Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-07-06
From the Boston Courier, June 10.
The Jews In Palestine.

1
there is abundant evidence that these
people are suffering great distress from
destitution. Their sufferings have been
occasioned partly by the failure of the
last harvest, which has raised the price
of food to an enormous height, and
partly by the present war and political
disturbances, and the diminution of the
resources for the support of the poor
derived from other countries. These
contributions-the greater part of which
were furnished by Russia-are now al
most entirely cut of. and the causes of
destitution have resulted in famine ag-
gravated to fearful degree by sickness
from hunger and distress, under which
the country is now suffering to an un-
paralleled extent.
An eminent Hebrew of London, Sir
Moses Montefore, who has lately re-
turned from visit to Palestine, has
published in the London papers an ap-
peal on behalf of his famishing coun-
trymen. In letter addressed to DR..
Alder, of London, he says:
"For the sake of Zion cannot re-
main silent, and for the sake of Jerusa-
lem 1 cannot rest until the whole house
of Israel have been made acquainted
with the lamentable condition of those
of our brethren who devotedly cling to
the soil sacred to the memory of our
patriarchs, prophets, and kings.
"Thrice having visited the Holy Land,
it was my earnest desire fully to inform
myself as to the condition of our breth-
rem there, for whom my deepest feelings
of commiseration were excited, in re-
gard to the amount of misery endured
by them.
Poverty in the East differs vastly
from the like calamity experienced in
Western Europe, inasmuch as the capa-
bility to relieve is, in the East, confined
within the narrowest bounds, and re-
stricted to a very limited number
Such being the general outline of the
condition of our brethren in Judea, my
feelings were most naturally aroused in
their behalf
Judge to what extent my sympa-
thies are now awakened when, as in
form you, that from the narrowing in
telligence it has been my painful lot to
receive, l learn that fathers in Israel
men profoundly learned in the law,
who, so that they may die near the
graves of our forefathers, submit to live
in the most abject poverty-are now
impelled by the very love they bear
their children, to sell them to the stran-
ger, SO, to use their own words, that
their offspring may be spared death
death from starvation"
The Hebrews of Jerusalem have also
issued an appeal to the Congregations
of Great Britain and America" The
following are extracts:
eye sunken gates of Zion be exalted,
and receive within the portals thereof
your elders and your wardens, who,
trumpet tongued, shall proclaim that the
staff of bread is broken, and the stay oi
water is wasted.
Assemble, ye scribes, and publish
the history of famine and pestilence,
that it may be borne to the remotest
communities of Israel, and become the
written messenger of the distress of the
indwellers of Zion, that it may thereby
awaken a nations sympathies; and il
misery has dried up the sources of elo-
quence wherewith to sustain your ap-
peal, supplicate the Almighty that He,
in His mercy, may incline the hearts Of
your brethren of the house of Jacob to
hasten to relieve the anguish of your
dropping spirits.
Brethren of the house of Isreal,
who sojourn in happy England and
America, arouse yourselves and save
from annihilation the remnant of the
faithful watchers of Zion and Jerusa-
lem.
ave lack the power to give even a
faint idea of the misery we are endur-
ing: every heart has become sick, every
tongue stricken dumb.
"Behold we are utterly Frustrated,
both in mind and in body, incompetent
to proclaim the severity of the visitation
that is consuming US.
Starvation and pestilence walk hand
in hand, and the wall of the poor, the
widow and the orphan is borne on the
air. 1t is difficult to say whose suffer.
ings are the greater-the miseries Of
those born under the sun of Judea, ol
of the holy pilgrims from distant lands
All classes of society, all grades and
conditions, have become united in the
|; brotherhood of wo; heads of synago
CUES and their pious servitors, learned
rabbis and their scholars mix in the
crowd to supplicate and beg mouldy
crust. Even that assistance which hai
hitherto reached us from our brethren
in the Russian and Turkish dominioni
is now, in consequence of the war, Gu
off.
"The dearth has raised the price o
food to an enormous height, and its re
suits are a state of anarchy and confu
sion, in which every mans band i
raised against his brother, and violenc'
is becoming rife in the land; for wit
can endure with uncomplaining fortitud
that horrible death-death by famine
! and see day by day the wife Of his youtl
, and The children of his love sink int
/ the grave without an effort to reliev
them.
[ "Brethrenl if you could but witnes