“Epoch-making is perhaps not too strong a term to apply to Mr. Balfour’s letter to Lord Rothschild. At any time a formal endorsement of Zionism by a Great Power would command attention if couched in such terms. But at the present moment, when _Gaza_ and _Beersheba_ have fallen to British armies and the distant thunder of our guns is heard in _Jerusalem_ itself, the declaration has a significance that cannot be mistaken. Illustration: _H. Walter Barnett and Co., Ld._ _Gen. Sir_ EDMUND H. H. ALLENBY “From the Jewish point of view such a restoration opens the door of wonderful possibilities; the hopes that have never been lost during eighteen centuries of the dispersion will return within the region of fact and accomplishment. Scarcely less important should be the consequences for Europe.... The family of nations would be enriched by the return of one of its oldest and most gifted members to a regular and normal place within the circle.” (_Daily Chronicle_, Nov. 9th.) “... In deciding to give the Zionists their chance, the British Government have done a bold thing and a wise thing; and as an honestly inspired and intelligent disinterestedness is sounder policy than the most crafty selfishness, they have incidentally struck in this dark hour a very heavy blow for the cause for which the free peoples of the world are fighting. Considered merely as a gesture, what is there in the war to compare in effectiveness to this decision?... The promise of the restoration of Palestine will count for more in the judgment of the world than all the desolation wrought by the German legions among the nations whom they have trodden under foot.” (_Daily News_, Nov. 10th.) “The restoration of Palestine to the Jews will fulfil the centuries old desire of that ancient people. Moreover, it will give them a home for the development of an individual culture, and will not affect other than beneficially the rights which they have won as citizens of the countries in which they have made their homes. Moreover, it will provide refuge for the persecuted, and a centre of Jewish life to which all the race will naturally turn. Then it will be well for the Allies’ interests in the Mediterranean that so important a place should become permanently neutralized and stand no risk of falling into the hands of the Powers which might make a mischievous use of it.” (_Pall Mall Gazette._) “Mr. Balfour’s announcement on the subject of Zionism, which forms an extraordinarily appropriate pendant to General Allenby’s brilliant operations in Southern Palestine, marks the conclusion of a strenuous struggle behind the scenes between the International Jews, to whom this country is much more useful than they are to us, and the National Jews, who are among our most valuable compatriots. For once the right side has gained the day, and the Zionist aspirations of the Chosen People receive for the first time the formal endorsement of a British Government.” (_The Globe._)