Mordecai M. Noah: American Zionist

Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews

Mr. Noah’s object seems to be to excite the American Christians, and especially the ladies and gentlemen belonging to the various conversion societies to unite in a plan, to urge upon the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to allow the Jews to hold land in Syria, and then to aid all those who may be willing to emigrate thither with the requisite means to establish themselves there as an independent and republican people. We are not bold enough to hazard the assertion that such a plan is absolutely impracticable, or that it is altogether opposed to Scripture to encompass in the manner indicated, the primary restoration of the Jews. Besides it would appear from the letter from Jurburg, published in The Orient which we gave in the last number of our magazine, that many of our people living under the iron sway of Russia, ardently desire the consummation of some project of the kind. But we apprehend, that the difficulty will not be found with the Turkish government, which has latterly, since the accession of Abdul Medjid to the throne, and since the persecution at Damascus, granted the Jews an equality of rights, (at least it was so stated in the papers of the day,) with other Rajahs or non-Mussulman inhabitants, which equality we presume, includes the right of holding real estate.
continue