Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1854-08-12
No. Ii.
Palestine MOrtgaged to the Ro,hschiIds.


IT IS said, abroad, that Palestine has been mort.
gagged TO the Rothschiids. as security for loan sd
vanced to the Sultan The rumor further asserts
! that, among the possibilities of the future is the
erection of Palestine, on the conclusion of peace
INTO Jewish kingdom, under the dynasty of the
RothschIlds. That serious territorial alterations
Will grow out of the pending war is ncontestible
and this suggestion regarding Palestine, how ever
visionary II may seem, Is, therefore, not quite alb
surd
That Palestine should fall into the possession of
some other people than the Turks is desirable on
many accounts. Situated as it is at a distance
from the central government, and liable continual
ly to the exactions from Pachas, or the indiffer-
ence OF Governors, 1t offers no sufficient induce
ments for capital to settle there or industry to re-
maln 1t Is, consequently, IN a condition Of pro-
gressIve decay. Agriculture is neglected, trade
hnds little to support it, and ignorance supersti-
ton and vice domlneer over the land From the
furthest shores of Nazereth to the Southern wa
tiers of the Dead Sea, curse seems to hang over
the country, blighting it like pestilencc or a
| flight of Egyptian locustS
| There was a time, however, when Palestine was
| the most fourshing region, perhaps on the face
of the globe Its vallIps were filed with tic low
Of cattlrits terraced hll-sides glOwed with gold
en- crops, the vine dottcd the landscape with pur-
| pie grapes, and an almost continuous line of VIII
lagos crowned the acclivities in sipht of each 9TH
els lIOn tle ueSeIl Ol lQuNle0 on the south tO
Mount Libanus on the NORTH There is reason to
believe that at the beginning of the Christian era,
the whole land was like vast suburb The four
Gospels are full of alusiODs which warrant this
conclusion. But now desolation broods over the
entire prospect. The footprints of successive in
vaders have deeply dened the surface of the coun-
try. The round battlement towers of the Crusa-
derS rise amid the ruin of old Roman works, while
modern Turkish tortresses lift themselves above
the blackened walls of Roman castles. The axe
and hre have gone this once fair region in re-
peated surges of blood and conflagraton. Centu-
lies OF war and oppression have exhausted the
spirit OF the pcope-have destroyed the old i'm
provcments, have turned what was once continu-
Gus garden and vineyard into a comparative desert
No man can remember what Palestine once was
and recall what it is at present, without wishing
that equal laws aud liberal institutions might re-
store it TO its former spendor
The creation of a Jewish kingdom promises the
speedieSt method of arriving at this. There are
millions of Hebrews scattered over Europe, who
would avail themselves of such restoration, to re-
turn to the land of their fathers Poland and Rus
sia especially, swarm with them. The oppression
under which they suffer wherever the Car Lolds
sway, would be additional inducement for them
to emigrate to Palestine. Jew IN Russia cannot
wear beard as he wishes, cannot appear in GER
tam garments, cannot import even the Hebrew
Scni lures, cannot enjoy the common rights of
NitiSci'' 'uCH We COlloiltI lilS C01r-
acter of the race, and recall the great Jewish exo-
dus which Is even now going on, we cannot see
any difficulty in the way of a Jewish emigration
such as would repOpulate Palestine in very few
years.
There are difficulties in the way, however, and
serious ones. A small kingdom, like Palestine
proper would be, would hardly sustain itself against
its miglItier neighbors. But it, as appearances be-
gin to Indicate the present war will end in the re-
construction of Turkey, and if that re-coustruc-
ton should be based on a federal union under the
Sultan, of various Independent provinces, then we
zee no reason why Hebrew princpality might
not take its place in such union, side by with
Servlan, a Russian, or an Albanian one.-Phila-
delphia Ledger.