“The fifteen deputies of these tribes shall form the Council, which shall hold its sittings at Paris. When they shall have assembled to the number of nine, they may begin to deliberate on the object of their mission. Their decisions will have with all the Jews the force of laws; they shall be obliged to submit to them. The Council shall appoint an agent, to communicate to the Executive Directory of France the propositions which it may think proper to make to the French government.” “The country we propose to occupy shall include (liable to such arrangements as shall be agreeable to France) Lower Egypt, with the addition of a district of country, which shall have for its limits a line running from Ptomelais or Saint John D’Acre, to the Asphaltic Lake, or Dead Sea, and from the South point of that Lake to the Red Sea. This position, which is the most advantageous in the world, will render us, by the navigation of the Red Sea, masters of the commerce of India, Arabia and the South and East of Africa; Abyssinia, and Ethiopia, those rich countries which furnished Solomon with so much gold and ivory and so many precious stones, will trade the more willingly with us, that the greater part of their inhabitants still practise the law of Moses. The neighbourhood of Aleppo and Damascus will facilitate our commerce with Persia; and by the Mediterranean we may communicate with Spain, France, Italy, and the rest of Europe. Placed in the centre of the world, our country will become the _entrepôt_ of all the rich and precious productions of the earth. “The Council shall offer to the French government, if it will give us the assistance necessary to enable us to return to our country, and to maintain ourselves in the possession of it, “1. Every pecuniary indemnification. 2. To share the commerce of India, &c. with the merchants of France _only_. “The other arrangements, and the propositions to be made to the Ottoman Porte, cannot yet be rendered public: we must, in these matters, repose on the wisdom of the Council, and the good faith of the French nation. Let us choose upright and enlightened deputies, and we may have confidence in the success of this undertaking. “O! my brethren! what sacrifices ought we not to make to obtain this object? We shall return to our country――we shall live under our own laws――we shall behold those sacred places which our ancestors illustrated with their courage and their virtues. I already see you all animated with a holy zeal. _Israelites_! the term of your misfortunes is at hand. The opportunity is favourable――take care you do not allow it to escape.”¹ ¹ The Restoration of the Jews the Crisis of all Nations;... Second Edition. By J. Bicheno, M.A. London:... 1807.... (8º. 2 _ll._ + 235 _pp._ [I. S.]) _pp._ 60‒62. See _Appendices_ XLIII.‒XLVI.