LXXIV.
PETITION TO THE SULTAN
THE following is the text of a petition to His Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, which was presented by Mr. Samuel Montagu, M.P. (afterwards Lord Swaythling), to Lord Rosebery, with the request to transfer the same to Constantinople. The petition was signed by the officers of the Executive Committee and by the Commander and Secretary of each Tent:――
“To His Imperial Majesty Abdul Hamid Khan, Sultan of The Ottoman Empire.
“May it please your Majesty,
“The undersigned Association of Chovevi Zion (Lovers of Zion) beg humbly to submit to your Imperial Majesty that this Association has been founded to assist a limited number of worthy and industrious Jews to purchase and cultivate land, and to earn their living by agriculture. The Association has purchased some portions of land in your Imperial Majesty’s Dominions on the eastern side of the Jordan, and desires to acquire such other portions of land in the same region as may be for sale, and suitable for the cultivation of corn, vines, fruits, and silk, or to the raising of cattle and horses.
“And the Association desires to send to this land fitting colonists, industrious and peaceable men, provided by the Association with sufficient means to till the land and to erect for themselves houses, and to sink wells and construct roads so that they may be able to reach markets.
“The Association wishes thus to send to your Imperial Majesty’s dominions only such men, with their families, as will with God’s help and under your Imperial Majesty’s protection, increase the prosperity of your Imperial Majesty’s dominion, and become faithful subjects to your Imperial Majesty.
“The Association therefore humbly begs your Imperial Majesty to grant the Association of Chovevi Zion a Firman with the following privileges.
“First: that such persons as may be selected by the experienced men who conduct the affairs of the Association may, when provided with proper certificates that they have been so selected, and that land has been purchased for them, be allowed to settle in your Imperial Majesty’s dominions, and to cultivate land there, and that the privilege be granted to them of becoming naturalised as your Majesty’s subjects.
“Second: That in view of the great expenses attending the beginnings of cultivation, the building of houses, the sinking of wells, and the making of roads, the agriculturists be relieved from the tax of the ‘Tenth’ for a period of seven years.
“Third: that it be graciously permitted to them, under the direction and on the lands of the Association, to build houses and stables, schools for their children, and temples in which to worship the Most High, to construct roads, drainage and irrigation works, and to sink wells, without having to crave special permission in each case.
“Fourth: that on condition that the Association send only men free from disease or illness and approved by experienced Doctors, such persons may freely travel in your Imperial Majesty’s dominions.
“And the Association, reckoning on your Imperial Majesty’s benevolence and wisdom, believes that your Imperial Majesty will confer these benefits on deserving and industrious people, and your Imperial Majesty’s most humble petitioners invoke on your Imperial Majesty, the blessing of the Most High.
President. Honorary Secretary.”
The following reply was received:――
“FOREIGN OFFICE, “_11th March, 1893_.
“SIR,――I am directed by the Earl of Rosebery to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd inst., forwarding a number of petitions, addressed to the Sultan, by the ‘Lovers of Zion’ in favour of the colonization of certain lands on the East of the Jordan by Jewish emigrants.
“His Lordship will enquire of Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Constantinople whether the fact of these petitions being sent in through the British Embassy would be likely to lead to a relaxation of the regulations affecting immigration to Syria.
“I am, Sir, “Your most obedient, humble servant, “(Signed) T. V. LISTER.¹
“Samuel Montagu, Esq.”
¹ _Palæstina_, The Chovevé Zion Quarterly, No. 3, 1893, _p._ 7.