“Palestine,” we read in one of the articles, “situated at the point of junction of the three continents, is the key of Asia: it occupies a central position in reference to the East as well as the West: its situation is the same between the countries of the North and South: no other on earth can in this respect be compared with it. What European power could take possession of it without bringing upon itself, on the part of the others, the most protracted and sanguinary wars? However, one solution would still be possible for which, despite the rivalries and revolutions which keep the people of Europe on the alert, the way might be paved. The final solution of the Eastern question might be accomplished if Palestine were reopened to the _Israelitish_ people. We have, further, to take into consideration the principles of nationality which in our days play such a prominent part: to bear in mind the isolated position of the Jewish people in the world, which has been dispersed among the nations of the earth for thousands of years without being absorbed by them; and to study the condition of the Israelites within the last seventy years, their wealth, the influence acquired by them in the commercial world, in industrial pursuits and on Governments. The inference from all this will be that something grand is in store for the Jewish people. The return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land may be considered from two different points of view: the religious and the political. There exist several Scriptural passages which predict the return of the Jews.... The _Israelitish_ people and the Arabic or Ishmaelitic tribes, which with justice may be called the oldest nations on the earth, have been preserved by Providence, while the others among which they lived in captivity have disappeared from the stage of the world. We may depend upon it, the destinies of the Israelites, so unique and mysterious in their kind, will in the future be still grander than they were in the past: and they must be counted upon if we wish eventually to arrive at the solution of the Eastern question, which appears so complicated.” CHAPTER XXXVI. APPEALS FOR COLONIZATION A _Rabbinical_ appeal――_Rabbi_ Elias Gutmacher――_Rabbi_ Hirsch Kalischer――Correspondence with Sir Moses Montefiore――Servian Jews ready for Palestine――_Rabbi_ Sneersohn――Another appeal of Henri Dunant――A committee in Paris under the patronage of the Empress of the French――Zionism in French fiction.