The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 46, September 23, 1897

The proposal also stated that when Greece had put the funds into the hands of the Powers, Turkey was immediately to recall her troops from Thessaly.

The ambassadors all agreed to accept this plan, which, in truth, gave both Germany and England the points they desired. After the foreign Ministers had decided to accept it, it was shown informally to Tewfik Pasha.

This official also appeared satisfied with the arrangements, and gave the ambassadors to understand that when it was formally presented to him he would be able to accept it in the name of the Sultan.

It is therefore expected that the details of the peace treaty will be settled in a very few days.

Greece, the country most interested in this settlement, is the party least satisfied with the arrangement.

It is felt in Athens that the terms of the peace are very hard ones. The frontier question has been so settled that Greece is powerless to defend herself against the Turks if they should declare war on her again. The mountain passes and the important places in the mountain ranges will be in the hands of the Turks, and Greece will lie at the foot of the hills, a ready prey to any army that may descend on her from the heights.

In addition to this, she has to pay a heavy war indemnity, and to do so must turn over the control of her revenue to foreigners.

It will take many years before Greece can recover from this blow.

The blockade of Crete is to be brought to an end, or "raised" as it is called.

The Cretans having accepted the Home Rule offered them by the Powers, there is no longer any need for the allied fleets to remain there, and therefore the war-ships are to leave the island.

It is difficult to see what good they have accomplished. When Djevad Pasha arrived at the island, giving himself all the airs of a new Turkish governor, the Cretans accepted Home Rule in the belief that the Powers would protect them from the Turks.

Not being wily diplomatists, they did not insert any clause about the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the island, and therefore the Powers do not feel bound to demand this of Turkey, and are taking away the only protection the Cretans had, and are leaving them just as much at the mercy of the Turks as they were before Greece tried to go to their rescue.

It seems a shabby piece of business on the part of the Powers, and one they will have hard work to justify even to themselves.

The admirals have, it is true, requested Djevad Pasha to order all the Turks in the island disarmed with the exception of the Turkish soldiers. If he refuses they threaten to ask for his recall, but this is a very poor conclusion after all the fuss that has been made, and the trouble the interference of the Powers has caused.

There is good news from the Soudan.

After the British had taken the town of Abu Hamed, about which we told you a short while since, they continued to advance up the Nile toward the next important town that lay in their route to Khartoum.

This town was Berber.

It was expected that the Mahdists would make a fierce resistance at this place, and the British troops were prepared for severe fighting.

What was their surprise on reaching Berber to find that the Mahdists had fled before them, and were encamped at the city of Matammeh, where they intended to make a stand against the invading army.

Berber had been left in the hands of a few Soudanese who were friendly to the English, and willingly permitted them to take possession of the town.

This city is only about two hundred miles from Khartoum, and no place of importance now lies in the way of the British advance on Khartoum, the Mahdist stronghold.

A very interesting movement is on foot to secure the return of the Jews to Palestine.

We are all familiar with the beautiful story of Moses, and how he led the Jewish people out of their captivity in Egypt into the promised land of Palestine.

We can follow out the history of the kingdom of Israel through its years of prosperity under David and Solomon; we can read how the Jews again became a conquered people, and fell under the rule of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, and how under the leadership of Maccabeus they once more became a nation, only to fall into the hands of the Romans.

History tells us how they revolted again and again under the Roman rule, and how at last, in the year 135 a.d., Jerusalem was taken by the Roman Emperor, and the Jews, driven from their country, ceased to be a nation, and were scattered over the face of the earth.

From the year 135 Palestine remained in the hands of the Romans, and when they became converted to Christianity this land was regarded by them with great veneration. Bethlehem of Judea, where Jesus Christ was born, is in Palestine, and Jerusalem, where He suffered death on the cross, was the capital of Judea.

In the sixth century Palestine fell into the hands of the Mohammedans, and it was to rescue the Holy City from the hands of unbelievers that the Christians of Europe first undertook those long and terrible wars which are known in history as the Crusades.

The Christians finally conquered Jerusalem, and established a Christian kingdom there which lasted for eighty years, when the celebrated Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, reconquered the Holy City.

Since that time Palestine has been in the hands of the Mohammedans, and in the year 1517 it was finally added to the Turkish Empire.

The present idea of the Jewish people is to purchase Palestine from the Sultan of Turkey and re-settle the Hebrews there.

A Hebrew Congress has just been held in Basle, Switzerland, for the purpose of discussing this matter.

On the second day of the Congress a resolution was offered that a home be created in Palestine for the Jewish people, and that the consent and assistance of the Powers be asked to the plan.

The resolution was instantly adopted, amid the greatest excitement and enthusiasm.

Little more business was done that day. The people present were so excited with the hope of becoming a nation once more that they could not bring their minds to consider any less important subject.

The next day, however, the Congress settled itself to a business-like consideration of the plan. It was resolved to treat with the Sultan of Turkey for the purchase of Palestine, and a committee was formed to collect funds for that object, it being considered desirable to raise fifty million dollars as speedily as possible.

The idea of recolonizing Palestine is not a new one. In 1840 the generous Sir Moses Montefiore endeavored to start the scheme. Since his day several other attempts have been made.

In 1878 some Jews in Jerusalem founded the first colony there, and through the assistance of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, and of a Jewish society in Paris, there are already five thousand Hebrews settled in Palestine. They have a tract of land about six square miles in extent, and have it in excellent cultivation, producing among other things an excellent vintage of Bordeaux, which is a high grade of claret.

The present plan originated with Dr. Theodor Herzl of Vienna. He is a literary man whose work is well known in Austria, and he is considered well fitted to be the leader of this great movement.

Dr. Herzl says that he does not think there will be much difficulty in making terms with the Sultan.

He visited Constantinople last year, and had two long conversations with the Grand Vizier on the subject. While this minister did not answer Yes or No to his project, Dr. Herzl says that he can but feel that the Sultan was favorably impressed by it, as he sent him a decoration.

A "decoration" is a badge or emblem, such as a cross, star, flower, or the like, which is bestowed by a sovereign as a special mark of favor or in recognition of some great service. Medals received for bravery on the field of battle are decorations.

Some of these decorations, or orders, as they are also called, are extremely beautiful in workmanship and design. Each country has its own special orders, a certain few of which are only bestowed on royalty, or persons of very high rank.

Decorations are intended to be worn on the left breast. To attach them to the clothing they are threaded on a ribbon which varies in color and design for every order. In Europe, medals and orders are only worn on full-dress occasions, but for ordinary use the proud owners of these marks of distinction will wear a small strip of ribbon belonging to the order.

These favors are not, as a rule, lightly bestowed, and the possessors of the important European orders are rightfully proud of them.

The decorating of Dr. Herzl may have been nothing more than amiability on the part of the Sultan, but it certainly showed that his Majesty was not displeased with the doctor's mission.

The leaders of this new movement are not, however, pinning all their faith on the Sultan.

If it becomes impossible to secure Palestine they will treat for a tract of land in some healthy part of South America.

The land once secured, it is the intention to send a number of the poorer Jews out to it.

These men are to be drawn from the laboring classes, and it is to be their work to lay out streets, build bridges and railroads, etc., and generally prepare the way for those who are to follow.

It is not intended to make any class distinctions of rich or poor, or to send out a class of rich persons to profit by the work done for them by their less fortunate brothers. The leaders of the movement will lay out extensive works in the various kinds of building that we have mentioned, and it is expected that the business these works will create will attract settlers to the new country, who will start up foundries and factories. It is the intention to furnish the colony with all the latest improvements and inventions, and it is but reasonable to suppose that the new land will soon become an important centre of industry.