nnot avoid offering one or two further
considerations.

Supposing that you and your colleagues should at once and earnestly
interest yourselves upon this important subject of the recovery of your
ancient country, it appears to me (forming my opinions upon the present
attitude of affairs in the Turkish Empire) that it could only be as
subjects of the Porte that you could commence to regain a footing in
Palestine. Your first object would be to interest the Five Great Powers
in your views and to get them to advocate your view with the Sultan upon
the clear understanding that the Jews, if permitted to colonise any part
of Syria and Palestine, should be under the protection of the Great
Powers, that they should have the internal regulation of their own
affairs, that they should be exempt from military service (except on
their own account as a measure of defence against the incursions of the
Bedouin Arabs), and that they should only be called upon to pay a
tribute to the Porte on the usual mode of taxation.

No doubt, such an undertaking will require _Patriotism_ in the fullest
sense of the word, energy and great perseverance. It will require large
capital at the outset, but with good prospect of remuneration, returned
after the lapse of a few years.

In all enterprises men must be prepared to make great sacrifices,
whether of time, health or resources. To reflect calmly before
commencing an undertaking and once begun to carry it through,
vanquishing, surmounting, triumphing over every obstacle, this is worthy
of man's existence and carries with it its own reward, if the judgment
is sound, the head clear and the heart honest. I humbly venture to give
my opinion upon a subject, which no doubt has already occupied your
thought--and the bare mention of which, I know, makes every Jewish heart
vibrate. The only question is--_when_ and _how_.

The blessing of the Most High must be invoked on the endeavour.
Political events seem to warrant the conclusion that the hour is nigh at
hand when the Jewish people may justly and with every reasonable
prospect of success put their hands to the glorious work of National
Regeneration. If you think otherwise I shall bend at once to your
decision, only begging you to appreciate my motive, which is simply an
ardent desire for the welfare and prosperity of a people to whom we all
owe our possession of those blessed truths which direct our minds with
unerring faith to the enjoyment of another a