Henry Churchill—Sir Austen Henry Layard—“The Key to the East”—European Consuls in Palestine—The Hatti Sheerif of Gulharch—Lord Palmerston’s Circular of April, 1841—Mr. James Finn.

[CHAPTER XXX.] British Interest and Work in Palestine

Mr. Rogers—Mr. Finzi—Agricultural work in Palestine under the auspices of the British Consul—W. Holman Hunt—Thomas Seddon—A new Appeal—Prof. D. Brown—Rev. John Fry—Rev. Capel Molyneux—Prof. C. A. Auberlen—Dr. W. Urwick—Dr. E. Henderson—Prof. Joseph A. Alexander—Dr. Patrick Fairbairn—Dr. Thomas Arnold.

[CHAPTER XXXI.] The Lebanon Question

Selim I.—The Emir Beshir of The Lebanon—A Conference of five Powers—Druses and Maronites—Massacres in Damascus—A Military Expedition—The Protocol of August 3rd, 1860—General Beaufort d’Hautpoul—Achmet Pasha—David Pasha—Joseph Karan—The Constitution of The Lebanon—The boundaries—The alterations from 1861 to 1902—The Earl of Carnarvon’s views—Jewish charity—Anti-Jewish accusations and riots—M. E. A. Thouvenal—Lord John Russell—George Gawler’s letter.

[CHAPTER XXXII.] Zionism in France

Joseph Salvador—L. Lévy-Bing—Maurice [Moses] Hess—D. Nathan—Benoît Levy—Dr. A.-F. Pétavel—Ernest Laharanne—Crémieux—The “Alliance Israélite Universelle”—Albert Cohn—Charles Netter.

[CHAPTER XXXIII.] Jewish Colonization

New developments—Two tendencies—Societies in London for supporting Jewish colonization of Palestine—Rabbi Chayyim Zebi Sneersohn—Sir Moses [♦]Montefiore’s further journey to Palestine.

[♦] “Montifiore’s” replaced with “Montefiore’s”

[CHAPTER XXXIV.] Zionism versus Assimilation

The first difficulties—The traditions of Anglo-Jewry—The influence of the English people on the Jews—Assimilation and the Jewish National idea—The Zionist conception of the Jewish problem—The tragedy of a minority.

[CHAPTER XXXV.] Colonization and Restoration

Henry Wentworth Monk—Zionism in France—Jean Henri Dunant’s “Le Renouvellement de l’Orient”—Napoleon III.—Bishop Stephen Watson—“L’Orient” in Brussels.

[CHAPTER XXXVI.] Appeals for Colonization

A Rabbinical appeal—Rabbi Elias Gutmacher—Rabbi Hirsch Kalischer—Correspondence with Sir Moses Montefiore—Servian Jews ready for Palestine—Rabbi Sneersohn—Another appeal of Henri Dunant—A Committee in Paris under the patronage of the Empress of the French—Zionism in French fiction.

[CHAPTER XXXVII.] Christian Propaganda in England

A new Appeal—Earl of Shaftesbury in 1876—Edward Cazalet—Laurence Oliphant—Zionism in English fiction—George Eliot—“Daniel Deronda”—The Jewish nationalism of Mordecai Cohen—A quotation from Dr. Joseph Jacobs.

[CHAPTER XXXVIII.] The Russian Pogroms of 1881–1882

The new period of Jewish martyrdom—Public opinion in England—Mass meetings, questions in Parliament and collections—Protests from France, Holland, America and other countries—An instructive lesson—Emigration of Jewish masses—The problem—The “Lovers of Zion.”

[CHAPTER XXXIX.] Dr. Leo Pinsker

His life and experiences—His Auto-emancipation—The old idea of self-help in Jewish teaching—Individual and national self-help—The revival of an old doctrine—An analysis of Auto-emancipation—The results of Pinsker’s idea.

[CHAPTER XL.] The Colonization of Palestine

Jewish immigration into England—A meeting for the establishment of Jewish colonies in Palestine—The foundation of the Society “Kadima”—The Opposition—The opinions of English authorities on Palestine—Col. Conder—General Sir Charles Warren—Lord Swaythling—Earl of Rosebery—A petition to Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey.

[CHAPTER XLI.] The “Lovers of Zion” in France and England

The work in France—Baron Edmond de Rothschild and his activity in the colonization of Palestine—The effects in England—Colonel A. E. W. Goldsmid—Elim d’Avigdor.

[CHAPTER XLII.] The Movement in England

William Ewart Gladstone—Father Ignatius—Gladstone’s ideas on Judaism—Concessions of the Jewish opposition—Goldsmid’s and d’Avigdor’s nationalistic replies.

[CHAPTER XLIII.] The Movement in America

Zionism echoed in America—Emma Lazarus—A call—Emma Lazarus and George Eliot—Mrs. Rose Sonnenshein—The Opposition—A Tour to Palestine—The Colonies.

[CHAPTER XLIV.] Baron de Hirsch

His philanthropic activity—The Oriental Jews and the “Alliance”—Emanuel Felix Veneziani—Lord Swaythling—Dr. A. Asher—Laurence Oliphant.

[CHAPTER XLV.] An Attempt to Solve the Jewish Problem

The “Jewish Colonization Association” (1891)—Statutes and shareholders—Baron de Hirsch’s letter to the Russian Jews—His articles in the Forum and the North American Review—Baroness Clara de Hirsch.

[CHAPTER XLVI.] The Argentine versus Palestine

Expeditions and investigations in various countries—The decision in favour of The Argentine—Dr. G. Löwenthal—Colonel A. E. W. Goldsmid—The “Lovers of Zion” and Baron de Hirsch in 1891—Baron and Baroness de Hirsch’s charitable works.

[CHAPTER XLVII.] Modern Zionism

Theodor Herzl—The first conception and the acceptance of Palestine—Max Nordau—The ideas of Modern Zionism.

[CHAPTER XLVIII.] The First Zionist Congress

The general impression—The proclamation of the Jewish national idea—The Basle Programme—The first Executive Central Committee—Prof. [♦]Hermann Schapira—Christian visitors at the first Congress—Letters of the Grand Rabbin of France, M. Zadoc Kahn, and of the Haham of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community of London, Dr. Moses Gaster.

[♦] “Herman” replaced with “Hermann”

[CHAPTER XLIX.] The Motive Forces of Zionism

Modern Hebrew literature—The Chovevé Zion—The pioneers in Palestine.

[CHAPTER L.] Zionism in France

David Wolffsohn—France—M. Léon Bourgeois—Michel Erlanger—Zadoc Kahn—Baron Edmond de Rothschild—Professor Joseph Halévy—Dr. Emil Meyersohn—Dr. Waldemar Haffkine—The brothers Marmorek—Bernard Lazare.

[CHAPTER LI.] Zionism in England

The first leaders—Herzl before the Royal Commission on Immigration—The East Africa offer—Death of Herzl—Holman Hunt—Report of United States Consul at Beirut on Zionism—Lord Robert Cecil—The Palestine Exploration Fund—Colonel Conder—Lord Gwydyr—Zionism and the Arab question.

[CHAPTER LII.] British Policy in the Near East

The Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78—The Turkish Revolution—Disappointed hopes—Jewish colonization and British commercial interests in Palestine.

[CHAPTER LIII.] The Principles of Zionism

Palestine as the Homeland—The rebirth of Jewish civilization—The security of public law—The aims of Political Zionism—A modern Commonwealth for the Jewish people.

[INDEX.]

The index from Volume 2 has been appended to the end of this text linking the references in this volume.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. I.

[⭘] Theodor Herzl

[⭘] Conference between Manasseh Ben-Israel and Oliver Cromwell

[⭘] H.H.R. Yahacob Sasportas

[⭘] Dr. Ephraim H. Bonus

[⭘] Dr. Abraham Zacut

[⭘] H.H.R. Manasseh Ben-Israel

[⭘] H.R. J. J. A. de Leon (Templo)