The Turkish governor of the town holds the rank of pasha, but is responsible to the pasha of Bciriit. The government is somewhat milder than before the jieriod of the Egyptian dominion; but it is snid that the Jew- ish and Christian inhabitants at least Imvc ;iiii|ilo cause to regret the change of masters, and the Anirrican ir.is- sionaries lament that change without reserve (AiikLH. Eepos. for 1843). Yet the iMoslcnis reverence the seme spots which the Jews and Christians account holy, the holy sepulchre only excepted ; and this exception arises from their disbelief that Christ was crucified, or buried, or rose again. Formerly there were in Palestine monks of the Benedictine and Augustine orders, and of those of St. Basil and St. Anthony; but since 1304 there have been none but Franciscans, who have charge of the Lat- in convent and the holy places. They resided on IMoimt Zion till A.D. 1561, when the Turks allowed them the monastery of St. Salvador, which they now occupy. They had formerly a handsome revenue out of all Ko- man Catholic countries, but these sources have fallen off since the French Kevolution, and the establishment is said to be poor and deeply in debt. The expenses arise from the duty imposed upon tlie convent of •enter- taining pilgrims, and the cost of maintaining the twen- ty convents belonging to the establishment of the Terra Santa is estimated at 40,000 Spanish dollars a year. Formerly it was much higher, in consequence of the heavy exactions of the Turkish government. Burck- hardt says that the brotherhood paid annually £12,000 to the pasha of Damascus. But the Egyptian govern- ment relieved them from these heavy charges, and im- posed instead a regidar tax on the property possessed. For the buildings and lands in and around Jerusalem the annual tax was fixed at 7000 piastres, or 350 Span- ish dollars. It is probable that the restored Turkish government has not yet, in this respect, recurred to its old oppressions. The convent contains fifty monks, half Italians and half Spaniards. In it resides the intendant or the principal of all the convents, with the rank of ab- bot, and the title of guardian of IMoiuit Zion and custos of the Holy Land. He is always an Italian, and has charge of all the spiritual affairs" of the Koman Catho- lics in the Holy Land. There is also a president or vi- car, who takes the place of the guardian in case of ab- sence or death: lie was formerly a Frenchman, but is now either an Italian or Spaniard. The procurator, who manages their temporal affairs, is always a Span- iaril. A council, called Discretoriiun, composed of these
officials and three other monks, has the general man- agement of both spiritual and temporal matters. IMuch of the attention of the order is occupied, and much of its expense incurred, in entertaining pilgrims and in the distribution of alms. The native Koman Catholics live around the convent, on which they are wholly depend- ant. They are native Arabs, and are said to be de- scended from converts in the times of the Crusades.
There is a Greek patriarch of Jerusalem, but he usu- allj' resides at Constantinople, and is represented in the holy city by one or more vicars, who are bishops resid- ing in the great convent near the church of the Holy Sepulchre. At present the vicars are the bishops of Lydda, Nazareth, and Kerek (Petra), assisted liy the other bishops resident in the convent. In addition to thirteen monasteries in Jerusalem, they possess the con- vent of the Holy Cross, near Jerusalem; that of St. He- lena, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem ; and that of St. John, Ijetween Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. All the monks of the convents are foreigners. The Chris- tians of the Greek rite who are not monks are all nati^^e Arabs, with their native priests, who are allowed to per- form the Church services in their mother tongue — the Arabic.
The Armenians in Jerusalem have a patriarch, with three convents and 100 monks. They have also con- vents at Bethlehem, Kamleh, and Jaffa. Few of the Armenians are natives : they are mostly merchants, and among the wealthiest inhabitants of the place, and their convent in Jerusalem is deemed the richest in the Le- vant. '11k ir church of St. James, upon Mount Zion, is very sliowy iu its decorations, but void of taste. The Coptic Cliristians at Jerusalem are only some monks re- siding in the convent of es-Sultan, on the north side of the pool of Hezekiah. There is also a convent of the Abyssinians, and one I elonging to the Jacobite Syrians.
The estimate of the number of the Jews in Jerusalem at 3000 is given by Dr. lloliinson on the authority of Mr. Nicolayson, the resident missionary to the Jews; yet in the following year (1839) th3 Scottish deputation set them down at six c seven thousand on the sflme authority. (See Dr. Barclay's estimate above.) They inhabit a distinct quarter of the town, between Mount Zion and ^Mount jNIoriah. This is the worst and dirtiest part of the holy city, and that in which the plague never fails to make its first appearance. Few of the Jerusalem Jews are natives, and most of them come from foreign parts to die in the city of their fathers' sepulchres. The greater pr(i|i(irliiin nf them are from different ]iarts of the Levant, and ajipcar to be mostly of Spanish and Polish origin. Few are from Germany, or understand the (icrman language. They are, for the nicst part, wretchedly poor, and depend in a great degree for their subsistence upon the contributions of their brethren in different countries. These contributions vary corsid- erably in amount in different years, and often occa-' sion much dissatisfaction in their distribution (see the Karrutire of the Scottish deputation, p. 148). An ef- fort, however, is now making in Europe for the promo- tion of Jewish agriculture in Palestine, and a society formed for that purpose, under whose auspices several Jewish families have emigrated to their sacred father- land, and are engaged in the culture of the productions for which the soil was anciently so famous. Prominent among these philanthropic exertions are those of Sir Moses IMontefiore, of London, who has established a farm in the vicinity of Jerusalem for the benefit of his Jewish brethren (Benjamin, Eight Years in Asia and Africa, p. 34). Under the reforms and religious toleration in- troduced by the iiresent sultan an amelioration of tlio condition of the Jewish and Christian inhabitants of Je- rusalem may be expected. It should also be added that European enterprise has projected a railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem as one of the fruits of the alliance during the late war, and on its completion an additional impulse will doubtless be given to this ancient metropolis by the facilities of travel and transportation tluis afforded.