It is rather more than a year since I last had the honor of addressing a Jewish audience in these rooms under the auspices of the London Zionist League. And on that occasion I ventured to make two forecasts which may be said to have been verified during the time that has elapsed. The first question was with regard to the effect upon the fortunes of the Jewish race that was likely to result from the great events then happening in Russia and Japan, and I have no need and no heart to recall to you the terrible scenes that have been enacted during these fourteen months, nor the wickedness of an effete bureaucracy that has stained Russia with the blood of the Jews. But I also pointed out that it was likely that the events which were then coming would render such questions as the return of the Jewish people to Palestine, or the making of other ‘arrangements for the reception of ithe refugees, ‘of the greatest moment. Of course, the emergency was so great and sudden that no system—Palestinian of Territorial—eould.. at that moment, do anything to help the refugees, and consequently other steps were necessary and were taken for the help of the persecuted.
The other question which had arisen was that of acquiring a territory in East Africa for the colonisation of an autonomous State, and I think you acted very wisely, before committing yourselves in the matter, in sending out commissioners
*Fifth in a series of lectures delivered before the London Zionist League.
to enquire into the real facts of the case. I cast some doubt at the time on the suitability of the country for colonisation, and the report appeared fully to have confirmed the reasonableness of these doubts. If Pharoah fhad offered your ancestors and Moses a territory in the deserts of Mount Sinai, it would probably have been declined as not being the Promised Land. And it proved that the country that was offered had this defect, that nobody wanted it; and whatever might be the different opinions as tto the best way of promoting the national idea and of assisting the persecuted, the question of East Africa was, I suppose, finally settled in the negative by the decision of the last Congress.
I am now asked to speak on the future of Palestine. It is your own country, as the text from the Prophets may remind you:—“Moreover I will appoint a place for my people of Israel, and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more.” The difficulty in speaking definitely of the future of Palestine is that I have no means of knowing for certain anything more about it than yourselves. I always feel, however, that the future of Palestine depends on the action of the Zionists. The question of what is meant by “the future of Palestine” must also be considered. When you speak of that you mean the immediate political future, not the more remote future in the Messianic age, about which it is quite unnecessary to say a word. What I have to speak about now is the