When in 1840 the Eastern question presented itself in all its disquieting developments, Salvador seemed already to anticipate the stress and strife that were destined to break forth in those regions where the cradle of the Jewish nation had stood; and these anticipations were strengthened when fifteen years later the Christian nations of the Western world came to wage a sanguinary war for the Holy Places. According to Salvador, Palestine was destined to become the economic centre of Jewry, just as much as it was the centre of Jewish national aspirations. “A new life will be infused into the mountains of _Judah_, into that platform of the _Moriah_ which to-day is in the hands of the Turks, and of which it was figuratively said of old that, sooner or later, it would rise above all hills, all mountains. The Oriental question, for a while put off or veiled by other public affairs, will exhaust all the present generation. It will extend into the next century. To-day, in 1853, its character is above all a political one: it is a question of Constantinople and the Dardanelles. To-morrow, perhaps, the discussion will be a commercial one in regard to Egypt, the Red Sea, Suez. The unity of Europe, so much desired, so much praised, and never obtained, is already a question of secondary importance. The centre of the affairs of the world is changed. The Jew of the new era must rise upon the very soil where the Jew of the old era was built.” Illustration: JOSEPH SALVADOR BENJAMIN DISRAELI, M.P. SAMUEL DAVID LUZZATTO BERNARD LAZARE “Asia Minor has but two elements of life, two races capable of civilization and progress, the Greeks and the Jews. Notwithstanding the deep degradation of the Jews of the East, on the day when new life (which, by the way, is drawn from the Occident) shall have reanimated this population, the Jew, by the force of his name, by the promises of his future, will again become a centre of irresistible attraction to all the Jewish forces of the Orient, and even of a part of Europe. A new State will be formed upon the coasts of _Galilee_ and in old Canaan, where the Jewish claim will dominate under the combined pressure of historic remembrances, of persecution in some countries, and of the Puritan sympathy of Biblical England.” These words of Salvador sounded like the cry of a forgotten generation. It must be borne in mind that they were written at a time when French Jews cherished only one hope and one ideal: absorption and assimilation by their surroundings. It is indeed remarkable that this venerable man, who was a staunch Jew as well as a French patriot, and is one of the most eminent figures in Franco-Jewish literature, defended the Jewish national idea and the restoration of the Jews to Palestine with such clearness and force.¹ ¹ J. Salvador, sa vie, ses œuvres et ses critiques, par le Colonel Gabriel Salvador [1812‒1889]. Paris ... 1881 ... (1 _l._ + 539 _pp._) _p._ 231.