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Viscount Palmerston to Viscount Ponsonby, Aug. 11, 1840.

Lord_PalmerstonF.O. 78/390 (No. 134) Foreign Office, 11th August 1840

There exists at present among the Jews dispersed over Europe a strong notion that the Time is approaching when their nation is to return to Palestine; and consequently their wish to go thither has become more keen, and their thoughts have been bent more intensely than before upon the means of realizing their wish. It is well known that the Jews of Europe possess great wealth; and it is manifest that any country in which a considerable number of them might choose to settle, would derive great benefit from, the riches which they would bring to it.

Whether Mehemet Ali accepts the first or the second offer which is to be made to him, in either case, it would be of manifest importance to the Sultan to encourage the Jews to return to, and to settle in Palestine, because the wealth which they would bring with them would increase the Resources of the Sultan’s Dominions; and the Jewish people, if returning under the sanction and protection, and at the invitation of the Sultan, would be a check upon any future evil designs of Mehemet Ali or his Successor.

I have to instruct Your Excellency to bring these Considerations confidentially under the notice of the Turkish Government, and strongly to recommend to hold out every just encouragement to the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine.

It is obvious that full and complete security of person is the necessary Foundation upon which any such invitation could rest, and it is also manifest that no such security could exist unless all arbitrary Proceeding and all acts of Capricious Authority can be prevented, and unless impartial Courts of Justice can be constituted, before which Jew and Mahometan might be equally sure of obtaining a just Sentence.

But even if the encouragement held out by the Sultan to the Jews were not practically to lead the Settlements of any great number of them within the Limits of the
Ottoman Empire, still the Promulgation of some Laws In their Favour would be spread a Friendly Disposition towards the Sultan among the Jews in Europe; and the Turkish Government must at once see how advantageous it would be to the Sultan’s Cause thus to create useful friends in many countries by one single Edict.

The Jewish Historical Society of England- The British Consulate in Jerusalem in relation to the Jews of Palestine 1838-1914 by Albert H. Hyamson, pp. 33-34

Published by Edward Goldston, Ltd. London 1939

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