The question in which the Jews were interested was first of all that of their position in Palestine, as well as in the whole of the Turkish Empire. According to the wording of the treaty the Jews were excluded from the general guarantee and the immunities of the “_Rajahs_” under the protection of the contracting powers. But, on the other hand, all the rights hitherto granted by the _Sultan_ to his Christian subjects had been extended to the Jews as well; and it was clear that, if Turkey understood her position rightly, this would also be her future policy, seeing that it was in her interest not to create dissatisfaction among a large and loyal body by refusing to one section of non-Mohammedans what had been conceded to another, and thus alienating the only non-Mohammedan section of the population which did not entertain sentiments of revenge, and the only section which was capable of neutralizing any possible machinations on the part of other sections. The war having on the one hand raised very considerably the prices of provisions, and on the other hand cut off the supplies obtained by the Palestinian Jews in times of peace from those countries in which the masses of Jews reside, an awful famine broke out in the Holy Land, and affected most severely all those who had hitherto depended for their livelihood upon the small pittances doled out to them by the Jews in foreign countries. A pitiable cry of distress was raised in the East and resounded throughout the Western world. Now the right time had arrived. “We find”, wrote Dr. Abraham Benisch¹ (1811‒1878), “no other parallel in Jewish history to it save that offered by some of the events narrated in the books of _Ezra_ (_fl._ 3413 _a.m._) and _Nehemiah_ (_fl._ 3426 _a.m._). The generous Abdul-Medjed has his prototype in the God-fearing _Cyrus_ (_ob._ 529 _b.c.e._); and the pious affection for brethren and country, the devotion and patriotism then kindling in the bosoms of patriots on the shores of the Euphrates have transferred their seat to the banks of the Thames. So far God’s blessing had rested upon the work. But Rome was not built in a day, nor is a nation regenerated within a few years.” ¹ _Jewish Chronicle_, March 21, 1856, _p._ 524.