Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-12-26

SohSi i y 2 upon eiii9 - t@Hu
that it has been periodically visited BY a
more striking succession5f great public
calamities than perhaps by other region.
With less to attract d invader than
any other CONSPICUOUS lad of the East, it |
has been constantly expesed to invasion.
lis ruin by the Romansinthe first cen
fury, did not prevent itl being assailed
by almost every barbariiH, who in turn
assumed the precarious goverignty Of the
neighboring Asia. Aftr ages of obscure
misery a new terrier ea.~s the Saracenl
invasion, in which-under Amrou, on
the conquest of Damascus, plled on to
Palestine. A siege offour moths, which
we may well conceive to have aboundcd
in horrors, gave Jerusalem intdthe hands
Of the Caliph Omar. On the death of
Omar, who died by the usul fate of
Eastern princes, the dagger, tn, country
was left to still heavier disagreement of
the Moslem viceroys-a race Of men es-
sentially barbarian, and counting for
their crimes by their zeal in proelytism.
The people, Of course, were dotply tor
mented.
A new scourge fell upon them IN the
invasion of the Crusaders, at the begin
ming of the twelfth century, FOLLOWED by
long succession of bitter hostiIities- s-and
pnblic weakness. After almost a CEN
tury ofthis wretchedness another inva-
sion from the Desert put Jerusalem into
the hands of its old oppressor, the Sara
cen and in 1887 the famous Sal,din,
expelIing the last of the Christian sover-
eigns took possession Of Palestine. After
another century oftumult and severe suf-
fering, occasioned by the disputes of the
Saracen princes, it was visited by still
more formidable evil in the shape of the
Turks, then wholly uncivilized-a nation
in all the rudeness and violence of noun
taineer life, and spreading blood and fire
through Western Asia.
From this date Q31O it remained
under the dominion of the Ottoman until
its conquest, a few years ago, by thai
most extraordinary of all Mussulmen
the P<aqhss Of Egg pt--il dreary period O
! 500 years, under the most desolating gov
ernment of the world. 1t is equally i'm
possible to read the Scripture references IL
the future condition of Palestine witlIou
discovering a crowd of the plainest ans
most powerful indications that it shall ye
exhibit a totally different aspect from tha
of its present state. Enthusiasm, or ever
the natural interest which we feel in thi
memorable nation, may color the future
to US too brightly but unless languag,
of the most solemn occasions, and by mel
divinely commissioned for It's utterance
is wholly unmeaning, we must lool
to some powerful, unquestionable, an
splendid display Of Providence in favo
Of the people Of Israel.
The remarkable determination o
European politics towards Asia Minor
Syria, and Egypt within these few year.
the not less unexpected change of man
. ners and customs, which seemed to def
) all change; and the new life infused int
the stagnant Governments Of Asia, eve
by their being flung into the whirl {
: European interests, look not unlike sign
of the times. 1t may be no dream I
4 imagine in these phenomenons the proc
e of some memorial change in the interiC
] of things-some preparatives for tn
f great proyidential restoration of whic
e Jerusalem will yet be the scene if not ii
y centre, and the Israelite himself the e
peeial agent of those high transaction
which shall make Christianity the r
ligion ofall lands, restore the dismantlc
\ beauty Of all earth, and make man whi
: he was created to be, only "a little low
y than the angels
n The statistics of the Jewish populatie
: are among tie most singular circumsta
. ces of this most singular of of all peopI
Under alltheir calamities aud dispersion
they seem to have remained at nearly Il
% same amount as in the days Of David al
Solomon, never much more in prJsperit
J. never much less after ages Of suffering
10 Nothing like this has occurred in 4
le history of any other race (: Europe
a. general having doubled its populate
a. within the last hundred years, and En-
e. land nearly tripled hers within the h
5 half century the proportion of Ameri
being still more rapid, and the VOL
,e crowding in a constantly increasing rat
e Yet the Jews seem to stand still in Il
=. vast. and general movement. The POI
r. lation Of Judea in its most palmy de-
D. ,,robol,I,y IA ,,of avcaad if Il ,-anai