there of the American school. Within the past year, the Turkish government has opened a small museum containing a part of the pottery, glass, and ancient coins, excavated by Dr. Bliss in his work for the Palestine exploration Fund. This may perhaps be made the beginning of a much greater undertaking.
The choice of Jerusalem as the seat of the school was undoubtedly the best which could have been made. No other Syrian city holds such a prominent place in the interest of American scholars; no other can present such varied literary and archæological advantages. It is a city in which, as a rule, foreigners are very well treated. The climate is one which residents of the United States will find very comfortable during the greater part of the year. It is greatly to be desired that permanent quarters should be secured, where the school can have a home of its
own. At present, it has its temporary abode in the Grand New Hotel, just inside the Jaffa gate. This want of suitable accommodations, and that of adequate fellowships for students, are the pressing needs of the school at present. It is to be hoped, both in the interest of American scholarship, and for the sake of the antiquities of the Holy Land, toward the preservation and utilization of which the work of our school could not fail to contribute much, that strong supporters of the enterprise may come forward in increasing number.
C. C. TORREY.
[The writer of the above article is a member of the faculty of Yale University. He was formerly connected with the Andover Theological Seminary, and was a director of the Exploration school during the first year of its existence. Professor Torrey is an enthusiastic archæo- logist and his work has been noted by the scholars of the world.]
The Fifth Zionist Congress
WHEN these pages appear, the Fifth Zionist Congress will have already passed into history. A full account of what will take place there, cannot appear in this issue of The Maccabæan. And yet, there are certain general considerations and certain general thoughts which I desire even now, to put before the readers of this journal.
Five years is not a long time in the life of a people, certainly not in the life of the Jewish people, who can look back upon a continuous history reaching out into the centuries of man's earliest existence. But at certain periods of history five years may mean a good deal; for the importance of events cannot be weighed out either by the number of those participating in them, or by the number of months and years consumed in their passing. The deed of an instant may carry in its train many years of joy or sadness to countless multitudes. In the strands of time mere counting stands for very little.
Five years of Zionist work! A Fifth Zionist Congress! My mind goes back to the time when the accounts of the first Congress at Basle reached these shores. I cannot yet forget the thrill of new hope and of new life which set my blood all aboiling, and my thoughts all aflame, as I read the noble words pronounced from that platform,
and as I pictured to myself the sight of this, thefirst great Jewish Congress. Since then, threemore such Congresses have been held, and ithas been my good fortune to have been presentat all three, and at the very fountain head todrink in the inspiration engendered by thosehappy moments.
It was the Jewish assertion which, in the first place, captured me. The fact that Jews came before the world as interested in Jewish matters, with a full sense of the obligations which they bore; not an assertion of mere racial pride, or of the importance of the Jew for the world at large, but an assertion of his individuality, of his right to a dignified existence. It is this dignified assertion that we lack so often, and the want of which so frequently makes us show the white feather and take to our heels. The assertion is not necessarily boastful, but it is always the reflex of a strong inner consciousness, and this strong inner consciousness, this complete faith in its objects and aims, has been a feature of every one of these meetings.
These Congresses, however, have not only been the finest example of Jewish assertion, but they have been an example of how the Jews of all shades and opinions can get together and work for some supreme object. For here all