“The work of the conference which I am addressing is very important. You have a great deal to prepare for. You have to prepare for peace, for the day when war is no more, and when there will be, please God, a free Palestine. Gentlemen, make sure that your foundation-stones are truly laid in your agricultural, cultural, and educational work. So much depends for civilization on the work for which you are now preparing and which you will perform during the next few months. You will be faced with all the difficult trivialities of life, but in the Zionist movement there is a spirit, and just as good transcends evil, so does the spiritual transcend the material. You can build up a centre of civilization here. We English owe all that is best in our civilization to the Bible, and that is why we feel a deep interest and a bond of sympathy in the work which you are doing. The Zionist movement is not merely a political move, but it is a spiritual force, and if it succeeds I feel it will bring something great and noble to the world, a message which will not only do so much for the sad but beautiful land, but for the scattered hosts of _Israel_ and for humanity.” Illustration: _Photo by בן־דוב בצלאל ירושלם_ LAYING FOUNDATION STONE OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY, MOUNT SCOPUS, JERUSALEM _15 Ab, 5678_ _24 July, 1918_ On 24th July, 1918, the foundation-stones of the _Hebrew_ University in _Jerusalem_ were laid. This was an event which Zionists had conceived long before, an event likely to be of great importance in enabling _Jerusalem_ to become a spiritual centre for the still dispersed communities of _Israel_, and destined, let us hope, to influence and elevate the mental life, social aspirations and religious conceptions of the Jews of the world. The site of the University is a beautiful one. It is on Mount Scopus, on an estate purchased from the late Sir John Gray Hill of Liverpool, who was personally in deep sympathy with the scheme. It faces _Jerusalem_ on the one side and the valley of the _Jordan_ and the Dead Sea on the other.