WHAT THE POPE PROPOSES TO DO.
If there is any truth in the information contained in the following extract from a letter the Lombardia publishes from its correspondent in Rome, the Papal Railway in Palestine is but a feature of a much more important scheme:— Monseigneur Hassoun, the American Patriarch, entertains the idea of converting Palestine into an appendage of the pope; and it appears that he has not only the support of Pius IX., but, strange to say, also that of the Turkish Government, to which the Court of Rome is rendering important service at this moment. His intention would be to attract to Palestine a strong current of emigrants from all the Catholic countries of Europe, to allot land and cattle to them, to build workshops, and to call into activity the principal industries through which the other countries of the world flourish. The capital of the state would be Jerusalem, which by means of railways would be placed in connection with Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and the other holy places. At Jaffa a grand port would be constructed, and lesser ports provided for the smaller cities on the coast. This project, fantastic and improbable as it is, has nevertheless obtained a number of supporters in the Vatican, beginning with Pius IX. himself, who perhaps desires to secure to his successors the facility in that classic land of exercising both the temporal and the spiritual powers.—American Protestant, of Jan., 1877.