New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-05-26
The Fail of Jerusalem


One of the most splendid sketches it las ever been
our fortune to peruse is that by Croly, whom his
works thus describes the fall Of Jerusalem
The fall of our illustrous and happy city, was ST.
perpatrlral The destruction of the conquered was
against the first principles OF the Roman policy; and
to the last hour OF our national existence Rome held
out offers of peace, and lamentcd our frantic DISPOSE
ton to be undone. But the decree was gone forth
from mghtier throne. During the latter days OF
the siege, q hostility, to which that OF man was q
grain Of sand to the tempest that drives it on over
powered our strength and senses. Fearful shapes and
voices in the air; visions startling us from our short
and troubled sleep unacy in its hdeons forms sud
den death in the midst Of vgor the fury elements
letloose upon unsheltered heads-we had every ter
ror and evil that could beset human nature save pes
lence, the most probable of all in city crowded with
the furnishing, the diseased, the wounded, and the
dead Yet though the streets were covered with I'M
buried bodies though every well and trench was
teeming with them; though six hundred thousand
corpses lay flung the rampant and naked to the
sun-pestence came not for, if it had come, the en-
envy would have been scared away But "the abomi-
nation of desoaton,n the pagan standard, was fixed
where it was to remain until the plough had passed
over the ruins of Jerusalem. On this fatal night, no
man laid his head on his pillow. Heaven and earth
were in conflict. Meteors burned above US !; the
ground shook under our feet the volcano blazed
the wind burst forth in irresistible blasts and swept
the living and the dead in whirwinds, far into the
desert. We heard the believing Of the distant Med
terranean, as iii its waters at side, swell
ed by the sdeluge. The lakes and rivers roared,
and inundated the land. The fiery sword shot out
tentod fire. Thunder pealed from every quarter of
the heavens Lightning, in immense sheets, of an
intensity and duration that turned the darkness into
more than day. whitening eye and soul. burned from
the zenith to the ground, and marked his track by
forests of fame and shattered the submits Of the
hills.
Defense was unthought of, for the mortal enemy
had passed from the mind Our hearts qtSNssad for
fear but It was to sec the powers of heaven n zen
All cast away the Shield and spear, and croucR be-
fore the descending Judgment. We were conscience
smitten. Our cries Of remorse, anguish and horror,
were heard through the uproar of the storm. Wei
howled to the caverns to hide we plunged into the
sepulchrcs to escape the wrath that consumed the
living we would have buried ourselves under the
mountains.
l knew the cause, the unspeakable cause and
knew that the last hour of crime was at hand. A
few tugitiVes, astonished to man among them
not sunk into the lowest feebleness Of fear came
around me, and besought me to lead them to some
safety, if such were now to be found on earth. l
openly counseed them to die in the hallowed ground
Of the temple. They followed, and ! led through
streets encountered with every shape of human suf-
fering, to the foot of Mount oriah But beyond that
we found advance impossible. Piles of clouds
whose darkness was palpable, even in the midnight
in which we stood, obscured the holy hill. lmpa-
tient, and not to be daunted by anything that man
could overcome cheered my disheartened band, and
attempted to lead the way up the ascent But
had scarcely entered the cloud, when l was swept
down by gust that tore the rocks in tnty shower
around me. And now came the last and most won
derfu sign, that marked the fate of rejected Israel
While lay helpless, / heard the whrlwind roar
through the cloudy hill, and the vapors began to
yove. pale light, like that Of the rising moon,
quivered on their edges and the clouds rapidly,
shaping themselves into forms of hattlements and
towers The sound of voices was heard within, low
and distinct yet strangely sweet. Still the ustre
frightened, and as the airy building rose, tower
tower, and battlement on battlement, we knelt and
gazed on this than mortal architecture that con-
tinued rising and spreading, and glowing with Sc
rener light still soft and silvery yet to which the
broadest moonbeam was dim. at last it stood forth
from earth to heaven, the colossal image of the first
temple-of the building raised by the wsest of men,
and consecrated to the visible glory.
All Jerusalem saw the image and the shout that
in the midst oftheir despair, assembled from its thous
ands and tens Of thousands, told what proud reenl
brances that wore. But hymn heard that might
have hushed the world beside. Never fell on my ear,
never human sense,a sound so majestic yet SO sub
duing--so full of melancholy, yet of grandeur and
commando. This portal opened, and from it
marched a5host such as man bad never seen before
such as man shall never see but once again-the
guardian angelsof the city Of David! They came
forth gloriousy but with woe in all their steps the
stars upon their helmets dim !; their robes stained
tears flowing down their cheeks of celestial beauty
" Let us go hence" swelled upon the night to the
utterlnost limits Of the land. The procession fingered
long upon the summit of the hill. The thunders
pealed and they rose at the command, ditfusing
waves OF light over the eXpanse of heaven. The chO
rus was still heard magnificent and melancholy, until
their splendor was diminished to the brightness of
star. Then the thunder roared again. The cloudy
temple was scattered the wind, and darkness the
omen of the grave, settled upon Jerusalem.