The fourth annual international congress of the Zionists, or Jews
who hope to recover Palestine and settle there, was opened on Monday in London. The interest excited seems to have been considerable, but we do not find in the speeches any evidence of progress towards success, or of that kind of dreamy enthusiasm which should lead to a new Exodus. The main arguments of the speakers are the horrible position of the Jews in countries where, as in Roumania, they are actively persecuted, and the benefit they may be to Europe as the vanguard of an army of intelligence for penetrating Asia. Both are sound arguments, but some hotter impulse than either would seem to be required before the majority of Jews will quit countries to which they are accustomed for a country which has for ages been represented to them as desolate beyond experience. The English Jews in particular are too comfortable to move, the Jews in professions on the Continent fear to be declared foreigners, and the poor majority have no means of influenc- ing the Turkish Government, which is not favourable to the movement. Some day or other, when the Seraglio is in acute want of money, a great experiment will be tried, but mean- while Zionism is rather the highly interesting aspiration of a great race than a practical design for the restoration of the Jews to their own land. As to the Jews being able to live on the land in Palestine there can, however, be no doubt. Those who have seen a Jewish Colony in Syria will testify to the excellent physical and moral and agricultural results achieved. Merely to see the children in a Jewish Colony in Palestine is ample warrant of what is done for the Jew by release from the Ghetto.
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