E. W. Bullinger

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September, 1897 | Vol. IV July 1897 - June 1898 | Main Index

Things to Come

Such is the title of a long article in The Pall Mall Gazette of July 30th, giving some significant telegrams from Vienna, and recording an

The Correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, after describing the man and his surroundings, says,

"He means he found a colony up-to-date, which will know nothing of the solitary unaided pioneer or of a virgin country without civilization, law, and rational government. Sheridan exclaimed that he had finished his play when he had found his plot—he had only to write it. In the same way Dr. Herzl will have acquired and opened up the land before the colonization proper takes place.

An Improvement on Rhodesia

"For founding the Jewish state," said Dr. Herzl, "my plan might be styled a Jewish Rhodesia, but with this difference, that within a year or so of Palestine being acquired from the Turk I shall have a million colonists in the country."

"How is that possible?"

"We shall first send an exploring expedition, equipped with all the modern resources of science, which will thoroughly overhaul the land from one end to the other, before it is colonized, and establish telephonic and telegraphic communication with the base as they advance. The old methods of colonization will not do here. It was in Paris, three years ago, while I was the correspondent of a Vienna paper, that I first hit on the idea. I had no hopes then of ever realizing it, but on my return to Austria I was very much like the man with the anaconda in a box, who was surprised to find that it had grown out of all proportion to its surroundings."

"Then it is a case of greatness being thrust upon you? They have already dubbed you the new Moses."

"Oh la-la-la!" said the worthy doctor, with a kind of French shrug; "I do not lay claim to any inspiration, though thereby hangs a tale. I remember revealing my plans about two years ago to a well-known Berlin banker and the Chief Rabbi of Vienna. The latter having heard my story, spread out his arms and exclaimed 'Moses!' It is significant that this same Rabbi has since written a brochure against me and my work.

"But the movement is bound to succeed. Our organization is established throughout the world, and every day I get reports giving particulars of people who are ready to go to Palestine. See here," and he showed me a goodly sized book which may find an honourable place, a hundred years hence, in the future museum of Jewish Jerusalem. "This is one of the four books which contain the records of the movement—the log books of the Mayflower," added Dr. Herzl, with a chuckle. "That one watchword the 'Jewish State' has been sufficient to rouse the Jews to a state of enthusiasm in the remotest corners of the earth, though there are those forming the so-called philanthropic party who predict that that watchword will provoke reprisals from Turkey. Inquiries in Constantinople and Palestine show that nothing is further from the truth. Moreover, the Turkish Ambassador in Vienna has given me full authority to flatly contradict such a statement."

A Capital of a Milliard of Marks

"And your plan, Doctor?"

"My plan is simple enough. We must obtain the sovereignty over Palestine—our never-to-be-forgotten, historical home. At the head of the movement will be two great and powerful agents—the Society of Jews and the Jewish Company. The first-named will be a political organization and spread the Jewish propaganda. The latter will be a limited liability company, under English laws, having its headquarters in London, and a capital of, say, a milliard of marks. Its task will be to discharge all the financial obligations of the retiring Jews and regulate the economic conditions in the new country. At first we shall send only unskilled labour—that is, the very poorest, who will make the land arable. They will lay out streets, build bridges and railroads, regulate rivers, and lay down telegraphs according to plans prepared at headquarters. Their work will bring trade, their trade the market, and the markets will cause new settlers to flock to the country. Everyone will go there voluntarily at his of her own risk, but ever under the watchful eye and protection of the organization."

"Then all you have to do is get the country?"

"Just so, and I think we shall find Palestine at our disposal sooner than we expected. Last year I went to Constantinople and had two long conferences with the Grand Vizier, to whom I pointed out that the key to the preservation of Turkey lay in the solution of the Jewish question. That the Sultan has taken no unfavourable view of my proposals is proved by his having decorated me. Turkey's finances are disorganized, and she will never get a penny from Greece. She is in a state of constitutional decomposition, and threatens the health of the whole of Europe. Either sanitary remedies must be applied or she must be removed. The maintenance of order in this corner of the Orient is a sine qua non if Christians are to live unmolested there. We cannot look to weak Turkish Governments to do that. The great fault of the Turks is their inability to keep pace with European civilization and advancement, and England placed the first nail in her coffin when Stephenson's invention introduced a new era of progress. The Jews in exchange for Palestine would regulate the Sultan's finances and prevent disintegration, while for Europe we should form a new outpost against Asiatic barbarism and a guard of honour to hold intact the sacred shrines of the Christians."

"And if Turkey rejects your proposals?"

"We can afford to play a waiting game, and either take over Palestine from the European Congress called together to divide the spoils of disintegrated Turkey, or look out for another land such as Argentine, and say, 'Your Zion is there!'"

A Congress to Be the New Redeemer

"It is to confer over this point that a congress has been arranged for at Basle on August 29. I am told that among the Bulgarian Jews there is a belief that on that date a Messiah will arise; but whatever may happen, there is no doubt that that congress will be the Redeemer of the Jews. The immediate results of the Zionistic movement have been to unite the most antagonistic Jewish elements, and to bring into actual life a new school of Jewish literature."

"You rely, then, upon the Jew making a good colonist?"

"I am sure of it, and that he is even a better colonist than the Englishmen. There are already colonies of Jews in Palestine, and I have on my table an excellent Bordeaux, Sauterne, and cognac grown in that country. It is well known that in Galicia and the Balkans the Jews perform the roughest kind of manual labour. There the wealth he brings is not his money, but himself."

"And how far do you propose to solve the social problems in the New State?"

"I am not in favour of anything savouring of the Utopian element and the Socialist's dream. Personally, I incline to a democratic monarchy and very much of what is best in English institutions. But the Jew in his new country will know nothing of the misery of his European surroundings."

September, 1897 | Vol. IV July 1897 - June 1898 | Main Index  

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