The great merit of _Tancred_ (1847)¹ lies in the description of Syria, and of life in the mountain and desert, in which it abounds. Tancred is a high-born youth dissatisfied with modern society, yearning for the restoration of true faith, and resolving to visit the land in which the Creator had conversed with man, as the only spot in which it is at all likely that enlightenment or inspiration will be vouchsafed to him. The story of his adventures is told with wonderful spiritual beauty. The author leads his reader to the desert, the cradle of the Arabs, from which they spread East and West, and come to be known as Moors in Spain, as Jews in Palestine. Nothing can be more interesting than his account of the manners and the men, neither of which are much changed since the days of the Patriarchs; nothing finer than the pictures of the rocks and towers of _Jerusalem_, or the grey forests of _The Lebanon_. ¹‏ נס לגוים או טאנקרעד מאת בנימן דיזראעלי ... נעתק עברית מאת יהל״ל ... [יחודה לב לוין] .ווארשא ... שנת תרמ״ג לפ״ק ... 1883 It was quite natural that the East should engage his attention. He believed in the glory of Great Britain’s imperial mission, and was interested to the bottom of his heart in the past history and future welfare of her venerable and still vigorous institutions. He was anxious to see the influence of Great Britain strong and decisive in the East. His policy on the Eastern question was constantly ascribed by his enemies to his “Semitic instincts,” which were supposed to taint his views of the relations between Turkey and all her Christian subjects. But they could know little of Beaconsfield who supposed that his Semitic instincts led him to any partiality. What guided him was his deep conception of Great Britain’s policy and highest interests, working in conjunction and in harmony with his feeling for the real East, for the Jews, the Semites, for Judaism in its idealism and Oriental beauty. The conditions were not yet ripe for practical progress in Zionism, but he was throughout an enthusiastic supporter of the Zionist idea, and he worked for the future. 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.