Southern telegraph., 1838-09-26
THE CRUsADEs.


scene. There, her gorgeous palaces and
beautiful temples bathed in the sunlight of
an eastern morn, rose Jerusalem!
"Her towers, her domes, her pinaeles, her walls,
Her glittering palaces, her splendid halls,
Showed in industrious air likesome brightdream,
WoVe by gay fancy from the beaming MORN"
Jerusalem! What hallowed associations
rush upon the mind at that name! Once,
Queen of the East, and mistress of the world;
unsurpassed in importance and unrivalled
in splendor; the home and pride of Judea's
sons. Now, the jackall bowls where her
kings reigned, and the crumbled marble,
once marking where her warriors slept,
now mingles with the whirliDg sands of
Arabia.
Roll back the tide of .ime! Retrace the
scroll of history to that epoch when Europe
sent forth her noblest and her best, to bat
tie with the Saracen, to rescue the sepul-
chre of their Redeemer from defilement and
disgrace.
Under the city's walls were encamped
the Army of the Cross. Companions in
former wars, and vietors in former battles,
they had come determined to accomplish
their errand, or die in the attempt. There
were the flower and boast Of Europe's chiv-
airy. Steel hauberk and coat ofmail CLEAN
ed ia the sunbeams, and the trumpet's note
of defiance rang on the morning air, with the
tainted clash of the Turkish cymbal. That
pennon which had foated DER the head oil
its gallant lord amid former conflicts of his
house now danced gailyto an Asiatic breeze.
The emblem of an ancient line, it was not
there to be dishonored; the cherished relic
of past splendor its fair blazcnry was not
there TO be stained or sulled.
Who would blame the enthusiasm which
had thus led them forth to battle? Whocan
censure that piety which gave strength and
sinew to their arms in the battles shock, and
was their last solace in the hour of danger
and of death? Yet, there are those who call
the age of chivalry an age of folly--who de-
nounce the Crusades but as an act of mad
ness. Madness and folly they may have
been; unjust they certainly were; but who
of US, bad he lived in that day, would not
have also bound the sacred emblem to his
shoulder, and followed the crusading host to
the holy land? The enthusiasm of the her
nit of Amiens, the oratory of st. Bernard,
and the commanding talents of Fulk, had
successfully been used to spur them on to
action. The commands of the papal pre-
late were imperative; were not these G.
nough to impel them to almost any deed
But the Saracen's insulting heel was on the
very sepulchre of their Lordl The Turks
proud foot spurned the dust once pressed by
the meek footsteps of Christ! Jerusalem
was captive! Through her courts and pal
aces the Moslem strobe in defiance, and
reigned without rebuke. Were they Chris
tians, and could they endure this? Were
they knights, and could they brook it?-
Drawing the avenging steel, they swore new
er again to sheathe it, till their object was
accomplished, or till the last drop of their
ife's blood had ceased to circle around those
hearts which beat only for their honor and
their God.
But why seek to excuse the Crusades by
the motives which led to them? 1t is their
consequences that gave them importance in
history, and furnish ample apology for all
their fcllies, if not for all their crimes
Apology!
"Sleep, Richard Of the lion heart,
Sleep on, nor from thy cerements START"
at the wrong done thy memory and thy
name. But the age of chvalry has passed,
like bright vision of the morning.
If we contemplate fora moment the drea-
nv picture which the civilized world presen-
ted in the age of the Crusades, and compare
it with the succeeding, we must allow that
the political advantages resulting from them
were such as Europe will never cease to
feel, SO long as her hills shall stand, or her
name be known. =.
Torn by intestine feuds, the western world
was at that time the scene of the most bloody
and atrocious wars that ever disfgured the
page ofhistory. The order and beauty of
the social compact, like that of the ocean
dashed to fury by the raging tempest, was
lost in the wild vortex of raging passions
and unbridled licentiousness. Law and
right were neither respected nor obeyed.
The sword was the only passport to great
ness, and opened the only path to fortune
and to honor. Human life was held but as
the sport of any petty tyrant who chose to
take it, and the frequent death-cry OF the
murdered rolled wildly up to an offended
God.
Then came the Crusades. Glory, i'm
mortality, religion, all pointed with implor-
ing finger to the scene of Saviour's suffer
ings and death. Fame called upon her vo-
taries to battle to the death with Paynim
hosts; Religion upon hers to wipe tor ever
from the escutcheon of the Christian world,
the deep, damning disgrace of allowing an
unbelieving race TO defle the land they
loved, the sepulchre they adored. Then
warning nations dropped their sword, and
gave answer to the cry of vengeance. They
came, the noble and the proud, the young
and the old, ralIying round the crimson
standard. Unity Of sentiment and commu-
1un