From a purely practical point of view, again, there is no reason why property in the land of _Israel_ should not offer as safe an investment as any other. Surely it is within the realm of probability that those who regard the idea as the ridiculous notion of a mad enthusiast, or at least their children after them, may find it to their interest to labour for the restoration of Palestine as the surest method of placing their worldly possessions in safety, even without taking into consideration the benefits which would accrue to the Jews as a religious community, through their obtaining once more a home for the practice of their laws, a spot where the ark of the covenant may rest without being exposed to malevolence and prejudice. These ideas, in fact, were prevalent among English Jews. There were some adherents of Assimilation, but they were insignificant both in numbers and in influence. It is note-worthy that the idea preached by modern Zionism in the first years of the movement, namely, that the Jewish tragedy is due to the fact that the Jews are everywhere in a minority, and that therefore the only solution of the problem is to make them a majority in their own country, was expressed in England by a Jewish publicist in 1863 (Appendix lxvi). 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. PHILANTHROPY, not nationalism, was the basis of the “London _Hebrew_ Society for the Colonization of the Holy Land” (Appendix lxvii), founded by Jews in 1861. This experiment, generous as it was, could not succeed, even as a philanthropic scheme, because it lacked the great national idea, which is the soul and essence of Zionism, and without which no revival can possibly succeed. It is worthy of note that an English Christian who was one of the promoters of Palestine colonization grasped this truth; and addressed the following letter from _Jerusalem_ to the Jewish press in England:―― November 6, 1863. _The Jewish Chronicle and Hebrew Observer_ (_p._ 3). “Projected Agricultural Colonies in the Holy Land.” “To the Editor of the _Jewish Chronicle_. “SIR,