and of their belief of a return thither.... In Poland, the great focus of the _Hebrew_ people, the sentiment is most rife that the time is near at hand for the turning of their captivity:...” (_pp._ 176‒9). ¹ Journal of the Rev. Joseph Wolff for the year 1831. London:... MDCCCXXXII. (8º. 1 _l._ + 70 _pp._ [B. M.]) CHAPTER XXIV. MEMORANDUM OF THE PROTESTANT MONARCHS The London Convention of 1840――The new Treaty of London for the pacification of the Levant――Viscount Ponsonby――Reshid _Pasha_――Lord Shaftesbury’s “Exposé” addressed to Lord Palmerston――The articles in _The Times_――A Memorandum to the European Monarchs――“Enquiries about the Jews”――The _Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums_. WE have to go back to the political changes which we indicated in connection with Sir Moses’ activity. After the Convention which was signed on the 15th July, 1840, in London for the pacification of the Levant, the terms were duly proposed to Mehemet Ali and were rejected on the 5th September. Then the war intervened, Mehemet Ali was obliged to come to terms, and on July 18th, 1841, the new “Treaty of London for the Pacification of the Levant” was signed. Mehemet Ali abandoned his claim to Syria on condition that the Khedivate of Egypt was made hereditary in his family. This was a turning-point of much significance in the history of Palestine. At that moment the Jews might have been able to regain their ancient land, if only they had had an organization for carrying out the plan. The only country in the world where this idea found influential expression at the time was England. The events in the East were naturally of intense interest to Lord Shaftesbury, and stimulated him to greater activity. He writes in his _Diary_, on August 24th, 1840: “The _Times_ of 17th August filled me with astonishment. I wish I had put down at the moment what I felt at reading it; half satisfaction, half dismay; pleased to see my opinions and projects so far taken up and approved; ――alarmed lest this premature disclosure of them should bring upon us all the charge of fanaticism. Now who could have believed, a few years ago, that this subject could have been treated in a newspaper of wide circulation, gravely, sincerely, and zealously, yet so it is; and who sees not the handwriting of God upon the wall? The very insults, misrepresentations, and persecutions of the Jews at Damascus bring forward the main question; and Mehemet Ali, ‘howbeit he thinketh not so,’ is a mighty instrument for the benefit of this people!