udea, 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 kno