The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-01-29
The Jana Coiony-Letter from, the False
Prophet, Adams. D..

The Jana Coiony-Eetter from, ,he False
Prophet, Adams.
The Washington Chronicle publishes the
following letter from G. J. Adams to William
Sticlney, dated October. %, 1867. For a
man who has hardly been sober since be en-
barked on the s''Nellie chapin,' he shows
considerable spirit. 1t is needless to say to
Maine readers, that Adams charges against
the seceders from his colony are ridiculously
false. Adams says: [-
You are right in saying the reports pub
lshed in the American papers are too full of
bitterness and venom to carry conviction to
an honest man. The colony is now united
and happy, and enjoy peace on all sides for
the first time during our stay in this land.
Soon after you LETT a number more became
dissatisfied, and, as you justly remarked, re-
modelled the same old stories, with additions.
They swore against me all manner of false
stories, and, among others, that they were
afraid of their lives-afraid that would in
cite the natives to destroy them-and on
their lying afidavits was thrown into a vile
Turkish prison for twelve days. On my de-
liyerance and upon the investigationtL proved
every charge against me false and malicious.
To recede and become United States .paupers
and beggars, seemed with many of them to
have become kind of MANIA This may
have grown out of the fact that a number
who were among the first to return wrote
back that they had more money than when
they started for Palestine. And number Of
them boldly asserted that they would lie and
beg their way through. ,-so 81, -.,o.,F
AS to suffering in the colony for want of
provisions, it is. utterly untrue; and when l
say this mean from the time when we land
ed up to the present hour. In the house
where the child was said to have cried for
bread, the family had packed away more than
81 900 i'll gold. Several OF those who seeded
since you left had from $500 to $1,000 each,
on selling their property, and yet they begged
just as hard as any OF the party. .ET
As 10 their crops, they never gathered them; /;
they were too lazy. We purchased their
crops; and, although they did not turn out
large yet they were much better than we
might have expected, for the simple reason
that cur grain was sown too late, and the
earth not half ploughed. All this told them
at the time, but they would not take my
counsel and advice. Let them go. We are
glad to get clear of them; they were utterly
unfit even to assist in such great work as
the restoration OF Palestine. They were men
of corrupt minds-impure in their motives
and their places will soon be filed by better
and nobler men. Every effort that could be
made by apostates, assisted by the consuls,
for our destruction, has been tried; but they
have failed-utterly failed in destroying the
colony. Their reason for making such mighty
efforts for cur destruction was that they knew
that if the colony went on and lived, their
deeds would be handed down to future time
with shame and everlasting disgrace. Oh sir
that you could look upon us now and see how
happy we are, freed from those bad men.
Since their departure the natives seem anx-
ious to hire us. Our teams are all engaged.
Our carpenters have employment and receive
good pay. Each one saves, over and above
all his expenses, at least So in gold per week.
All our mechanics and laborers have plenty
of work and good pay. Our prospects for the
future, we can say, are truly glorious. A fine
macadamized carriage-road is being finished
from Jerusalem to Jaffa, 100 feet wide. Over
5000 men are at work upon it, and over twelve
miles of the road are already finished. 1t is
to be completed in thirty days by order of the
| Sultan. This is no myth, but a reality; for
| we have seen it with our own eyes. Our car
| riages and wagons are all engaged in the COM
pletion of the road, to bring Consuls and 9TH
er foreign dignitaries from Jerusalem to Jaffa.
Is not this great step toward progression in
| this down-trodden land? We are at peace
| with all the natives. The Latins, Greeks,
| ArmeDians, Maronites, Turks, Arabs and Ma
hammedaDs are all friendly to us. SO also
| with the local officers and all the foreign con-
suls. Not one seceder is left in the Holy
Land 10 send his venom to the United States.
We, the colony, now stand free from every
| government on earth, and, as was our father
| Abraham, are strangers and pilgrims and So
journers on the earth. The consuls, in seek
| ing destruction, gravely told us that if we
would not return to America the United
States Government would give us their pro-
lection no longer. This was no doubt said to
| induce US to leave our beautiful homes; but
we told them plainly that we would never
seek aid, assistance or protection from the
United States authorities here, and signed a
paper to that effect. Thus we stand extirpat-
| ed from our native land; and yet we are
Americans, and fly the flag every Lord S day
| We have joined no other Government, net
ther do we wish to, although we have had
many offers held out to us. Our colony mum
bers forty-five, all told; but many men OF in
fluence and wealth will join US between nov
] and New Year-some from England, somt
from France, some from Germany some from
the United States. We can say we have
peace and plenty; and never before since ou