OMMANNEY, Edward Lacon, Colonel (1834-1914). Autograph letter, signed ("E. L. Ommaney"), to "Graham" [an unknown recipient], with the blindstamp of the "Colonial Office", 10th April 1902, three-pages, 180 x 115mm, 13 February [1897]. On Zionism.

OMMANNEY, Edward Lacon (1834-1914), Colonel.  Autograph letter, signed ("E. L. Ommaney"), to "Graham" [an unknown recipient], with the blindstamp of the Colonial Office, 10th April 1902, three-pages, 180 x 115mm, 13 February [1897]. On the Colonial Office's position on Zionism. "Short of a general European war, the devolution of the Control of Palestine as a Chartered Company or its dissociation in any way from Turkey is an impossibility no less obvious than that which attaches to the idea of Zionism. The Jew is the very last person to desire to return to Palestine where the shekels are no longer to be gathered - Johannesburg is much more his idea of a Holy Land." Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1998, lot 484.