The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-03-23

The Rev. DR.. Bacon's Lecture ON the Ea-
pirates, Tigr1s, and Nineveh.


and Tsr and the ancient city of Nineveh aud the a.
jacent countries.
The lecturer after referring maps of Asia Mnor sad
that they would observe the locality Of the cities of
Babylon Tyre and Antioch (ho capital OF tho Assyraa
empire when under Alexander the Great aud well known
u the Scriptures and in ancient history Christianity
three hundred years after its commencement became
the religion Of the Roman Empire, and obtained iodg.
mcn beyond the Euphrates through the medium Of the
scattered The Christian religion from the hega-
ming had tendency to corruptonnot In respect to tho
religion itself but in reference to its professors Their
ambitious desires rendered that corruption inevitable
Thus many Of the early Christian churches while they
confirmed the divinity of their origin exhibited corruP
ton About six hundred years after the introduction
of Christianity, Mahomcdanism commenced its rapid
within the radi Of the ncghborng countries and
tho Saracens established empire AMI religion
They conquered by the Turks, a barbarous
Thus there had been produced Of dcstr0yers
and barbarm had made the richest of countries doso
late and they were not now reckoned a. belonging to
the civilized world Tho Arabic and Turkish languages
had each its sphere The sacred Language of the MaRo
medans the Arabic; and Turkish spoken by the
high officers Of government and generally in all the
northern and portions the empire At period
the division Of the Roman empire by the Emperor Con-
stantine the portion, with Constantnople fr
its capital became the seat of the Greek church Of tho
present day. which numbered about millions and
In the western portion with Rome for its centre
founded the Roman Catholic church The DIR. then al
luded to the various secs of Christians which exsted
The HISTORIANS reckoned at about 800 0 but the
principal body the Armenians. They held the me-
ryosOphte doctrine in regard to the person OF Christ In
opposition to the HISTORIANS who held the doctrine OF
the divine and human person of Christ. They wcGo
the remains of ancient people, once indie
pendent Christian nation They were dispersed, like
the Jews and numbered million and half Arme-
MAN merchants might be found from Vienna to Cal
cutta The Greek church was deficient in. moral
ity and the Roman Catholic church in Italy, France
and Germany surpassed II in learning and influence
He embarked at Beyrout in company with some mia
sionarcs and their families and in their voyage
along the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean they
passed the ancient city in Syria now called Trpo and
Seucia now called Swaba, to the mouth Of the river
Orentcs-thc port from whence Paul and Barnabas
sailed when they went missionaries to the church
Of Antioch; and in the distant view was Iarsus the
harbor of Scandaloon and arrived ut Alcxandretta,
called after its founder Alexander the Great not q
vestige of which now remained. They pursued their
route along the path that Darius did after his
markabe defeat by Alexander which known in ancient
history as the Gate of Syria Under any olcrsbe 60
yernnen those countries could fail rise under
the government OF the Kurdistans every was
robber They next arrived at Acppo city ancient
than Antioch, being the mentioned by Ezekiel trbu
tary to Tyre and which contained population Of 10000
Around the adjoining country there had been many vine
as their Koran contained Maine law" At present.
ii of the chief cities in the Turkish empire Tho
grand emporium of Northern Syria was Damascus but
Aleppo far superior In appearance The beauty Of
Damascus consisted in its beautiful gardens and its
bazaars abounded with every variety Of elegance and
wealth The arrangements in the interior of the dwell
ings Of the higher classes exquisite Aleppo stood
out vast plain. but was well supplied with water and
commanded by adjacent hill, which was
erected castle The buildings, although in tho Oriental
style, substantial About year and a half
ago. there was an instruction in Aleppo, caused by
the CONSUMPTION, the effects OF which still vi
sble in the streets These instructions always
at the commencement disastrous to Christians but
suffered. He III Damascus American cotton
gin, invented by Ely Whitney, in full action; it
the only to be found in all Asia Minor and
imported by of the missionaries at his expense
The manufacturers at Damascus spun their cotton by
means Of Instruments quite unknown in Manchester
Lowell Damascus few centuries ago. in advance
Of Belgium France Italy, and England in design and
manufacture of fabrics but at the present day there was
nothing of the be found Turning northward they
to the city of Helm Tabb this city little
known and had before been visited American,
other than missionary The inhabitants Of these ctes
were in state of poverty and degradation, and there
considerable hatred towards Christian strangers.
Two days journey brought them to the Euphrates-upon
connection with sacred and profane history The silent
and turbid stream had divided two regions where no
republican government had been organized-a river
upon which cities built long before Cecrops aud
Romulus respectively founded Athens and Rome They
considerable height and was commanded by castle and
fortress and where the river about the width of the
Connecticut at Hartford their boat Of the cusest
ana the passage in many respects disagree
able The Euphrates navgable far a. Bussora for
vessels Of fifty tons and for small steamer oil the war
from the Persian Gulf to Beerhczee The length Of the
river, from the source to the Gulf 100 miles The
Iigrs called in Genesis Hddikel also in Armenia
and naygablc for vessels of twenty tons Bag
dad The country between the rivers the MesopO-
tamia of Scripture and ancient history This where
the Garden Of Eden placed and the Paradise of our
by undulations there general resemblance to
praries. and at that il covered with heritage
This territory bad been subjected by the Romans
Augustus declared in his will that the Euphrates should
be the boundary Of the Roman empire and enjoned OBJ
that pocyon his Ills made
temporary eonuests. and when province the upper
part Of Messapoamia added to the permanent Roman
empire that the only exception to the remark that the
Eupbrates the boundary of the Roman empire but
IT made p.rma conquests Seucia in the southern
part was built under the dominion of the great Assyran
monarchy as the successor Of Babylon and to it,
There was something approaching municipal freedom i'm
that city. The population Of these districts wan
dering tribes. with here and there permanent village
II comprised Turkomans kourts Arabs. and some REM
nants Of the ancient races. The whole country in
fetted by robbers and travelling extremely dan
gerous Having passed through or near the tract
Of country known in Scripture 1.-The Ur of
the Chaldees, they came to Diarbekir which pre-
sented beautiful appearance, with its minarets
mosques together with It's irregular features apd the
snowy mountains in the East with their adjacent gar
dens. Unlike most cities the interior Of which disap-
pointed after distant view there was not little gran.
deur i'll the interior There were some extraordinary
linens Of Saraeonc architecture There were fifteen
thousand houses and sixty thousand Inhabitants They
now descended To Mosul RATS The Tigris was u
most rapid and rushing river. The RATS which they
descended and this the only way in which the river
was navsated) made Of poles attached to inflated
goatkins similar 10 life prescrver After once going
down the river there getting back-no turning
ouho Inc RANKS OF me Iigrs were most picturesque.
there were high chalkv cliff upon the sides Of which
were cut out ancient and inaccessible tombs and long
ranges Of galleries tstl preserye) in the solid
rock opposite The great sardnnapaan city lie noticed
he ruins Of bridge Of most elaborate structure and
winch must have surpassed n extent and magnihcencc
any OF the bridges across the Thames In of the cities
On its banks they found Europcan--an Italian re-
fugee. Nosu contained forty thousand inhabitants
but had much declined. They now al;ghcd upon
the remains Of the ancient city Of Nineyeh
As,yria and Nincyah appeared to have been di-
,ided into two great .ras, remote from each other
Nothing had been known OF Nneyeh since the
wear $500 II. &. until the present time The country
west OF the Euphrat.S was marked by peculiar features
ihefc were To &c found vast and marble
we epains OF ihaanneent structures This part of tho
banks OF the Tfsrs marked by many mounds having
tho appearance Of natural elevations They were sun
posed by Aenophon who them when he was conduct
ing the famous retreat Of the thousand (4Oi b. CO
10 he the remains Of ancient city There were four of
lhese mounds within circuit Of forty eight miles Il was
impossible 70 explore them in consequence of the fanati
esm and plundernp propensities Of the Arab tribes MIR
Iayard had partly eScavated Of them aided by
Mr. Potter the French Consul in Mosul but was unable
70 Obtain any assistance from the British government.
Some OF the ruins had been placed in the Louvre
IN Paris and the Museum in London There found the
remains Of two palaces which furnished proof that they had
been DESTROYED by Ere and remarkable that II had