JEWS. 



557 



tion (with the exception of 200 or 300 sent 

 annually to West Australia) was at last defi- 

 nitely abandoned in 1854, there was a serious 

 difficulty in providing for the large number of 

 convicts at once thrown upon the Government. 

 There were about 6,000 of these, and the num- 

 ber was rapidly increasing, while as yet there 

 was no adequate provision of convict prisons 

 for their reception. It was necessary also to 

 diminish the term for which they were sen- 

 tenced, as the confinement in prisons was 

 deemed a severer punishment than transporta- 

 tion to which they had been condemned. The 

 prisons under Sir Joshua's management were 

 completed at as early a period as possible, and 

 provision made for employing about one half 

 the convicts, those who, by good conduct, were 

 deemed deserving, on the public works at 

 Portsmouth and Portland, and in the dockyards 

 at Dartmouth and Chatham. Sir Joshua also 

 reverted to the old system of Captain McCon- 

 ochie, borrowing from it the idea of discharging 

 the most exemplary prisoners before the expi- 

 ration of their sentence on "ticket of leave." 

 This, when guarded as it was in Ireland, by 

 requiring the persons to report regularly for a 

 time at the constabulary headquarters, and 

 placing them under the surveillance of the con- 

 stabulary force, proved a judicious measure; 

 but, in England, without such precautions, it 

 became a serious blunder, and imperilled the 

 peace and good order of society. So loud were 

 the public clamors against it in 1855 and 1856, 

 and again in 1862 and 1863, that Sir Joshua 

 found it necessary to modify the system. The 

 employment of convicts on the public works 

 also proved dangerous several mutinies occur- 

 ring in which some lives were lost. In these 

 manifold difficulties, Sir Joshua Jebb retained 

 the confidence of the Government, and in 

 general of the nation, as a conscientious, care- 

 ful, prudent man, who, surrounded by serious 

 embarrassments, and perhaps lacking in the 

 highest order of genius, yet sought to do his 

 duty honestly, faithfully and fearlessly, so far 

 as he could comprehend what that duty was. 

 His death was greatly lamented. 



JEWS. The present number of Jews is es- 

 timated at from five to seven millions. They 

 are most numerous in Russia, where they num- 

 ber, according to the last census, in the Eu- 

 ropean possessions, 1,425,784, and in Siberia 

 7,077. This is exclusive of the kingdom of Po- 

 land, which (in 1859) had 599,875 Jews. Of the 

 other European countries, Austria had (in 1857) 

 1,049,871 Jews, Prussia, 254,785 ; the other 

 German states, together, about 200,000 ; Eu- 

 ropean Turkey, 70,000 ; Holland (in 1859), 63,- 

 890; France, inclusive of Algeria, 185,007; 

 Great Britain, about 40,000; Belgium 1,500; 

 Denmark, 4,200; Sweden and Norway, 900; 

 Switzerland (in 1860), 4,216 ; Italy, 34,000 ; 

 Greece and the Ionian Isles, 10,000 ; Portugal, 

 8,000. Morocco (according to Wertheimer's 

 JahrbucTi der Israeliteri) had before the out- 

 break of the last war with Spam about 340,- 



000, which number has since considerably 

 decreased by persecutions. The Jews in the 

 United States are estimated at about 200,000. 

 A numerous Jewish population is also found in 

 Abyssinia. 



A narrative was published, in 1863, by 

 the "Jewish Chronicle," of London, of the 

 discovery by a Jewish officer in the British 

 navy, of a large Jewish city in China, consist- 

 ing of over 1,000,000 souls, speaking the orig- 

 inal sacred tongue, keeping their own laws, and 

 possessing documents, which record their his- 

 tory thousands of years ago. It has been long 

 known that Jews existed in China. From the 

 time when the Jesuits pursued their mission- 

 ary effort in the Chinese empire, it has been 

 no secret that there, as in India and re- 

 moter countries still, small bands of Jews 

 were found maintaining their peculiar national 

 characteristics, and engaged in industrial pur- 

 suits. The above narrative, however, was by 

 all familiar with the condition of China deem- 

 ed unworthy of credence. 



Of the Jews in Western Persia some inter- 

 esting intelligence was published by a Jewish 

 periodical (the " Carmel ") of Wilna, Russia : 

 "There are, says this account, about 150 Jew- 

 ish families in Balprosh, the principal city of 

 Mazsandron, a large province in Western Persia, 

 south of the Caspian Sea, and east of Media. 

 Altogether Balprosh has a population-of about 

 100,000 persons, mostly Persians. The Jews 

 of the city trade with their brethren in the 

 land of Kittim and the Great Tartary, and 

 are engaged in woollen and silk manufac- 

 tures. They have two synagogues, and about 

 fourteen scrolls of the law. They received 

 these scrolls from Babel (Bagdad?), and 

 they are beautifully written. They reckon 

 from the Babylonian captivity ; for, according 

 to their tradition, their fathers immigrated in 

 the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and as they did 

 not obey the call of Ezra the scribe, they re- 

 mained there to this day. The Jews there live 

 in happiness and comfort under the protection 

 of the shah, who favors them on every occa- 

 sion. Indeed, so happy are they, that they are 

 esteemed as princes by their wretched brethren 

 in the other provinces. When the labor of the 

 day is over, they assemble in the evenings in the 

 synagogues, and there read the Bible. Some 

 of them also study the Talmud and ethical 

 works. These books, too, are imported from 

 Babel. They have three schools, in which the 

 children are taught Hebrew and Persian. 

 Among themselves they speak Persian, and 

 some also Hebrew." 



The Jewish population of Palestine is steadily 

 increasing by immigration. Jews arrive there 

 from all parts of the globe, except America, in 

 numbers steadily increasing, and exceeding 

 those of many centuries before. They settle 

 not only in the city of Jerusalem, but also in 

 the country towns and villages, where they are 

 now permitted to purchase real estate, build 

 houses, and cultivate fields which had lain des- 



