agriculturists, and that any attempts to develop the agricultural
resources of the country through their instrumentality must result
in failure. In the first instance, it is rather as landed
proprietors than as labourers on the soil, that I should invite
them to emigrate into Palestine, where they could lease their own
land at high prices to native farmers if they preferred, instead of
lending money on crops at 20 or 25 per cent. to the peasants, as
they do at present."[70]
This is the point to which Mr. Oliphant's fine enthusiasm dwindles
down--the floating of a joint-stock company, limited, with one million
sterling capital, for the purpose of transforming into "landed
proprietors" a number of Oriental Jews, who would neither have the heart
to work themselves nor the skill to direct the labour of others. Those
who have read modern history, or political economy, will not require an
elaborate exposure of a scheme which aims at setting up in Gilead, under
the guise of philanthropy, the rack-renting and ornamental landlording
which have received such severe rebukes in Europe. We refer to the
general outline of Mr. Oliphant's fascinating scheme, inasmuch as he has
reduced to practical shape what others vaguely theorize about.
He gives us a map of the proposed colony, connected by railways and
tram-cars with the outer world. It embraces "the plains of Moab and the
land of Gilead," from the Jabok to the Annon. I know the country well.
It is even more beautiful and fertile than Mr. Oliphant describes it to
be. It is impossible to pass through it without the constant thought of
what it might be in the hands of an Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. Oliphant was
struck with the beauty of the girls of Ajlun, one of whom tried in vain
to remove the vermin from his blankets. Dr. Thomson and I lay on a
grassy slope, a whole afternoon, at the village of es-Souf, watching
the children pelting each other with flowers, and we both agreed that we
had never seen an assemblage of merrier or lovelier children. "I cannot
make them out," said Dr. Thomson, with unwonted enthusiasm; "they seem
to be English children."
Supposing the land for the proposed colony were secured, on Mr.
Oliphant's plan, partly by judicious bribing at Constantinople, and
partly by buying out the interest of the present proprietors, and that
the undertaking proved to be the "sound and practical scheme containing
all the elements of success" which its promoters predict--the very
success of the colony would expose the colonists to a great and terrible
danger. Travellers must have noticed that the _fellahîn_ cultivate their
fields with long guns slung over their shoulders, and an armoury of
pistols and daggers in their belts. Why is this? Because, as the
proverb, tested by experience, has it--"A Turkish judge may be bribed by
three eggs, two of them rotten; and a _fellah_ may be murdered for his
jacket without a button upon it."
Mr. Oliphant came upon Circassians re-occupying deserted villages in the
midst of the Bedawîn, and he takes the fact as "valuable evidence that
the problem of colonization by a foreign element, so far as the Arabs
are concerned, is by no means insoluble."[71] He seems to forget that
the traveller with empty pockets may whistle in the face of the
highwayman. The Circassians are settling in abandoned villages by the
wish of the authorities. They have the deep sympathy of all Moslems on
account of their sufferings. Besides, they have nothing to lose which
would compensate the Bedawîn for the alienation of the Turkish
Government.
The case would be far different with a rich and prosperous colony of
foreigners supported by foreign capital.
In his hurried tour beyond Jordan, Mr. Oliphant came upon the Fudl Arabs
with 2,000 fighting men, and in their midst a colony of 300 Circassians.
In another place he came on a colony of 3,000 Circassians in the midst
of the Naïm Arabs, who muster 4,000 fighting men. "The Anezeh Arabs, who
control," he says, "an area of about 40,000 square miles, and who can
bring over 100,000 horsemen and camel-drivers into the field," would be
on the borders of the colony, and the Druzes, who are born warriors, and
who inhabit Jebel-ed-Druze, he places at 50,000. Besides these there are
the Beni Sukhr, and other local tribes, whose fanaticism and cupidity
would be moved by the presence of a prosperous colony of foreigners.
On April 12, 1875, Dr. Thomson and I started from Der'a in a
southwesterly direction over wavy hills covered with splendid wheat, the
sides of the way ablaze with anemones. As we approached Remthey, we saw
what in the miragy atmosphere seemed a row of trees fifteen or twenty
miles long. I had been over the path before, and I was struck with this
new feature in the landscape. Soon it seemed to us that the line, as far
as we could see, was in motion, and as we approached closer to it, we
found that it was composed of camels. We spurred our horses, and soon we
found ourselves by the side of the great living stream of the Wuld 'Aly
Arabs moving from the Arabian Desert to the pastures of Jaulan. The
procession marched six or seven abreast, and in families of from 20 to
150. The camels had curious baskets fixed on their humps, and in these
were stowed women and children, and kids and dogs, while cooking
utensils were hung all round the baskets, and by the sides of their dams
trotted little baby camels. The stream flowed past silent and orderly,
with here and there a spearman riding by the side of his family. At
short intervals flocks of sheep and goats marched parallel with the
living stream.
A party of Arab horsemen were reclining on a little hill with their
spears stuck in the ground watching their people pass. We rode up to
them, and their chief received us with great courtesy, and urged us to
await the arrival of the cavalry with the Sheikh, to whom I had once
done a favour which they remembered. We remained about an hour, and
still the stream flowed past. The Arabs told us they had begun to move
at an early hour, and would continue on the march for days, and as far
as we could see, looking north and south, the procession was without
break or pause. They told us they could bring into the field 100,000
fighting men, and their people, they said, was "like the sand of the
sea." Never before or since have I seen such a swarm of human beings--"a
multitude that no man could number." Any trans-Jordanic colony would
have to calculate on the proximity of this horde, whose power has never
been broken, not even by Joshua nor Ibrahîm Pasha, and whose rule in
their own land is supreme in virtue of their resistless might. Even the
Turkish Government bribe the Arabs in this region to let the Mohammedan
pilgrims pass to Mecca! How much black-mail would the prosperous colony
of infidels have to pay for permission to exist in the land of the
faithful? And supposing arrangements could be made to secure the
tolerance of the Bedawîn, there would still remain the Druzes and
Circassians, and local sub-tribes and aggrieved _fellahîn_, who would
form combinations to which an agricultural colony could offer no
effective resistance.
Mr. Oliphant speaks of driving the Arabs "back across the _Hadj_ road,
where a small cordon of soldiers, posted in the forts which now exist
upon it, would be sufficient to keep them in check." Turkish soldiers
would not be the slightest protection to a prosperous colony of
infidels, nor would a small cordon of any soldiers suffice, should the
colony ever become a tempting prize.
In the spring of 1874, a small party of us were returning from Palmyra,
and a few miles beyond Karyetein we passed close by a desperate battle
in progress between the Giath and Amour Arabs, and a powerful caravan
proceeding from Baghdad to Damascus. The camels of the caravan were
formed into a circular rampart, the head of one camel being made fast to
the next; and from behind this living rampart the hardy villagers, who
were bringing provisions for their families from beyond the Euphrates,
defended themselves throughout a long summer day--the sound of the
battle being distinctly heard by the Turkish garrison at Karyetein. The
Bedawîn galloped round the circle, making a feint here and an attack
there until the villagers were worn out and their ammunition exhausted.
Near sunset a wounded camel staggered and fell, and broke the line. The
circle opened out and became a crescent. Quick as lightning the Bedawîn
rushed in at the breach, the camels fled in panic in all directions, and
the wiry Arabs with their flashing spears decided the victory in a few
minutes. I had full details of the fight afterwards from the victors and
the vanquished. The Bedawîns took possession of 120 loads of butter, and
a large amount of tobacco, dates, Persian carpets, horses, mules, and
camels, valued at £4,000. All the caravan people, dead and alive, were
stripped naked in the desert. What did the Bedawîn do with 120 loads of
butter? They had it brought into Damascus and sold publicly. What did
the Bedawîn do with the splendid carpets from the looms of Persia and
Cashmere? They distributed them among their powerful friends in
Damascus, in return for efficient protection, and some of the best found
their way into the gorgeous saloons of those whose duty it was to
administer justice. One of my friends found three of his camels in the
hands of the robbers' friends, and though he got several orders from the
Government for the restoration of his property, he could never get them
carried out. The above incident, of which I have complete details, may
be interesting to those who have any idea of entrusting their lives and
property to the Bedawîn hordes and the protecting Turk.
And what is true of the land of Gilead is true of all lands bordering
the Desert. In the north-east of Syria there is as fine a peasantry as
is to be found anywhere. They are handsome and courteous, though
picturesque in rags. They are thrifty and frugal, but penniless and
starving. They are comparatively truthful and honest, but without credit
or resources. They have broad acres which only require to be scratched
and they bring forth sixty-fold; but they cultivate little patches
surrounded with mud walls and within range of their matchlocks. During
the greater part of the year these poor people dare not walk over their
own fields for fear of being stripped of their tattered rags. And yet
these are the most heavily taxed peasantry in the world. They pay
_black-mail_ to the Bedawîn, who plunder them notwithstanding; and they
pay taxes to the Turks, who give them no protection. The Bedawîn enforce
their claims by cutting off the ears of any straggling villagers from
defaulting villages, who fall within their power, and by carrying off
for ransom a number of village children into the Desert. The Turks
enforce their claims by imprisoning the Sheikhs of the villages till
they have paid the uttermost farthing. With protection and fair
government, the peasantry of Northern Syria would be among the happiest
in the world. But in their land, what the Turkish caterpillar leaves the
Bedawy locust devours.
* * * * *
From the foregoing remarks it is evident that the agricultural resources
of Syria and Palestine are very great, and capable, under good
government, of being largely developed: that the difficulties
encountered by those who invest capital in land in Syria and Palestine
are such as to deter immigrants from embarking in agricultural
enterprises under Turkish rule in that land: and that immigrants in
Syria and Palestine would be exposed to great personal dangers, which
would increase in proportion to the success of their labours.
WM. WRIGHT.
FOOTNOTES:
[56] "The Land of Gilead," p. 295.
[57] Ph[oe]nicia, the Greek [Greek: phoinikê], has been by some derived
from [Greek: phoinix], a palm tree.
[58] Vice-Consul Jago, writing from Damascus, March, 1880, says:--"With
regard to the property near the Damascus Lakes, it is on the edge of the
Desert where no authority exists, and therefore exposed to Bedawîn
raids." He summarizes the agricultural products of the neighbourhood of
Damascus as:--"Wheat, barley, maize (white and yellow), beans, peas,
lentils, kerané, gelbané, bakié, belbé, fessa, boraké (the last seven
being green crops for cattle food), aniseed, sésamé, tobacco, shuma,
olive, and liquorice root. The fruits are grapes, hazel, walnut, almond,
pistachio, currant, mulberry, fig, apricot, peach, apple, pear, quince,
plum, lemon, citron, melon, berries of various kinds, and a few oranges.
The vegetables are cabbage, potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes, beans, wild
truffles, cauliflower, egg-plant, celery, cress, mallow, beetroot,
cucumber, radish, spinach, lettuce, onions, leeks, &c."--_Report_, dated
Damascus, March 14, 1881. To these might be added numerous other
products, such as bitumen, soda, salt, hemp, cotton, madder-root, wool,
&c.
[59] "The Land of Gilead," p. 19.
[60] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 355.
[61] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
[62] _Ibid._ p. 372.
[63] "The Land of Gilead," p. 330.
[64] Beyrout, July 11, 1876.
[65] "The Land of Gilead," p. 131.
[66] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
[67] "The Land of Gilead," p. 146.
[68] _Ibid._ p. 103.
[69] "Land of Gilead," p. 21.
[70] _Ibid._ p. 23.
[71] "The Land of Gilead," p. 255.
THE CONSERVATIVE DILEMMA.
All is not as well as it should be with the Conservative party. Just
when a succession of misfortunes has lowered its credit with the world,
it is harassed with mutiny in the camp. Both sides have taken the public
into their confidence. "Two Conservatives" lately figured on a
distinguished rostrum and retailed their grievances. A month later "Two
other Conservatives" stood up on the same spot and answered the
impeachment. These dual appearances are rather puzzling. In the case of
the first couple it may be that they fixed upon the figure "2" as a neat
divisor, and while sending one-half of their force to the front kept the
other half in reserve to defend the rear. This explanation will not hold
good for the second couple. The party loyalists can hardly have been
reduced to such insignificant proportions. Why, then, should they have
hit upon the odd device of delivering their apologetics in pairs? Is
suspicion so rampant in their ranks that no one man can be trusted? Is
the drawing up of a reply to the insurgents so ticklish a business that
two heads are needed for its satisfactory performance? Or are we to see
in this circumstance merely another sign of the fatal dualism which
pervades the party, and has already rent Elijah's mantle in twain?
Instead of attempting to solve these mysteries let us turn to the
indictment. There, at any rate, are certain things set down in black and
white, and some progress may be made in useful knowledge without any
desire to be wise above what is written. The manifesto drawn up by the
"Two Conservatives" is not altogether edifying reading. At a first
glance it reminds us of a round-robin got up in the servants' hall for
the purpose of springing a mine upon the steward and housekeeper, or of
the whisperings sometimes heard in the lower ranks of a mercantile
establishment where a conviction prevails that nothing but discreet
promotion will save the firm. Some of the complaints set forth fall far
beneath this level. They deal with tiffs and slights and rebuffs.
Services have not been compensated according to the estimate of those
who rendered them. Good things have been given to the wrong men, while
modest merit has been left out in the cold. Lord Beaconsfield had, it
seems, a Figaro in his employ who fed him with judicious doses of
flattery and ministered to his blameless vices. The Figaro system has,
we are given to understand, been kept up, and the great men of the party
take care to live in an atmosphere of adulation. The Dukes meet with
hard treatment. It is difficult to see how these unhappy beings are to
give satisfaction. They are faithless to their principles if they stand
aloof; they do wrong if they come down to scatter their smiles and their
patronage among the crowd. Their absence looks like treason while their
presence demoralizes. In both cases they are mischievous. What are they
to do?
On the whole it is held to be best for the welfare of the party that the
aristocratic chiefs should forthwith perform the "happy despatch." They
saved it by their secession from its councils in 1868; they ruined it in
1874 when they rushed back to claim their share of the spoils. There is
some truth in the representation. It is not easy to forget the pathetic
spectacle which Mr. Disraeli presented at the former period. By his
suppleness and audacity he had forced his party through the crises of a
revolution which they had denounced beforehand, and the consequences of
which they contemplated with dismay. Over against their fears there was
nothing to be put but their leader's assurances that everything would
come right. They had taken "a leap in the dark," they had staked the
fortunes of the party on the dice-box, and events were to decide the
issue. When the blow came Mr. Disraeli's reputation for sagacity fell to
zero. At last the hollowness of his pretensions was detected, and there
was no mincing of epithets for the man who had befooled and destroyed a
great party. The Dukes left him to himself, and, according to our
present informant, their flight was the harbinger of reviving fortunes.
The heart of provincial conservatism warmed to its deserted chief. The
patriotic sentiments of the people began to stir. Constitutional
associations sprang up in the large towns. The reaction grew apace when
the party was left face to face with one great man. When in 1874 the
most sanguine prophecies were fulfilled, the Dukes could not have been
more surprised if Moses and the Prophets had dropt from the clouds to
chide their unbelief. They made what amends they could for their former
incivilities. They gathered with prodigious hum about the great man,
overwhelmed him with disinterested plaudits, and settled down
comfortably to the feast which his genius had spread. From that moment,
so we are assured, decay set in. Aristocratic patronage soon paralyzed
the rude energies which had won the victory. The Carlton again began to
pay the bills and pull the strings. Then in due time came the black
night of defeat, when moon and stars disappeared, and Toryism was
plunged into a deeper gulf than ever. The lesson is plain. Roll up your
aristocratic trumpery, and give the party a leader. What it wants is a
man strong enough to pull it out of the slough and set it on its legs
again.
The burden of the manifesto of the Two Conservatives is the want of a
leader, and an exhaustive process of exclusion shows among whom he is
_not_ to be found. The acting chiefs of the party are made to pass in
file before us, as the sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel
when he wished to ascertain which of them was the predestined King of
Israel. Not this man, nor this, nor this, but is there not yet another?
Yes, there was one among the sheepfolds who little wotted of the
greatness in store for him. The David of whom the Conservative Samuels
are in search can pretend perhaps to no such unconsciousness of his
mission. A genius for opposition pushes him to the front and flashes in
speech and print. He is content probably to put up with the leadership
of the Lower House, assured that, with the Conservative commonalty at
his back, his talents will soon win for him a complete ascendancy.
Meanwhile it is proved to demonstration that none of the acting chiefs
are fit for the post. Sir Richard Cross and Mr. W. H. Smith, "great as
are many of their qualities, do not entirely possess those that are
necessary to secure the plenary confidence of a party." Sir Michael
Hicks-Beach comes nearest the mark, "but, either from patience or
indolence, he has not seen fit since 1880 to put forward his best
energies." In Lord George Hamilton and Mr. Stanhope "there lurks great
promise," but they lack years and experience. "Mr. Lowther is daring,
but not always fortunate in his daring." They may all stand aside. It is
clear that none of the six will do. There is Mr. Gibson, but "he is a
lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." As for Sir Stafford Northcote, he
is a respectable man, with a host of respectable qualities, but "he is
too amiable for his ambition, which is great, and in trying to play a
double part, that of caution and daring, he is at times taxed beyond his
strength." Besides, the House of Commons did not choose him. He was
"chosen for them." There is as yet no active disaffection towards him,
"but of latent dissatisfaction abundance, and of active loyalty none."
Was there ever such a beggarly account of empty boxes? Did anybody ever
see such an array of political numskulls? Not among these at any rate is
the party to find its leader. We must look for him among those whose
names have been left out of the enumeration. His blushes are certainly
unseen, though his fragrance may not be wasted on the desert air.
The double manifesto of the mutineers is remarkable for the
obliviousness it displays of everything higher than personal and party
interests. It reads like the minute-book of a Caucus. With a few verbal
alterations it might pass for a description of the quarrels between the
"Stalwarts" and the "Half-breeds." When Mr. Gibson befools Lord
Salisbury over the Arrears Bill the comment is, "What a cry for the
country!" The Egyptian question suggests a hope that Egypt may deliver
the Conservatives from their Irish connections and enable them to agree
upon a leader. The preference shown for county over borough members is
jotted down as a serious grievance. The use made of social influence
comes in for a share of lamentation. Here we seem to get within the
smell of soup, the bustle of evening receptions, and the smiles of
dowagers. The cares which weigh upon this couple of patriot souls cannot
be described as august. It is hardly among such petty anxieties that the
upholders of the Empire and the pilots of the State are bred. The men
who bemoan such wrongs can scarcely aspire to be the sages and ornaments
of a legislature that gives laws to a fifth part of the human race. It
is assuredly not in an outburst of wounded egotism that we should expect
to find any trace of that noble pride which delights in subordination
for public ends, and is willing to forget and to be forgotten in common
services rendered to the nation. If we were not assured that we have
been conversing for half an hour with two fair specimens of the chivalry
of the land, we should almost suspect that we had been listening to the
confidences of a couple of retired but aspiring soap-boilers.
The criticisms of the "Two Conservatives" are not wholly destructive. As
one fabric collapses, we begin to see the graceful outlines of another,
for which a top-stone is already prepared. The question of the
leadership is complicated by the requirements of the two Houses, but
there is not much doubt as to the direction in which the quivering
needle will finally point. Notwithstanding the gibes which have been
flung at the aristocrats of the party, an aristocratic chief is
necessary to lead an aristocratic assembly, and the only possible
selection is already made. Lord Cairns stands dangerously near the
centre of power, but the same may be said of him as of Mr. Gibson, "He
is a lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." The noble lord, moreover, is
objectionable on the spiritual side of his character. To a High
Churchman he smacks a little of the conventicle, and is given to
"exercises" at unauthorized times and places. His university escutcheon
is dim and stained compared with that of Oxford's Chancellor. On the
whole Lord Cairns can never be a serious rival for the first place among
the peers of England.