In its Asiatic possessions Turkey covers almost all the regions associated with the empires of the ancient world, and almost all the countries referred to in Bible history. It contains Asia Minor, the valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris—with the ruins of ancient Babylon and Nineveh—and the regions of Syria and Palestine. It has within its borders Ur, the birthplace of Abraham, the city of Haran, where he long dwelt, the desert of Arabia, the land of Palestine—now lying almost waste, but once so bright and fertile. This one empire, now so ignominious, so cruelly governed, so trodden down and hindered in development by injustice and oppression, so wretched to numbers of its inhabitants, covers regions of great fertility and beauty, of natural wealth unbounded, if its resources could be freely developed. It has its many desert regions, but it possesses in most parts of Asia Minor and of the valley of the Euphrates and of Palestine, soil of the utmost fertility, which would be as the garden of the world—if ruled by just and righteous rulers. Travelers visiting these regions at present are often disappointed. It is a country depending immensely on artificial cultivation, and, therefore, utterly changed in aspect by its long desolation. Like some beautiful, neglected garden, it has become the most painful waste of all scenes. But it is a country which could be restored, and speedily restored, to its former beauty if there were security for the expenditure of capital in rebuilding the terraces on the hills, planting fruitful trees, restoring the vines, renewing its soil, and protecting it from the waste of heavy rains and tempest. The Jewish colonies established by Baron Rothschild, of Paris, in recent years, where many Jews are now cultivating the soil, have converted regions perfectly bleak and waste before, into beautiful, prolific regions abounding in fruits and vegetables and cereals of different kinds. Those who have visited the colonies have been struck with the contrast of these carefully-cultivated regions and the waste aspect of the surrounding country. But it is not Palestine alone within the Turkish dominion that has such resources, hindered in their development by a government of robbery and violence, but great regions of Asia Minor, and the rich, far-extending valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris. These most prolific regions of vast extent are all crushed down by the weight of what might be termed a lawless government. There is not only no stimulus to industry, but there is every possible hindrance to it. Industrious prosperity is viewed askance, and those who attain to it to any visible extent are watched by the farmers of the taxes, great and small, and victimized. They are ruthlessly plundered, and if they show any dissatisfaction, are often sent, as suspects, to some wretched dungeon, to starve and possibly to die, while the fruits of their industry are being stolen. A more oppressive government than that which has so long misgoverned all these regions now called Turkey can scarcely be imagined. Under its auspices, progress and improvement are perfectly impossible.—Condensed from the Mission World (London).