advocates of emancipation frankly confessed their belief that, once given equal civil rights, the Jews would soon be completely assimilated.
About this time various institutions were founded in connexion with Palestine which showed the lively interest of the public. Such were—
Of some of these committees Montefiore was a member; and, though some Zionists have been inclined to look upon him as an opposing influence, as the protagonist of the philanthropic school, there can be no doubt that in the nineteenth century Palestine owed most to him for the beginnings of its colonization. Cobbett's taunt that 'the Israelite is never seen to take a spade in his hand' had made a deep impression upon him, and he determined to do his best to encourage agriculture and handicrafts among his brethren, especially in Palestine. Colonel Churchill wished to re-establish a Jewish kingdom in Palestine. Montefiore, though he threw cold water on the idea on the ground that the times were not ripe, entrusted the Colonel on his return to the East with a fund or the encouragement of thrift among the Jews of the Holy Land; he sent a printing-press to Jerusalem, started a linen factory, and supplied various committees there with agricultural implements and even with cattle. In 1849 Colonel Gawler accompanied him on another visit to the Holy Land. In 1854 he and Chief Rabbi Nathan Adler appealed to the Jews of England for funds to relieve distress in Palestine due
